Chapter 3 – She Was Rich Now

A simple bowl of egg drop soup with only a bit of seasoning, yet the two children ate it with great relish.

These two little villain cubs — the younger sister, Huo Mian, was four years old this year, and her big brother, Huo Ran, was only six — were both noticeably smaller than other children their age. This was the result of the original owner’s neglect, leaving them hungry one moment and full the next.

Chu An quickly finished the egg drop soup in her own bowl. When she looked up to drink the remaining broth, she noticed that the two cubs’ bowls were nearly empty as well.

Huo Mian was holding her spoon with both hands, sticking out her tongue to reluctantly lick the last bit of broth clinging to it.

How long had it been since they’d last had a proper meal?

Chu An watched them, and a quiet sigh escaped her heart.

In the short time that Chu An had been distracted, the two cubs had already scraped their bowls clean. Huo Ran picked up his own and his sister’s bowls, stood up, and walked over to the stove, which was only slightly taller than he was. He began struggling to lift a water ladle, scooping hot water from the back pot into the front pot.

Huo Mian followed closely behind her big brother, grabbed a handful of soda ash with her small hand, and tiptoed to drop it into the hot water.

Chu An frowned. “What are you two doing?”

“Washing the bowls.” Huo Ran replied. “We live in your house, so we can’t just eat for free. We have to help out.”

How strange. That was something Sister-in-law herself had said before. Had she forgotten?

“This isn’t just my house, it’s yours too.” Chu An corrected him, pulling the two cubs — who were almost as tall as the stove — aside. “Helping with chores is indeed the duty of every family member, but it has to be within your ability.”

The soda ash that Huo Mian had just tossed into the hot water, also known as sodium carbonate, was a common kitchen cleaning agent in the 1980s. This stuff was harsh on the skin and shouldn’t be in prolonged contact with it, especially for children’s tender hands.

Chu An examined the hands of Huo Ran and Huo Mian closely. The skin on their palms was already somewhat rough, and the crevices around their nails were packed with dirt. Clearly, no adult had ever taken proper care of them.

“Big Brat, I’m giving you a task.” Chu An said calmly as she withdrew her hand.

Huo Ran’s expression immediately grew tense.

Compared to his younger sister, who was more likely to let her guard down due to her age, the big brother — only two years older — was clearly far more cautious.

If the bad Sister-in-law was willing to let them eat at the table today, then surely something harder than washing dishes was waiting for them afterward!

Chu An paid no mind to his wariness. She took a Double Rhombus–brand nail clipper from the drawer and tossed it to him. “I’ll wash the dishes. You, Big Brat, take Little Brat and go trim your nails.”

The wariness melted into a blank expression.

Trim their nails?

That was it?

He snuck a glance at Sister-in-law and saw her already at the stove, holding a loofah sponge gingerly between her index and middle fingers, scrubbing the three bowls quickly and efficiently.

Of course Chu An was disgusted.

Soda ash wasn’t only harmful to children’s hands — it was bad for her own hands too!

But while the original owner could order children to stoke fires, cook, and wash dishes for her, Chu An couldn’t bring herself to do such things. She had already decided to take the two cubs to the canteen for meals starting tomorrow.

With her plans set, Chu An put the clean dishes into the cupboard and leaned over to check on the cubs’ progress.

What she saw was Huo Ran clutching the nail clipper, blushing furiously, and hesitating.

Chu An immediately understood. “You don’t know how to use a nail clipper?”

Huo Ran felt his face burn with shame in front of Sister-in-law. His lips moved a few times before he stammered out, cheeks red as a sunset: “We don’t usually use nail clippers.”

Chu An was surprised. “Then how do you cut your nails?”

Huo Mian, nibbling on her fingers, replied honestly: “We… teeth… bite.”

Chu An: “…”

No wonder the edges of their nails were so jagged.

She shook her head, gently pulling Huo Mian’s hand away from her mouth, and began trimming the girl’s fingernails herself.

Logically speaking, when the bad Sister-in-law brought a sharp metal object close, Huo Mian should have been afraid.

But the moment her small hand was wrapped in the warmth of Sister-in-law’s palm, an odd sense of security settled in her heart. She stole a quick, secret glance at Sister-in-law and suddenly realized that she didn’t look at all like the grotesque, evil Gargamel from the cartoon The Smurfs. On the contrary — she was beautiful.

Mm… she was as beautiful as those seashells on the beach.

The seashell-pretty Sister-in-law trimmed Huo Mian’s nails into a neat and rounded shape.

After finishing with Huo Mian, Chu An smiled and took Huo Ran’s hand.

The boy bit his lower lip, remaining still as she clipped his nails. After a while, he asked: “Big Brother hasn’t come home yet. Why… aren’t you scolding us?”

Only when Big Brother was at home would the bad Sister-in-law refrain from hitting them, yelling at them, or ordering them to work.

But the current Sister-in-law was… strange.

Meeting Huo Ran’s searching gaze, Chu An raised an eyebrow. “You want me to scold you?”

Huo Ran shook his head. “We’re burdens.” In the mindset instilled by the original owner, Huo Ran and Huo Mian were leeches clinging to the family, freeloading and still making her take care of them, so they deserved to be beaten and scolded.

“We’re eating your food for free… Ow!”

Before Huo Ran could elaborate on his reasoning, his forehead received a sharp flick.

Chu An said impatiently: “I’ve already made it clear — this isn’t just my house, it’s yours too. So there’s no such thing as freeloaders or burdens here.”

