FDNL CH 27

Chapter 27

Jin’er
First Arrival in Another World 027 — Jin’er

Over the next few days, Su Lianyi was extremely busy. With Madam Zhao’s help, she hired workers to renovate the house.

When the “female demon’s” house was being rebuilt, no one dared to come watch out of curiosity in the first few days. But later, news spread that Lianyi’s house had a unique design, and a few bold people came to take a look. When they discovered that Su Lianyi was not at home at all, more and more people began coming, wanting to see what was so special about the house.

At the house under renovation, only Da Hu was left behind. Lianyi, meanwhile, took the remaining kelp and the small grinding mill and went to the Sun family’s home, where she and Madam Wu studied how to grind the kelp into powder.

Su Family Village was a clan village; everyone knew everyone else. Lianyi did not want to pretend to be a scoundrel like the original owner of the body, nor did she want her changes to cause a huge stir, so she could only keep herself out of sight. Su Family Village was destined to be only a temporary stop for her—she did not want to have too many entanglements with the villagers.

The principle behind this small medicinal grinding mill was the same as that of a stone mill used for grinding flour, but since this was delicate work, the small mill was naturally much more refined.

Madam Wu was extremely capable at running a household—she cooked excellent dishes, farmed well, ground wheat, and made tofu with ease—earning Lianyi’s deep admiration. With Madam Wu’s help, the dried kelp was first crushed with a pestle, then slowly ground into powder with the small mill.

“Lianyi, this kelp is perfectly good—why grind it into powder?” Madam Wu asked, puzzled.

Lianyi smiled and brought over the Sun family’s salt jar. “Even if Brother Sun is lacking potassium, he can’t eat kelp every day. Supplementing potassium is a long-term matter—it can’t be done all at once. Kelp may not be expensive, but there’s nowhere to buy it nearby; you can only purchase it from faraway fishing villages. But if we grind the kelp into powder and mix it with salt, it’s easier to store and saves a lot of trouble.” As she spoke, she slowly poured the kelp powder into the salt jar and gently mixed the two together with chopsticks.

Madam Wu looked at Su Lianyi in front of her and almost forgot what she used to be like. Now, her long hair was carefully wrapped atop her head with a cloth, with a few playful black strands falling beside her snow-white cheeks. Her clear eyes were always calm and serene, her speech gentle and unhurried. Simply being beside her brought an inexplicable sense of peace.

“Lianyi… you’ve helped our family so much. How are we supposed to thank you, to repay you?” Thinking of how Su Lianyi had come back and forth over these days to check on Sun Dahai’s condition—charging not a single coin and even bringing a lot of game and kelp—Madam Wu’s eyes reddened. She reached out, grabbed Lianyi’s hand, and refused to let go.

Lianyi smiled and gently squeezed her hand back. Madam Wu was only a little over thirty, yet her appearance was worn and weathered, making her look nearly forty. Her thin hands were covered in calluses. “Sister-in-law Sun, you’re too serious. Who in this world can guarantee a smooth life? Today I help you—perhaps years from now, when I fall on hard times, you’ll come help me. Isn’t that so?”

Tears welled up in Madam Wu’s eyes as she nodded repeatedly. “There’s nothing more to say, Lianyi. As long as there’s ever anything you need from the Sun family, even if it means climbing刀山 or plunging into火海, we won’t refuse.”

Lianyi laughed helplessly. “Sister-in-law Sun, you’re really overstating it. This was just a small effort.”

Ignoring Lianyi’s protests, Madam Wu reached out and called Sun Xiaojin over. “Jin’er, kneel.”

Children from poor families grow up early. Although Sun Xiaojin was not yet nine, he was already mature and sensible. Hearing his mother’s order, he obediently knelt down.

“Jin’er, Miss Lianyi has done our family a kindness as great as a mountain. Swear that in this lifetime, you will listen to Miss Lianyi’s words and honor her as you would your own mother,” Madam Wu said solemnly.

“No… Sister-in-law Sun, you mustn’t do this.” Lianyi hurriedly broke free of Madam Wu’s hand and tried to pull Sun Xiaojin up.

