Chapter 2: Original Husband

Zhulan tried her best to pretend to be asleep with her eyes closed, her ears sticking up, and listening carefully to the movement around her. He clearly woke up for a long time without making a sound, and after waiting for a while, the original body’s five senses were good, and she clearly felt that the person beside her was staring at her. He looked at her as if he was seeing a flower.

Zhulan didn’t dare to move anymore, but she felt a little weird in her heart. The original body and her husband had been married for more than 20 years. No matter how good their relationship is, he shouldn’t stare at her in the morning!
Someone knocked at the door.

“Is my pó po up? It’s time to make breakfast.” (1)

According to Zhulan’s memory, this is the eldest daughter-in-law who was the favourite of the original body, because she is very similar to the original’s shǎozi, (2) the only thing that is not good, is that she is a little too loud.

From the loud shouts, the original’s family status cannot be shaken.
Now, Zhulan can’t even pretend to be asleep. She doesn’t want the world to find out that the core of the original body has changed because she doesn’t want to be burned to death as a monster. It’s better to live than die!

Trying to learn the tone of the original owner, “I am up, I’ll go out in a while.”
Seeing that her pó po was not angry, Li Si (3) became bold and responded with a shrewd response, “Ok!”

But then she muttered, “She has become a grandmother, yet she is still sticky.”

Zhulan, “…”

Is this lack of heart? Don’t you know that the house is not soundproof? Can you mumble more quietly, she was dark-faced because it was not only the eldest daughter-in-law who had the same thought.

If she knew it, she would have woken up early, but now it’s too late to regret it.

Zhu Lan opened her eyes angrily and sat up, but she was stunned when she turned around. Her husband, who was clearly awake just now, closed his eyes again, frowning while looking at her. At first glance, he pretended to be asleep. Is he embarrassed to hear what his daughter-in-law said?

Zhu Lan was wearing a grey cloth coat while looking at her original husband. Men in ancient times liked to have a beard. Fortunately, it wasn’t a moustache. Under the general low-height environment in ancient times, more than 1.7 meters was considered tall.

No matter whether her husband pretended to be asleep or not, Zhulan quickly put on her shoes and went out. She was really afraid that the big-mouthed eldest daughter-in-law would not be able to control her mouth. After a while, the neighbours will know about it, which meant that the whole village would know and she couldn’t afford to lose her face.

Zhulan tried her best to learn the original body’s habits, rubbed her face before going out, looked at the eldest daughter-in-law who was chatting with the next-door neighbour in the yard, and glared, “Come here quickly to get the food to cook, if you don’t want to cook, I will give it to the Second daughter-in-law.”

Li Si shrank her neck and handed it to her second son. How can she let go of cooking; it was a light job, not dirty or tiring, and still able to steal food. She quickly ran over to please, “Mother, you look so good today, when people say someone is more delicate than a flower, they are talking about mother.”

Zhulan, “…”

She really shouldn’t have let Li Si open her mouth. Looking at the eyes of the neighbours, she seemed to understand. She still came out late. After all, Li Si had spread the word, and this time even if she jumped into the Yellow River, she couldn’t wash it.

She looked at Li Shi fiercely, “Hurry up and cook.”

She couldn’t stand the eyes of her neighbours.

Zhulan went and unlocked the food room, took out a bowl of rice from the jar, and took the cornmeal for breakfast as she remembered. She wanted porridge, rice porridge.

Afterwards, she didn’t go back to the bedroom, but sat on a chair, recalling the memories of her original body. She needed to tidy up.

This was not a dynasty that she read about in history books. The new dynasty has just been established eleven years ago, and the dynasties have changed. At the end of the previous dynasty, there were more than ten years of troubled times, and then another ten years. It can be said that ever since the original body was born, she has never lived a stable life. Even if a new dynasty is established, life was not much easier.

After the establishment of the new dynasty, the eleven years of rebuilding have not restored the prosperity of the troubled mountains and rivers. Even if some taxes were exempted, it was just peasants at the bottom were able to barely get enough food and clothing.

The original body married at the age of fifteen, which was the beginning of the ten-year war. It was also because of the war that she had the opportunity to marry her original husband, a fifteen-year-old Tongsheng (4), but it was a pity that the original husband was born at an untimely time. At the end of the previous dynasty, demons and monsters appeared one after another, the imperial examinations were stopped, and there was a war for ten years. When the new dynasty was established, the old Tongshengs were too old to think of sitting for exams again. Instead, they put all their hopes on their sons.

1. It means mother-in-law2. Wife of eldest brother3. Shi means madam or Mrs. The wife in China was not known by her husband’s name but rather through her natal family’s name. So the Eldest daughter-in-law was from the Li family.4. Literally meaning “child student”, an entry-level examinee who had passed the county/prefecture exams.