inueko: hi guys!! I’m sort of back-ish, just translating a novel I enjoyed awhile ago and rereading it at the same time lol. This novel is good for turning off brain and just enjoying the story and worlds for what it is, and I really like MC’s silliness so that’s why I decided to reread this hehe. hope you enjoy!
Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com
Chen Caixing changed his shoes and planned to go for a walk in the village.
Su Le wanted to say something but seemed to hesitate. Finally, he looked at Chen Caixing’s belly and didn’t say anything more.
Chen Caixing saw this and figured that Su Le must’ve silently thought that he was dirty and impregnated by an unknown man, meaning that he didn’t meet the selection criteria of the village’s noble Holy Maiden.
It was nothing more than idiotic feudal superstitious ideals.
“I’ll buy a pair of shoes for Xiao Jiu later.” Chen Caixing took his little brother’s hand.
Both of them were at home when the game suddenly prompted them to enter. They were both wearing short-sleeved pajamas and slippers. Xiao Jiu’s little feet had on a pair of cartoon pig slippers, which were quite cute but inconvenient for running when in danger.
The layout of the village was very messy, like a maze. The small paths ran horizontally and vertically, while most of the houses looked the same. Chen Caixing’s sense of direction was good, but even he almost got confused. After the village children led the way, Chen Caixing finally arrived at the ancestral hall.
The ancestral hall was at the center of the village, and there was a large circular open space paved with bluestone slabs. In the middle, Chen Caixing saw the big willow tree. It was full of lush branches and leaves, facing the entrance of the ancestral hall. He didn’t know why, but he was suddenly reminded of the walnut tree that was raised with human flesh and blood in the previous game world.
With his little knowledge of metaphysics, he knew that willow trees were yin and tended to attract dirty things, and this willow tree also faced the ancestral hall.
There was an old woman kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to the willow tree.
Chen Caixing saw that it was Hu Zi’s grandmother, the stubborn old woman with small feet.
“Wow, Grandmother is really sincere. She pays her respects every day.”
The Holy Maiden Ceremony was coming, and there were a bunch of middle-aged women sitting around the square, chatting and doing handicrafts. Chen Caixing thought of his identity and shamelessly mixed in with his big belly, treating himself as one of the ‘women.’
“Isn’t that Hu Zi’s grandmother?” Chen Caixing asked with a smile as if they were all gossiping.
The women glanced at him before shifting their gazes to Chen Caixing’s purposely bulging belly. Only then did they smile and chat, “You look very unfamiliar. Are you a university student who came to our village to observe the Holy Maiden Ceremony?”
Chen Caixing looked at his belly, feeling sorry that he was going to embarrass the reputation of a female college student again.
“Yes.” He rubbed his belly and said with a sad look on his face. “Yesterday, on my first day here, I got into an argument with Hu Zi’s grandmother. She seems to dislike me because I’m pregnant…” He wanted to speak more, but stopped while appearing aggrieved.
The woman wasn’t surprised and said, “Zha Le’s father died early. When Zha Le was young, he went to the river to play and almost drowned. Zha Le’s mother carried Zha Le to pray for the ancestors’ blessing. At that time, Zha Le was almost gone, but he was saved. The ancestors’ power could be seen, and from then on, Zha Le’s mother believed in these kinds of things. Perhaps she thinks that pregnant women are unlucky, especially at this time.”
“In order to have a healthy grandson, she even took the initiative to send her granddaughter to accompany the ancestors.” Another woman said.
Hu Zi had an older sister? Chen Caixing was a little confused and deliberately asked, “Was she called Ah Xiang?”
“Ah Xiang was from Jia Di’s family. Hu Zi’s sister was called Xiao Ya.” The woman corrected.
Maybe because Chen Caixing was pregnant with a child and didn’t ask about the Holy Maiden Ceremony, the women were more than happy to talk to him. After all, it was gossip, so of course they’d be willing to speak more.
