Chapter 3

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Cheng Ling reached out and pressed on Aunt Liu’s wound.

This wound wasn’t very deep, just a little cut and some blood. In fact, by this time, the bleeding had already stopped.

But when Cheng Ling pressed on it, Aunt Liu still felt a sharp pain.

The familiar fear hit her again, and Aunt Liu suddenly froze.

Even though Cheng Ling wasn’t fully grown, she was a little taller than her.

This height difference gave Mrs. Liu a sense of threat from Cheng Ling’s condescending gaze.

“Auntie, you can’t be thinking that this external injury was because I didn’t have enough strength, right?” Cheng Ling asked softly.

Aunt Liu’s two legs trembled a bit, and she said sternly, “You, what do you want? I’m your aunt. I’m your elder! Don’t you dare go too far!”

Cheng Ling smiled and said, “Not to mention the aunt next door, even if you’re my real aunt, so what? Everything is a mess in this world. What etiquette! What top and bottom! Auntie, don’t push me too hard; otherwise, this porcelain piece won’t gently cut across your neck next time.”

Aunt Liu looked at her smile but only felt a chill run down her neck.

Cheng Ling took a step back, and Aunt Liu suddenly felt a sense of danger, as if she had escaped from the claws of a fierce beast.

At that moment, how could she still dare to bug her? She just grabbed Uncle Cheng, who was still sitting on the ground, and ran.

Uncle Cheng said, “Aiyo! Can’t you be gentler?”

Aunt Liu exclaimed, “Light my ass! You spineless good-for-nothing, I’m unfortunate to have married you! Let’s go, let’s go. I don’t know how your old Cheng family gave birth to such a sinner…”

The two of them gradually went further and further away. They mixed into the crowd of refugees and went to the area closer to the city gate.

The shed over there was not as crowded as the outer area. The materials were more solid, and the space was often larger. Generally, only the more powerful refugees with more non-disabled men in their families could live there.

In the past, every morning and evening, there would be large families in the city who would come out to set up porridge stands and distribute porridge. These refugees who were closer to the city gate would often be able to grab the porridge first.

Cheng Ling’s family’s shed was at the outermost part of the refugee gathering area, the furthest away from the city gate. If they went further, they would enter the mountains.

At this position, not only was it difficult to snatch the porridge, but there were also many insects and snakes by the mountain. At night, the wind whistled, and the mosquitoes flew around, making people panic.

However, this was nothing. The most despairing thing was that the city had not even distributed porridge in the past two days!

During this year’s summer floods, the Golden River’s riverbank burst, and half of Yunchuan Prefecture’s Tai region was hit by the disaster, which led the refugees to flee in all directions.

Cheng Ling’s family was from the Meihua village in Lou County, so they chose the north route.

They walked like this for more than twenty days. Along the way, they first saw neighbors gathering. Then, the people who fled along the way either died or scattered. Gradually, more and more unfamiliar faces appeared.

When they arrived at Ping County, the only people they knew and were familiar with were Uncle Cheng’s family.

However, even though they were of the same race, they had been separated since Cheng Ling’s grandfather’s generation.

The two sides weren’t very close when they were still in Meihua village. When they were on the road to escape, Uncle Cheng’s family was even more afraid of Cheng Ling’s family taking advantage of them. As such, there were not many cases of helping each other, as there were many cases of treason.

These things didn’t need to be explained in detail. In short, after Cheng Ling transmigrated, she merged with the original owner’s memories. Now that she gradually recalled all kinds of information from her memories, she had a clear idea of what to do next.

Cheng Erni watched Aunt Liu and Uncle Cheng leave. She lightly spat and then smiled. “Brother Ling, you’re the best!”

Cheng Dani’s face also revealed a smile, but she sighed, “What’s the point of venting our anger if we don’t have any food to eat?”

As she spoke, she walked directly to the side of her shack, lifted the grass curtain, and bent down to walk in.

Cheng Erni winked at Cheng Ling and quickly followed him. Cheng Ling naturally followed behind her.

The shack was built low, only about four feet high, and people couldn’t even straighten their backs inside. The space inside was also tiny, about three square meters.

There were some worn-out things piled up in the corner, and a person was curled up beside this pile of worn-out things!

This person was their mother, Mu Sanniang.

Mu Sanniang was almost a skeleton. She was a tall woman with long arms and legs. She was curled up on a pile of torn clothes. Her eyes were closed, her face was sallow, and her lips were pale. Just by looking at her, one could imagine how tormented she was right now.

Cheng Dani looked at her. Her eyelids trembled, and two drops of tears fell from the corner of her eyes.

However, she just pursed her lips and didn’t wipe the tears on her face. She bent over and walked to the pile of junk at the side. Then, she dug around and finally took out a rough porcelain bowl with a hole.

She lifted the grey cloth wrapped around the thick bowl and saw that half a bowl of congee was so cold that it had already congealed into a paste!

“Big sister, you actually…” Cheng Erni was shocked.

Cheng Ling quickly reached out to cover Cheng Erni’s mouth. Cheng Erni also became alert and immediately shut her mouth in annoyance.

“Every time we received the congee, mother and I would secretly save some,” Cheng Dani said softly. “This half bowl was left the day before yesterday. After that…”

After that, there were no more nobles in the city who came out to give porridge.

This half bowl of congee from two days ago was not only cold, but there was also a layer of yellow watery substance on it.

In this tiny shack, the cold porridge exuded an indescribable sour smell.

However, Cheng Dani cherished it very much and only said, “Mother can’t wake up. She must be hungry. Although she told me to leave the food for a few more days and not to touch the porridge until Brother Ling can’t hold on any longer, but…”

Then, she turned to Cheng Ling and pleaded, “Brother Ling, give it to mother first. She’s the one who can’t take it anymore.”

Cheng Ling was speechless.

She felt like something was stuck in her throat, and a sense of heartache and discomfort rose from her bones.

She took a light breath and didn’t say, “The congee is bad and can’t be eaten.” Instead, she squatted down beside Mu Sanniang and put her hand on her left hand’s pulse.

After checking her pulse and combining it with her original memories, Cheng Ling immediately had an idea.

“What I need more is medicine,” she said in a low voice.

But where could they find the medicine?

Cheng Ling, who had always been well-organized since she transmigrated, felt that she had already controlled her emotions very well. However, she couldn’t help but be at a loss at this moment.

Her eyes peeked through the cracks of the tattered shack. She was thinking about the possibility of going into the mountains to pick herbs and find food when she suddenly felt her vision blur.

Something was not right…

Wait, what did she see?

A narrow, pitch-black space with no light appeared before her.

The incredible thing was that even though the space was dark, she could clearly see everything in it.

What were they?

Small steel cups, an alcohol stove, water cleansing pills, compressed biscuits, dehydrated vegetables…

Cheng Ling was left speechless.