Chapter 10: Pregnancy

These days, Lin Lei had been going to school, and Lin Nuo had already taken the Shen couple to the river to catch fish. Due to the quality of rice in this era being far inferior to modern times, she didn’t plan to release all the rice fish into the fields. She decided to start by testing it on three acres.

After four or five days, the group had selected around 1,000 small fish fry weighing about half a jin, and they were all released into the rice paddies.

Next, Lin Nuo planned to go up the mountain to take a look. It had already been over a month since she arrived here, almost two months, and she was now thinking about exploring the resources in the mountains. After all, people in the past relied on the mountains for resources and the sea for fishing, and the mountains were a natural source of materials. She planned to take a trip and see for herself.

However, for the past few days, she had been feeling unusually weak and constantly drowsy. One morning, after sending Lin Lei off to school, she prepared to head into the mountains. But just as she was about to leave, she suddenly felt nausea in her stomach.

“Ugh… ugh…” She dry-heaved, but nothing came up. After thinking for a moment, she realized that in the two months since coming to this world, she hadn’t had her period. She hadn’t paid much attention to it, but now a sudden thought crossed her mind.

She checked her pulse and felt it—smooth and even, with a steady rhythm. It was neither too fast nor too slow, and it flowed smoothly. Could this be slippery pulse? Could she be pregnant?

At that moment, she didn’t know whether to feel happy or sad. She had just settled into this strange world, and now she was pregnant. But she had no husband. Could she really survive this on her own? The thought of the past, where people were forced into the river, made her uneasy.

When asked later, she decided to say that her husband had gone to war two months ago and had not returned. He had followed his family to escape the war, and they eventually made their way to Taohua Village, which is why the child was an “orphaned child.”

After realizing she was pregnant, she postponed her mountain trip. After all, she wasn’t even three months along, and her health was her priority. Since she had come to this world, having a child—her own blood—seemed like a good thing.

Now that she was pregnant, she had to think about the house. The current house they were living in was lent to them by the village chief, so she planned to buy it. The new house would be built next door.

She wanted to make the house bigger and more spacious, with a larger yard where she could plant trees and flowers. She also planned to build a small ornamental fish pond.

Without wasting any time, she went to find the village chief.

“Is Auntie at home? It’s Lin Nuo,” she called out in front of the village chief’s house. After a while, someone came out.

“Lin girl, come in, come in! What brings you here?” The village chief’s wife, Aunt Li, welcomed her inside after opening the door.

Lin Nuo handed over two jin of pork to Aunt Li as a token of appreciation.

“Auntie, I’m looking for Uncle. Is he home? This is a small token of my appreciation, please accept it.”

In this era, bringing pork as a gift was considered quite luxurious when visiting friends or relatives.

The village chief’s wife, smiling so widely that her eyes were nearly closed, hesitated to accept the gift.

“Oh, Lin girl, you’re taking care of your younger brother by yourself, that’s not easy. If you need anything, just tell us, we can’t accept your things.” She continued to push the gift away, unwilling to take it.

Lin Nuo smiled and said, “Auntie, this is for you and Uncle from me. I need to talk to Uncle, so please take it, or I won’t dare come next time.”

“You’re a sincere one,” Aunt Li said, taking the pork and heading inside. “Husband, Lin girl is here, come out.”

The two of them went inside, and Village Chief Li got up. Since spring plowing was over, everyone was less busy, and for someone like the village chief, life was easy enough that he could just stay home and sleep.

Aunt Li poured Lin Nuo a bowl of water, and the three of them sat down.

“Lin girl, what’s the matter?” The village chief said, puffing on his dry tobacco pipe, with the familiar “thwack-thwack” sound of smoking.

“Uncle, I want to buy the house I’m living in now, and also purchase a few acres of land nearby to build a new house.”

“What? You want to buy a few acres of land to build a house?” The village chief was surprised.

“Uncle, to be honest with you, I was married before. My husband was drafted into the army just a few days after we married, and he left me some silver. But whether he’s alive or dead, I don’t know. I just want to live a good life with my younger brother.”

She said this with a slightly reddened eye, looking as though she had been wronged.

“Alright, alright. The house you’re living in was once owned by a scholar, but his whole family moved to the city. He asked me to look after it. If it’s suitable, I can sell it to you. As for the land for building your house, it’s two liang of silver per acre. I see you need about four acres. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the county office to register and have someone come measure it. The four acres will cost eight liang of silver, and the house is ten liang.”

Lin Nuo handed the village chief 20 liang of silver, and after the transaction, she didn’t take the remaining change. She just told him to keep the rest and left.