Tang Qing’er regained consciousness amidst a wave of agonizing pain.
The cramping in her abdomen, the sticky warmth on her forehead, and the tearing pain in her lower body… all of it intertwined into a web of death.
“Cry, cry, cry! All you know how to do is cry! A worthless money-loser giving birth to another little money-loser!”
A shrill, harsh voice of an old woman rang out from outside the door.
“You think giving birth to a son this time makes you special? Our Liu family isn’t short on grandsons! Get up right now and feed the chickens and cook!”
That was it. The original owner of this body, who had just given birth and hadn’t even finished her postpartum month, had been struck on the head over some trivial matter by her so-called mother-in-law, Liu Lishi, and had breathed her last.
Tang Qing’er snapped her eyes open. The killing instincts honed in the Apocalypse made her instantly alert.
She licked the blood from her parched lips; it tasted of rust.
Good. She sneered inwardly. Tang Qing’er, a Level 5 Ability User from the Apocalypse, had actually become a bullied young wife at the bottom of the ladder in a feudal society.
With a thought, a faint, glowing green light appeared at her fingertips—good, her Wood-Element Supernatural Ability was still there. As she circulated it through her body, her injuries began to slowly repair themselves.
At that moment, with a loud clatter, the door to the woodshed was roughly kicked open.
Against the light, Liu Lishi’s bloated silhouette blocked the doorway. Holding a switch in her hand, she grumbled and cursed:
“You jinx, are you dead yet? If you’re not dead, then…”
Her words came to a jarring halt.
Because she met a pair of eyes—eyes that lacked their usual cowardice and submissiveness.
There was only an abyssal chill and a murderous intent forged in mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Tang Qing’er slowly sat up, her voice raspy but carrying an unquestionable power:
“Mother-in-law, I’m not dead yet. I’ve… disappointed you.”
The look in Tang Qing’er’s eyes, as if she were looking at a dead person, made Liu Lishi’s heart skip a beat in fear.
Always one to bully the weak and fear the strong, she suppressed her internal terror and bellowed, “If you’re awake, get up and work! Our Liu family doesn’t raise idle people!”
After speaking, she turned and fled as if escaping something, returning to her own room and clutching her chest in lingering fear.
“Oh my god! What’s gotten into that third daughter-in-law? Why did she look so terrifying!”
Tang Qing’er ignored the old woman’s shouting. Her attention was drawn by the faint, kitten-like crying of an infant beside her.
She turned her head to see a thin, small, and clearly malnourished infant lying at her side.
A “boom” echoed in her mind as memories rushed in like a flood breaching a dam.
She had actually traveled to an alternate historical era she had never heard of—the Great Xia Dynasty.
The original owner of this body was also named Tang Qing’er, an orphan girl from Tang Village under the jurisdiction of Salt County in the borderlands.
After her parents died young, her greedy uncle’s family sold her to the family of Liu Wangcai in the neighboring Bai Liu Village for two taels of silver to be the wife of their third son.
This Liu Wangcai household was nothing short of a dragon’s den or a tiger’s lair:
The father-in-law, Liu Wangcai: Short in stature, appearing honest and hardworking on the surface, but in reality, he was insidious, crafty, and full of wicked schemes.
The mother-in-law, Liu Lishi: A famous village troublemaker, inherently malicious. Her greatest daily pleasure was tormenting her daughters-in-law and boasting about it to the neighbors.
The eldest sister-in-law, Liu Yan: A typical “honeyed tongue but a hidden dagger,” smiling while plotting, with a heart as black as coal.
The second sister-in-law, Liu Mei: Though her temperament was slightly better than the eldest sister’s, she was foolishly filial. Lacking any opinions of her own, she was essentially a blood bag for the family.
The husband, Liu Jian: The third son of the family. Not only was he a habitual domestic abuser and incredibly stingy, but he also had a scandalous reputation for being involved with a widow in the village.
Anyone in the village with even a bit of wealth or knowledge of this family’s conduct wouldn’t dream of pushing their daughter into such a fire pit.
Seeing that Liu Jian had reached the age of twenty-five without finding a wife, the family grew desperate.