Ah Xiang was chosen to be the Holy Maiden during the Holy Maiden Ceremony five years ago. The women were hesitant to talk about this, so they didn’t elaborate. As for Xiao Ya, she died ten years ago, before Hu Zi was even born. Hu Zi’s grandmother only had one son and valued the family line very much. At that time, Zha Le’s wife only gave birth to a girl who was Xiao Ya. Then Zha Le’s wife’s stomach didn’t show any signs of pregnancy for ten years. It wasn’t known where the little old woman heard about it, but she sent Xiao Ya, who was only seven or eight years old, to be hanged at the willow tree.
After Xiao Ya was hanged, Zha Le’s wife became pregnant with Hu Zi in the same year.
After Chen Caixing heard this, he couldn’t help but look at the little old woman again. It could be said that his gaze was full of disrespect for the elderly.
“Xiao Ya was also pitiful.” A woman sighed.
Someone immediately replied, “What’s pitiful about it? Isn’t it good to accompany the ancestors? What a great blessing.”
“This type of blessing, do you want it for your son?” Chen Caixing asked.
The woman who replied earlier immediately raised her eyebrows and scolded Chen Caixing in the village dialect. Chen Caixing appeared soft and weak, speaking in a gentle voice: “Big sister, you said that this blessing is good. I was just asking. I thought that if this blessing came to your family, you would definitely be happy.” It could be said that he was very shameless and pretentious.
“Yes, yes. The university student didn’t say much.”
“What’s the point of scolding? They are all guests, and the village chief said to treat them well.”
“What you just said seemed good, so people are just asking casually.”
The surrounding women tried to persuade the scolding woman, but there were also some who didn’t like her and took the opportunity to step on her. Anyway, in the end, the woman became so upset that she took her son back angrily.
“Ah, is big sister angry? I really didn’t do it on purpose.” Chen Caixing appeared innocent.
What a pure and innocent white lotus.
Yuan Jiuwan watched with great interest and even took out a lollipop that was in line with his primary school student character.
The women in the square were working, and their young sons were watching by their side. The children were playing nearby. After awhile, Yuan Jiuwan was surrounded by a few boys around the age of five or six years old. They were all staring at the lollipop in Yuan Jiuwan’s hand.
Only then did Chen Caixing notice. “Where did the candy come from?”
“I bought it from the store.” Yuan Jiuwan raised his hand and handed him the lollipop. “Sister, do you want one?”
Xiao Jiu’s pajamas only had a small pocket. Chen Caixing was sure that he didn’t put any candy inside, so the candy must have been bought with gold coins! He thought of the candy that was worth one gold coin and almost had a miscarriage on the spot!
One gold coin could be exchanged for ten thousand yuan!
Ten thousand yuan could buy an entire box of lollipops.
Chen Caixing felt suffocated. In the end, when he met Xiao Jiu’s innocent and caring eyes with an outstretched little hand giving him candy, Chen Caixing quickly recovered. Forget it, forget it. It was normal for children to like candy. It was his fault for not telling Xiao Jiu. Was it expensive to buy candy for one gold coin? Of course, it was expensive. But it wasn’t Xiao Jiu’s fault that it was expensive; it was because he, Chen Caixing, was just too poor.
It was all his fault!
Chen Caixing was very overprotective of the child.
“Eat.” Chen Caixing also wanted to try the lollipop that was worth one gold coin in the game store.
Yuan Jiuwan happily gave the candy to his ‘sister,’ and Chen Caixing took a lick and began cursing the game in his heart.
Trash!
It was just an ordinary milk-flavored hard candy, but it was so expensive! If there weren’t any cleansing and beautifying effects, how could it be worth ten thousand yuan!?
“You eat it.” Chan Caixing lost interest. With every lick, he felt that he was one step closer to a miscarriage.
Yuan Jiuwan nodded obediently. He took the candy that Chen Caixing had tasted and licked it himself. It was really sweet.
“Sister, I’m going to play with them.”
“Go ahead, but don’t run too far.” Chen Caixing didn’t stop Yuan Jiuwan.
There were so many boys in the square, which showed that boys were safe here. However, there wasn’t a single girl in this wretched place, especially those innocent and pure type of girls.
‘Female ally’ Chen Caixing chatted with this group of women for a while. It was all trivial matters, but he could still get some useful information.
The disappearance of Jia Di’s wife was a well-known matter among the women. However, it was taboo to talk about it. The head of the families had emphasized not to talk about it at all. Chen Caixing was even more certain that there was something fishy about Jia Di’s wife’s disappearance.
