Chapter 1

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Xiaowan Village in July. The mountains were a rolling length of green, and the vegetation was flourishing.

The noon sun was unforgiving. Even the most diligent family in the village had to go home to shield themselves from the sun and avoid heatstroke.

Because the villagers only ate breakfast and dinner, they would not cook food even if they returned home at noon.

The more people a family had, the more things there were to do. The voices of the adults and the noise of the children’s screams blended together, filling the entire village with life.

At this moment, the loudest noise in the village was coming from Dong Erzhuang’s house, which was the second house in the east of the village.

Many people heard the commotion and quietly approached, wanting to listen in.

There was nothing much to do at noon. Even though the sun was shining brightly, the villagers did not have much to entertain themselves with. It was a small joy to be able to listen in on the liveliness.

“I don’t want to have to say this, but Third Brother and your family, you have to keep an eye on Nuannuan. She messed up and went to fight with Dong Man. If you want to fight, then at least fight well. She didn’t even win. Not only is it embarrassing, but you’ve also thrown the entire family under the bus. In the time we spend dealing with her, we could have been watering two more acres of land!” A middle-aged woman stood in the living room of Dong Erzhuang’s house. She had her hands on her waist and her neck raised. Her tone was dramatic as if she was in a play.

The woman was nearly seven feet tall. She was slightly plump and had average looks. Her skin was a dark yellow, and she wore her hair the way most women in the village did, in a bun. As she spoke, her eyes got bigger and bigger. Coupled with her raised eyebrows and the creases at the corners of her eyes, she looked fierce.

The third son that the woman mentioned was sitting at the north entrance with his eight-year-old son in his arms.

Upon hearing her words, Third Brother’s mouth moved, but he did not make a sound.

Seeing the situation, the woman glanced at the old lady sitting at the front. Seeing that she did not react, she said in a high-pitched voice, “Although Dong Man is a troublemaker, it takes two hands to clap. If Nuannuan didn’t cause trouble in the first place, Dong Man wouldn’t have come up to her and beat her up, right? Why don’t we agree to make her the Liao family’s sister-in-law and marry Nuannuan into the family next door? Let Young Master Liao teach her better. Perhaps she can change her temper.”

The little girl who was standing beside the woman, Dong Xing, imitated her mother. She placed her hands on her waist and raised her neck like a fighting cockerel. She clapped her hands and said, “There’s no smoke without fire!”

When the woman heard her daughter’s words, her eyebrows relaxed, and she smiled. “My Lil Xing is so sensible. She’s not like Lil Nuan, who always causes trouble for the family.”

As soon as the woman finished speaking, she felt a gust of wind beside her. Before she could react, she heard a crisp sound.

Slap!

This sound shocked everyone in the family. Some of them, who had hidden in the backyard and did not want to hear the women arguing, rushed into the house.

After this crisp sound, there was another crisp sound.

Slap!

Dong Xing did not know what had happened at all. She only felt her vision blur, and the left side of her face was in so much pain that it felt like it was being pricked by needles. She had just regained her senses when she saw that the person who hit her was Dong Nuan, who had a bandage wrapped around her head. Before she could react, she was slapped again.

Dong Xing was slapped on both sides of her face. For a moment, she did not know which side hurt more!

Dong Xing cried out loud. Even though she was only twelve years old, Dong Nuan was too ruthless. Dong Xing’s face felt numb from the slap.

After the whole family rushed in, they saw Dong Nuan with a bandagewrapped around her head and bloodstains on her face. She gently shook the fist she had punched Dong Xing with and said with a smile, “Second Aunt, you can indeed clap with just one hand. I clapped your face so loudly just now!”

Her words shocked the entire family!

Second Aunt did not even react. Her mouth was wide open, revealing her not-so-white teeth.

The young lady who just spoke, Dong Nuan, was the same age as Dong Xing this year. She was also twelve years old.

However, Dong Xing was taller while Dong Nuan was petite. She looked like an eight- or nine-year-old child.

The little girl was quite good-looking. She had willow-shaped eyebrows, almond eyes, thin lips, and a straight nose. However, because she had worked for many years, her skin was burnt, which diluted the beauty on her face.

When Dong Nuan finished speaking, the entire family still did not know how to react. She kindly said to Dong Xing, who was crying, “Dong Xing, that slap was very loud.”

Before Dong Xing could react, Dong Nuan said with a smile, “Your voice was so loud, so I gave you a slap to match.”

This sentence shocked the entire family again!

In the summer, the sun was unbearable, so the crops needed to be diligently watered. Otherwise, they would easily wither. One morning, when the entire family was out watering the fields, they heard someone call out to them, saying that Dong Nuan had fought with Dong Man. It was said that her head had been injured.

By the time they rushed over, Dong Nuan had already been knocked unconscious and was lying on the ground. Her head was bleeding and she looked extremely miserable. Dong Man was not doing much better.

The adults usually did not care about the fights between the children in the village, but today, they had gone too far. Their heads were injured, so there was no way to settle this by themselves.

However, Dong Man’s mother, Dong Manniang, was famous for being a shrewish woman. Although Second Aunt was bold at home, her arms always akimbo and her neck always sticking out, she was a coward outside.

These people did not dare to be unreasonable with Dong Manniang, but they dared to be unreasonable with Dong Man!

Second Aunt was the first to start. Relying on her status as Second Sister-in-law, she often bullied Third Brother. This time, she would not let go of the opportunity.

In the afternoon, the entire family was silent as they listened to her scolding as if she was putting on a show.

Seeing that the entire family was either surprised or confused, Dong Nuan continued to smile with narrowed eyes, but she was cursing in her heart.

She had been a bamboo spirit. It had not been easy for her to cultivate and ascend, and one day, she accidentally got involved in a war between gods and devils that only happened once every tens of thousands of years!

She thought that after dying, she would still be a bamboo spirit.

However, in the end, she turned into a human. Moreover, she was a pitiful little girl who had not even lived to be twenty years old yet, unlike the girls in the novels she had read in the past!

Dong Nuan, “…”

The grievance of not being able to cultivate, the cause of her last death, and Second Aunt distorting the truth made Dong Nuan feel furious and like she was being attacked!

Dong Nuan’s two consecutive slaps stunned the entire family!

After a long time, Second Aunt was the first to react. She jumped up and pounced on Dong Nuan. “You b*tch! You always cause trouble, yet you still dare to talk about our Lil Xing. I’ll beat you to death!”

Second Aunt threw a punch, but Dong Nuan nimbly dodged it. At the same time, she said in an aggrieved voice, “It was clearly Second Aunt who said that it takes two hands to clap. I just wanted to prove to Second Aunt that I can clap with just one hand. How did it become me who’s causing trouble?”

Dong Nuan’s voice was not loud, but it drowned out Second Aunt’s scream, allowing the entire family, including those who had just come to listen to the commotion, to hear it clearly.

“And why do you call me a troublemaker? It was clearly Dong Xing who took a fancy to the wildflowers Dong Man picked. She wanted them but didn’t dare to ask. She secretly touched one behind her and was discovered. She didn’t repent and slapped them first. When she realized that Dong Man was ruthless, she was afraid of being beaten up, so she pushed me forward. I helped Dong Xing stop the disaster. Not only did Second Aunt not compensate me, but she even scolded me. Grandma, I feel wronged!” Dong Nuan dodged nimbly as she shouted at the old lady at the door.