“It’s bad, Big Brother! Mother has fainted!”
“Someone, come quickly!”
“What?”
“Mother! What happened to you, Mother?”
“Quick, pinch her philtrum! Press hard!”
…
Amidst the clamor, Li Yao felt a searing, fiery pain in her philtrum, and she snapped wide awake.
As she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a wooden bed. Four farm children were gathered around her, their faces etched with frantic worry. Seeing her eyes flutter open, their expressions shifted instantly to relief.
“Mother is awake!”
“Thank goodness! Mother is okay!”
…
Li Yao sat up, completely bewildered.
Before her stood five children of varying ages—four boys and one girl. They were dressed in rough, hempen clothes layered with patch upon patch. Other than the girl, whose cloth shoes were riddled with holes, the others were completely barefoot.
“What… did you just call me?”
The children exchanged nervous glances. One of them replied tentatively, “We called you Mother.”
Li Yao’s mouth twitched.
She was an orphan. At the age of six, she had been taken in and trained by a mysterious old woman, eventually becoming a top-tier assassin. A month ago, after the old woman passed away from natural causes, Li Yao had retired from the industry. She had bought a scenic farm, fully intending to spend the rest of her days living a quiet, peaceful, pastoral life.
Yet, after buying the farm and spending just one night there, she had woken up to this? What on earth was going on?
Suddenly, a rush of memories, foreign and overwhelming, surged into her mind like a tidal wave.
Li Yao was even more stunned. She had transmigrated. And it wasn’t just any place—she had landed in an ancient era, in a time and space she couldn’t begin to identify.
The original owner of this body was also named Li Yao, and she was also thirty-one years old. She had been married for over a decade, but her husband had died half a year ago, leaving her a widow.
The four boys standing before her were her own sons, and the girl—the frail, pale-faced one—was her eldest daughter-in-law, who had been married into the family for over half a year.
As for the original Li Yao, she had been the number one shrew in the entire He-Wan Village, and perhaps even the entire Bai-Chuan County. Whenever she opened her mouth, the world seemed to turn chaotic. With her hands on her hips, she knew no equal in an argument. The villagers called her “The Ghost’s Nightmare”; even the stray dogs would take a detour to avoid her.
That wasn’t all. The original Li Yao was an absolute fool. The day after her wedding, she had caused such a ruckus with her mother-in-law that the household was turned upside down. After her eldest son turned one month old, she had wailed and shrieked until she forced a family separation.
Since then, she had lived like a hoarding rodent. Every time she got her hands on something decent, she would haul it off to her maiden home. This left her own household impoverished, often going days without a proper meal, stuck living in a few dilapidated straw huts for over ten years.
Half a year ago, after her husband, Wang Yuanshan, fell to his death while gathering herbs on the mountain, she had only gotten worse. It was as if she wanted to peel the very dirt from the ground to give to her own family. When her biological mother wanted to borrow their old hen so she could feed her son some eggs, Li Yao hadn’t hesitated. She handed over the hen immediately and even gave away more than half of the household’s meager grain supply.
By now, the family had been drinking nothing but wild vegetable soup for three days straight.
Was this her karmic retribution for being a shrew and a fool in her past life?
The hope of returning was likely non-existent. Well, since I’m here, I might as well settle in, she thought. She had originally planned to retire and live a quiet life anyway. Though this place was poor, at least the environment was natural. As for these children, she would just let things take their course.
“Mother, did you hurt your head when you fell earlier?” her eldest daughter-in-law, He Xiaoya, asked with genuine concern.
Li Yao touched the back of her head, feeling a large lump and a faint trace of dried blood.
“I’m fine,” Li Yao said.
“Mother,” her eldest son, Wang Dazhuang, asked, “the Ding family still refuses to give up. What should we do?”
A year ago, her second son, Wang Er, had been betrothed to Ding Xiaoyan from the neighboring village. Now, however, the Ding family wanted to break the engagement. They had sent people to talk to her several times, but the original Li Yao had refused to agree. Today, they had brought twenty or thirty people to the doorstep, determined to force the annulment.
Given the family’s current state, if she agreed to the annulment, her second son would effectively be doomed to a lifetime of bachelorhood. That was why the original Li Yao had adamantly refused. However, facing a dozen sharp-tongued, malicious village women, she hadn’t managed to gain any advantage.
The relationship with her late husband’s family was already ice-cold; they felt a sense of shame regarding her behavior and had kept their doors firmly shut, refusing to intervene. While hundreds of villagers had gathered to watch, the original Li Yao’s reputation was so toxic—she had managed to offend every soul in the village—that not a single person was willing to speak a word in her defense. They were all just there to watch the chaos and revel in the spectacle.
