Bang…
A loud bang sounded in a small supermarket located in a downtown plaza.
Bai Xue was on her way home after work, but she had left her house key in her new supermarket which had been open for less than half a year. Just 10 minutes after she opened the door and went in to get the key, the gas in the employee lounge area exploded.
The burning sensation disappeared in an instant, and Bai Xue lost consciousness.
When she woke up again, the first thing she felt was cold. It was so cold that she could not help but shiver. It was pitch-black in front of her eyes, and she could hear the whistling wind and…
"Ah… I can't take it anymore. It hurts. It hurts so much. Third Aunt, Daliang, I… I can't do it… I don't have any strength left!" A woman's voice sounded as she tried her best to give birth.
Bai Xue was in a daze when she heard the heart-wrenching scream.
"Cuihua, you have to persevere! It will be over soon!" At this moment, a man said, "You're giving birth. How can you stop halfway and give up?"
"Cuihua, you have to push harder! You're having twins again. You can't delay any longer!" The woman called Third Aunt said anxiously.
Huh? What was going on? This woman was giving birth to a pair of twins no less.
"Third Aunt, I haven't eaten in days. I don't have any strength left in my body. I can't do it… Boohoo…" The woman who was giving birth cried hoarsely.
Why didn't she eat? Was she on a diet or something?
Bai Xue felt annoyed inside.
"Daliang, is there nothing to eat at home?" Third Aunt asked the man.
"There's really nothing else. The children didn't eat anything today. Xue secretly went up the mountain to find food for her younger siblings. She slipped and lost consciousness, but I couldn't even get her a doctor. I… I'm a useless father. It's all my fault…" The man called Daliang blamed himself. It was obvious he was in pain from his voice.
It seemed the pregnant woman was not on a diet. Instead, her useless husband was to blame for her predicament. This man was indeed useless for letting his wife and children go hungry.
"This is terrible. Does Old Madam Bai want you to die?" Third Aunt slapped her thigh and said indignantly, "Daliang, go to my house and get some corn flour to cook some paste for your wife. How can she give birth if she doesn't have the strength?"
"Okay, okay. I'll go right away. Thank you, Third Aunt. Thank you so much…" The man said excitedly and ran out.
The woman's voice moaned weakly. It sounded especially painful.
When Bai Xue heard this, she thought she was dreaming. However, the cold wind told her that she was not dreaming. This shout was real.
"Were people able to have babies in the Netherworld? Were they ghost babies?" Bai Xue muttered.
She was sure she was dead. If the gas exploded, it would be a miracle that she survived.
The cold wind made Bai Xue snap out of her thoughts. Bai Xue was sure that she was lying on an old-fashioned heated platform bed made of bricks, but it was very cold. She was covered with a thin and hard blanket, so it was not warm at all. She was shivering from the cold. She could not lie down anymore and wanted to get up and move around.
However, when she tried to get up, her entire body hurt as if it had fallen apart. She could not exert any strength at all.
Ghosts should not feel pain, so she was still alive, but she was lying in a strange place. She was a little confused and did not know what had happened.
Unable to get up, she could only try her best to pull the useless thin blanket on her body. She could not see anything even with her eyes wide open. All she could hear was the commotion coming from the other side.
Seriously, the woman did not even turn on the lights and close the windows when she gave birth. It was so cold that it was impossible to miss. Then again, this family was unable to feed itself, so it made sense for them to have trouble paying the electricity bill.
"Cuihua, did your mother-in-law come to plunder your house again?" Third Aunt spoke again. Perhaps she was afraid that the pregnant woman would faint, so she found a topic to talk about.
"A few days ago, she came and said that my third brother-in-law's family is running out of food and my in-laws are on the brink of starvation. They took away all the remaining food supplies and dried vegetables we have left," said the pregnant woman weakly.
"Even if Old Madam Bai was biased, how could she do this? There are so many children in your family, and you're about to give birth again. How can she be so heartless? Aren't these kids her grandchildren? Isn't Daliang her son?"
The vicious Old Madam Bai was this pregnant woman's mother-in-law. She had snatched the pregnant woman's food and it was unbelievable.
Third Aunt said indignantly, "You're about to give birth, but you can't get a single bite of food or even use kerosene to light a lamp. This is really…"
What did she mean by kerosene lamp?
Bai Xue was shocked.
Who would use kerosene lamps in this day and age? Shouldn't there be electric lights?
She carefully connected the dots about everything she had heard after waking up as she sensed the pain coming from her body.
Could it be that she was not dead? Had she been reborn?
She continued to endure the cold and tremble as she listened to the two of them talk.
"I originally saved some kerosene to use when I was giving birth, but my mother-in-law took it away the other day…"
As the two of them spoke, the man ran back, panting hard. He started to cook corn paste in the outer room.
There seemed to be a few children chattering beside him.
Bai Xue rolled her eyes in her heart.
How could this family live like this? Also, that mother-in-law was absolutely vicious. Wait. What did the man just say? He said that Xue went up the mountain to find food for her younger siblings. She slipped and fell and lost consciousness ever since.
Could it be that she was reborn in the body of a girl called Xue? They even shared the same character in their names!
As Bai Xue thought about it, she reached her hands out and touched her body. Her arms and legs were thin.
She was not that thin at all. She was originally slightly plump, but when she touched herself, she felt bony to the touch.
Just as Bai Xue thought about her body which was as thin as a monkey, the man came in after cooking corn paste. This body was perhaps so hungry that when she smelled the food, her stomach rumbled and she automatically wanted to drool.
"Come on, Cuihua. Have a bite so that you can have the strength to give birth!"
"Daliang, call the children in! It's so dark outside that they can't even see! The outside room is very cold, so I'm afraid the children will catch a cold. What will you do if they fall sick?" The pregnant woman did not forget to show concern for the other children.
Bai Xue recalled that this family had a lot of children. She wondered how many children they had. Although Bai Xue felt uncomfortable lying on the brick bed, she could not help but think about this family.
The cold wind was howling outside, and the air was leaking everywhere in the house. They were living in such a harsh environment, but she was not sent to the hospital to give birth and the family could not even afford to light a kerosene lamp… Judging from the surroundings, she reckoned that she had been reborn in a backward time.
"Alright, you eat. I'll let the children come in and sleep!" The man called Daliang walked out. Soon, he brought back a few children.
Bai Xue could not see exactly how many there were, but a few children climbed onto the bed. The man had probably told them to lie down obediently without making a sound.
However, Bai Xue still heard the sound of swallowing. Perhaps they had been hungry for too long and were craving corn paste.
"Daliang, give the children a bite each. I'll eat the rest!" When the pregnant woman heard the children had come in, she wanted to share her food with them.
Bai Xue also wanted to take a bite, but before she could react, her head hurt and she fainted.