I guessed right.
At that very moment, behind the Fox family's place in the Back Hills, screams erupted from a broken-down thatched hut.
"Quinn Mason! You useless piece of trash! I told you to dig that hole in the Back Hills—why the hell didn't you go!"
Jade covered her swollen, beaten face and shrieked.
Quinn clutched a liquor bottle, eyes vicious as a wolf's. "Shut your goddamn mouth, you nasty bitch! Keep yelling and I'll chop you up!"
In my previous life, Quinn dug up that gold mine because I noticed the vegetation on that stretch of mountain was abnormal. I was the one who dug through county records and geology books, confirmed the general location, and only then persuaded him to try.
And by that time, Quinn had already quit drinking. His temper had mellowed.
The current Quinn was just an irritable drunk.
Jade only remembered "there's gold in the Back Hills," but she didn't know exactly where. She forced Quinn to dig around like a headless fly. Other than unearthing a pile of rotten rocks, there wasn't jack shit.
"Impossible… it was obviously right there…"
Jade curled up in the corner, staring at the bare walls of the broken house. Then she thought of me "going to the city to enjoy the good life," and regret crashed over her like a wave.
But she still wouldn't give up.
"As long as I dig up that gold… as long as I dig up that gold, I'll grind Evelyn Fox under my heel!"
She was gambling.
She just didn't know the dealer had already changed.
I was doing extremely well in Seaview City.
Flipping electronic watches earned me my first bucket of gold, and my assets multiplied more than tenfold. But I knew this kind of speculative hustle wouldn't last.
I registered my first trading company and started doing clothing wholesale properly. Bell-bottoms, mirrored sunglasses, batwing tops—whatever was trendy, I sold it.
Soon, everyone in the wholesale market knew there was a sharp-eyed "Ms. Fox."
Even though I was only twenty.
While I was busy counting money, things back home had gone completely to hell.
The village chief's son was crippled. Sure, the state-owned factory paid out a bit, but this was lifelong disability. He needed ongoing hospital treatment, burning money every single day.
The more Village Chief Abbott thought about it, the angrier he got.
This slot had originally belonged to the Fox family—it was Evelyn Fox who sold it to them! Even though it was Derek smoking that caused the accident, desperate people always need a scapegoat.
So Abbott rounded up a bunch of relatives and stormed the Fox family's place.
"Pay up! Make your Evelyn Fox get her ass back here!"
"It's all that jinx's fault! If she hadn't sold the slot, would my son have ended up like this?"
My parents had never seen anything like this. They wanted to find me, but I'd already vanished without a trace.
With no other choice, they went to find Jade. After all, she was their only hope now. And even though the Quinn she'd married was poor, at least he had strong arms.
That day, Quinn was forcing Jade up the mountain to haul rocks. Her hands—once fair and soft—were now covered in blood blisters.
The moment my parents saw her, they demanded money without so much as a greeting.
"Jade, your sister—that bitch who deserves to be cut to pieces—ran off! The village chief's going to tear down our house! Hurry up and give us some money!"
Jade almost laughed from the sheer absurdity.
"Money? Do I look like I have money?"
She pointed at the drafty roof, then at the torn cotton jacket on her body. "I can't even eat my fill, and you're coming to me for money?"
Mrs. Fox's expression soured instantly. "Back then you were the one who insisted on marrying over here no matter what! You said Quinn would make a fortune! Where's the fortune? Where's the gold? Are you hiding money because you don't want to give it to the family?"
This was human nature.
When you can bring them benefits, you're their precious darling. When you're useless, you're a liar.
Jade had no way to defend herself. She looked at her parents' greedy, disgusted faces, and felt the string in her heart stretch to the breaking point.
