'Get over here you wretched girl!' Grandma Yang shouted. Her full name was Yang Shi Yun, but we always call her and her husband, Grandma and Grandpa Yang.
Through the doorway was a frightened little girl whose body was as small as mine currently was.
I wonder if my fever really had something to do with her food that I stole yesterday. Was this one of those stories where the main female lead turns out to be the evil character?
I quickly put out that thought since it was true that I have bullied her constantly for no reason these past few years. That behavior was mainly because I followed my mother and grandmother's attitude.
Mother was jealous for me since Xiao Dan, the female lead, was born more beautifully than me and probably resented how others in the village favored her more than her own child.
Grandmother hated Xiao Dan due to her personality. Since she is the kind-hearted female lead, she kind of has a holier than thou attitude, and grandmother hated that. Also, she could feel the attention was always on Xiao Dan ever since she was born even though her youngest son Yang Zi Mo was cuter in her heart.
This led to years of mistreatment for the female lead and would in the future lead to her resenting us. Though of course since she is "kind-hearted", she won't need to do anything malicious and just let nature take its course.
In the manuscript I read, me, mother, and grandmother will end up being stoned to death by the other villagers after Xiao Dan saves the village from starvation due to a locust invasion. With the help of prince charming, Xiao Dan brought food to the village during those troubled times while us three tried to steal the food delivered for ourselves. They say it was also retribution for Xiao Dan who has been mistreated all those years after they regarded her as their savior. But to me who has lived in the 21st century, it was straight up murder.
Back to the present, Xiao Dan was still just a child and did not meet her prince yet. Right now, she was trembling at the thought that she will once again be beaten by her own mother.
It didn't make sense though, how could me stealing her food lead to her being beaten? Now with the knowledge of the story I realized the only way to survive was... be kind to the female lead!
I hurriedly stood up from the wooden bed I had laid down on and stood between grandmother and Xiao Dan with my arms wide open.
'No! Don't hurt Xiao Dan!'
Mother and grandmother was shocked by my sudden move to protect Xiao Dan. At the same time, I felt my head hurt from standing up to fast after having a fever all night. So, I put one hand on my forehead and closed my eyes trying to endure the headache.
'Xiao Hua! See what happens when you try to help this wretched girl! Are you alright?', my mother hurriedly grabbed both of my shoulders and searched my face for any more signs of pain.
'No, it wasn't her fault mother. Don't punish her.' I focused on what I had to do and prevent anymore resentment Xiao Dan had on the three of us to not increase.
Mother and grandmother looked at each other, both confused why I suddenly had taken Xiao Dan's side.
'X-Xiao Hua...', Xiao Dan called my name with tears in her eyes. I don't know what she was feeling right now, but hopefully she was happy that someone is on her side for once since the rest of the family usually just ignores her pleas.
I definitely don't want the original storyline to happen for real. Death by stoning sound horrible. So, for now, mending our relationship was the first thing I should do.
'Grandmother. Please?' I looked at Grandma Yang with my tiny dull eyes hoping she would listen to me.
'Fine. But if you ever dare to harm Xiao Hua again... you'll wish you were dead.' Grandmother then walked out of the room shoving Xiao Dan with enough strength that she fell to the ground on her butt.
'Alright, alright. Enough with the commotion. Let Xiao Hua rest.' An old man started to disperse everyone who was watching the scene in my room. He was actually just around 40 years old but already started to have a bald head, the man was Grandpa Yang, the head of the family.
He gave me a glance and walked away with the other members of the family that were watching just now outside the room.
Left inside the room was me and my mother, Xin Yue.
'Xiao Hua... Why did you help Xiao Dan? If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't have gotten sick.' My mother looked at me with eyes full of love and worry.
For a second, I could see the face of my previous life's mother flash through her face. They have the same look every time I got sick.
In my heart I made a promise, I will save her too.
'Mother, what did Xiao Dan really do that was so bad?' I tried to reason with her to make her see reason through all the hate she had for the female lead.
'She made you sick!'
'No, I got sick because I ate too much.' I gave her a small smile to show her that I really was okay.
'But, it was her food that-'
'Her food was gathered from the same bowl as everyone else's. It wasn't her fault at all.'
In fact, she's probably hungry right now since she hadn't eaten since yesterday, but I didn't want to show too much concern for her or else my mother will get angry and have the opposite effect of what I wanted her to feel for Xiao Dan.
'Still...', mother's eyes looked to the ground. I could see that she had wavered and concluded that yes it probably wasn't Xiao Dan's fault.
To be honest, the best-case scenario would be if we both apologized to Xiao Dan, though I doubt my mother would do that. Maybe in the future. I didn't want her to come to another conclusion so I quickly ended the conversation saying that I needed more rest and will probably be feeling much better tomorrow.
Afterwards, I was left alone in the room. I didn't know where Xiao Dan was. We were supposed to be sharing a room together since we're girls of the same age. But I made an exception that night not to look for her since I had to gather my thoughts and accept that I have officially started my second life.