Babies really were easy to take care of. As long as they were full, they fell asleep.
Chen Yuan was about to lay the well-fed Daniu back on the kang when she looked around for a clean spot.
After searching for quite a while, she realized there wasn’t one.
Only then did she notice that the baby was wrapped in a tattered cotton jacket, stained beyond recognition with urine and feces. The worn bedsheet covering the kang was soaked with Daniu’s urine, mixed with the lochia that the original owner had accidentally bled onto it after giving birth. The quilt beside it was filthy and reeked of a sour odor, while several used cloth diapers hung from the edge of the bed.
Thankfully, she hadn’t eaten yet.
Otherwise, she would have thrown up.
She wanted to replace the bedsheet, but she was afraid it would look too suspicious and attract attention.
On the other hand, if she didn’t change it, there was no way she could stay here.
For a moment, she had no idea what to do.
In the end, she rolled up the dirty bedsheet together with the cloth diapers and tossed them into the washing machine inside the storage space.
Then she secured the door.
Calling it “locking” the door was generous—it was nothing more than wedging a wooden stick against it.
After that, she carried Daniu into the storage space to get everything cleaned up.
Using her mind, she retrieved a waterproof changing pad and spread it over the bed. She then put a disposable diaper on Daniu before laying the sleeping baby down.
Only then did she finally hurry off to eat.
She was starving.
She wolfed down a bowl of millet porridge, one vegetable bun, and two eggs.
Even after finishing all of it, she still desperately wanted more.
But she knew she couldn’t keep eating.
After being starved for so long, overeating would only overwhelm her stomach.
In the end, she forced herself to suppress her appetite and went to sleep instead.
Once she was asleep, she wouldn’t have to think about food anymore.
…
She was awakened once again by Daniu’s crying.
She was exhausted.
She was sleepy.
Even after sleeping, every inch of her body still ached, and nothing felt right.
But hearing Daniu cry, she had no choice but to get up.
She checked the diaper.
Sure enough.
The baby had pooped.
With a sigh of resignation, Chen Yuan got up to clean her.
She also decided it was finally time to give Daniu a bath.
The poor child had never been bathed since the day she was born.
Chen Yuan found a baby bathtub, attached the infant support, and filled it with warm water.
She placed the tub on top of a table that reached her waist.
She had no choice.
The original owner’s body hurt everywhere—her lower back, her legs, and countless other places she couldn’t even describe.
She was so weak that she couldn’t squat down at all.
After carefully undressing Daniu, she gently lowered the baby into the tub.
Thankfully, the little girl didn’t cry or fuss.
The difficult part was all on Chen Yuan.
She had to keep one hand supporting the baby the entire time.
If she loosened her grip even a little, she was afraid Daniu would slip into the water and drown.
But if she held her too tightly…
What if she accidentally crushed such a tiny baby?
Being a mother is way too hard…
After a frantic struggle, Chen Yuan finally finished bathing the baby.
Then she weighed her.
Two jin, eight liang.
Not a single liang heavier than when she was born.
The poor child hadn’t gained any weight at all.
She put a fresh diaper on Daniu, dressed her in a little padded baby jacket, and wrapped her snugly in a swaddling blanket.
Only then did Chen Yuan suddenly realize…
She had forgotten to sterilize everything.
…
Well…
It was too late now.
It’s fine.
People who accomplish great things don’t sweat the small stuff.
Enduring the pain throughout her body, Chen Yuan stripped off her own filthy clothes and threw them into the washing machine together with the cotton jacket Daniu had been wrapped in.
She then carried the freshly washed and dried bedsheet back outside the storage space and spread it over the kang.
It wasn’t that she was too stingy to throw away those ragged clothes.
The problem was…
They were the only clothes she and Daniu had.
If she threw them away, what would they wear after leaving the storage space?
It wasn’t as though they could spend the rest of their lives hiding in there.
After feeding Daniu another bottle of formula, there was nothing else she needed to do.
The baby promptly fell asleep on her own.
Chen Yuan, meanwhile, headed for the bathroom.
She couldn’t stand it anymore.
She was taking a bath.
She didn’t care if she was still in her postpartum confinement period.
She was bathing.
Originally, she had only planned to rinse herself off.
But the moment the warm water touched her body, she completely lost track of time.
Before she knew it, she had spent more than an hour bathing herself thoroughly from head to toe.
She had forgotten just how frail the original owner’s body really was.
By the time she finished, she was so weak she nearly fainted.
Fortunately, the original owner had always been a clean person before giving birth, so her hair wasn’t infested with lice.
Otherwise, she would have had to deal with that too.
At that point, she honestly would have wanted to die all over again.
In truth, the original owner had always loved being clean.
It was only after giving birth that everything changed.
Her body had already been severely weakened, and then Zhang Laosan’s savage beating left her almost completely bedridden.
She simply didn’t have the strength to clean the house, wash clothes, or scrub cloth diapers anymore.
The little strength she had left was spent carrying Daniu from house to house, begging other mothers to let the baby nurse.
The original owner had struggled on in that sickly condition for eight long days.
In the end…
She couldn’t hold on any longer.
And that was when Chen Yuan had transmigrated into her body.