Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 10

“Sweetheart, it’s time to get up. If you sleep too much at noon, you won’t be able to sleep at night.”

Lu Jiafu and his wife have been lying on the kang for more than an hour. The door has been knocked several times, and there is still work waiting for them in the fields and at home. Clearly, they can’t stay there any longer.

Reluctantly, the couple gets off the kang. Seeing their daughter sleeping in the small bed with a rosy face, they feel a twinge of jealousy and want to wake her up.

“Sweetheart, sweetheart.”

Xu Jiaoniang calls several times, but the little girl just frowns, showing no sign of waking.

“Don’t pretend; Mother knows you’re awake.” Xu Jiaoniang feels she has seen through her daughter’s tricks and reaches out to pinch her nose, trying to rouse her. “Why is it so hot!”

Just as she pinches her daughter’s nose, Xu Jiaoniang is startled by the scorching temperature on her fingertips. “Husband, our sweetheart has a fever; she’s burning up!”

Xu Jiaoniang feels anxious. Although she often bickers with her daughter over food and feels a bit jealous when she sees her husband and parents-in-law doting on the girl, the one who loves Lu Baobao most in the family is undoubtedly her mother.

“Hurry up and tell your mother to invite Doctor Wang over.”

As she directs her husband, Xu Jiaoniang begins to remove her daughter’s clothes. Lu Baobao has clearly been feverish for a while, and her clothes are soaked with sweat. If she doesn’t change them quickly, her condition could worsen.

Lu Jiafu doesn’t dare to delay. Ignoring that he has just gotten up and is only in his underwear, he rushes to the front yard with his bare chest. At this time, the women in the family should be working in the front yard.

The sisters-in-law and brothers in the front yard are naturally startled to see him shirtless, but no one has time to dwell on such trivialities.

“Hurry up and find a doctor!”

Lu Miao gives her second son a hard pat on the back, and Lu Jiafu doesn’t think twice and hurries off.

“Wait a minute, come back!”

The old lady quickly comes to her senses. Lu Jiafu can’t go out in his current state—shirtless and disheveled. If he startles any of the young wives or girls with delicate temperaments, he’ll likely be beaten half to death by the men in those families.

“Xiuyu, go! Run, and don’t delay.”

The eldest granddaughter’s recent performance fills the old lady with confidence in her ability to handle things.

“Got it!”

Lu Xiuyu, who initially intends to check on Lu Baobao, knows that fetching a doctor is more urgent. Without hesitation, she dashes off.

“You two, fetch a basin of well water and take it to the room.”

Lu Miao assigns another task to the two wives and then hurries into the house with her disheveled second son.

By now, Xu Jiaoniang has already removed her daughter’s outer clothes, leaving her in just a red bellyband with rough embroidery. There is a local belief that children under the age of six who wear a big red bellyband day and night will be protected from harm and illness. But when Xu Jiaoniang sees the scars covering her daughter’s body beneath the bellyband, she is utterly stunned.

The skin on her daughter’s shoulders has been severely rubbed raw, and blood is oozing from the abrasions. Lu Baobao’s skin is unusually delicate, and the contrast between the inflamed, red wounds and her fair complexion makes the injuries look even more alarming. Xu Jiaoniang gingerly touches the swollen area, tears welling in her eyes. The wound is hard and hot, clearly a sign of severe subcutaneous bleeding.

In addition to the two most obvious wounds, there are dozens of scratches on her arms and calves. While not bleeding, the red, swollen marks are still distressing to see.

Just this morning, her daughter was lively and full of energy, but now she lies weak and listless in bed, her body covered in what looks like abuse marks. How could Xu Jiaoniang, as a mother, possibly accept this?

“What happened here?” Lu Miao enters the room and is instantly shocked by the sight of her granddaughter’s injuries.

