Cold.
Jiang Tangtang was jolted awake by the freezing cold.
‘Did the temperature suddenly drop? My head hurts so bad, did I catch a fever from the cold?’
With great effort, she pried open her eyelids, which felt as if they were glued together. A dim, yellowish blur filled her vision. It took a few seconds of blinking before her surroundings finally came into focus.
The first things that caught her eye were the pitch-black, crooked wooden rafters directly above her head, and the dilapidated reed matting laid over them, its original color long lost to time. A few wisps of thatch poked through the gaps in the matting, swaying left and right with the chilly draft. The walls were made of rammed earth, with large patches of plaster peeled away to reveal the mud bricks mixed with straw underneath. The section near the ground was even covered in spots of mold.
The word dilapidated played on a loop in Jiang Tangtang’s mind.
‘Where… am I?’
‘Shouldn’t she be at home, leisurely playing on her phone and reading web novels? How did she end up in a place… that looks like a hazardous building about to collapse?’
As a corporate wage slave, Jiang Tangtang had just been laid off from the company she had worked at for five years.
Fortunately, she had walked away with a heavily discounted severance package of 20,000 yuan, plus over three months of back pay. With a grand total of nearly 60,000 yuan in her pockets, she had grinned from ear to ear while enjoying a wonderful farewell dinner with her close colleagues.
She had planned to lie flat for a while, living a carefree life where she lost track of time, waking up and sleeping whenever she pleased.
But she hadn’t even enjoyed it for two days before tragedy struck amid her joy?!
Is this transmigration? She had actually transmigrated? She quietly lifted her hands and stared at her short, stubby fingers. She had even transmigrated into a tiny tot who looked like she wouldn’t live long!
Before she could finish wallowing in her sorrow, a piercing, screeching voice echoed from outside the room:
“Jiang the Third! Lin Wanting! You two lazy bones! The sun is already burning your backsides and you’re still not up? Are you waiting for this old lady to spoon-feed you, is that it?!”
Accompanying the screeching was the violent thud-thud-thud of someone slamming on the door.
It was the voice of Grandma Jiang, Old Mrs. Jiang, the grandmother of this body.
The sudden uproar made Jiang Tangtang’s head buzz painfully. She instinctively curled her body inward, then glanced beside her. What she saw left her completely dumbfounded.
The father of this body, Jiang Jianguo, shifted slightly under the covers. Instead of getting up, he pulled the blanket over his head, burying himself completely. His muffled voice drifted out: “Wanting, listen to that. With a voice like that, it’s really a pity our mother doesn’t go sing opera at the village entrance.”
What shocked her even more was the young woman lying next to him—who should be her mother. Without even opening her eyes, she simply snuggled deeper into her husband’s embrace and gave a vague, mumbled reply: “……Mmh, exactly.”
Jiang Tangtang: “???”
‘Is… is this right?’
Before she could process her confusion, the door curtain was suddenly ripped open with a sharp swish. Old Mrs. Jiang stood at the doorway with her hands on her hips. Seeing the three of them still snuggled under the covers, her fury blazed even hotter.
“Well, well! Every single one of you sure knows how to enjoy life, huh? The kid is sick, so did both of you catch it too? You still have the nerve to lie around? If you don’t get your behinds to work in the fields, is your family of three planning to live off the northwest wind?!”
Jiang Jianguo slowly poked his head out from under the blanket, a smile actually plastered on his face. “Mom, look at what you’re saying. Tangtang hasn’t fully recovered from her illness yet, so shouldn’t we stay by her side to take care of her?”
Then, his tone shifted effortlessly into one of absolute, righteous entitlement: “Besides, we aren’t going to the fields today. Look at Tangtang’s face—it’s deathly pale. I have to stay home and watch over her. What if something happens to her?”
“You!” Old Mrs. Jiang’s hands shook with rage at his blatant slacking. “You lazy slacker! If you don’t work, where are your work points going to come from? Are you trying to sponge off your eldest and second brothers?!”
“Oh, my dear biological mother, we are all one family, how can you say something so disheartening? What do you mean ‘sponge off’ them? I’m not some stranger, I’m big brother and second brother’s own flesh-and-blood younger brother! And Tangtang is your biological granddaughter, their biological niece! Their niece is sick to this extent, and they don’t even know how to show a bit of concern?”
