Chapter 51 – Reborn Girl’s Aunt

Old Man Wen and Mother Wen were both in their sixties. Old Man Wen was the team leader in the village and always kept himself busy. Mother Wen, on the other hand, had stayed home to take care of Wen Xin after the child was born.  

Even though Wei Xiuran was an educated youth, he had solid skills and was now the village’s scorekeeper. His family was from Shanghai, and they sent him money and ration tickets every month. Because of this, even if Wen Xin didn’t work, she would never go hungry.  

When Wen Xin mentioned that she wanted to go out, neither Old Man Wen nor Wei Xiuran said much, but Mother Wen furrowed her brow and said: “What kind of fish can there be in the pond at the foot of Niangzi Mountain? Even the ones the size of a palm must’ve been caught by those mischievous kids. Besides, isn’t Wen Yaya in the county town? When did she come back? Isn’t her in-laws’ family urging her to have children?”  

Wen Yaya had been married to Hu Youbin for almost three years, yet the couple still didn’t have any children. Over this matter, Wen Yaya had cried countless times upon returning home and had been made to try numerous folk remedies by Sister-in-law Wen.  

Wen Xin took a sip of her cornmeal porridge and said with a smile: “Of course they’re urging her. Do you have any idea how many remedies my sister-in-law has tried over the years?”  

It was indeed strange. Over the past year, Wen Xin hadn’t done anything to interfere with Wen Yaya’s life, yet she and Hu Youbin still didn’t have a child. Wen Yaya was definitely capable of bearing children, and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with Hu Youbin’s health either.  

As for why they had no children, that was a mystery worth pondering.  

Mother Wen didn’t like Wen Yaya, her granddaughter. She had always felt that Wen Yaya’s thoughts were twisted, especially after she had pushed Wen Xin off a cliff. From that moment on, Mother Wen had disliked her even more. Just hearing Wen Yaya’s name was enough to make her frown.  

“Stay away from her. Don’t be foolish and let her manipulate you again.” Mother Wen warned her daughter.  

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’m not that naive.” Wen Xin reassured her.  

Whether Wen Yaya could have children now wasn’t important. What mattered was whether she could have them later. If, in the end, Wen Yaya truly couldn’t conceive, Wen Xin wasn’t entirely unwilling to help her. After all, how else could Wen Yaya understand the original owner’s soul-crushing pain?  

Wei Xiuran nodded in agreement. “It’s been freezing cold these days. The ponds are frozen over, so there’s probably nothing to catch anyway.”  

It was early winter, but the weather was already bitterly cold. A thin layer of ice had formed over the surface of the water, and, as Mother Wen had said, there were no more fish in the pond. However, none of that mattered. Neither Wen Xin nor Wen Yaya was really interested in catching fish.  

With a smile, Wen Xin said: “I haven’t gone out in days, so this is a good chance to stretch my legs. Even if I don’t catch any fish, there are plenty of chestnut and walnut trees on Niangzi Mountain. I’ll see if I can bring some back to satisfy my cravings.”  

Since Wen Xin had put it that way, no one objected.  

After finishing the meal, Mother Wen took Wei Rongrong out to play, while Old Man Wen and Wei Xiuran, the father-in-law and son-in-law, happily headed to the village’s team office together. Wen Xin wandered into the kitchen, added a few drops of Spiritual Water to the water tank, and then leisurely made her way out the door.  

The Spiritual Water space she had acquired in her previous world was bound to her soul, so she could still use it in this lifetime. Moreover, as her accumulated merits grew, the Spiritual Water seemed to have upgraded. In the past, it could only improve plants’ quality and indirectly enhance health, but in this life, it could directly achieve these effects.  

Ever since she transmigrated, Wen Xin had made it a habit to add a few drops of Spiritual Water whenever the water tank was replenished. The results were immediately apparent. Old Man Wen and Mother Wen had become increasingly robust, and Wei Rongrong, aside from occasional stomach aches from overeating, had never fallen ill.  

Even Wei Xiuran, who used to appear frail, now looked more vibrant and energetic. Thinking of Wei Xiuran, Wen Xin couldn’t help but smirk. On the surface, he seemed delicate, but in reality, he was the type who looked slim in clothes but was muscular underneath. Even before consuming the Spiritual Water, his body had been in good shape. Now, it had only gotten better.  

