Song Zhaoxi carried the items down the mountain. Although she found it all rather strange, there was no denying that these things could solve her current predicament.
Having been a beauty for more than twenty years in her previous life, she really couldn’t stand how awful she looked now.
Carrying a wooden bucket, she went to the stream. The village creek flowed down from the mountain, a genuine, unpolluted mountain spring. The water was icy to the touch, practically a natural beauty treatment.
Bucket after bucket, Song Zhaoxi carried spring water back home and boiled a pot of hot water. After washing herself clean, she carefully took out the skincare products.
Things that had once been commonplace in her previous life had now become priceless treasures to her. She cautiously scooped out a tiny amount, reluctant to use too much, and then studied her reflection in the well water.
The original owner’s features were actually very attractive—one could even say delicate. Though years of hardship had left her looking haggard, she was still young.
As long as she gained a little weight and took good care of herself, she would undoubtedly become a beauty in the future.
After finishing her skincare routine, Song Zhaoxi returned to her room, took out the fabric, and began making clothes.
That evening, after the Ji family returned from working in the fields, she called Changlan and Changan over and measured them with a soft tape.
“Sister-in-law, are you making clothes for us?” Changan asked in his childish voice, his big eyes wide with excitement.
Song Zhaoxi smiled and pinched his soft little cheek.
“That’s right.”
Though Ji Changan was still young, he knew that clothes were precious things. He gave a delighted cheer and wrapped his short arms around Song Zhaoxi’s leg.
“Sister-in-law is the best!”
Beside him, Ji Changlan looked at Song Zhaoxi with a complicated expression.
“Sister-in-law, you don’t even want to stay with our family. So why are you treating us so well?”
In the countryside, most families passed clothes from the oldest child to the younger ones, and then saved them for children not yet born. To them, clothing was extremely precious. Not only had Song Zhaoxi been making delicious food for them every day lately, but she was even making new clothes for her and Changan. She was simply too good to them.
Song Zhaoxi was taken aback. In the twenty-first century, a child of Ji Changlan’s age would still be mischievous and carefree, yet this girl had already become so mature.
She reached out and gently rubbed Ji Changlan’s soft hair.
“You’re not even as tall as a bean, yet you think so much! It’s only a set of clothes.”
She didn’t explain further. She liked these two children of the Ji family and wanted to treat them better, so she did. As for how they interpreted it, she couldn’t be bothered to explain.
Now that she no longer had to livestream and rack her brains designing new hanfu styles like she had in her previous life, and since no one in the Ji family dared make her work in the fields, her days were unusually peaceful.
In less than half a month, Song Zhaoxi had become a little plumper and fairer, and her entire appearance had improved considerably.
One morning, Ji Pingping got up to relieve herself and happened to see Song Zhaoxi drawing water to wash her face in the courtyard. The morning well water was especially cool, and after washing, Song Zhaoxi’s face looked noticeably fairer.
The two stared at each other for a moment.
Ji Pingping’s uneven teeth chattered with jealousy.
Not having to work in the fields really was wonderful. Even an ugly woman like Song Zhaoxi had become prettier. If she could stay home too, she’d definitely be a heavenly beauty by now, Ji Pingping thought shamelessly.
Song Zhaoxi stared at Ji Pingping’s upturned pig-like nose for a while, wondering how a person could possibly grow such a nose. The two of them silently looked away at the same time, each full of contempt for the other.
After taking a few steps, Ji Pingping suddenly realized something was wrong.
No matter how slow she was, she still had basic common sense. Even in winter, when she didn’t have to work much, she had never become fairer by staying at home—let alone in only half a month.
What had that little bitch Song Zhaoxi been secretly doing lately?
Ji Pingping went to find Old Madam Ji and Li Shi and shared her suspicions.
The two women exchanged a glance but remained surprisingly calm.
“Why bother with that little bitch? Anyway, Ji Changfeng will be back soon.”
Ji Pingping pouted.
“But that little bitch is fairer than me now! It’s only because she doesn’t have to work in the fields. I’m already old enough to get married. Can’t I also…”
“In your dreams!” Old Madam Ji snapped, immediately guessing what she meant.
With her granddaughter looking the way she did, her dark complexion was actually the least of her flaws. To begin with, she had little hope of finding a husband.
Nowadays, matchmakers from every nearby village would turn and run the moment they saw either her or Li Shi. Thinking of this gave Old Madam Ji a headache.
For once, she remembered that she was a grandmother and swallowed the harsh words she had been about to say. Instead, she bared the few large yellow teeth remaining in her mouth and smiled sinisterly.
“Your mother and I have already discussed it. Once your eldest brother comes back and divorces Song Zhaoxi, we’ll find a trafficker and sell her to a brothel. The prettier she gets, the better the price she’ll fetch.”
Ji Pingping froze, and the jealousy in her heart finally eased a little.
Li Shi added from the side, “But that little bitch really has been acting suspicious lately. The eldest branch of the family has been sneaking around too.”
Old Madam Ji thought for a moment before saying to Ji Pingping,
“You don’t need to work in the fields tomorrow. Stay home and keep an eye on what Song Zhaoxi is up to.”
Early the next morning, after the Ji family left, Ji Pingping hid in her room and peered through the window.
Before long, she saw Song Zhaoxi leave the house carrying a basket on her back and several hemp ropes in her hand.
Not daring to be careless, Ji Pingping hurried after her. The two of them made their way up the mountain.
That little bitch Song Zhaoxi must be doing something shady in secret. Today, she was determined to catch her red-handed!
A fierce fighting spirit burned in Ji Pingping’s tiny eyes.
After entering the forest, Song Zhaoxi turned left and right repeatedly, eventually leading Ji Pingping into a patch of dense shrubs. While Ji Pingping struggled with the weeds entangling her, Song Zhaoxi suddenly quickened her pace. In the blink of an eye, she had disappeared.
Ji Pingping had no sense of direction, and in the deep forest she couldn’t tell east from west. She trembled in fear.
“Song Zhaoxi, I’m going to kill you!”
A furious roar echoed through the woods, startling a flock of birds into flight.
Having shaken off Ji Pingping, Song Zhaoxi cut some bamboo and went to check the traps she had set.
No pheasants or rabbits had been caught, but there was a poor, unlucky roe deer.
The roe deer had buried its head in the grass and stuck its rear end in the air, as though doing so would make her unable to see it.
“Tsk. Even dumber than Ji Pingping.”
Song Zhaoxi pulled the foolish roe deer out with some disdain, secretly calculating how much money it might sell for.
As if it understood her, the roe deer nudged the basket on her back with its head.
Song Zhaoxi paused for a moment. She placed the bundled bamboo onto the deer’s back, and seeing that it didn’t resist, she took one of the hemp ropes from the basket, looped it around the deer’s neck, and led it down the mountain.