Chapter 2: Saving Fu Wencheng

Once the old lady had gone far enough, Ming Yuehe dropped the act.

“Sister, don’t think that just because you’re injured, you can lie here without a care. You’re a child with no parents. If it weren’t for my father’s kindness in adopting you, who knows which corner of the world you’d be starving and freezing in.”

“Hah, your father adopted me just for a good reputation, so he’d have a better shot at becoming the brigade secretary. But don’t forget, I have no family, so I fear nothing. If you push me too far, I just might do something to ruin your father’s future.”

“You… You wouldn’t dare.”

“In the state I’m in now, what wouldn’t I dare?”

Ming Yuehe pressed her lips tightly together, then turned and slammed shut the rickety wooden board that could barely be called a door. She let out a long breath of relief—finally, that person was gone. If she’d stayed any longer, Ming Yuehe wouldn’t have been able to hold on.

Suddenly, she remembered she had taken the wooden carving from Ming Hongdou at that man’s house. She hurriedly opened her hand and found it still stained with blood from her head injury. In the center of her palm, there was a vivid tattoo of a butterfly, wings spread as if ready to fly.

She stared in confusion.

People had tattoos in this era?

She searched the original host’s memories thoroughly and found no such thing. Puzzled, she tried to wipe the tattoo with her other hand. But after a dizzy spell, when she opened her eyes again, she was no longer in the broken-down woodshed, but standing in front of a graceful and elegant two-story bamboo building.

Bamboo building???

Not sure if it was dangerous, she didn’t go in right away. First, she surveyed her surroundings. Next to the building was a winding path that seemed to lead to a towering mountain in the distance. White clouds floated lazily in the sky, birds chirped from time to time, a soft breeze blew, and there was the faint scent of flowers in the air.

A beautiful scene like something out of a hidden paradise.

Finding no useful clues, Ming Leyao finally lifted her foot and entered the bamboo building. Pushing open the door on the second floor revealed a main hall. On the central wall hung a portrait of a Ming family ancestor. Below the portrait was an offering table with an incense burner—and a letter. In front of it was a prayer mat.

Ming Leyao walked up, knelt, and knocked her head three times in front of the ancestor’s portrait. Her grandfather in the modern world had once shown her this portrait and told her many stories about this ancestor. Back then, she thought it was all too fantastical and just listened for fun. But now, standing in this secluded paradise, she couldn’t help but believe. Maybe Grandpa had been telling the truth.

She stood up and picked up the letter. After scanning through it quickly, she confirmed it was indeed her grandfather’s handwriting. Reading it through in one go, she realized that her time-travel had long been foreseen by the ancestor. He had written this letter and tucked it inside the family genealogy, passing it down through generations until it reached her grandfather, who had treasured it and made preparations for her early on. It seemed the appearance of the wooden carving in this time period might also have something to do with that ancestor.

Grandpa had deeply admired the ancestor and believed his words, so he had been preparing for this moment for a long time.

Thinking of the grandfather who had raised her and passed away after she entered college, her eyes welled up with tears.

She carefully folded the letter and placed it back into the envelope, storing it in the drawer of the vanity. Then she opened the room to the left. Inside was a large bed, a wardrobe, a dressing table, and a fluffy carpet on the floor—everything identical to her home in the modern world.

Opening the wardrobe, she found no clothes, but instead neatly arranged cosmetics, skincare products, tissues, and every kind of item a girl might need.

After putting the letter in the drawer of the dressing table, she opened another room and found it was a study. The collection of books there was staggering—she’d have to come back when no one was around to look through them.

Then she went downstairs to check the storage room, where Grandpa had stockpiled rice, flour, oil, and other essentials for this era, along with her favorite snacks.

She opened a bread packet, took a box of milk, and filled her stomach. Looking at the well-stocked storage, she felt she could totally lie flat (take it easy) in this era where going out required an introduction letter and buying goods required ration coupons.

But to really lie flat, she’d have to change her current situation. Otherwise, with this bunch of outrageous relatives around… Heh, of course she wouldn’t get an easy life. She was just destined to toil.

After eating her fill and with no entertainment in sight, Ming Leyao returned to her room and lay on the hard wooden bed, falling asleep shortly after.

When she woke again, it was to the shouting of Old Lady Wang Guihua. She was scolding the eldest daughter of the fourth uncle’s family—Ming Xiaojiang.

Speaking of the Ming family’s older generation, the siblings all had vastly different personalities. The eldest uncle was calculating, the second was a penny-pincher, the third—her own father—was overly honest, the fourth uncle was straightforward and not a bad person, the eldest aunt was weak, and the second aunt was extremely domineering. She really didn’t know whether she should praise the old lady for raising such a varied group of children.

“You’re still standing there like an idiot? Hurry up and make breakfast! Or do you want to lie in bed pretending to be dead like that worthless girl? I don’t know what your mother taught you to turn out so useless!”

“Ma, it’s early in the morning. What are you yelling about? Don’t you know the brigade meeting went late last night before I got home?”

“Alright, alright, Ma won’t say anymore. Oh, my son is so capable, he can even attend meetings with the brigade leader! Go back to sleep, go back to sleep. I’ll have that good-for-nothing Ming Leyao get up and steam some eggs for you. Didn’t you say you liked the way she made eggs the most?”

Eldest uncle Ming Shi was just about to agree when he suddenly remembered what his eldest daughter had told him yesterday. The words on the tip of his tongue changed course.

“Ma, since Ming Leyao is injured, let her rest. She can make eggs anytime.”

“Huh?” The old lady didn’t understand why her son suddenly changed his attitude. But as a veteran and blindly devoted fan of her “filial son,” she quickly tossed those doubts aside and turned back to continue tormenting the honest Ming Xiaojiang.

Ming Leyao got up and changed into one of the original host’s only two clean outfits. She took out some milk and meat buns from her storage space to fill her stomach, then swallowed an anti-inflammatory pill.

She pulled out a mirror to get a good look at the original host’s appearance.

The original host had once lived a good life—her whole demeanor exuded optimism and positivity. Pampered by loving parents and never having done any labor, her skin had been fair and her hands soft and smooth.

But in the past two years, after her parents’ death, the poor girl had been struggling to survive at her grandmother’s house. She’d done a lot of hard work, so her face had become rough, and her hands darker. Even so, the underlying features were still quite decent.

At the very least, she looked about 50% similar to how she looked in her past life.

Later, she would give herself a proper makeover and use some skincare products to treat her skin. She was confident she could restore 70%, maybe even 80–90% of her former appearance.

After putting the mirror back into her storage space, Ming Leyao was about to go outside. But as soon as her hand touched the wooden door, it swung open on its own.

A gust of wind swept in—actually, it was the fourteen-year-old youngest daughter of the fourth uncle’s family, Ming Xiaoxue.

“Yaoyao, my mom secretly saved this for you. Hurry and eat it. Just remember to rinse your mouth afterward, or that old witch will notice.”

With that, she ran off again like a gust of wind.

Ming Leyao: “……”

This Ming family… really is quite the mess.

She carefully stored the egg away, then prepared to go see the brigade leader—to remind him of her existence and let him know that the support money from the commune should no longer be handed over to anyone else.

After her parents passed away two years ago, the original host had still been a minor. The brigade leader, knowing what a bottomless pit the Ming family was, applied to the commune on her behalf for a support allowance—twenty yuan a year for five years, which was considered quite generous for that era.

But over the past two years, not a single cent had reached the original host. It had all gone straight into the old lady’s hands.