In their nightly marital battles, despite her seemingly strong physique, she was always the first to surrender.  

Old Man Wen had four children: two sons and two daughters. Eldest Brother Wen and Second Brother Wen were close in age and had married early. When the original owner was sixteen, Old Man Wen arranged for all of them to move out and live independently. Eldest Sister Wen, the youngest daughter of the Wen family, was now married in town. Aside from holidays, she rarely returned home.  

The Wen family’s homesteads were adjacent to one another. Wen Xin’s yard was right next to Eldest Brother Wen’s house. Since Eldest Brother Wen had gone out, Wen Yaya’s younger brother, Wen Hongming, was sitting in the yard carving a wooden toy gun.  

“Hongming, where’s your sister?” Wen Xin asked.  

Without looking up, Wen Hongming replied: “No idea. What do you need her for?”  

Wen Hongming and his elder sister Wen Yaya had never gotten along since childhood. Instead, he was much closer to Wen Xin. The wooden toy gun he was carving was, in fact, for Wei Rongrong. Among the large Wen family, apart from Wen Yaya, the others weren’t bad people. Take Wen Hongming, for instance. In the original owner’s previous life, when she went missing, he was one of the most worried, apart from her parents.  

Later, he became a truck driver, and every time he traveled to a new place, he would post a missing person notice for the original owner.  

Wen Xin smiled faintly. “It’s nothing, just curious. Are your parents not home?”  

Wen Hongming pursed his lips. “My dad’s gone to work, and my mom’s off finding another folk remedy for her. No idea what she’s supposed to eat this time. Last time it was ant-infused liquor, and I had to spend a whole week catching ants.”  

Ants weren’t scary to look at individually, but when they gathered in swarms, the sight was horrifying. Even though it had been two months, Wen Hongming still got goosebumps whenever he thought about those ants.  

Li Cuihua was an odd one. She had disliked Wen Yaya ever since she was a child, but after Wen Yaya married into the county, she suddenly started treating her extremely well. Every time Wen Yaya visited, Li Cuihua would either slaughter a chicken or cut up some meat for her. It was as though her logic had been turned upside down.  

That said, Wen Yaya had been quite generous to her family after getting married. Each time she returned home, she brought plenty of things for them. The Hu family never objected to this, likely because Wen Yaya gave just as much to her in-laws as she did to her own family.  

This generosity was also why, despite Wen Yaya not having children, the Hu family hadn’t divorced her.  

“Alright, I’m heading home now. Rong Rong’s at home today. If you’re free later, go play with him.” Wen Xin said.  

“Got it, I’ll head over later.” Wen Hongming replied, returning his attention to carving the toy gun.  

Wen Xin turned and made her way toward Niangzi Mountain. The path leading there was remote and desolate, with stretches of the road flanked by overgrown grassy hills. This area was an ideal spot for an ambush.  

Gathering her spiritual energy, Wen Xin leaped swiftly onto one of the grassy hills and found a prime spot for an ambush. She lay down, quietly waiting.  

Waiting was boring, so she absentmindedly plucked a blade of grass and held it in her mouth, playing with it. Lying on her back with her legs crossed, she closed her eyes and extended her spiritual sense.  

This spiritual technique was one she had comprehended after refining the merit golden light at the end of her previous life. The spiritual energy in this world was far inferior to the one she came from. Even with a year of training in her Spiritual Water space, she had only managed to expand her spiritual sense to a radius of 500 meters.  

On the hill opposite hers, she sensed a wild chicken’s nest with four or five eggs inside. Further away, in a hollow, there was a rabbit den. A gray rabbit and a white rabbit were sleeping while several baby rabbits cautiously explored nearby.  

Snakes had already retreated into their dens for hibernation, and the mice had yet to come out to scavenge.  

On the other side of Niangzi Mountain, Wen Yaya, much like Wen Xin, was lying hidden in the grass. Her gaze was fixed nervously yet excitedly on something below. Her shoulders were damp, indicating that she had been there for quite some time.  

