Just then, the old Mrs. Zhao happened to slowly wake up. Unexpectedly, the first thing she heard after waking was Tang Yuan talking about Zhong Kui eating ghosts, one bite at a time.
Although she wasn’t one of those rebellious ghosts, she had a guilty conscience!
As soon as Tang Yuan finished speaking, Mrs. Zhao’s eyes rolled back, her head tilted to the side, and with a thump, she fainted again.
The room fell silent for a moment.
After a while, the sound of Great Grandma knocking the ash from her tobacco pipe could be heard.
“Enough. What happened to Yuan’er is strange, so don’t spread it outside for now. And Eighth Brother, regarding your Fifth Phoenix and the house and eight mu of land, you need to come up with a proper arrangement. But Yuan’er is still injured. Let’s wait a few more days until she’s recovered, then we’ll all sit down together and settle this matter. It’s getting late. Everyone, go home. Mancang, take your Uncle Niu back with Mantun.”
As soon as Great Grandma finished speaking, everyone in the room began getting up.
Mrs. Zhao’s eldest son carried his mother on his back and led the way out. Before long, only Tang Yuan, Great Grandma, and Great Aunt remained in the room.
As Great Aunt walked outside, she called out, “Mancang’s wife, is the chicken soup I told you to stew at noon ready?”
“Mother, it’s been ready for ages. I just didn’t bring it in because everyone was still discussing things in there. There wasn’t much to begin with, and we need to save enough for Yuan’er to nourish herself!”
As she spoke, Tang Yuan’s eldest cousin’s wife, Madam Guo, soon brought in a bowl of chicken soup and placed it on the kang table beside Tang Yuan.
“Yuan’er, does your body still hurt? Have some chicken soup first. Come, I’ll feed you.”
Tang Yuan checked how she felt.
Apart from the headache, her left arm also hurt a little. She had been able to move it before, so it probably wasn’t broken—perhaps just a crack. Her waist hadn’t been injured, and both legs were fine and no longer hurt much.
It wasn’t a serious problem.
Besides, she didn’t want someone feeding her.
“No, Sister-in-law. I can sit up, and I can move my hands. You don’t have to feed me.”
Her sister-in-law slowly helped her sit up. Tang Yuan leaned against the pile of quilts and saw a large coarse porcelain bowl filled with chicken soup.
There was plenty of meat in it, and a large chicken leg sat right on top.
Tang Yuan hadn’t felt particularly hungry before, but the moment she smelled the rich aroma of the chicken soup, her stomach immediately began growling.
“Great Grandma, Great Aunt, Sister-in-law, you haven’t eaten yet, have you? Why don’t I wait and eat together with everyone?”
“You eat yours first. Don’t worry about us. With so many of us here, could we possibly go hungry?”
Tang Yuan didn’t bother being polite after that.
She had lost a lot of blood and was weak and hungry. And the chicken soup smelled absolutely amazing.
No wonder it tasted so good—it was a naturally raised village chicken!
She ate with her head down, barely even lifting her eyes.
Near the end of the meal, while no one was paying attention, she secretly took an anti-inflammatory painkiller from her space and slipped it into her mouth, washing it down with the last mouthful of chicken soup.
For Tang Yuan, everything that had happened that day had been far too overwhelming.
Now that she was full and the medicine was beginning to take effect, her eyelids became unbearably heavy.
Before long, she fell into a deep sleep.
For the next few days, Tang Yuan stayed at Great Grandma’s house.
As Great Aunt put it, there was no way she could return home. That whole family was completely unreasonable. If Yuan’er went back, not only would her injuries fail to heal properly, they might even become worse.
So they simply didn’t let her return and had her stay in the same room as the old lady.
During this time, the village doctor, Old Medicine Grandpa, came to change the dressing on her head. He said that her wound was healing exceptionally well and that her recovery seemed even faster than normal.
When Old Medicine Grandpa said this, everyone in Great Grandma’s house happened to be there.
They couldn’t help thinking to themselves:
Of course she’s recovering quickly!
She’d already gone down to the underworld and even drunk that mysterious water.
Didn’t she say that the water could nourish the soul? Once her soul was restored, naturally her body would recover faster.
Of course, only Tang Yuan knew the real reason.
