Chapter 2 Hands and Feet

  A child's mood is like the weather in March, changing quickly. Wen Xiuyu quickly burst out laughing, he stretched out his hand and gently poked his sister's face, then quickly withdrew it. With a dissatisfied expression, he looked at Wen Chunyi, shaking his head and saying: "Xue Duo, you're too thin, poking your face hurts my fingers, I'd rather go poke Jun Ge's face."

  Their younger brother, Wen Xiu Jun, was only one and a half years old, with a round and chubby face that made people want to touch and pinch him. When no one else was around, Wen Chun Yi would also reach out to rub his little fat face, and the little boy would let her touch him again and again. Wen Chun Yi sighed inwardly, looking down at her own flat body. Last month, when she had the chance to weigh herself, she found that she still hadn't reached the weight of one-and-a-half-year-old Wen Xiu Jun. Her husband and wife-in-law had been watching her eat, seeing how she could finish a full bowl of rice for each meal, plus many other dishes, and they couldn't help but wonder where all the food was going.

  Wen Xiuyu looked at Wen Chunyi with a puzzled expression, he too couldn't understand why. Wen Chunyi ate more than him but moved less, where did all the food go? Wen Xiuyu had an idea and reached out to touch Wen Chunyi's belly, who blocked his hand. He awkwardly withdrew his hand, laughing as he explained: "Xue Duo, I wanted to see if you have a big belly, you eat more than me, logically speaking, you should be as sturdy as me, not as thin as you are now."

  The weather was sweltering, and Xue'er wore two thin summer garments according to the rules of her family. Even in the shade of a tree, it was hard to feel cool, and she couldn't stop sweating. She gazed at Wen Xiuyu's single-layer clothing with envy, saying: "Brother, I'm wearing one more layer than you, and I'm sweating more than you, so I must be thinner." Wen Chunyi only showed his clever side in front of Wen Xiuyu. Wen Xiuyu looked at her lively eyes and patted her head, saying: "Xue'er, don't worry, brother will study hard, and when I become an official even greater than our uncle, you won't have to pretend to be foolish anymore."

  Spring Intention smiled and nodded, it's a great thing for kids to have ambitions early on. Wen Xiuyue liked this side of Spring Intention, he immediately had an air of big brotherhood about him. Wen Xiuyue looked around cautiously before whispering to Spring Intention: "Xueduo, you stay here and play by yourself, big brother will go to the kitchen to get you some freshly baked pastries." Before Spring Intention could grab his arm, he had already slipped away into the flower-filled area across the road. Spring Intention retreated deeper into the shade of the tree, just as two young boys came running down the street, followed by two servants calling out: "Eleventh Master, Twelfth Master."

  After the four people ran far away, Wen Chunyi finally let out a sigh of relief. She couldn't let others in the Wen family see her playing outside the yard. Wen Chunyi looked at the flowers and felt suffocated, letting out a soft sigh. It was rare for her to go on a trip with friends to seek good fortune in the deep mountains. On the way, she had pulled up a friend who was about to slip down the cliff, but ended up stepping on a stone and falling down the cliff herself. When she woke up, she had become a two-and-a-half-year-old child. At that time, she was shocked by this reality and became stupid like a wooden chicken. Then she heard the young woman say to her again and again: "Chunyi, mother has told you many times that you can't show off your intelligence outside, you always don't listen to mother's words. Look at you now, have you really become an idiot?"

  The money intention of the youth became the two and a half year old child's Wen Chunyi, she has been foolish once, listening to this young woman's words again, she can't help but be foolish for the second time. The mother of that family, willing to let her own clever and clever child become a fool, this won't be a stepmother, right? Money intention is usually a careless person, but also never thought about crossing things. She is the most useless person in the Qian family, but when brothers and sisters encounter errands, they are always inseparable from her. Money intention feels good about herself, thinking that she is an indispensable person in the Qian family. Money intention foolishly thinks, something's wrong, parents and elder brother will be heartbroken, relatives will no longer have a thoughtful sister to serve them, and they will also be heartbroken.

  Qian Yi remained silent for many days before finally accepting the reality that she had become a fool. She no longer needed to pretend, as everyone in the Wen household knew that Fourth Master's second daughter had fallen into the lake and become an idiot. Every day, Wen Chaoqing came to visit his daughter, only to see her not running over to hug him like before, but instead mechanically greeting him according to the instructions of the servant girls. Wen Chaoqing sighed at the sight, while Jin Shi looked at her daughter with tears in her eyes and asked: "Xue Duo, tell Mother who instructed the maid to push you into the lake? Mother doesn't want this life anymore, but I must go seek justice for our family's child. Why can't our children be as smart as those of other families?"

  Money is also a heart-wrenching thing for her. She had it too easy in her previous life, and now that she's in this place, she can't accept the setbacks. Every day is like a dream, and she's just going through the motions. As a result, the maidservants have no qualms about discussing their masters' affairs in front of her. The He family was descended from Hanlin scholars, and it was He Chunyi's great-grandfather who rescued the emperor during a crisis, but suffered serious injuries and died young. Because of this, He Chunyi's grandfather was favored by the emperor and was exceptionally promoted to be the second-rank official in charge of the Imperial Academy in his later years, breaking the previous rules for Hanlin officials. The He family's ancestor had six sons, three legitimate and three illegitimate. The eldest legitimate son, He Chaohong, is currently a fifth-rank scholar in the Hanlin Academy and has high hopes of becoming a fourth-rank official.

  Listening to the maids' conversation, Wen Chunyi slowly came to the conclusion that her biological father, Wen Zhaoqing, was the most useless son in the Wen family. He could only help his eldest brother, Wen Zhaorong, with external affairs in the mansion. Among the six brothers of the Wen family, only he married a woman from a humble background, Jinshi, as his wife. The couple, referred to by the maids as "Wen's Fourth Master and Mistress", were timid and afraid of trouble. However, their children were all very promising. Their eldest daughter, Wen Xueyi, was born on a snowy day, six years older than Wen Chunyi. From a young age, she showed great strength and grew up to resemble her grandfather the most, so the elders in the Wen family treated her with particular affection.

  The eldest son, Wen Xiu Yu, was two years older than Wen Chun Yi. When he was young, there wasn't much to distinguish him, but after his younger sister, Wen Chun Yi, had an accident and fell into the lake, he became more subdued and less mischievous. Under the guidance of Wen Xue Yi, who was only four and a half years old at the time, he began to receive education from their grandfather. In terms of academics, he showed exceptional intelligence. The patriarch of the Wen family specifically warned his family members that according to the household rules, siblings should love and care for each other. If another incident like Wen Chun Yi's accident were to happen again, it would not be just a matter of selling off a maid servant. Before her accident, Wen Chun Yi was still young and didn't show any remarkable beauty, except for her eyes, which resembled those of her mother, who was secretly referred to as a "fox spirit" by others.