“Sister, have you given any more thought to Xiù’er’s situation?”
Mother Li sat on the edge of the kang bed, hesitating. “Auntie, our Xiù’er… she hit her head a couple of days ago…”
“Xianglan already told me about that. She’s just a bit forgetful, it’s not like she’s gone simple in the head. It won’t affect anything.”
Zhang Cuifen picked up a tea mug, took a large gulp, spat out a stray tea leaf, and continued, “In my opinion, the wedding should be held next month. Once the weather gets warmer, food spoils easily and it’s harder to set out a banquet. If this gets delayed any further… Xiù’er will be twenty-five.”
Mother Li’s eyes were sunken, and she hunched her back, clearly indecisive.
Zhang Cuifen shot a look at Liu Xianglan, who sat opposite them. Liu Xianglan quickly chimed in, “Mother, what are you still hesitating for? A marriage this good—once this chance is gone, it’s gone for good. With Director Wang’s excellent prospects, would he have his eye on an old maid who’s had an engagement broken before if it weren’t for the fact that Xiù’er finished a year of high school?”
Zhang Cuifen leaned in, held up five stubby fingers, and lowered her voice. “Director Wang is offering five hundred yuan as a bride price.”
Upon hearing “five hundred yuan,” Mother Li was clearly moved. Five hundred yuan! In this day and age, a bride price of one hundred was already quite a lot.
Seeing Mother Li waver, Zhang Cuifen pressed her advantage. “Director Wang said his house has everything. He’s got the ‘three rounds and one sound’ ready; he doesn’t need a thing.”
That meant they didn’t need to provide a dowry!
Hearing this, a sharp light flickered in Mother Li’s clouded eyes, but she still had some reservations. “But the eldest son said he wanted Xiù’er to go help look after his child…”
“Mother!” Liu Xianglan tugged at Mother Li’s sleeve. “Sending an unmarried girl to serve someone during their postpartum confinement… it doesn’t sound good if word gets out. Xiù’er is twenty-four; you can’t keep holding her back.”
Hearing this, Li Qingxiu, who was lying on the kang in the opposite room, let out a mocking smile. If she hadn’t known that Director Wang was a widower who had beaten two wives to death, she might have been fooled by Liu Xianglan’s self-righteous tone.
It seemed her “dear” second sister-in-law had received no small amount of kickbacks from the man!
Why did his house have everything?
Because his dead wives had left it all behind!
It didn’t “sound good” for an unmarried girl to help with postpartum care?
And it “sounded good” for an unmarried girl to become a stepmother to three children?!
Li Qingxiu stared expressionlessly at the soot-blackened ceiling, calculating her next move.
Three days ago, she had been a corporate drudge in a 21st-century city. She had woken up to find herself transmigrated into a Tragic Era Novel she had once read.
The original story’s female protagonist was the wife of the eldest Li brother, and Li Qingxiu was the protagonist’s younger sister-in-law.
A mere Cannon Fodder who appeared only twice in the entire book!
The first time was when the female protagonist arrived at the house. The sister-in-law made things difficult for her, claiming the protagonist’s name clashed with hers because they both had the character ‘Qing’ in their names, and demanded the protagonist change it.
The second time was when the sister-in-law was beaten to death by her husband, and the protagonist and her husband returned for the funeral.
Li Qingxiu felt utterly speechless.
So what if she had complained that the female protagonist was too soft-hearted?
So what if she had complained that the plot was moronic?
So what if she had complained that the author was just being cruel for the sake of drama?
So what if…
Just because she criticized those few things, did they have to make her join the ranks of the transmigrated?!
She didn’t know if it was for the sake of “transmigration compatibility,” but the character she inhabited shared her name. A colleague had once mentioned that her name sounded very “vintage,” like something from the eighties.
Well, now she really was in the eighties.
Thinking of the new apartment she had just bought and was currently renovating, and the remaining balance in her bank account, Li Qingxiu felt her heart bleed.
There was no greater pain in life than this.
The person is dead, and the money hasn’t been spent!
However, the most urgent matter was how to ruin this marriage. If she remembered correctly, this Director Wang was the husband who would eventually beat the original host to death.
