Outside the courtyard, Madam Zhou knocked on the door of the west wing.
The door did not open.
She simply called from outside, “Wan’er, get up later and cook. I’m going to plant soybeans.”
At twelve or thirteen, it was the age when one needed plenty of sleep. Gu Wan’er answered from inside the room, then continued sleeping soundly.
Soon after, Madam Zhou also went out.
Perhaps because she had gone to bed too early the night before, Li Xingyue couldn’t fall back asleep after waking. She lay there a while longer until little Yan’er and the little teddy dog woke up one after the other.
The child and the dog scrambled up and immediately ran outside to the yard to relieve themselves.
Hearing the commotion, Gu Wan’er got up and opened the door. She saw a child and a dog in the courtyard.
“What a cute little dog! Yan’er, where did it come from?” she asked curiously.
Gu Yan’er replied in her soft voice, “Mother said she saved little Teddy on the mountain yesterday.”
“Little Teddy? Is that the dog’s name?” Gu Wan’er asked again.
Yan’er nodded and began playing with the puppy.
Gu Wan’er couldn’t resist patting the dog’s head and teasing it for a while before heading straight into Li Xingyue’s room. “Sister-in-law, are you feeling better? Do you need me to help you to the latrine?”
Li Xingyue quickly refused. “No need, Wan’er. I can manage myself.”
After speaking, she pulled out five carrots from under the bed and handed them to Gu Wan’er with a smile. “Wan’er, didn’t Mother ask you to cook? Little Teddy dragged these back from somewhere. Take them and stir-fry them.”
Seeing the big, bright red carrots in her sister-in-law’s hands, Gu Wan’er’s eyes lit up. “Sister-in-law, these carrots are huge!”
Li Xingyue nodded with a smile. “They look good. Wash one and try it with Yan’er—see if it’s crisp and sweet.”
Gu Wan’er happily took the carrots to the kitchen.
Soon she returned, holding a small slice she had cut off, handing it to Li Xingyue while munching on another piece. “Sister-in-law, hurry and taste it. It’s really crisp and sweet!”
Li Xingyue had already tasted them before, but she cooperated and took a bite.
“Sister-in-law, I’ll go cook now. I’ll boil an egg for you to nourish your body.” With that, Gu Wan’er left like a gust of wind.
It seemed this girl treated the original host quite well. If Madam Zhou were cooking, she would never be willing to give her an egg.
Eggs were meant to be taken to town and sold for money.
Gu Wan’er made wild vegetable and brown rice porridge, pan-fried black flour flatbreads, and stir-fried carrots. Today’s breakfast was considered quite abundant.
But when Li Xingyue saw the porridge and black bread, she truly had no appetite.
In her previous life, she would never have imagined that one day she would be reduced to eating coarse rice.
She ate only half a tasteless black flatbread, one egg, a couple of bites of oil-free carrots, and drank some spirit spring water before lying back down like a corpse.
After delivering food to their parents in the fields, Gu Wan’er returned and saw that her sister-in-law had barely eaten. She sighed helplessly and hurried off to decoct her medicine.
In her previous life, Li Xingyue had read many online novels featuring vicious sisters-in-law—probably just written that way to create conflict.
But Gu Wan’er was actually quite nice.
Around nine in the evening, the space farm appeared before Li Xingyue again.
This time she did not enter it physically. Instead, in her mind, she harvested the crops as if operating a phone.
Cabbages, potatoes, and carrots were all low-level crops with short growth cycles and were already ripe. She harvested them with a thought.
Then she replanted the remaining seeds, reminding herself to keep some seeds next time.
After rummaging through the small wooden cabin, she found tomato seeds, string bean seeds, and watermelon seeds.
There were also several bags of corn and millet meant for feeding chickens.
In her previous life, corn and rice yields had been high—wouldn’t it be better to save them as seeds?
She went to the ranch area and fed some cabbage and carrots to the chickens and rabbits, then collected nineteen eggs.
So there were nineteen hens and one rooster in that flock.
But she couldn’t exactly sneak those eggs out to eat, could she?
Lying in bed, Li Xingyue drifted into a hazy sleep.
In her dream, she sat on a donkey cart with her big pregnant belly and little Yanran beside her.
The cart was surrounded by crowds of people, all dusty-faced and sallow, thin as skeletons.
On both sides of the official road, the fields were gray and barren, not a blade of grass in sight.
It was the rhythm of famine refugees…
…
After lying in bed for three days, Li Xingyue couldn’t stand it anymore. She had to get up and go out—otherwise she’d have no excuse to take food from her farm space.
She truly couldn’t keep eating brown rice, black flour, and oil- and salt-deficient wild vegetables.
Her body had mostly recovered as well. It was time to deal with the second branch of the family.
Early that morning, she got up at dawn. She hadn’t washed in three days. Maybe the original host could endure it, but the current Li Xingyue could not.
“Yue-niang, why are you up? Are you feeling better?” Madam Zhou looked at her with curiosity.
Li Xingyue wasn’t afraid of revealing anything. She simply replied, “Much better. I want to heat some water to wipe myself down.”
Madam Zhou was puzzled. You haven’t even worked in the fields—just lying in bed all day—why do you need to wash?
She was about to speak when Li Xingyue headed straight to the kitchen.
Gu Wan’er quickly called after her, “Sister-in-law, rest. I’ll heat the water for you.”
Madam Zhou shook her head in annoyance but ultimately said nothing more.
After washing, Li Xingyue changed into clean clothes.
The five carrots from before had already been eaten, so she took out four more, again claiming Little Teddy had dragged them back.
After breakfast, Li Xingyue suggested going up the mountain with Gu Wan’er to dig wild vegetables.
Gu Wan’er immediately shook her head. “Sister-in-law, are you fully recovered? You mustn’t overexert yourself.”
Madam Zhou also looked at her disapprovingly.
Even Gu Qishan rarely spoke up, but this time he did. “Yue-niang, just rest at home.”
Madam Zhou hurriedly nodded in agreement, thinking she mustn’t exhaust her little grandson.
Li Xingyue quickly said, “I’m much better now. I’ve been lying down for three days—I just want to go out for a walk.”
Only then did Gu Wan’er smile and nod. “Alright then, Sister-in-law. I’ll go out with you.”
No one said anything further.
After breakfast, leaving Yan’er at home, Li Xingyue and Gu Wan’er carried their baskets on their backs and headed toward the mountain with Little Teddy.
Li Xingyue wasn’t eager to work. She simply wanted a chance to take some things out from her farm space.
The whole family was skinny as bones, and she herself was pregnant—their meals had to improve.
But just as the two stepped out the door, they ran into Wu Rong and Gu Shaoning.
From the original host’s memories, Li Xingyue already knew that the reason she had rolled down the hillside three days ago was because of these two sisters-in-law.
One was her so-called cousin’s wife, and the other her so-called cousin.
Yes—so-called in name only.