“Wake up, the sun is shining on your bottom.”
Three-month-old Lin Fang was picked up. A pair of big hands, thick with calluses, gently changed her clothes and diaper while murmuring continuously: “Good girl, Mom is dressing you in clean clothes. These clothes have been sun-dried all day; they must feel very comfortable, right? This diaper has been sun-dried too. When I folded it, I carefully softened it so it’s soft against your little bottom, won’t hurt my precious baby.”
Already a month since she came to this world, every morning this body’s mother repeated these words. During this month, Lin Fang had only been able to do three things: eat, sleep, and defecate. She was too ill to even cry with strength, and while nursing, she would take a few sips and then rest, making the time she spent on a single feeding several times longer than other babies. Most of the time, she would fall asleep from exhaustion before being fully fed. Thus, throughout this month, Lin Fang had remained in a state of semi-hunger, helpless about the situation—after all, how could she help it when her body was so weak?
“Wake up, the sun is shining on your bottom. Mom, when will my little sister wake up?”
This childish voice belonged to her second older brother, Lin Wu, who was three years older than Lin Fang. He always followed behind their mother, Li Cuimei, like a shadow.
“Your sister isn’t asleep; she just hasn’t opened her eyes yet,” Li Cuimei patiently repeated to her son once again.
“If she’s not asleep, then why hasn’t she opened her eyes? I’m almost forgetting what my sister’s eyes look like.”
“Your sister’s eyes are very pretty, big and expressive, like they can talk. Don’t you remember? You once said her eyes were beautiful and even tried to poke her eyeball with your hand to feel what they were like. You almost scared me to death.”
Listening to this, Lin Fang really wanted to roll her eyes. So this was how irresponsible her second brother was. Unfortunately, she didn’t even have the strength to open her eyes, let alone roll them. Actually, lack of strength was only part of the problem. Another reason was that Lin Fang instinctively didn’t want to open her eyes. In her previous life, she had died a terrible death. Even though heaven had given her a second chance, she still lacked the courage to live again. Yet she also lacked the courage to starve herself to death. So she just dragged on day after day, living in a daze and in a half-dead state.
“Mom, I’m off to school.”
This was Lin Wen, the eldest brother of this body. At eight years old, he had already started attending a private school. True to his name, he spoke in a refined and gentle manner and was a courteous and elegant person.
“Oh, Wen, haven’t you had breakfast yet? Why are you in such a hurry? The teacher and other classmates probably haven’t arrived yet. You can go after you’ve eaten.”
“It’s okay, Mom, I brought something to eat. I can eat while walking. I haven’t memorized the lessons from yesterday yet. Going early gives me time to review in the quiet. There’s no need to bring me lunch. I have two vegetable pancakes your made. If I get thirsty, I can just ask the teacher for a bowl of hot water.”
“Oh, you’re just too stubborn,” Li Cuimei said with affection.
Lin Wen was indeed very studious, but unfortunately, he had poor memory due to his weak constitution. Like a slow bird that starts flying early, he worked very hard. While his peers were playing and indulging, he would stubbornly read books, and in the dead of night, he would study alone by lamplight. Every morning, when the rest of the family got up, he had already swept the yard while muttering to himself, obviously memorizing his lessons.
“Mom, is my sister any better today?”
Wanting to change the topic so his mother wouldn’t bring up school again, Lin Wen asked. Ever since his sister fell ill, his mother had secretly cried many times. If the conversation about school continued, Lin Wen was afraid his mother would be sad again after he left.
“She’s the same as always. After all this fuss, she still hasn’t opened her eyes. I don’t even know if she’s asleep or awake. Since she nearly drowned, she hasn’t made a sound or moved at all. I wonder if she really is—”
Is she really a fool? Lin Fang automatically completed the sentence in her mind. During the past month, the word “idiot” had come out of her grandmother’s mouth countless times regarding this body. Li Cuimei disliked her mother-in-law’s words, but given Lin Fang’s current condition, even Li Cuimei and her husband couldn’t help but think the same way, though they were unwilling to admit it.
