Dormancy 07

"I didn't get involved..." When Fang Zhiyi returned upstairs, he deliberately glanced at the suspicious Xiaoxiaohei beside him. "After all, I didn't make a move."

"Host, I advise you to consider the consequences. Unless your original body comes here, I might not be able to protect you either..."

"Just shut up. I'll tell you what to do, and you do it."

"Fine."

Fang Xiaolian got up early that morning. Lately, her stepmother made her finish the chores before leaving, so she had to wake up early. She had gone to bed late last night, and when the cold wind blew, Fang Xiaolian shivered, and the events of the previous night gradually came back to her.

What did Dad mean by what he said last night? Was he... was he trying to get me to earn money?

No one else in the house was up yet, and it was still dark outside. She started her chores, her mind replaying last night's scene until a figure stood before her. The lost-in-thought Fang Xiaolian was startled. Looking up, she saw her father.

She instinctively lowered her head. Her fear of Fang Zhiyi had been ingrained since childhood, back when he used to beat her every few days.

"Take this."

It wasn't until Fang Zhiyi handed her something that Fang Xiaolian looked up and took it—a ten-yuan note.

"You can use it to buy food, or you can do something else with it... figure it out yourself. Think of it as an advance on your wages." Fang Zhiyi turned and walked away, leaving Fang Xiaolian staring dumbly at the money in her hand. So last night hadn't been a dream!

Her heart fluttered with a hint of joy, but there was more confusion than anything else.

Standing behind the window, Fang Zhiyi watched the frail figure finish her chores, then leave carrying a worn-out schoolbag. He sighed. "Tsk, what a pain..."

But considering how, in the original storyline, Fang Xiaolian never came back home after this, it showed she had some backbone. Hopefully, she'd figure a few things out.

As for himself... Fang Zhiyi turned his head to look at Hu Xiulian's still-closed door, narrowing his eyes.

He glanced around, then walked over to his parents' door and knocked softly. Elderly people tend to sleep lightly, and Fang's Mother had been awake for a while, just sitting on the edge of the bed lost in thought. Hearing the knock, she quickly got up and opened the door.

"Son, why are you up so early?"

"Mom, I have something to discuss with you both." Fang Zhiyi forced a faint smile.

They wouldn't let him interfere, right? Well, if it didn't go through him directly, that was fine.

When Liu Wen and Liu Wu got up, they habitually went to the kitchen to find food. Ever since Hu Xiulian had taken control, the task of making breakfast for the two boys had fallen on Fang's Mother. Although the meals were simple, they were still better than what Fang Zhiyi used to make.

But today, as Liu Wu ate, he let out a "huh?" in surprise.

Liu Wen turned to look. Beneath the noodles in Liu Wu's bowl was a fried egg!

Liu Wu was thrilled and immediately stuffed the egg into his mouth. Liu Wen swallowed hard and quickly dug through his own bowl but found nothing. He got angry. "Grandma, why didn't I get an egg?"

Fang's Mother turned around and forced a smile. "Xiao Wen, we only had one egg at home today. You're the older brother, so you should let your younger brother have it. He's still little."

"Hmph!" Liu Wen snorted, set his bowl down, and stormed off.

Just then, Hu Xiulian, who had just woken up, saw this and looked puzzled. "What's wrong?"

But her attention was quickly drawn to something Fang's Mother was doing.

"Xiao Wu, here. Use this to buy yourself something good to eat."

Oh? Had the sun risen from the west? This old woman was actually giving her son pocket money?

Hu Xiulian immediately forgot about Liu Wen's tantrum. It must be because she now had a firm grip on the household. Honestly, this family had nothing to offer—she was the one who had settled marrying into it!

Liu Wu was even more delighted with the money, chanting "Thank you, Grandma!" before skipping out the door.

Hu Xiulian felt something was off but couldn't quite put her finger on what. Still, she was unusually nice to Fang's Mother.

"You should have been like this from the start. Now that Zhiyi and I are married, they're your grandsons too. When they grow up, they'll take care of you, won't they?"

Fang's Mother nodded repeatedly with an apologetic smile.

"Is Zhiyi still not up?"

A flicker of panic crossed Fang's Mother's face, but she quickly steadied herself. "No, let him sleep a bit longer."

"All he does is sleep. A man who can't even earn money—if I'd known he was like this, I wouldn't have bothered marrying him!" Hu Xiulian grumbled a few more complaints. "Forget it. Cook me some noodles too."

In the original story, Fang Zhiyi wasn't always jobless—in fact, after Liu Wen and Liu Wu started calling him "Dad," he worked hard. Though it was just manual labor, it helped support the family somewhat.

But now, with a different person in control, Fang Zhiyi had adopted a "do nothing, make no mistakes" policy and was determined not to lift a finger.

Divorce? That would be perfect!

Yet Hu Xiulian only complained for a bit before shutting up.

For now, she didn't have to do much work. Fang's Father raised pigs, and Fang's Mother kept chickens and ducks. Occasionally, she'd even pick some vegetables from the second son's fields. They could at least get by on food.

She figured she could just divorce Fang Zhiyi once her two sons were older.

Just as she was thinking this, Fang Zhiyi walked past her.

"Hubby, where are you going?" she asked instinctively.

Without turning his head, Fang Zhiyi replied, "To play cards!"

Hu Xiulian curled her lip. Not long after marrying him, she'd learned that Fang Zhiyi liked drinking and gambling. Since many men were like that, she hadn't thought much of it. But now she realized he barely drank—he just gambled.

Though it seemed he never won any money either.

Fang Zhiyi wasn't lying. As he wandered around, he ran into some of his old buddies from before. Seeing him, they invited him to play cards. Sticking to his policy of doing whatever the original him did, he sat down to join. But after a few rounds, Fang Zhiyi noticed something fishy—these guys were colluding to fix the game.

They knew Fang Zhiyi had no money, so they didn't target him. Instead, they set their sights on swindling fellow villagers who had come back from working in the city.

Fang Zhiyi was a great actor and had an even better memory. With his experience, he perfectly controlled his wins and losses, keeping them nearly balanced. Occasionally, he'd lose all day, then win all the next day. After a month, no one suspected him. But no one knew that, with these small gains, he'd actually managed to save up some money.

Today, he played as steadily as ever, winning over two hundred yuan before losing consistently. By the time the game ended, his friends were lamenting his bad luck, yet Fang Zhiyi knew he'd actually come out ahead by more than eighty yuan.

As he was leaving, he overheard something interesting.

"Ma Laoliu says there's good money to be made in the town with that sort of thing. Now that these people who came back for the New Year are about to leave, if we don't cash in soon, we'll miss the chance."

"What could we do there?"

"Act as decoys! You throw in a line, I throw in another—plenty of fools will fall for it."