8 Chapter 8

The sun was already shining brightly outside when Chang Ying opened her eyes. 

She yawned lazily and stretched out her limbs when she felt a sharp pain in her left arm. She winced and grasped her hand. Around her fair hand was a clean white bandage. 

Like a flood, the memories of the previous day poured into her mind. 

Yesterday...yesterday, she was reborn.

She recalled everything. Before her rebirth, she had lived in shame, poverty and with the stigma of a loose woman. But it all changed yesterday, the past even felt like a dream. 

Chang Ying looked around the room. It was a simple mud house with zinc roof, but it was incredibly neat inside. The floor was swept clean, the clothes were arranged into a large trunk-box and a few articles of clothing were neatly hung on the wall. Chang Ying sighed, at this time, she had been married and living in the Lu household for a month. 

Before her rebirth, at this age, she was still young and a bit careless. She would never have taken time to arrange this small sleeping area like this. It had to be Lu Chen who did this. 

Chang Ying sighed in part relief and part disbelief. He was still her husband when she woke up this morning. 

Chang Ying stood up, put on her slippers and went outside the small mud house. Immediately she saw two little runts, one big, one small, sitting outside her door. 

The big runt was in his early teens. He had a pale, beautiful face like a cherub. If he came from a better household in the future, he would definitely have become a child star. His small face looked like a softer, mini-version of Lu Chen. Regrettably, his complexion was sickly and dull from his poor health. 

The other child was a small, thin girl, about half the height of the boy. She had dull, yellowed skin from malnutrition. The clothes on both children were old and patched hand-me-downs. It was obvious the little girl's outfit was inherited from a boy, but at her age, it was still passable. 

Chang Ying quickly recalled these two children. The boy was Lu Chen's younger brother, Lu Ching. And the girl was Lu Chen's niece, Jin Ruishi. 

Lu Ching was around thirteen years old but he had always been sickly. The family spent a good amount of its earnings treating this boy each time the seasons changed. But fortune gave the family a little sweetness with this child, Lu Ching was very brilliant. Even though he only studied in the village school, his middle school entrance exam score was among the top in the surrounding region.

Though the family still struggled, they had great expectations of this child. Even more so, after Lu Chen had to drop out of school to work full time in order to ease the family's burden. Since Lu Chen could not finish school, they all hoped Lu Ching could finish his education and get a respectable job. 

Unfortunately...

Chang Ying looked at the boy pitifully. Lu Ching had great prospects but he died before the age of sixteen. She remembered very clearly because she had saw him at the restaurant she was working at the time. He looked both shocked and sad when he saw her. She recalled his handsome face had matured a bit and he looked even more like Lu Chen then. Afterwards, it was very shocking when she heard he suddenly passed away a week later. 

The small girl, Jin Ruishi, she did not know much. Jin Ruishi, fondly called Xiaorui, was the daughter of Lu Chen's elder sister, Lu Zhi. As for the father of the child, Chang Ying was not too sure herself. 

The children looked at her and kept a cautious distance. 

"Sister Ying, my brother said you should let us run any errand you want today. If you are hurting too, Xiaorui can go to the doctor's house to tell him. Brother also said you should not stress yourself." Lu Ching avoided her eyes as he spoke and his tone was a bit perfunctory. 

Chang Ying remembered something else that was daunting. 

Once when she was hungry after only drinking thin porridge for breakfast, she grumbled to herself that it was a useless endeavour to treat Lu Ching. Unfortunately, the family heard her. 

As if that was not enough, after Mo Yue sent her to wash the plates to reflect on herself, thinking she was alone in the kitchen, she bitterly added that an ill-fated child like Lu Ching was a just going to drain the family then die. 

Too bad, the two children had come to help her but they heard it. They did not tell their elders but the two children treated her indifferently afterwards. 

At that time, it had only been two weeks since she had moved in. In those two weeks, Lu Ching fallen seriously ill three times! To her that had never been around sickly people back then, it was alarming to watch. 

The first time, she was compassionate. The second time, she was almost exhausted. By the third time, her emotions were erratic because her belly had not been full once since she had moved in. The family spent everything to treat him. They could barely scrap together a one or two meals daily for themselves afterwards. 

Everyday, because they spent money to buy Lu Ching's medicine, Chang Ying was severely hungry. 

Another time, Grandfather Lu had found some corn and roasted them for Lu Ching and Jin Ruishi as they were the youngest and in the most need for nutrition. But Chang Ying's hunger clouded her judgement. She sneakily snatched the children's roasted corn that day. Though no one said anything, the family knew it had to be their new member that ate the children's food. 

