“Ugh…”
That suffocating, overpowering sensation again.
She let out a breath. Her cheeks were burning hot, and in her haze it felt as though heat were steaming off her entire body.
The man wrapped an arm around her smooth, delicate waist and lowered his head for a long, lingering kiss.
That fleeting tenderness nearly made her faint.
Soft, wet, sweet—fatally alluring.
She was still dazed when he suddenly bit down hard on the tip of her tongue.
“Ah—!”
Miao Miaomiao jolted awake with a cry, her forehead drenched in sweat.
She looked around the pitch-black room and instantly understood—another dream.
What was going on? Why had she been having these dreams so often lately?
Could it really be that the original owner of this body had been that desperate?
The thought sent a chill through her whole body. Oh dear, that would be seriously improper.
Since she was already awake, she no longer felt like sleeping.
It was just past four in the morning anyway, almost dawn. If she was determined to build a career, she had to be even more diligent.
Miao Miaomiao’s top priority was to find a way to make money—first to pay back the hundred yuan her father owed.
That hundred yuan had been borrowed by Miao Tianli from his second brother’s family only after endless pleading and days of cold looks.
People had hearts made of flesh. She really couldn’t bear to let her father suffer such humiliation. If it could be repaid, the sooner the better, so her second uncle and aunt wouldn’t keep coming around to nag.
Since it was still dark, she might as well take advantage of the time and head up the mountain to take a look.
Wasn’t it said that transmigrated women always came with luck—that once they went up a mountain, they’d pick up all kinds of valuable treasures?
She had to give it a try too.
By the time she finished imagining it, she was already dressed and ready to head out.
“Big Girl, where are you going?”
Miao Tianli had just gotten up as well, yawning as he walked over holding a kerosene lamp.
“Dad, don’t worry. I’ll earn back that hundred yuan for you very soon.”
Miao Miaomiao rested a hand on his shoulder, her face full of inexplicable confidence.
“Huh?”
Miao Tianli stared at his daughter in disbelief, opening his mouth with difficulty.
Heavens above—had Big Girl been overstimulated and gone mad?
A hundred yuan! Ten big bills! Even if he worked himself to the bone from dawn till dusk, it would take him half a year to earn that much.
And this foolish girl was saying she’d make it back quickly?
Making money wasn’t that easy. Had she really been frightened senseless… or possessed? Should he go find the village shaman at the end of the village to take a look at her?
“Yes, Dad, just trust me.”
Miao Miaomiao looked at him, her eyes shining.
“Uh… alright then…”
Miao Tianli clearly didn’t believe her.
In times like these, every household was poor. Making money was no easy thing. This silly girl even said she could pay it back in ten days—really hopelessly naive.
But forget it. It was rare that his daughter finally had some spirit again. He’d let her do as she pleased. Better than having her cooped up at home all day, gloomy and depressed—who knew what illness she might bottle up.
Miao Tianli looked at her as if she were a fool, while Miao Miaomiao herself was brimming with motivation.
Before long, she arrived at the large mountain beside Green Water Village.
The mountain was called Xiuli Mountain. Several villages surrounded it—Qingshan Village lay to the west, while Green Water Village, where she lived, was to the east.
The east was good. Places that got more sunlight usually had richer produce.
But a few hours later, she was exhausted like a dog.
“Huff… ha… huff…”
Miao Miaomiao squatted on a large rock, panting and fanning herself, so tired she could barely straighten her back.
She had circled this part of the mountain several times—no wild ginseng, no wild lingzhi, not even any inexplicably dead wild boars or rabbits crashing into trees.
The sun grew harsher, and she grew more exhausted.
Wasn’t she supposed to be a chosen one with great fortune? Why was it that when it came to her, she couldn’t even pick up an egg? This was way too absurd.
With nothing to show for it, she had no choice but to head back down the mountain.
But when she passed by a bamboo grove, she really did spot several “eggs.”
Miao Miaomiao’s eyes lit up, and she immediately went over to gather them…
By the time she got home again, it was almost noon. Zhang Cuiying was in the kitchen making lunch.
Seeing Miao Miaomiao come in with a basket on her back, Zhang Cuiying immediately pulled a long face. “Big Girl, what have you been doing all morning? Not going to the fields with your dad to earn work points, running around everywhere instead—do you think the family has spare money to support you?”
“Mom, Mom, come take a look—I picked up some good stuff!”
Miao Miaomiao wasn’t annoyed at all. Instead, she quietly tilted the basket to show her.
“What is it?”
Zhang Cuiying leaned over curiously—and a strong stench of chicken droppings nearly made her pass out.
“Blech—! Damn it, why did you pick back so many chicken-shit mushrooms?!”
She turned her head aside, gagging in disgust.
“They’re not chicken-shit mushrooms. They’re delicious.”
Miao Miaomiao helplessly pulled the basket back. This bamboo fungus would sell for over a hundred yuan a jin even fifty years later, okay? She’d picked more than two jin—if she could sell them, she might pay off her father’s debt right away.
Did people in this era really not eat this?
After retching for a while, Zhang Cuiying angrily grabbed her by the ear and shrieked, “You damn girl, are you trying to die?! Can this kind of thing be eaten? It’s poisonous! Last year, Third Aunt’s nephew picked some and cooked a pot of soup—after drinking it, the whole family ended up lying on boards! You dead girl, are you trying to kill our whole family?!”
By “lying on boards,” she meant hospital beds.
“Ow, Mom, Mom… let go! It hurts!”
Miao Miaomiao’s ear was being twisted upward—it hurt like hell. This old lady’s grip was no joke.
When her mother finally let go, Miao Miaomiao covered her ear and explained, “Mom, this kind of mushroom spoils after being opened for an hour. Third Aunt’s family must have eaten the spoiled ones—that’s why they got poisoned.”
No wonder the villagers didn’t eat these mushrooms. They didn’t know how to tell good from bad.
She vaguely sensed an opportunity coming.
“Mom, trust me. I’ll cook them once for you—guaranteed to be so delicious your eyebrows will fall off!”
Miao Miaomiao patted her chest confidently.
Joking aside, she’d been a top-honors graduate from New Oriental Culinary School in her past life—how could she mess up handling a little bamboo fungus?
Zhang Cuiying stared at her in disbelief, convinced her daughter had truly gone crazy.
“I’m too lazy to deal with you!”
Let her mess around if she wanted. The meal was already done anyway, and it wasn’t interfering with anything.
Zhang Cuiying carried the dishes into the main hall, leaving Miao Miaomiao alone in the kitchen to tinker.
At noon, Miao Tianli and Miao Qingqing returned from work, and Miao Fengshou came back from the village school.
As soon as they stepped inside, it was time to eat.
“Come, let’s eat.”
Miao Tianli called everyone to sit down, but didn’t see Miao Miaomiao. “Yingzi, where’s Big Girl?”
Miao Qingqing curled her lip disdainfully. “That lazy woman? Probably still sleeping.”
At the mention of Miao Miaomiao, her face filled with disgust.
“That silly girl is still in the kitchen messing with her poisonous mushrooms,” Zhang Cuiying said as she sat down. “Let’s ignore her and eat first.”
Just then, an aroma so fresh it made one’s eyebrows fall off suddenly drifted in from the doorway.
“Coming—fresh mushroom soup is ready.”