Xiyue Kingdom, Apricot Blossom Village, a thatched hut.
“Waaah, you’re lying! I don’t know you! Qi’er heard you. You said Stepmother was gone, so you’re going to sell us!”
“You wretched girl, how dare you bite me…”
So noisy… Who is making all that noise?!
Jian Yue had been sleeping soundly and felt quite irritated by the disturbance. But the arguing and commotion in her ears didn’t subside at all. Suddenly opening her eyes, she was stunned to see the thatched roof above her.
However, her attention was quickly drawn to the group arguing nearby.
She saw two adults, a man and a woman, both unattractive, grabbing two children and trying to pull them toward a bullock cart on the other side.
The two children looked similar, likely fraternal twins. They appeared to be only four or five years old, looking as if they were carved from delicate jade. But now, the girl’s face was covered in tears as she bit the man with all her might, only for the man to squeeze her wrist until it turned purple.
The boy was kicking and punching the woman trying to grab him, but a small child has little strength; how could he possibly break free?
A suffocating pain surged into Jian Yue’s brain, as if memories that didn’t belong to her were flooding in.
She… no, the original owner, Jian Yue, was born in the impoverished Apricot Blossom Village. Right, it was the ancient past. Her family favored boys over girls; her father didn’t care for her and her mother didn’t love her. She had to learn to work as soon as she could walk. At the same time, her grandparents constantly reminded her that a daughter was like spilled water—worthless—so she should eat less and work more.
Finally, she was sold by her family for three taels of silver to a hunter living at the foot of the mountain, to be a stepmother to his five children.
Unfortunately, when she was packed off by her family, she didn’t see the hunter of the house. Instead, there were only those five children, who seemed quite neat and tidy.
Seeing these clean children, the original owner thought she had married into a decent family. In the beginning, she treated the children reasonably well as their stepmother. However, the hunter, the head of the household, had not returned for a long time, and rumors spread that he might be dead.
The food supplies in the house began to dwindle with no new income, leading the original owner to start mistreating the children. This gave Jian Yue a clear understanding of what a “wicked stepmother” truly was.
Before Jian Yue could process any more, the sound of crying reached her ears. She had to save those two children first.
Those two human traffickers!
Jian Yue abruptly rose from the simple bed. Without time to survey the unfamiliar surroundings, she quickened her pace and stepped outside.
The girl, who had been crying, suddenly let out a hiccup, appearing to forget her struggle.
The man thought it was strange.
Then, he felt something squeeze his hand. With a sharp crack, his hand was twisted backward.
“Ah! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts…” The scream completely drowned out the voice of the woman who was still swearing.
The man instinctively let go of the child. Since the little girl was being held by him, she naturally began to fall once he released her.
Jian Yue’s eyes narrowed. Her body moved faster than her mind. She had already instinctively let go of the man to catch the falling girl.
Before Jian Yue could breathe a sigh of relief, she felt the soft, weak touch of the small child she was barely holding, causing her to freeze.
She instinctively wanted to put the child down, but the girl seemed terrified by what had just happened. Even though Jian Yue was the “wicked stepmother,” the girl clung tightly to her neck, refusing to let go. Her body trembled as she let out a strained, sobbing cry, “Mother…”
Hearing this, Jian Yue felt her heart tremble. As if possessed, she didn’t put the child down for the moment.
“Jian Yue, you’re not dead?” The woman holding the little boy, who was also Granny Zhang, was somewhat unable to react, staring at the living person before her.
Her words were laced with a bit of cattiness and even a slight anger, which snapped Jian Yue back to her senses.
“I’m dead? I think you’re the one who wants to die.” Jian Yue looked coldly at Granny Zhang. In the original owner’s memories, she was a broker who specialized in taking children.
Whenever a family was impoverished and didn’t want their children anymore, or if they wanted to sell a decent-looking child to a wealthy family as a servant, she was the one who handled it.
And now, this person had actually come for the original owner’s family.
“You already sold these two children to this old woman for three taels of silver. Coming to take them back today so they can eat well and live well isn’t asking too much,” Granny Zhang said, gritting her teeth as if she had suffered a great loss.
Earlier, she had heard at the Village Chief’s house that this person had died—someone had already confirmed it—so she had rushed over in a hurry, fearing the twins would fall into someone else’s hands.
She came to grab them, claiming that the stepmother Jian Yue had sold them to her. No one would say anything since the dead could not testify.
But now, Granny Zhang felt a surge of resentment.
Looking at Granny Zhang’s shifting expressions, Jian Yue could guess her thoughts without even trying.
Hearing these shameless words, Jian Yue gave a cold laugh. “What? Do you intend to force a sale?”
As she spoke, Jian Yue’s gaze fell on Granny Zhang’s hand, which was still tightly gripping the boy’s arm. Seeing the child’s messy clothes and the prominent scratch marks, Jian Yue’s brow furrowed deeper, and a greater chill radiated from her.
“What do you want? Go ask around how much it costs to buy and sell children. As for these two, this old woman thinks they’re not bad. Three taels of silver is already plenty. You won’t get this price if you sell to anyone else.” For some reason, Granny Zhang felt that the current Jian Yue was more terrifying than before. She wondered if it was because she had just returned from the gates of hell…
At that thought, a cold sweat suddenly broke out on Granny Zhang’s back.
“Is that so?” By the time Jian Yue said this, she was already standing right in front of Granny Zhang.
In the original owner’s memory, she had intended to sell the children, but she had only subtly inquired about the price. The original owner hadn’t actually gone through with selling them yet.
She wasn’t about to take the blame for something she didn’t do.
“Give the child back to me.”
Seeing that Granny Zhang was still clutching the boy, Jian Yue grew impatient. She reached out and pried Granny Zhang’s wrist open directly.
“Hiss—” Granny Zhang felt as though the hand Jian Yue touched had been crushed by an iron clamp; the pain was intense.
Thinking of the man’s scream earlier, she had no choice but to let go.
Jian Yue smoothly pulled the boy out of Granny Zhang’s grasp.