Reborn in Each Other’s Bodies: A Mother and Daughter’s Deadly Revenge - Chapter 41

“Hey, peddler, wait up—”

After walking half a mile from Taohua Village, Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao finally jumped out and called out to the young peddler once they were sure no one else was around.

The peddler had already noticed the two little shadows trailing him. He stopped and smiled, asking,

“Little brothers, do you want to buy something?”

“Yes! We want malt candy—”

Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao swallowed their saliva and shouted.

“Alright! How much candy do you want, little brothers?”

“Half a string—no, a whole string’s worth!”

As he spoke, Feng Dabao pulled out a string of coins.

The peddler’s grin widened until his eyes nearly disappeared.

After years of doing business in the villages, he knew that children usually only had a couple of coins to spend. Any purchase over ten coins definitely meant they had stolen money from home.

A whole string of coins for malt candy? That would buy a huge bag!

These two brats had clearly stolen money from their family to buy sweets.

Bold little thieves—but what did he care?

He happened to have a large bag of malt candy stashed at the bottom of his trunk.

Money changed hands, goods were delivered, and both parties went their separate ways, satisfied.

Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao hid in the woods, sitting on the ground and wolfing down the candy.

This whole affair had started many days earlier. One night, the two brothers had discovered two strings of coins hidden under their pillows. They were so thrilled they nearly jumped three feet in the air.

Being selfish by nature, they never even considered telling their parents. Instead, they plotted to sneak off to town and spend the money.

Walking to town was too far, and taking an ox cart risked getting caught by their family.

While they were still figuring out what to do, they happened to pass by Aunt Jiang’s house one day and caught the mouthwatering scent of meat. Unable to resist, they went in and bought two bowls of bone broth.

After that, they kept spending their money at Aunt Jiang’s—buying eggs, dumplings, meat buns…

One string of coins had already been spent. Then, a couple of days ago, their grandparents and parents lost their money. The brothers were terrified, afraid their family would discover they had money of their own…

The remaining string of coins burned in their hands like a hot potato.

So when they saw the peddler today, they were overjoyed. After tailing him for a while, they finally spent the last string of coins on malt candy.

They licked their fingers clean and even scraped the oiled paper wrapping for every last trace of sweetness.

“Bro, should we go home or to Cripple’s place to play?” Feng Erbao asked.

Feng Dabao thought for a moment. The house was a mess, and their parents and grandparents looked like they wanted to skin someone alive. Better to go play at Cripple’s place.

Dusting off their pants, the two boys ran off to play.

Completely unaware that their furtive candy-buying and secret feast in the woods had been witnessed by Old He’s fourth son and his wife, who had just returned from visiting her family.

This He family was the same one that had spoken up for Huang Yaning before.

The He family had four sons, and Old He’s fourth son was the youngest, born late in his mother’s life.

Recently married and still childless, the couple had spent the past few days at the wife’s family home for a celebration and had only just returned to Taohua Village today.

Call it bad luck for Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao. The couple hadn’t planned to say anything at first, but as soon as they got home, they heard about the recent scandals involving the Feng family.

What kind of monsters would threaten to sell their own granddaughter to a brothel? And when that failed, they handed her over to the Zhang family as a child bride…

Black-hearted, rotten to the core—they’d surely be fried in oil in the afterlife.

What made them even angrier was that the two Feng brats had dared to bump into their old mother. If she had been seriously hurt at her age, the consequences could have been severe.

How could they let that slide? So after a quick lunch, the couple exchanged a glance, slipped out, and headed straight for the village entrance.

Since it was lunchtime, only a few elderly women were gathered there.

Pretending to chat casually, Old He’s fourth son and his wife spread the news about the Feng boys buying a whole string’s worth of malt candy from the peddler and devouring it in the woods.

Hearing this, the women immediately connected it to the Feng family’s recent loss of money. The Fengs had lost a hundred coins, and their two boys had spent a whole string on candy…

Well, well—

Thieves in their own house!

Old He’s fourth son, mistakenly thinking the Fengs had only lost a hundred coins, slyly steered the blame toward Feng Dabao and Xiao Li.

How much guts or skill could children have? If Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao stole money, it must have been their parents’ idea…

The old women’s eyes gleamed with gossip. They rushed home to spread the news, and after sharing it with their families, they still weren’t satisfied—so they sought out their old friends…

In less than an hour, the entire Taohua Village knew that the Feng boys had spent a whole string of coins on a massive bag of malt candy and had sneakily eaten it all in the woods…

Old Lady Li was the first in the Feng family to hear the news. She nearly fainted from rage.

It had never crossed her mind that the two grandsons she doted on like precious treasures would steal from the family. The villagers were right—it must have been Xiao Li and Feng Dabao’s doing…

That was a hundred taels! Feng Dabao and Xiao Li—those damned thieves!

The more Old Lady Li thought about it, the angrier she became. Storming back home like a whirlwind, she barged into the eldest son’s room and grabbed Xiao Li by the hair.

Xiao Li and Feng Dabao had been “napping” in bed.

After losing their money, the couple had been so furious they could barely eat or sleep, and their hair had even started turning gray.

Exhausted, they had finally dozed off—only for Old Lady Li to burst in moments later.

“You wretch! Teaching my grandsons to steal!

“You made them steal my burial money! Give it back—give it back!”

She slapped Xiao Li repeatedly with one hand while yanking her hair with the other. Xiao Li shrieked in pain, her plump body writhing on the bed.

“Dabao, save me—!”

Feng Dabao hesitated before jumping in to break it up.

Seeing her eldest son side with his wife instead of her, Old Lady Li’s fury surged, and her combat skills skyrocketed.

She single-handedly tore out chunks of Xiao Li’s hair and clawed bloody streaks across Feng Dabao’s face.

Finally, Feng Dabao lost his temper and shoved his mother hard. Old Lady Li fell to the ground, clutching her chest as she wailed, alternating between sobbing and cursing at the couple to return her money…

Feng Dabao and Xiao Li insisted they hadn’t stolen anything—their money had been stolen too.

Meanwhile, Huang Yaning had just returned to the Feng house with the village chief’s granddaughter, Xiao Hong, after gathering firewood. For the past few days, she had been going up the mountain with Xiao Hong to collect kindling.

Overhearing the commotion in the courtyard, she immediately realized that the two strings of coins she had left for Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao had done their job. A cold smirk curled her lips.

Just then, noisy voices erupted outside the gate.

Turning, she saw the two “golden boys” of the Feng family being dragged back home by Feng Erbao and the three Feng sisters, with Old Man Feng following grimly behind. The moment they entered, the gate slammed shut.

Huang Yaning’s smile deepened. The show was about to begin.