Da Yehua woke up and found herself in an old, moldy looking room. She stood up from the bed and looked around.
Aside from the bed, there was only an old wooden table with three legs. On it was a worn-out cloth bag containing three patched clothes.
She walked out of the room to the kitchen. The stove was cold, no rice in the rice jar, no oil nothing, Not even vegetables.
She walked back to her room to sort out the memories of this body.
Yehua was kidnapped by traffickers and sold to an old woman in the county town. She was then taken to the Lin family village. On their way, they encountered a fortune teller who told Old lady Gu that she would jinx all those around her and she could curse those who offended her.
Old lady Gu was frightened and she made arrangements to sell (or as she called it marry off) Yehua to a suitable family which happened to be Mother Su from the Xiao family village.
Mother Su was widowed and had just one son who hasn't returned from the battlefield field since three years. Her husband family decisively split the family to avoid providing for the sharp tongued Madam Su.
Yehua couldn't recollect anything about the earlier years of her life or her original family. She settled her thoughts when she heard the loud rumbling from her stomach.
Just as she was about entering her space, She heard the courtyard door opening. Her mother in-law was back.
She heard the footsteps come closer and soon a woman stood in the doorway of her room. Her skin was tanned and her back was hunched, her face was aged but showed traces of past beauty, her clothes were old and patched but very neat.
[ Madam Su looks so simple and is probably nice but alas I dare not treat her nicely. I do not want her to like me]
Madam Su was stunned. She just heard a voice speaking but she was sure the girl before her hadn't spoken a word and there was nobody else in the room.
[Why is she staring at me intently? Am I too beautiful? Mother Su look away!]
' Is something wrong?' Da Yehua asks.
Mother Su was sure that her daughter in-law had the same voice as the one she heard earlier.
[Mother Su doesn't look like the brightest person. Now it makes me guilty to treat such a simple minded person badly. No I can't be soft. What Mother Su? Old hag!!]
Mother Su was stunned again! Not smart? Simple minded? Old hag? Since when had any described her, Su Ruimei, I'm that manner.
' Hmph! Your mother in-law is awake before done and you are still asleep till the sun is way up high. Do you think you are royalty? As your punishment you only get two steamed buns as your today's meal.' Madam Su says.
[Ha! The old hag is such a tsundere. If I hadn't seen for myself how empty the kitchen is, I would've believed this lie. Look at how her legs are trembling from hunger. She's offering the last food in the house and still acting wealthy.]
Madam Su was speechless. She had traded a catty of vegetables and some salt in order to get these steamed buns for her daughter in-law. How could she tell her daughter in-law that the house had no food? Where would she keep her face.
' Old hag, keep your buns to yourself. See how small and dry they look. Do you expect me to eat that?' Da Yehua says looking at the buns in contempt.
If Madam Su hadn't heard her daughter in-law's thoughts, she would have given this girl a piece of her mind. But her daughter in law was evil on the outside and slightly good on the inside.
' Hey little wench. Eat it if I give it to you or else you'll starve today.' Madam Su says.
[How dare this tsundere old hag call me a little wench? I, Da Yehua, with more than 10000 carries of food will starve? Why can't this old hag faint from hunger, so then I can go out and accidentally find food in the mountains?]
Madam Su was startled. 10000 catties of food. Was the new daughter in-law that rich?
' I want to go to the mountains and see if I can find wild vegetables.' Da Yehua says as she stands up.
' I'm coming with you.' Madam Su replies. She wanted to really see if this daughter in-law really have 10000 catties of food. How could she hear her daughter in-law's thoughts? She would think about that later, food was of utmost importance.
[No This old hag is too kind for my liking. If she follows me how am I suppose to make food appear in thin air? Won't she think I'm a demon?]
Make food appear in thin air? Was her daughter in-law some kind of descended fairy? No she must see for herself.
' Hey old hag! It's stressful enough carrying myself up the mountains, do I have to cater to your tantrums as well?' Da Yehua says.
' Little wench! I'm the mother in-law here is I tell you what to do. You want to climb the mountains with your frail arms and legs? Do you even know the way to the mountains?' Madam Su retorts.
[The old hag is right. I don't know the way, ah Yehua are you becoming stupid? I can just float above and look for mountains.]
Float? Could this girl fly?
' I can ask for directions.' Da Yehua says.
' What do you know you want to do in the mountains? Can you protect yourself from wild beasts?' Madam Su says.
' I'm not a child! Of course I can do that.' Da Yehua replies.
' With your small self? You little wench stop being stubborn and let's go.' Madam Su says.
Outside the house,
The villagers put their ears on the wall trying to make out what Madam Su was arguing with her daughter about.
An old woman walked to the entrance and started shouting.
' What sins have I committed? Su Ruimei you evil woman! Come out here.' The old woman cried out dramatically.