Falling into the mortal world

The village chief stood on a stone block and shouted: "Everyone, I have an important announcement to make today. I plan to build a vermicelli workshop in the village."

The cost of building the workshop was voluntarily contributed by everyone.

The workshop will distribute profits based on the amount of money contributed. The minimum contribution is one or two taels of silver. Those who do not sign up and contribute will not receive any profits from the fan workshop.

This vermicelli recipe was given to the village by the Lan family girl, so if you want to live a good life, go home and discuss it with your family.

Those who have made up their minds, come and register with me in the next couple of days.

After the village chief finished speaking, there was an uproar.

"How could this girl from the Lan family give the prescription to the village?" someone questioned.

Another person said, "How could that be impossible? You haven't been married into the family long enough to know the Lan family girl well. This girl used to be known for her intelligence and kindness. She would secretly bring food to the children in the village who didn't have enough to eat."

Erwa's father had passed away, and his mother was seriously ill. This kind-hearted girl secretly brought food to Erwa's family. For this, she was beaten by Madam Yu. If it weren't for her grandmother protecting her, who knows how badly she would have been beaten.

"That girl is beautiful and kind-hearted. Everyone in the village adores her. If it weren't for that Yu woman's misfortune, she might be a scholar's wife by now," the old woman said with a sigh.

The woman asked curiously: What scholar's wife? What's the story behind this?

The old woman pursed her lips and said, "That Liu family's eldest son is extremely fond of the Lan family's eldest daughter. At that time, Liu family's eldest son was already a student of the imperial examinations, and the Liu family, unable to resist their son's requests, decided to propose marriage. When the Lan family's old lady heard that the young man was a student of the imperial examinations, handsome, and from a simple family, without any of those complicated matters, she thought that this marriage was perfect for her granddaughter, so she happily agreed."

Who would have thought that just a few days after the two families agreed on the engagement date, the old lady of the Lan family passed away. With no one in the family to protect her, Madam Yu then began to torment the eldest son's family relentlessly.

The marriage of Lan's eldest daughter was thus delayed. The two families originally planned to reschedule the engagement after a year, as they needed to observe a year of mourning. However, unexpectedly, Madam Yu turned around and sold Lan's daughter. As a result, the marriage with the Liu family was called off.

I heard that if this girl hadn't met a benefactor and been given a mortal body, she would still be living that kind of dark and hopeless life.

After hearing what the old woman said, the woman began to feel a little sorry for the girl.

"This girl is good," the woman remarked.

Hearing their conversation from behind, Madam Yu was so angry that her nostrils were practically steaming.

When I sold Lan Daya, I didn't know she was being sold to a brothel. If I had known, she definitely wouldn't have agreed, and now it's making it difficult for the girls and boys in my family to get married. I had my doubts when I sold her for fifty taels, but the thought of the hard-earned money made me suppress my suspicions.

Even if they are sold to a desolate place, as long as they don't say anything, who will know?

This girl was hired by the Wang family, so they must know about it. The rumor that Lan's eldest daughter was sold into a brothel also originated from the Wang family.

One night, after getting drunk, the Wang family claimed that Lan Daya had been sold into a brothel.

That's how the word spread. Soon, everyone in the surrounding villages knew about it.

If it weren't for that heartless Wang family, how would the villagers have known that they were the ones who sold Daya?

She really shot herself in the foot. Now she dislikes Wang Shi more and more. It's all because of this jinx. If it weren't for this jinx colluding with her family, her family's reputation wouldn't be in such a mess.

Yu angrily turned and left. She didn't care about this vermicelli workshop; the whole village relied on just one workshop, how much money could they possibly get? They'd even have to pay to build it. They hadn't even seen any profit yet, and they were already expected to pay? Forget about it.

In the evenings, every family in the village would sit together to discuss matters.

Chunsheng! What do you think of this matter? These are Chunsheng's mother's words.

"Mother, I think this will work. I heard about this fan a while ago; even merchants from the county town came to buy it," Lan Chunsheng said.

"Brother, we haven't even started making money yet, and you're already raising money? Is that really going to work?" Lan Xiaohua said.

"It should be feasible. The village chief wouldn't lie to us, and it would be a real shame to miss this opportunity," Lan Chunsheng said.

"But Chunsheng! Where are we going to get this one or two taels of silver?" As she spoke, Madam Hu took out an earthenware jar hidden under the bed and pulled out a handful of copper coins. The whole family only had five hundred coins, which was far from enough to get one or two taels of silver.

Lan Chunsheng looked at the copper coins on the table with a troubled expression. What should he do?

There wasn't anything of value in the house. As if making a decision, Mrs. Hu said, "I'll go to your maternal grandparents' house tomorrow. See if I can borrow something."

Lan Chunsheng sighed; that was all he could do.

Erwa's family also looked distressed. "We don't have any money!" Erwa's wife said. "Erwa, we don't have the means right now! Maybe we should just forget about it!"

Erwa's wife, Xiao Liu, sighed as she held the baby in her arms and continued, "There's no rice left to cook in this family." Tiedan looked at his mother and then at his father, and silently lowered his head. At just over a year old, Tiedan was already very sensible and no longer cried or made a fuss.

Erwa looked at his own child, his eyes filled with heartache. This might be an opportunity. His elderly mother needed medication every day. If they didn't find a way to earn money, the whole family would just starve to death.

Finally, Erwa decided to take a gamble. The family still had two mu of fertile land; they had already sold three mu due to his mother's illness. Now, only two mu remained. Xiao Liu heard Erwa's plan to sell the land.

They immediately objected, saying, "Erwa, we only have two acres of land left. If we sell it, we'll really have nothing left."

My son Tiedan is still young. Even if you don't consider me, you have to think about our Tiedan!

Erwa sighed and said, "Even if we don't sell the land today, we'll still have to sell it someday. We need money for everything, and we can't find work in town these days. If this continues, we'll really just be waiting to die. Now we have no choice but to take a gamble, a chance to survive."

The sound of Erwa's mother coughing could be heard intermittently from inside. Da Liu, lying in bed, listened to the conversation outside, her heart filled with anguish. She felt she had dragged this family down; if it weren't for her illness, her children wouldn't be suffering so much. Sometimes, Da Liu thought of ending it all, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

The more Liu thought about it, the worse her cough became. Erwa heard his mother's cough getting louder, so he quickly went in to help Liu soothe her and pour her some water. Liu said with tears in her eyes, "It's all my fault for dragging you down. I'll stop taking my medicine from now on!"

Little Liu hurriedly brought her son over and said, "Mother, what are you saying? We should take our medicine. What's wrong with Erwa here?"

Erwa quickly replied, "Yes, Mother, what's wrong? I'm here. Our family will be fine from now on."