The voice carried into the house, and Mother Zhao was the first to change expression.
Still, she patted Shen Yulou’s hand to reassure her before hurrying out to see what was happening.
The three Zhao daughters-in-law followed their mother-in-law out.
Zhao Baozhu, however, didn’t rush to leave.
Once everyone was gone, she planted her hands on her hips and glared at Shen Yulou, eyes blazing with fury.
“Satisfied? Are you satisfied now?!”
“Everyone says good deeds bring good rewards, but my fourth brother risked his life to save you, and instead of being rewarded, he’s walked himself straight to his death!”
“You’re an ungrateful wolf, a jinx, a shameless thing!”
Baozhu cursed fiercely, and her tears flowed just as fiercely. The more she spoke, the more agitated she became. Finally, she pointed at Shen Yulou and gritted her teeth in fury.
“Shen Yulou, you listen to me—if my fourth brother doesn’t make it, neither will you! Even if it costs me my head, I’ll kill you to pay for his life… What are you doing? Get back in bed! Mother said you can’t move!”
Shen Yulou didn’t listen. She struggled to get down from the bed.
She had been unconscious from before the New Year until after it, and the wound on her back had mostly healed by now—she didn’t feel much pain.
However, days of lying in bed unconscious had left her limbs uncooperative, as light and floaty as if they weren’t her own body. The moment she lifted her foot, her body pitched forward.
Seeing her about to face-plant into the ground, Baozhu stamped her feet in frustration, cursing under her breath, but her movements were faster than lightning as she grabbed Shen Yulou’s arm.
With external support, Shen Yulou finally steadied herself. She held onto Baozhu’s arm and gasped, “Baozhu, thank you.”
Baozhu turned her head away and snorted, “I’m not worried about you—I’m afraid you’ll fall and die. Your life still needs to be kept as a burial sacrifice for my fourth brother… Pah pah pah! Wrong words, doesn’t count, start over!”
Realizing she’d said something inauspicious, Baozhu looked furious with herself, slapped her mouth twice, and said again: “Your life needs to be kept to serve my fourth brother like a beast of burden!”
“Mm, alright, I’ll serve him like a beast of burden… Baozhu, will you help me outside? I want to see what’s happening.”
“You’re all sickly like this, can’t even walk steadily—what good will going out do?”
That’s what she said, but Baozhu still indulged her, supporting her as they walked out.
“Supporting” was almost the same as half-carrying. Knowing Shen Yulou had just woken up and had no strength, Baozhu practically propped her up from behind as they walked, not letting her exert herself at all.
She’s a girl with a sharp tongue but a soft heart, Shen Yulou thought.
In the courtyard, the whole Zhao family was gathered—Zhao Dalang, Zhao Sanlang, Zhao Silang, the three Zhao daughters-in-law, and the two Zhao grandsons and one granddaughter.
Adults and children together made quite a crowd, filling the small courtyard to the brim.
At this moment, Zhao Silang sat on a tree stump, silently whittling bamboo strips with a small knife.
Those were the bamboo arrows he used for hunting.
Zhao Sanlang crouched beside him, glancing at him every now and then, then hugging his head and lowering it, also silent.
Only Zhao Dalang had a flushed face, extremely agitated, pointing at him as he reported to Mother Zhao.
“Mother, you need to rein in Fourth Brother—he’s gone mad! For ten taels of silver, he’s going to take someone’s place as a corvée laborer repairing the dike!”
“What?!” Mother Zhao looked as if she’d been struck by lightning, her voice changing pitch entirely. She clenched her fist and thumped Zhao Silang, demanding, “Is what your eldest brother said true? You really sold yourself?”
Zhao Silang said, “Mother, I didn’t sell myself. I’m just helping someone fulfill their service—working as a laborer for two months…”
“Nonsense!” Zhao Dalang was a scholar, but even he was driven to cursing in his desperation. He pointed at Zhao Silang’s nose and scolded, “You might as well have sold yourself! At least selling yourself leaves a chance at survival, but taking someone’s place to repair the dike… that’s a path with nine deaths out of ten!”
“Isn’t there still that one chance at life? I won’t necessarily die… my luck isn’t that bad.” Zhao Silang said carelessly, then pulled a document from his chest. “I’ve already signed the contract. This can’t be changed.”
Once the contract was signed, backing out would require paying three times the wages as compensation.
That was no small sum for the Zhao family.
Zhao Dalang was about to go mad. He paced in circles on the spot, and finally, unable to contain himself, he kicked Zhao Silang in the leg and cursed even more fiercely:
“Your luck is good? If your luck were good, would you have gotten sick? If your luck were good, would you have been extorted? If your luck were good, would you have sunk your life-saving silver into buying a curse…”
Zhao Dalang suddenly stopped cursing, staring blankly in one direction. First surprise crossed his face, then a hint of embarrassment.
The Zhao family members followed his gaze in confusion.
Zhao Silang also turned to look. Seeing Shen Yulou standing at the door of the side room, he jumped up in shock, a light shining in his eyes before it quickly settled back to calm.
