Chapter 3: The Transmigrator’s Ability
The sky had turned completely dark.
The sounds of chickens crowing and dogs barking were endless.
Jiang Mianmian was lying in Mother’s arms, not very comfortably, and her throat felt sore.
Aside from her sore throat, the whole household looked very comfortable.
There was a sense of peaceful, quiet time.
Mother held her with one hand while chopping wood with the other, “Clang, clang, clang.”
Father was cooking at the stove, slicing some unknown leaves, “Scrape, scrape, scrape.”
Her older brother, Jiang Feng, was carefully whittling a wooden point with a knife, “Swish, swish, swish.”
Her older sister, Jiang Yu, was washing clothes, pounding them against a wooden board, “Thump, thump, thump.”
The pheasant was swimming in the hot water in the pot, “Gurgle, gurgle.”
Jiang Mianmian yawned.
She was sleepy again.
Her eyelids couldn’t help but droop.
Then she felt herself being put down by Mother.
She knew it was a wooden basin.
A wooden basin-brand crib; she had watched Mother make it. It was lined with a pile of unknown dry grass, covered with several layers of repeatedly washed rags. At first, she had resisted, but lying down, it didn’t seem to prick, and it was actually quite comfortable.
Mother put her down, and she woke up, eyes opening, but she didn’t cry.
She was well-behaved.
She even did some stretching on her own.
Attempting to grab her feet with her hands and bring them to her mouth…
Then she felt the wooden basin being moved, and subsequently, she saw the sky.
Her older sister moved the wooden basin to her side.
“Mother, I’ll look after my younger sister while I wash the clothes; you go lie down for a while.”
Jiang Mianmian thought that her older sister was quite strong, holding the basin very steadily; she didn’t feel any swaying.
Then she happily looked at the sky.
There were many stars twinkling in the sky, really so many. It was rare to have a cool breeze, making it slightly more comfortable. At this moment, her older sister stood up and covered her with a piece of clothing???
Jiang Mianmian really wanted to protest, but no matter how she twisted and turned, she couldn’t push off the clothing.
Instead, her older sister looked at her and giggled.
Jiang Mianmian looked at her smiling older sister. When she smiled, her eyes looked a bit like handsome father’s, with curved brows and eyes; she was quite pretty.
Next, she watched the stars while pushing at the clothing, and then she fell asleep again.
When she opened her eyes again, it was time to eat.
The whole family sat around to eat; there were no rules about not speaking while eating or sleeping.
Today there was a big basin on the table, pheasant and wild vegetable soup?
It looked green and smelled quite fragrant.
Mother divided the food, one big bowl each. She picked up the small chicken leg and put it in Father’s bowl: “You still have to go to work and do heavy labor, you should eat more.”
Her older brother, Jiang Feng, then picked the chicken breast from his own bowl and put it in Mother’s: “Mother, you eat more. Look at Mianmian, she’s so dark and thin.”
Dark and thin little Mianmian?
Then, she saw her older sister pick the chicken neck from her bowl and put it in her older brother’s: “Brother, you eat it. I snuck some food in the kitchen at Landlord Liu’s house today, so I’m not hungry.”
Finally, Father picked the chicken feet from his bowl and put them in her older sister’s: “You like gnawing on this, here you go.”
Little Mianmian could only drink milk, watching the chicken meat circle around in the family’s bowls. If she hadn’t heard those things earlier, she would have truly felt this was a simple and loving family.
The family ate with rare refinement, chewing slowly… finely chewing the pheasant bones and slowly swallowing them.
After the meal, the family shared the pastries her older sister had brought back.
Jiang Mianmian watched longingly. She didn’t want to eat directly; she hoped tonight’s milk would taste like osmanthus cake.
After the adults finished eating, it was her turn. She tried hard, her face turning red as she sucked on the milk. Perhaps because Mother had eaten chicken, there seemed to be a little more milk tonight, or maybe it was just an illusion.
Just as Jiang Mianmian was sucking hard and felt it was empty again, someone knocked on the front door.
The family immediately destroyed the evidence. Seeing that there were no traces left, her older brother went out to open the door.
Entering was an old woman wearing silk fabric. Her face was smeared with a lot of things, looking very frightening.
