Chapter 2

Sang Luo pinched her now emaciated cheeks. Being alive felt so good!

She didn’t think about anything else, nor did she wait for dawn. Dragging her weak body out of bed, she headed towards the outer room.

She needed to find something to eat. Sang Luo hadn’t forgotten that the original owner starved to death. It wasn’t easy to be alive, and she didn’t want to follow the same path as the previous inhabitant as soon as she came to life.

Imagination was rich, but reality was stark.

While sitting on the bed, it didn’t feel as intense, but once she started moving, the little energy left in her body was rapidly consumed. Her stomach, initially empty, now started to ache faintly after just a few steps. Before long, Sang Luo’s vision began to darken.

Sang Luo knew this was due to extreme hunger, causing a drop in blood sugar and insufficient blood supply to the brain. If she didn’t eat soon, she wouldn’t be far from sudden death.

She could only be grateful that the hut was small.

Following the original owner’s memory, Sang Luo almost stumbled towards the corner of the room where the earthenware jar stored water.

In that moment of explosive potential in her body, she picked up the jar and brought it to her lips. As she drank, her lips grazed the jagged edge of the jar, causing a brief sting. However, the pain was quickly overwhelmed by the stomachache and the body’s craving for food. The metallic taste of blood was diluted by the cool water in the jar, flowing into her stomach along with it.

She gulped down the water quickly. Although she knew she should stop, her swallowing actions didn’t slow down, and she didn’t know when to stop.

The wooden door creaked open as someone pushed it. A soft and pleasantly surprised child’s voice came in.

“Big sister, are you awake?!”

Sang Luo’s consciousness finally emerged from the frenzy of sudden eating desires. She put down the jar she was holding and turned to look at the child who spoke.

Shen Ning, the younger sister of the twins, was standing by the door, having just returned from outside.

That’s right, there was only one bed in this room. Sang Luo had just crossed over and was still dazed, dominated by the feeling of hunger, and hadn’t noticed that the two children weren’t in the room in the middle of the night.

Of course, she couldn’t care about it now. With the cold water in her belly and her excessive drinking, the chill seemed to seep into her soul. Sang Luo felt so uncomfortable that she couldn’t squat down anymore. With a thud, she fell to the ground, spilling more than half of the water in the jar onto her clothes. The jar also rolled to the ground.

Trembling, Sang Luo leaned against the earthen wall, panting uncontrollably. The discomfort was even worse than before she drank water.

Shen Ning was shocked by her fall. She hurried over and tried to help Sang Luo up.

However, despite being nine years old, Shen Ning, who had lost her mother at birth and had been living with her uncle and aunt, hadn’t had a good diet since childhood. With her brother not around for the past two years and Mr. Li being even more stingy with food, after the separation, she and the original owner had spent three months on this mountain, scrimping and saving, sometimes going without food for a meal. As a result, she looked no different from a six or seven-year-old child.

She was like a little refugee, unable to lift the fifteen-year-old Sang Luo.

Shen Ning tried her best to lift her big sister but couldn’t. She was so worried that her eyes turned red.

Sang Luo shook her head, indicating that she should save her strength. After resting for a while, she said, “I’m hungry, An Ning, help… help sister boil some hot water, okay?”

Hot water was the only thing they could consume in the house now, provided that the water in the jar hadn’t spilled completely due to her fall.

Shen Ning nodded repeatedly, wiping her tears and rushing to pick up the jar from the ground.

The floor of the room was mud, and the jar had rolled around on the ground, leaving some water inside. Without caring whether the mouth of the jar was clean, Shen Ning picked up the jar and rushed to the stove not far from the table.

The so-called stove was actually just a makeshift “stove” built with a few pieces of stone. Shen Ning placed the broken-cornered earthenware jar, which was normally used as a water container and pot for cooking, on the makeshift stove.

This jar was used for holding water and cooking food, serving as the only usable container in the house apart from three bowls.

Despite her young age, Shen Ning was nimble in her actions. She started the fire and boiled the water without any hesitation. If it weren’t for her occasional tears, she would have looked even more capable.

Shen Ning knew in her heart that her sister-in-law was ill from hunger. Especially today, her condition was particularly bad. She and her brother couldn’t get any food from their uncle’s house during the day. When they brought a pot of wild vegetable soup to their sister-in-law, she couldn’t swallow it.

Both siblings were terrified. They hadn’t dared to go to sleep tonight. They had been guarding the bed, watching their sister-in-law’s face turn paler and weaker, her breath becoming weaker. Only then did they ignore the late hour and rush out to find a solution.

Find a solution!

Suddenly, she remembered something. Turning around, she took out a handful of light red wild fruits from her pocket and brought them to Sang Luo’s eyes. “Big sister, I found some ground fruits. Please eat them quickly.”

Realizing that Sang Luo’s body was still trembling, she placed the handful of fruits into Sang Luo’s palm and used her hands to tear one fruit open, then brought it to Sang Luo’s mouth.

A strong fruity aroma wafted over, and Sang Luo subconsciously swallowed her saliva. Lowering her eyes, she saw the fruit Shen Ning had torn open in her hands. It was a ground loquat.

Her instincts made her not think about anything else. She eagerly opened her mouth and swallowed the fruit Shen Ning brought to her lips, along with the flesh and skin.