Wen Xin let out a cold laugh. Her spiritual sense bypassed Wen Yaya and scanned elsewhere. Unexpectedly, there was no sign of the human traffickers.  

Still, there was no rush. After all, there were still two or three hours before the moment the Original Owner had been abducted in her previous life.  

Having spent half the night in a spirited “battle” with Wei Xiuran, she was genuinely a bit drowsy. Since her spiritual sense was actively monitoring the area, she felt confident she would detect the traffickers if they appeared. Content with this, Wen Xin closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep atop the hill.  

When she woke up, the sun was directly overhead, its warm rays enveloping her. She sat up abruptly, stretching her limbs. Her spiritual sense continued to scan the surroundings. Wen Yaya was still on the hill across from her, eyes red from staring at the road below for so long.  

Wen Xin extended her spiritual sense for another sweep of the area. Apart from a few additional wild chickens, there was still no sign of the traffickers.  

What was going on? Where were they? Wen Xin was puzzled, and apparently, so was Wen Yaya.  

In her previous life, a girl from Yaojia Village had been abducted at the foot of Niangzi Mountain early this very morning. The villagers from Yaojia had gone mad searching for her, spreading out to neighboring villages, but the girl was never found.  

It wasn’t until 1988 that the police rescued dozens of women sold into the mountains of Gui Province. These women were eventually sent back to their hometowns, and among them was the missing girl from Yaojia Village.  

When she returned, she recounted the details of her abduction. Wen Yaya remembered them vividly—it had happened on this exact morning. There was no way she had the date wrong.  

So, what went wrong? Why hadn’t the traffickers passed through here this time? Had she remembered the date correctly but mixed up the time?  

And another thing—why hadn’t Wen Xin shown up yet? Had she been stood up?  

The more she thought about it, the darker Wen Yaya’s expression became, her face clouded with anger. She wanted to storm back and confront Wen Xin, but she was also afraid that if she moved recklessly and ran into the traffickers, she might end up being caught herself. So, she remained stuck, lying on the slope, torn between advancing and retreating.  

After another fruitless sweep of the area with her spiritual sense, Wen Xin brushed the dust off her clothes, got up, and headed home.  

On her way back, she ventured deeper into the mountains and found a walnut tree that had shed all its nuts. She gathered about half a basket of walnuts and carried them home.  

It was just around lunchtime when she reached the village. Smoke curled up from the chimneys of every household, and the roads were mostly empty.  

When Wen Xin arrived at her doorstep, she saw Wei Xiuran playing with their child in the yard. As soon as he spotted her, he quickly came over to take the basket from her hands.  

“Wow, that’s quite a haul of walnuts.” he remarked.  

“Of course.” Wen Xin replied with a grin. “You know who you’re dealing with here. These walnuts are dried and ready. Crack some open later and give them to your son as a snack. He could use the brain boost—look at him, he doesn’t exactly scream ‘brightest kid in the village,’ does he?”  

Wei Xiuran chuckled helplessly while glancing at their child, who was busy chasing a chicken around the yard, his little arms flailing. “Alright, alright, I’ll crack some open after lunch.”  

Wen Xin and Wei Xiuran walked over to check on Wei Rongrong, only to find the boy peeing in a corner. When he was done, he grabbed a stick and started playing with the mud.  

In her previous two lives, Wen Xin had also been a mother, but honestly, none of her previous children had ever left her so speechless. Peeing and playing with mud? That was just the tip of the iceberg. On rainy days, he would roll around in the muddy puddles, chase dogs, and catch cats all over the village—those were the moments that truly made her despair.  

At times like this, Wen Xin didn’t even want to admit that the little boy messing with mud in the corner was her own child.  

Even Wei Xiuran remained silent. Wei Rongrong’s wild antics were truly baffling. It had to be some kind of genetic mutation because their family had never produced a child this unruly.  

“Wei Rongrong, what are you doing?” Wen Xin finally couldn’t hold back and blurted out.  

Hearing his mother’s voice, Wei Rongrong turned around, still holding the stick in his hand. He answered loudly and proudly: “Mommy, Daddy told Grandma he wanted dumplings! I’m kneading dough for him~. ~”  

Wen Xin and Wei Xiuran exchanged a glance, both utterly at a loss for words.