Fortunately, the original owner’s personality had changed somewhat as well. She had become much quieter and spoke far less than before. Otherwise, there was no way she could have disguised herself as the original owner with her former personality.
For now, she would imitate the original owner’s way of interacting with people and then gradually make changes. As time passed, those subtle changes would happen naturally and be much less likely to arouse suspicion.
She didn’t want to attract attention. Given the current level of scientific development, there was no way for her to return to the interstellar era. Since she had come to this era, she might as well treat it as an early retirement.
Su Mingyue kept her eyes tightly closed, completely immersed in the original owner’s memories.
Just then, a familiar and warm voice drifted in from the courtyard. It was her eldest uncle, Su Heping.
“Ma, why are you already up? Why didn’t you sleep a little longer? You didn’t close your eyes at all last night. You spent the whole night taking care of Mingyue. You should have slept more today!”
Old Madam Su smiled faintly and replied gently, “Heping, your ma has slept enough! Once a person gets older, they naturally need less sleep. Even if I lie in bed and force myself to sleep, I can’t fall asleep. What about you? Are all the chores in the fields finished? Why did you come over at this time?”
Su Heping smiled and quickly answered, “Ma, all the work in the fields has been assigned. I’ve arranged everything properly and made sure everyone knows which tasks they’re responsible for. There’s nothing particularly urgent left to do in the fields for now, so I came over to see how Mingyue is doing.”
As he spoke, he walked over to Su Mingyue’s bedroom door. Lowering his voice slightly, he called out carefully, “Mingyue? Mingyue, are you awake?”
Hearing his voice, Su Mingyue quickly adjusted herself and imitated the original owner’s tone as she replied, “Uncle, I’m awake. Come in!”
Hearing Su Mingyue’s voice, Su Heping pushed open the door to her room.
Before he could even step inside, he saw Old Madam Su and Su Qingfeng rush into Su Mingyue’s room like a gust of wind.
As she walked into the room, Old Madam Su said, “Mingyue! You’re awake? Why didn’t you call me when you woke up? Does your head still hurt? Are you hungry? I left some food for you in the pot. I’ll heat it up for you in a little while!”
Su Qingfeng’s voice was choked with emotion. “Sis, you’re finally awake! Sob…”
Su Mingyue looked at Old Madam Su and Su Qingfeng, imitating how the original owner would have responded in such a situation.
She smiled slightly and said to the two of them, “I just woke up and didn’t have time to call you yet. My head still hurts a little, and I’m a little hungry too.”
After saying that, she gave an embarrassed little smile.
Then she greeted Su Heping, who had entered afterward, calling out, “Uncle.”
Su Heping nodded at her warmly and said, “It’s good that you’re awake. You don’t have a fever anymore, do you?”
Su Mingyue nodded. “No, I don’t.”
Old Madam Su said to Su Mingyue, “I didn’t have your aunt bring lunch over today. She’s already busy enough at home. Fortunately, I was here today, so I cooked the meal here myself. I’ve left your portion in the pot. You talk with your uncle for a while, and I’ll go heat up your food.”
Su Mingyue said to Old Madam Su, “Thank you, Grandma. You’re the best to me.”
“Of course I am,” Old Madam Su replied. “Qingfeng, come on. Go start the fire for me.”
Old Madam Su took Su Qingfeng away with her, leaving only Su Heping and Su Mingyue in the room.
Su Heping gazed at Su Mingyue with concern and asked gently, “Mingyue, tell your uncle how you got that injury on your head. And what exactly happened to you up in the mountains? Why did you end up falling into that ravine?”
Su Mingyue raised her eyes and met Su Heping’s gaze. A hint of grievance and anger flickered in her eyes.
She took a deep breath and slowly recounted what had happened.
“Uncle, yesterday I went up the mountain to gather firewood and ran into Wang Daqiang from the village. The moment he saw me, he started insulting me. The things he said were absolutely horrible. I couldn’t stand him bullying me like that, so I got into a fight with him.”
She paused, as though recalling the intense confrontation.
Then she continued, “Wang Daqiang couldn’t beat me, so he admitted defeat and backed down. Once he surrendered, I turned around and continued walking forward, intending to keep gathering firewood.
“But who would have thought that Wang Daqiang would get back up? I thought he was going to leave. I never expected that despicable man to sneak around behind me and, while I wasn’t paying attention, suddenly shove me with all his strength!
“I was caught completely off guard and fell into that ravine. While I was falling, my head was facing downward, and then I struck a rock. A terrible pain shot through my head, and everything started ringing. Then my vision went black, and I lost consciousness.
“I don’t know what happened after that.
“Uncle, how did you realize that I was missing? How did you find me? Could it be that Wang Daqiang had a change of heart and went down the mountain to call people to rescue me?”
After hearing this, Su Heping’s previously calm expression instantly became extremely grim.
The veins on his forehead bulged with anger. He raised his hand and slammed it heavily against the table in front of him, producing a deep, muffled bang.
Su Mingyue then asked, “Uncle, who was it that called everyone over?”
Su Heping took a deep breath, doing his best to suppress his agitation before slowly answering, “It wasn’t Wang Daqiang who called anyone. It was Qingfeng.
“He saw that you’d been gone for so long without coming back, and he was terribly frightened. Crying, he ran to the old family home to find us.
“After we asked him what had happened, we learned that you’d gone up the mountain alone and that a long time had passed without any sign of you.
“My heart sank at the time. I thought you might have encountered some kind of accident up there. So I hurriedly called several nearby neighbors, and together we rushed into the mountains to search for you.”
“We searched the mountain for quite some time before finally spotting the basket you’d left beside the path.
“We went a little farther in and noticed that a patch of grass had clearly been flattened.
“We tentatively called out in that direction several times, but we didn’t hear you respond. Then we carefully approached to take a look, and that’s when we discovered that you’d fallen there.
“Fortunately, we found you soon enough. Your head was still bleeding at the time!
“Once I saw that, I immediately searched the area and found several herbs that could stop bleeding. I crushed them and applied them to your wound. At least that managed to stop the bleeding and keep it from flowing so heavily.
“If we’d been even a little later, the consequences would have been unimaginable…”
At this point, Su Heping couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.
Even now, thinking back on it still sent a shiver of fear through him.