Looking at her reflection in the mirror, where her skin had begun to turn fairer and smoother, Xu Xi couldn’t help but let the corners of her mouth curl upward.
What girl doesn’t love beauty?
Before, when the villagers had called her dark and ugly, Xu Xi had felt wronged but couldn’t voice it.
Fortunately, her luck had turned around, and she had Awakened a Spatial Dimension.
As for the land inside the Spatial Dimension, Xu Xi planned to get some seeds and plant vegetables all over it, starting a pastoral life.
Once the vegetables were ripe, she could cook them on the outdoor stove nearby—convenient and quick.
She didn’t know how to farm, but the Spatial Dimension had a farming function that allowed one-click watering and fertilizing. All she needed to provide were the seeds.
The Zhou family’s kitchen had plenty of vegetable seeds left, and Xu Xi intended to snatch a few.
After filling all the land in the Spatial Dimension with seeds, Xu Xi wiped the sweat from her forehead.
She had really worked hard.
Having been pampered since childhood, she never imagined she would one day farm. Her life in her original world had been too comfortable.
With this Spatial Dimension, Xu Xi instantly gained confidence and decided to tear the plot to shreds.
She secretly made plans: once she gave birth to the child, she would divorce Zhou Yue, leaving him free to be with the female lead.
The two children would have to stay with her.
…
Mother Zhou had indeed gone to ask the village doctor, and it was true—Xu Xi was pregnant.
The thought of having another grandchild made Mother Zhou grin from ear to ear. Her son’s stamina was truly impressive—he had only slept with Xu Xi once, and she was already pregnant.
Because of this, her attitude toward Xu Xi had improved significantly these past few days.
When her sister-in-law, Li Cuifen, saw the change in her mother-in-law’s attitude toward Xu Xi, she instantly grew jealous. Why hadn’t she received such treatment?
Sourly, she said to Mother Zhou, “Mother-in-law, you’re spoiling her too much. So what if she’s pregnant? Why doesn’t she have to do any work?”
Mother Zhou glared at her. “When she cooks, the food is either burnt or poisonous. When she washes dishes, she breaks them.”
“When she washes clothes, they don’t even get clean. What else can she do?”
Besides, Mother Xu kept bringing the three Xu brothers to stroll around their village. Who would dare order Xu Xi, that lazy girl, around?
Who knew how the Xu family raised their daughter, spoiling Xu Xi like this.
As it turned out, when Mother Xu heard her daughter was pregnant, she borrowed a bicycle from her eldest brother, stuffed a pocketful of eggs, and came to their village.
“Xi Xi, are you feeling uncomfortable with the pregnancy? Nauseous? Back when I was pregnant with you, I threw up for three whole months!”
“If you feel unwell anywhere, tell me. Don’t hold it in. I can’t bear to see you suffer.”
Xu Xi’s eyes welled up at Mother Xu’s words. Her own mother had been just as good to her. She missed her mom.
Wiping the corners of her eyes, she said, “I’m fine. I only threw up a bit at the beginning, but I’m much better now.”
Mother Xu still wasn’t reassured and wished she could take her daughter back home to care for her.
But she was worried that if she took her daughter back, the Zhou family would renege and refuse to acknowledge Xu Xi as their daughter-in-law.
Mother Xu sighed. “I brought you some eggs. Remember to hide them well and secretly boil one every day.”
Xu Xi felt a bit greedy. It had been a long time since she’d eaten eggs.
Eating coarse grains every day, she hadn’t even touched a speck of meat. She wondered if her Spatial Dimension could raise livestock.
Mother Xu didn’t stay long before she had to leave. On her way out, she ran into Mother Zhou at the door.
When Mother Zhou saw Mother Xu, she spat at her, “Pah!”
Mother Xu didn’t back down either and spat right back at her!
The two of them stood at the door, spitting at each other.
Mother Zhou couldn’t out-argue Mother Xu, so she planted her hands on her hips and cursed, “It was you, you cheap hussy, who drugged my son, wasn’t it? And you still have the nerve to come to my house!”
