Chapter 1: Crossing Over

  The dawn's light slowly poured into the sleeping village, the call of the skylark opened the curtain of morning, all things woke up as the first ray of sunlight shone on them, and a farmhouse in the west of the village also started its day.

  The door of the east house creaked, and Zhao's quick footsteps entered the room, turned around and closed the door tightly, afraid that the cool morning breeze would blow on her four daughters. The eldest daughter, Jikui, had already woken up at the moment when the door creaked, raised her head to see Zhao, and said softly: "Mother, my sister's illness has recovered, and she didn't have a fever last night. You haven't slept well all night, have you? Didn't Li Langzhong say that as long as my sister eats more and pays attention not to catch cold, there won't be any major problems? Why don't you go back to sleep for a while, I'll go cook breakfast."

  Zhao smiled slightly and said, "I won't sleep either. As long as Xi Mei is fine, it's all good. Luckily, the heavens have spared her. I'll definitely go to the temple on the mountain to pray and thank the Bodhisattva for not taking my daughter away. You're also tired, sleep a bit more, I'll come call you later." After saying that, Zhao pushed open the door and left.

  Waiting for Zhao to leave, Xiju didn't plan on sleeping either. The rustling sound of her getting dressed came through, and after she finished packing up, she gently kissed the forehead of her youngest sister, Ximei.

  Actually, when Zhao pushed the door open, Xi Mei woke up too. She pretended to be nonchalant and turned over, the little girl softly sighed, it had been several days since she came here, from the moment she woke up from a mysterious sleep, everything in front of her had changed.

  I fell asleep in my own bedroom, so how did I end up in this unknown dynasty when I woke up?

  Look at the people's attire, it seems to be from the Tang Dynasty era, with no difference in customs and habits, but the food is pitifully scarce. Alas, I don't know if this family is too poor or if it's just that this era doesn't have much.

  However, she was fortunate to have gained a few loved ones who cared for her. When she first arrived, she had a severe headache and could only hear several different crying voices beside her bed. Especially when she opened her eyes, the woman was overjoyed at first, then hugged herself and cried uncontrollably.

  These days, two brothers and three sisters have been catering to my every need. During this time in bed, the brothers bring some small toys to play with me every day, afraid that I will be bored.

  Three sisters also took turns to take care of her, even the second sister with the worst temper was gentle and soft-spoken in front of her. Alas, let bygones be bygones, since heaven brought this lonely orphan here, letting her enjoy the warmth that is rare in modern times, then she should cherish everything in front of her.

  I put on my clothes quietly and slid down from the bed, afraid of waking up my sisters who were still sleeping. Later, I struggled to open the door, but it was a big effort for a 4-year-old like me, and I sweated profusely. Looking down at my small arms and legs, I sighed, wondering when I would grow up and be able to help out with household chores.

  Through these few days of observation, she knew that her family and grandfather's family had long been separated. Her grandparents lived with their unmarried youngest daughter, and the two elder uncles had also started their own families.

  In her previous life, although she didn't have parents, she was always the top student in the orphanage. After taking the college entrance exam, she got into a prestigious 211 university and after graduating, she struggled for two years in society and managed to accumulate some assets.

  Apart from this, she had also honed her culinary skills since young. No choice, without parents, she could only take care of herself. Just as she was lost in thought, Zhao Shi interrupted her "Hey look at our family's little Xi Mei, you're out so early, didn't mother tell you not to come out and get some fresh air? How did you manage to sneak out on your own? Who helped you put on your clothes, was it your second sister?"

  After Zhao finished speaking, she bent down and picked up Xi Mei. The little girl looked pleased with herself, "Mother, Second Sister is still sleeping, I got dressed all by myself." Her proud expression made the two standing people want to laugh.

  "Alright, you little white-eyed wolf, you forgot who sang lullabies and put you to sleep when you were sick. And yet you dare say I'm lazy? Watch me teach you a lesson!" Xi Mei pretended to chase her around the courtyard.

  "Help, Mother! Second sister is going to hit me. Father, come quickly, your little daughter is being bullied by others. Second sister, I was wrong, haha, I was wrong, don't tickle me."

