Her head throbbed with a piercing, agonizing pain as if a hole had been smashed into it, and the metallic, sweet taste of blood filled her mouth. Before Ye Xiaohua could even process what was happening, she felt someone slapping her face forcefully.
Enduring the wave of dizziness, her fiery temper flared up. She swung her fist and threw a punch straight ahead. Accompanied by a man’s cry of pain, Ye Xiaohua slowly opened her eyes.
Squatting before her was a tall, large man, clutching his punched eye with one hand and grimacing in pain. Standing behind him was an old woman with a fleshy, fierce face, cursing up a storm, spit flying from her mouth as it opened and closed. The woman being scolded by her shrunk into the corner of the wall, remaining completely silent.
Along with the severe headache, a flood of memories that did not belong to her surged into her mind, making Ye Xiaohua realize a very serious problem.
It seemed she had traveled through time, occupying the body of a foolish country girl in the Great Zhou Dynasty…
“Damn it, you dare to hit me? See if I don’t beat you to death, you smelly fool! How dare you bite me!”
The man hissed in pain while spitting out harsh threats. Ye Xiaohua then watched as he gathered all his strength and swung a fist toward her. Conspicuously marked on his hand was a ring of bloody teeth marks, so deep that the bone was almost visible—a bite left by the original owner of the body before she died.
“Don’t hit Sister!” This voice came from a little child who wasn’t even as tall as the low wall. Relying on her memories, Ye Xiaohua knew this was her younger brother.
She watched as the little child rushed forward, using all his might to hug the man’s arm while shouting at her, “Sister, run fast!”
Annoyed by the child’s meddling, the man hoisted him up like a little chick. Contrasted against the man’s thick, sturdy arm, Ye Xiaodou’s dangling legs looked even more fragile.
“If I don’t hit her, then I’ll hit you.” The man rubbed his swollen left eye, his pain making him increasingly irritable.
Just as the man was about to rain punches and kicks down on the four-year-old child, Ye Xiaohua executed a swift kip-up and leaped off the ground. Although the owner of this body was only ten years old, with the skills from her past life, a single kick would be enough to deal with him.
Ye Xiaohua put all her strength into this kick, striking the man square in the crotch. He clutched his groin and rolled on the ground in agony, while she steadily caught the little child the exact moment the man let go.
The little child, a mess of tears and snot, trembled uncontrollably in her arms. Sobbing, he choked out, “Sister, are you okay?”
Something was wrong; her entire body was screaming in pain. Her head throbbed, her chest felt suffocated, and the world spun so wildly that she could faint at any moment. Yet, facing the little child’s concern, Ye Xiaohua still shook her head.
Hearing her grandson’s miserable shrieks and seeing the area he was clutching, Old Madam Ye cried out, “Oh my god!” and rushed over. Meanwhile, the woman shrinking in the corner turned deathly pale with fright; she knew things had taken a severe turn this time.
Deeply afraid that her mother-in-law would take her anger out on her, Madam Li was the first to state her stance.
“You wretched girl, you actually dare to hit your cousin back!” She looked at Old Madam Ye flatteringly, eager to clear herself of any blame. “Mother, I didn’t teach her this. She’s a fool and doesn’t understand anything. I’ll teach her a lesson for you.”
Holding her trembling brother in her arms, Ye Xiaohua glanced at the woman. Just moments ago, this woman hadn’t dared to utter a single peep while being scolded severely, yet now she was loudly accusing her. Although Ye Xiaohua found it ironic, it was true—this was her mother.
Old Madam Ye was still checking on the condition of her precious eldest grandson, but hearing Madam Li’s words, she did not stop her.
Madam Li turned her head to look at the siblings, her expression fierce and malicious, looking even more terrifying than a yaksha. “You dare glare at me? You dead girl, you’ve caused nothing but trouble for me! Your eldest cousin wanted to take your younger brother to a wealthy family to be raised, why did you stop him?”
Old Madam Ye said coldly from the side, “She’s a fool, why are you wasting your breath talking to her? I think her skin is just itching for a beating. I don’t even know how you, as a mother, taught her. If anything happens to my eldest grandson, the three of you can get out of the Ye family! Not only did you bring misfortune that killed my son, but now you want to harm my eldest grandson. What a pack of jinxes.”
Madam Li did not dare to argue. Without a shred of hesitation, she raised her arm and brought her palm down heavily. However, before it could even graze her, her wrist was firmly caught by Ye Xiaohua.
Madam Li struggled a couple of times, but her arm could neither fall nor be pulled back. She looked at Ye Xiaohua in anger, only to be startled by a fierce, ferocious gaze that looked as though it wanted to devour someone alive.
The current Ye Xiaohua was covered in blood, her twisted appearance resembling a malevolent ghost. Thinking back to how she had bitten Ye Teng earlier, Madam Li broke out in goosebumps, swallowing back the words “let go” that had almost slipped out.
Ye Xiaohua glared at this cheap mother of hers and fiercely flung her arm away.
What load of crap about sending him to a wealthy family to be raised? Even the original fool of an owner knew that they wanted to sell her younger brother. As for what they were selling him for, Ye Xiaohua figured it was probably to get money for her eldest cousin to marry a wife.
