“Jiang Yutong, I never thought you could be so vicious, even to a tiny baby. I thought you were a kind-hearted person, but I was wrong. Today, I’m going to teach you a lesson!”
“If you have a problem with me, come at me directly. Why would you hurt such a small child? I really misjudged you. You’re truly vicious.”
“That’s right, Jiang Yutong. We’ve provided you with food and clothing all these years, yet you’re so petty that you would even secretly try to kill a child.”
Jiang Yutong’s ears were buzzing, and a suffocating sensation overwhelmed her. She opened her eyes and saw a man with his hair tied up in a traditional crown gripping her neck.
Her survival instincts kicked in. She immediately threw a punch straight at the man’s face, hitting him squarely on the nose. Blood quickly began streaming from his nostrils.
She raised her leg and, with a loud thud, kicked the man several feet away.
Jiang Yutong clutched her neck and coughed violently. She looked around in confusion as a woman rushed toward the man she had just kicked, helping him up while crying out,
“Zhengqing!”
“Blood! His nose is bleeding!”
Where was this place?
Wasn’t she just surrounded by a horde of zombies?
How had she suddenly ended up here?
Looking at the surrounding blue-brick houses with their traditional tiled roofs—something she had only ever seen in pictures—Jiang Yutong was completely bewildered.
Before she could figure out what was happening, the woman suddenly raised her hand and slapped her.
Jiang Yutong instinctively caught the incoming hand.
“Jiang Yutong, how dare you! You actually hit my son! Go get the family rod! Today, I’m going to teach this vicious woman a proper lesson!”
Pain throbbed through Jiang Yutong’s head as a flood of unfamiliar memories rushed into her mind.
She shoved the woman hard, sending her tumbling to the ground.
The memories finally made everything clear.
She had transmigrated into a novel she had once read.
And the original owner was also named Jiang Yutong—the male protagonist’s child bride before he rose to prominence.
At the age of ten, the original Jiang Yutong had been sold to the Ning family to become Ning Zhengqing’s child bride. Relying on her embroidery skills, she had supported Ning Zhengqing year after year, stitch by stitch, so that he could study and take the imperial examinations.
Ning Zhengqing had indeed lived up to her efforts. This time, he had passed the examination and become a xiucai.
The original Jiang Yutong had not even had time to celebrate when, one night, she overheard Ning Zhengqing and his mother, Ning Yao, discussing how to divorce her.
Ning Zhengqing’s voice was troubled.
“Mother, now that I’ve become a xiucai, my teacher intends to marry his daughter to me. But Yutong…”
Ning Yao’s voice was filled with obvious delight.
“That’s wonderful! My son has finally made something of himself. Don’t worry about Yutong. I’ll find a way to divorce her tomorrow. We’ve treated her well all these years. If it weren’t for us, her stepmother would have sold her to a brothel long ago.”
“But Yutong has been devoted to me all these years. I really can’t bear to do this to her.”
Ning Yao spoke dismissively.
“My son is simply too soft-hearted. Don’t worry about this matter. Leave it to your mother.”
After hearing those words, the original Jiang Yutong became dazed and heartbroken. Yet she didn’t even dare confront Ning Zhengqing.
Every night, she could only cry herself to sleep.
Then, on this very day, she happened to notice the eldest daughter-in-law’s newborn baby lying alone in a cradle.
The baby was not even a month old. A blanket had covered her face, and the tiny infant didn’t even have the strength to struggle.
The original Jiang Yutong had merely stepped forward to check on the child, but she was mistakenly accused of trying to murder the baby.
Who would have thought that these heartless people, after Ning Zhengqing passed the examination, would decide that the original Jiang Yutong had lost her usefulness?
They believed she was no longer worthy of a xiucai and wanted to climb higher by marrying him to someone from a better family.
And that was how this whole situation had begun.
Once Jiang Yutong understood what had happened, she barely had time to celebrate the fact that she no longer had to face zombies every day before she nearly died here instead.