  At this time, Chen Wangfa, who was the original master's father, used his beard to tie up Xi Mei's small face, making Xi Mei laugh loudly.

  "Zhao scolded him with a smile: 'The child is just fine, don't tease her, or she'll catch a chill and feel unwell again. You go to the west room and wake up the two kids, I'll go see if dinner is ready.'"

  The curious Xi Mei heard Zhao say so and chimed in "Mom, I also want to go see you cook, I'm going too."

  After finishing, Xi Mei twisted her small body and was about to get down from Chen Tianfa's back. As the saying goes, "people regard food as heaven", coming to this unknown dynasty place, one must take a look at what they will eat in the future, right?

  But when she came to this humble, draughty and grass-thatched kitchen with only a thatched roof overhead, she deeply felt how poor the family was.

  Actually, no need to look at the house, just looking at what the family members are wearing is enough. The clothes are neat but very few of them have no patches. Alas, a long and difficult road ahead.

  "Sister, look, little sister is still sighing. What's troubling you at such a young age? Come on, tell big sister." The eldest daughter, Xi Juan, asked with a smile.

  Just as the two were talking, Zhao's wife had already brought out the breakfast to the table outside. With a warm smile, she said, "Alright, Jihui, stop teasing her. Go and wake up your older brother, younger brother, and third sister. It's time for us to have breakfast."

  Xiju straightened up and tucked her hair behind her ear, replying "Yes, Mother, I know. I'll go now."

  After Zhao finished speaking, she turned around and saw her younger sister jumping up and down to get onto the bench. "Mama's little treasure, what do you want to do? You're not even as tall as the bench yet, and you want to climb up by yourself? Come on, don't tire yourself out, Mama will carry you up."

  After finishing speaking, he really hugged her and put her on the bench. However, when Xi Mei saw the food on the table, her eyes that were originally full of radiance slowly dimmed.

  A few bowls of thin corn porridge, dry and hard corn cakes with a side of dark, nameless salty vegetables - this is the breakfast for a whole family. But thinking back to when I was sick and had egg drop soup and chicken, those must have been the last valuable things in the house.

  I remembered Xiao San's pitiful eyes when she ate chicken, and Er Ge's swallowing sound of saliva. Xi Mei's eyes turned red without realizing it.

  "Mom, we're up, huh? My sister got up early? I slept so soundly that I didn't even hear it." The first to enter was the eldest son of the family, Chen Rui Xuan.

  He is 10 years old this year. Although he is young, he already has the qualities of a little adult. He loves and takes care of his younger siblings, is filial to his parents, and handles things with stability.

  There is also Chen Xijuan, a 9-year-old elder sister who is equally talented as him. She has a gentle personality and a beautiful appearance. In fact, not only the elder sister, but all the children in the Chen family have inherited their parents' good genes, and now they all have pleasant faces and will definitely not grow up to be ugly.

  Although I didn't have a chance to see my own appearance, looking at this situation, I shouldn't be too bad, haha. What a great mood!

  Elder brother Chen Ruihao and second daughter Chen Ximei are dragon and phoenix twins. They are already 8 years old this year. Third sister Chen Xihua is 6 years old, a bit younger, but unlike the fiery temper of her second sister, she doesn't like to talk much either.

  After a while, several children arrived one after another. Chen Tianfa called out, "Alright, everyone's here, let's have dinner! After we finish eating, we still need to go to our land to weed the corn."

  "Alright, Dad, you hurry up and eat too." Xi Mei's breakfast was still egg congee. "Mom, I'll do it myself, I'm already grown up and can't always be fed by Mom. I can manage on my own."

  "Fine, you eat by yourself, Mom won't feed you. Let me see if my little daughter can really eat on her own." Zhao thought that Jixia was just saying it and would still need to be fed herself after a while, but unexpectedly the little girl was doing fine, eating by herself in a very proper manner.

  Just as I was spacing out, I heard Xi Mei say: "Mom, you'd better eat quickly, or else Second Brother will finish all the food on the table."

