Two days ago in the evening.
The groggy Ai Zhi woke up and found herself lying in a shabby and dirty mud hut. The bed under her was pitch black, and the quilt covering her seemed to have been picked up from a pile of junk.
The clothes she was wearing were not much better than the beggars she saw on the streets when she went out during the Lantern Festival. Not only were there patches and holes everywhere, but they were also dirty and tattered, especially the sleeves, which were glossy black.
At first, the Ai Zhi did not understand the situation and thought that something had happened in Zhuangzi. Was she kidnapped and sold? As a result, when she got out of bed and wanted to wash her itchy and uncomfortable face, she was struck by lightning.
The face in the basin wasn't his!
"Ah! Pa! " There was a noise, and the Ai Zhi was so excited that she overturned the basin. Her eyes widened and her body trembled. She was so scared that she almost fainted.
"What's going on? Where am I? Who is this? "The Ai Zhi's heart was in a perilous situation, and all kinds of questions were rolling in her mind. She was a pampered young lady who grew up carefree in the Duke's Mansion. She had never seen such a bizarre thing, and she was suddenly very frightened.
But, she was not unconscious yet, right?
Although she was raised in a pampered manner and did not experience any storms or disasters, her mother did not want to raise her to be a little fool. If nothing unexpected happened, she would marry into an aristocratic family in the future and become a noble woman.
Her own self-cultivation and the stubbornness in her bones quietly emerged. The Ai Zhi quickly forced herself to calm down and checked the situation around her.
When she looked down at her current body, the Ai Zhi immediately covered her chest and retched. Her body was yellow, black, and thin, and covered with mud. Her hands were not only white, but also rough and covered with calluses. There was also mud under her fingernails.
"Retch, retch, retch!" The Ai Zhi not only felt nauseous, but also felt uncomfortable and itchy all over.
Maybe it was because she made too much noise in the room, but it didn't take long for a woman to come in from outside. Her eyes were darting around, and it was obvious that she had a lot of thoughts in her mind. She was also dressed in rags, but she was slightly better dressed than her.
"Stupid girl, here! Don't be so smart, eat and sleep. Tomorrow morning, quickly get up and cut grass for the pigs! If you don't work every day, who will take care of you? Hmph! " She put down the half bowl of porridge on the bedside table and walked out of the room with her head held high.
Ai Zhi was in a strange place. She didn't know anything. She could only cope with the changes by sticking to the status quo. After the evil woman left, he straightened up, but he did not walk around, nor did he eat the bowl of rice.
It was said to be porridge, but there was not even a grain of rice in it. It was dark. No one knew what was in it. Ai Zhi felt nauseous just by looking at it, let alone swallowing it.
Returning to the bedside, Ai Zhi lay on the bed in disgust, curled up into a ball, and recited Buddhist scriptures in his heart, trying to fall asleep quickly.
How she wished that when she woke up, her mother would be standing in front of her bed, looking at her gently and calling her Jiaojiao. But now, everything was just a strange nightmare.
However, God didn't seem to care about her. When she woke up again, everything in front of her told her that this was obviously not a nightmare, but her real situation now.
Ai Zhi didn't sleep well all night. She had been trapped in a story, unable to get out or escape. Until she was woken up by the woman she saw yesterday in a daze. Looking at the face in front of her, which appeared in the dream, she knew that her soul had been changed.
My soul has been changed. How strange it is. Haha, no one will believe it. Ai Zhi thought self-deprecatingly.
"Why are you in a daze? Come out quickly and cut grass for the pigs. After cutting grass, come back to cook. Don't delay Ershun from picking up San An in town. "
"I know, sister-in-law. I'll go right away. "Ai Zhi lowered her head and got up from the bed.
After experiencing that dream, Ai Zhi knew that this person was her sister-in-law now, and she was not Ai Zhi, but Ai Cao. A child bride who was picked up by the Ai family from the side of the road sixteen years ago and didn't have any status.
Following the impression in her memory, Ai Cao went to the small house next door, fumbled around for the basket and sickle, and hurriedly walked out of the Ai family's door and went to the back of the mountain to cut grass.
