During those years with the Wang Family, she still lived days of hunger and cold, enduring ceaseless torture. She had been afraid, she had tried to run away, only to be caught and beaten severely. She had even thought of death, but she never succeeded in dying; instead, she experienced a fate worse than death, becoming numb to it all.
"Nuannuan, Nuannuan..."
Mhm, Qin Xiangnuan opened her eyes, only to feel a sour pain, an unbearable discomfort.
"Granny..." Upon seeing Granny Lu, Qin Xiangnuan couldn’t figure out who to confide in about her grievances from her past life. Yes, her past life. She knew that the moment she opened her eyes, she was fully awake. She had dreamt again of that unbearable past life.
In Qin Xiangnuan’s previous life, she would rather have been an animal than a person.
"Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid..." Granny Lu quickly patted Qin Xiangming’s face, thinking she was startled by a nightmare. She gently stroked Qin Xiangnuan’s hair while murmuring,
"Spirit of the bed frame, spirit of the bed frame, the child is soulless, please go and search;
Far and wide you must scour, near and far you must sweep;
Answer the mountains, respond to the rivers;
Bring back my little Nuannuan..."
Qin Xiangnuan closed her eyes, letting her tears fall as she slightly parted her dry lips...
"Granny, I’ve come back."
"It’s good you’re back, good that you’re back."
Granny Lu pulled up the covers to tuck Qin Xiangnuan in properly, "It’s all right now, I’ll go make you a bowl of dumpling soup, it’ll feel better after you eat. This new house might have too much dampness; I’ll burn more incense tonight to drive away the unclean spirits in this home."
"Okay," Qin Xiangnuan buried her face in the quilt, curling her body tightly.
She assured herself that it was okay now, yes, it was all okay. Her soul had returned. This was not her past life. In this life, she remembered many things. Her brother was still alive. She could make her own choices, pick the person she wanted to marry. She didn’t want to marry Wang Dali anymore, she didn’t want to see the Wang Family ever again, nor did she want to suffer like that again.
Not long after, Granny Lu came in with a bowl of dumpling soup in her hand.
"Nuannuan, come, it’s time to eat. You’ll feel better once you’ve eaten."
Placing the bowl on the kang table, Granny Lu touched her granddaughter’s soft hair. Ah, how quickly she had grown into a young lady.
Qin Xiangnuan sat up and started to eat the dumpling soup, "Granny’s dumpling soup is the best," she said after taking a sip, squinting her eyes in delight. It was delicious, and she truly felt that this bowl of dumpling soup could be considered a delicacy of the human world.
"Then eat more," Granny Lu sat beside her, watching Qin Xiangnuan eat, feeling the weight of the girl’s heart. But what could be done? It was all due to her son Pingzi’s hard life, making this child so pitiable she didn’t even know what her mother looked like.
Before school started, Qin Xiangnuan was not idle. She helped Granny Lu tidy the whole house.
Granny Lu swept the yard, not quite understanding why they needed to leave so much space in front of the door. Wasn’t it a waste? They could have parked a tractor there, which would have been quite nice. But their family didn’t have a tractor, so was this large empty space to be used for storing firewood in the future?
"Brother," Qin Xiangnuan happened to run into Qin Xiangyang and quickly called out to him.
"Hey, what’s up, Nuannuan?" Qin Xiangyang was about to go out to plant the fields. They had rented some land here, just behind the house, very close by, so they could grow some vegetables and such in the future. This would save them the trouble of asking or buying from others.