Later, they heard of Tang Qing’er, who was living under someone else’s roof after her parents’ death. Having gauged the greedy nature of her uncle’s family, they sent a matchmaker and “bought” the original owner home for two taels of silver.
The original owner’s first child was a daughter named Liu Daya, who was now four years old.
The original owner had thought her in-laws disliked her because they favored boys over girls, so she pinned all her hopes on giving birth to a son to change her situation.
This year, she did indeed give birth to a son, fully believing that her status would finally rise because of her child.
But to her surprise, this changed nothing about the subhuman status she and her children held in the Liu family.
Her husband, Liu Jian, even went so far as to claim that their family didn’t care about sons at all.
His eldest uncle’s family, his second uncle’s family, and even his married eldest sister’s family all had sons. One more didn’t make a difference, and one less wouldn’t matter. Therefore, the one the original owner birthed was nothing special.
Consequently, having just given birth and barely having time to catch her breath, the original owner was forced by her in-laws to work in the fields.
At that time, her postpartum discharge hadn’t even cleared, leading to continuous bleeding and a rapid decline in her health.
Until today, over a trivial matter, she was struck violently on the head by her mother-in-law, Liu Lishi.
The already weakened original owner died on the spot, giving Tang Qing’er, from the Apocalypse, the chance to be reborn through transmigration.
Tang Qing’er took a deep breath, feeling that the original owner’s suffering wasn’t worth it. She thought: Since I’ve taken over this body, I will take care of her two children and avenge her.
As soon as the thought formed, her heart felt a sudden lightness, as if the last breath the original owner had been holding onto finally dissipated. Tang Qing’er didn’t dare delay and circulated her Wood-Element Supernatural Ability.
Her body was repaired bit by bit, though she tragically discovered that her Supernatural Ability had dropped to Level 1.
She sighed. Oh well, having it was better than nothing. Soon, her ability was exhausted, but her body felt much better.
The child was still crying like a kitten, clearly starving. Sensing her own body, she realized she had no breast milk at all.
It made sense. Doing more work than an ox and eating less than a chicken, it would be a miracle if she had milk. she attempted to communicate with her Personal Space.
A moment later, a bag of milk powder appeared in her hand. This was something they had scavenged for supplies back in the Apocalypse.
Great, the space was still there. With another thought, a baby bottle appeared in her hand.
Looking at the milk powder and the bottle, she faced a problem. Although there was water in her space, it wasn’t hot.
Left with no choice, she stood up, walked out the door, and headed toward the Liu family’s kitchen according to her memories.
Seeing her walk out, Liu Lishi, who was at the doorway of the main hall, felt she must have misread the situation earlier.
To think she had been afraid of that jinx! She had to settle the score. With that thought, she grabbed a nearby broom and headed toward the kitchen.
Watching Tang Qing’er scoop water from the vat into the large iron wok to scrub it, Liu Lishi raised the broom and swung it at her head.
She cursed, “You jinx! You scrubbed the pot from lunch? Won’t the coarse rice stuck to it go to waste? I’ll beat you to death, you worthless wretch who wastes food!”
Tang Qing’er’s eyes turned sharp. She raised her left hand and caught the broom the old woman swung down.
Liu Lishi shivered again, frightened by Tang Qing’er’s icy, fierce gaze. She instinctively tried to pull the broom back.
But Tang Qing’er snatched it away with a single yank. Immediately following that, the broom rained down upon Liu Lishi’s head and face like a torrential downpour.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
The intense pain caused the old woman to abandon all dignity. She screamed and fled from the kitchen into the courtyard.
Tang Qing’er’s eyes remained cold as she gave chase relentlessly, showing no mercy.
“Someone help! Save me! Tang Qing’er, that bitch, has gone mad! She’s trying to beat her mother-in-law to death!”
Liu Lishi’s screams pierced the silence of the small courtyard.
Thud—
The courtyard gate was violently kicked open from the outside, and a scrawny man with a face full of malice rushed in.
He was Tang Qing’er’s husband, Liu Jian.
At a glance, he saw his mother being pursued and beaten and Tang Qing’er holding the broom. His eyes bulged with rage. He snatched up a wooden club as thick as a bowl from the base of the courtyard wall and charged fiercely at Tang Qing’er.
“You jinx! How dare you hit my mother! I’ll beat you to death!”