The sky was just beginning to brighten. On the country road, she would occasionally meet one or two villagers who got up early to work like her. According to the personality of the original owner, Ai Zhi lowered her head and walked along the side of the road without saying hello.
After leaving the village, Ai Zhi walked up the mountain while sorting out the information she knew.
The owner of her current body was called Ai Cao. She was the child bride of the Ai family. Everyone tacitly agreed that she would marry Ai San An when she reached the age.
The man in charge of the Ai family now, her adoptive father, was called Ai Er Gou. He had no ability and was a coward. The Ai family was more or less decided by her mother and his wife, but the relationship between the old woman and her daughter-in-law wasn't good.
The Ai family had four sons. The eldest, Ai Dabao, was twenty-one years old. He just got married last year and had the same personality as his father. He had been looking forward to marriage since he was seventeen years old. It wasn't easy for him to get married, and he cherished her as much as anything.
The second son, Ai Ershun, and the third son, Ai San An, were twins. They were both nineteen years old. In the village, all the children of their age, as long as their family could get by, would help their sons get married. However, the Ai family couldn't do that now. The debt from the eldest son's marriage hadn't been paid off yet. Even if they wanted to marry, no one would help Ai Ershun get married.
Perhaps because the twins were malnourished, Ai San An was born weak and sickly. The old woman of the Ai family even wanted to throw him to the back of the mountain to feed the wolves when he was one year old. However, Ai San An's mother didn't let her. She cared about her son more than anyone else.
When Ai San An was three years old, the Ai family took him to the city to see a doctor. On the outskirts of the city, they met an abandoned Ai Cao.
The baby was just a few months old, and she was still a girl. In this era where even people didn't have enough to eat, who would pick up a baby girl and bring her home? The Ai family couple didn't have such good intentions. However, when the two came back, Ai San An's mother had an idea.
The doctors in the city said that her third son's illness came from the womb, and he might not be able to recover in this lifetime. If her son was always sick, it would be difficult for him to get married in the future.
It would be better to bring the baby girl back and let her son raise her. She could cook with half a ladle of water, and it wouldn't cost much food. Moreover, when she grew up, she could serve her son for a lifetime. No matter how she thought about it, it was a good deal. Therefore, Ai Cao was brought back to the Ai family.
When Ai Cao was brought back to the Ai family, her life was very difficult. She started working with the old woman in the family since she was three years old. When she grew up, she became a servant girl who served the whole family.
Not only did she have to wash the family's clothes, cook, fetch water to wash the family's feet, she also had to feed the pigs and work in the fields. Every day, she was beaten and scolded by the old woman and her adoptive mother from time to time to vent their anger.
However, this gloomy life was not without a bit of light. In this poor family where they could only eat meat a few times a year, she was able to smoothly finish junior high school like Ai Ershun and Ai Sanan.
However, she was able to go to school, not because the Ai family valued her, but because of Ai San An.
Ai San An was older than Ai Cao. Since he could remember, he knew that Ai Cao was going to be his wife in the future. The children in the village went to school late. When he was ten years old, his father sent him and his second brother to school to learn how to read. However, he didn't go after two days. He cried and made a fuss at home and insisted on bringing Ai Cao with him. No matter how his mother told him that Ai Cao was still young and wasn't old enough to go to school, he didn't listen and insisted on bringing his wife with him.
Ai Cao was really young at that time. When Ai San An brought her to school, everyone thought that she was going there to play. Therefore, the teachers didn't take it seriously. Of course, the school didn't charge her for school fees.
It wasn't until Ai Cao "played" with them for two years that the school started to charge her tuition fees. The Ai family said that they wouldn't let her study anymore. But at this time, Ai Sanan had already read some books and felt that he was a literate person. If he married a wife who didn't go to school for a few years in the future, how embarrassing would that be? No, Ai Cao had to go to school. In the end, he even fainted because of this matter.
There was no other way. His son's health was the most important. His mother could only continue to let Ai Cao study with him.
However, even if Ai Cao had to go to school, the Ai family wouldn't let her delay her work. Every day, she had to wash the family's clothes and cook three meals a day on time. She even had to gather two baskets of grass before going to school every morning. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to go.
