It was such a rare opportunity that he couldn’t let it slip by. Excited, he hastily bonded with the soul. Only after the bond did he realize that the owner of this soul was still just a baby. However, after only a few days, he accepted this fact. A baby is good, still a blank slate, he reasoned. If I can guide it secretly, and given the soul’s inherent purity, the child will undoubtedly grow up to be a person of great merit. With this in mind, he was no longer impatient. After all, I’ve waited for a thousand years; a few more won’t matter, he thought.
In an ancient farmhouse family, there was little evening entertainment, and oil lamps were expensive. As soon as it got dark, everyone was in bed.
Because Zhao Zhitong had been frightened during the transmigration, she hadn’t wanted to sleep alone these past few days, always clinging to Sun Mei to sleep together.
At the same time, Sun Mei and Zhao Dong didn’t feel at ease leaving her alone in bed, so they agreed.
Sun Mei sprayed some floral-scented insect repellent and used a fan to drive away the mosquitoes before putting up the mosquito net.
Just after taking a bath, the little girl dashed in like a bouncing ball and reminded her mother, "Mom, I want to go to school with you tomorrow. I want to play with Zhao Yue."
Before Sun Mei’s traveling through time, she had worked as a cook at Country Gentry Wei’s Private School in the neighboring Xiaoyi Village. It was a relaxed job, and she only had to cook one lunch a day. Sun Mei continued doing this job after her time traveling, afraid of arousing suspicion.
As no one was at home to care for Zhao Zhitong, Sun Mei would bring her along whenever she went to the Private School to cook.
Sun Mei pressed the edge of the mosquito net under the straw mat, then lay down beside Zhao Zhitong and coaxed her to sleep, "Alright, alright, go to sleep now."
Believing that they had agreed, Zhao Zhitong snuggled into Sun Mei’s arms, closed her eyes, and happily fell asleep.
Early the next day, Zhao Dong and Sun Mei got up just as the rooster crowed. Their movements seemed to wake Zhao Zhitong, as she turned over and sat up, asking, "Mom, are you going to school now?"
"It’s still early. You go back to sleep, and I’ll call you later."
Before Sun Mei could finish speaking, Zhao Zhitong had already lied back down and quickly fallen asleep, with her small bottom sticking out from under the blanket.
Farmers always wake up early. When Sun Mei and Zhao Dong put on their clothes and went to the courtyard, they could already hear the barking of dogs and the sound of villagers heading out.
It was only when they heard voices coming from the courtyard that Zhao Zhitong crawled out of bed, pushed open the door, and saw her mother sending Tian Cuihua out. "Mom, are you leaving?"
"Oh, don’t worry. It’s still early."
After sending Tian Cuihua off, Sun Mei picked up Zhao Zhitong and headed back indoors. "Let’s put on some clothes first. How can you run outside wearing just a bellyband? Aren’t you embarrassed?"
"Hmm, what’s Dad doing with the cart?" Zhao Zhitong asked, looking at the busy Zhao Dong in the courtyard.
"Your father is going to make some money."
Today there was a marketplace, and Zhao Dong was planning to sell bamboo baskets there while also looking for other business opportunities.
During the summer, days started early, and farmers would wake up even earlier, especially if they planned to go to the marketplace. Zhao Dong decided he would go early too.
By then, he had already piled the bamboo baskets on his flat cart.
Sun Mei had already made some pancakes and boiled a pot of water. She also made three bowls of egg tea with a spoonful of sugar in each. Zhao Dong quickly drank his egg tea, grabbed a pancake, and hurriedly left the house.
"Tongtong, come back, eat your eggs."
Zhao Zhitong stood at the door, watching the direction Zhao Dong had left in with reluctance. Only when she heard Sun Mei call did she turn around and run back to the kitchen.
"Mother, I also want to go to the marketplace."
Sun Mei put the egg tea on the dining table, turned around and lifted the little girl onto the stool, handed her a spoon, and let her eat by herself.
