Transmigrated into a seven-year-old child, my fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

"Girl, do you have any water? Have pity on this old woman, I need a drink of water~" Suddenly, a hunchbacked old woman with a blue and white floral headscarf came up to Zhao Lian and asked for water.

The old woman was thin and frail, with a wrinkled face and withered hands that were just skin and bones. Zhao Lian felt a little sorry for her and said, "Auntie, my hands aren't wet either. How about this, I'll give you a piece of meat." With that, Zhao Lian took out a piece of dried meat and handed it to the old woman.

"Jerky?"

The old woman's eyes lit up, and she quickly snatched it away, shouting loudly to the two boys who looked about eight or nine years old, "Da Kui, Er Kui, come here quickly, this girl has some dried meat."

Unexpectedly, after she kindly gave the woman a piece of dried meat, the woman actually coveted what she had. Zhao Lian immediately wanted to slap herself twice.

Upon hearing the old woman's words, Da Kui and Er Kui quickly turned around and walked over. Da Kui and Er Kui were quite strong, and in this famine year, their physique was somewhat unexpected for Zhao Lian.

This shout caused everyone who was on their way to stop and turn to look at Zhao Lian.

They all heard what the old woman said: "This girl has dried meat." Immediately, everyone's eyes lit up, and they all crowded around.

Among these people were men and women, including a dozen or so men, all of whom had excitement in their eyes.

Why am I so nosy?

Zhao Lian cursed herself fiercely. There were at least dozens of people in front of her, and they looked like hungry wolves, as if they wanted to devour her.

Seeing this, Qiao Feng quickly stood in front of Zhao Lian and stretched out his hands to block her, saying with a stern face, "Don't come any closer, or I won't be polite to you."

Liu Jinzhu and his brothers, including Liu Getongzhu, also came up. Right now, these people were starving, and they were really capable of doing anything for food.

These people remained unmoved by Qiao Feng's words and continued to surround him. Fearing that some of them might pounce, Qiao Feng was fully focused and ready for battle.

Unexpectedly, a dramatic scene unfolded next. Everyone thought these people would come up and forcibly take it, but before they even got close, they all knelt down on the ground.

One by one, they knelt down and kowtowed to Zhao Lian'er: "Young lady, please have mercy, I haven't eaten anything for two days."

They thought they would try to take it by force, but they didn't expect this kind of operation. The Liu brothers looked at each other in disbelief.

One of the women looked to be in her early twenties, with a protruding belly, presumably pregnant, though her belly wasn't very big, probably only four or five months along.

What's outrageous is that the woman was carrying a child on her back, and two little girls were kneeling beside her, each of them pale and thin, looking like a few stunted little bean sprouts.

These children look to be about the same age. The two children kneeling next to them look no more than three or four years old, and the one on their back is probably only a little over one year old.

If these are all her children, she'd probably give birth to one a year. And with her belly still pregnant, she's practically a baby-making machine.

Kneeling next to the woman was a dull-looking man, presumably her husband.

The pregnant woman looked pale and thin, her face sallow and sickly, and Zhao Lian couldn't help but feel worried for her.

Even ordinary people would find the strenuous journey exhausting, let alone a pregnant woman. In her situation, fleeing from danger, there's a high chance of both her and her unborn child dying.

The pregnant woman clasped her hands together and bowed to Zhao Lian, saying, "Young lady, please have mercy. My eldest daughter, second daughter, and third daughter are starving. Please give them some food."

Just as Zhao Lian had predicted, these little girls were all her children.

"Please, young lady, have pity on Da Kui and Er Kui, give them some food." A dark-skinned, sturdy woman kowtowed, apparently Da Kui and Er Kui's mother.

"Girl, please have mercy! I beg you!" The person kneeling on the ground followed suit.

Looking at the twenty or thirty people kneeling in front of her, Zhao Lian glared angrily at the old woman: "How can you be like this, old woman? I kindly gave you a piece of dried meat, and you actually shouted at me!"

"I don't have that much meat. You're so ungrateful! You've fed my kindness to the dogs!"

Surprisingly, the old woman showed no shame whatsoever. Instead, she said matter-of-factly, "I saw it all just now. You still have dried meat in your arms. Since you're going to save people anyway, you might as well save a few more. If you just stand by and watch them die, you'll be punished."

Zhao Lian had never seen such a shameless person before. She was so angry that she trembled all over. It was true that helping someone could lead to trouble. She had only made things worse by meddling in other people's business.

Liu Jinzhu was also dumbfounded. If they were forced to rob someone, they could fight back, but they were helpless against such a shrew.

Sun Shangxiang stepped forward and angrily pointed at the old woman: "How can you be so unreasonable, old woman? In this situation, saving you is a favor, not saving you is the right thing to do, do you understand!"

The old woman showed no shame whatsoever, and instead boasted, "I don't care. I only know that failing to help someone in distress is the same as murder. If she can save one of my lives, I don't care if she saves a few more."

"You—you—" Yan Guihua trembled with rage: "I've never seen anyone like you before, you're simply a scoundrel!"

"So what if I'm a scoundrel? I still got it back through my own abilities." The old woman seemed quite proud of herself.

“My mother is right. You can save one, so saving a few more of us won’t hurt,” said the sturdy woman standing next to Da Kui and Er Kui with a smile.

Judging from what she said, she was probably the old woman's daughter-in-law, the grandmother of Da Kui and Er Kui. There was also a man under 30 years old standing next to her.

The man had triangular eyes and a shifty gaze; he didn't look like a good person. He was probably the big boss's father. He bowed and scraped, saying, "Little girl, you seem like a very kind person. Please give me some alms. My mother said you still have some dried meat on you!"

Haha~

Looking at the family in front of her, Zhao Lian couldn't help but chuckle. She never expected that there would actually be such unreasonable people with such logic.

"Pah! Even if I had it, I wouldn't give it to you!" Sun Shangxiang became increasingly angry as she spoke.

"Aunt, let's not get angry with someone like that. It's not worth getting angry over someone like that. Let's go and ignore her." With that, Zhao Lian ignored her and continued walking forward.

Unexpectedly, the four or five-year-old girl ran over and hugged Zhao Lian's leg: "Miss, please, please give us some food. It doesn't matter if we don't eat, but my mother is pregnant with my little brother."

Zhao Lian looked down and saw the little girl staring at her with wide, clear eyes, her face full of pleading. In her, Zhao Lian seemed to see the shadow of the original owner of this body.