Jiang Jianguo slapped his thigh, acting as if he had just remembered something. “If you hadn’t brought it up, I would’ve forgotten! Tangtang has been so sick that her body is incredibly weak. Mom, don’t you think you should give us two eggs to nourish her?”
Saying this, he gently stroked Tangtang’s little face. “Look at this little face. She was already skinny to begin with, but now she’s practically wasting away. Mom, just think about Yaozu’s big, white, chubby face, and then look at our Tangtang’s tiny face. Do you really have the heart?”
Jiang Tangtang almost choked on her own saliva.
Her father was an absolute legend! Not only was he skipping work, but he actually had the absolute audacity to demand eggs from the old lady while she was in a roaring rage?! Brilliant! Simply brilliant!
Predictably, Old Mrs. Jiang exploded. “Eggs?! In your dreams! You don’t work and you still want to eat eggs? She’s just a useless wench, she can eat fart instead! Keep dreaming!”
Just then, the voice of the eldest aunt, Liu Xiujuan, drifted in from the courtyard. “Oh my, Third Brother, you really are something. Even Mom is up, and you guys still have the nerve to lie in bed? Jianye went down to the fields before the sun was even up!”
Lin Wanting, who had been pretending to sleep the entire time, finally opened her eyes. However, she merely cast a cool, indifferent glance toward the doorway. Then… she rolled over, turned her back to the door, and went right back to sleep.
Seeing this, Old Mrs. Jiang’s fury soared through the roof. “Lin Wanting! What kind of attitude is that?!”
Jiang Jianguo rushed to “smooth things over” immediately: “Mom, that’s not an attitude, Wanting is just starving. Tangtang is sick and we have nothing to nourish her with. As her parents, we’ve been worrying ourselves to death, staying up all night with her these past two days. With no grease or nourishment in our bellies, where would we get the strength to get out of bed?”
He blinked, his smile radiating absolute sincerity. “How about you give us two eggs first? Once Tangtang’s illness clears up and she gets her energy back, Wanting will definitely have the strength to get out of bed.”
“You… you people…” Old Mrs. Jiang was trembling all over from her third son’s rascally and shameless rhetoric. She pointed at Jiang Jianguo, sputtering “you” for a long time, before finally throwing down a bitter sentence: “I might as well just let you starve to death!” With that, she stormed off in a furious huff.
Jiang Jianguo was still shouting at the old lady’s retreating figure, “Mom, remember the eggs!! Our Tangtang really needs a good nourishing up!”
The moment Old Mrs. Jiang was far enough away, he instantly dove back under the covers, smugly winking at his wife and daughter. “Handled.”
Watching from the side, Jiang Tangtang was absolutely awestruck. Her father was truly a piece of work—a literal genius of twisted logic!
Only then did Lin Wanting leisurely sit up. Fixing her hair, she said indifferently, “Your egg-extorting skills are getting smoother and smoother.”
“But of course,” Jiang Jianguo grinned proudly. “Though the old lady didn’t fall for it today.”
After saying this, he stroked Tangtang’s little face, speaking with a twinge of heartache, “Oh, my poor little Tangtang, look how skinny you’ve gotten. What a pity I couldn’t score any eggs, sigh~.”
Lin Wanting leaned over as well, gently stroking her daughter’s hair, saying worriedly, “Yeah, after this bout of illness, she’s gotten even skinnier.”
“Wait here.” Jiang Jianguo suddenly stood up. Stepping as lightly as a cat, he slipped over to the doorway, poked his head out to scan the area, and then darted out like a nimble little mouse.
It didn’t take long before he stealthily slipped back inside, his hands mysteriously tucked into his jacket as if protecting something precious. Once he reached the bedside, he carefully pulled his hands out from his coat. Lo and behold, two eggs—still radiating body heat—lay in his palms!
“You…” Lin Wanting’s eyes widened in surprise.
Jiang Jianguo raised his brows triumphantly. “If the old lady won’t give them, who says I can’t just take them myself? Our Tangtang suffered so much from being sick, how can she recover if we don’t give her some nourishment?”
As he spoke, he expertly lit the stove fire and popped the eggs into the pot. Turning around and catching Jiang Tangtang’s astonished gaze, he flashed a wide grin, showing off two rows of white teeth. “Don’t worry, your dad knows what he’s doing. I only took two; the old lady won’t notice a thing.”
Lin Wanting gently poked his forehead, her tone carrying a tender reprimand: “Only you would have the guts.” Yet, her hands were perfectly complicit as she deftly tossed another piece of firewood into the stove.