"Oh no, big brother. Mom has fainted!"
"Come quick!"
"What?"
"Mom, what's wrong with you?"
"Quick, press on her philtrum! Use more force!"
...
Amidst the cacophony, Li Yao felt a searing pain on her philtrum that instantly jolted her awake.
As she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a wooden bed, surrounded by four peasant children with anxious looks on their faces.
Seeing her open her eyes, joy spread across their faces.
"Mom's awake!"
"Thank goodness, Mom is alright!"
...
Li Yao sat up, completely baffled.
In front of her were five children of varying ages and sizes, four boys and one girl, dressed in coarse hemp clothes mended all over with patches.
Except for a pair of cloth shoes with holes worn through on the girl's feet, the rest were barefoot.
"Did you guys just call me..."
The children looked at each other, a little apprehensive as they replied, "We called you Mom!"
Li Yao's mouth twitched.
She was an orphan.
Taken in and trained by a mysterious old lady when she was six, she eventually became a top-notch assassin.
A month ago, the old lady passed away peacefully, so she retired from the profession and bought herself a farm with idyllic scenery, intending to live a quiet and comfortable pastoral life from then on.
But the farm had barely been purchased when she went to sleep after the first night there and woke up to find herself with so many children?
What exactly was going on here?
Suddenly, a flood of unfamiliar memories poured into her mind, like a rising tide.
Li Yao was even more confused.
She had actually crossed over!
And crossed over into some ancient era of unknown time and space!
The original owner was also named Li Yao and was also 31 years old.
Married for over ten years, her husband had died half a year ago, leaving her a widow.
The four boys in front of her were all her own flesh and blood, while the gaunt, pale-faced girl was her eldest daughter-in-law, married into the family for more than half a year.
And the original owner was the shrewdiest shrew in the entire He River Bay Village, even the whole Bai Chuan County!
Once she opened her mouth, it was bound to bring darkness upon the land.
With hands on her hips, she knew no match.
The villagers called her the terror of ghosts and fright of dogs. The dogs would even walk around her when they saw her coming.
Not only that, the original owner was also an utter fool.
She had fought like cats and dogs with her mother-in-law from the second day after her marriage, and wept copiously for a separation from her husband's family right after her eldest son turned one month old.
From then on, she lived like a hamster.
She would transfer anything nice back to her maiden home, leaving her own family destitute with empty pots that couldn't even boil water, and unable to afford square meals for days on end, staying in the dilapidated thatched huts for over ten years.
After her husband Wang Yuanshan died from falling off a cliff half a year ago while gathering herbs in the mountains, she became even more relentless, wanting to peel off a layer of topsoil and deliver it to her maiden home.
When her birth mother wanted to borrow her old hen to lay a few eggs for her younger brother's health, she immediately presented both hen and eggs with her own hands, and also took the initiative to give away more than half of the meager food left in her home.
By now, her family had been drinking wild vegetable soup for three days straight.
Traveling back into the body of such a shrew and fool, could this be retribution for her?
Returning seemed unlikely.
Since she was here, then go with the flow.
She had intended to retire and live out her remaining years anyway, and this place, despite being poor, was blessed with a natural environment.
As for these children, just let nature take its course.
"Mom, did you crack your head just now?" her eldest daughter-in-law He Xiaoya asked with concern.
Li Yao touched the huge bump at the back of her head, still wet with traces of blood.
"It's fine."
"Mom," her eldest son Wang Dazuang asked, "The Ding family still won't let this rest. What should we do?"
A year ago, her second son Wang Er was engaged to Ding Xiaoyan from the neighboring village.
But now the Ding family wanted to call it off, sending people repeatedly with the message that the original owner didn't agree to end the engagement. Today, twenty to thirty of them came knocking to force the dissolution of the engagement.
Given the current situation in their home, if the engagement was called off, her second son would likely remain a bachelor for life.
So the original owner had stubbornly refused.
But faced with the vicious scolding from over a dozen old ladies, she couldn't gain any advantage either.
Relations with the girl's family were already tense to begin with, and they were too ashamed to come lend support.
Although over a hundred villagers did come, with the original owner's character, she had offended every rat in the village, so who would be willing to say a word for her?
They were here just for the show and gossip.
When she had her youngest son go to her maiden home to ask for reinforcements, her own mother told her to agree to the dissolution while she could still get the bride price back.
