In the summer, the days are long and the nights are short. By the time the sun hung high in the early morning, the villagers of Big Banyan Village had already returned from their first round of farm work. They were currently gathered under the large banyan tree at the village entrance, taking advantage of their break to gossip.
Nearby, a white, chubby, and adorable little “dumpling” was squatting. Her small ears were pricked up high. While her little wooden shovel dug into the soil, she quietly shuffled herself toward the “intelligence center.”
“Suisui is really growing up to be more and more handsome. It’s a pity she was reincarnated into the belly of that lazy-egg mother of hers,” a woman couldn’t help but sigh.
The tiny person was wearing a green and white ruqun (a traditional wrap skirt) that sat high on her chest. Her hair was thick enough to be tied into two small flower buds, making the woman’s husband—whose hair was prematurely thinning—die of envy.
Speaking of Suisui’s mother, the villagers always had a difficult time describing her.
Her figure and appearance were top-tier, but she was unfortunately far too lazy. If she could sit, she would never stand; if she could lie down, she would never sit. When passing by her house, one could often see her lying on a rocking chair in the yard, legs crossed, swaying back and forth with the rhythm of the chair.
That level of leisure made even the local dogs envious.
One woman glanced at the grassy slope behind the banyan tree, curled her lip, and lowered her voice. “Since Suisui’s mother arrived in the village, my horizons have truly broadened. We are exposed to the wind and sun all year round until we look like old tree bark, yet she specifically seeks out the sun to ‘nourish her health.'”
The village women also glanced at the woman lying on the slope basking in the sun, and they all lowered their voices in unison.
“She’s been in the village for four years now, hasn’t she? She does nothing. How is she going to raise a child in the future? People say she might be a lady from a wealthy family, but in these four years, we haven’t seen a single visitor.”
“I heard from Suisui that her father went to the heavens. Who knows if it’s true?”
“Although we’ve never seen her do anything, she manages to raise the child very well. That girl Suisui has never worn a patched garment; she even gets new clothes from time to time.”
“She’s living an affluent life. With enough silver on her, why would she need to work herself to death like us, struggling to earn a few copper coins all year round?” someone said sourly.
“Fugui’s wife, what are you talking about! If word gets out, wouldn’t that harm Suisui and her mother? We just can’t stand how lazy she is, but you’re talking about putting their lives at risk,” someone quickly scolded. Don’t you know the rule about not flaunting wealth?
Fugui’s wife rolled her eyes. “Heh! It’s not certain whose life would be at risk. Have you all forgotten what happened when that woman first arrived?”
The crowd also recalled what happened four years ago when Suisui’s mother first arrived, and they fell silent for a moment.
Suisui’s mother had come to live here alone four years ago. At that time, some ill-intentioned men from the village tried to climb her wall. The next day, they were found hanging upside down from the banyan tree at the village entrance.
Someone else didn’t believe the warnings and organized another group to try. Unsurprisingly, they were all tied up. This time, it was even more extreme—she demanded ransom money, selling them back to their families by the pound.
Those two instances of ruthless intimidation let everyone know that this young woman was not to be trifled with.
After that, the woman lived in seclusion until nearly ten months later, when the neighbor’s door was knocked upon…
With the help of the elderly lady next door, Ye Wan gave birth to Suisui. From then on, the mother and daughter lived a life in the village that was both low-key and high-profile for three years.
The low-key one was Suisui’s mother; the high-profile one was Suisui.
No one knew how she was raised, but the child was fair, tender, and soft. At such a young age, her features were already incredibly exquisite.
The little girl also had a sweet tongue and knew how to coax people. When she couldn’t speak yet, she would smile at everyone she saw. Once she could speak, she could chatter with anyone she met. Looking like a little celestial child, every single person in the village wished they could take her home and raise her. Even those who preferred boys over girls couldn’t help but take a few extra looks at her.
Thinking of Ye Wan’s merciless ruthlessness, everyone tactfully stopped talking about her.
“Hehe, I notice Suisui is digging closer and closer.”
Everyone looked, and indeed, she was right in front of them.
Suisui raised her head and said in a milky voice, “I wasn’t eavesdropping on you saying bad things about my mommy!”
Everyone: “…”
Sometimes, the sincerity of a child is exceptionally awkward.
“Hehe, Suisui misheard. We weren’t saying bad things about your mother.”
“You said Mommy is a lazy egg. My little ears told me,” Suisui tilted her head, her small finger pointing at her ear.
“No, no, we were praising your mother. Praising her for raising Suisui to be so white and chubby without doing anything.”
A nearby auntie pulled Suisui over and took the opportunity to pat the dirt off her skirt.
“I’m not fat. Mommy says this is called ‘adorable expansion,'” Suisui pouted in rebuttal.
“Right, right, right. Suisui has ‘expanded’ again today. Come, let Auntie give you a hug.”
Suisui’s round eyes were filled with clear confusion. She felt like something was wrong, but her little head couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Huzi’s mother, next time don’t use such a thick stick to hit Brother Huzi. You should use a very thin one.”
Yesterday, Suisui had seen Huzi’s mother chasing Huzi all over the village with a big stick. Being hit with a big stick must hurt a lot. Fortunately, Mommy only uses her palm to spank her bottom.
Huzi’s mother couldn’t help but laugh and pulled the precocious toddler to her front. “If your Brother Huzi heard that, he’d probably be crying with gratitude.”
This child was truly amusing. Using that little milky voice to call her “Huzi’s mother” didn’t make her feel offended; instead, there was a kind of cuteness to a child trying to act like an adult.
