After lying in bed for three days, Li Xiaoxiao finally accepted reality—albeit unwillingly. In a foul mood, she found everyone irritating and snapped at whoever crossed her path.
Her bargain-bin sons, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters were all too scared to provoke her. They cautiously served her for three entire days, yet not a single person noticed that the “Li family matriarch” had already changed souls.
By the fourth day, Li Xiaoxiao felt like she was about to grow mold from staying indoors. After finally cleaning herself up properly, she sat in the courtyard squinting beneath the sun, happily “absorbing calcium.”
BANG BANG BANG—
“Open the door! Where the hell is everyone?! Li Cuihua! I know you’re in there! Open up!”
A shrill woman’s voice echoed from outside.
“Grandma, hurry! Tell them to open the door! Everything inside belongs to me anyway!”
A bratty child’s voice followed immediately after.
The violent pounding disturbed Li Xiaoxiao’s peace. Searching through the original owner’s memories, she quickly identified them:
That was her younger brother-in-law’s wife, Yang Xiaocao, and Qin Dabao, her younger brother-in-law’s grandson.
Everyone else in the household had gone out already—some to work in the fields, some to gather wild vegetables, others to cut pig grass.
Only five-year-old Erhua remained behind, squatting near the doorway playing with ants.
Hearing the noise, the little girl timidly glanced toward her grandmother.
Already in a bad mood, Li Xiaoxiao strode straight into the kitchen and grabbed a cleaver. Then she glanced toward the frightened Erhua hiding beneath the peach tree in the courtyard and casually tossed her a firewood stick.
“When you see that brat from your grand-uncle’s family later, hit him hard.”
“If you make him cry, Grandma will give you an egg.”
Originally trembling in fear, Erhua immediately started drooling the moment she heard the word “egg.”
She stretched her neck, swallowed hard, then shakily picked up the stick and gripped it tightly with both hands.
The moment Li Xiaoxiao opened the door, Yang Xiaohua lost her balance from slamming against empty air and crashed straight inside.
Li Xiaoxiao stepped on her immediately.
Meanwhile, her precious grandson didn’t even try helping his grandmother up. Instead, he boldly attempted to march inside, only to have Li Xiaoxiao block him with the cleaver.
“Old hag, let me tell you something! Once you die, all this stuff is gonna be mine! If you keep blocking me, I’ll throw your bones out for dogs to eat!”
Eight-year-old Qin Dabao declared arrogantly.
Li Xiaoxiao had absolutely no intention of tolerating him.
She grabbed the boy and tossed him directly in front of her granddaughter Erhua.
“Beat him.”
“If you can’t make him cry, then I’ll beat you instead!”
Erhua hesitated briefly.
But in the next second, she steeled herself, threw all fear aside, and lunged at Qin Dabao without hesitation.
The brat still arrogantly threatened her.
“You little girl, once I take over your house, I’m gonna sell you to a brothel!”
“Didn’t eat enough today?! Hit harder!” Li Xiaoxiao urged mercilessly.
Yang Xiaocao struggled to get up and help her grandson, but Li Xiaoxiao firmly pinned her to the ground, making movement impossible.
Compared to Qin Dabao, Erhua feared her own grandmother far more.
So she swung the stick even more desperately.
After all, this boy constantly bullied them anyway.
Grinding her teeth, she used all her strength to smash the stick down repeatedly.
Before long, Qin Dabao’s screams rang loudly through the village, quickly attracting a crowd of curious onlookers.
Li Xiaoxiao gave Yang Xiaocao no opportunity to recover.
One hand viciously yanked her hair, making Yang Xiaocao’s eyes water from pain while not daring to scream.
With the other hand, Li Xiaoxiao used the flat side of the cleaver to repeatedly smack Yang Xiaocao’s already swollen face.
Smack. Smack. Smack.
“Speak!”
“What exactly did you come here for today?! Huh?!”
Yang Xiaocao trembled violently in terror.
Trying desperately not to scream, she stuttered:
“Big… big sister-in-law… I… I heard you fell down a few days ago… so I… I came specially to visit you…”
As she spoke, she swallowed nervously several times. Her eyes darted around wildly like a frightened rabbit’s before she finally finished speaking pitifully.
“That’s not true! Ow—damn girl—”
Qin Dabao dodged Erhua’s stick while still trying to yell threats.
“My grandma said once you die, this place’ll all be mine! Ahhh! You little bitch—owww!”
“Dead old hag! Just wait! Waaaah! It hurts! Once you die—I’ll throw you to the dogs! AHHHH!”
At that moment, Yang Xiaocao—face pressed into the dirt and scalp aching horribly—suddenly wished with all her heart that her precious grandson were mute.
“Well… big sister-in-law… kids say silly things, right? Haha… childish nonsense… haha…”
She forced out a smile uglier than crying.
Three days ago, after seeing the village doctor leave Li Cuihua’s house, Yang Xiaocao had heard heartbreaking wails coming from inside.
She assumed her sister-in-law was about to die.
And once she died?
Wouldn’t the house and fertile farmland naturally become hers?
As for all those worthless granddaughters, they could simply be sold off.
Her sister-in-law’s spineless sons wouldn’t dare resist anyway—they’d obediently work for her family forever…
But after waiting three days with no news of death, she finally brought her eldest grandson over to investigate personally.
“You came to visit me empty-handed?” Li Xiaoxiao barked while smacking her face several more times.
“I think you came to check whether I’m dead yet!”
Then she yanked Yang Xiaocao’s hair backward even harder, making her gasp in pain.
“H-how could that be?!”
“I just thought… thought since you don’t have a grandson… Dabao would make a perfect grandson for you!”
“He could take care of you in the future!”
“Be my grandson?” Li Xiaoxiao suddenly laughed.
“Heh… be my grandson…”
Then she released Yang Xiaocao.
At that moment, Li Xiaoxiao finally understood that the original owner’s worries had been completely justified.
Even back in modern times, hadn’t her own sexist parents constantly coveted her belongings for the sake of their precious son?
And this was ancient society—a world where men were valued over women.
If a family had no sons and only daughters, then once the parents died, those so-called relatives would swarm in to devour everything.
Hmph.
Who was she, Li Xiaoxiao?
She had inherited the true battle spirit of her countryside grandmother—an expert at fighting and arguing—and had even specifically learned sanda martial arts herself.
Even her own biological mother had never managed to squeeze a single cent out of her.
And now thinking about how, after her death, all her possessions in her previous life probably ended up benefiting her useless younger brother—
her anger intensified even further.
Today, she was absolutely going to establish her authority properly using this grandmother-and-grandson pair.
Meanwhile, Yang Xiaocao misunderstood Li Xiaoxiao’s smile entirely and thought the plan might actually work.
She quickly climbed up from the ground and rescued Qin Dabao, who was still bawling from Erhua’s beating.
Then she shot Erhua a vicious glare with her tiny triangular eyes.
The little girl immediately hugged the stick tightly and hid behind Li Xiaoxiao in fear.
Pulling Qin Dabao forward, Yang Xiaocao eagerly said:
“Big sister-in-law, just look how healthy and handsome this grandson is! Isn’t he wonderful?”
“Yes,” Li Xiaoxiao replied with an unbelievably gentle smile.
“He really is wonderful.”
Before Yang Xiaocao could react, Li Xiaoxiao suddenly grabbed Qin Dabao by the collar, lifted him off the ground, and strode toward the front gate.
“AIYO! DABAO!”
Yang Xiaocao shrieked.
She hurried forward to save her precious grandson, but Erhua secretly stuck out a foot and tripped her.
By the time Yang Xiaocao scrambled back up—
it was already too late.