Early one morning, Tang Yuan woke up to the sound of someone sawing wood.
She slowly sat up, put on her clothes, and moved her arms and legs around.
Thankfully, nothing hurt.
Only the wound on her head remained. As long as she didn’t touch it, it wasn’t much of a problem.
She had been lying down for so many days that she couldn’t stand it anymore.
So she got up and went outside for some fresh air.
It was already the middle of April.
Spring had arrived and the weather in this part of the Northeast was warming up, although the mornings and evenings were still somewhat chilly, so she needed to dress warmly.
While she had been inside, she’d heard Great Aunt muttering that the weather hadn’t been very good these past few days.
Standing at the doorway, Tang Yuan looked at the low house in front of her.
The three main rooms were built from rammed earth, although the roof had been covered with tiles.
Three additional side rooms had been built on both the east and west sides. Those were constructed from blue bricks and blue tiles, and it was obvious that they had been added later.
The courtyard in the middle was particularly spacious and kept extremely tidy.
Near the entrance was a simple thatched shed, where bundles of firewood had been neatly stacked alongside various miscellaneous items.
This was the first time Tang Yuan had seen what an ancient village actually looked like—not through the original owner’s memories, but with her own eyes.
At that moment, she finally realized that she truly wasn’t going back.
She had gone from being a modern architectural designer to a little village girl in ancient times.
From now on, she was Tang Yuan, not Tang Yuan from the modern era.
“Little Sister, why aren’t you resting on the kang? What are you doing out here? You’re not fully recovered yet!”
Tang Yuan turned around and saw her eldest cousin, Tang Mancang, coming out of the western side room with a saw in his hand.
“Big Brother, I’m almost completely recovered. I’ve been lying on the kang for so long that my whole body feels uncomfortable. I just wanted to walk around a little.”
“That’s fine, as long as you’re feeling better. But don’t go anywhere far. Just walk around nearby, and don’t wander off.”
After saying that, Big Brother turned around and called toward the eastern side room.
“Yingzi, come out for a moment.”
“Coming! What’s wrong, Dad? What is it?”
A little girl with two braids came out of the eastern room.
This was Big Brother’s youngest daughter, Tang Ying. She was seven years old this year.
“Your Great Aunt wants to go for a walk. She’s still injured and hasn’t completely recovered yet. Follow your Great Aunt and keep an eye on her.”
“Okay, I know.”
Thinking about the situation of Great Grandpa’s family from the original owner’s memories, Tang Yuan felt that Great Grandpa and Great Grandma were remarkably wise old people for their time.
In ancient times, there was a saying that as long as the parents were alive, the sons shouldn’t separate their households.
But how had Great Grandpa and Great Grandma handled things?
The elderly couple had helped their two sons establish separate households early on.
Great Grandpa was the eldest son and also the clan chief, so naturally the elderly couple lived with him.
Meanwhile, Second Great Uncle was now considered the most capable person in the Tang family. He had also established himself in the county town.
The two brothers had divided the family property fairly and properly, without showing the slightest favoritism.
Great Grandpa and Great Aunt had two sons.
The eldest was Big Brother. He was a carpenter, and because his craftsmanship was good, people from several nearby villages often came to him to make furniture. His business was fairly successful.
He and his wife, Madam Guo, had two sons and a daughter.
The two boys were twins and were seventeen years old this year, several years older than Tang Yuan.
Their youngest daughter was the seven-year-old Yingzi.
The second cousin was a traveling peddler. He usually pulled his goods around the surrounding villages and managed to earn a little money.
He and his wife had a son and a daughter. Their son was ten, while their daughter was eight.
Because the family had separated into individual households early on, there weren’t many major conflicts among them. Everyone generally lived together harmoniously.
Unlike Eighth Grandpa’s family.
Eighth Grandpa had four sons. Except for the youngest, the other three sons had gone on to have seven or eight children of their own.
They were practically four generations living under one roof, yet they still refused to separate the households.
The household was an absolute mess.
And the wives they had married weren’t particularly easygoing either. Every single one of them was constantly fighting with someone.
One would complain that someone had eaten an extra steamed bun.
Another would accuse someone else of eating an extra egg.
The whole household was in constant chaos.
And yet, even with all that going on, the elderly couple stubbornly refused to let their sons separate their households.