“It’s all my fault. I was careless—how could I have forgotten something so important?” Xu Jiaoniang quickly realizes the cause and is overwhelmed with guilt. “Lu Baobao’s skin has always been more sensitive than other children. Remember when she was younger? I had to rub her clothes hundreds of times until they were completely soft, just so they wouldn’t chafe her skin. Even now, I have to cut and resew her new clothes—around the armpits, sleeves, and collars—anywhere that might rub against her delicate skin.”

Xu Jiaoniang’s words bring back memories for Lu Miao. When Lu Baobao is born, her skin is incredibly delicate. She can’t wear the coarse cotton clothes handed down from her older siblings. Even with the finest cotton they can buy, they have to rub the fabric hundreds of times before it is soft enough for her to wear.

At that time, the daughters-in-law from the first and third rooms are openly dissatisfied. They grumble that the second room’s daughter has clothes more luxurious than their own children’s. They whisper behind Lu Miao’s back, wondering aloud where this girl gets all her “problems”—acting like a princess without the fate of one.

“Today, Lu Baobao goes with the eldest girl to cut pig grass. She carries that heavy bamboo basket back and forth twice. The thick rope must’ve rubbed against her shoulders. How could Lu Baobao endure that? And those scratches on her body must’ve come from the sharp thatched grass on the slope?” Xu Jiaoniang laments, feeling her daughter suffers a lot today.

“This——”

Lu Miao is speechless. She feels that there is nothing wrong with the second daughter-in-law’s assessment, but she also agrees with the eldest girl’s suggestion that the sisters help the family with some work. Strictly speaking, Lu Baobao is now sick, and she, as a grandmother, should bear the greatest responsibility.

How could this child endure so much without saying a word? Normally, Lu Baobao is the most delicate. If she so much as scrapes her skin, she comes running, acting pitiful to get a piece of candy. But now, with such serious injuries, she stays silent.

Lu Miao speculates that perhaps Lu Baobao has become too mature. Maybe she knows that small wounds won’t trouble the adults, but today’s injuries are severe enough to cause concern. So, she must have gritted her teeth and endured it quietly. There is no other way to explain this sudden shift in behavior.

The more she thinks about it, the more convinced Lu Miao becomes that her guess is correct. Her heart aches for her granddaughter.

This is what true filial piety looks like, she thinks. A child like Lu Baobao, so selfless and thoughtful, embodies the purest form of filial devotion.

However, the truth is far less noble than what the old lady imagines. In reality, Lu Baobao’s mind has simply been preoccupied with food—first the reed roots, then the sour and spicy pork offal. She doesn’t have time to notice her injuries. By the time she lies down to sleep, her body has grown accustomed to the pain, and her exhaustion outweighs the discomfort. She figures that since the pain is manageable, sleep can come first.

So, it isn’t filial piety at all. The real reason is far simpler: Lu Baobao is just lazy and greedy.

A somewhat disappointing truth, but the truth nonetheless.

******

“Doctor Wang! Doctor Wang!” Lu Xiuyu sprints to the doctor’s house as quickly as she can, only to find that he isn’t there.

“Tang Xiucai is sick again, and my master has been called by his brother Yuan to treat him,” says the medicine boy, who is busy drying freshly picked herbs in the yard. He points her toward the Tang residence, and Lu Xiuyu hurries off in that direction.

“Let’s use the same medicine as before. I really can’t do much for Tang Xiucai’s condition anymore. You should try getting the doctor from Huichuntang in the county to take a look.”

By the time Lu Xiuyu arrives at the Tang household, out of breath and leaning on the fence wall to steady herself, Doctor Wang has already emerged into the yard, speaking with Tang Xiucai’s wife.

Doctor Wang hasn’t openly said it, but he knows that Tang Xiucai has injured his constitution long ago. The recurring minor illnesses over the years have steadily drained his remaining vitality. Now, with his sudden high fever, it seems unlikely that any medicine will help.

“Doctor Wang, my second sister has a high fever! Please, come with me to see her!” Lu Xiuyu calls out from outside.

