Chapter 1

Damn it.

So hungry.

Shuiqing woke up in pain and hunger.

Wasn’t she dead?

As a successful career woman who struggled all the way, she had no children, and her body was plagued by illness.

Before dying, she donated all her wealth to the girls in poor mountainous areas to help them complete their education and leave the mountains.

How could a dead person still feel pain in the back of their head and hunger?

“Mom, Big Sister secretly kept some steamed buns for you. Hurry up and eat them before Grandma and Big Uncle find out.”

A timid voice came, accompanied by a weak hand handing a hot steamed bun to her.

The thin arm was as skinny as a stick.

The big, clear eyes on the thin cheeks looked unusually large.

The clothes on her body were dark and dusty.

Patches were piled on patches.

Piece by piece, ragged.

And, the ancient dress of the child in front of her!

Shuiqing was baffled.

Was she wearing this?

The child in front of her was obviously malnourished for a long time. Her big eyes stared at the steamed bun in her hand, unconsciously swallowing saliva.

But even though her stomach was empty, and she was tempted by the hot food in her hand, the little girl didn’t hesitate at all.

When she looked at herself as ‘mom’, there was a look of heartache and worry in her eyes.

Seeing that Mom hesitated to take the steamed bun, Erya became a little anxious. Big Sister repeatedly reminded her to eat it to nourish her body.

Erya stuffed the steamed bun into Mom’s hand and urged anxiously, “Mom, you’ve lost a lot of blood from the back of your head. You need to eat more food to replenish it.”

Shuiqing looked at the black steamed bun in her hand, still steaming hot, obviously just out of the pot.

Her stomach grumbled, and her limbs were already weak from hunger.

She swallowed her saliva and took a big bite.

In that instant, tears almost welled up in Shuiqing’s eyes.

It’s so damn awful!

It looked just like white steamed buns, only the color was different, but when she bit into it, it was dense and hard, nothing like the fluffy texture she expected.

It was filled with bran, something that could only be fed to pigs in Hua country!

No, even pigs eat better than this!

She swallowed it down with difficulty, feeling the coarse bran scratching her throat.

Thinking about eating this kind of black steamed bun every day in the future, Shuiqing really wanted to start over.

Erya mistook the tear in Shuiqing’s eyes for excitement and said worriedly, “Is it tasty, Mom? Take your time to eat, don’t rush.”

Shuiqing: … Did she mishear that? Did she just say it’s tasty?

Erya patted Shuiqing’s back gently while comforting her, “Big Auntie gave birth to four sons. Grandma said she’s the great contributor to our Fan family. Grandma has always favored Big Auntie. Mom, can’t you see that?”

Taking this opportunity, Shuiqing quickly sorted out the memories of the original owner in her mind.

The original owner was named Hu Shuiqing, married to Fan Jin, a scholar who had not yet passed the imperial examinations. Fortunately, he was diligent and made a living by copying books in the city, earning a daily income of fifty-three wen—which was considered very high for families scraping by in the village.

They had five children, two daughters and three sons.

The eldest and second daughters were respectively eleven and ten years old, without given names, just called Eldest and Second.

The third child, Fan Jiang, was nine years old.

The fourth child, Fan He, was eight years old.

The fifth child, Fan Hu, was only seven.

According to common sense, the original owner had three sons and should have had some status in the family, at least not as lowly as now.

But the original owner’s eldest sister-in-law had four sons and a daughter, with sons in the lead;

The original owner’s first two children were daughters. She felt inferior and insignificant, even though she later gave birth to three sons. Her position in the family remained as lowly as ever.

Even her two daughters were ordered around by others.

The family worked in the fields during busy farming seasons, handling all the chores at home, yet they had the hardest and poorest living conditions.

Erya touched the bloodstains on the back of Shuiqing’s head, worriedly speaking, “Even if you want to argue with Big Auntie, Mom, you should wait for Dad to come back or for me and Big Sister to be here.”

That way, when Big Auntie and Grandma started, she and Big Sister could stand in front of Mom!

At least Mom wouldn’t get hurt.

After accepting the memories, Shuiqing felt bitter.

The reason why the original owner hit her head was also because her mother-in-law and elder sister-in-law wanted to sell Eldest to arrange a marriage for the eldest son of Big Brother and his wife.

The original owner naturally disagreed—she still had three sons. With the dowry from marrying off two daughters, maybe there would be enough to marry three sons, so how could she let her nephew take it away!

The usually timid original owner fell and hit her head during the struggle with her elder sister-in-law Sun Jinhua and mother-in-law, and lost consciousness.

Sun Jinhua had four older sons and was not afraid at all. She didn’t even look at her and just walked away.

Mrs. Fan felt guilty, mainly because she was afraid that her younger son, who earned money in the city, would not be able to explain it well. After calling Eldest and Second to carry Hu Shi back to the house to lie down, she left feeling relieved.

The two daughters looked at their mother who was unconscious and cried until their eyes swelled. Now they risked being scolded and beaten to sneak out black steamed buns to nourish her.

Shuiqing sneered. Why should daughters be sold to be used as bride prices?

Whether it was cousins or their own brothers marrying, they couldn’t be used as bargaining chips!

Since she was here, she would be in charge in the future!

With tears in her eyes, Shuiqing couldn’t swallow the remaining half of the black steamed bun even though she forced herself to do it.

In a blink of an eye, she saw her second daughter, who was as slender as bean sprouts, staring at the black steamed bun in her hand with envy.

In the family, the second daughter had always been the least favored and least valued, especially since she was a girl.

She handed over the remaining black steamed bun.

Erya, who was drooling with hunger, whispered, “Mom, you eat!”

This was deducted from the food by Big Sister at the risk of being scolded and beaten. She couldn’t eat it.

“I’m full. You eat it.” Shuiqing said decisively, “Help me eat it, so you won’t be found out later.”

She was in good shape. Although she had felt weak from hunger earlier, after eating half of the black steamed bun, she had regained some strength.

Without water, she couldn’t swallow the prick