Now that she had decided to settle down and live properly in this place, Yang Tao stopped pretending to be asleep when the original owner’s mother brought lunch over at noon.
However, she still wasn’t sure what kind of personality the original Yang Tao had. Following the principle of “the less said, the fewer mistakes made,” she tried to speak as little as possible.
“Tao Ya, since you’re awake, eat something. Does your head still hurt?”
“Mom, I’m already feeling much better.”
“Sigh, you child. Don’t go acting recklessly just because you’re a little stronger than others. Look at how much you’ve suffered this time. And that Educated Youth Chen too. He couldn’t even swim properly and still wasn’t careful. Those city kids really do look better than they perform.”
…
Yang Tao didn’t know how to respond to that, so she simply nodded vaguely and lowered her head to eat the bowl of mixed-grain porridge in front of her.
Only after her mother nagged for a while longer did she finally get up and leave.
After everyone in the family had gone back to work in the fields, Yang Tao got out of bed.
Over the past few days, she had spent most of her time lying down and had never stepped outside the small room. Now that she had accepted her situation and planned to live here for the foreseeable future, she wanted to take a good look at the home she would be living in.
The Yang family home was a typical southern rural courtyard.
The entire extended family lived together. There were six mud-brick rooms used as living quarters, arranged in an inverted L-shape.
The four larger rooms in the middle served as the main house. From left to right, they were occupied by the original owner’s parents, her grandparents, Second Uncle’s family, and Youngest Uncle’s family.
On the right side were two smaller rooms. The one next to Youngest Uncle’s room was shared by Yang Tao and the family’s unmarried daughters. The neighboring room belonged to her eldest brother and sister-in-law.
As for the other boys, they each slept on bamboo beds placed in their parents’ rooms.
Meals, family gatherings, and receiving guests all took place in her grandparents’ room.
To the left of her parents’ room stood two small lean-to structures. One served as the kitchen, while the other stored half a room’s worth of firewood and doubled as a bathing area.
Nearby was a small vegetable patch enclosed by a bamboo fence. Seasonal vegetables grew there, though currently only cucumbers and water spinach were ready to eat.
Several chickens pecked about in the courtyard.
Beside the courtyard gate stood a jujube tree.
That was the entirety of the Yang family home.
Over the past few days, Yang Tao had also gained a rough understanding of the family members.
Her grandparents had three sons and two daughters.
She had not yet met either aunt. She only knew that Eldest Aunt, Yang Daniu, was the oldest child and had married into neighboring Dahe Village. Second Aunt, Yang Erniu, ranked fourth among the siblings and had married into the town.
The original owner’s father, Yang Dazhu, ranked second among the children. Her mother was Liu Xiulian.
Together they had two sons and two daughters.
Her eldest brother, Yang Jun, was twenty-two years old. His wife, Zhang Cuifen, had not yet had any children.
Her second sister, Yang Mei, was twenty years old. Through the matchmaking efforts of Second Aunt, she had married into the town the previous year.
The original owner, Yang Tao, shared the same name as her. She ranked third in the family, was eighteen years old, and had started working after graduating from junior high school.
Her younger brother, Yang Bing, was fifteen and currently studying in the third year of junior high school in town.
Second Uncle, Yang Erzhu, ranked third among the siblings. His wife was Zhang Erya.
They had three daughters and one son.
The eldest cousin, Yang Xing, was nineteen years old and already married.
The second cousin, Yang Ju, was only a little over five months younger than the original owner and had not yet celebrated her eighteenth birthday.
The third cousin, Yang Zao, was fourteen years old.
Both of these cousins had stopped studying after elementary school and were now working in the fields.
Their younger brother, Yang Kang, was eleven and still attending elementary school.
Youngest Uncle, Yang Xiaozhu, ranked fifth among the siblings. His wife was Wang Xiaofeng.
They had two sons and one daughter.
Cousin Yang Wei was thirteen years old, cousin Yang Ping was ten, and the youngest cousin, Yang Jian, was seven.
All three were still in school.
Yang Tao shared her bed with her younger cousin Yang Ping.
Yang Ju and Yang Zao slept on the cabinet-bed opposite them.
From her observations over the past few days, Yang Tao had gained a general understanding of her roommates’ personalities as well.
Yang Ju was somewhat competitive. Since they were close in age, she often liked comparing herself to the original owner. However, there were no major conflicts between them, though some of her remarks could occasionally be unpleasant.
Yang Zao was rather introverted and not very talkative. She was the honest, hardworking type who quietly focused on getting things done.
Little Yang Ping was still young and quite lively. She was a chatterbox, and much of the information Yang Tao had learned had been skillfully extracted from her.
With so many relatives living under one roof, Yang Tao could already imagine how lively life in this household would be from now on.