Wang shi had been scolded by Li Chengcai for a long time and had said nothing the whole while. But when Li Chengcai said Li Jiaojiao wasn’t to eat, Wang shi grew anxious. “Father of my child, Jiaojiao’s health isn’t good, she can’t go hungry!”
Li Chengcai flung his sleeve and turned to scold Wang shi. “Whose fault is that? Let her go hungry. Skipping a meal or two won’t kill her!”
After that, Li Jiaojiao heard the heavy sound of a door slamming, followed by Wang shi’s suppressed crying.
After sleeping for a few hours, Li Jiaojiao had already sorted out her current situation clearly. The original Li Jiaojiao had grown up alongside Chen Xuan as childhood sweethearts, and the two had gotten engaged last year. This year, Chen Xuan took first place in the 院試 examination and was noticed by the Liyang County registrar, becoming the registrar’s son-in-law.
And, Chen Xuan and Wan Yuxiu had already gotten married in Liyang County a month ago!
But over this past month, Chen Xuan had written the original body many letters, using them to manipulate her emotionally. Because of this, even though Chen Xuan had gotten married, she’d gone half-mad with grief. Wang shi had tried to talk sense into her for a long time, but her whole heart still hung on Chen Xuan.
Then this morning, the Chen family invited the whole village to eat, saying Chen Xuan and his new bride were coming back. Grieving, Li Jiaojiao held onto the old letters and looked through them, and then died of grief?
Li Jiaojiao opened the door. Wang shi quickly wiped her tears away. “Jiaojiao, you’re awake? Are you hungry?”
Li Jiaojiao had just sat down when a five- or six-year-old little boy came trotting toward her on his short legs. He pulled a hard, dry, reddish-brown flatbread made of coarse grain out of his shirt and handed it to Li Jiaojiao. “Sis, I hid some food for you, eat it quick!”
“Thank you, Qiaoqiao!”
Li Jiaojiao patted her younger brother Li Qiao’s head. Li Qiao puffed out his little chest proudly. “Sis, when I grow up, I’ll protect you, I won’t let anyone bully you!”
Wang shi pulled Li Qiao into her arms. “That’s Mother’s good boy Qiaoqiao! Knowing to care about your mother and your sister!”
Two adults and a child, and just this one hard flatbread, how could that be enough to eat?
The original body’s father, Li Chengcai, was the typical type who was fierce at home and a coward outside, he could neither support the family nor shelter his wife and children from hardship, but at home, he ruled like a tyrant.
“Qiaoqiao, eat first. Sis is going out for a bit!”
Walking out of the room, Li Jiaojiao stood in front of the low house and looked around. The Li family was large, Old Man Li had three sons and one daughter under him, and her father was precisely Old Man Li’s second son. Li Chengcai had one son and one daughter, and this big family hadn’t split up yet.
Old Man Li and the others, disgusted that Li Jiaojiao had brought them shame, punished her by not letting her eat tonight.
Standing in the courtyard, Li Jiaojiao could faintly hear the voice of her grandmother Deng shi, who ran the household, coming from the main house over there. They were mocking her without restraint. Li Jiaojiao clenched her fists. Her temper was fiery, to put it bluntly, she’d always had a sharp-tongued nature, how could she stand for this!
Just as Li Jiaojiao was about to go in and reason with them, suddenly a burst of violent coughing came from the main house, followed at once by everyone gathering around in concern.
Li Jiaojiao couldn’t help but laugh. It seemed heaven took care of wicked people like Deng shi on its own!
Deng shi had no intention of letting her and her mother eat, so Li Jiaojiao had to go find food herself.
In the kitchen, Li Jiaojiao searched through the pots and the cabinets completely, but there was nothing to eat, they hadn’t even left a mouthful of water for the two of them. Li Jiaojiao clenched her fists, unable to hold back her anger!
Just as she was about to go find Deng shi and have it out with her, suddenly her foot kicked something. She looked down, and there was a wild chicken right by her foot. This mottled, long-tailed bird, wasn’t this exactly the kind of wild pheasant she’d once seen on TV?
Puzzled, Li Jiaojiao picked the wild chicken up. Its body was still warm. She looked it over carefully, it seemed to have died of natural causes, with no wounds on its body.
Then she looked outside the door again. She remembered clearly that when she’d come into the kitchen, there had been no wild chicken by the door!
The original body hadn’t eaten meat in over a year, even scraping the plate clean never fell to her turn, she’d almost forgotten what meat tasted like. Looking around, afraid of being seen by Deng shi and the others, she suddenly thought of her own treasure. Hadn’t it said it could store things now?
Li Jiaojiao took the coin out of her pocket and turned it over and over, muttering, “How does this thing work?”
“You’re the host, think it through yourself!”
The vessel spirit’s voice rang out in her mind!
Li Jiaojiao frowned and thought, how should she think about it? Just put the wild chicken inside!