Two days ago, the original Li Qingxiu had refused this marriage, only to be slapped by her father. She had hit her head on the edge of the kang, and combined with several days of hunger strikes, she had simply passed away.
And then, she had arrived.
The original host’s collapse had indeed frightened the elderly Li couple. For the past two days, they had fed her steamed white buns without a trace of sweet potato flour mixed in. She had regained some strength, though the lump on the back of her head still throbbed.
Northern China in early spring was still quite cold. Li Qingxiu wrapped herself in a patched padded jacket and stepped out of the room. The house followed a three-room layout: two bedrooms with kangs at either end and a central hall in the middle.
In the front of the hall, there were stoves on both sides; cooking would simultaneously heat the kangs. At the back stood a cupboard and a water vat. The vat was nearly half full, weighing roughly two to three hundred catties.
Li Qingxiu walked to the vat. With a slight exertion of her arms, she lifted the heavy container with ease.
Good, her strength was still there.
Li Qingxiu had been different since childhood—she possessed Herculean strength. It was because of this that she and her grandparents had never been bullied; she had kept all her cousins firmly in line.
“Sister, then I’ll give them the word. The day after tomorrow is an auspicious day, so let’s settle the engagement first and hold the wedding next month.”
“Is it a bit too rushed? Should we let them meet first? Xiù’er, she…”
“Oh, Sister, you’re just too soft-tempered. Marriage is a major life event; it’s always up to the parents…”
Seeing that they were about to finalize her marriage in the other room, Li Qingxiu picked up the kitchen knife from the table and walked out.
When Mother Li walked out to see Zhang Cuifen off, she found Li Qingxiu sharpening the knife by the courtyard wall.
“Xiù’er, why are you sharpening a knife?” Zhang Cuifen smiled, her face wrinkling up. “You’re about to get married, why are you doing chores? Leave it for your brothers.”
Li Qingxiu picked up the knife and tested the edge with her thumb. She then turned her head and gave Zhang Cuifen a wide grin. “Auntie, I’m going to kill a chicken.”
The smile was too fake, her mouth stretching so wide it nearly reached her ears on her thin face. It made Zhang Cuifen’s skin crawl.
“Xiù… Xiù’er, there aren’t any chickens in this house. What are you going to kill?”
Li Qingxiu stood up and walked toward Zhang Cuifen, brandishing the knife and smiling. “Second sister-in-law said that when Auntie comes, there will be chicken. She said you’d bring lots of things. Auntie, where’s the chicken?”
The smile and the scene were truly terrifying. Not just Zhang Cuifen, but even Mother Li and Liu Xianglan took a step back in fright.
“Xiù’er… Aaaah!”
Li Qingxiu grabbed a handful of Zhang Cuifen’s hair and pressed the blade against her neck.
“Where’s the chicken? Auntie, where’s my chicken?!”
“Give me the chicken! I want to eat chicken!”
Li Qingxiu’s expression turned manic. She kept gesturing with the knife against the woman’s neck as if searching for the best angle to strike. Zhang Cuifen began to shriek like a stuck pig.
“Aaaah!”
“Xiù’er… Xiù’er, what are you doing?!”
Mother Li was the first to react. She tried to grab the knife from Li Qingxiu but was shoved aside. She tumbled a good distance away, groaning on the ground, unable to get up.
“I want to eat chicken! Auntie, give me chicken!”
“Aaaah… Let go of me!”
Li Qingxiu loosened her grip slightly and then began chasing Zhang Cuifen in circles around the courtyard.
“Give me chicken! Second sister-in-law said you’d bring chicken!”
“I want to eat chicken!”
“Help! Someone help me!”
Liu Xianglan was paralyzed with fear. She finally snapped and ran away screaming, “Someone help! There’s a murderer! Xiù’er has gone mad!”
By evening, the entire village knew that Li Qingxiu had lost her mind.
The old maid who had been rejected before had gone crazy!
Relatives and neighbors, some out of genuine concern and others out of curiosity, came to check on her. Some even brought a few eggs.
In this era, bringing eggs to visit a sick person was a sign of a very good relationship. Li Qingxiu lay on the kang with her eyes closed. As another group of people left, she licked her lips.
Tonight, she would have eggs to eat.
Since arriving here, she hadn’t seen a single scrap of meat.
These eggs would count as a decent substitute.