The whole family is reborn, and their five-year-old child becomes the darling of the entire capital.

"Add one more spoonful of rice at most. Your Er Ya is only five years old; half a bag of rice is already more than enough. I'll have to raise her for another five or six years after she has her baby!"

“Hey, Granny Chen,” the woman in her late thirties, wearing a cotton coat, shook her head and wiped her grimy fingers, “that’s not right! If you gave Er Ya to your family, you could at least have her do some work, feed the pigs, and farm. How can she only be worth half a bag of rice? It should be at least a whole bag, no questions asked.”

"Let me tell you, I don't only have your Er Ya as an option. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so think it over carefully, understand?"

"Go away, go away, one bag of rice, otherwise there's nothing to talk about."

"Just leave her at home!" Granny Chen flung her sleeves and left, secretly taking a spoiled steamed bun from the table before she left when no one was looking.

The woman cursed Granny Chen a few times before she saw Er Ya with her round eyes, peering timidly at her from the doorway.

Er Ya was the second child in the family. It was a year of famine, and the family was very poor, but the Hu family still had five children: four girls and one precious baby.

The family prioritizes their precious son's food and clothing. Er Ya is already five years old, but looks like a three-year-old child, thin and bony.

But her eyes were exceptionally bright, making her look unlike the typical country girls, which attracted many families with sons who wanted to buy her as a child bride.

Seeing her timid and unpresentable appearance, Madam Hu sneered, "You son of a bitch! If it weren't for keeping you around so I could have something to look forward to, I would have sold you off long ago."

Madam Hu pointed at the steamed bun with her finger, paused for a few seconds, pointed at it again, and then glared fiercely at Er Ya, who hadn't eaten for several days. "You little rascal, you ran into the house and stole food?"

Er Ya was startled and was about to run away when she was grabbed by Madam Hu and slapped hard across the face.

My face was burning with pain, I saw a white light before my eyes, and my ears were ringing.

Er Ya lowered her head and stopped struggling, letting Madam Hu hit and curse her from both sides.

Only when her face was completely numb and even covered in blood did they casually toss her onto the ground like a rag.

Er Ya was already used to it. When her mother wanted to hit her, the more she struggled, the harder she was hit. If she didn't move, her mother would stop once she had had her fill of hitting her.

Seeing that her mother had stopped attacking, she slowly and laboriously got up from the ground, cowered in the corner, avoiding her mother's gaze, and curled up in a ball with her legs wrapped around her.

Er Ya dared not go out. In this weather, the wind was biting cold. If she stayed near the kitchen, at least she could keep warm by the fire. If she went outside, she might freeze to death.

There were cotton-padded coats for the four children in the family—the eldest sister, the third sister, the fourth sister, and the youngest brother—but she was the only one without one.

Er Ya huddled against the stove, warming her cold, almost frozen body.

"Pah! You stole the steamed buns, so you won't get any food for the next two days. You're just a wasteful piece of junk food..." Madam Hu grumbled and scolded her.

Er Ya lowered her head and leaned against the stove, not daring to utter a single word in rebuttal.

Suddenly the door was rudely pushed open, and a middle-aged farmer walked in, exclaiming, "Great news!"

As they were talking, he looked down and saw Er Ya sitting on the ground, and frowned in disgust. "Er Ya, go up the mountain and chop some firewood."

"Hurry up, what am I keeping you for?"

Seeing that her father was about to take action, Er Ya dared not hesitate any longer, and ran up the mountain with her basket on her back.

"What good news is it that we need to get Er Ya away?"

"Er Ya's birth mother is actually the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Mu's mansion. Now the people from the Duke's mansion have come looking for her and are waiting at the county magistrate's residence!"

Madam Hu's face immediately lit up with joy. "Quickly, get Er Ya ready. Look at you, why did you send Er Ya away just now? Hurry up and find her!"

Mr. Hu shook his head. "That person is after a token. I plan to send Daya over there."

"Are you crazy? The Duke of Mu's mansion is related to the imperial family. If they find out we've mixed up their Mu family bloodline, they'll kill us!"

"Hmph, that's a woman's view. Look at Er Ya's appearance, she looks like she's been abused for a long time. If we send her there, would we even survive? Da Ya is almost seven years old now, and her size is just like a five-year-old child. Besides, she's our own daughter, and she can help our family's Yaozu in the future. Moreover, I asked around, and if it really comes to a blood test, we'll just tamper with it a little, it won't be a big deal."

“Alright… alright then.” Madam Hu gritted her teeth. “I’ll call Daya back right now and tell her. But… Daya just got engaged last month, and I’ve already accepted the betrothal gifts.”

"It's no big deal. Just let Er Ya take over. She'll only need to be supported for a couple more years. Da Ya can become a rich young lady; that's our inexhaustible source of income."

--

Er Ya carried a basket of firewood down the mountain through the snow. She saw her third and fourth sisters eating candy and looked at them with envy.

The third sister smiled and stuffed a candy into her hand. "Big sister's family has come looking for her and brought lots of food and candy. Second sister, you should have some too."

"Big sister's family?" Er Ya was a little confused. Aren't they the big sister's family?

A girl holding a baby next to them laughed and said, "That's right! Daya is a young lady from the Duke of Mu's mansion. Her entourage is incredibly grand! I've never seen such a big carriage in the city! The Duke of Mu's mansion, do you know it? They're relatives of the emperor! People from the capital! If you can establish such a connection, your family's good days are coming!"

"You should be secretly happy to have such a sister! Who knows, the people from the Duke of Mu's mansion might just take you in and let you live in their mansion!"

Er Ya opened her mouth wide in surprise.

Yun Niangzi is the only girl in their area who has ever been to the city, so when she says "big," she must mean very big.

So, the older sister isn't actually her older sister, but rather a young lady from a very wealthy family in the capital?

So, does that mean the older sister doesn't live here anymore?

Is the Duke of Mu's mansion a very, very large residence? Larger than their land?

Does that mean we'll never go hungry again?

But how much food would such a big house need? How much land would they need to cultivate to support such a large house?

Er Ya slowly returned to the house, lost in thought. A rare sight indeed, a charcoal fire was lit in the house.

With neither her parents around, Er Ya simply sat down in front of the charcoal fire to warm her frozen body.

She gradually fell asleep.

"Get lost, you bald guy! What kind of trash is this, sitting in the main hall!"

Er Ya was half asleep when she was suddenly slapped across the face, grabbed by the ear, and thrown out into the snow.

He fell face down and crashed in.

In a hazy state of consciousness, it struggled for a long time in the snow, but its small body finally succumbed to the severe cold and fell into a deep sleep.

So sad……

I'm so sleepy...