Chapter 2: Love at First Sight

“Big Brother Lu, Second Brother Lu, you’re heading to town to sell wild goods again?”

“Perfect timing—can I trouble you to help push my cart? The ox won’t budge anymore.”

Wang Erniu turned and saw the two Lu brothers, instantly brightening up. The Lu family was one of the few hunting households in Guli Village. The head of the family, Lu Gang, along with his eldest son Lu Jun and younger son Lu Zheng, were all hunters.

They carried bows and arrows into the mountains every day to hunt, living far better than the farmers who scratched out a living in the fields.

Especially Lu Zheng—

His archery was unparalleled—he never missed a shot.

Once, a band of vicious bandits caused chaos in Guli Village. Thanks to him shooting the leader in the leg with a single arrow, they were finally scared off.

Lu Zheng gave a low grunt of acknowledgment and stepped forward to push the cart. He noticed the little girl on the cart shrinking even smaller into herself.

Her porcelain-white face was flushed, and her petite frame trembled slightly. Her wide, innocent eyes shimmered with unshed tears. She looked even more pitiful than the rabbits in his cage.

His throat suddenly felt dry, and he quickly looked down to avoid her gaze.

After the cart was pushed out of the mud pit, Wang Erniu thanked the two and continued toward the village.

Lu Zheng’s elder brother, Lu Jun, watched the cart disappear into the distance, then murmured in slight confusion.

“What’s that little girl’s relationship to Wang Erniu’s family? She looks so soft and delicate, and that silk dress she’s wearing is expensive.”

When he didn’t hear his brother respond, Lu Jun turned his head.

He saw Lu Zheng staring blankly in the direction Song Miaomiao had gone, as if spellbound, completely lost in thought.

Lu Jun immediately felt something was wrong. He quickly nudged his brother, snapping him out of it. “Ah Zheng, stop staring. That girl’s clearly from a wealthy family—she’s not someone we can match with.”

A single piece of her clothing was worth more than half a year’s worth of their food.

Whatever her connection with Wang Erniu, she was surely just a passerby in this poor mountain village. There would be no real intersection between her life and theirs.

His brother’s words pierced his ears. Lu Zheng finally came back to his senses and looked down at his callused hands, thick from years of drawing bows.

It was true—

That kind of delicate skin would probably bruise if touched even gently by his hands.

How could he ever be worthy?

He suppressed the sudden surge of emotions in his heart and, when he spoke again, his voice had returned to calm.

“Don’t overthink it, Brother.”

“Are we still delivering these rabbits to Shopkeeper Zhou’s restaurant?”

Lu Jun didn’t press further and simply turned to continue down the path.

“No, that Zhou guy’s been lowering prices more and more. He used to pay 120 wen for a rabbit, and now it’s only 110.”

“I’ve found a new buyer who deals in wild goods.”

“We’ll test them with this batch of rabbits.”

“If he’s honest and fair, we’ll give him all our future game.”

Lu Zheng gave a quiet “Mm.”

Lu Jun saw his younger brother still so quiet and couldn’t help but advise him, “Ah Zheng, you should talk more. If you get married someday, how’s your wife supposed to live with a mute husband?”

Lu Zheng’s lips pressed into a line. “I don’t plan on marrying.”

He actually thought living alone like this was just fine.

Lu Jun nearly exploded. “Men should marry, women should wed. Don’t let Mother hear you say that, or she’ll skin you alive.”

After walking a bit further, Lu Jun suddenly asked, “Why did you use the rabbit earlier to push that girl back upright?”

Lu Zheng said nothing.

Lu Jun elbowed him. “I asked you something!”

Lu Zheng answered helplessly, “In broad daylight, I couldn’t exactly use my hands to help her up—it would’ve damaged her reputation.”

Lu Jun’s eyes lit up at that. He leaned closer and whispered, “You really don’t want to get married?”

Lu Zheng: “Mm!”

Lu Jun: “Not even if your wife was that soft little miss from the ox cart just now?”

Lu Zheng: “……”

Lu Jun immediately burst out laughing.

Lu Zheng was utterly speechless about how his grown brother could still act so childish.

…

The ox cart wobbled along and soon arrived at its destination.

Wang Erniu parked the cart by the roadside and led Song Miaomiao toward a path along the edge of the fields. “Your grandaunt’s house isn’t by the main road. Just cross this field ridge and walk a bit further—you’ll see it.”