Seeing that Mother Xu had come alone this time, she instantly felt emboldened to pick a fight.
Mother Xu played dumb. “Who drugged him? Who saw it? If you’ve got the guts, come out here and let’s tear each other’s hair out!”
Mother Zhou didn’t have the guts. Besides, there was no one else at home except Xu Xi at the moment. If a fight broke out, Xu Xi would definitely only help her own mother.
“Hussy!”
Mother Zhou muttered the curse under her breath, then turned and went back into the courtyard, slamming the gate shut right in Mother Xu’s face with a loud clang.
Inside the house, Xu Xi had just hidden the eggs in her Spatial Dimension when she saw Mother Zhou storming in as if she’d swallowed gunpowder.
Xu Xi even got an inexplicable glare from her.
Not dwelling on it, Xu Xi went to the small riverbank. After some digging and scraping with her hands, she managed to scoop up a single tiny river shrimp. Silently in her mind, she tried to store the shrimp in her Spatial Dimension.
But the shrimp remained in her hand.
It seemed the Spatial Dimension couldn’t support living creatures yet. Perhaps it would be possible after an upgrade. Xu Xi still held great hope for her Spatial Dimension.
…
Two months later, as Mother Zhou looked at Xu Xi’s noticeably rounded belly, the doubts she had suppressed earlier resurfaced.
She was only three months along. Normally, the belly would only show a slight bump at most, but looking at this one, it seemed more prominent than those of women four or five months pregnant.
Having lived most of her life and seen plenty of pregnant women in the village, she had never seen a belly swell like this at just three months.
Mother Zhou pursed her lips, not daring to ask directly, but her eyes kept darting toward Xu Xi’s midsection.
Xu Xi had long noticed her mother-in-law’s stares. She was carrying twins—wasn’t it perfectly normal for her belly to show more? She paid it no mind and went out for a walk, proudly carrying her bump.
After drinking Spirit Spring Water for three months, Xu Xi’s skin had become porcelain-white and smooth, completely erasing her former rough, dark complexion. Her hair had also grown longer, now dark, glossy, and soft.
What used to be a plain, shoulder-length bob could now be tied into two braids.
As Xu Xi walked along the field ridges, the villagers’ eyes unconsciously drifted toward her.
“Have you noticed? Xu Xi seems to have gotten prettier.”
“Tsk, she doesn’t do a lick of work all day, just hides at home and loafs around. No wonder her skin looks good.”
“Well, her belly’s doing the work for her. She slept with Zhou Yue just once and got pregnant with his child. The Zhou family probably lets her slack off.”
“She’s only three months pregnant, but her belly looks like she’s four or five months along. Who knows if the child in her belly is even Zhou Yue’s! But then, Zhou Yue seems willing to swallow this bitter pill in silence…”
Xu Xi had become immune to such gossip. Ever since she married into this village, the rumors about her had never stopped.
She arrived at the village entrance and had just settled under the large banyan tree when a man suddenly sidled up beside her.
The man stood sloppily in front of Xu Xi, looking her up and down, a flicker of admiration in his eyes.
“Xu Xi, it really is you!”
“Well, well, it’s only been two or three months since I last saw you. How did you get so pretty? I almost didn’t recognize you, girl.”
Xu Xi frowned. “Who are you?”
The man choked, then replied with a mix of embarrassment and anger, “Have you lost your mind? I’m Wu Yong. You even chased after me for a while back in the village.”
Wu Yong thought Xu Xi was putting on airs. So what if she was married now? Was she really pretending not to know him?
Xu Xi racked her memory and realized there really was such a person.
In the past, the original owner had inexplicably pursued Wu Yong for a few days, but after discovering he was flirting with other girls in the village, she decisively gave up.
Wu Yong had initially looked down on Xu Xi, but now that she seemed to have become more attractive, he instantly began to harbor other thoughts.