Lin Jinyue was woken up by the biting cold.
Opening her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar environment. They were in a mountain forest where many people dressed in rags lay on haystacks in the open air. Every one of them was as thin as a stick, their faces masked with numbness.
Lin Jinyue’s head felt heavy and swollen, and she could hear a clamor of voices nearby.
“Lao San, don’t waste any more time. The whole village is waiting for you. There’s a county town up ahead. If we sell Er Ya now for some grain, we can enter the city and get Tiezhu treated.”
“She’s just a girl. Master Xu is willing to pay twenty taels of silver. Once our family gets through this crisis, we’ll find you another wife. You can have as many children as you want then.”
“Give us a straight answer—are you selling or not? Our Master is in a hurry to get to Nan’an County.”
Finally, an aged voice made the final call. “Enough, it’s settled. Sell Er Ya to Master Xu. With those twenty taels of silver, our family will have enough to survive.”
Hearing these voices, Lin Jinyue jolted.
It seemed she had transmigrated into the body of Er Ya.
Just then, a splitting headache struck as a flood of memories that didn’t belong to her surged into her mind. She realized instantly that she had indeed transmigrated.
Furthermore, she was quite unlucky—she had landed in the middle of a chaotic, war-torn era.
To escape the rebels, the people of the original host’s village, Lin Family Village, had been fleeing north. They had been traveling for a month and were now completely out of food and supplies.
According to the original host’s memory, this wasn’t a case of selling her to Master Xu to be a maid or a servant—at least that would have offered a chance at life. Nowadays, even with money, it was hard to buy food. Thus, the Xu family was paying high prices to buy children to use as food.
In years of famine, swapping children to eat was a common occurrence. Selling a child for twenty taels of silver would be enough to keep the rest of the family fed and clothed for several years, so the Lin family had been tempted.
At the thought of such a disgusting way to die, a chill ran down Lin Jinyue’s spine. This was even worse than dying in the car crash.
Lin Jinyue looked up at Lin Lao San, the original host’s biological father.
When their eyes met, both of them froze in shock.
—This skeletal farmer looked seventy to eighty percent like her father!
—This sallow, emaciated little girl was the spitting image of his daughter when she was a child!
Lin Lao San—or rather, Lin Shucheng, who now occupied the body—looked at the little girl who looked exactly like his daughter. Regardless of the danger of their current situation, he snatched up a nearby shovel and stood in front of Lin Jinyue.
He roared at the crowd, “Who dares sell my daughter? I’ll fight you to the death!”
The members of the Lin family were stunned.
Clearly, they hadn’t expected the usually honest and silent Lin Lao San to actually defy them for the sake of a mere girl!
Lin Jinyue’s grandfather, Lin Youliang, shouted angrily, “Lao San, how can you speak like that? Your wife and son have high fevers. We could just bury your wife, but are you willing to bury Tiezhu? Stop talking nonsense and get Er Ya over to Master Xu! If you delay any longer, Master Xu will leave!”
Lin Youliang’s tone was forceful, and the rest of the Lin family looked over with accusatory glares.
Lin Shucheng didn’t back down at all. He raised the shovel, ready to swing it, his face twisted in a fierce expression. “Whoever dares to target my daughter, even if I die, I’ll take you all to the grave with me!”
Lin Shucheng’s ferocity frightened the entire family. The villagers who had intended to come over and mediate didn’t dare step forward.
To let twenty taels of silver fly away just like that—how could the Lin family bear it?
In a fit of rage, Lin Youliang kicked Lin Shucheng out of the family on the spot, leaving them without a single grain of food or a drop of water.
Lin Jinyue was shoved aside by Lin Lao Da, who snatched away the filthy, sour-smelling bedding beneath her.
The original host’s body was weak, and the push sent Lin Jinyue tumbling to the ground.
How could Lin Shucheng stand to see his daughter bullied?
He delivered a hard kick to Lin Lao Da’s backside, sending him face-first into the mud.
Lin Shucheng stood guard by Lin Jinyue with his shovel, looking as if he would kill anyone who dared to step closer.
Lin Youliang spat on the ground. “How unlucky to have raised such an unfilial son! Rebellious against your own father for a worthless girl.”
The Lin family grumbled and cursed as they moved their belongings to a clearing about ten meters away.
Seeing Lin Lao San’s fierce demeanor, Lin Jinyue’s heart sank slightly. She had hoped that if she could transmigrate, perhaps her parents and brother had too. But her father was usually a gentle man, definitely not a ruffian who would pick up a shovel to start a fight.
The two looked at each other, neither speaking.
Lin Jinyue looked at the two people lying on the ground. The woman looked somewhat like her mother, and the boy looked exactly like her brother when he was young.
Finally, clinging to a sliver of hope, Lin Jinyue spoke tentatively, “Dad?”
Lin Shucheng’s body jolted, and he looked at the little girl. “Yueyue?”
Having confirmed each other’s identity, the father and daughter both let out a collective sigh of relief.
The man who had just shown such ferocity now had red-rimmed eyes. He pulled his daughter into an emotional embrace, his voice trembling.
He kept murmuring, “Thank god I came too. Thank god, thank god… those animals…”
If his daughter had transmigrated alone and had to face such a maddening family—if she really had been sold for silver to be boiled and eaten—Lin Shucheng wouldn’t have been able to rest even as a ghost.
Lin Jinyue also let out a breath and patted her father’s back, feeling a lingering fear. Thank god, indeed.
She remembered that before losing consciousness, the four of them—her parents, her brother, and herself—were on a trip. To avoid a giant boulder rolling down the mountain, her father’s hand had slipped, driving the car off a cliff.
She thought the whole family was doomed, but unexpectedly, both she and her father had survived.
Remembering the two lying on the ground, Lin Jinyue lowered her voice and said to Lin Shucheng, “Dad, since we both made it, do you think Mom and Brother are also…”
Lin Shucheng thought of his wife and son and hurriedly said, “Yueyue, check on them first. What’s their condition? We need to treat them quickly; we can’t afford to wait.”
Lin Jinyue’s mother was a descendant of a family of Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners with superb skills. Lin Jinyue had studied with her for a few years as a child, learning to recognize herbs and treat simple symptoms.
She felt their pulses, then checked their tongues and eyes, frowning. “They were bitten by poisonous insects. Dad, stay here and watch over them. I’m going to find some Cnidium.”
When Lin Jinyue stood up, she was a bit unsteady. Now that her mind was relaxed, the sensation of hunger hit her belatedly.
She didn’t dare go far, staying within Lin Shucheng’s sight.
She managed to find two Cnidium plants in a secluded corner.
Lin Jinyue’s luck was good; she also found some herbs for treating wounds, as well as some Oldenlandia. On the road of escape, there were many snakes, insects, rats, and ants; she needed to stock up on such medicinal herbs.
Just as Lin Jinyue was about to head back, a mechanical voice rang out in her mind.
【System: Collection completed * 10. Farm System activated. Please keep up the good work, Host. More surprises can be unlocked.】