“Don’t snatch it! Don’t snatch it! Oh, how are we supposed to survive like this? What an unfilial granddaughter! She’s trying to leave us old folks with no way to live!!”
Inside the dilapidated little temple, groups of people sat scattered around. At a glance, it was obvious that they had gathered according to their respective families.
The people were dressed in patched-up clothes. Their hair was messy, their bodies thin and emaciated, and their cheeks slightly sunken. Their dull eyes shifted slightly at the commotion and looked over. Their dry, peeling lips moved soundlessly, and a trace of disgust flashed in their eyes before they finally turned their heads away.
The Great Yue Dynasty had gone two consecutive years without a single drop of rain. The land had dried up, and the crops had completely failed, resulting in large numbers of refugees fleeing the famine.
The people sitting inside the little temple were villagers from Tupo Village in Lin’an County of the Great Yue Dynasty. They were heading south to escape the famine, planning to make their way to the nearest major city, Shuntian Prefecture.
Their small village could no longer support them, and even the county town was barely able to take care of itself. Only by reaching the great city would they have a chance of surviving.
The ones wailing and making a huge commotion were Old Madam Yu and Old Master Yu of the Yu family from Tupo Village. The cause of all this was their sickly granddaughter, Yu Yangyang, who had been thirsty and gone to ask the elderly for some water.
Every household fleeing the famine had brought some food and water with them. Otherwise, they would have starved or died of thirst before even reaching Shuntian Prefecture.
Of course, during the journey, everyone’s food supplies were strictly rationed.
Everyone knew what Yu Yangyang was like.
She was lazy, greedy, and so frail that even a gust of wind seemed capable of knocking her over. All she knew how to do was eat. Her allotted food and water had already been completely consumed.
Yu Yangyang had then gone and snatched her younger brother’s food ration.
That still wasn’t enough.
Now she had set her sights on her grandparents’ life-saving water.
It was truly outrageous.
None of the villagers in Tupo Village liked Yu Yangyang.
However, although they disliked her, nobody was willing to interfere.
Who would dare?
They were barely surviving themselves. Besides, Yu Yangyang was a troublesome person. If she latched onto them, they might end up having to use their own money to give her water and food.
Just then, they heard a burst of startled cries.
Oh.
That damned sickly girl from the Yu family had accidentally hit her head on the ground.
And quite a lot of blood was flowing.
Although it wasn’t exactly moral to think this way…
Serves her right!
The little temple was drafty on all sides.
Bai Lan was crying her eyes out. She used a torn piece of cloth to wipe her tears, then used the same tear-dampened rag to gently wipe Yu Yangyang’s face as she lay unconscious on the ground.
“Her father, why hasn’t our Yangyang woken up yet? It’s all my fault. If I had kept a closer eye on her today, our Yangyang wouldn’t have fallen.”
If anything really happened to Yangyang, she didn’t want to live either!
Yu Shanghua hurriedly put his arms around his wife.
“She’ll be fine. Our Yangyang is blessed and has a strong life. She’ll definitely pull through.”
A cold scoff came from the darkness.
“Fine? What do you mean, she’ll be fine? If you ask me, she should have died long ago. She’s been sick like this for so many years. If our family hadn’t insisted on spending money to keep her alive, she would have been dead already.”
Who would have thought that after all that effort to keep her alive, they had ended up raising such a heartless and ungrateful person?
How old was the youngest brother?
And yet she had secretly stolen his food!
If the younger boy hadn’t become so hungry that he developed a fever in the middle of the night, they wouldn’t even have known that Yu Yangyang had done something so utterly outrageous!
Yu Jin glared fiercely at the girl lying on the dry grass, whose life or death was still uncertain.
“Borrowed things have to be repaid eventually. Even Heaven couldn’t stand watching her anymore!”
Bai Lan widened her eyes in shock. She seemed unable to understand why her second son would say something so terrible.
“Jin’er, Yangyang is your younger sister!”
Yu Jin snorted.
“I’d rather never have had this sister.”
Bai Lan sobbed.
Yu Shanghua also began scolding Yu Jin.
