Jiang Manman looked at the woman, her delicate eyebrows arching slightly.
The woman was wearing gray trousers and a blue jacket, short and stout in stature. Seeing Manman return, she approached with a cheerful grin.
“Oh, Manman’s back from gathering firewood in the mountains! Haven’t seen you in days—you’ve grown fairer. So capable, carrying all these materials. Come, let Auntie help you carry the load.”
Jiang Manman sidestepped, avoiding the woman’s outstretched hand trying to grab the carrying pole.
“No need to trouble yourself, Aunt Wang. I’m almost home.”
“Why so polite? We’ll be family soon—no need for such formality with your auntie!”
From the original host’s memories, Jiang Manman recognized her: none other than the mother of Wang Laicai, whom she had killed on the mountain.
“Who said we’re family? You’re overthinking it.”
Hearing this, Wang Laicai’s mother glared at her with upturned eyes.
“How aren’t we family? Your sister-in-law already agreed to the marriage arrangement between you and our family. Soon enough, we’ll be one household.”
Jiang Manman sneered at her delusion.
“You’re quite unattractive, yet your fantasies are grand. Since my sister-in-law agreed, why don’t you have her marry into your family instead? I certainly won’t. Give up on this idea now!”
The woman’s expression darkened instantly.
Her previously smiling, slanted eyes now sharpened into a fierce glare.
“What? You refuse to marry? This isn’t up to you! Your mother is too ill and confused to manage affairs. As the saying goes, ‘an elder sister-in-law is like a mother.’ Since your sister-in-law accepted on your behalf, you’ll marry whether you want to or not! And we’ve already agreed you can bring these two children along—don’t push your luck. Go ask around the village: who else would marry a widow and take on her kids? Don’t think your looks make you special.”
Jiang Manman’s aura turned equally sharp.
“Aunt Wang, are you incapable of understanding human speech? I said I won’t marry, and that’s final. Whoever wants to marry can go ahead—just leave me out of it.”
Hoisting the two bundles of firewood, she walked past Aunt Wang and headed home with the two children.
Aunt Wang’s husband held a minor role recording work points for the production team, making the family act self-important.
As if she were some Educated Youth needing to curry their favor.
Marry her son? Little did she know her son was already dead—his body vanished, his soul incinerated.
Returning to the Jiang house with the children, she recalled that Old Man Jiang had passed away early. Now, only her ailing mother remained, bedridden on the kang.
Her eldest brother, Jiang Weiguo, had married Wang Guihua, and they had a 10-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son.
There was also her elder sister, 24 years old, who had married an Educated Youth from the city. When he returned to the city, he took her along.
As Aunt Wang mentioned, her mother was currently incoherent—otherwise, her sister-in-law wouldn’t have dared make such decisions arbitrarily.
Entering the courtyard, she saw her sister-in-law picking vegetables. Noticing Manman’s return, she stood up smiling.
“You’re back, little sister. I have something to discuss with you.”
Jiang Manman scanned the rustic farmyard.
Having died accidentally in the 30th century, she had transmigrated to the World of Cultivation, cultivated for over 800 years, and now found herself back in the 1970s of China.
Witnessing it firsthand, the harshness of this era was still hard to fathom.
“If you’re going to talk about the Wang family’s marriage proposal, save your breath. I’m not marrying.”
The smile on the face of the original body’s sister-in-law froze. She sat back down on the small stool with a darkened expression, pursed her lips, and picked up a string bean to snap it with force:
“Whether you marry or not isn’t up to you. I’ve already accepted the Wang family’s betrothal gifts, and the wedding is set in three days. I’m just informing you—this time, you have to marry whether you want to or not. Are you still hoping that the Educated Youth who returned to the city will come back for you? It’s a pity you have such a face but not the fate to match.”
Having cultivated to the peak of the late Golden Core stage, Jiang Manman’s temper control was excellent. Yet at this moment, she was so angered by this woman that she laughed.
“Whether I have that fate or not is up to me. I’m informing you too—I won’t be marrying. If you want to marry, go ahead and marry him yourself!”
After saying this, she took the two children and went into the inner room of the main house.
Jiang Ma’s illness could be tried with Spirit Spring Water. If that didn’t work, she could always refine pills.
Jiang Manman went to the main room to check on Jiang Ma lying on the kang. Jiang Ma was already unconscious; if not for the original body’s care in washing her, who knew what state she’d be in.
“Mom, drink some water.”
Jiang Manman helped Jiang Ma sit up. The two little ones saw her doing this and went over to help.
Supporting Jiang Ma in a sitting position, she ladled a cup of plain water from the third-level Spirit Spring and fed it to Jiang Ma.
Jiang Ma was only around forty-six or forty-seven years old. The family didn’t know what illness she had, but the Jiang family had no money for her treatment. They’d only visited the health team, but they couldn’t figure out the cause.
Jiang Manman didn’t know how to check pulses, so she used her Divine Sense to carefully probe Jiang Ma’s body and identify the cause.
It was late-stage stomach cancer. Her Spirit Spring Water could only delay it for now; completely curing it would take some time.
Once she reached the third level of Qi Training, she could release Spirit Energy externally and use it to nourish the stomach and spleen.
Her Divine Sense also checked Jiang Ma’s head—many blood vessels were blocked, which would require her Spirit Energy to clear.
However, the Spirit Spring Water did manage to rouse Jiang Ma slightly.
“Manman, you’re back… cough… Am I… am I about to die?”
“No, I’ll find a way to cure you as soon as possible.”
Jiang Ma’s face was ashen and her body emaciated, her hair even streaked with white. She shook her head at these words.
“Go… get me the red cloth bundle from the bottom of the bedside cabinet.”
Hearing this, Jiang Manman helped Jiang Ma lean against the wall and sit properly. Tang Yuan and Tang Xin, the two little ones, obediently stayed by their grandmother’s side.
The bedside cabinet was a large red wooden chest, very plain with no carved patterns.
She removed a quilt from atop the bedside cabinet and opened it. Inside were just some clothes, with a red cloth bundle at the very bottom.
She took out the red cloth bundle and handed it to Jiang Ma, but Jiang Ma pushed it back to her.
“You keep it. Your parents left this for you back then.”
Hearing this, Jiang Manman frowned and opened the bundle. Inside was a five-pointed star badge and a booklet with her birth date and her parents’ names.
According to this, her father’s name was Jiang Guoqing, and her mother’s name was Sun Xiuli.
“This is… my parents?”
“Today is 1979. This is from 1964, when your parents left you with me and left this behind. So many years have passed. I originally thought Little Tang would take you to the city, and you could use this to find your birth parents. But after Little Tang went back, there was no news from him… sigh! It’s my fault—I shouldn’t have agreed to let you two be together back then.”
Jiang Manman hadn’t expected her original self to have such a background. But considering the current period of Educated Youth being sent to rural areas, many children like her had been born unwanted by their parents.
Many Educated Youth had married in the villages, only to divorce after returning to the cities and form new families, leaving their children as the extra ones.
She thought her original self must have been one of those extra children.