“From now on, you are a member of the Sheng family.”
Cheap Father gave her a push forward, then cheerfully hoisted half a sack of coarse flour over his shoulder and scurried away faster than a rabbit.
In the blink of an eye, he stumbled and took a hard fall.
Song Jiaojiao gasped sharply and hurried forward. “Father, let me help you.”
“N-no need,” her father replied, springing back to his feet. Limping, he continued to run ahead, not even bothering about the shoe he had lost.
Once again, she had been rejected.
Song Jiaojiao pursed her lips, turned toward her new family, and forced a smile, hoping to make a good impression.
Instead, they recoiled in terror, stepping back repeatedly.
“Mother, have you lost your mind? Bringing the Song family’s jinx for a luck-bringing marriage for Elder Brother—what if she ends up hastening his death instead? That half sack of coarse flour could have lasted us half a month if we rationed it carefully!”
“Besides her, where else could we find an unmarried maiden for your brother’s luck-bringing marriage?” Old Qian suppressed her own unease and spoke with conviction. “Is a bit of food worth more than your own brother’s life? Don’t forget, who was it that got him beaten half to death by bandits?”
“But she’s a jinx! The Song family hasn’t had a stroke of luck in over a decade. No, we must split the household—I don’t want to be cursed to death by her.”
“Second Brother is right. Just as a tree branches out as it grows, a family should divide as it expands. Even if we don’t split the household, Mother, you should divide the grain and let each family manage their own share.”
The Sheng family crowded around Old Qian, their commotion drawing sidelong glances from others.
On this journey to escape famine, food was more precious than silver.
With the family already on the brink of starvation, the old woman had actually “splurged” to bring in a bride.
It was pure extravagance!
No wonder the two Sheng brothers demanded not to split the household but only to divide the grain.
Such occurrences were far from rare on the road of famine escape. For a bite to eat, some had even resorted to trading children for food, committing robbery, murder, and every imaginable evil.
The Dazhao Dynasty was plagued by widespread warfare and frequent natural disasters. In the north, it had been nearly two years since the last heavy rainfall, and even the roots of grass along the fields had been dug up clean.
To survive, the Village Chief of Dashe Village decided to lead the entire village in a collective migration, hoping for better fortune in the south.
And Song Jiaojiao had the misfortune of transmigrating right into this journey of famine escape.
Damn it all! Her wealthy husband had passed away from illness, and on the very day she inherited his estate, she found herself transmigrated into an ancient peasant girl who had starved to death!
To be fair, the original host truly had a streak of bad luck.
When she was born, a heavy snowfall collapsed the family’s cattle shed, and the old plow ox fell ill and died.
Her father had finally secured a job as a waiter at a large tavern in the county town, only to break his leg the very next day.
The family hen never laid eggs, and the harvest from their fields grew worse with each passing year.
Through her efforts alone, she dragged the Song family—once living in a sturdy brick-tiled house—down to the bare minimum of subsistence.
At first, the Song family had considered abandoning her. But whoever tried to discard her met with misfortune, suffering injuries that went beyond mere scrapes and bruises. In the end, they had no choice but to leave her in a thatched shed to fend for herself.
Now, it was the tenth day of the famine escape.
The Song family had not allotted a single grain of food to the original host, deliberately forgetting her existence.
But for half a sack of coarse flour, they suddenly remembered they still had an unmarried daughter and hastily married her off to the Sheng family’s dying eldest son for a luck-bringing marriage.
“The Sheng family has many mouths to feed and plenty of grain. Perhaps you might even survive this, and that would fulfill the bond between us as father and daughter.” Old Song wiped away tears, moved to weeping by his own words.
But he never imagined that the original host had already starved to death the day before the marriage.
Gurgle!
Song Jiaojiao’s stomach rumbled incessantly.
Hungry—she was so terribly hungry!
This body hadn’t eaten a single grain of rice in a long time. Her stomach was twisting into knots, and she desperately needed to find something to eat.
Her hopeful gaze fell upon the Sheng family, who were already in an uproar.