Though Jin’er said nothing, in his heart he thought the same as his mother. Without Su Lianyi’s help, his father would probably already be gone, and the Sun family would be finished. “Heaven above bears witness—I, Sun Xiaojin, swear to the heavens that in this life I will honor Sister Lianyi, obey Sister Lianyi’s words. Otherwise… may I die without a whole corpse.” His voice was childish, yet the oath he spoke was firm and resonant.

Su Lianyi was completely speechless. “Jin’er, get up quickly. There’s no need to swear such a vicious oath. I really just did a small favor.”

How could she have known that in the years to come, Sun Xiaojin would truly live by his oath—following her and remaining loyal for life. Without Sun Xiaojin, Su Lianyi would have perished in a great catastrophe. Of course, that was all in the future.

The Sun family’s old matriarch stood to the side as well, wiping away tears.

After pulling Sun Xiaojin to his feet, Lianyi finally took a good look at the child.

Though Sun Xiaojin was sallow and thin from malnutrition, he was quite tall. His skin was dark, his features delicate, and especially striking were his eyes—far more mature than his age, filled with firmness and determination.

“Miss Lianyi, from now on Jin’er is half your son. Our entire Sun family thanks you for saving our lives.” A male voice came from the doorway of the inner room, somewhat weak but already carrying strength. It was Sun Dahai, who had heard the conversation outside and supported himself as he walked over.

After several days of recuperation, he no longer needed assistance to get out of bed and walk slowly—his recovery was very fast.

Lianyi was helpless and quickly changed the subject. “Brother Sun, have you felt any weakness or nausea today?”

Jin’er hurried over to help him, but Sun Dahai gently refused. “No. Today I feel very comfortable—my head feels light, my heart isn’t pounding as hard anymore. I really never expected Miss Lianyi to be such a divine doctor.”

Lianyi smiled and stood up. “Divine doctor? Not at all. I just happened to have heard of this illness before. These next few days, Brother Sun can increase your activity a bit. In a few days you should be fully recovered. You all carry on—I’ll be leaving.”

“Lianyi, where are you going?” Madam Wu asked quickly.

“To check on the fields. Da Hu has been busy renovating the house, and there’s no one looking after the land. I’ll go tend to it a bit.” Just as she said, over these days Su Lianyi had indeed been diligently tending the vegetable plot—watering and weeding. It wasn’t that she loved labor; she was simply looking for a chance to lose some weight.

After days of eating vegetarian food and exercising more, others couldn’t tell, but Su Lianyi could feel that she had slimmed down. Clothes that had once felt tight were now much looser. She needed to keep it up.

“I’ll go with you. With two people, it’ll be faster,” Madam Wu said as she quickly fetched farm tools from behind the door. “My family has spare tools—you don’t need to go home to get any. It’s closer to go from here anyway.”

“Alright, then I’ll trouble you, Sister-in-law Sun,” Lianyi said with a smile, accepting the offer. With an expert farmer like Madam Wu around, she could learn more about farming—and also understand this world a bit better.

Jin’er followed the two of them to the fields as well.

In the blink of an eye, a whole day passed, and the sun sank beyond the mountains.

Lianyi politely declined Madam Wu’s invitation and strolled alone through the fields.

At this hour, there was no one in the fields—everyone had gone home for dinner. Looking out over the flat, orderly farmland was refreshing to the soul. The clouds were burned crimson by the setting sun; the sky, half red and half blue, was so beautiful it defied words.

Su Lianyi wandered like this, silently planning her future life. Though the road ahead was unknown, there was a different kind of adventurous excitement to it.

When night fell completely, Lianyi judged that the workers renovating the house had already left, and only then did she return home.

In five days, the house had been completely transformed. Following Lianyi’s design drawings, the workers divided what had originally been one large, open room into several smaller sections. Though it was not as bright as before, it was fully functional.

“Da Hu, you’ve worked hard these past few days.” After a hearty dinner, Lianyi brewed a pot of good tea for him and handed it over.

“Mhm.” Da Hu accepted it without ceremony. In his heart, however, everything was clear—Su Lianyi wasn’t avoiding the villagers out of laziness, but because she didn’t want too much interaction with people from the same village. She had tended the fields every single day.

After eating dinner and drinking tea in the courtyard, the two sat in silence. Then, with tacit understanding, they cleaned up the table and dishes and returned to their rooms to sleep.

Who would have thought that the very next day, a rumor would spread throughout Su Family Village—Su Lianyi had taken a wild man in the county town and was unchaste!