“Pah! You little cheap brat—still pretending to be dead, are you?”
“Mother, please don’t sell Nianzhi! Our second branch will work more and eat less from now on, I swear!”
“Grandma, please don’t sell Sister! An’an won’t eat steamed buns anymore!”
“Get lost!”
Amid the desperate pleas, vicious and shrill curses echoed through the small courtyard.
Gu Nianzhi had just opened her eyes when a sharp pain struck her head. She reached up and felt a large bump on her forehead; blood was slowly trickling from her nose.
A flood of memories that didn’t belong to her rushed into her mind.
Damn it.
In her previous life, she had been betrayed and killed by a scumbag during the apocalypse.
After being reborn, she had stocked up massive amounts of supplies in her spatial storage, preparing for the coming apocalypse and planning her revenge.
But instead, she had somehow transmigrated into a novel!
She remembered collecting many novels while hoarding supplies, in case boredom set in during the later stages of the apocalypse.
One of them, titled The Domineering Prince and the Little Farm Wife, had caught her attention. She’d only read halfway before growing drowsy and passing out—and then she woke up inside the book!!
Ye Nianzhi!
The exact same name as hers in her previous life!
A classic unlucky cannon-fodder character!
In the story, she was sold by her vicious grandmother to a landlord as a concubine. After barely surviving until the old landlord croaked, chaos broke out across the land.
During the turmoil, she clearly could’ve escaped with the landlord’s gold and valuables—but who knew if her brain had been kicked by a donkey? She actually brought everything back to the Gu family and fled with them.
From then on, she lived the tragic life of filling in holes dug by the female lead, blocking arrows for her whenever she courted death.
In the end, she was shot dead by arrows while trying to save the female lead, who was throwing a tantrum and threatening suicide over the male lead—earning herself a shining “Good Person” badge.
Gu Nianzhi: …Idiot.
At this moment, the courtyard was packed with onlookers.
The original body’s mother, Madam Liu, and her six-year-old brother Gu Nian’an were kneeling on the ground, begging Old Madam Gu.
“Mother, Nianzhi is your own granddaughter! How can you sell her to Landlord Liu as a concubine?!”
That landlord was already over sixty, greedy and lustful. Women who entered his household either fled or died—life there was pure misery.
“Pah! What nonsense are you spouting, Second Sister-in-law?” sneered Zhang Cuihua, the eldest daughter-in-law. “Being able to enter a landlord’s household is Nianzhi’s blessing. You make it sound like Mother’s harming her.”
If Gu Nianzhi wasn’t sold, how else was she supposed to scrape together the two taels of silver needed for her eldest son Gu Chengwen’s school fees?
Landlord Liu had offered five taels as bride price!
In a remote farming village like theirs, that amount could last two or three years!
Thinking of this, Zhang Cuihua tugged at Old Madam Gu’s hand.
“Mother, Chengwen needs to pay his tuition in a few days.”
At the thought of her precious eldest grandson studying in the county school, Old Madam Gu’s gaze turned increasingly ruthless toward Madam Liu and her children.
“Stop wailing! This matter is settled. Cry one more time and I’ll have Dachui divorce you, you worthless trash!”
“Mother!”
Madam Liu scrambled forward, clutching Old Madam Gu’s hem.
“Then sell me instead! Please don’t sell Zhi’er into the landlord’s household!”
“You?” Old Madam Gu rolled her eyes. “What are you worth? Even a rich family’s laundry woman is more valuable than you.”
With that, she shook Madam Liu off and turned away. Zhang Cuihua hurried forward, fawning as she helped Old Madam Gu back into the house.
The farce ended.
Madam Liu and Gu Nian’an turned back in despair—only to see that Gu Nianzhi, who had been lying on the ground moments ago, was now sitting up.
“Zhi’er, you’re awake!”
Madam Liu pulled her tightly into her arms.
Feeling this unfamiliar yet intense affection, Gu Nianzhi felt awkward.
She had only just transmigrated. To her, this family was nothing more than strangers with borrowed memories.
Such sudden closeness was hard to get used to.
“I’m fine. Let’s go back inside.”
She gently pushed Madam Liu away and, suppressing the dizziness, slowly returned to the second branch’s room.
Madam Liu assumed she was traumatized and felt a stab of heartache.
Inside, Gu Dachui—her father—sat with a conflicted expression, clearly wanting to speak but holding back.
“Child’s father, we can’t let Mother sell Zhi’er,” Madam Liu said urgently.
Gu Dachui glanced at her, then lowered his head again, his voice dull and heavy.
“Chengwen finally passed the童生 exam. Our family finally has hope. If we can’t afford his tuition now and cut off his studies, all the previous effort will be wasted.”
Madam Liu stared at him in disbelief.
“The eldest branch has daughters too! Why should our girl be sold?”
“Tingqin isn’t as good-looking as our Zhi’er. She wouldn’t fetch a good price.”
“You—!”
Madam Liu felt like she’d punched a pillow. Her mind was in chaos, and she turned away silently, tears streaming down her face.
Gu Nianzhi didn’t bother arguing. What she desperately needed to know now was—
Did her space come with her?
She lay on the bed, covered her head with the blanket, and with a thought, her consciousness sank inward.
Yes!
The space came with her!
All the supplies she had stockpiled—worth millions—were neatly arranged on the shelves inside.
Suppressing her excitement so as not to alert her parents, she quickly withdrew from the space.
Her space could only be entered mentally, so as long as she didn’t stay inside too long, no one outside would notice.
In the original story, this place would be struck by a natural disaster six months later.
A drought would force people south, and a mass migration would begin.
Looking at her cowardly, blindly filial father—and the vicious, selfish Gu family outside—she made a silent decision:
Before the disaster and the flight, they must split the household.
She wasn’t that delicate, useless Gu Nianzhi anymore.
She had strength—and methods.
Suddenly, a loud gurgle dragged her back to reality.
She was hungry.
Since Old Madam Gu was still counting on selling her, Gu Nianzhi boldly pushed open the door and headed straight for the kitchen.
Under the terrified gazes of Madam Liu and the others, she walked back in holding several cold, hard coarse-grain buns.
“Here.”
Gu Nian’an looked at the buns. Before Madam Liu could stop him, he grabbed one and started chewing.
“Hey! An’an, you can’t eat that!”
“Zhi’er, put the rest back—quick!”
Watching her children wolf down the food, Madam Liu was on the verge of tears.
Old Madam Gu kept a tight rein on the kitchen—no one dared take food without permission.
In the Gu household, only Old Master Gu, Old Madam Gu, and the adult males of the eldest branch were allowed one bun per meal. Everyone else survived on a bowl of wild vegetable soup, occasionally mixed with bran.
If Old Madam Gu found out the children had stolen buns, she’d beat them half to death.
Gu Dachui panicked too. He snatched the remaining buns from Gu Nianzhi’s hand and shouted angrily:
“This is two days’ worth of food for our family! How could you steal it and eat it all at once?!”
Gu Nianzhi couldn’t be bothered to look at this cowardly excuse for a father. She turned to Gu Nian’an instead.
“Are you full?”
“No.”
Honest kid.
She stood up and walked out, motioning for Gu Nian’an to follow.
Afraid they’d go wreak havoc in the kitchen again, Gu Dachui hurried after them—only to see the siblings run straight out the front gate.
“Put the buns back quickly,” he said, handing the leftovers to Madam Liu.
Madam Liu stared at the four remaining buns in her hands, worry written all over her face.
She had no idea how badly her mother-in-law would scold them tonight…