Abandoned Peasant Girl Has Her Own Space

Chapter 3: Smile

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“I understand. Thank you, Eldest Uncle!”

When Madam Wang saw that her two sons had returned, she stood at the door and scolded them, “Hurry up and come back in already. I think it’s because of this little one that her parents died. Why would she need to eat? Just starve her to death. Juxiang, let me tell you, you’re not allowed to let that jinx come to the main house, understand?! Otherwise, I’ll throw her out.”

When the two aunties, who were standing at the doorways of their own homes, heard what Madam Wang said, they turned around and quickly retreated back into their residences to educate their children.

The five-year-old Juxiang was like a little adult. She felt extremely upset when she heard her grandmother’s words, but she had no choice but to agree. As long as she and her little sister were able to survive, she could only nod and comply.

Seeing that the girl seemed to have understood, the old lady then grumpily turned around to go home.

After her grandmother had gone back into the house, Juxiang went in as well. She really couldn’t find a way to grind the rice into a paste. Just as she was about to cry from anxiety, she saw a small stone mortar in the corner of the main room. It was used by her grandmother in the past, to mash garlic. Because there was a hole on the side, it kept cutting her hand, so she got Tian Zhuangzhu to make her a new one and tossed the old one aside.

Juxiang tip-toed over, picked up the stone mortar and pestle, and ran back. When she got home, she scooped some water and washed it clean. Then, she poured half of the rice into it and slowly pounded it until it turned into a thin paste. However, it was too dry. She poured half a bowl of water into it and continued pounding. Immediately, it turned into a thin paste again.

The girl raised her hands and looked at them. There were abrasions and they were bleeding.

Enduring the pain, Juxiang poured the other half of the rice into the vegetable bowl, emptying out a bowl for the rice paste.

She was trembling as she approached Wunian with the bowl. She smiled nevertheless, and said, “Little Sister, are you hungry? It was my mistake earlier on. I didn’t know you couldn’t eat rice. Now, I’m feeding you rice paste. Why don’t you try some. Come, ah!”

Wunian opened her mouth and sucked on the rice paste on the chopsticks. It was very fragrant.

Juxiang smiled happily. “Little Sister, you’re such a good girl. I can’t keep up with you. You can only grow up quickly if you eat more, right?”

Juxiang talked to herself as a way of teasing Wunian. After a long time trying to feed the baby, she finally finished the half bowl of rice paste.

By the time Wunian was done eating, Juxiang’s food had turned cold. However, the weather was hot, so it didn’t matter if the food turned cold. Juxiang polished it off.

At night, after the people in the main residence finished dinner, Juxiang went to wash the dishes. Then, she brought back the leftovers to eat. Just like that, the very difficult first day came and went.

The next morning, Juxiang saw that her little sister had dirtied the rag. Because the baby was too small to wear anyone’s clothes, she was kept wrapped in rags.

Juxiang thought about what her mother would have done if she were around. Then, she muttered to herself, “If Mother was still around, she’d take these to the river to wash them. I can’t wash them at the river. But there’s a small ditch by the side of the house. I don’t have to go out of the courtyard.” With that, Juxiang found a small wooden basin and placed the rag inside. She found another clean piece of cloth to wrap her little sister in. She said to her little sister, “Little Sister, be good. I’m taking your soiled clothes to wash. Don’t cry when you’re alone at home!” After saying that, she even smiled at Wunian. Her smile was extremely adorable.

As if responding to Juxiang, Wunian made a whimpering sound! Juxiang was overjoyed.

“Little Sister, be good! I’m off then!”

Juxiang carried a basin of clothes to the ditch. The water in the ditch came from the mountains. At the time when Tian Zhuangzhu was building the house, he discovered that water kept emerging from a corner of the courtyard. The courtyard was wet all year round. Later on, Tian Zhuangzhu and his three sons dug a ditch to draw the water out. This also made it convenient for the women at home to do their washing.

Juxiang carried the basin of clothes and washed them in the ditch. The two aunties pretended that they didn’t see anything. No one was willing to help her with the washing. They didn’t allow the children to provoke Juxiang or play with her. They ignored her and treated her as invisible.

In this manner, the days went by. Washing clothes, washing dishes, bringing home leftovers, feeding her little sister, putting the baby to bed.

In the blink of an eye, five years had gone by. The little Wunian had learned to perform many tasks.

In the past five years, apart from taking care of Wunian like she was the child’s own mother, Juxiang also had to do house chores in the main residence before she could bring back leftovers to eat. And when they had clothes that could no longer be worn, they would pass them on to the two sisters.

In all that time, Wunian had not gone to the main residence even once, nor did she step out of the main entrance of the courtyard. This was because Tian Zhuangzhu and his two sons cared about their reputation. If others knew that the third son and his wife had died, and their child was growing up eating leftovers like this, wearing discarded clothes, doing housework like a servant girl, and beaten and scolded like a prisoner, people would despise them.