Jiang Mianmian thought to herself that although the family she was reincarnated into looked very poor, at least they were pleasing to the eye. If she had been reincarnated into this old woman’s family…
“What wind blew Sixth Auntie here? Come in and sit,” Mother called out enthusiastically.
The old woman sat down as if she were familiar with the place, looked critically at the child in Lady Qin’s arms, then looked Jiang Yu up and down several times before saying:
“Sister Yu has grown up so pretty, her face is round and white. There’s a good opportunity, and I naturally think of my own kin. Mr. Wu from Prefecture City is recruiting people. If Sister Yu can be chosen, not only will she be able to follow Mr. Wu into Prefecture City to enjoy a good life, but Mr. Wu will also give this much!”
The old woman held out her palm and turned it around.
She had a silver ring on her middle finger, making her chubby hand look a bit swollen.
“Ten taels of silver. It’s enough for your Jiang Feng to find a wife.”
Jiang Mianmian was still staring at the ring, wondering if her finger would become necrotic, before she realized what was being said.
This is human trafficking???
Perhaps because Jiang Mianmian’s eyes were too wide, after the old woman finished speaking, she stared at Jiang Mianmian and said:
“Tsk tsk, the poor thing. Jiang Feng’s Mother, even if you don’t consider Jiang Feng, you have to consider this little one. I heard she was only over four jin when she was born. The old saying goes: three die, four are disabled, five are weak, six live, seven are healthy, eight are strong. This child of yours is so dark and thin, she doesn’t look easy to raise. In the future, if something happens, eating, getting medicine—what doesn’t require money? Sister Yu going to Prefecture City to enjoy a good life can also support her younger sister; it is, after all, a life…”
Jiang Mianmian… How did this get dragged into involving her? She suddenly became agitated and started struggling.
Mother held her extra tightly, and she couldn’t move at all.
“Mother, why don’t you sell me? You can buy good food and raise my younger sister, raise her to be as sturdy as me,” Sister Yu said.
Jiang Mianmian felt her baby heart ache all of a sudden.
She wailed at the top of her lungs.
Before, she had heard that her older sister had exposed her best friend’s scandalous secrets just to snatch a kitchen helper job, and she had thought she was a bad girl. But now, she was actually willing to sell herself for a bite of food for her younger sister. How could she be so stupid? Bring out that selfish streak of yours!
Jiang Mianmian gathered all her strength and kept crying, never stopping.
But her ability was limited, and the sound of her crying was just “waa, waa.”
It was as if she were holding her breath.
It startled the whole family.
“Sixth Auntie, our family cannot afford to entertain you, please go back,” Mother said.
“Sixth Auntie, please go back. We do not sell our daughters,” Father said clearly.
Her older brother directly took action and shoved Sixth Auntie out.
Sixth Auntie stood at the door, cursing angrily, and while cursing, she spat a glob of thick phlegm:
“A bunch of lowly wretches, you don’t even know how to enjoy a good life. You deserve to be poor your whole life. Jiang the Second, if you can manage to keep your little one alive, I, Sixth Auntie, will eat three jin of shit.”
Because Jiang Mianmian was crying so frighteningly, the family ignored Sixth Auntie.
Jiang Mianmian was genuinely scared; she cried no matter who held her, unable to stop.
She had gained a bit of personal experience with this family environment.
It was too poor.
Sister Yu held her younger sister and gently rocked her.
“Mianmian, don’t cry. Older sister won’t go. Older sister will stay with you every day; older sister will never leave again.”
As she spoke, she was also teary-eyed.
If there were any other way, who would want to be a maid?
As Jiang Mianmian cried, she suddenly felt her eyes blur—a spring appeared within her line of sight.
The spring was as big as a bowl’s mouth. The gurgling spring water, about a finger thick and a finger long, sprayed into the air. The falling spring water disappeared into the void without a single splash.
Jiang Mianmian subconsciously swiped at the spring water, and a drop of sweet spring water splashed over, falling into her mouth. It was sweet and refreshing. Falling into her nose, the nasal congestion that babies often have was immediately cured.
Waa, waa, waa, the transmigrator’s ability!
She forgot to cry and opened her mouth in surprise.
And Jiang Yu found that after she said she wouldn’t go, her younger sister actually stopped crying and seemed to have opened her mouth and started laughing.
She smiled too, but her tears flowed even more fiercely.