Doctor Wang glances sympathetically at the scholar’s wife before retrieving his medicine box.

“I’ll go with you now,” he replies.

Doctor Wang isn’t sure if what he just said to Tang Xiucai’s wife is right or wrong. The fees for a resident doctor from Huichun Hall are not cheap, and Tang Xiucai is so ill that taking him to the county is impossible. They’ll have to bring the doctor to him. Yet, judging by Tang Xiucai’s pulse, Doctor Wang should advise the family to give up.

But the Tang family relies on Tang Xiucai’s meager income from teaching. If something happens to him, what will become of his widow and their son, Yuan Ge’er?

Perhaps a doctor from Huichun Hall, with superior skills, can snatch Tang Xiucai back from the jaws of death?

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Doctor Wang follows Lu Xiuyu back to the Lu family.

As they leave, Lu Xiuyu suddenly has the strange urge to turn around. Though she doesn’t stop, she glances back in the direction of the Tang family.

There, standing in the empty yard, is the scholar’s wife. Her face is downcast, and with dark clouds gathering in the sky, the air feels heavy and ominous, as if something bad is about to unfold…

******

When Lu Xiuyu and Doctor Wang hurry back home, Lu Baobao has just regained consciousness, though her fever still hasn’t subsided.

During her sleep, she has a mysterious dream. In it, her cousin’s life plays out in front of her like a novel. Unfortunately, after waking up, she can’t recall the entire story, only managing to piece together a few vague plots.

As she suspects, her current cousin is indeed a time-traveling girl. The real cousin dies the day she falls and hits her head, and the new cousin, armed with the advantages of a time traveler, begins making delicious food and inventing new things. Under her leadership, the Lu family flourishes.

In that novel, she is supposed to die at the age of one and a half. After losing their beloved daughter, Lu Jiafu and Xu Jiaoniang become bitter and eccentric. Xu Jiaoniang, once merely lazy and greedy, turns sarcastic and mean-spirited. Years later, when she finally becomes pregnant again, she becomes obsessed with grabbing whatever she can for her son.

By that time, most of the Lu family’s wealth is created by Lu Xiuyu, naturally leading to irreconcilable conflicts between her and Xu Jiaoniang.

Lu Baobao can’t remember all the details, but she knows how the story ends. The elderly couple eventually becomes completely disillusioned with their second son and daughter-in-law, leading to the second branch being separated from the Lu family. Though they receive a portion of the family’s property, it is quickly squandered due to their lazy and arrogant nature. Meanwhile, Lu Xiuyu’s business flourishes, and she eventually moves to the provincial capital with the rest of the family, leaving the second branch behind. They are never heard from again.

This ending deeply distresses Lu Baobao. No matter how others see her parents, they have always loved and spoiled her. She can’t bear the thought of them ending up like that again.

Fortunately, she has this knowledge in advance, and she is determined to find a way to prevent it from happening.

In addition, Lu Baobao senses another secret about herself. She has a special ability—her “golden finger”—which is her beauty. Her skin always remains as delicate as a newborn’s, her eyes shine brighter than stars, and her lips are more beautiful than peach blossoms. Once she grows up, she ages much slower than her peers.

However, Lu Baobao wonders if the person who gives her this ability has a few screws loose. Beauty isn’t necessarily an advantage in an ordinary family in ancient times. Worse, her fever has been caused by her overly delicate skin.

Could this mean she won’t be able to do any physical labor in the future? Wait—maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. It seems like she can embrace the role of being openly useless.

Lu Baobao begins calculating how to latch onto her time-traveling cousin’s success. She has to make sure her cousin experiences the joy of raising a “useless” family member. This is something worth studying carefully. After all, their family is quite prolific—three freeloaders and counting. T_T

The author has something to say:
Baobao: It’s time for my cousin to experience the thrill of a rich woman spoiling a beautiful freeloader.