Song Miaomiao looked back at the ox cart tied by the road. “Aren’t you afraid someone might take it?”

Wang Erniu scoffed. “It’ll just be here a short while. Besides, this is the village entrance. People might lose a bag of rice or sugar, but no one’s going to steal a whole ox cart. Everyone knows whose it is.”

Song Miaomiao gave a naive nod.

At the end of the path, a dilapidated mud-brick house stood quietly.

An old woman with a headscarf was pacing outside, clearly anxious. If one looked carefully, her right leg seemed to have a limp.

The moment her eyes met Song Miaomiao’s, they instantly filled with tears. She started to take a step forward but hesitated, retreating slightly in awkward restraint.

But Song Miaomiao had no such reservations. Her already swollen eyes brimmed with fresh tears once more.

She ran forward and threw herself into the old woman’s arms, hugging her tightly.

“Mother.”

In that novel about the real and fake daughters, after the fake daughter Song Miaomiao died, her body was discarded like trash in a mass grave.

It was her biological mother, limping on one leg, who carried her on her back for two full days and nights, just to bring her home to the village and bury her beside her father’s grave.

This was one of the main reasons why Song Miaomiao had insisted on returning to Guli Village.

Even if she was no longer the Song family’s real daughter, she still had a mother who loved her.

Wang Guifang held Song Miaomiao tightly, tears streaming down her face.

This was her biological daughter—carried in her womb for ten full months.

After their emotional reunion and sobbing in each other’s arms, Wang Guifang, in order to thank Wang Erniu, handed him a basket full of wild mushrooms.

There were even two eggs inside.

“Thank you for using your ox cart to bring Miaomiao back. Please take these mushrooms and eggs home to eat.”

Wang Erniu tried to decline, but Wang Guifang insisted, “I know your family doesn’t need this little bit, but you lent me your ox cart for a whole day. I should at least offer something in return.”

Wang Erniu could only accept it.

After he left, Wang Guifang took Song Miaomiao into the house.

It was a small courtyard of about forty square meters. In the middle was the main hall, with bedrooms on the left and right.

Next to the right-hand bedroom were the kitchen and outhouse, separated by a narrow corridor. There were two chickens and a duck kept there.

Although the house looked rundown from the outside, the rooms were surprisingly tidy. Wang Guifang went into the kitchen and brought out the dishes she had warmed.

Two bowls of wild vegetable porridge, a chicken and mushroom soup, some stir-fried eggs, and a big bowl of braised chicken with mushrooms.

“Miaomiao, eat some of this chicken. Mama stewed it for a long time—it’s really flavorful.”

Wang Guifang picked up a piece of chicken with her chopsticks and put it in Song Miaomiao’s bowl. Though she tried hard to hide it, Song Miaomiao still noticed the cautious look in her mother’s eyes.

She understood—her mother was afraid that she’d grown used to fine meals in the wealthy household and wouldn’t be able to stomach village food.

She didn’t explain anything. Instead, she picked up the chicken and ate every bite cleanly. “Mama, it’s delicious. Better than anything I’ve had before.”

Only then did Wang Guifang finally relax, a smile blooming at the corners of her mouth. “Good, as long as you like it.”

After the meal, Song Miaomiao walked around the courtyard to help with digestion. Sharp-eyed, she noticed a bunch of chicken feathers hanging to dry in a corner.

Thinking of the two chickens and one duck in the coop, it wasn’t hard to guess where tonight’s chicken had come from.

She felt a pang of guilt.

Most likely, only one of those chickens laid eggs. And yet her mother had slaughtered one just to make her a good meal.

At the same time, her heart warmed—her mother truly loved her. She made up her mind to use what knowledge she had to give her mother a better life.

She’d read plenty of “transmigration farming” novels in the past.

In those stories, the main characters made soap, picked mushrooms, gathered herbs, and eventually built a life of comfort.

She could probably do the same…

Probably.

Song Miaomiao, full of ambition and high hopes, hadn’t expected reality to strike her that very night.

Her period had started the day before yesterday, and today was the third day. But since she had left in such a hurry to avoid being sold off as a concubine by her adoptive father, she hadn’t packed anything—she’d come back with nothing but the clothes on her back.

So she had no sanitary cloths or supplies on hand.

Left with no choice, she had to knock on Wang Guifang’s door in the middle of the night.