Because Wang Chunhua was in the room taking care of Xia Yan, who had fainted from pain, Xia Da Ya finished cooking and directly brought two large bowls of thick wild vegetable porridge, along with two pieces of coarse yellow wild vegetable buns, into the room.
After delivering the food, she distributed the rest to the others. Everyone held their bowls of porridge—so clear you could almost see reflections in it—and their coarse buns, squatting wherever they could to eat their meal.
Wang Chunhua took a sip of the wild vegetable porridge. Although it was bland, it was still edible.
She picked up a piece of coarse bun and couldn’t help sighing.
“This bun reminds me of the hard days when I was young.”
She took a bite—and nearly lost her teeth.
“Ugh!”
She immediately covered her mouth with one hand while banging the bun against the table with the other. The table made loud “bang bang” sounds.
“This thing… if it were any harder, it could be used to build a house.”
At that moment, Xia Yan slowly woke up.
Seeing her mother banging something on the table, still confused, she spoke sarcastically.
“Oh? You’re quite free, aren’t you? Your daughter just fainted from pain, and you’re here doing home renovation?”
Wang Chunhua quickly put down the bun and came to her bedside, adjusting her into a more comfortable sitting position.
Then she went back, brought another bowl of porridge, and handed it to her.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even know how many times you’d starve in this world. In modern times I carried your food to your bed, and in ancient times I’m still doing it. Without your mother, you’d already be gone a long time ago…”
She kept nagging.
“Yes yes yes, you’re the best,” Xia Yan replied, taking the bowl.
She drank a few mouthfuls and asked,
“What is this porridge made from? I’ve never eaten it before.”
“It’s millet porridge. You’ve been spoiled since childhood, of course you wouldn’t know. It’s also called small rice,” Wang Chunhua explained.
Xia Yan, driven by hunger and the original body’s starvation, quickly finished the entire bowl in just a few gulps.
She licked her lips and asked again,
“Mom, I’m not full. Is there more?”
Wang Chunhua recalled the memories of the original body and the two bowls of thick porridge just now.
“They must have given all the rice to us. What they’re eating outside probably doesn’t even have grains in it…”
“Mom, what are you thinking? I’m talking to you!” Xia Yan interrupted. “And there are still two buns on the table, hurry and give them to me!”
Wang Chunhua shook her head.
“Don’t eat those. I can’t even bite them.”
Xia Yan immediately gave up the idea.
At that moment, Wang Chunhua said seriously,
“Since we’ve already come to this world, and we don’t know if we can go back, we must behave like the original owner. Otherwise, we’ll be discovered and burned as monsters.”
“I know, I’m not stupid,” Xia Yan nodded.
Suddenly—
A mechanical voice rang in both of their minds.
“Ding—Your Life Assistant System 001 is very happy to serve you.”
Before they could react, both were suddenly pulled into a space.
When they landed, they saw a vast green field and a steaming pool.
Xia Yan froze.
“Mom… did we open it the wrong way? This doesn’t look like a system space at all. Why is it just grass and a pool? This is totally different from novels!”
“You already said it—those are novels,” Wang Chunhua replied calmly. “But this is real…”
Then she looked around.
“That mechanical voice earlier… should we try asking it?”
Xia Yan immediately shouted,
“System! Come out and explain!”
The mechanical voice sounded again, slightly playful.
“Dear user, didn’t you say that if you had a system and space after transmigrating, the heroine wouldn’t be so foolish like in novels? I heard your wish and fulfilled it for you! Aren’t I considerate?”
“…Then why did I come too?” Wang Chunhua asked coldly.
“You are an extra package.”
“So I’m just a bonus victim?” she said, annoyed.
Xia Yan quickly stopped her mother before she could explode.
“Mom, don’t argue with it. Let’s ask something useful.”
Wang Chunhua calmed down.
Xia Yan asked,
“So what exactly is this space?”
The system replied patiently.
“The green land is for planting. Total area: 4000 square meters, about six mu.”
“The pool is a spirit spring. It is always clean and can be used for bathing or drinking. Temperature is constant at 45°C.”
“Time flow inside the space is 100 times faster than outside.”
“One day outside equals 100 days inside.”
“You may also store items here. Stored items will remain unchanged. However, only dead objects can be stored—no living beings.”
“I am a life assistant that helps you in daily life.”
Xia Yan’s eyes lit up.
“So the spring water can cure all diseases? Purify the body? Like in novels?”
The system replied flatly,
“If you’re sick, please see a doctor. If you want cleanliness, just bathe properly.”
“There are no magical effects. It is just clean water.”
Xia Yan was instantly disappointed.
“So useless… you should just call it a hot spring.”
“As you wish,” the system replied.
Xia Yan felt like she had been mocked internally.
Then she asked,
“So what about seeds? Do we have to buy them from you?”
“I do not sell goods. You must obtain seeds yourself. However, you can exchange items from your era for improved versions.”
“For example, low-yield ancient rice can be exchanged for high-yield hybrid rice.”
“In short, trade old items for upgraded ones.”
Xia Yan sighed.
“So we’re basically starting from scratch… like Zhu Yuanzhang.”
She then asked,
“Can we go back?”
“No. There is no return option.”
Wang Chunhua felt her heart sink.
Xia Yan quickly asked another question,
“Are we in a novel?”
“No. You are not inside any novel. You are in a historical timeline approximately two thousand years in the past.”
At least that gave them some certainty.
After finishing everything, they exited the space.
Only one minute had passed outside.
Both had different thoughts.
Wang Chunhua worried about her parents in the modern world.
Xia Yan misunderstood and thought she was worried about her husband.
So she suddenly said,
“Mom, don’t think about him anymore. He’s not a good man. You don’t need to suffer for that marriage anymore…”
But Wang Chunhua interrupted her.
“He is your father. Don’t talk like that. I’m not thinking about him—I’m thinking about my parents.”
Then she gently patted Xia Yan’s head.
“I chose to have you. I would still marry him for you.”
Xia Yan sighed.
“Mom… your family has always had bad luck.”
Wang Chunhua smiled.
“Let’s stop talking about the past. We should focus on living well now.”
She pinched Xia Yan’s cheek.
“This time, we start over properly.”