“It shows this child has never been beaten. She doesn’t know that thin sticks hurt more.”
“The clothes Suisui is wearing today are really beautiful. The other kids in the village might not be very dirty, but none are this clean and tidy.”
Suisui finally heard her daily dose of praise and puffed out her chest proudly.
That’s right! Today, Suisui is also the most beautiful cub in the village! She liked being called “Suisui-cub” by the aunts and sisters the most.
On the other side of the banyan tree, Ye Wan was leisurely bathing in the spring sunlight. Listening to her daughter’s chattering milky voice, the corners of her mouth couldn’t stop rising.
The child was barely any age at all, yet her favorite thing to do every day was to come to the intelligence center at the village entrance to “eat melons” (gossip). She had even taught herself to pretend to play while her little ears were actually pricked high. She loved hearing people praise her. Even though she couldn’t even jump high enough to reach an adult’s knee, she had already learned to be vain.
Ye Wan had transmigrated to this world four years ago. Just as she opened her eyes, she was knocked unconscious by a fruit falling from the sky. When she woke up again, she was still in the middle of a wilderness.
The only change was that the original owner’s injuries had miraculously healed. Her belongings, including the treasures the original owner had stolen, were still there, but that fruit from the sky was nowhere to be found.
The original owner came from a collateral branch of a declined small family in the cultivation world. Her parents died early. At age five, she was tested to have three spiritual roots and joined the Wanyan Sect as an outer disciple.
After fifteen years in the Wanyan Sect, she was at the sixth level of Qi Refining—nothing extraordinary. The family had long forgotten she existed.
The reason the original owner got into trouble was that while exploring the ruins of a powerful master with a team, she took advantage of the situation to snatch a legacy stone and was subsequently hunted down.
The original owner finally escaped with her last breath, wanting to open the legacy, but the legacy stone didn’t react at all. Even using almost all her blood essence was useless, and the final breath sustaining her finally dissipated.
In her previous life, Ye Wan had the personality of a “salted fish,” yet she had worked herself to death just to survive. Having been given another life for nothing, she only wanted to find a peaceful mountain village to lie flat and retire. Things like cultivating immortality, longevity, flying on swords, or burrowing through the earth—she didn’t long for them at all.
As it happened, the place where the original owner collapsed was at the border between the secular world and the cultivation world. Ye Wan used one low-grade spirit stone to exchange for a thousand taels of silver in the secular world, found this Banyan Village surrounded by mountains on all sides, and settled down.
However, after living there for a few months, her belly gradually began to bulge. Ye Wan finally discovered she was carrying a cub.
There was no helping it; female cultivators have methods to stop their periods. She had been happy that she wouldn’t have the trouble of a period in this life, but she hadn’t expected a “king bomb” like this.
Ye Wan searched through all the original owner’s memories but couldn’t find the process that led to the pregnancy. There wasn’t even an ambiguous partner. She even wondered if she had been “done” by someone after being knocked out by the fruit, with the “payment” being the healing of her injuries.
But she had checked herself, and her “innocence” was still there, which was utterly absurd.
Ye Wan felt it would have been better not to transmigrate. At that time, the pregnancy was already too far along for a medical abortion, and she didn’t dare try ancient labor-induction methods. Perhaps the cultivation world had better methods, but she didn’t want to struggle anymore. She left it to fate—if it could live, it would live.
Thus, under Ye Wan’s “let it be” attitude, the current chattering little “milk dumpling” came to be.
“Eh! Suisui! What’s wrong with you, girl!”
“Suisui’s mother, come quickly! Your Suisui has fainted!”
Ye Wan sat up abruptly. In the next second, she appeared in front of the woman holding Suisui.
The woman who had just called Ye Wan rubbed her eyes.
Was she seeing things? It seemed like Suisui’s mother had arrived in front of her with a “shoo” sound.
Ye Wan looked at the bloodless Suisui in Huzi’s mother’s arms and snatched her over. The child was burning hot to the touch. Terrified, she immediately performed a Lightness Technique and vanished before everyone’s eyes in the blink of an eye.
Everyone was stunned.
That was a technique only immortals could perform!
The women looked at each other, their faces filled with a collective lingering fear.
Oh my! Suisui’s mother was far more legendary than they had imagined. Were immortals people they should be gossiping about?
Looking at it now, Suisui’s mother had been exceptionally merciful to those who climbed her wall years ago.
With a “bang,” the picket gate was kicked open. Ye Wan rushed into the house holding Suisui and said to the old man drying herbs in the yard, “Doctor Kong, come quickly and help me see what’s happening with Suisui.”
Kong Qing swallowed the scolding he was about to deliver and quickly followed her inside to investigate. The more he looked, the more solemn his expression became.
Even though it was a season of warm spring sun, Ye Wan felt waves of coldness.
She stared at Kong Qing without blinking. Seeing his expression grow increasingly grave—he even started using spiritual power to investigate—her heart sank bit by bit.
She knew this old doctor, Kong Qing, was a cultivator, and Kong Qing naturally knew she was one as well. Living in this village, they both had a mutual understanding. For Kong Qing to use spiritual power now showed how serious the situation was.
As the spiritual power gradually entered Suisui’s body, her complexion slowly returned to a rosy hue, but it was still far from the healthy glow she usually had.
Kong Qing withdrew his hand and looked at Ye Wan. His gaze was as if he wanted to see something hidden on her.
“What’s wrong with Suisui? Is the problem with me?” Ye Wan asked anxiously.