The Adopted Cannon Fodder Made a Comeback

Everyone was stunned. They hadn’t expected Grandma Sun to say something like that.

A glint flashed in Sun Jiaming’s eyes. Looking at the silent Gu’er standing beside his grandmother, he understood. Grandma and Gu’er must have planned this together. The goal was to make his mother agree to let him stay. ’This is a good way to solve it,’ he thought, feeling a bit of the pressure lift.

"Grandma, what did Grandpa leave for you?"

Before anyone could recover from their shock, Sun Jiaming immediately asked his question. It seemed like he was just curious about the item, but he was actually trying to signal to his mother that their grandmother had likely set a trap for her.

Cao Qiu nodded repeatedly. ’My son is still on my side,’ she thought. ’He got right to the point.’ If Grandpa Jia Ming had left something behind, how could it possibly go to that wild brat Gu’er? It had to be hers.

Still, ’Did Grandpa Jia Ming really leave anything behind?’

"Jia Ming, that chest on the very bottom over there. Open it. There’s another box under the clothes. Bring it over here."

Fumbling around, Grandma Sun produced a key and handed it to Sun Jiaming.

Sun Jiaming stepped forward to take it, glancing at Gu’er. Gu’er didn’t look up. She didn’t dare try to signal him for fear of being discovered, but she thought Sun Jiaming must have already understood Grandma Sun’s intentions.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Sun Jiaming went to the corner of the room. There were four chests stacked there, and the one on the very bottom, tucked in the back, was locked.

Every family in the village had a few chests, but not many were kept locked. A locked chest usually contained a family’s most important possessions.

He used the key to open the lock, moved the clothes on top, and pulled out the chest from the very bottom.

The crowd sized up the chest in Sun Jiaming’s hands.

This chest was different from the usual ones. It wasn’t particularly large, but it was intricately carved.

Seeing the unfaded red lacquer, the elaborate carvings, and the antique copper lock, a glint appeared in everyone’s eyes.

A chest like this was complicated to make. Ordinary families wouldn’t have one; they belonged to wealthy households.

Even Gu’er was surprised that Grandma Sun possessed such a chest.

She knew that many people in the Northeast were from elsewhere, either descendants of those who migrated north of the Great Wall, or those left over from the sent-down youth movement.

’Could it be that Grandma Sun isn’t a local? Or maybe her ancestors weren’t.’

’It seems Grandma Sun’s ancestors must have come from a prominent family.’

Cao Qiu’s eyes were glued to the chest, as if she could bore a hole through it with her stare. ’But there’s a lock on it. No one knows what’s inside until it’s opened.’

"This chest was part of my dowry."

Grandma Sun’s withered hand caressed the chest, a look of reminiscence in her cloudy eyes.

"I hid the key to this chest. It can’t be opened without it. Inside are things from my dowry, as well as things left by Grandpa Jia Ming. He said it was up to me whether to pass it down to my grandson’s wife or give it to my granddaughter to take with her when she married. Jia Ming has always taken care of me; he’s a filial boy. I was planning to leave all this to him when I die, to be passed down through the generations. But now Jia Ming is going to the city, and Gu’er is willing to take care of me. So I’ll treat Gu’er as my own granddaughter. I’ll leave these things to her. When she marries and has children, she can pass them on to her children, and so on, from one generation to the next."

Grandma Sun placed one hand on the chest and took Gu’er’s with the other. Her meaning was clear: whoever was willing to take care of her would get these things.

As for what was in the chest—could something meant to be passed down for generations be anything but valuable? It had to be worth a lot. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be kept in such a fine chest.

Cao Qiu was also wondering. ’What could be in that chest?’

’Is there really something valuable inside, or is the old hag just bluffing?’

"Elder Sister-in-law? This isn’t right, is it?"

Third Grandpa came to his senses and questioned Grandma Sun. He had also thought that Gu’er had called him over to back the old woman up, but he never expected it was for this.

"That’s right, Sister-in-law. That year, the harvest failed. There was nothing to eat from the fields, and we’d dug up all the wild vegetables. To make things worse, bandits came down from the mountains to wreak havoc. Your husband led the men to drive them off. After that, he even went to the city to pawn something. I don’t know what it was, but I know he brought back a lot of grain in a cart. It was coarse grain, but when we didn’t even have wild vegetables to eat, coarse grain was a godsend! It saved the lives of everyone in the village. Since these things are from your dowry and what your husband and his family left behind, they should be passed on to Jia Ming. You can’t give them to an outsider! By doing this, Sister-in-law, you’re wronging your late husband."

Eighth Grandpa added, trying to persuade her.

His words sent everyone into deep thought as they recalled those times.

Now Cao Qiu had no doubts. ’My father-in-law was the village chief and often went to the city; he was a man of the world. He might have really gotten his hands on some treasures. Eighth Uncle was talking about Jia Ming’s great-grandfather. Although he died fighting the foreign devils, I heard that before that, he also fought bandits. And what are bandits? They’re robbers! And robbers steal valuable things. Maybe Jia Ming’s great-grandfather got something good from those bandits.’

’So there really is something valuable, and it’s not a bluff.’

’What could it be? Maybe gold bars and jewels, or silver dollars?’

’As for my mother-in-law’s dowry, I always thought she didn’t have much. But seeing this fine chest now, there must be at least a few nice things inside, right?’

’There must be jewelry. Maybe even gold! Silver would be fine, too. I don’t have any decent jewelry of my own. It would be amazing if I could get my hands on it. If there’s gold inside... ’

Cao Qiu’s gaze grew even more feverish. ’It has to be something good, something valuable. If we sell it, we could buy a big house in the city! I could live a good life, decked out in gold and silver! Then I wouldn’t have to be at the mercy of my eldest daughter-in-law’s moods. If she dared to treat me poorly, I’d make my son divorce her and marry another. I could be as picky as I want about who Jia Ming marries. If any daughter-in-law dared to be unfilial, just watch how I’d deal with her.’

The more Cao Qiu thought about it, the more her heart raced. She wished she could go up and snatch the chest right then and there.

Everyone looked at Grandma Sun. Gu’er remained silent. She knew they must think she had tricked Grandma Sun, and that was why the old woman offered to give her the chest.

"What’s inside?"

Cao Qiu tugged on Sun Zhuzi’s sleeve and whispered to him. ’The Sun Family has something like this, and Sun Zhuzi never told me! If that old hag hadn’t mentioned it today, I’d still be in the dark. It looks like Sun Zhuzi needs to be taught a lesson. How dare he hide this from me? Was he planning to take it for himself after the old woman dies and not give me any? Could he have someone else on the side?’

"I... I don’t know either. I saw it once when I was little. I asked Mom about it, but she wouldn’t say. It’s probably something valuable."

Sun Zhuzi whispered back to his wife. He truly didn’t know what it was.

Cao Qiu gave Sun Zhuzi a vicious pinch, thinking he was useless. Sun Zhuzi grimaced in pain but didn’t dare make a sound.

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