When she had asked her youngest son to go to her maiden family to call for support, her own mother had told her to just accept the annulment so she could at least reclaim the betrothal gifts. Infuriated and overwhelmed, the original Li Yao had entered a state of blind rage, hurling insults so vile they left everyone stunned. Ding Xiaoyan’s brother had shoved her, and her head had slammed against a whetstone, ending her life instantly.
If Li Yao hadn’t transmigrated into her body just moments ago, they would be preparing for a funeral right now.
“Mother,” the second son, Wang Er, whispered, “maybe we should just agree to it and let them cancel the engagement. After all, the way our family is now…”
“Cancel?” Li Yao’s brows knitted together. “Cancel what?”
Since she had inherited this identity, she had to act according to the position of the original owner. Being harassed for an annulment and nearly beaten to death? That wasn’t something she could just swallow. If there was going to be an annulment, it would be on their terms, and it certainly wasn’t going to happen today!
“Move aside,” she said coldly. “Watch me handle them.”
…
Li Yao stepped out of the dilapidated thatch hut. The twenty-some members of the Ding family standing in the yard saw she was conscious and immediately resumed their chorus of insults. Every word dripped with disdain—insinuating that the Wang family was too poor, that a toad was trying to eat swan meat, and so on.
Li Yao’s temper flared. She planted her hands firmly on her hips. “Shut your mouths, the lot of you! You’ve never heard of the saying, ‘follow the chicken if you marry the chicken, follow the dog if you marry the dog’? Now you’re complaining that my family is poor? Why didn’t you look closely when you agreed to the betrothal? Were your eyes stuck in your trousers back then?“
“Wang family woman,” the elder Mr. Ding said with a hint of arrogance, “if you agree to the annulment, I will return the betrothal gift immediately. Your family gave 500 wen back then; I’ll be generous and return 1,000 to you!”
“Do you take me for a beggar?” Li Yao snapped. “You Ding-surname people, get out of here immediately! Don’t blame me for what happens next!“
“You… I’m offering you 1,000 wen, what more do you want?” Mr. Ding shouted. “All your family’s possessions combined aren’t even worth that much!“
“Whether my family is poor or not is none of your damn business! If you dare to back out of a set marriage, I’ll sit at your front door every single day and curse your ancestors until smoke rises from their graves!“
“You shrew! Do you want another beating?“
Ding Laoer—the brother who had shoved the original Li Yao earlier—charged at her aggressively again. Li Yao thought to herself that he had arrived at the perfect time.
She preferred action over words, and she knew dozens of ways to make sure this brat wouldn’t even know how he died. Instead of retreating, she strode forward, dodged his punch, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and simultaneously delivered a sharp, precise strike to the pressure point on the back of his neck.
The force was calculated. Ding Laoer wouldn’t be getting out of bed for several days.
He felt his entire body go numb and limp, losing all strength. He could only collapse to the ground as Li Yao threw him down.
“Have you got a death wish, trying to lay a hand on me?“
Li Yao grabbed a broom and began lashing out blindly. After several sharp strikes, the Ding family realized that Ding Laoer was still lying on the ground, motionless. They panicked and rushed forward to pull Li Yao away.
“Who’s next?” Li Yao raised the broom, surveying the crowd with cold, sharp eyes. “Come forward if you’re not afraid of dying!“
Her sons rushed to her side, fists clenched, ready to fight at a moment’s notice. The Ding family finally caught a glimpse of the terrifying power of the “Number One Shrew of He-Wan Village.” The women dared not utter another word for fear of being beaten, and although the men were indignant and wanted to regain their pride, the elder Mr. Ding held them back.
This was He-Wan Village. Arguing was one thing, but if a group of grown men attacked a house of orphans and a widow, the surrounding villagers would never stand by and watch. If things escalated, it would be impossible to control.
“Fine, fine!” Mr. Ding spat. “If you won’t annul it, then we won’t! But if you want to marry our Yan, it’ll be ten taels of silver for the bride price! And you need to build a new house! Don’t even think about it otherwise!”
Li Yao chuckled, unimpressed. “Why don’t you find a puddle and look at your own reflection? Is your daughter even worth that much?“
“You…” Mr. Ding’s beard trembled with rage. He stamped his feet. “We’ll see about this! Let’s go!“
The indignant Mr. Ding ordered his men to drag the limp, weak-legged Ding Laoer away, and they retreated in disgrace. The villagers who had gathered to watch the show began to disperse as well, whispering among themselves as they walked:
“If she hadn’t spent all her time hauling things to her maiden home, leaving her own kitchen empty, they wouldn’t have come to break the engagement.”
“Poor Wang Er. Looks like he’ll be a bachelor for life.”
“With a mother like that, he’s lucky he hasn’t starved to death yet.”
…
Li Yao knew the original woman’s character better than anyone, and she had no time to worry about village gossip. She was currently facing a much more pressing problem:
She was starving.