Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Volume 4 Chapter 6

“This child?”

Funny as it was, Ge Shiyan had been married into the Fu family for nearly twenty years and had never once seen Fu Dayan’s younger sister, let alone the child she had given birth to.

This went back to an old Fu family matter.

Fu Dayan’s parents were extremely biased toward sons. In a feudal society, such people were common. They raised daughters only to exchange them for bride price.

When a matchmaker came with a proposal and offered two taels more than usual, the old couple handed their daughter over without hesitation. The man claimed to be from another place and would not hold a wedding locally. The parents didn’t care—they packed a bundle with two worn-out pieces of clothing and sent their daughter off without giving her a single coin of dowry. They never thought about what would happen if that “matchmaker” was a trafficker who would sell their daughter into a pit of fire.

Perhaps it was misfortune within fortune—the person was indeed a legitimate matchmaker, not someone who tricked good families’ daughters to sell into vile places.

But the family he had matched Fu Dayan’s sister with was no good. The man was a cripple who had beaten his first wife to death and served four years in prison.

His local reputation was rotten. Unless he paid double or triple the usual bride price, no one would marry their daughter to him. Lacking money, he came up with a crooked plan—use the lack of communication between villages to trick an innocent girl from outside.

Fu Dayan’s sister was timid. On the wedding night, when she saw her crippled husband, she could only accept her fate. 

Perhaps the man feared that killing a second wife would leave him unable to marry again, so he treated his second wife somewhat better. A year later, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.

Perhaps due to long years of hardship and malnutrition, her body was weak, and the baby was also born frail.

The first boy lived only six months before dying. That same year, she became pregnant again…

In twenty-some years of marriage, Fu Dayan’s sister had borne five children—four sons and one daughter—and not a single one survived. The cripple later gave up hope and planned to adopt a child from his clan.

Unable to bear a healthy child, Fu Dayan’s sister’s life grew worse. 

The man returned to his old ways, venting all his frustrations on her—frequently beating and scolding her, treating her as worthless, as if killing her would not hurt him at all.

Seven years ago, at thirty-eight, Fu Dayan’s sister unexpectedly became pregnant again. The cripple, already over fifty, saw this as likely his last chance for a child. For this potential final child, he treated her better again.

But after ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to a girl. 

To the cripple, this was no better than giving birth to nothing. He named the girl Lin Yu—meaning she was “extra,” unnecessary.

After that, he abandoned the idea of having a son. Before Lin Yu even reached her first month, he adopted a ten-year-old boy from the clan and gave him all the household’s few good things. 

Fu Dayan’s sister and her daughter became servants to father and son.

Early this year, the cripple died. Fu Dayan’s sister did not last long either. Years of hard labor and repeated childbirth had hollowed out her body long ago.

The only courageous act of her life was begging the Lin family elders to send Lin Yu back to her maiden house. She guessed her parents were no longer alive and that her eldest brother was now head of the house—the same brother who had given her the rare warmth of childhood. If he had been home back then, the matchmaker would never have been able to take her away.

She did not know what kind of person her sister-in-law was, but a child living under the uncle’s care was still better than being left in the Lin family, forced to rely on a boy who wasn’t truly her kin.

Weak her whole life, she used the last of her strength to fight for her daughter. Her tears and pleas moved some of the women in the Lin clan. Under their persuasion, the clan agreed to return Lin Yu to the Fu family.

They agreed only because Lin Yu was a girl. Had she been a boy, the clan would never allow him to live outside.

Ge Shiyan often sighed that Fu Dayan, a rough man, loved his daughter so dearly. But it was because of his younger sister.

When he returned from odd jobs and learned his sister had been married off carelessly, he had searched for her for years. Never finding her, he resented his parents—but filial duty kept him silent.

So when he had his own daughter, he poured all his regret into her. He let Fu Yuexia marry within the village and provided a generous dowry, trying to make up for the past.

“This is my sister’s daughter.” Fu Dayan spoke to Ge Shiyan. Though he restrained his expression, she could see he was unsettled.

Understandably so. The Lin family would never tell him the truth of his sister’s married life. But from the girl’s age—seven—and her thin, dark appearance, one could guess his sister had lived bitterly.

His eyes reddened. He blamed himself. As her elder brother, he had failed her.

