Chapter 12 Wild Duck Eggs (1)_1

Lin Yuan woke up early that day. It was her first time sleeping on the earthen bed of the countryside, and she was somewhat unaccustomed to it, especially since it was summer, when mosquitoes abounded. She woke up with several red welts from mosquito bites after just one night. Normally, they would use mugwort to smoke out the room, but given the Lin family's current situation, there was hardly anyone who could go out to collect it. Therefore, Lin Yuan decided that when she went up the mountain later, she would gather some mugwort along the way; otherwise, no one would get a good night's sleep.

Lin Yuan had always been an early riser. In order to maintain a good physique to handle the high intensity workload of a chef, she used to get up early to exercise. Plus, she was still not used to her new life after transmigrating, so today she got up even earlier. It was barely dawn when she started running and practicing punches in the yard. Most people in the village were still asleep, and she didn't want to run through the village and be a nuisance with the dogs barking at her, which was fortunate since there wasn't much in her yard except for a small kitchen and a corner latrine—it was almost empty.

After warming up with a few laps around the yard, Lin Yuan began thinking about how she would organize the yard in the future. She wanted to transform the small kitchen into a large one and add a small storage room next to it for various items. Of course, she still had to build a few more large rooms, but if she wanted to rebuild them, the yard might not be large enough. Fortunately, her home was on the edge of the village, right next to the foothills with a large open space. Once she earned enough money, she planned to buy the land from the village chief and build a grand courtyard, a quadrangle courtyard, to be exact. Then, let the folks back at the old house look on with envy, and show them that even with only three daughters, her family could live a good life!

Thinking this, Lin Yuan felt a surge of energy throughout her body and practiced even more vigorously. Now warmed up, she began practicing punches, which were women's self-defense skills she had learned back at the gym in her former life. She had learned these on a whim but felt they were useless later on and stopped practicing. Now, she regretted not practicing daily—if she had, perhaps she wouldn't have been knocked down by that robber.

Regardless, it wasn't too late to start practicing now, particularly since this Lin Yuan's body was only twelve years old. Why not practice since it would both strengthen her physique and provide self-defense?

Perhaps it was the noise of her punching that woke up Lin Wei and her sister in the house. The two found it novel and came out dressed to watch their eldest sister practicing punches. Lin Wei didn't think much of it, just puzzled how her big sister had learned to do this, but Xiao Linshuang was extremely interested. She was swinging her arms and kicking her legs, trying to imitate what she saw.

Lin Yuan saw the spark in her little sister's eyes and had a sudden inspiration—why not have the two girls practice with her? Even if they wouldn't need these skills in the future, it would certainly be beneficial for their health and fitness.

No sooner had she voiced this idea than Lin Wei moved away dismissively, complaining, "Big sister, you used to follow Brother Zhuzi all the time, why didn't I see you learn to study anything, just how to fight? You better not practice anymore. If Brother Zhuzi finds out, he'll surely not marry you when he comes back."

Hearing Lin Wei say this, Lin Yuan was momentarily stunned. Brother Zhuzi? Marry? Her mind raced, and she seemed to recall someone like that.

Chen Zhu, thirteen years old, lived with his parents in the dilapidated straw hut next door. The villagers said his family had fled from the South and had little money. His father had blinded one eye during their escape, and his mother was quite frail. But Chen Zhu himself was sharp, and he studied well. The Chen family and Lin Jiaxin had somewhat sympathetically agreed on a verbal marriage arrangement, saying that once Chen Zhu passed the civil examinations, they would get married.