There were very few adult girls in the village. It wasn’t that there weren’t any, but there were more men than women. Therefore, the only way to get a wife was to buy them from outside.
Of course, people didn’t use the word ‘buy,’ but saw it as spending money to ‘beg’ a wife from outside.
There were very few girls in the village, but there was only one Holy Maiden. The six girls in his dream were all candidates for the Holy Maiden. If all the young girls in the village were Holy Maidens, then five years would not be enough, let alone ten years.
The women were very tight-lipped about the Holy Maiden Ceremony. Whenever Chen Caixing mentioned it, the topic would be diverted to something else.
For a moment, Chen Caixing felt that he wasn’t just facing a group of NPCs in the game. This place was too real, and everyone had their own thoughts and ideas.
He spent five yuan to buy a new pair of children’s shoes from a woman.
“Xiao Jiu, come try it.” Chen Caixing waved to Yuan Jiuwan who was not far away.
Yuan Jiuwan ran over, followed by seven or eight little boys. Yuan Jiuwan had become the leader of the children in such a short time, which made Chen Caixing proud. Then, he saw that each little boy was holding a fruit candy in a colorful plastic package.
Chen Caixing: It’s better to abort the child.
“Mom, that boy gave me candy.”
“Mom, mom, I have some too.”
“I have a lot of candies.”
The women were a little embarrassed when the little boys showed off their treasures. The village was very secluded, so unless they wanted to ‘beg’ a wife or go out to trade for salt regularly, they wouldn’t leave the village. Therefore, these things with beautiful packaging were even rarer.
They had candies too, which were usually just sugar candies made by their own family.
Because of these few rare candies, the little boys’ mothers were much more friendly to Chen Caixing, and the shoe seller even gave him an extra pair of insoles. Yuan Jiuwan tried on the shoes. They were a little big, but with the insoles and straps, they fit just right.
This place was feudal, ignorant, backwards, and indifferent, but the people were also very enthusiastic. But Chen Caixing knew that this enthusiasm was only for trivial matters. If their interests were infringed upon, it would only be crueler when they took action.
Chen Caixing thought of the girls who had been skinned and couldn’t feel any sympathy for the people in this village.
He only had a heart of stone.
As they left, the young men in the village were cleaning the ancestral hall. Two dark wooden doors creaked open. It was obviously summer, but Chen Caixing could still feel a cold breeze even from far away. Through the half-opened doors, a row of lanterns hung on the ceiling of the ancestral hall, fluttering in the wind.
It was unknown how many wronged souls of young girls there were.
“Let’s go.” Chen Caixing held Xiao Jiu’s hand and left.
Chen Caixing’s heart was a little heavy. Yuan Jiuwan sensed it, tilted his head and asked, “Brother, do you want to eat the candy?”
Speaking of this, Chen Caixing’s attention was diverted. “Xiao Jiu, tell me, how many gold coins do you have?”
“It says I have twenty-five.”
In the previous world, Xiao Jiu was amazing and helped a lot, so Chen Caixing believed it. “Did you buy a lot of candies?”
Yuan Jiuwan shook his head. Chen Caixing heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, his little brother wasn’t completely stupid.
“I also bought potato chips, soda, and ice cream-“
“I think I’m really going to have a miscarriage this time.” Chen Caixing’s face was filled with pain.
Yuan Jiuwan held Chen Caixing’s wrist with a slight smile in his eyes and a nervous expression on his chubby face. He played along and said worriedly, “Sister, the baby will be fine. I want sister to have a little baby.”
Chen Caixing: ……
How many times did he have to say that there was no baby; men couldn’t have babies. It was just a beer belly. Xiao Jiu didn’t have to act so realistically.
However, the child had already bought it, and Chen Caixing didn’t have the hobby of beating children either.
“Next time, we can make a plan. Buy some snacks and save the rest.”
“I’ll listen to you, Sister.” Yuan Jiuwan bounced beside Chen Caixing and said, “Sister, just now, the boys in the village talked about the Holy Maiden Ceremony. I gave them candies, and they told me about it.”
Chen Caixing: !!!
His little brother wasn’t stupid at all!
Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com
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