“Eh?”
Li Jiaojiao was stunned, because the wild chicken in her hands had vanished!
“Don’t make a fuss, now that you’re the host, of course whatever you think is what happens!”
Li Jiaojiao ignored the vessel spirit. This was completely beyond her understanding, she’d been born and raised under the red flag, a proper materialist. What was going on here?
She held the coin, turning it over and over several times, unable to believe this thing had taken the wild chicken in. So how was she supposed to get it back out?
The moment she had that thought, the wild chicken appeared in her hand on its own!
Li Jiaojiao played with it foolishly many times, until several of the chicken’s feathers had fallen out. The vessel spirit couldn’t stand it anymore and shouted, “That’s enough, my lady, I’m begging you, don’t play with me like this!”
“You don’t count as a person!”
With just that one line, Li Jiaojiao left the vessel spirit speechless.
“It’s the middle of the night, who’s in the kitchen?”
The sound of Deng shi getting up came from the main room next door. Startled, Li Jiaojiao quickly put the wild chicken away and dashed back home in a flash.
Standing at her own door, Li Jiaojiao carried the wild chicken and hurried inside to find Wang shi and Li Qiao.
“Mother, look what I found!”
Li Jiaojiao lifted up the wild chicken. “Qiaoqiao, haven’t you gone without meat for a long time? Come on, Sis will take you to eat roast chicken!”
Wang shi hurriedly asked Li Jiaojiao, “Where did this come from?”
Li Jiaojiao pointed toward the kitchen. “By the kitchen door! Mother, it seems like it flew to our house on its own, and then died! Perfect timing, we’re all hungry, come on, let’s go eat roast chicken!”
Wang shi was uneasy, she knew this was a wild chicken, but she worried about being discovered by the family, and followed nervously behind Li Jiaojiao.
Li Qiao was thrilled. “Sis, this way, go this way, no one will find us for sure!”
At a cave on the back hill, Li Qiao and Wang shi gathered firewood. Li Jiaojiao simply plucked the feathers, then dug out the chicken’s innards, stuffed it with the scallions and ginger she’d swiped from the kitchen to mask the smell, rubbed on a bit of salt, and set it to roast over the fire.
A wild chicken weighing about six catties, the three of them ate until they were licking the corners of their mouths. Li Qiao held his stomach. “Sis, it’d be great if we could have meat every day!”
Wang shi poked his forehead. “Dreaming big, aren’t you, your sister just got lucky, who can be lucky every single time? Wipe your mouth, don’t let anyone see! Jiaojiao, you take your brother, I’ll clean up the fire pit and pick up some firewood on the way back!”
On the way home, Wang shi carried Li Qiao on her back, holding Li Jiaojiao’s hand from time to time.
Nearly home, Li Jiaojiao spotted people near their house and quickly called out to Wang shi. “Mother, who’s that?”
Wang shi looked closely. “It looks like… the maids who serve Chen Xuan’s new bride! Look at their clothes, isn’t that them?”
Sure enough, it really was them!
So late at night, what were they here for?
Their figures disappeared into the night, and only then did Wang shi and the others head home.
By the time they got home, they were met with Li Chengcai’s interrogation. “Where did you all go? Mother told you to work just now, where did you run off to?”
Wang shi frowned. “Jiaojiao hasn’t eaten anything, the children have been hungry almost a whole day, I went to find her something to eat…”
“Serves her right!” Li Chengcai spat hard at Li Jiaojiao. “Who told her to be so improper? She stirred up trouble at the Chen family’s happy occasion, it’s already more than she deserves that the Chen family hasn’t come to demand an apology, and now she wants to eat too? Hmph! Mother said, go hungry for two more days!”
With her fiery temper, Li Jiaojiao had long since had enough of this useless man, and now he even dared accuse her of being improper!
“When we first got engaged to the Chen family, I remember you were the happiest one laughing about it, Father! Now you say I’m improper, what shameful thing did I do? The Chen family wanted to break off the engagement because I don’t have a good father, because I don’t have a good family background. If we’re really talking about improper, isn’t that you? Shouldn’t you think hard about why you couldn’t give your own children a good situation to start with?”
When it came to talking back, no one had ever bested Li Jiaojiao in her whole life!
The whole family was stunned. Li Jiaojiao had always looked delicate and soft, gentle in nature, and her voice was even soft-spoken, this was the first time she’d ever talked like she was cursing someone out in the street.
Li Chengcai, struck right where it hurt, grabbed a broom and got up to strike at Li Jiaojiao.
Wang shi went pale with fright and hurried forward to stop Li Chengcai. “What are you doing? Today the child was bullied like that, and you don’t feel for her, instead you turn around and criticize your own daughter? Li Chengcai, all you know how to do is talk about me and the children, you’re the children’s father, do you even know what those five taels of silver from the Chen family were for?”