Madam Li knew this perfectly well, yet she still agreed to it. The original owner, who shared a deep bond with her brother, had fought desperately to protect him from being taken away, biting her eldest cousin in a moment of desperation, which resulted in her being beaten to death.
“Madam Li, you’re reluctant to hit her, aren’t you? Keeping this kind of jinx around is just an invitation for disaster. It saves trouble to just beat her to death.” After helping Ye Teng up from the ground, Old Madam Ye rolled up her sleeves and walked toward them, looking ready to take matters into her own hands.
“Mother, I’ll hit her, I’ll hit her right now. Please don’t be angry. Is Teng’er alright?”
Watching the cheap mother standing before her looking so flattering and eager to please made Ye Xiaohua furious. She hadn’t uttered a single word when her biological daughter was beaten to death, yet she was deeply concerned about someone else. Anyone who didn’t know better would think Ye Teng was her biological son.
“Nonsense! How could he be fine? Are you blind? Can’t you see for yourself? Look at how much pain he’s in!” Old Madam Ye had never given this second daughter-in-law, Madam Li, a pleasant look, always speaking as if she had swallowed gunpowder. “I just don’t believe that no one can teach her a lesson.”
As it turned out, she really couldn’t teach Ye Xiaohua a lesson.
Ye Xiaohua turned around, snatched up her wood-chopping cleaver, and roared, “Whoever dares to take Xiaodou away, I’ll fight them to the death!”
Old Madam Ye, who had been confidently vowing to deal with her just a moment ago, was frightened into immobility upon seeing the brightly sharpened cleaver in her hand, not daring to take a single step forward.
“You… what do you want to do?”
Wasn’t it obvious? She wanted to kill someone.
As Ye Xiaohua swung the cleaver wildly in her hand, Old Madam Ye, who valued her own life dearly, trembled even in her voice. “Ma… Madam Li, look at the little beast you gave birth to! Aren’t you going to control her?”
Madam Li was so terrified that she wished she could grease her soles and slip away. It was true she gave birth to her, but she really couldn’t control her! This daughter was a fool; when she went mad, she wouldn’t even recognize her own mother.
However, since her mother-in-law had spoken, she could only brace herself and step forward. She didn’t dare to use force, so she could only coax her softly, “Hua’er, listen to Mother, put the cleaver down.”
Images flashed through Ye Xiaohua’s mind of her younger brother hugging her, crying and screaming that he didn’t want to be separated from his sister, causing a wave of heartache to wash over her. She felt her physical strength draining to its absolute limit; if she didn’t drive away these ill-intentioned people right now, she feared she really wouldn’t be able to protect her brother.
The original owner didn’t know what a catamite was, but she did. Once the little fellow was sold, his entire life would be ruined.
Thinking of this, instead of backing down, she took a step toward the two of them, forcing both women to quickly retreat in fear of being slashed by the cleaver in her hand.
“Get out! Get out of my house!” Ye Xiaohua’s voice carried not a single shred of warmth.
Looking at the cleaver so close at hand, Old Madam Ye was terrified that the crazy girl might accidentally take her old life if she wasn’t careful. Getting slashed wouldn’t be worth it at all.
She knew there was no reasoning with a fool, but she didn’t want to lose face by admitting her fear in front of her daughter-in-law, so she said, “The dead girl injured Teng’er so badly, I have to take him to see a physician.”
Before leaving, Ye Teng didn’t forget to leave behind a harsh threat, “You smelly fool, I’ll definitely slaughter you… hiss…”
Watching the grandmother and grandson depart, Ye Xiaohua gripped Ye Xiaodou’s hand tightly. Only then did her eyes close, and she fainted.
The first thing Ye Xiaohua did upon waking up was to check if Xiaodou was still there. She had driven away that grandmother and grandson, but there was still a cowardly, cheap mother in the house. What if she had sent Xiaodou away?
Fortunately, the little fellow was curled up beside her, sleeping deeply. His body, so thin that it was practically skin and bones, was curled into a ball, with teardrops still hanging between his tightly closed eyes.
She wasn’t doing any better either. Just looking at her hands alone, they were dry and rough, crisscrossed with scars, with some wounds still unhealed and not a single patch of decent skin. Because the original owner’s mind wasn’t sharp and she was a girl, she had been disliked at home since childhood. Not only was she forced to do all the hard and exhausting chores, but beatings and scoldings were also a daily occurrence. In the Ye family, no one treated her like a human being except for this younger brother.
Recalling how the little fellow had desperately protected her earlier brought a wave of warmth to her heart. In her past life, she had grown up in an orphanage and had never felt the warmth of family affection. In this life, although her father didn’t care for her and her mother didn’t love her, she had a brother who genuinely treated her well. Ye Xiaohua stroked Xiaodou’s head; it wasn’t a bad trade.
Xiaodou opened his eyes dazed, and upon seeing it was Ye Xiaohua, he threw himself into her arms and burst out crying, stammering, “Sister… Mother doesn’t want us anymore.”
Doesn’t want them?
Having been awake for so long, she indeed hadn’t seen any sign of that cheap mother, and there wasn’t a single sound coming from outside. Although the original owner was foolish, this younger brother was highly intelligent. Could his meaning be…
The cheap mother had run away?