Truth was, Chang Ying wasn't thinking straight. She had never been so hungry before. She did not want to complain in her new family, so she bottled it up. But before she knew it, she had become a demoness to the young ones for a little bite of food. 

Chang Ying rubbed her forehead, disappointed with herself. What was a little hunger? In the time leading up to before she was reborn, there were days she could only scrape together a single meal after working several jobs. 

She looked at Lu Ching and smiled. "Thank you for watching over me, little brother-in-law."

Lu Ching's eyes widened at her smile. He was also taken aback by the soft tone she used to speak to them. It had been weeks since she started living with them but except for the first day, Lu Ching never heard her speak to them like this before, much less smile. 

His small pink lips twisted into a resistive pout. "Brother just told us to do it." 

"So it is like that, then you've both worked hard." Chang Ying smiled at them again. She ignored the fact that Lu Ching held the little girl's hand and stepped back cautiously when he saw her smile again, and asked, "Where is everyone else?"

"My mother is in the kitchen with grandpa. They are preparing breakfast."

"Then let me go and greet them." Chang Ying headed towards the kitchen. 

Lu Ching's eyes followed her on high alert. He didn't know what to make of this sister-in-law now. The whole village was talking about her terrible experience. Yesterday night, after Lu Chen came home with a sleeping Chang Ying in his arms, his grandpa had explained to him the gravity of Yao Shu's actions in their society and how it could traumatize Chang Ying for life. So Lu Ching expected to see a gloomy Chang Ying that was writhing with anger when she woke up today. But why was she talking so nicely instead?

Lu Ching scratched his nose, feeling disturbed. 

Chang Ying did not miss the alertness Lu Ching had around her. For now, there was nothing she could do about it. Lu Ching was older and just a few nice words was not going to change his perception of her. She had to work hard in the coming days to prove to this family that she had changed for the better. 

The Lu household lived in a small courtyard with a few small mud houses. A mud house had also been vacated for Lu Chen and her when they got married. The houses were simple rectangular spaces like a small room. Except for Grandpa Lu, each house was assigned to be used by a few people. 

Grandpa Lu was the current family head and oldest person in their household. His wife had passed away so he lived in a small house by himself. Grandpa Lu had two sons which formed the two branches of this Lu household. 

His second son had separated from them. So the second son's family lived in the neighbouring yard separated from the original courtyard by a bamboo and mud fence.

While Mo Yue, Lu Chen's mother, was the wife of the old man's first son. Tragically, her husband had died from pneumonia leaving behind their one daughter and two sons. 

There were only three houses and a small hut in the yard. One for Grandpa Lu, one for the females, and the new one put up for Lu Chen and her. Lu Chen and Lu Ching used to share the hut before he got married. Like this, Feifei grew up like siblings with Lu Chen and the others. So she was very close to them. 

The kitchen was at the eastern side of the yard, while the bathing area was on the west. Chang Ying moved slowly and walked to the kitchen. 

Grandpa Lu sat in a corner, cracking nuts. The children could eat these small things to fill their bellies and grow up a bit better. Beside his feet was a peach wood walking stick. Grandpa Lu has cataracts in both eyes and a slipped disc in his back. He could not see properly or walk well anymore.

For the Lu family of farmers, this meant he could no longer contribute to the farm labour. But Grandpa Lu insisted on moving around and doing whatever he could while sitting, especially making these small snacks for the little ones in his family. 

Chang Ying's temple throbbed as she recalled the roasted corn. Grandpa Lu has made those too. She didn't just swallow children's food but a crippled, old, grandpa's hardwork. She suppressed her embarrassment and greeted Grandpa Lu and Mo Yue. 

Mo Yue was peeling potatoes into a large bowl. She smiled warmly and nodded in response to Chang Ying's greeting. "Ying-er, how was your night rest? You shouldn't walk around now, you are hurt, you know."

Grandpa Lu squinted his eyes at her, straining to see better. His turbid irises were mostly focused on her bandaged arm though. "Little Chen's wife, I heard you insisted on the treatment without pain medicine." He smacked his lips disapprovingly. "This child, do you know you are a girl? You shouldn't have to go through that kind of pain. We could have borrowed to pay for the medicine."

Chang Ying raised her right hand and waved in dismissively with a shy smile. "Grandpa, it's just a little sting. There is no need to use expensive anaesthetic for this small cut."

Grandpa Lu grunted, unconvinced. "Don't be so cautious next time, you hear? You are little Chen's wife. We can't let you suffer unfairly."

Chang Ying nodded like she had taken the elder's advice. "Hmm, grandpa's concern makes me very happy. I am sure I will heal faster now."

Grandpa Lu snorted in mock anger and waved her away. "Shoo, shoo! Young people nowadays are so reckless."