“You’ll marry him whether you want to or not. Even if you die today, I’ll have you carried over tomorrow.”
“You money-losing good-for-nothing! After raising you for so long, you dare to threaten me?”
…
So noisy! That damn old woman upstairs, cursing her granddaughter day in and day out. Does her family have a throne to inherit or something? So utterly uncivilized in the middle of the night. Is she going to let anyone sleep?
Xia Tian irritably raised her hand, pulling the quilt up to cover her head. But the moment she moved, a dull ache shot through her forehead. Her head felt like it was about to split open, making her instantly dizzy.
What’s going on? Did I hit my forehead in my sleep?
That shouldn’t be possible!
Confused, Xia Tian closed her eyes and waited for the dizziness to pass. Just as she was about to touch her head, a flood of memories that didn’t belong to her was forcibly stuffed into her head, causing the newly awakened Xia Tian to pass out again.
“Si Ya, Si Ya? Why isn’t she waking up?” a worried woman’s voice called out. “Si Ya will be all right, won’t she?”
“She will be, Mother. Si Ya will definitely be all right,” another young female voice replied.
When she woke up again, Xia Tian’s head was still spinning violently. The intermittent voices seemed to be coming from a faraway place, leaving her feeling bewildered and agitated.
She had really transmigrated!
The original owner was also named Xia Tian, with the nickname Si Ya. She had just turned fifteen this year. The person she had heard cursing earlier was the original owner’s grandmother, Grandma Xia.
And of course, the one being cursed was the original owner.
It turned out that Grandma Xia, for thirty taels of silver, had married her off—no, to be precise, sold her—to a sickly weakling from the neighboring village who had fled from a famine. She was supposed to be married off tomorrow.
When the original owner found out, she naturally refused. In the heat of an argument with Grandma Xia, she became overwhelmed with emotion and, in a moment of despair, slammed her head against the wall.
And then, she arrived.
Xia Tian truly wanted to cry but had no tears. She usually slacked off at work, but for once, she had a rare burst of motivation and planned to work overtime at home to finish a proposal, hoping to impress her boss the next day.
Who would have thought that the one time in a blue moon she decided to pull an all-nighter, she would pull herself right into the grave? Where could she possibly go to complain?
Could it be that God preferred her to be a lazy, unambitious slacker?
The key thing was, if she had to transmigrate, couldn’t she at least be given a chance to slack off?
She wasn’t asking to be royalty or nobility; even being a landlord’s daughter would have been fine. What was the deal with this peasant family that didn’t know where their next meal was coming from?
Xia Tian sighed inwardly and reluctantly opened her eyes, only to be met by four concerned ones.
“Si Ya, you’re awake? Are you trying to scare your mother to death?”
Xia Tian looked at the woman, who was around forty with a sallow complexion and her hair wrapped in a tattered cloth. It took a moment for her to place the face: this was the original owner’s mother, Chen Shi.
“Si Ya, how are you?”
Another young woman’s voice spoke up. Xia Tian slowly turned to look. The girl was about seventeen or eighteen and quite pretty, her eyes now filled with concern.
This was the original owner’s older sister, Xia Yue, nicknamed Er Ya.
“I’m fine now,” Xia Tian said, looking at the mother-daughter pair staring at her. She sighed. “Mother, my head is dizzy. I want to sleep for a bit.”
“Alright, alright,” Chen Shi agreed. “You rest for a while. I’ll go make you something to eat.” Chen Shi told Xia Yue to watch over her sister, then turned and left.
Seeing Chen Shi leave, Xia Tian turned to Xia Yue and said, “Sister, you should go out too. Let me be alone for a while.”
“Okay, but you can’t do anything foolish again. I’ll be right outside the door. Call me if you need anything.” Xia Yue knew her sister was upset and couldn’t help but add a word of caution. Seeing Xia Tian nod, she took a small stool and sat by the doorway, mending a shoe sole.
Xia Tian let out a breath, stretched out her limbs, and lay flat on the kang, her eyes vacant as she stared at the ceiling.
To think that after being single for over thirty years, the moment she transmigrated, she would be faced with such a cliché plot of getting married—and to a sickly weakling, no less.
As for this sickly weakling, the original owner had only heard about him through village gossip.
