After a dreamless night during which she had even slept through her midnight lessons, Yu Hongdou woke up feeling thoroughly rested, only to face a storm of questions from her parents.
Although Yu Sanlang and Xu Shi had quickly accepted the appearance of the Night-Luminous Pearl on their daughter’s pillow the previous night, they had actually been holding back numerous questions. They simply hadn’t wanted to wake their sleeping daughter to interrogate her.
“I found it,” declared Hongdou righteously, having obtained it through her Check-in Points.
“Where did you find it? Did anyone see you?” Like Yu Song before him, Yu Sanlang’s first concern was whether finding this pearl might bring danger to his daughter.
“By the river, in the mud.” Hongdou shook her head. Certainly no one had seen her—if she hadn’t gotten carried away with excitement, no one but herself would have known about it.
“Hongdou, listen to your father,” said Yu Sanlang. “This pearl might be extremely valuable. You can’t just play with it casually. Let your parents keep it safe for you, and we’ll return it to you when you get married, alright?” He easily accepted his daughter’s explanation and began negotiating with her.
“No. Use it to get official positions for Father and Brother.” Hongdou waved her hand, rejecting Yu Sanlang’s suggestion.
Compared to being content with modest wealth, it was clear that both Yu Sanlang and Yu Song had greater ambitions. The success of her father and brother would lead to a better life for their entire family, so she naturally supported them unconditionally.
Yu Sanlang was momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter and hugged his daughter. Rather than hypocritically refusing his daughter’s offer, he had actually been thinking about exchanging the Night-Luminous Pearl for benefits himself.
After all, while the Night-Luminous Pearl was precious, keeping it in their home would only mean having one more item that couldn’t see the light of day and required careful preservation, without bringing any particular significance.
His wife currently didn’t even dare wear a gold hairpin outside, let alone a Night-Luminous Pearl. If they really kept this item at home, his wife would probably become unwilling to even leave the house in the future.
If the pearl could be exchanged for advancement opportunities for him and his son, improving their status and allowing his wife and daughter to live better lives, why shouldn’t they make the exchange?
However, since this was something his daughter had found, Yu Sanlang didn’t want to disregard his child’s wishes like some families did, treating children as less than human. He worried that his children might look back with regret, or even resentment, in the future, so he always made sure to discuss things clearly with his daughter.
He never expected his daughter to be so understanding and to share his thoughts. Having such a thoughtful little warm jacket couldn’t help but make a father happy.
“Alright, you two hurry up and wash. We need to get to town early to avoid the hot sun.” As the sky was already bright, Xu Shi couldn’t stand watching father and daughter carry on endlessly and hurried them along.
Father and daughter responded and got up. Hongdou watched her father take out a frayed willow twig to brush his teeth and couldn’t help grimacing in sympathy.
Back in modern times, she had sensitive gums that would bleed profusely even from slightly stiff toothbrush bristles. If she had to use a willow twig, she’d probably be spitting blood every day for fun.
Yu Sanlang found it amusing to watch his daughter gargle with warm water and then use a cloth-wrapped stick to poke and wipe around in her mouth.
Remembering that shops in town sold something called a “toothbrush,” reportedly most effective when used with tooth powder, he decided to take his daughter to buy a set later.
After brushing her teeth with her homemade children’s toothbrush, Hongdou carefully cleaned it and hung it upside down to store it properly.
Although the cleaning wasn’t thorough enough and the toothbrush head kept falling off and needing replacement, when paired with dental floss made from dried grass, it was still slightly better than using willow twigs.
The family of three didn’t have time for breakfast, only bringing some pastries and a jar of water. They borrowed an oxcart from the village chief’s household and embarked on their journey to town.
This was Yu Hongdou’s first time riding an oxcart and her first time leaving the village. Wrapped by Xu Shi in a thin quilt like a baby caterpillar, she could only twist her little head around to curiously observe this unfamiliar world.
The spring scenery with freshly green willow trees and choruses of birds and ducks resembled a landscape painting, unconsciously relaxing those who beheld it.