Huo Ran stared at her in a daze, clearly overloaded, unable to fully process the meaning behind her words.

“Kids should just grow up happily, not spend all day overthinking.” Chu An said with a snap of her fingers. “Go take a bath.”

She knew the harm caused by the original owner wasn’t something that could heal overnight. So she interrupted the children’s wandering thoughts, bathed Huo Mian, and while Huo Ran was washing up in the bathroom, and Huo Mian was clumsily changing into her pajamas, Chu An took the opportunity to count her savings.

The more she counted, the brighter her mood became.

Huo Zeye was currently serving as a regiment commander in the army. Perhaps because his younger brother and sister still needed the original owner’s care, he sent her 100 yuan every month as household expenses.

In addition, before Father Huo and Mother Huo passed away, they had left a lifetime of savings to their three children. Huo Zeye hadn’t touched the portions belonging to his younger siblings, only taking his own share. On holidays, he would give the original owner an extra sum, instructing her to buy food and supplies for the younger ones. But clearly, not a cent of it was ever spent on Huo Ran or Huo Mian — all of it had gone to the original owner’s clothes, perms, and cosmetics.

Besides that, Chu An also had a sum of bride price money. The original owner had a terrible relationship with her own family, so when she schemed her way into marrying Huo Zeye, she had clung tightly to the bride price he gave her, never handing over a single cent. Fortunately, the monthly money from Huo Zeye had been enough, so even with the original owner’s reckless spending, there was still more than 400 yuan left of the bride price.

Adding in the holiday allowance the army gave to family members, as well as the usual subsidies in the form of ration and cloth tickets…

All together, the total came to 628 yuan.

It might not sound like much, but in the 1980s, it was an impressive sum. With rice at about 0.18 yuan per jin, 628 yuan could buy roughly 3,489 jin of rice. With pork at about 0.93 yuan per jin, it could buy around 675 jin of pork!

And before long, Huo Zeye’s monthly allowance would arrive in her hands again.

In short, after having once been an overworked corporate drone — working 9-9-6, often doing unpaid overtime, losing her full attendance bonus just for taking a day off — Chu An had now completely turned the tables. After transmigrating into the book, she had achieved her ultimate life goal: to lie flat and live easy!

No wonder the widowed mother of the story’s protagonist worked tirelessly to earn a reputation for being virtuous, all just to marry the widower who, in the book’s timeline, had already lost Chu An — his first wife.

So it was all just to cling to a powerful backer!

But now that the person inside this body had become Chu An, she had no intention of being the cannon fodder in the original novel — the tool used only to highlight the protagonist’s mother’s gentle and virtuous image. And as for Huo Ran and Huo Mian, the two poor cubs who had suffered abuse from such a young age, Chu An couldn’t bear to watch them become nothing more than a foil for the protagonist.

Since fate had gone round and round only to place her in the role of the wretched woman who abused the villain’s cubs and dutifully followed the cannon-fodder script, there was no way she would willingly walk into the ending the book had prepared for her.

After all, this hard-won life of ease — how could she let someone else take it away?

Her thoughts were interrupted when a small hand gently tugged at the hem of her clothes. Chu An came back to herself and saw that at some point, the two cubs had already changed into their pajamas. They were now staring at her with nervous, watchful eyes.

Chu An couldn’t help but laugh. “Why aren’t you asleep? Do you want me to tell you a bedtime story?”

Huo Mian blinked at her in confusion and slowly shook her head. She felt like she had been living in a dream all day — Sister-in-law had cooked them delicious food, stroked her head gently, trimmed her nails, and even bathed her.

Huo Mian was afraid that if she closed her eyes, this Sister-in-law would be gone by tomorrow.

Of course, Chu An had no idea what was going through the child’s head. Seeing her shake her head, Chu An simply said: “Alright, if you don’t need a bedtime story, I’ll head back to my room first. You two should go to sleep early — children need plenty of rest to grow tall.”

With that, she stood up, waved at the two cubs, and said: “Big Brat, Little Brat, good night.”

But just as she turned to leave, a strange wave of loss suddenly welled up in both Huo Ran’s and Huo Mian’s hearts. Huo Ran gritted his teeth and called out: “Wait!”

“What is it?” Chu An turned back to ask.

Huo Ran had only called out instinctively, and when Chu An actually turned around, he suddenly didn’t know what to say.

His small hands fidgeted with the hem of his clothes for a long moment before he finally stammered out an opening. “I… I’m not called Big Brat. I have a name!”

“Oh.” Chu An understood, walked up, and took his small hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Hello, Mr. Huo Ran.”

Being addressed so seriously by Chu An made Huo Ran’s cheeks flush red. He pressed his lips together and stayed silent.

Seeing Sister-in-law holding her big brother’s hand, Huo Mian quickly stretched out her own paw and softly introduced herself. “I’m called… I’m called Huo Mian.”

Naturally, Chu An didn’t favor one over the other. She smiled warmly and took Huo Mian’s hand. “Hello, Ms. Huo Mian.”

Held by Sister-in-law, Huo Mian broke into a silly, happy grin.

Looking down at the two cubs, Chu An’s eyes curved with a smile as well.

Cannon fodder? Villains? Foils? The moment she had transmigrated, the story had already veered off track. From here on out, Chu An would be the one writing it.

She said seriously: “My name is Chu An—”

Nice to meet you.

“I’m very happy to know you both.”