“Daughter-in-law, why are you still staying in the room? Have you mixed the pig feed? Fed the chickens? Cooked the meal?”
Lin Wen had intended to comfort his mother a little, but faced with a string of questions from his grandmother Dong Shi, he swallowed his words. He gently touched his sister’s little face, reminded his younger brother not to be mischievous at home, and then turned and walked outside. Behind him, he could hear his grandmother grumbling: “What’s the use of studying? It can’t be eaten or drunk, and it costs money. All that studying has gone into a dog’s belly. Not even greeting his grandmother when he sees her—what kind of scholar is he? He’s worse than a stray dog on the street.”
Her muttering was indeed quite loud. Lin Fang inwardly complained: “What’s the use of greeting you anyway? I’ll just get scolded again.”
Actually, Lin Fang was also curious. From listening to Lin Wen’s speech, he didn’t seem like someone who didn’t understand etiquette. Why, then, was he so indifferent to his grandmother? In the past month, she hadn’t heard him speak more than a few sentences to her. Whenever his grandmother was speaking to him and said something he didn’t like, he would just turn around and leave immediately, completely disregarding the manners of a scholar. Yet towards his equally strict grandfather, he showed a completely different attitude.
“Ahhaha—Mom, are you going to let people sleep or not? I could hear you shouting so early in the morning. Honestly, I practiced writing late last night and my eyes are still heavy.”
From this voice, one could tell it was Lin Fang’s younger aunt, Lin Cui’e, who was ten years old. She was the youngest among eleven siblings, and all her parents and elder brothers and sisters spoiled her, raising her to be somewhat spoiled and willful, although she wasn’t a bad person at heart.
“Writing, writing—what’s the use of a girl writing well? When she grows up, she’ll just get married anyway. Her dowry won’t decrease by a single coin because of her handwriting.”
Lin Cui’e didn’t bother to listen to her mother’s nagging. She ran into her older sister-in-law’s room, looked at her niece in her sister-in-law’s arms, poked Lin Fang’s little face, and asked Li Cuimei: “Sister-in-law, is Fangfang a bit better today? Did she cry?”
Li Cuimei shook her head: “No, she’s still the same as always, not crying or moving.”
Outside, Dong Shi began to urge again: “Daughter-in-law, are you deaf or are you slacking off? I’ve been calling for so long, and you’re still stuck in the room. Do you still think you’re a young lady with maids to serve you? If the pigs go hungry today, Lin Wen can forget about going to school.”
Li Cuimei just stayed put: “Mother-in-law, Fang hasn’t finished eating yet. I must feed this child first before I attend to the pigs.”
Lin Fang felt helpless. This scenario played out every day, always linking her existence to pigs, chickens, or cows. Although in her previous life she was born in the Year of the Pig, that didn’t mean she wanted to be compared to pigs. Interestingly, Li Cuimei’s attitude toward her mother-in-law varied depending on her mood. When she was in a good mood, she might exchange a few words with her mother-in-law. But when she was in a bad mood, even if her mother-in-law spoke harshly, she might ignore her for ten days or half a month.
“Mom, look at these two pieces of fabric. Their colors are slightly different, and their sizes are a bit smaller. The two pieces can only be made into one piece of clothing. Because of the color difference, it will look ugly.”
This was Li Cuimei’s other younger sister-in-law, Lin Cuiping, whose name was also mentioned. She was already eighteen years old. In fact, she was at the age when a girl should be blooming like a flower. However, according to the customs of this dynasty, girls around fourteen or fifteen years old were already married. For someone like Lin Cuiping, she was considered quite old by now. In Lin Fang’s previous life, she would have been called a leftover woman.
Dong Shi returned to the room and lowered her voice: “Why are you speaking so loudly? Aren’t you afraid your elder sister-in-law will hear?”
“Hmph, you’re too cautious. Even if she hears, so what? She has so much dowry, would she care about these two pieces of old fabric?”
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