CH 2

Chapter 2 – Past Life

“I won’t leave.”

“What do you mean you won’t leave?”

A roar that could frighten a child sounded.  The voice was full of disgust and impatience and carried deep contempt.

“I didn’t do anything wrong………why should I leave?”

After leaving, her baby daughter would have to carry a disgraced reputation for the rest of her life and would be without the protection of the clan.

The person speaking was a young woman with a slightly dark complexion and withered yellow hair.  Her face was slightly long with chapped lips and a slightly drooping nose and she was not considered pretty.

But what was intriguing was her pair of surprisingly clear eyes.  Before giving birth to her child, her eyes were gray and dull like two pools of grayish stagnant water, hazy and dim.  But ever since she gave birth to her daughter, her eyes became as bright as the lakes in the deep mountains and ridges that could move the hearts of people and make them accidentally drown in them.

On the whole, she definitely could not be considered a beautiful woman but only a village woman who farms for a living.  With thick arms and big feet, she needed at least two bowls of rice to fill her tummy at each meal.

In the past, the Xiao Family could still tolerate her large appetite.  After all, she was the wife of their second son and they could not allow her to starve to death before their son’s return from the army!

And now with a baby in her arms, both mother and daughter must be fed, otherwise, the gossip of them forcing their second son’s family to death would be spread then Old Man Xiao’s family would no longer be able to remain in the village.

However, the drought persisted for three years and the harvest decreased year after year.

The food that could fill the tummy was getting lesser and lesser.  If they could feed one person less, then it would be one person less as no one wanted to share their food with others.  It was best to find ways to reduce the number of mouths waiting to be fed.

The first to bear the brunt was the mother and daughter who were without the protection of a man.

The matter started three days ago when the imperial court sent news to the Village Administrator’s residence.  After the news was sent to Old Man Xiao’s house, it resulted in this situation today.

“How dare you say you’re not in the wrong?  You, this Star of Death, brought misfortune to your husband and our whole family, young and old!  You’re a demon, a destroyer of families!  First, you brought misfortune to your maiden family until they became so poor and then caused your elderly mother to die an early death.  Now you’ve come to harm our Xiao Family.  Back then, if it wasn’t because we were in a hurry for our family’s Lao Er* to get married, how could I have been so blind to choose you?  You’re obviously here to collect debts…….”

(Lao Er means Old Two or Lao Er in the family.)

Mother Wu was ranting and swearing.  She was in her early forties but looked like an old woman in her fifties.  Her hair had turned gray and her voice was very powerful.

The moment she started scolding, she would carry on for more than half an hour and it was not an exaggeration to say that she was a shrew.

The eldest daughter-in-law and the third daughter-in-law were leaning against the door to watch the show with insincere smiles.  One daughter-in-law was pretending to pinch bean pods but even after a long time, she was still pinching the same pod.  The other daughter-in-law was gloating and hugging her child while holding a handful of sunflower seeds in her hand and was spitting out the shells all over the floor that no one swept.

They earnestly wished that both the mother and daughter would leave early so that they could save on the food rations.

Today, there were two extra people at the scene.  The two sisters-in-law who were usually in disharmony had evil intentions and wanted to drive away the unwelcomed pair of mother and daughter so that they could get their hands on the things in Lao Er’s room.

The brick house was built with money sent home by Lao Er, Xiao Jingfeng, through someone.  It was the military pay that he saved up and was reluctant to spend which amounted to a total of 12 taels of silver.  Half the amount was supposed to be given to the family while the other half was specifically instructed to be handed over to his wife because he felt sorry for his wife.  They had just gotten married and he had to leave her alone in her empty boudoir to serve the two elders.

However, the extremely selfish Xiao Family never mentioned this and did not even give the second daughter-in-law a single cent.  Instead, they used the money to build a new brick residence.

However, Old Man Xiao still has some conscience.  The three houses located on the east side of the new courtyard were allocated for the family of the Second Branch to show that his family was not neglected.

(Ancient courtyard houses were built with walls or fencing to keep out intruders.  Within the fenced-up area would be a few houses that would usually be separated into four sections and named north, south, east, and west.)

When Lao Er returns, he would at least be able to give him an explanation.  He had used the money on his family, so Lao Er should not have anything to say, right?

In this way, everyone benefitted.

However, it was the three houses that made everyone envious.

There were several children in the First Branch and Third Branch and they were all growing up.  It was uncertain whether more children would be born and the house was fast running out of living space.  Therefore, the two branches were eyeing the three houses and planning to ‘borrow’ them.

At first, when the second sister-in-law just married into the family, she was very timid and was very easy to manipulate.  If she was told to go east, she would not dare to go west and not dare to eat more.  At the most, she would only eat one bowl of rice and did all the household chores while enduring with a half-filled stomach.  Later even when she was heavily pregnant, she still worked in the fields and became dark, thin, and haggard.

