Transmigration: A Farm Girl's Brocade-Chapter 31 - Mischief_1
Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Mischief_1
Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Mischief_1
The little girl timidly stepped back two paces, continuing to stare at the roasted sweet potatoes in a daze.
An old woman selling chickens beside her advised, “This child must be starving to stand here like this, if you’re not going to give her any, that’s fine, but why curse so unpleasantly?”
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The woman selling sweet potatoes quickly explained to the chicken seller, “Oh dear, big sister, you don’t know, this girl is from our village. Her mother is a lunatic, running around crazily all day long. She fell down a mountain and then falsely accused my son of pushing her, extorting a hundred coins from my family. Oh, she has no conscience…”
As the woman spoke, spitting as she went, she kept an eye on the little girl, fearful that in a moment of inattention, the child might steal a roasted sweet potato from her.
However, she did not see that from the other side of the old locust tree, a long branch reached out, poking a sweet potato before retracting. Then another branch extended, this one still adorned with a few leaves, though it looked as if it had just been fished out from an outhouse, smeared with some yellow excrement. The branch daubed at the sweet potatoes a few times, then shook off the mess before retracting.
The little girl waited for about another minute or two, then turned around and bolted as soon as she rounded the corner of the alley.
The woman continued to curse the Old Qian Family, paying no mind to the girl who had walked away.
A four or five-year-old child walked up, pulling an old man along. The child exclaimed, “I want to eat roasted sweet potatoes.”
The woman immediately beamed and retreated behind her stove, saying, “How many do you want? I’ll get them for you. Not to boast, but my sweet potatoes are the yellow-fleshed type, they are fragrant, sweet, and glutinous when roasted…”
Before she could finish, she pinched her nose, sensing something was off with the smell. Looking down at the sweet potatoes, she saw they were smeared with yellow poop, already baking and beginning to smoke. The stench mixed with the aroma of sweet potatoes was nauseating.
The old man was furious and cursed, “You black-hearted, rotten-lunged wretch, selling ‘yellow poop sweet potatoes’ while claiming they’re ‘yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes’…”
The woman screamed, “Who’s the bastard responsible for this? Ah, may they be cursed, may their conscience rot, I curse their ancestors for eighteen generations…”
Qian Yeejin and Qian Yixiu ran out of the town hand in hand. Qian Yixiu ran as hard as she could, terrified of being caught. She was a good child, and this was the first time in her two lifetimes combined that she had done something bad. Even though she was just an accomplice, she felt guilty. But at the same time, she was extremely excited and thrilled.
Qian Yeejin stopped, pulling his sister to a halt, “Okay, Old Grandma Fan won’t catch us now.” He then wondered aloud, “Turns out you can really run, sister. Why do you always say you can’t walk and ask me to carry you?”
After stopping, Qian Yixiu felt her heart beating too fast, her legs weak, and her breathing rapid. The original owner’s frail body couldn’t handle even mild exertion. Knowing she couldn’t stop immediately, she slowly moved her legs, continuing to walk forward. Hearing Qian Yeejin’s remarks made her even more frustrated; in her haste, she had forgotten she had a little porter right by her side and had nearly killed herself from the effort.
She had been consistently exercising in the past few days, “following” Qian Yeejin everywhere, and had even caught two nests of rabbits and found more than twenty wild chicken eggs. She was hoping to grow stronger quickly so she could venture into the mountains. There were some secrets up there, hehehe, only the heavens, the earth, Ma Mian, and she, Qian Yixiu, knew about them.
However, up to that point, the farthest she could go was to the town five miles away from home or to a gentler hillside. Also, she had confirmed her suspicion that the water in Pine Pool was indeed sweeter than that in Butterfly Spring. Once she had the money, she would quickly buy land, including Pine Pool — it would be very useful.
Once she caught her breath, she stood stubbornly and declared she could walk no further. The little packhorse resigned himself to his fate and bent down to let her climb onto his back.
They walked past a small grove of trees and across a field, arriving at Green Willow Village. To the west of Green Willow Village lay Song Village, where the vast majority of the villagers were tenant farmers for the Sheng City’s Song family. The Song family owned thousands of mu of good farmland there, with villagers from several nearby villages, including Huaxi Village, renting land from them.