He clenched his fists. Seeing this girl who so closely resembled his sister, he felt both yearning and resentment—not toward her, but toward the unseen brother-in-law who had taken his sister away, and toward his deceased parents, and toward himself.

Being his second marriage, Ge Shiyan didn’t know a maiden aunt existed. Only Fu Shichun faintly recalled that when his sister was small, their father used to say her eyes resembled his sister’s. But as the girl grew and her double eyelids turned single, their father stopped mentioning that aunt entirely.

“What a coincidence. Your sister must’ve been about my age? Surprising she had a child so late.”

Ge Shiyan hid her curiosity. Since she had been away all day, she didn’t know why this child suddenly appeared.

Had the sister-in-law died? Was the child being sent back?

She was not a kind person. Guessing this possibility immediately soured her mood. The girl looked pitiful, sure—but the world was full of pitiful people. She could not take pity on everyone.

Raising a child wasn’t as simple as a few soft words. And the child’s generation meant Ge Shiyan would have to care for her. She hardly had the time or energy. She had her own son and Baobao—how could she take on someone else?

In her mind, the girl should be raised by her father’s kin—that was proper.

So she spoke only a vague courtesy, neither agreeing nor refusing.

“Yes, Father and Mother never told us we had an aunt. Today, the cousin just came to recognize relatives. We can visit each other in the future.”

Ma Meifang was even more unwilling to take the orphan in.

A relative no one had ever heard of—clearly not close. They were only sending her here because her parents were dead and the clan wanted to dump a burden.

They already had to raise Tao Baobao, a freeloader. They could not afford a second.

And this girl—by generation—was her daughter’s elder. If an unmarried elder female relative lived in the house, how would they arrange marriage for her own daughter? And a girl who lost both parents young—who knew if her fate was unlucky? She might be a curse and harm their daughter’s reputation.

Smiling warmly, she subtly defined today’s visit as “recognizing relatives,” signaling rejection of raising the girl.

The Lin clan members felt embarrassed. Sending a child back to the mother’s family was shameful. They only agreed because Fu Dayan’s sister begged them on her deathbed. Otherwise, they’d never do something so disgraceful.

Whether Lin Yu lived or died meant nothing to them. If her adopted brother beat her to death later, it was not their burden.

They were ready to leave. If the Fu family did not want her, keeping her only added awkwardness.

Lin Yu kept her head down. In her previous life, she had heard similar words from Ma Meifang. After her uncle left her behind, the insults had grown worse. When he could still protect her, the remarks were whispered. When he grew old and bedridden, they no longer bothered to hide their malice.

There was little to feel sad about, she thought silently.

“Eldest daughter-in-law, you can’t speak like that.” 

Originally, Ge Shiyan hadn’t planned to keep the girl. But since Ma Meifang had spoken first, she immediately took the opposite side. She was determined to play a proper evil stepmother—anything the eldest branch opposed, she would support; anyone they disliked, she would bring close.

Disgusting the enemy was pleasing oneself.

Raising a child only meant letting the eldest branch eat a little less. The girl would survive.

Ge Shiyan’s attitude shifted one hundred and eighty degrees. She walked over like a fierce mother hen, pulled Lin Yu close, and pressed the girl’s head against her waist.

“Her parents are gone. Her closest kin are her uncle and aunt. How can you call it ‘recognizing relatives’? I say this child should stay here. As her aunt, I can’t promise much, but if this house has one bowl of food, she’ll never go hungry.” Her tone was righteous and firm. “Old man, what do you say? She’s your sister’s child.”

Fu Dayan was stunned. He had never imagined his wife had such a golden heart. To marry such a generous woman—surely this was the greatest blessing of his life!

He felt regret and guilt. In the past, he had often doubted her because of hints from his eldest children. He had thought she was only doing an adequate job as a stepmother—better than most, but still imperfect.

But now, she was willing to raise even his sister’s orphaned daughter—voluntarily. How could someone so kind ever mistreat her stepchildren?

He felt ashamed for ever doubting her.

The Lin clan’s embarrassment only deepened. Compared to Ma Meifang’s earlier hostility, Ge Shiyan’s generosity shone even brighter—she seemed the model of virtue.

The Fu family was lucky indeed to have married such a woman, even in a second marriage.

As for Lin Yu, she lifted her head in disbelief, eyes red.

So in her past life, she had almost had such a good aunt.