In the novel, the original Jiang Yutong had barely been mentioned. It had only said that during this incident, she was accused of smothering the eldest brother’s daughter to death. She was subsequently thrown into prison, then sentenced to exile, where she eventually died on the road.
Ning Yao, the mother-in-law, was sharp-tongued and mean-looking. Rubbing her sore backside, she pointed at Jiang Yutong and cursed,
“You’ve gone completely mad! Someone, come here! Arrest this wretched woman and drown her in the pond! She assaulted her husband and mother-in-law. She has no respect for her elders and no sense of filial piety! There’s no justice left in this world!”
Ning Yao was absolutely furious.
Back in the Ning family, Jiang Yutong had always obeyed everything she said. If Ning Yao told her to go east, she never dared go west.
But today, she had not only beaten Zhengqing—she had even pushed her!
The Ning family’s eldest daughter-in-law, Sun Taohua, was holding the baby in her arms and crying bitterly.
“Jiang Yutong, how can you be so cruel? Even such a tiny baby isn’t safe from you!”
Sun Taohua still had a cloth wrapped around her head and was in confinement after giving birth. Three young girls stood behind her, staring blankly at the scene unfolding before them.
The baby in Sun Taohua’s arms had a bluish-purple face.
It was obvious that the infant had been deprived of oxygen for quite some time.
Jiang Yutong absolutely could not let this child die.
She snatched the baby away and immediately prepared to perform CPR.
The moment Sun Taohua saw Jiang Yutong take her daughter, she lunged forward.
“What are you doing? The child is already like this, and you still won’t leave her alone?”
She burst into sobs.
Jiang Yutong quickly opened the baby’s swaddling clothes and pushed Sun Taohua away.
“If you don’t want your daughter to die, then shut up and stay still! And don’t let anyone else disturb me!”
Sun Taohua had never seen Jiang Yutong this serious before.
She was so stunned that she froze in place.
Jiang Yutong removed the baby’s outer clothes, leaving only a thin undergarment. She quickly checked the baby’s pupils.
They were dilated.
The pulse in the baby’s neck was extremely weak.
The situation was critical.
Immediate resuscitation was necessary.
Using two fingers, Jiang Yutong began compressions over the baby’s tiny chest.
Then she performed rescue breathing.
Everyone was stunned by her actions.
Ning Yao immediately began wailing.
“You vicious woman! The child is already dead, yet you still won’t leave her alone! What are you doing? Put her down! My poor granddaughter! She came into this world without even getting the chance to open her eyes and see it, and now she’s gone!”
Then Ning Yao turned toward Sun Taohua and shouted,
“What are you waiting for? Are you useless? You can’t even protect your own child! Hurry up and take her back!”
Sun Taohua was usually terrified of her mother-in-law.
After being shouted at like that, she instinctively reached out to take the baby back.
But Jiang Yutong ignored everyone and continued what she was doing.
The baby was far too small, so she didn’t dare use too much force.
Fortunately, a faint cry suddenly rang out.
Sun Taohua’s legs gave way, and she collapsed onto the ground, making a sound that was half sob and half laughter.
“My child is alive! Hahaha… My child came back to life!”
She quickly took the baby into her arms.
Jiang Yutong finally let out a sigh of relief.
The baby had been saved.
Ning Yao and Ning Zhengqing were both stunned.
They had never expected Jiang Yutong to actually save the child.
At that moment, Ning Zhengsong, the eldest son of the Ning family, hurried home.
He walked straight over to his wife.
“What happened?”
Sun Taohua could only repeat over and over,
“Husband, the child is alive. The child came back to life.”
Seeing her eldest son return, Ning Yao immediately burst into tears.
“Son, you’re finally back! Oh, it hurts so much! Hurry and tie up this vicious woman and take her to the authorities! She secretly attacked your daughter and nearly smothered her to death!”
Ning Zhengsong’s expression darkened.
After hearing his mother’s accusation, he immediately moved toward Jiang Yutong, intending to strike her.