Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 3

“Hehehe, don’t lick me, it’s so itchy.”

Xiaobao has a beautiful dream. In the dream, Father Shen and Mother Hua bring her a little black dog that has just been weaned. The little black dog is very lively. It probably knows that she will be its little master in the future, and it wants to do everything it can to please her. 

“Aw——”

The puppy’s cry is very childish, and its paw pads are soft. Its two front paws scratch her calves as it stands on tiptoe, jumping and stretching its long tongue out, as if it can kiss the little master’s face. 

Sheng Baobao is very happy to be coaxed by this little black dog. She squats down to play with it. The puppy’s soft, barbed tongue and fluffy hair make Sheng Baobao laugh. Finally, she can’t help but reach out and push the little dog away. 

The dream is so pleasant and happy, but reality is a bit scarier.

The black cloud seems to have found some delicious food. Countless ghost faces struggle to break free from the control of the dark cloud, roaring and drooling at the girl on the bed. Soon, Sheng Baobao is enveloped by these dense ghost faces, and countless black silk threads seek gaps to penetrate her body.

“Pah—”

In the dream, Sheng Baobao wants to push away the little black dog that rushes over again.

In reality, she raises her hand and waves it in the air. The ghost faces within her reach are annihilated after a shrill scream. 

The surging ghost energy seems to pause, leaving no time to process the scene it just witnessed. 

Lady Hua is a half-baked charlatan, but her words to scare the old couple accidentally hit the truth. The black stone that the child picks up from the grave is really not a good thing. 

The black stone is actually a piece of high-quality black jade. In the Xuanmen, black jade is an excellent material for refining evil tools, because black is yin, and black jade absorbs evil spirits more easily than other jades. 

The owner of the black jade has died locally during the war years. His belongings are looted and thrown into a mass grave. The black jade stays behind because it is unremarkable and looks like an ordinary stone. It is discarded into the mass grave along with its owner.

As time passes, the graves in the back mountain fill with unclaimed corpses and bodies of families who starve to death during the famine. This large cemetery becomes a natural furnace for refining tools for the black jade.

Killed in wars, starved during famine… these souls carry resentment in life and can’t find relief in death. Year after year, they have long become evil spirits. These strange and evil spirits merge with the black jade. 

When the little boy picked up the black stone, the evil weapon had already been forged. Having absorbed the resentment of hundreds of souls, the spirit weapon had no human nature. Instead, it harbored endless desire for destruction and killing, greedily seeking to devour all living things it encountered.

If Hua Yingpo had arrived a little later today, the little boy would have already been the food for black jade. This evil weapon has not tasted blood yet, and since Hua Yingpo takes away its vessel, it gives up the boy and chooses to follow Hua Yingpo instead. The latter becomes its new food.

However, this newly born spirit weapon still has some awareness. It knows how to seek benefits and avoid harm. After being wounded by the Bagua mirror in Hua Yingpo’s bedroom, it avoids that room and is drawn to Sheng Baobao, who lives in another room and exudes a strong life force. 

But it doesn’t expect that this seemingly weak food can actually disperse its ghost energy. 

The spirit weapon is enraged. It has just gained intelligence, but first, it is shaken off by Hua Yingpo’s peach wood sword in the child’s home, and then injured by the Bagua mirror in Hua Yingpo’s bedroom. Now, it hasn’t devoured a single soul, yet it is attacked by this “food.” 

The remaining consciousness of the spirit weapon vanishes in an instant. Now, it simply wants to tear this food apart and devour it piece by piece. 

In the dream, the little black dog becomes more and more lively. It wants three heads and six arms to lick the baby’s palms and little feet. Sheng Baobao giggles, trying to push the puppy away, but the dog is too agile. Its chubby little body jumps to avoid her hands. When it finds an opportunity, it rubs its furry body against her, leaving its scent behind.

Sheng Baobao can only dodge by feeling, kicking her legs and waving her hands from time to time. In reality, the spirit watches helplessly as its ghost energy is slapped and kicked apart. The dark clouds in the room fade and struggle to form again.

The spirit finally realizes that this seemingly weak food is not something it can handle. It looks at Sheng Baobao’s soft, tender little hands and the cute feet that have kicked off the quilt with fear, then turns to flee.

In the dream, the little black dog finally gets tired of licking and lies on the ground with its tongue hanging out, its limbs splayed out, its pink paw pads facing up, and its tail swaying back and forth as if gathering strength.