“Want to split the family? Not unless your old mother dies first.” Old Qian sat on the ground, throwing a tantrum. Sons and grandsons only show filial piety when there’s food to be had. Would they dare deny that the moment the family split, her sons and daughters-in-law would turn their backs and abandon her?
“Then send that Song disaster back. Our family doesn’t have extra food to feed her,” Second Daughter-in-law Fang pressed aggressively.
“No,” Old Qian insisted through gritted teeth.
“It’s either her or us. Mother, you’d better weigh the consequences carefully.”
Amid the standoff, Third Brother suddenly suggested, “How about we split off Eldest Brother’s family alone?”
How could that be allowed?
Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, Song Jiaojiao rushed toward Sheng Huaian, who lay on a wooden cart. She reached out and pinched the man’s arm hard, exclaiming with feigned delight, “Mother, my… my husband is awake!”
The man stood eight feet tall, with a robust build. The muscles on his chest and upper arms bulged, their smooth contours straining against his patched black short jacket, nearly bursting the seams. His entire body radiated a wild, powerful beauty.
Looking up further, his skin was bronzed, his features sharp and deep-set, with a tall, straight nose bridge… Song Jiaojiao marveled inwardly, her chaotic mind suddenly flashing with a shameless thought.
Her cheap husband wasn’t bad-looking at all!
Yet no matter how hard she pinched, Sheng Dalang never opened his eyes.
Useless dog of a man!
Song Jiaojiao cursed him furiously in her heart: Your family is about to abandon you, and you still won’t wake up!
“Heaven has shown mercy!” Old Qian scrambled up from the ground with surprising agility, casually dusting off the dirt from her backside before darting forward. “Dalang, my son, you’ve suffered.”
The others instantly turned pale, swarming forward to see for themselves.
But Sheng Dalang remained with his eyes closed, his face as pale as snow. As if in unbearable pain, his sword-like brows were tightly furrowed.
They’d been tricked!
“Song disaster, how dare you lie to me?” Sheng Erlang, furious and flustered, raised his hand to slap Song Jiaojiao across the face. But with a “crack,” he threw out his back instead, tears welling up in his eyes from the pain.
“D-disaster!” He clutched his waist, trembling like a sieve, his expression terrified. “Mother, send her back at once. She’s nothing but a curse on the Sheng family.”
Song Jiaojiao retreated several steps, clenching her teeth with a serious expression. “My husband really did wake up just now, but when he heard what you all said, he was so upset that he fell unconscious again…”
The Sheng family couldn’t help feeling a twinge of guilt.
Whether Song Jiaojiao was talking nonsense or not, what if… Sheng Huaian had truly woken up briefly?
Especially the two Sheng brothers, who had often been beaten up by their eldest brother—the more they thought about it, the more fearful they became. Their expressions shifted repeatedly, and their legs trembled with anxiety.
For the time being, no one dared mention splitting the family again.
Old Qian shot Song Jiaojiao a displeased glare. This new bride had caused chaos in the household the moment she arrived, so Old Qian decided to teach her a lesson. “You troublemaker, what are you standing around for? Go out and find some wild vegetables. Dream on if you think I’ll feed you!”
Song Jiaojiao smiled sarcastically, then clenched the hem of her clothes tightly.
She couldn’t afford to turn against the Sheng family just yet.
Her household registration documents were still in Old Qian’s possession. In this era, without proper registration, one could be sold into slavery at will.
The most urgent task now was to fill her stomach.
She turned and headed toward the mountain hollow.
But after walking three or four li, all she saw was an endless expanse of yellow earth. When she finally spotted a few large trees, their bark had long since been stripped bare.
Beneath the tree lay a corpse. Before death, the person had been stuffing branches into their mouth. It was unclear whether they had choked or starved to death.
Song Jiaojiao felt every hair on her body stand on end, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of sorrow, as if mourning the death of a fellow creature.
Was she also going to starve to death here?
How utterly frustrating!
Just then, a mechanical voice suddenly echoed in her mind—
[Ding! Congratulations on binding to the Encyclopedia System. One ancient locust detected. Would you like to exchange it?]