The original owner was so angry she attacked them with the foulest curses she could spew. Ding Xiaoyan's brother slapped her to the ground and her head hit the sharpening stone, killing her instantly.
If Li Yao hadn't traveled back, she would be holding a funeral now.
"Mom," her second son said, "Why don't we just agree to them and call it off? Our family now is..."
"Call it off?" Li Yao frowned. "Why would we call it off?"
Having assumed the original owner's identity, she must conduct herself according to the original standpoint.
Being pressed to dissolve the engagement at their own doorstep, with the groom's mother beaten to death, how could she tolerate this?
Even if they were to call it off, it had to be the other party who took initiative!
And it definitely would not happen today!
"Come, watch how I deal with them!"
...
Li Yao walked out of the shabby, dilapidated thatched hut.
In the yard were over twenty people from the Ding family. Seeing her unharmed, they started clamoring again.
Their words, implicit and explicit, accused the Wang family of being too poor, like a toad lusting after a swan... and so on.
Li Yao was livid. She put her hands on her hips, "All of you, shut up! Marrying a chicken then follow the chicken, marrying a dog then follow the dog, don't you understand this simple logic? If you thought we were too poor, why didn't you make it clear when you were proposing the engagement? You had your eyes in your crotch back then?"
"Lady of the Wang house," Xiaoyan's father said arrogantly, "If you agree to call off the engagement, I'll return the bride price immediately. Back then, your family gave 500 wen. I'll be generous now and give back 1,000!"
"You think I'm begging?" Li Yao retorted. "People surnamed Ding, take your people and get lost! Don't blame me for being impolite!"
"You... I'm giving 1,000 wen already. What more do you want?" Ding's father yelled. "All your family assets combined aren't worth that much!"
"However poor or rich my family is, what's that got to do with you? An engagement settled is an engagement kept! If you dare go back on it, I'll sit at your front door every day and curse up a storm at your ancestral graves!"
"You shrew, looking to get beaten again?"
Ding Laoer, Xiaoyan's brother, charged aggressively again. It was him who had pushed the original owner down just now.
Li Yao thought, he's coming at the perfect time.
A gentleman uses his mouth not his fists, but she knew dozens of ways to kill this brat without him even knowing how he died.
Not only would she not back down, she strode right up to meet him. Dodging a blow, she grabbed Ding Laoer by the hair while delivering a precise knife-hand strike to the vital point on the back of his neck, using the perfect amount of force.
Ding Laoer only felt his whole body go numb, suddenly devoid of any strength. He could only let Li Yao throw him to the ground.
"You actually dare to lay hands on me?"
Li Yao picked up a broom and began whacking him randomly.
After several whacks in succession, the Ding family realized Ding Laoer was just lying there limply, and quickly came over to pull Li Yao away.
"Anyone else?" Li Yao held up the broom and challenged the crowd arrogantly, "Not afraid to die then come on!"
Her sons also rushed to her side, fists clenched, looking ready to brawl.
The Ding family finally witnessed the might of the number one shrew in He River Bay Village firsthand. The women didn't dare run their mouths anymore, fearing a beating. Some of the Ding men wanted to step up and regain some face, but were stopped by Old Ding.
This was He River Bay Village.
Quarreling was one thing, but if several grown men started beating a widow and orphans, the onlooking villagers would definitely not just stand by.
If things escalated, it would not end well.
"Alright, alright!" Old Ding said, "Since you refuse to call it off, then it's not called off! But if you want to marry our Xiaoyan, you'll need at least ten taels of silver for bride price! And a new house! Don't even think about it otherwise!"
Li Yao sneered, "Why don't you take a piss and take a look at yourself, is your family worth that price?"
"You..." Old Ding was so angry his beard shook. He stamped his foot heavily. "We'll see how it all turns out! Let's go!"
The indignant Old Ding had people help the limp Ding Laoer up, and left dejectedly.
The villagers who had come to watch the show also began to disperse, talking amongst themselves as they left.
"If she didn't keep moving things to her maiden family until her own kitchen pots couldn't even boil water, they wouldn't have come to call off the engagement in the first place."
"Poor second young master Wang. He'll probably be a bachelor all his life now."
"With a mother like that, how could he even think of taking a wife? Not starving to death would be a great blessing already."
...
Li Yao knew the original owner's character better than anyone. She had no time to care about idle gossip.
Right now, she was faced with a very serious problem.
She was hungry.