Chapter 12: The Terrifying Bamboo Slab

Thinking about all the disasters she had gone through in her youth, Zhang Jinlan couldn’t help but shiver twice.

If there really were a drought, she only hoped that her family would survive. Even if it meant starving herself, she would be willing.

“We’ve encountered them, seven or eight families. Our village is the poorest. Many people don’t even have enough to eat, so we have to think of ways to earn more money,” Jiang Dahe sighed.

Her eldest son’s marriage…

It would probably be delayed for a year or two.

With barely enough food to fill their stomachs, how could they spare extra money for a wedding?

The Jiang family’s spirits were low, and Jiang Fubao noticed.

She thought for a moment, then brightened her face and spoke loudly to Zhang Jinlan and Jiang Dahe, “Uncle, Grandma, I want to go up the mountain tomorrow. I want to collect bird eggs. I want everyone at home to eat meat every day.”

As soon as she spoke, Zhang Jinlan wiped her tears away.

“Oh, my sweet Fubao, Grandma knows you’re so filial. But you’re still a child. You can’t go up the mountain every day. Grandma doesn’t want you collecting bird eggs. I just want you to grow up safely.”

After saying this, Zhang Jinlan exhaled heavily. She handed the spatula in her hand to her eldest daughter-in-law and walked into the yard to take her granddaughter from her youngest son.

“Grandma, I want to go!” Jiang Fubao clenched her little fists. She wasn’t going to give up!

She was the ‘awesome boss’ with both space and a golden ability!

If she went to the mountains every day, she would definitely find where the good stuff was.

She could improve the Jiang family’s meals and help them earn extra money.

Even if she didn’t find anything, her space had auto-restocking food. She could always take something out as an excuse.

With more money, her eldest cousin could afford to get married.

They could also rebuild the house into a proper brick-and-tile home, leaving the broken house behind.

And they could finally have fragrant rice with meat and vegetables in soup every day.

How wonderful that would be.

Helping her family was helping herself!

“Grandma, please, Fubao wants to go up the mountain. She wants you all to eat meat every day. Uncle, Second Uncle, Daddy, and the cousins go to town every day, it must be exhausting. Fubao feels bad. She doesn’t want them to go,” she whined like a three-year-old.

Her cute plea melted everyone in the Jiang family.

“Sister, Brother isn’t tired,” Jiang Tongjin said hoarsely.

“Fubao, hearing you say that, I’d carry grain sacks all my life willingly,” Jiang Tongmu patted his chest, brushing away his fatigue, his eyes full of determination.

“Good Fubao, Uncle will earn more money so you can eat meat every day. Uncle isn’t tired at all,” Jiang Dahe looked at her with a gentle gaze.

“Oh, Fubao is so sensible. Mom, just let her go. Think of it as taking her to play in the mountains,” Jiang Eryong urged her mother.

“My dear girl… sob… what virtue does Daddy have to have such a sensible daughter? Don’t worry, Daddy will work with all his strength to earn meat for Fubao to eat,” Jiang Siyin sniffled again.

The five siblings working away all had tears in their eyes.

“Old lady, just let Fubao go. There’s hardly any chores at home anyway. Second son is right—you can think of it as taking Fubao to play in the mountains, as long as she doesn’t go into the deep forest, it’s fine,” Jiang Shoujia, the head of the household, spoke.

That settled the matter.

Zhang Jinlan patted her granddaughter’s head.

She sighed again.

“I’m not disagreeing. Fubao is too sensible. Other children her age are happily chasing chickens or playing all day. But Fubao, at just three, worries about the family’s livelihood. I only wish for her to grow up happily. If she worries too early, she’ll never really enjoy life. Can we expect her future in-laws to treat her like their own daughter?”

Zhang Jinlan knew the truth.

Her granddaughter’s happy days would probably only exist before marriage.

Even in a good family, a daughter-in-law could never be treated exactly like a daughter.

Just like her own daughter Sanhe.

When she carefully arranged for her daughter to marry a simple, honest man in Sunjia Village, after the first child was born—a girl—the man changed his attitude. No matter how many times she and her sons intervened, the in-laws’ attitude could not be changed.

They would only give Jiang’s family some face, never truly treating her kindly.

She had suggested her daughter get a divorce and try again. Divorce was rare but not unheard of. Yet her daughter refused.

Zhang Jinlan couldn’t persuade her and had to let it be.

Thinking of her daughter’s tragic life, she felt unbearable pain.

“Enough, why worry so far ahead? Fubao is only three,” Jiang Shoujia interrupted.

“Grandma, just find a son-in-law for her. Then no one will dare bully her,” Jiang Tongmu suddenly said.

The whole Jiang family fell silent.

Everyone stared at him, making him nervous, thinking he’d said something wrong.

“You child, adults’ matters aren’t for you to meddle in. Wife, is dinner ready? I’m hungry,” Jiang Dahe quickly changed the topic.

But everyone remembered what he said.

Night came quickly.

After dinner, the Jiang family went to bed early.

Hearing her brothers’ heavy breathing, Jiang Fubao quietly slipped into her space.

Tomorrow the family wanted to buy meat, at most one jin, with the fat reserved for lard.

But there were sixteen people in the Jiang family—clearly not enough.

Her space conveniently stored a lot of frozen meat.

Jiang Fubao picked out a piece weighing nearly two jin, planning a little “swap” for tomorrow.

Closing the fridge, she drank a can of soda, then placed the frozen meat in a basin and carried it out, happily going to sleep.

Under the wooden bed, the lonely frozen meat slowly thawed.

At midnight, Jiang Fubao was woken by intense stomach pain.

It felt like knives twisting inside.

A three-year-old’s weak stomach could hardly handle ice-cold soda—especially the first time.

She felt like she was about to have diarrhea.

There was a wooden bucket in the corner for peeing, already half full.

She couldn’t bring herself to go to the bathroom inside.

The doors and windows were closed tight, and the smell would linger.

Sleeping with the stench of feces for half the night—just thinking about it made her scalp tingle.

She couldn’t go into her space. The apartment’s toilet was too high. To defecate, she’d need a chair to climb—too inconvenient.

She hadn’t yet used the Jiang family’s outhouse since arriving.

So she put on her shoes and ran to the backyard.

Fortunately, the moonlight was bright, and she could barely see the outhouse.

Jiang Fubao pulled down her pants, lifted her bottom, and stepped onto the wooden plank above the pit—deep enough for one person—with plenty of farm fertilizer inside. Thankfully it wasn’t summer; if it had fermented, the smell would have been unbearable.

After finishing, Jiang Fubao looked dumbfounded at the bamboo slabs stuck in the soil beside the pit.

Arriving in this world, this was only her third time defecating. The first two times were in the wooden bucket, using the soft leaves her mother had prepared for her.

And she had managed to clean herself fairly well.