“Qingqing, my poor daughter, wake up! Please, wake up…”
“Waaah… Big Sister, don’t die. I can’t bear to lose you…”
The cries rose and fell around her like a relentless curse.
Gu Qingqing frowned and slowly forced her eyes open.
Wasn’t she dead?
She had been a military doctor with a peacekeeping force, stationed at a hospital in Pakistan.
The hospital had originally been one of the few relatively safe shelters amid the raging war. But an airstrike by Israel had reduced it to rubble.
The entire hospital had been wiped out.
No one survived.
Drip.
A drop of water landed on her face.
It should have felt cool and refreshing, yet for some inexplicable reason, Gu Qingqing felt as though her very soul had been scorched.
In the next instant, a flood of memories that did not belong to her surged into her mind.
She had transmigrated!
She had been transported into the Hongxi Village of Yongning County, Liangzhou Prefecture, in the Qi Kingdom, a place that had never existed in the history books of her former world.
The original Gu Qingqing was also fifteen years old.
Her own grandmother had sold her to the Zhang family in town to become the bride of a dead man.
The Zhang family’s youngest son had died of illness. Worried that their beloved child would be lonely on the journey to the afterlife, Master and Madam Zhang had specifically asked to buy a young girl who had recently lost her life to accompany him in death.
But that heartless old woman, Gu Qingqing’s grandmother, had seen only the twenty taels of silver.
She had knocked the girl unconscious and sealed her alive inside a coffin.
By the time Gu Qingqing’s parents received the news and hurried home, they had pried open the coffin and carried their daughter out.
But the original Gu Qingqing had already suffocated to death.
The two people currently clutching her and crying their hearts out were the original owner’s mother, Madam Liu, and her younger sister, Gu Chunqi.
Her father, Gu Changxing, her elder brother, Gu Ping’an, and her younger brother, Gu Xia’an, were standing in front of them with hoes, sickles, and wooden clubs in hand, confronting the aggressive members of the Gu family.
Their backs looked so thin and frail, yet their resolve was as solid as a mountain.
Gu Qingqing’s heart ached, and at the same time, she was deeply moved.
In her previous life, she had been an orphan. She had never known what it was like to have a family to shelter her or care for her.
Now that she had arrived here, whether it was for the sake of the original owner or for herself, she was determined to protect this family and repay their kindness.
Gu Qingqing gently took one hand from each of them.
Her voice was weak, but firm.
“Mother, Sister, I’m all right now.”
Madam Liu and Chunqi had been sobbing against her and had not noticed that she had awakened.
When they heard her voice, both froze.
Then they burst into tears all over again, but this time, they were tears of joy.
“Good, good, good! As long as you’re all right!”
Madam Liu helped her sit up, while Chunqi hurried over to lend a hand.
Seeing this, Gu Changxing and the other two men finally let out the breath they had been holding.
“Mother, Qingqing is still alive. You can’t sell her off to become someone’s ghost bride anymore.” Gu Changxing’s voice was earnest. “As for the money my younger brother needs for the examination in the prefectural city, I’ll find a way.”
Old Madam Gu gritted her teeth.
“What way could you possibly find? Even if you sold yourself, you couldn’t scrape together five taels, let alone twenty!”
She glared viciously at Gu Qingqing.
How could this girl have such a stubborn life?
The coffin had been sealed for two whole hours, yet she still hadn’t died.
If Old Madam Gu had known this would happen, she would never have allowed Gu Changxing to open the coffin.
Gu Changxing lowered his head and stammered, “In any case… I’ll find a way. If you don’t believe me, I can write you an IOU.”
Everyone had seen Gu Qingqing alive and well.
There was no way they could seal her inside the coffin again.
Old Madam Gu’s narrow eyes shifted as an idea suddenly occurred to her.
“I am your mother, and you’re my son. Why would I need an IOU from you? But your younger brother’s examination can’t be delayed. Why don’t you go into town and borrow twenty taels first? Let your younger brother use it to get through this difficult time.”
“All right.”
Gu Changxing agreed without hesitation.
As long as he did not have to sell his children, he was willing to do anything.
Madam Liu timidly reminded him, “Changxing, the moneylender requires land deeds or property papers as collateral. We don’t have anything like that.”
Old Madam Gu immediately looked disgusted.
“If you can’t borrow from the moneylender, isn’t there still the gambling house? They’ll accept anything as collateral! When the time comes, just put these two girls’ names on the contract.”
Her gaze landed on Gu Qingqing and Gu Chunqi, who were supporting each other.
A cruel smile curled across her thin lips.
Even if they had the money later, she had no intention of paying the debt back.
The harvest had been poor this year. This was the perfect opportunity to pawn these two useless girls off and save the family some grain.