“You’re awake? Since you’re awake, go back inside and lie down to rest. What are you wandering around for… You barely made it back from death’s door—don’t go and let the wind blow you to your grave.”
Shen Yulou said nothing. She silently watched Zhao Silang, biting her lips hard, struggling to keep her tears from showing.
Inauspicious.
It would be like mourning for him in advance.
…but forced labor on the dike repair really could kill people!
She had the original owner’s memories and knew exactly what forced labor meant.
Forced labor meant the government conscripting able-bodied young men from among the common people to dig earth, repair waterworks, and reinforce dikes.
There was no pay. The government provided two meals a day—breakfast was basically a small piece of flatbread, and lunch added a bowl of thin porridge.
With rations like that, even children couldn’t get enough to eat, let alone strong laborers doing heavy physical work!
Not having enough to eat was one thing, but the key issue was the long working hours. Laborers had to start work at dawn and couldn’t stop until the moon rose. And while working, they couldn’t hold back their strength or slack off, or the bailiff’s whip would come down on them.
Among all the corvée duties, repairing dikes in winter was the most dangerous.
Because in winter, the weather was freezing cold and the river water was icy. If your feet slipped and you fell into the river, even if you managed to climb out, you’d fall ill—and once you got sick, death came easily.
If you were really unlucky and couldn’t climb out, you’d be swept away by the current or sucked into the mud at the riverbed, with no chance of rescue at all.
How terrifying was forced labor?
Anyone who had served would shiver involuntarily when recalling it afterward. That was why wealthy families paid silver to hire substitutes to serve in their place.
The Zhao family originally had four sons. Zhao Erlang had died during forced labor—his body still hadn’t been recovered from the river to this day. Truly, no trace of him alive, no corpse of him dead.
That was also why the Zhao family reacted so violently when they heard Zhao Silang was going to serve on dike repair.
Because in their minds, forced labor was equivalent to going to one’s death.
But the matter was already settled, and no one could change it.
Including Shen Yulou.
In the following days, a low pressure hung over the Zhao household, the atmosphere so stifling it was suffocating.
Except for Zhao Silang, everyone wore unshakable grief on their faces, as if Zhao Silang had already died.
Zhao Baozhu’s reaction was especially intense. Every day, she would corner Shen Yulou and curse her out.
“Eat, eat, eat—that’s all you know how to do! Why don’t you eat yourself to death!”
“You can still sleep? My fourth brother is going to die because of you!”
“My fourth brother must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck to run into you. You’re a cursed star of doom!”
Shen Yulou didn’t talk back, letting Zhao Baozhu scold her. Every day, besides eating her fill, sleeping well, and nurturing her body, whenever she had energy, she would get up and do needlework.
The original owner had skill in needlework, and she had knowledge from the modern world.
She was making rain boots for Zhao Silang.
This era actually already had rain shoes—they were called clogs.
A thick wooden board, with the sole area shaved thin, leaving square protrusions near the toes and heel—that was the sole. As for the upper, poor people drilled holes in the sole and tied hemp rope, while rich people used cloth or leather.
But no matter what material was used for the upper, clogs made this way only raised the sole’s distance from the ground. They weren’t slip-resistant, let alone warm.
In the dead of winter, standing in river mud repairing dikes, with both feet soaked in the mud for long hours…
The feeling—you could imagine it.
Zhao Silang needed a pair of tall rain boots that were waterproof, slip-resistant, and warm.
Zhao Sanlang, the third son of the Zhao family, was a carpenter. The house had piles of wooden offcuts in every material, and tools like planes, chisels, drills, and files were all available.
There was even half a box of small iron nails the size of thumbtacks.
The entire process of making the sole went smoothly. It was when it came to the upper that trouble arose.
“Well, well, Shen Yulou—I noticed days ago that you were acting suspicious, sneaking around and always staring at that wild boar hide. I knew you were up to no good… and sure enough, you were! You stole my family’s pig hide!”
The moment Shen Yulou took down the wild boar hide hanging on the wall, Zhao Baozhu burst in, snatched the thing away with a fierce air, then planted her hands on her hips and cursed.
Cursing was one thing, but after she finished, she was going to take the hide and lock it in a chest.
That wouldn’t do.
Zhao Silang had to report for labor tomorrow.
Shen Yulou panicked and grabbed Zhao Baozhu’s arm to stop her from leaving.
“Baozhu, you’ve misunderstood me. I wasn’t stealing. I took this wild boar hide to make something for your fourth brother…”
Unfortunately, Zhao Baozhu had no patience to listen. She flung her arm, forcefully shoving Shen Yulou away.
After all these days of rest, Shen Yulou’s body was far stronger than before.
But it still couldn’t withstand Zhao Baozhu’s greater strength.
She staggered backward and fell, her hand instinctively bracing against the ground—and then came a crisp “crack”—her wrist was dislocated, or possibly fractured.
At the slightest movement, pain cut through bone and marrow.