Their eldest son, Yu Yan, frowned.
“Second Brother, stop making Dad and Mom upset.”
However, there was nothing gentle about the way he looked at Yu Yangyang.
The innocent little brother, Yu Lan, saw his mother crying and immediately joined in.
“Second Brother is bad! Don’t make Mom angry!”
Although he also really hated his older sister!!
Yu Jin widened his eyes and irritably scratched his hair.
“Fine, fine, fine! Just keep spoiling her! Anyway, our whole family is going to die on the streets soon!”
After the commotion caused by Yu Yangyang that morning, their family had completely fallen out with their grandparents.
Furthermore, because their parents had stayed behind to take care of Yu Yangyang, they had separated from the villagers of Tupo Village.
Their grandparents had gone ahead with their eldest uncle’s family.
Now, only their family remained in the ruined temple.
Their food and water supplies were almost completely gone.
They didn’t have many days left.
Even if they carefully rationed their supplies and continued toward Shuntian Prefecture, they would inevitably encounter displaced people and other famine refugees along the way.
Their family consisted of the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the young.
How could they possibly defend themselves against mobs of desperate refugees?
Sooner or later, they would become someone else’s food.
I’m tired. Let’s just die already.
Yu Jin’s words successfully plunged the entire family of five in the ruined temple into silence.
That family of five included Yu Yangyang, who had just transmigrated into the novel and was currently merging with the original owner’s memories.
That’s right.
The sickly Yu Yangyang from the novel had died.
The person now occupying this body was Yu Yangyang from the year 2202—a woman who had risen from humble, rural beginnings and worked hard to become a successful businesswoman.
Her company had just gone public.
She had been looking forward to finally enjoying a wonderful life of doing nothing while simply collecting money.
Instead, she had transmigrated into a famine-escape novel and become the original Yu Yangyang, a character with the exact same name who was spoiled, selfish, and destined to be written out as a cannon-fodder female supporting character within the first ten chapters.
According to the original novel, the original Yu Yangyang was lazy, greedy, weak, spoiled, and completely heartless.
Because Bai Lan had failed to keep a close eye on her and had fallen over while carrying her, the original Yu Yangyang had been born prematurely.
She was born with a congenital illness and was so weak that she would cough every three steps and gasp for breath every five. She had nearly died during childhood.
Because of this, her mother, Bai Lan, had always felt guilty toward her and spoiled her excessively.
As a result, she had raised Yu Yangyang badly.
From childhood, the original Yu Yangyang had been delicate, lazy, and ill-tempered.
Her family had turned a blind eye to her behavior.
But during the journey to escape the famine, resources were limited, and her actions had finally enraged her family.
She stole her younger brother’s food ration.
She made her parents carry her while traveling.
She ordered her older brothers around and made them take care of her.
And now she had even tried to steal her grandparents’ water.
Her reputation was now completely ruined.
Aside from her mother, practically everyone in the family hated her to death.
Her grandparents had originally been traveling with the second branch of the family—that is, with Yu Shanghua’s family.
Now, however, they had gone ahead with the eldest branch.
To sum it all up:
She was now hated by both humans and dogs, practically crippled, and, most importantly, the family’s food and water were almost completely gone.
When Yu Yangyang opened her eyes and learned all of this, she almost wished she could bang her head against the ground and die all over again.
What kind of brutal beginner’s village is this?
Even though she had grown up in the countryside, she had never experienced anything this terrifying in her entire life!
Bai Lan’s sharp eyes immediately noticed her daughter’s brightly shining eyes.
Her own eyes lit up.
“Yangyang! You’re awake!!”
Hearing Bai Lan’s voice, the others also gathered around.
But compared with Bai Lan’s delighted expression, everyone else had disappointment written all over their faces.
What bad luck. Even hitting her head like that couldn’t kill her!
Yu Yangyang resigned herself to reality.
Since I’m already here, I might as well accept it.
Her gaze fell upon Bai Lan’s worried face, and warmth spread through her heart.
She gave a small nod.
Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s, soft and sweet like spring water.
“Mm. I’m sorry for making Mother worry.”