The ridiculous thing was that Xiao Jingheng who was sending money home every 3 to 5 months was still unaware that his wife had given him a daughter.  No one in the family could read and no one was willing to write a letter to inform him that he was already a father.  As a result, he was kept completely in the dark and was still thinking about his family and wanted the war to finish early so he could return home to reunite with his family.

It was only a month after Lao Er left that his wife found out she was pregnant.  Rural people generally valued sons, so before the child was born, the life of Lao Er’s wife was not too difficult.  At least, she was given two meals a day, and to prevent harming her unborn child, she was given light work in the fields.

But because of insufficient food, the baby was still affected.

“Mother’s words are prejudiced.  First of all, I am not the Star of Death.  My biological mother gave birth to 5 children in succession which took a toll on her health.  When I was 14 years old, she died due to poor health and that matter had nothing to do with me.  I observed 3 years of mourning and fulfilled my duties of filial piety, so no one can find fault with me.  As to your accusations, I don’t agree……”

“Second, it is extremely dangerous on the battlefield since swords don’t have eyes.  It’s either you die or I perish.  A total of 21 strong men from our village joined the army.  Ask yourself, how many of them came back and how many of them were unmarried?  And who were the people who suppressed them to death?”

Li Jing’er was cradling her six-month-old daughter in her arms.  The worry-free baby who was still on mother’s milk rolled her black eyes and played with her hands while she giggled.

“Rebellious, rebellious!  I only said one sentence and you replied with ten!  Is this how a daughter-in-law should behave?  You’re unfilial and disrespectful to your parents-in-law.  If I don’t drive you out, should I let you stay and be disobedient to me?  Broom Star*, thieving woman!  You’ve harmed my son and now you want to hurt our Xiao Family too!  Leave, get out of here immediately!  You’re not a member of our Xiao Family……”

(Broom Star refers to an unlucky person who brings misfortunes and disasters to the people around him.)

Mother Wu’s tone sounded very agitated and acted as though it was a natural thing to do.  It was like having to feed two more mouths was a disadvantage to her and she even wanted to scrape off another layer of oil from both the mother and daughter.

Her eyes were red and her hands were shaking because…….

“Isn’t it all because of that 20 taels of silver?”

Li Jing’er’s face was calm without showing any signs of cowardice or giving in.  She looked at Mother Wu who had a panicked expression.

“What…….what 20 taels of silver?  I’ve never heard of it before.  Stop talking nonsense.”

Mother Wu was so panic-stricken that she placed both her hands on her chest and the two visible bulges seemed to be hiding something.

“My husband’s compensation.”

The Village Administrator had gone from house to house to hand over the money.  He had given two ingots with the value of ten taels of silver per ingot and the names of the five people who died in the war were listed on the death list.

And Xiao Jingfeng was one of them.

“You…….you wicked woman!  Your conscience has been eaten by dogs!  My son is dead and you still want to take away the money that he gave his parents!  My life is so miserable!  Why do I have such an unvirtuous and unfilial daughter-in-law?   How can you place yourself before your mother-in-law?……..  Otherwise, this mother-in-law can accompany you so that I won’t be bullied to the point of losing my life……..”

As she looked at the trouble-making Mother Wu, Li Jing’er was thinking in her heart…….

Truly a drama queen!  She is truly suitable to be an actress!  Just look at her expert skills, she is indeed worthy of an Oscar!

Li Jing’er’s actual name was Li Shuangjing and was a firefighter in her last life.  At the age of 22, she graduated from the Fire Department of the Police Academy.  After working 6 years in the fire department, she was promoted to the position of Squad Leader and was in charge of 7 to 8 police and volunteer fighters.

During a firefighting operation, she perished tragically while saving a young child who was trapped in the fire.  She was 30 years old when she died.

On the day she died, it happened to be her birthday.  Her colleagues wanted to celebrate her birthday and even booked a private room and everyone was waiting for the birthday girl to arrive.  Unexpectedly, a large department store suddenly caught fire.  She and her team members were immediately notified to assist and after putting on their firefighting equipment, they set off.

She felt a sharp pain and a layer of darkness rose in front of her eyes.  She vaguely seemed to sense that her life was coming to an end and just before she died, her only thought was on the 7-year-old boy in her arms.  With all the strength she could muster, she threw the little boy to her teammate who was standing on the ladder outside the building, ready to catch the boy.  And then the building collapsed………

Li Jing’er woke up amid throbbing pain.   As soon as she opened her eyes, she thought she was hallucinating after being seriously injured but then she noticed the roof beams and the brick walls that were only found in her grandmother’s house in the countryside.

Before she could think more about it, the tearing pain made her realize that she was giving birth to a child.  The child’s head had already emerged from the birth canal and the only thing left to do was to give the final push for the child to come out completely.