Blessed Girl From a Farm Family: Surviving the Famine With Space - Chapter 8

Fu An was startled and shrank back to the side.

Fu Qiang looked at the other party with a stubborn expression and didn’t make a sound.

Fu Manman felt a bit panicked as she looked at the man who was much taller than her.

“This is a temple, a place to worship the Buddha. Everyone is allowed to enter,” Fu Manman said, standing up. Her thin, small body shielded her two younger brothers as she confronted the man.

The man looked Fu Manman up and down—a scrawny little girl he could crush with one finger.

“We were here first. If you want to come in, you have to pay with grain,” the man said, his eyes looking past Fu Manman toward the bundle behind her.

The bundle looked like it might contain food.

A few little brats were easy targets for bullying. The man snorted coldly and reached out to push aside the annoying little girl in front of him. But suddenly, he was shocked and in pain, his ugly features twisting together.

“Ah…!”

How was this little girl so strong? The man felt like his hand was about to be crushed by her.

Fu Manman coldly stared at the man who was much taller than her. Her small hand gripped a few of his fingers and tightened forcefully. If he dared to bully her, she would show him her immense strength.

“Ouch…! Let go of me, let go…!” the man screamed like a stuck pig.

Everyone else in the dilapidated temple stared at the two in astonishment.

How could a grown man be screaming in pain from having his hand squeezed by a little girl?
This was really strange!

“Liu Si, let go. She’s just a child. You can rob others, but how can you steal from a few kids?” An elderly woman stood up from a dark corner.

Her clothing was noticeably better than the others’, with fewer patches, and her face had a stern, authoritative look.

Fu Manman thought this woman must be someone of higher status among this group.

“Grandma, I didn’t steal anything from her!” Liu Si said, tears welling up in his eyes from the pain. His hand was about to shatter. If he had known the little girl was this strong, he wouldn’t have dared to provoke her even with ten times the courage.

What terrible luck! “Let… let go…!” Liu Si whimpered in pain.

Fu Manman didn’t want to escalate the situation. Seeing that the man had learned his lesson, she released his hand. Then, shaking her small fist, she said fiercely, “If you dare bully us again, I’ll beat you to death.”

Liu Si, who was used to bullying others in his village, never expected to be intimidated by a little girl. Clutching his hand, he felt frustrated but had no choice but to endure it.

Liu Si turned and slunk back to his fellow villagers. A few ruffians around his age gathered around him, mocking, “You can’t even beat a little girl? How pathetic!”

“Hmph! If I wasn’t so starved from eating roots every day, there’s no way I couldn’t have dealt with that little brat,” Liu Si retorted stubbornly, saving face while secretly rubbing his sore hand.

He’d make his move tonight, once the girl was asleep.

The ruined temple was too crowded, and Fu An didn’t dare start a fire to cook the rice porridge. But Little Maodan had woken up hungry and had begun to cry, one miserable wail after another.

Hearing the infant’s cries, several people from the Liu Village turned to look at the siblings.

“What a sin! Even adults can’t get enough to eat. How are they supposed to keep a nursing baby alive?” an old man lamented with a sigh.

Fu Manman’s heart ached at Little Maodan’s crying.

Painful memories from her previous life surged into her heart.

That day had been her birthday. Her husband and her [step]sister had thrown a birthday party for her on a yacht.

The yacht was a gift from her father. In earlier years, while her father and mother were building their careers outside, she had stayed in the countryside with her grandparents.

After her mother passed away, her father remarried, and she was largely forgotten in the countryside. It wasn’t until her grandparents passed away, one after the other, that her father brought her back to the city.

Perhaps seeking to make up for his guilt, her father was very good to her, granting her every wish.

Her stepmother and stepsister also seemed to show her great affection.

But was it really affection? She had been so naive!
On the yacht, she had accidentally overheard a conversation between her stepsister and her then-husband.

“Don’t touch me! You’re Fu Manman’s husband now.”

“Darling, that foolish country woman isn’t worthy of my touch. How can her skin compare to yours? Just looking at her pains my eyes. You are my treasure!”

“Hehe, you’re so bad… stop moving your hand down, I can’t take it…”

“If you can’t take it, then I’ll satisfy you.”

The two spoke words that were foul to the ear, but they also revealed some truths that shocked and devastated Fu Manman.

“She still thinks you slept with her that time she was drunk… how ridiculous.”

“Exactly. That stupid woman even thought she was really carrying my child. Is she even worthy!”

“After we push her into the sea today, as her legal husband, I will inherit all of her assets.”

“Mmm… after this, the Fu family will be ours…”

The child was a lie. She had never been pregnant! The husband she had believed loved her deeply had never once touched her.

She had been played and deceived by these two all along…

Her hand rested on her belly. How she had longed for the baby she thought was growing there, only to discover it was all a cruel trick. It was because of that supposed pregnancy that she had agreed to marry him in the first place.

Liars!

Fu Manman’s thoughts snapped back to the present. She looked down at the swaddled bundle in her arms. A child!
A child so skinny it seemed to have no flesh on its bones, its mouth wide open as it wailed.

To be precise, it was a nursing infant not even a month old. With no milk to drink, it was emaciated, little more than skin and bones, its complexion a sallow, dark yellow, its cheeks sunken. It seemed it could die at any moment.
Even its cries were weak and listless.

“Girl, give the child to me!” A gaunt woman walked over. A blue scarf was wrapped around her head, and her cheeks were hollowed out by hunger, yet her upper body appeared surprisingly full and rounded.

“I still have a little milk left. Let me feed him a bit.” The woman’s gaze fell on the swaddling clothes, her eyes gentle.

She had milk! Hearing this, joy spread across Fu Manman’s face, and she handed the baby over.

The woman took the child, sat down to the side, opened her top, and began to nurse him.

As soon as he tasted milk, Little Maodan stopped crying, only occasionally letting out a few whimpers that seemed to hold a world of grievance.
This child had never had milk since birth. This single feeding was truly life-saving nourishment.

Fu Manman was deeply grateful to this woman. Seeing how thin and weak the woman was, likely not getting enough to eat herself, it was incredibly generous to offer to nurse an unrelated child in such difficult times.

This was a kindness she had to repay.

The woman didn’t have much milk. The starving Little Maodan drained it all but was reluctant to let go. Finally, when no more milk came, he started wailing again.

“Ah, I don’t have much milk. It’s only enough for the child to be half-full, just enough to stave off death,” the woman sighed, returning Little Maodan to Fu Manman.

“Thank you, elder sister. I will repay your kindness,” Fu Manman said gratefully.

“Silly child, I don’t need repayment. You’re just a child yourself. The times are hard; we must help each other when we can,” the woman said before returning to her own family.

She took a child from a man’s arms—presumably her husband—who grumbled, “Our own child doesn’t get enough to eat, and you’re kind enough to nurse someone else’s! There’s hardly anything to eat now. If your milk dries up, what will our child eat later?”

“That child is so pitiful. If I drink more water, the milk will come,” the woman said softly, with infinite patience.

Fu Manman soothed Little Maodan, and soon he fell asleep.

(End of Chapter)