Chapter 75: Such a Worldly Possession

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Tang Ailian looked at her mother earnestly, saying, "Mom, you really don't need to worry about me." She thought for a moment, reached out, and pinched a corner of the nearby wooden stool, allowing the powder to scatter.

Liu Xiujian stared in amazement. She pulled over the four-legged stool, examined it closely, pinched it again, and realized it was a solid wooden stool, not made of tofu. She couldn't help but shudder.

Tang Ailian sighed like an adult, "Mom, you know, I'm learning from a master. He comes to teach me martial arts every night. My master's skills are not something ordinary people can learn. Even though I'm only four or five years old, I can easily defeat a dozen adults. If I encounter a tiger, I can even kill it with one strike. So, Mom, you really don't need to worry about me."

Liu Xiujian looked at her daughter, seemingly not recognizing her anymore.

"Mom, your daughter is not an ordinary person. If you always see your daughter through the eyes of an ordinary person, what will you do when your daughter leaves one day?" Tang Ailian sighed again.

However, Liu Xiujian was taken aback, "Ailian, are you going to leave Mom?"

Tang Ailian nodded and shook her head, "Today, I saw my master at the marketplace. He told me to come to the mountains to learn from him for a few years."

"What? You want to leave with your master? No way, you're only four or five years old, and I won't agree." Liu Xiujian stood up.

Tang Ailian quickly climbed onto the bed and pressed her mother down, saying, "Mom, you have to support me. Since I've become a disciple of a high-level master, I have to learn martial arts well. At home, Grandma assigns me chores every day, which delays my practice. So, I must go learn from my master. But I promise Mom that when it's time for me to go to school, I'll come back."

Liu Xiujian heard her daughter's words, feeling like her heart was being torn apart, but if she prevented her daughter from going, it wouldn't be right. After all, her daughter had become a disciple of a high-level master, and she would follow him eventually. Maybe she would be better off going with her master, which might be better for her growth.

At least it was only for a few years. She would come back when it was time for school.

Liu Xiujian sighed, "I'll call your dad tomorrow. If he agrees, I'll let you go."

Tang Ailian handed over her bankbook and a thousand yuan in cash, saying, "Mom, take this money. Buy whatever you want with it, don't save it. It's easy for me to make money now that I've learned martial arts."

Liu Xiujian took the bankbook and checked the balance, nearly dropping it in shock. She looked at her daughter in disbelief, "Did you do something bad, Ailian?"

Tang Ailian shrugged and made a helpless gesture, "Mom, do you see me as someone who would do bad things? This is the money I earned for saving someone's life. They gave it to me as a reward. I even used the thousand-year ginseng my master gave me."

Fortunately, she didn't show her mother the bankbook with over a hundred thousand yuan.

Liu Xiujian was relieved, "I guess saving a life is worth it. Your dad only earns 38 yuan a month, 456 yuan a year, 4,560 yuan in ten years, and 45,600 yuan in a hundred years. A single life you saved is worth two hundred years of your dad's income."

Tang Ailian chuckled. Two hundred years... Could her dad live that long? Her mom didn't know, but in a few decades, when her dad retired, he would have a monthly income of several thousand yuan.

Calculating like this, Liu Xiujian laughed, "I should just tell your dad that we don't need his income. Let him come back to be with us."

Tang Ailian squinted her eyes and smiled, "That's good, Mom. Ailian also thinks it's a good idea. However, will Dad agree?"

"Of course, he won't agree." Liu Xiujian knew Tang Dalong too well, "This ten thousand yuan, he mustn't know about it. Otherwise, he'll ask me to give it to your grandma. Once it's in your grandma's hands, it will undoubtedly be swindled away by your second uncle. You've already given her a thousand yuan as a reward, so we should keep this money for ourselves."

Liu Xiujian said this with good reason. She had already given her mother-in-law a hundred yuan from the money Ailian earned before, but her mother-in-law sold some of Ailian's New Year goods and, with the addition of others coming to buy rice to make rice cakes for the children, earned three hundred yuan. She had been reluctant to spend it, but her second brother-in-law kept urging her to buy this and that, and she finally realized that her money was being swindled.

What made Liu Xiujian even more angry was that her brother-in-law wanted to borrow the bicycle she had bought with her daughter's money for a while, which she couldn't stand!

If she held onto the money herself, she could buy whatever her daughter and the family needed. Her daughter's money was meant to be used by her brother-in-law, which was unacceptable!

After leaving her mother's room, Tang Ailian went to her father's room. She was about to knock on the door when her father's slightly weary voice came from inside, "Come in, the door's not locked."

As it turned out, her father knew she would come to find him and had been waiting for her.

With her father, Tang Ailian felt more at ease. She stood straight in front of her father, hands behind her back, and said, "Dad, I'm planning to go to the mountains with my master to cultivate."

After a while, her father sighed, "When are you leaving?"

"In a month," Tang Ailian replied.

Although Tang Ailian had distanced herself from the little brothers and sisters she had taken in because of Feng Yuanzhi's probing and killing intent, she realized that even if she left now, they probably already knew about her taking in those kidnapped children as little brothers and sisters.

Therefore, she planned to handle their affairs before leaving. She even called

 White Old Man to arrange for him to come pick her up in a month when she would hand over the thousand-year ginseng to him.

A moment of silence passed.

Tang Ailian felt a bit choked up. She took out a rectangular jade box and handed it to her father, saying, "This is the thousand-year ginseng my master gave me. You can use it, sell it, or do whatever you want with it."

This jade box was made from a rectangular jade brick she had taken from the well in her space. It had no holes and had been used to make six long jade boxes.

(End of this chapter)