"A lazy woman who only knows how to stuff her face! She finally popped out a kid, but it's just a worthless burden, and yet she still has the nerve to ask me for a sweet potato! Truly shameless!"
The harsh, shrewish scolding jolted Deng Yuyuan awake from her dreams.
She wondered who was so stingy as to refuse someone a single sweet potato.
Opening her eyes, she realized she wasn't in her own room. The place was barely better than four bare walls. There was only a wardrobe, a table, and a narrow double bed beneath her. Oh, and right beside her lay a sleeping baby with a red, wrinkled little face.
Her body burned with pain. She was hungry, cold, and exhausted. She lifted the coarse, thin quilt. Her fingers were so thin they looked like mere bone, dotted with tiny cuts.
She had merely fallen asleep playing her farming game the night before—she either had amnesia or had transmigrated. Deng Yuyuan quickly came to this conclusion. Clutching her chest, she forced her wildly pounding heart to calm down. She had to figure out her current situation.
She reached out to open the door, only to find her body so weak she couldn't even push the wooden frame open. Gritting her teeth, she pushed harder, only to be met by a glaring old woman holding half a sweet potato.
"You claimed your body ached too much to work in the fields, yet here you are walking just fine! I knew you were just making excuses to be lazy. Good heavens, how did my son ever marry such a lazy hag like you!"
The sweet, fragrant scent of the sweet potato drifted through the air. Deng Yuyuan swallowed pitifully.
"Mom—" The door suddenly opened, and a tall man with thick eyebrows and large eyes walked in.
The old woman's voice softened a bit, but she still stiffened her neck and said, "What, am I wrong? Back when I just gave birth to you, I went straight back to work in the fields. Look at your wife! She's the laziest of the lazy; even a pig is more useful than her!"
The man lowered his eyes, giving off an honest and simple-minded demeanor. He stiffly changed the subject. "Mom, you haven't named the baby yet."
"Why does a worthless burden need a name?" The old woman rolled her eyes, her gaze landing on the sweet potato as she was suddenly struck by inspiration. "Let's call her Xiao Hong."
"Zhang Xiaohong!" Deng Yuyuan blurted out, though it came out as nothing more than a weak breath, failing to catch the mother and son's attention.
The man repeated with difficulty, "Zhang Xiaohong? Mom, isn't that name a bit too casual for the child? This... this..." He subconsciously glanced at his wife, but unfortunately, she was currently completely completely out of it.
The old woman finalized the decision. "Jiahua, you're a new father so you don't know, but a cheap name makes a child easier to raise."
"A-Alright." The man's face flushed. Not daring to meet his mother's gaze, he glanced guiltily at his wife and agreed.
Deng Yuyuan stood rooted to the spot.
It really was Zhang Xiaohong and Zhang Jiahua? She had actually transmigrated into a novel she had read previously—a story where the female lead was a beloved good-luck charm!
The female lead lived in the east of the village, while the supporting female character's family lived in the west. The female lead brought good fortune to her family from a young age. With three older biological brothers and four older cousins, she was the apple of her entire family's eye and uniquely fair and adorable in the village. Upon reaching adulthood, she fell in love at first sight with a young master who had come to the countryside to experience life, and the young couple lived happily ever after.
The supporting female character, on the other hand, was jealous of the female lead from childhood. She went from stealing the female lead's accessories to framing her, and finally even tried to climb into the male lead's bed. As a result, the male lead destroyed her entire family, leaving them homeless on the streets.
The supporting female character was actually quite happy before she committed suicide, however, because all she cared about was her pitiable mother, who had died young from being overworked. The male lead's actions in destroying her family had actually done her a huge favor.
And now, she was that soft, submissive, and short-lived mother of the supporting female character.
At this thought, a massive flood of the original owner's memories suddenly rushed into her mind. Her head throbbed violently, and she stumbled, barely managing to support herself against the wall as her body slid downward.
Zhang Jiahua hurriedly helped her up. "Mom, Xiao Yuan isn't feeling well. I'll take her inside to rest."
"So melodramatic," the old woman muttered, grumbling as she walked away.
Supported by the man's strong arms, Deng Yuyuan sat on the edge of the bed. As she looked up, she met a pair of eyes filled with love and worry. She subconsciously reached out and cupped his handsome face.
The original owner had been attracted by his good looks and honesty, choosing to marry him in her second year as a sent-down youth despite her parents' objections. Only after marriage did she realize their life was a complete mess. Although her husband loved her, he didn't protect her. The family hadn't divided their assets, and her husband was too honest to hold anything back for his own household; whenever he got something good, he gave it to his mother.
His mother, meanwhile, was tricky and biased. Even though her husband earned the most work points, what was left for their eldest branch was always whatever his mother and his younger brother's family had picked through.
How could the original owner, an educated youth from the city, compete with a shrewd rural woman? Her husband kept saying how hard it was for his mother to raise him, persuading the original owner to endure the hardship with him. During her pregnancy, the original owner was so thin she was practically skin and bones, save for the baby in her belly. After the child was born prematurely due to malnutrition, she couldn't even produce milk. The sleeping baby she had seen at first wasn't asleep at all—she had fainted from hunger!
The original owner had brought this issue up to her husband. He had promised her solemnly, only to turn around and hesitantly bring over boiled rice water to feed the baby. The original owner wanted to hold him accountable, but he had already saved his own egg to feed her and the child. She knew this was all he had to give.
She had sighed deeply in the end. Who told her to marry such a "good man"? Before closing her eyes, the original owner was still thinking about resting for a bit before going to work so she could ask her mother-in-law for some food.
Feeling his wife's thin fingers against his cheek, Zhang Jiahua smiled. He pulled out an egg and a large steamed cornbread. "Did you wake up late and miss mealtime? I saved an egg for you. Work points are distributed today, and Mom said I'll get another egg tonight. I'll save that for you too."
Deng Yuyuan slowly took the egg and casually snatched the cornbread as well. "I'm so hungry today. Let me eat the cornbread too."
Zhang Jiahua naturally agreed. Skipping lunch for a day was no big deal. It was more important to let his wife eat more and put on some weight.
Deng Yuyuan secretly rolled her eyes in her mind. No one had called her to eat when she missed mealtime, and this man hadn't fought for her either. Come evening—since it was rural custom to eat light for dinner—she would get nothing more than pickled vegetables mixed with rice soup. She was the only one in the entire family who didn't get to eat meat. Even though her husband would give his portion of meat to her, her mother-in-law would still grumble unhappily, "You gave birth to a girl and still have the nerve to eat meat."
A few days ago, facing his wife's nighttime complaints, Zhang Jiahua had finally found some backbone and tried to place some meat into his wife's bowl during a meal. However, after his mother knocked his chopsticks away, he didn't dare utter another word.
She asked, "What about our daughter? She's still hungry. Didn't you just get your work points? Go exchange them for some grain."
Zhang Jiahua looked at his little daughter, who was as frail as a newborn kitten, and his heart couldn't help but ache. An overwhelming sense of powerlessness assaulted his mind. He didn't even dare to look at the child for too long, guiltily averting his gaze. Facing his wife's expectant look, his throat felt so dry he could barely speak.
"I gave all my work points to Mom. They haven't been distributed to the individual households yet.
"As for the rice water... Mom said it was thrown out early on. How about I boil some water to feed the baby? After I finish work this afternoon, I'll chop more wood to replace what I used for boiling the water. I promise Mom won't scold you."