Sheng Baobao, full of adoration, rushes over with starry eyes and picks up the puppy.

In reality, before the spirit can escape, Sheng Baobao turns over and presses it beneath her. The remaining dark clouds vanish. After a wail, the room returns to calm.

“Good boy, good boy,” Sheng Baobao mutters, raises her hand, and pats the pillow, as though touching something, then smiles in satisfaction.

About half an hour later, Sheng Baobao turns over again, kicks off the quilt, and after a rustling sound, a furry little head pokes out from beneath the corner of the quilt.

“Aw——”

The little black puppy shakes its soft, fluffy hair and tilts its head to look at Sheng Baobao, who is sleeping soundly.

“Aw——”

It barks again, and seeing that Sheng Baobao doesn’t wake up, it uses all its strength to break free from the heavy quilt.

The struggle is so intense that the little puppy doesn’t stop after escaping, and it rolls like a small ball to the head of the bed, “slaps” against the headboard, then slowly slides down.

“Aw——Awoo——”

The little puppy raises its front paws to rub its sore nose, then staggers and twists its butt as it walks over to Sheng Baobao’s side.

“Aw—”

It barks twice more and raises its paw to push Sheng Baobao’s little arm, but she shows no signs of waking up. The little black dog gives up, tilts its head, looks at the quilt she has kicked off, trots over, picks up a corner, and laboriously covers her back up.

After doing all this, the little puppy is exhausted and collapses. It crawls back under the quilt, puts its head next to Sheng Baobao, and falls asleep.

In the middle of the night, Hua Yingpo is awakened by a nightmare. She touches her back—her pajamas are soaked in sweat, and there is a faint human-shaped water stain on the bedsheet.

“What’s wrong?” Sheng Wukun is awakened by her turning on the light.

“I don’t know why, but I feel a little panicked.” Hua Yingpo gets up and puts on her shoes. “You go back to sleep, I’ll go check on Bao’s room.”

She doesn’t tell her husband about the nightmare she has had. In the dream, their baby is swallowed up by an evil spirit, and the child is crying out to her in fear and pain, “Mom, save me! Mom, save me!”

Baby Sheng’s room is next to theirs, and Hua Yingpo quickly walks over and arrives shortly thereafter.

She turns on the headlight in the room and walks to the head of her daughter’s bed. The little girl is sleeping soundly, her face rosy. Because the child has been restless, the sweat has stuck the stray strands of hair on her forehead.

Hua Yingpo places the back of her hand against her daughter’s forehead to check her temperature, and breathes a sigh of relief when she sees her daughter’s belly rising and falling with each breath.

It’s just a nightmare!

Hua Yingpo can’t help but laugh at her own fear. She is a charlatan who pretends to be a deity and deceives people. How could she believe in such things?

She doesn’t notice that the puppy sleeping next to her daughter has been woken up by her and barks at her twice, cursing angrily. However, since the puppy senses the same blood aura in this woman as the child beside her, it only barks twice before stopping.

Lady Hua tucks the corners of the quilt around her daughter again, then turns off the light and leaves.

“What’s wrong?” When she returns to their room, Sheng Wukun is still awake.

“I just had a nightmare.”

Lady Hua doesn’t want to talk about the nightmare that still makes her feel distressed, so she changes the subject and begins talking about her work helping the third grandma’s family with exorcising evil spirits that evening.

“That child is really brave. He dares to pick up something from the mass grave.” She sighs.

Having already gotten out of bed, she walks to the clothes rack, takes off her shoes, and retrieves the stone wrapped in yellow talisman paper from her clothes.

This yellow talisman paper is, of course, fake. The couple bought some yellow paper and Cinnabar at an incense and candle shop, copying the talismans from books left by the old Taoist priest to make peace talismans, exorcism talismans, and spirit-suppressing talismans…

Their family’s peace talismans sell very well because the local guardian deity has many followers, and Hua Yingpo is a well-known spokesperson for the local deity. Whenever someone in the family is about to travel far, they come to Lady Hua to ask for a peace talisman to bless their family members traveling.

Hua Yingpo tears open the spirit-suppressing talismans and takes out the stone.

“Huh!”

Initially, Hua Yingpo plans to throw away the black stone, but after tearing open the talisman, she is shocked.