While admiring the scenery along the way, Yu Hongdou bombarded her parents with endless questions.
Which direction are we heading? Are there villages in the mountains opposite? Are there plenty of fish and shrimp in the water? How many people are in the village altogether?
When they left Taoyuan Village and saw Taoxi Village across the stream, Yu Hongdou couldn’t help stretching her neck to look at the people washing and fetching water by the river, wondering if the female protagonist might be among them.
Along the way, green sign-in locations were naturally abundant. Most appeared to Yu Hongdou as mere green glows, but those closer revealed positioning cursors and text, such as:
【Sign-in Location: Nameless Lonely Grave in Taoyuan Village. Consume 1 Sign-in Point?】
【Sign-in Location: Desolate Mountain Grave Cluster in Taoyuan Village. Consume 1 Sign-in Point?】
【Sign-in Location: Imperial Concubine’s Tomb of Qing Dynasty. Consume 2 Sign-in Points?】
…Yu Hongdou shivered involuntarily as she looked at the tightly packed, nearly overlapping sign-in texts.
It was just a depression by the roadside without a single grave mound, yet it contained three cemetery sign-in points. Could this be a feng shui treasure site suitable for burial grounds?
“Father, what dynasty is Qing Dynasty?” The current Yu Hongdou truly hated to admit her illiteracy and ignorance of history.
So far, she only knew the overall story background was set at the founding of a new dynasty, with the founding emperor being Anhe Emperor.
She couldn’t remember whether the previous dynasty’s name was mentioned in the novel or not.
“Qing Dynasty? Hmm, that should be the dynasty before the previous one. It seems it lasted less than a hundred years before being usurped by the previous dynasty.” Yu Sanlang frowned in thought for a while before recalling.
“Where did Hongdou hear about Qing Dynasty?” If not for her husband’s explanation, Xu Shi wouldn’t have remembered which dynasty Qing Dynasty referred to.
“Forgot, it just came to mind.” Yu Hongdou blinked. The couple didn’t press further, letting her vague answer pass.
Yu Hongdou pondered and concluded that Qing Dynasty must have been quite poor. Otherwise, why would an imperial concubine’s tomb be so casually buried by the roadside? It seemed rather shabby.
Completely forgetting the prominently displayed cost of 2 sign-in points at that location.
The oxcart rocked and swayed along. After passing Taoxi Village, the landscape became entirely pastoral. The monotonous view eventually made her drowsy, and being wrapped up and nestled in Xu Shi’s embrace felt like being rocked by her mother. Soon, Yu Hongdou fell asleep.
She slept soundly throughout the journey, only waking when the county town’s city gate came into view.
The city walls weren’t as towering as ancient capital ruins or those depicted in films, but guards in official uniforms stood watch at the gate. Yu Hongdou stared intently at the gradually approaching entrance.
Seeing the neat characters “Wu An” directly above the city gate, Yu Hongdou felt a surge of joy in her heart.
She recognized these two characters!
Ever since transmigrating here, Yu Hongdou had paid close attention to written characters.
Firstly, she wanted to know whether the culture and writing in this fictional book world were the same as some dynasty in a parallel world.
Secondly, she also wanted to verify whether she had transmigrated into an illiterate person.
The first characters Yu Hongdou used for verification were those on currency – after all, one should never fail to recognize money, right?
Frustratingly, when she finally managed to dig out a copper coin from home, she discovered that the four characters on it were so intricately drawn that she couldn’t tell whether they were writing or patterns.
Then there were the two taels of silver she had obtained – the silver only had stamps on it, and what was carved on the stamps was even more unrecognizable.
The couplet at the village chief’s house looked like wild cursive script, but she didn’t dare to identify it, and couldn’t recognize a single character. She had even wondered if it might be writing from an ethnic minority.
Until now, Yu Hongdou had finally regained a tiny bit of confidence.
Hmm, she declared that from now on, regular script would be her favorite font!