It was said that this sickly man and his younger brother had fled from a famine in the south three months ago. On their way, they were attacked by a group of bandits. All their other relatives died, leaving only the two brothers who had desperately escaped. After months of wandering, they arrived here and, by a stroke of luck, settled down in Liu Jia Village.
The sickly man’s younger brother was also injured and feared he wouldn’t live long, leaving his older brother with no one to care for him.
Therefore, ever since settling down, he had been asking a matchmaker to find a wife for his brother. Three months had passed, but no girl was willing to marry him.
The villagers all said this sickly man had a “hard fate” that had caused the death of his family. Moreover, he was said to be gravely ill himself. Any girl who married him would likely become a widow in no time.
So why did they approach the original owner?
It was because the younger brother, in his haste to find a wife for his brother, had taken out all his savings, raising the betrothal gift from the original ten taels of silver to thirty.
Wealth moves the heart. In the village, a family could work hard for a whole year and not even save ten taels of silver. Arranging a marriage for a son would only cost about five or six taels.
A betrothal gift of thirty taels was equivalent to three or four years of their net income.
So, when the matchmaker approached Grandma Xia a few days ago, Grandma Xia agreed without a moment’s hesitation.
She had kept it a secret from the original owner’s family, fearing there would be trouble.
Who knew that the sickly man’s younger brother would pass away two days ago due to his severe injuries? Before he died, he couldn’t stop worrying about his gravely ill older brother and entrusted Matchmaker Liu to have the new sister-in-law marry into the family as soon as possible, so she could take care of his brother after he was gone.
And so, when Matchmaker Liu came to discuss this with Grandma Xia today, the original owner happened to overhear.
The original owner had a fiery temper to begin with. The moment she heard this, she exploded and got into a fierce argument with Grandma Xia in the courtyard…
Sigh! What a tragedy!
Xia Tian touched the large bump on her forehead. “Hiss~” It really hurt!
How much force did she use?
It seemed she really didn’t want to live!
She didn’t expect this girl to have such a fierce personality!
But, sister, you left peacefully, but you didn’t take this mess with you!
As Xia Tian complained in her heart, she pondered what to do next.
She had just arrived and shouldn’t act rashly. It was best to wait and see how things developed.
Peeking through the gap in the door curtain, Xia Yue saw her sister lying on the kang, not moving for a long time, and couldn’t help but sigh.
As a girl in the Xia family, when did they ever have a say in their own lives?
If Si Ya hadn’t stumbled upon it today, their grandmother probably wouldn’t have informed their family until the groom’s side came to pick up the bride tomorrow.
Even though Si Ya had a fierce personality and had threatened to kill herself, their grandmother’s attitude remained firm.
Her mother had braced herself and objected, but all she got was a harsh scolding and nothing else.
Besides, with the first and third branches of the family fanning the flames from the side, it was even more impossible for their grandmother to give up the silver she was about to get.
In their grandmother’s eyes, all the granddaughters were just money-losing good-for-nothings who ate for free. It would be best if they could all be sold off.
Xia Yue sat by the door, her thoughts wandering.
Xia Tian was also pondering. The original owner was clearly not favored at home, and what’s more, she had pretty much torn all face with Grandma Xia today. Who knew what kind of undesirable man she would be married off to in the future? Since she had to get married sooner or later, it was better to marry sooner rather than later.
Besides, after she married, the sickly man’s family would only have him, which would be easy to handle.
Then she could slowly make plans. She would be able to survive.
Having thought it through, Xia Tian began to slowly survey the room.
A wooden roof, four mud walls. The room was about twenty square meters. A large kang was built against the wall with the window. At the end of the kang were two large wooden chests, side by side, with folded bedding on top.
On the wall opposite the door stood a cabinet, over a meter tall, with peeling paint. On it were a sewing basket, a comb, and other daily necessities. A small kang table hung on the left wall, and a wooden basin sat in the corner. There was nothing else.
Sigh! What a sorry state!
It’s better to live a miserable life than to die a good death!
Feeling her stomach rumble, Xia Tian looked at Xia Yue by the door. “Sister, where’s Father?”
Hearing Xia Tian call her, Xia Yue finally snapped back to reality. “Father is in the courtyard.”
“Can you ask Father to come in for a moment? I have something to say.” Xia Yue didn’t ask what Xia Tian wanted to say and went straight to the courtyard to call their father over.