Gu Qingqing narrowed her eyes.
She saw through Old Madam Gu’s intentions at once.
But before she could say anything, Gu Changxing shook his head.
“No. The gambling house charges nine when you borrow ten and demands thirteen when you repay it. We won’t be able to pay that back. Besides, Father always said that no one from the Gu family should ever have anything to do with a gambling house. Isn’t that right, Father?”
In the crowd, the old man who had suddenly been dragged into the conversation wished he could simply vanish.
Awkwardly, he tapped the bowl of his tobacco pipe.
“Well… it’s not as though we have any other choice. We can only borrow it temporarily. Don’t worry. Once your younger brother passes the examination and becomes a scholar, we’ll naturally have the money to repay it.”
Gu Changxing frowned.
It seemed as though this really was the only option left.
Gu Qingqing watched her foolish father begin to waver and could not help sighing inwardly.
There was nothing wrong with her father except that he was far too honest.
He listened to Old Master Gu and Old Madam Gu far too readily, almost without thinking.
She covered her mouth and coughed softly twice before speaking in a gentle voice.
“Father, I have an idea. We won’t need to borrow money from the gambling house, and we won’t need to use Grandfather and Grandmother’s land or property as collateral either.”
“What idea?”
Every pair of eyes immediately turned toward Gu Qingqing.
“Separate the household.”
Those two short words were like a spark falling into a vat of oil.
Old Madam Gu exploded first.
“I’m not dead yet! What do you mean, separate the household? You little wretch! How dare you stir up trouble and persuade your father to split from the family? I’ll beat you to death, you family-wrecker!”
As she shouted, she grabbed a firewood stick from the corner and swung it toward Gu Qingqing.
Gu Ping’an stepped forward and blocked her.
“Grandmother, my sister already suffered terribly inside that coffin. Please don’t hit her anymore. If you want to hit someone, hit me.”
Gu Qingqing stared at the figure standing protectively in front of her, and her eyes grew moist.
Her elder brother had the intelligence of a three-year-old child, but he had always been exceptionally kind to her and to their younger siblings.
Before Old Madam Gu could bring the stick down, Gu Qingqing pulled him aside.
“Grandmother, don’t be so angry. Just listen to me first. When I say we should separate the household, I don’t mean that we actually have to go our separate ways. We only need to draw up the paperwork and make it official on paper.”
“We can put a few acres of land under Father’s name. Then we’ll be able to borrow money from the county moneylender. The interest will be far more reasonable than what the gambling house charges.”
“Once we’ve borrowed the money, we’ll simply take the land deeds back. They’ll still remain under your and Grandfather’s control.”
Old Madam Gu gave a cold laugh.
“Do you take me for a fool who can’t count? What happens if you can’t repay the money?”
“Grandmother, we’re not really separating the household. We’re still one family. If all of us work together, how could we possibly fail to repay it?”
Gu Qingqing put on a flattering smile, her manner sincere and respectful.
“Besides, even if you don’t trust us, surely you trust Uncle? Uncle himself said that he’s certain he’ll pass this time. Once he becomes a scholar, wouldn’t we have plenty of money to repay the debt?”
“Think about it. By then, you’ll be the mother of a scholar. Our whole family… no, the entire village will be relying on you and Uncle to look after us. At a time like that, why would we ever want to truly separate from you?”
Old Madam Gu felt as though she were floating on air.
Of course her precious youngest son was the best. She had spoiled him rotten since he was little.
As for having him help the eldest son’s family repay their debt after passing the examination…
Hah!
They could forget about it!
Once the debt collectors came knocking, she would simply order her eldest son to hand those two useless girls over to the gambling house as payment.
After all, her eldest son had always been obedient.
Once she had squeezed every last bit of value out of this family, she would kick these burdens to the curb.
And with the household separation agreement in hand, what happened to them afterward was none of her concern.
She could practically hear the clatter of her own little scheme falling perfectly into place.
Old Madam Gu’s expression visibly relaxed.
She studied Gu Qingqing, and for once, a trace of a smile appeared on her face.
“You little girl. Normally, you could beat a mute three times with a stick and still not get a word out of her. But today, your brain is surprisingly sharp.”
Gu Qingqing’s lips curved upward.
“Isn’t that all thanks to you, Grandmother? After you’ve given me the chance to lie inside a coffin, if I still couldn’t tell right from wrong, wouldn’t all your hard work have been wasted?”
Her smile remained on her face, but there was not the slightest trace of warmth in her eyes.
You rotten old hag.
If I don’t bring you down, then I, Gu Qingqing, will have wasted two lifetimes.
Anyone who has harmed the original owner or hurt her family, she would never let a single one of them off.