She has seen the black stone when the third wife and her husband handed it to her. At the time, it was a dark, lifeless stone.

But now, the stone in her hand is clearly a shining and translucent black jade.

Hua Yingpo can still tell the difference between jade and stone.

“Bao’s father, take a look.”

Hua Yingpo climbs into bed and hands the black jade to Sheng Wukun.

“This piece of jade…”

Sheng Wukun is also surprised. The texture of the jade is so fine, with no trace of flaws or imperfections. He holds the black jade up to the light bulb on the ceiling. The jade is so transparent that a faint glow surrounds it, as if it contains great power.

“I remember when I was at the Third Grandma’s house, this was clearly just an ordinary stone.”

Hua Yingpo is puzzled. Could the lighting at the Third Grandma’s house have been too poor, causing them to be mistaken?

“This must be something valuable. It’s a pity it was picked up from the mass grave. Otherwise, we could have strung it and hung it around our baby’s neck. It’s said that jade nourishes people, and such a fine piece of jade could have spiritual properties.” Sheng Wukun sighs.

When the old Taoist was alive, he often told him that top-grade jade was the best material for spiritual nourishment, and many magic tools were made from jade. However, the old Taoist had never mentioned that black jade was a special kind of jade. Not only was it difficult to use for magic tools, but it also had a tendency to attract evil.

“Let’s keep it. It would be a shame to sell it now.” Sheng Wukun carefully puts away the black jade. He seems reluctant to throw it away.

Lady Hua also agrees with Sheng Wukun’s idea.

In the 1960s and 1970s, antique calligraphy and paintings were harmful to people. In order to save themselves, people would rather throw them away or burn them. But now, things are different. The value of antiques has risen sharply. At one point, a wealthy man offered 500 yuan for the Bagua mirror left by the old Taoist. If this trend continues, the price of antiques will only keep going up.

“Gold in troubled times, antiques in prosperous times. As people’s living standards improve, the value of antiques only increases. This jade is a bit old, but its quality is excellent. Let’s keep it for Bao. When he grows up, we can sell it and buy him a big house in the city.” Sheng Wukun is excited. They have just made a small fortune.

“All up to you.”

Hua Yingpo is also pleased. Fortunately, she hasn’t thrown the stone away, or they would have missed such a great opportunity.

Sheng Wukun stands on the bed and picks up his wife. Hua Yingpo also reaches for the iron box on the beam. Most of their family’s savings are kept in this box. She takes the key from around her neck to unlock the first lock, while Sheng Wukun uses his own key to unlock the second.

Inside the small iron box are many gold bars, jade pieces, and scattered gold ornaments. The trauma from their early years fleeing the mountains has left them with a fear of not having hard currency, so they’ve exchanged all the money they saved for gold. In addition to the gold, there are several thick stacks of banknotes, all in the largest denomination of ten yuan. These stacks amount to at least five thousand yuan. Together with the gold and jade, the small iron box is worth no less than one hundred thousand yuan.

In an era when having a million yuan is rare, the couple is incredibly wealthy.

Sheng Wukun places the black jade into the iron box, and the couple counts their assets again, feeling relieved.

“Bao’s father, do you think there are really ghosts in this world?” As they return the iron box to its place, Sheng Wukun turns off the lights and is about to go to bed when Hua Yingpo suddenly asks this question in the dark.

“Maybe.” Sheng Wukun is silent for a while, giving an ambiguous answer.

The old Taoist who raised him said they existed, but he has never seen them.

“Anyway, we won’t meet them.” Sheng Wukun pats his wife’s back and holds her close.

“I don’t think there are any either.” Hua Yingpo murmurs.

Those people snatched the shriveled fruit she finally found and kicked her, wishing to break her fingers. If there really are ghosts, her father loves her so much that he would have eaten those who bullied her alive.

Lady Hua never feels guilty for her deception, but that dream leaves her feeling a little scared.

“If there is really any karma, it should come to us, right? Bao doesn’t know anything.” Lady Hua asks again.

“Well, let it come to me. I am your man and Bao’s father. I will protect you even if the sky falls.” Sheng Wukun gently touches the back of his wife’s head. “Don’t think about it, go to sleep quickly. Bao said he wants meat buns for breakfast tomorrow. We need to wake up early to chop the meat.”

Lady Hua seems comforted. Sleepiness comes over her, and she closes her eyes and falls asleep.