  Everyone took a look, and indeed, Old Second Chen Ruihao was gobbling down the buns with an open mouth, almost stuffing half of the table's buns into his belly. Upon hearing someone mention his name, he opened his innocent big eyes to stare at others, looking as adorable as possible. Even the usually calm Rui Xuan couldn't help but burst out laughing at this sight.

  Sister Xi thought, although it was just an ordinary breakfast, her heart still felt warm.

  After dinner, the family members started their respective labors. Chen Tianfa, the head of the household, took his two sons to weed in the fields, while Xi Mei and her sisters began to spin yarn.

  A string of cash is 4 wen, a tael of silver is 1000 wen. This means that even if Da Niang and several others work together to make 250 strings of cash, they can only get one or two taels of silver. And this is still because some people are skilled at their craft, like Xiao San Jie's, which probably wouldn't sell for even 2 wen.

  What's most important is that Zhao's heart aches for his daughter and doesn't care about the 2 cents his third daughter earned after several days of hard work, so he arranges for her to take care of the youngest sister Xi Mei and also feed the two old hens that luckily escaped from Xi Mei's mouth.

  To be honest, Xi Mei really couldn't bear to let her mother and sister do this work, making connections with clients at night not only hurt their eyes but also had a low efficiency, they could hardly sell a few pieces in a month. Xi Mei looked down on it, but Zhao Shi was different, after all, mosquitoes are still meat.

  At this time you may ask, isn't there any other way to make money? Hey, it really is, in the village, there are several families who let their daughters go to wealthy households as maids, they can save money, and the daughter's wages can also help support the family.

  But Madam Zhao was stubborn, she couldn't bear to sell her daughters like some people in the village did, selling their beautiful daughters to wealthy families as maidservants. Although her father-in-law had been bedridden for many years and spent a lot of money on medicine every year, they could still make ends meet by scraping together from all sides.

  The old man was open-minded all his life, and worked hard to raise three sons. After the three sons got married, they separated from their parents' home, unlike the neighbors who quarreled every day. The three daughters-in-law were very filial to the elderly couple.

  Xi Mei was secretly delighted, fortunately, she didn't have any annoying relatives. However, thinking about other things, Xi Mei couldn't help but sigh. The most pressing matter now is to make the family's food better. Looking at her several brothers and sisters, none of them looked their age, malnutrition had caused their hair to turn yellow, and their complexion was not rosy, but rather a waxen yellow color.

  For Xi Mei, she didn't dare to say anything else, but her cooking skills were not lost. During her university days, she worked in the cafeteria for two years, eating and learning a lot of dishes from all over the country, plus her own interest in food, often searching online.

  Although the craftsmanship can't compare to a star-rated chef, it's not too embarrassing either. Well, another day I'll definitely get Second Brother to take her up the mountain for a walk and see what edible things there are. Who can stand eating this every day? She doesn't want to get a fever again because of malnutrition. Alright, that's settled then, fist bump.

  It's finally noon, and the three people who were working in the fields have also returned. They wiped their faces and lay down by the vat, gulping down several mouthfuls of cool water.

  Chen Tianfa suddenly produced a few bird eggs from his sleeve, handed them to Zhao's wife and said, "Here, bury these in the fire and when they're cooked, give some to my daughters to nourish their bodies." The tall man smiled very sincerely.

  Zhao glared at him with a sideways glance, "You're so concerned about them, looking at me like I'm some kind of stepmother. Do you need to say this?" She then walked into the kitchen, leaving Chen Tianfa standing there, scratching his head in embarrassment. There were also several children in the courtyard who had witnessed the scene and couldn't help but giggle secretly.

  If it weren't for this interaction, Xi Mei wouldn't have seen that this dad still has such a silly side, looks like she can enslave him more often in the future.

  Look at this silly girl, don't you ever think about it? Who in your family doesn't dote on you and treat you like a precious gem? If not, who would be thin and unable to get fat, just like you, plump and chubby like a doll from a New Year's painting. Whoever opens their mouth to refuse you will not succeed.