Sang Luo had lived in the mountains for five years before crossing over. Naturally, she had eaten ground loquats many times before, but it was the first time she had eaten them so desperately and eagerly.

The two women, one feeding and the other eating, ate seven fruits in a row. When Shen Ning picked up the last fruit and brought it to Sang Luo’s lips, Sangluo finally restrained her instincts and turned her head aside. “You eat this one.”

With the memories of the original owner, Sang Luo knew how miserable the original owner was when she was hungry, and these two children weren’t much better off.

Shen Ning’s face had never dried up since seeing Sang Luo wake up. Now that she heard Sang Luo’s voice sounding a bit stronger, her tears fell even more uncontrollably. Her face was dirty, marked by tears streaming down like a spotted cat. She cried and laughed at the same time. “Big sister, eat.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she stuffed the last piece of fruit into Sang Luo’s mouth.

The sweet and fragrant taste of the fruit, along with the food and sweetness, slightly alleviated the collapsing bodily functions. At least the symptoms of blacking out in front of her eyes seemed to gradually recede.

Sang Luo sat on the ground without moving, conserving her strength.

She asked Shen Ning, “Did you go out in the middle of the night just to find food for me? Where did you find these?”

Near this grass hut, there was absolutely nothing that could be found to eat. Although the original owner was born into a noble family and was pampered before, she also followed her family to flee from disaster, recognizing many wild vegetables and fruits along the way. After arriving at the Shen family and separating, they had a hard time for a few months, and most of the nearby edible things had already been found by them. Even if they wanted to dig for wild vegetables now, they had to walk quite far.

“I went to the mountainside to the west of the village, but I couldn’t find anything. I only found these few,” Shen Ning replied.

The ground fruits were delicious. Every year after they ripened, both adults and children in the village would keep an eye out for them. Any vine they saw would be searched, and there were few remaining around the outskirts of the mountains and fields.

Sang Luo sighed, “You’re too brave.”

Shen Ning lowered her head. “I brought a stick to beat the grass. I didn’t go deep into the mountains, just wandered around the mountainside.”

The little girl felt guilty, so she turned around to check the water in the earthenware jar, afraid of being scolded by her sister-in-law.

Sang Luo had the memories of the original owner and understood the reason. Behind the village was a continuous range of mountains. Even the original owner, who lived in the nearby mountains, was terrified. Normally, she didn’t allow the two children to go deep into the mountains, let alone go out at night to find wild fruits.

But Sang Luo also understood that the child dared to go out in the middle of the night to find food all for her, or rather, for the original owner. Therefore, she didn’t say anything more and asked, “What about Xiao An?”

Xiao An, Shen Ning’s twin brother.

The siblings usually went everywhere together. But for quite a while today, only Shen Ning returned, and Xiao An was nowhere to be seen.

Shen Ning’s shoulders drooped. “Second Brother went to ask Third Uncle to borrow some grain.”

…

In the middle of the night, the courtyard door of the Shen family was knocked loudly, with occasional shouts from Xiao An calling for a third uncle.

Inside the house,Third Uncle Shen and his wife, Mrs. Li, had already been awakened by the noise.

Third Uncle Shen couldn’t rest easily. After listening for almost half an hour, he wanted to get out of bed, but Mrs. Li stopped him with a hand. “Don’t go. It’s been more than half a month now. Haven’t these two siblings come to borrow grain every day? They say it’s borrowing, but do they ever return it? They’ve come to bother us even in the middle of the night.”

Third Uncle Shen’s hand paused as he lifted the blanket, suppressing his voice. “But we can’t really ignore them. If something bad happens due to hunger… we’ll be ridiculed by the villagers.”

Mrs. Li sneered, her expression calm. “Don’t worry. I gave them some food the day before yesterday. I know what’s going on. The family has been divided, and I can’t spoil them by feeding them until they’re full. But they won’t starve either. There are floods and droughts in the north, but we’re better off in the south. Although we’ve been affected somewhat, it’s not like they can’t find wild vegetables and fruits in the mountains. Can people really starve to death?”

Third Uncle Shen’s hesitation gradually dissipated.

Mrs. Li concluded, “That’s enough. When they come again tomorrow morning, I’ll give them some food. But that Sang family woman is useless. We brought her back with the hope that she could take care of Xiao An and Shen Ning. Now look at her, she’s not capable at all. If I had known earlier, I would have found someone more capable.”

The last sentence was spoken softly. In fact, the most difficult days had already passed since they fled from the north to here. At this point, if they wanted to buy someone, their value wouldn’t be as cheap as before.

Although Mrs. Li wanted to get rid of the burden, she was unwilling to spend several taels of silver to do so. With that money, they could feed the two children for one or two more years.

So even if there were other options, she would still choose Sang Luo, who could become her niece-in-law with just half a bag of grain, but would not sell herself.

Third Uncle Shen wasn’t particularly interested in Mrs. Li’s plans. He just nodded and said, “If you have a plan, that’s fine. But don’t hold onto things too tightly. If we end up with a reputation for being heartless and ungrateful, it might affect our future life in the village.”

Most importantly, he still felt somewhat guilty. After all, his elder brother had only these two descendants left.

After exchanging a few words, the couple truly let go of the matter. They ignored the knocking from Shen An outside and pretended not to hear it, simply lying back down in their bed.