“How could we?” With their parents still alive, how could they split the family? But after only starting the sentence, Zhou Rong could no longer continue. Still… if they really could separate the household, how wonderful that would be!
“Wife, let the eldest go cook first. We’ll talk tonight after we come back,” Xu Ergen said with a dark expression, though his daughter’s words had moved him.
In this family, he had always been the unloved one. All the dirty and exhausting work fell on him, his wife, and their three daughters.
But Duoduo had been unconscious for two days, and his mother didn’t care at all. She had even stopped them from taking the girl to the hospital. Xu Ergen was furious.
His elder brother and younger brother, and even his elder sister, all had sons. Only his family had daughters. Were daughters just grass? His three girls were all so thoughtful, each one his precious little cotton jacket. He cherished every single one of them. All that nonsense about “without sons there’s no one to carry on the family line” was complete crap. Once he closed his eyes in death, who would know anything anyway?
“Second Sister, drink some rice soup,” little sister Xu Ting said, squeezing through the doorway with a small bowl.
“Come, Duoduo. Dad will help you sit up and drink some rice soup before you sleep again.” Xu Ergen carefully supported Duoduo and fed her gently.
Xu Duoduo’s body was far too weak. After drinking half a bowl of rice soup, she fell asleep again.
“Duoduo, Duoduo. Mommy’s precious baby. Can you hear me?” A familiar voice called out to Xu Duoduo.
Duoduo suddenly opened her eyes. “Mom? Where is this?” The place felt unfamiliar.
“This space originally belonged to you. Your mother also merged my space with yours, so you’d have enough resources to survive in another world. Your body in the apocalypse was already destroyed, but your brainwaves still remained. Your father and I couldn’t bear to let you die, so we sent your brainwaves into a body compatible with you. Duoduo, as long as you’re alive, no matter where you are, we’re happy,” Xu Nuo said comfortingly, holding Ling Xiaoxiao’s hand as they looked at their daughter.
“Mom, Dad… our team went searching for supplies, and suddenly a tree branch lashed out. The captain pushed me out of the way…” Just remembering it made Xu Duoduo depressed. Her death had been so unfair.
“Sweetheart, that captain and his lover’s mother have already made sure he died beyond recovery. We avenged you. Sending you here already exhausted all of our powers.” Suddenly, the two figures disappeared.
“Baby, we don’t know if we’ll ever meet again. Without Mom and Dad by your side, you must live well.” Xu Nuo and Ling Xiaoxiao briefly reappeared before vanishing once more after speaking.
“No! Mom! Dad! Don’t leave me!” Xu Duoduo hurried forward, but she couldn’t grasp the fading figures.
She collapsed to the ground, crying bitterly.
In the apocalypse, Xu Duoduo had been a spatial ability user. Whenever she went on missions with the team, she was responsible for storing supplies.
Originally, the team had found a safe place to rest.
Who would have thought that from the supposedly safe ground, a tree branch would suddenly burst out and whip toward the vice-captain’s little lover? Then Xu Duoduo, the expendable cannon fodder, was shoved out by the captain to shield his sweetheart from the attack. Just like that, she died.
On the surface, Xu Duoduo was the only one in the family with powers. But in truth, her father Xu Nuo possessed a planting space, while her mother Ling Xiaoxiao could teleport anywhere within five kilometers and even freeze time.
Such heaven-defying abilities were never revealed to outsiders. Their family had always kept a low profile, quietly surviving and lying low.
But Xu Duoduo’s death at the hands of the captain completely enraged the couple. Ling Xiaoxiao tried every method she could think of, but she still couldn’t reverse time.
Because he possessed a spatial ability, Xu Nuo sensed that Xu Duoduo’s space still existed, and her brainwaves were drifting within it.
So he merged his own space with hers, while Ling Xiaoxiao used her powers to send that space into another world to search for a body compatible with her daughter’s brainwaves.