Hearing Zhao Zhitong’s words, she laughed, "Why do you want to go everywhere? Your father is going to earn money, what will you do there?"
Zhao Zhitong replied, "I’ll also make money."
"You? HAHA, you spending money would be more like it." Sun Mei didn’t take Zhao Zhitong’s words seriously and turned to enter the kitchen.
She prepared to knead some dough, so when they came back from school, the dough would have fermented and she could steam the buns.
In ancient times, there was no yeast powder for fermenting steamed buns. Instead, they used old fermented dough as the leavening agent. The leavening dough was generally dough left over from the last time they steamed buns and allowed to ferment, and was thus called old fermented dough or old leaven. Farmhouses usually had some stored.
They had just separated households, so there was no old fermented dough at home. Therefore, they never steamed buns and always ate pancakes, which was rather uncomfortable.
Just now, Tian Cuihua had brought over some old leaven for her. Yesterday, while chatting, Sun Mei had casually asked about it, and she didn’t expect Tian Cuihua to deliver it today.
This Tian Cuihua is truly a warm-hearted person, Sun Mei couldn’t help but think.
It wasn’t time to cook for the Private School yet, so after Sun Mei kneaded the dough, she went to the courtyard and started washing clothes. With washing powder in Zhao Zhitong’s space, she rarely had to go to the river to wash clothes.
Zhao Zhitong squatted at the door and played by herself.
Just then, she suddenly heard crying and the sound of people talking and arguing. She looked up and saw several adults standing at the entrance of Elder Aunt’s courtyard.
Zhao Village was the largest village within several miles, with a total of sixty-nine households. The houses were all built close together.
Zhao Dong’s family currently lived towards the end of the village, and the courtyard that had been allocated to Zhu Clan’s mother and son was not far from them. Both courtyards were in the same alley, separated by two other households.
Sometimes at home, they could hear Zhu Clan scolding or hitting her children. This Elder Aunt is very fierce, Zhao Zhitong knew as a result.
At that time, hearing the children’s crying, Elder Aunt must be hitting the children again, she thought.
As expected, in the next moment, she saw Elder Aunt holding a little girl in one hand and coming out of the house. Two boys followed closely behind her.
The three children were Elder Aunt’s children. Zhao Zhitong recognized them. The girl’s name was Zhao Ya, and the two boys’ names were Zhao Cheng and Zhao Yu.
Zhao Ya clung tightly to Miss Zhu’s arm and cried heartbreakingly, "Mother, mother, don’t sell me. I’ll be obedient, I won’t eat anymore, mother, WAHHH, please, mother."
Following from behind, Zhao Cheng and Zhao Yu were also crying and pleading, "Mother, don’t sell our sister! Don’t sell her!"
"Why are you crying? You all want to eat meat, right? Once your sister is sold, we’ll have money for meat." Miss Zhu ruthlessly pried Zhao Ya’s hand away and pushed her towards the Human Trafficker woman in the lead.
Zhao Yu grabbed hold of Miss Zhu, looked at his helpless sister, and cried, "We won’t eat meat anymore, Mother, don’t sell our sister!"
The woman held Zhao Ya and looked at the family, snorting with laughter, "Stop crying. Your sister won’t have a good life in your home anyway. She might as well go to a rich family as a maid. It’s better than the whole family starving to death."
The Human Trafficker woman then examined Zhao Ya, and after finding no physical defects, she nodded with satisfaction, took out some silver from her pocket, and handed it to Miss Zhu, "Three taels of silver, take it. I’m taking the girl. If you have more children to sell in the future, come find me. A boy is worth five taels of silver each."
As she spoke, she glanced at Zhao Cheng and his brother, scaring them both into forgetting to cry.
Not far away, Zhao Zhitong, upon seeing the woman hold her crying cousin and then give money to Elder Aunt, was so scared that she stood up, screamed loudly, and dashed back into the house.