The Song family also had an estate here to manage the fields and tenant farmers. Qian Yixiu glanced at the distant courtyard, thinking that if she could ingratiate herself with the steward who managed that big household, her family would gain an extra source of support. Steward Wong might just be a servant of the Song family, but he was quite imposing in this region, and the locals all referred to him as Old Wong.
Although Old Wong couldn’t be considered a bad person, he absolutely wasn’t a man of great integrity either. Stingy, miserly, and a bit of a bully by borrowing power, if one didn’t find a good opportunity, one would never catch his eye.
Crossing through Green Willow Village and a vast expanse of fields, they arrived at Hong River. Having crossed Hong Bridge, there was another stretch of fields. Beyond this expanse laid Huaxi Village.
Qian Yeejin looked out over the boundless fields and said, “Great-grandma mentioned that our grandpa earned a good sum of silver as a courier and bought over a dozen mu of rice fields here. Unfortunately, our family’s fields have all been sold. When brother makes something of himself in the future, we’ll buy a hundred mu of top-quality fields here, just like the Song family, and be rich and noble.”
Such a naive child, thinking a hundred mu of fields could compare to the Song family. It seemed she needed to start saving money for his education quickly, so he could step out and broaden his knowledge.
They didn’t enter the village but took a small dirt path to the west along the northern end of Huaxi Village. After about a quarter of an hour, they arrived beneath a willow tree that was barely clinging to life. They had passed the village by now, where there were no fields; the land became barren, covered only in wild grass, wildflowers, stones, streams, and a few trees.
With no objects to obstruct their view, they could see their own courtyard to the south and the fertile fields across the Hong River to the north at a single glance.
Qian Yeejin let his sister down from his back and took out a baked sweet potato from his bosom, preparing to sit and divide the spoils on the ground. Qian Yeejin had avoided the village road and chosen this secluded path just for the purpose of sharing their loot.
Seeing the sweet potato, Qian Yixiu felt annoyed again. When they discussed their plan initially, stealing sweet potatoes was not part of the scene, but this reckless child had improvised this act. She was terrified when she saw the branch used to fork the sweet potato. If they were caught, it would no longer be considered a child’s prank but theft.
Qian Yixiu felt that Qian Yeejin was too young to fully understand right from wrong and was somewhat uncontrollable with food. If he developed the habit of “conveniently” helping himself to food, it would spell trouble. She still wanted to cultivate him into a person of importance for the family.
So, she pretended to be pitiful and said, “Brother, how could you steal a baked sweet potato? What if someone caught you? You’re the only strong man in our family. If you get thrown in jail, what will we do?” She finished speaking, blinking her red eyes and looking at him as if she was on the verge of tears. Ever since she had translocated into this body, she had carried some of the original owner’s innocent flower-like traits.
Qian Yeejin, seeing his sister about to cry with pursed lips, felt heartbroken. Thinking about her words, he also felt a shiver of fear. Indeed, he was the only strong man in the household—if he ended up in prison, what would happen to mother, sister, grandparents, and aunt? He immediately swore and cursed, promising never to help himself to others’ food again.
After making his oath, he still couldn’t bear to throw away the sweet potato and negotiated, “Sister, since we’ve already taken it, let’s just eat it. I promise I’ll never do this again.”
With his sister’s permission, Qian Yeejin divided the sweet potato in two. He devoured his share in a few eager bites and, caring for his sister, leaned down to wipe her mouth with his sleeve. He used too much force, and his patched-up sleeve scraped across Qian Yixiu’s little nose, causing her to hum in pain.
After cleaning up their makeshift battlefield, Qian Yeejin said, “Sister, don’t tell great-grandma and great-grandpa about eating the baked sweet potato when we get home. They’d be angry if they knew we helped ourselves to someone else’s things.”
The mischievous child was quite sly, and Qian Yixiu nodded in agreement. She then held out her thin little arms, and Qian Yeejin, in good spirits, bent down to let his sister climb onto his back.
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