It sounded easy, but in reality it was incredibly dangerous. A single mistake at any step could have caused both of them to be crushed into dust by spatial pressure. But for the sake of their daughter, they succeeded.
From now on, she was no longer Xu Duoduo. She was Xu Duoduo of this world — Xu Duoduo.
“Duoduo! Duoduo! Wake up! What did you dream about? Why are you crying like this? Wake up!” The urgent voices pulled Xu Duoduo’s consciousness out of the space.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw four heads crowded around her. Xu Duoduo smiled.
She was lucky. Even after transmigrating into this world, she still had parents who loved her dearly. She had even gained the older sister and younger sister she had always longed for.
“Mom, I dreamed that Sanyou pushed me. I was scared,” Xu Duoduo quickly made up an excuse, taking the chance to plant a little suspicion against Sanyou.
“Don’t be afraid, Duoduo. Tomorrow I’ll help you beat him up,” Xu Bu said from the side, raising her fist.
“That’s right! We’ll beat him!” Xu Ting echoed, also raising her hand.
“No. I’ll take revenge myself. You two stay far away from him.” Sanyou was already twelve — practically half-grown. Xu Duoduo worried her sisters might get hurt.
“Duoduo’s awake. Drink a little more.” Zhou Rong brought over a large bowl so Xu Duoduo could drink more rice soup.
After taking two sips, Xu Duoduo noticed her sisters staring at her with shining eyes. Her little sister even turned her head away and secretly swallowed her saliva.
“Have you all eaten?” Xu Duoduo asked.
“We have.”
“We’re stuffed.”
The whole family answered in perfect unison, and even their expressions matched. If not for Xu Ting’s stomach growling loudly, Xu Duoduo might actually have believed them.
“Grandma scolded Mom and Dad and only gave us this one bowl of porridge. She wouldn’t let us eat anything else,” Xu Ting admitted honestly under Xu Duoduo’s gaze.
“There are also two buns. Auntie Wu next door secretly slipped them to me.” Xu Bu pulled out two flattened buns from inside her clothes. “We can split them.”
“Dad, Mom, let’s separate from the family!” Xu Duoduo said angrily. “Dad’s a worker earning twenty-eight yuan a month. Mom makes another eight yuan pasting paper boxes. But all of it has to be handed over, and we still go hungry. If we split off, our family won’t starve anymore.”
Her little sister was already ten, yet looked no bigger than a six- or seven-year-old child. Her elder sister was sixteen — tall, but skinny as a stick.
Next year would be 1966. The whole environment would become increasingly chaotic. Staying in this family would only make life harder and more dangerous.
From her memories, her great-grandmother had lived in the countryside and passed away last year, but the house was still there. It would be better to move Xu Ergen’s family to the countryside and get away from those horrible grandparents.
“Dad, Mom, little sister is right. I think so too,” Xu Bu agreed.
“Dad, Mom, I want to eat until I’m full every day,” Xu Ting said pitifully.
“Her father…” Zhou Rong was truly tempted.
She earned twenty-eight yuan a month, and with her husband’s eight, that made thirty-six yuan total. If they separated, even after giving ten yuan monthly to support the parents, they’d still have twenty-six yuan left.
Twenty-six yuan!
Her three daughters would finally be able to eat their fill.
“I’ll talk to your grandparents later,” Xu Ergen said at last. He had agreed.
“Dad, if you directly tell Grandpa and Grandma you want to split the family, Grandma will beat you out the door and cry about how unfilial you are,” Xu Duoduo said, looking at him. Her father was a bit too honest.
“As long as the parents are alive, the family can’t split. Even if we want to, there’s no way,” Zhou Rong said sorrowfully. If they separated, her daughters could finally eat enough. But reality made it impossible.
“As long as you two agree, I’ll think of a way. Look — my head injury is the perfect opportunity.” Xu Duoduo pointed at the wound on her head.