Falling into the mortal world

I've actually encountered someone who can do mental arithmetic so quickly today. Amazing! The shopkeeper now looks at Lan Qingqing with eyes full of admiration.

After Lan Qingqing paid the bill, the shopkeeper gave her a bag of scraps of cloth.

Lan Qingqing took a look. Although they were scraps of cloth, the short ones were a foot long and the long ones were a meter long. There must be quite a few people who would buy such scraps of cloth.

Lan Qingqing thanked the shopkeeper and left with the cloth. Leaving the bustling main street, Lan Qingqing and her companions arrived at the intersection.

Several oxcarts were parked at the intersection. Lan Qingqing looked at Lan Xiaotian beside her and said, "How do I get to your house? Let's go to your house first."

Lan Xiaotian looked up in surprise. On the carriage, she had told him to go home and take a look, but he had thought she was just saying it casually.

Lan Xiaotian, fighting back tears of excitement, said, "My home is in Pear Blossom Village." His voice trembled with emotion.

He wanted to go home and see how his family was doing. Because he wasn't free, he hadn't had time to go home.

The group boarded the oxcart back to Pear Blossom Village. The uncles and aunties on the cart kept looking back at the strangers on board.

Several middle-aged women were chatting quietly. One said, "I wonder whose relative they are. Did you see how many nice things they're carrying?" Another said, "That's right. Did you see that piece of cloth? That must be worth a fortune."

Lan Qingqing and the others overheard what the older women were saying, and Lan Xiaotian lowered his head somewhat embarrassed. He didn't believe that the things the host family bought were meant to be given to his family. He knew his own worth.

Upon reaching the village entrance, everyone on the oxcart disembarked. Lan Qingqing and her group carried large and small bags off the cart, startling the people sitting under the big tree chatting idly at the village entrance.

Someone asked the auntie who got off the oxcart with them, "Auntie Zhang, don't be in such a hurry to leave! Come and chat for a bit!"

What did his aunt call me for?

These people are relatives of mine; they're not dressed very well, but the gifts they're carrying are quite valuable. The one asking the question is Granny Wang from the village.

Yeah! Does anyone recognize this person as someone's relative?

I don't know! But that little boy in tattered clothes looks a bit like Lan Dashu's second son!

Wow! You know what, it really does look like it.

Several women were chatting animatedly under a big tree at the village entrance. They chimed in with their own comments. Lan Qingqing and her companions gradually disappeared into the distance as the women discussed the situation.

One of the women said, "Instead of guessing here, why don't we just follow them and see for ourselves?"

"Yes!" a woman echoed, and a flurry of women eager to see what was going on hurried off to the other end of the village.

The group walked further and further into the desolate area. The land at the end of the village was all sandy soil, from which nothing grew year-round, so villagers rarely came to this area.

The thatched houses here are abandoned houses that the villagers didn't want in the early years.

Lan Qingqing looked at a thatched hut standing on a barren piece of land, which looked so lonely and desolate from afar.

As Lan Qingqing approached, she noticed an elderly woman with a full head of white hair sitting at the door. When the old woman saw them, she shakily got up.

Lan Qingqing saw that the old man was so thin that he was just a skeleton.

When Lan Xiaotian saw the old woman approaching, he knelt down with a thud and called out "Mother" in a choked voice.

Lan Qingqing stared at the old woman in disbelief. Her own mother was only 40 years old. How could she be like this?

He looked like an old man on his deathbed, nearing the end of his life. Lan Qingqing couldn't believe her eyes; tears streamed down her face like a kite with a broken string, unstoppable.

Lan Qingqing tried to control her emotions; she couldn't let her mother recognize her.

If I were to come back, it would only make things worse for this family.

In ancient times, a woman's reputation was not just a matter of ruining one person, but also that of her entire family.

Lan Qingqing used her strong willpower to hold back her tears.

The villagers who came to watch the spectacle saw Lan Xiaotian kneeling on the ground at the end of the village, calling out for his mother in a choked voice.

Looking at the person kneeling before her, Madam Lan burst into tears. She cried out, "My son! My son! You've finally returned. I thought I'd never see you again in this life!"

Lan Xiaotian cried and hugged Lan Linshi's leg, saying: Mother, I was wrong, I am unfilial, hit me and scold me! The boy, who was not yet grown up, was crying with tears and snot streaming down his face.

The commotion at the door startled the people inside. Lan Dashu came out of the house with a child standing beside him. The child was so thin that he was just skin and bones. Because he was so thin, his head looked big and his body looked small. This child was Lan Xiaoyu, who was six years old this year.

Lan Dashu, with a full head of silver hair, limped out of the house, leaning on a cane.

When she saw Lan Xiaotian kneeling on the ground calling for his mother, tears streamed down her face. While crying, she picked up her crutch and struck Lan Xiaotian on the back.

You unfilial son, where have you been all these years? Do you have no idea how worried your mother and I have been about you?

Although he hit him, he didn't use much force. Lan Dashu let out all the bitterness he had endured over the years, crying until he was exhausted, and then he sat down on the ground and wailed.

The villagers couldn't help but shed tears upon seeing this scene.

The Lan family is also pitiful; their daughter was sold by her stepmother, and both of their sons have disappeared.

Now the second son has returned, and the youngest daughter has been sold off by that heartless stepmother to be a child bride.

As everyone chattered amongst themselves, Madam Lan wiped away her tears and said to Lan Dashu, "The child is back. Let's not cry. Our family is all right."

Lan Xiaotian got up and hurriedly helped Lan Dashu up. Lan Dashu struggled to his feet, and Lan Xiaotian asked Lan Linshi, "Mother, where is my little sister? I don't see her."

Upon hearing this, Lan Linshi's eyes reddened again, and she couldn't say anything.

An old woman standing nearby, unable to bear it any longer, said: "You heartless mother sold her off to be someone's child bride."

Lan Xiaotian's eyes reddened, and he was about to rush out to confront the old woman. Lan Qingqing grabbed the impulsive Lan Xiaotian.

Lan Qingqing asked the old woman beside her, "Didn't they separate their family? Why are they selling their daughter?"

The old woman said: Her stepmother said she arranged for someone else to marry her, not that she was sold.

But for such a young child to talk about others—isn't that selling themselves? They only dare to bully them because their family has no one to back them up.

Lan Qingqing immediately understood: this old woman was using the pretext of matchmaking to exchange the little girl for money.

Lan Xiaotian said angrily: Haven't they hurt our family enough? Why do they keep hurting our family again and again?