Transmigrated as the Villain Boss's Precious Darling-Chapter 105: A Dark and Windy Night

"Auntie, don’t do any more work!"

As they were leaving, Tang Xiaonan reminded her again and again. Phoebe Thorne nodded, her heart aching. ’It’s all my fault for being so useless,’ she thought, ’letting my niece be wronged like this. This time, I can’t be such a pushover anymore. My brother is right—I have my family to back me up. What is there to be afraid of!’

"I know," Phoebe said. "Take these home to eat."

Phoebe Thorne had bought a basket of brown sugar fried dough twists; there wasn’t much else presentable she could offer. Hiding in her room and peeking out, Mrs. Chapman’s face turned livid when she saw the large basket. She hissed, "Spending my son’s money to subsidize her own family. Hmph!"

Mr. Chapman coughed a few times and tried to reason with her. "The Thorne family brought plenty of things, too."

’In all honesty, the Thorne family was actually giving them more,’ he thought. ’But the old woman always has to nitpick about every little thing. Sigh!’

"It’s only right that they bring things! Phoebe Thorne is just a country girl. Marrying my son is a blessing she earned over ten lifetimes. For the Thorne family to be joined with our Chapman family by marriage is their good fortune as well. What’s the big deal about them bringing a few things!"

Mrs. Chapman muttered resentfully, clearly thinking it wasn’t nearly enough!

Mr. Chapman didn’t dare try to persuade her any further. He couldn’t do any work or earn any money now. He had to take medicine every day and rely on his wife to care for him. He could only go along with whatever she said; otherwise, with no one to look after him, he wouldn’t survive.

’As for his daughter-in-law, there was nothing he could do!’

Phoebe Thorne saw Tang Xiaonan and the others out of the courtyard. Still worried, Goldie Thorne instructed Amanda Chapman, "You’ll have to work a little harder these next couple of days. Don’t let your mom do any chores."

"Okay, I understand."

Amanda Chapman nodded earnestly. She would take good care of her mother.

’If anything happened to her mother, she wouldn’t be able to stay in this house any longer.’

"It’s getting late. You all should hurry. It’s not safe on the mountain path after dark," Phoebe Thorne urged.

The mountain path was rugged, and it was easy to fall in the pitch-dark. Plus, with wild animals about, accidents could easily happen.

Goldie Thorne looked up at the sky. The sun was already sinking in the west, and dusk was settling in. Gentry Chapman ran back into the house, glanced at the mantel clock, and ran out again. "It’s a quarter past four," he announced.

"Hurry, hurry! It’ll be dark by five. Don’t dawdle on the way," Phoebe Thorne urged.

Goldie Thorne carried Tang Xiaonan on his back, while Patrick Thorne carried the basket of fried dough twists and a square stool that was missing a leg. He had it dangling from a rope, and it was heavy as lead. Jim Thorne was tempted to toss the broken stool several times, but one glance from Tang Xiaonan made him go back to carrying it obediently.

Adrian Hawthorne, for his part, was carrying a sack of books. The group hurried along, huffing and puffing. The sky grew dark with surprising speed; it was already dim before they even reached the summit. The mountain wind was chillingly damp. Tang Xiaonan had put her many layers of sweaters back on and was bundled up so tightly she looked like a little dumpling, barely able to move.

By the time they reached the summit, it was even darker. The moon was lackluster that night, and there were hardly any stars. Goldie Thorne switched on his flashlight, but its small beam didn’t illuminate much of their surroundings.

The mountain wind whistled past, making strange noises. On the ground, their shadows twisted and intertwined into bizarre shapes. Tang Xiaonan flinched and hugged Goldie Thorne’s neck tighter, her voice trembling. "Uncle, there’s someone up ahead!"

It looked like a woman with a graceful figure, standing perfectly still as if contemplating the meaning of life. Tang Xiaonan had always been a staunch atheist, but her conviction was wavering. ’If I could transmigrate into a book,’ she thought, ’then ghosts and spirits must exist, too.’

’Out here in the desolate wilderness, we might have just run into a fox spirit, a tree dryad, or a flower demon.’

The more Tang Xiaonan thought about it, the more frightened she became. She hugged Goldie Thorne’s neck, unconsciously tightening her grip until she was practically choking him. But at that moment, the poor guy was even more scared than she was, his breathing shallow and rapid as cold sweat poured down his back.