Chapter 1: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 1 Escape (1)
In the twenty-seventh year of Da Chu Hui'an, continuous drought and flooding ravaged Lingnan, spanning six prefectures and eighteen states. Across thousands of miles, vegetation depleted, and famine spread; nine out of ten houses in various prefectures were empty. Some fled north to seek a means of survival, while others turned to banditry, wreaking havoc among the people. The disasters even reached the capital, causing uproar in the court...
When Mo Yan regained consciousness, she felt a discomfort beneath her. She groggily opened her eyes, only to be blinded by the glaring sunlight.
"Elder sister, elder sister is awake! Second sister, come quickly, elder sister is awake!"
A sharp child's voice sounded in her ears, startling Mo Yan. Before she could see who was speaking, a small figure lunged towards her. She instinctively tried to evade but failed, and the entire weight crashed down on her. Her head struck the ground hard, causing stars to dance before her eyes, and she nearly lost consciousness.
Immediately after, another excited shout came, "Ah— elder sister, elder sister is awake, she really is awake!"
Mo Yan hadn't even had time to contemplate why she was still alive before she was bewildered by these two sudden "elder sister"s: she was the only daughter in her family, with no siblings!
As she pondered, a wave of unfamiliar and disordered memories flooded her mind, causing her to break out in a cold sweat and almost faint from the pain. Her already pale face turned even paler.
Seeing her sister in pain, Mo Xin and Mo Zhen were too frightened to move. Six-year-old Mo Zhen thought he had caused his sister's injury and began to cry in fear, tugging at his sister's hand frantically, "Second sister, elder sister is hurt, Zhen'er didn't mean it!"
Nine-year-old Mo Xin, unable to comfort her trembling brother, quickly sat down, placing her sister's head on her lap and massaging it repeatedly, muttering, "Elder sister, it doesn't hurt. Xin'er will massage it for you, and it will stop hurting..."
Although her head was throbbing as if being pricked by needles, Mo Yan remained conscious. Combining the influx of unfamiliar memories with her own, she roughly understood that she had been reborn into the body of a thirteen-year-old girl. Coincidentally, her new name was the same as her previous one, and the two children before her were her original siblings!
Mo Yan looked at the mature-for-her-age Mo Xin, feeling a strange bitterness in her heart. She suppressed her discomfort and forced a smile, comforting, "Xin'er, don't worry. Elder sister is much better now. Go and comfort Zhen'er. Don't scare him!"
Mo Xin was delighted to hear her sister speak to her and believed that her massaging was effective. Her movements became gentler, and she lifted her head to call out to her brother, "Zhen'er, come here. Elder sister is better now. Don't cry!"
The sobbing Mo Zhen, upon hearing his sister's words, hastily wiped his tears away. Seeing his elder sister smiling at him, he plopped down on the ground and burst into tears again!
But this time, they were tears of joy!
As her memory settled, Mo Yan felt the pain in her head subsiding. Surveying her surroundings, she realized they were on a small hill. Judging from the emaciated appearance of Mo Xin and Mo Zhen, who looked like they had just emerged from an African refugee camp, Mo Yan had to accept the cruel reality before her.
Indeed, they were on the road fleeing disaster, and they had been on it for over a month.
Originally, the family of four was fleeing together, but now only the three siblings remained. Could it be that their original father deemed the three of them a burden and abandoned them, fleeing alone?
It wasn't that Mo Yan had a dark mindset; human nature was the most unpredictable thing. Although the original father doted on his children, many couldn't endure the hardships of the journey, leaving behind the sick elderly and children and walking away. Mo Yan couldn't be certain that her original father wouldn't do the same.
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