The original owner's Ai Cao was already tired from working. When she went to school, she sat there listlessly every day. Moreover, she didn't understand much at all. Usually, when the farm was busy and the children's work was counted, she had to work in the fields to earn money. Therefore, her studies were always intermittent.
However, Ai San An didn't care. He only wanted his wife to go to school and read books. He didn't care how much she studied. Therefore, Ai Cao stumbled along and studied with him until she graduated from middle school.
The Ai family also had a youngest son named Ai Yaozong. The old woman looked at him like he was the apple of her eye. When his mother was pregnant, it was said that a fortune teller met her and saw her belly. He said that this grandson would have great ability in the future.
Sure enough, two months later, the daughter-in-law gave birth to a golden grandson. Since then, the Ai family's elders spoiled him. Normally, only the eldest grandson, Ai Dabao, who had been raised by him, could argue with his fourth brother.
The Ai Cao's accident this time was actually caused by Ai Yaozong.
That day, Ai Yaozong had been angered by a fight outside. When he came home and saw the Ai Cao, he took it out on her. As a result, the Ai Cao was punched, kicked, and knocked on her head.
Although there was no blood, she fainted on the spot. When she woke up, the Ai Zhi had become the Ai Cao.
Since the Ai Zhi was born in her previous life, she had never lacked a servant girl. Normally, she didn't need to do any work herself. But now, the world had changed.
She tried to learn from the original owner. The Ai Zhi waved the sickle and groped around to cut the grass. She didn't want to be bullied by others. She would do whatever others told her to do, but the reality was that she had to listen.
First, the original owner was an obedient doormat. She only knew how to work all day. She didn't want to be too abnormal and be discovered by others.
Secondly, she had just come to this strange world. She was unfamiliar with the people and the place, so she didn't have the ability to resist. Also, with her current status in the Ai family, if she really dared to resist, she would only be beaten and scolded even more. Even if she was beaten to death, she would only be thrown into the mountains to feed the wolves. She wouldn't even be given a grave.
She thought that with the original owner's memories, she was prepared for her life. But when she really lived with the Ai family, the degree of difficulty surpassed the Ai Zhi's imagination.
She wasn't as good at work as the original owner. She was pointed at and scolded. She didn't want to remember those ugly words a second time. There was also eating. Her food couldn't even compare to swill. Moreover, the place she lived in was dirty and messy. She couldn't even take a shower and change clothes.
This was because the original owner's clothes were tattered. The clothes she was wearing now were given to her by others. The original owner had worn them for three months without changing.
Enduring the scolding, the Ai Zhi wanted to take a shower. But when she was about to take off her clothes, half of her head popped out of the window. She was so scared that she fell to the ground. Her body was covered in goosebumps and she was covered in a cold sweat.
No matter how dirty, itchy, or uncomfortable her body was, she didn't want to take a shower.
The series of events that challenged her bottom line made the Ai Zhi collapse. In the afternoon, when she went out to gather grass for the pigs, she directly walked to the edge of the cliff. She thought that if she jumped down, she would be free. She wouldn't have to live through this inhumane life.
The whistling wind came from the bottom of the cliff and hit the Ai Zhi's tear-stained face. The moment she stretched out her foot, her mind was filled with her mother's gentle smile.
After sniffing, the Ai Zhi wiped her face with the back of her hand. She squatted on the ground and cried hysterically. She was instantly covered in tears.
Her frail figure made one's heart ache. However, on this high shore, the only response to her sobs was the whistling of the cool breeze.
She was raised in the palm of her hands. Her mother didn't let her experience the tribulations of birth, old age, illness, and death. She had never even seen a dead person.
But now, she had to go through a series of events that were beyond her understanding and tolerance.
After venting her initial emotions, the Ai Zhi looked at the high sky and told herself: Ai Cao is Ai Cao. In the future, I'll just pretend that Ai Zhi is dead!
Although she was encouraging herself, the Ai Zhi's mind was clear on the way down the mountain. The most important thing for her now was to understand the situation around her and try to change her current situation.
If she was really forced into a corner by this family, it wouldn't be too late to die. This was what she told herself when she came down from the cliff and stepped into the Ai family's house again.
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