Proud Farm Girl With A Space

by Usui Takumii

not mine, sunken translation.

1. 00 to 10

Proud Farm Girl With A Space

After transmigrating, Su Tang became a poor village girl who was not loved by her own father and was abused by her stepmother. After only a few days she was sent as a sacrifice to the River God. Faced with the threat of an imminent second death, Su Tang clenched her fists. Anyway, since she had survived, there was no reason to let herself die again.

Su Tang rolled up her sleeves and, space in hand, she was ready to face the world. She separated from the family, took her younger brother to be adopted somewhere else, did business, bought a manor, and tried to make money every day… Not only did the days become more and more beautiful, but the person also became more and more beautiful. As for getting married, what's that? Can she eat it? Su Tang's life motto: I'm fated to face adversity alone so I'll only love money all my life!

However, one day a proud young man appeared outside her door saying: You may not believe it, but my nickname is Money*.

Su Tang: Outside. Squatting. Horse Stance. Go. Now!

A certain proud young man: It's true, I will now ask my brother, the emperor, to change my name.

Su Tang: …

(tl note: the actual nickname is '小钱钱' which means money in the context and is the same words Su Tang used in the previous line)

In July, the hot summer had nearly passed by and the air was finally beginning to cool. The Su family's yard was quiet this afternoon.

Su Tang walked straight across the courtyard to the kitchen. Madam Zhao, her nominal grandmother, saw what she was doing from the main room and felt annoyed. But she didn't dare do anything more, for fear that Su Tang might smash her own head again. If Su Tang died, who would the Su family sacrifice to the River God tomorrow?

After a brief glance across the four rooms of the Su family, which were all silent like they were playing dead, Su Tang put on a smile that was more like a sneer and walked into the kitchen to boil the rest of the eggs in the pot and take them away.

A person who was going to die tomorrow would obviously have no scruples about taking some food.

"Sister…" When Su Tang took the eggs back with her to the barn she saw a little boy looking at her with big black eyes. He looked at her as if he was afraid that she would disappear at any moment.

Seeing the small child like that, Su Tang's heart could not help but feel a throb of sympathy. Although this child was not her 'real' brother, she still felt distressed. Su Tang quickly handed him the bowl of eggs. "You eat Dalang!"

When the little boy saw that there were a dozen eggs in the bowl, his eyes opened wide with fear. He looked at his sister. "Can we really eat this? Won't grandma scold you?"

Su Tang sat against the bedboard, peeled an egg, and then put it in the boy's hand. "It's fine, if I tell you to eat then you just go ahead and eat."

The little boy's lips pressed into a reluctant line and he couldn't help but gulp. He seemed to have a brief internal struggle but eventually he put the egg back into Su Tang's hand. "Sister you should eat this. You were injured and it will help you get better."

As soon as he finished his words, Su Tang felt a sting at the corner of her eyes. He was such a sweet child. Why was there such a cruel person in this world who was willing to abuse him?

Su Tang rubbed her eyes and nodded. "Sister will eat, but Dalang should eat too. We can both eat."

The boy looked up at his sister and tears welled in his eyes. "Sister, are we going to see our mother soon? They said that we are going to die and see the River God. Sister, can we not die?"

His childish language was like a sharp arrow that pierced Su Tang's heart. She reached out to help her brother dry his tears, "We won't die, we'll both live well, better than anyone else."

When the little boy heard his sister say this, he threw himself into Su Tang's arms.

Su Tang held her brother in her arms and her mind went back to a day ago. She had originally been an editor for an online publication. She happened to meet a client with an urgent need for a manuscript to be edited so she rushed to work overtime for two days.

It was said that staying up late would lead to baldness and Su Tang had proved with her own body that a person would not only go bald but would also lose their life. After staying up for two days straight, she had only seen the world go black and when she woke up again she was already Su Dani of the Su family.

Su Dani and Su Dalang were born to their father, Su Dafu, who was originally married to Madam Liu. But Madam Liu was in poor health and she died less than two years after giving birth to Dalang. So then Su Dafu married his current wife: Madam Wu.

After marrying in, Madam Wu would always say that Su Dani and Dalang were both fated to face adversity*, that they had killed their own mother, and that they were unlucky stars. By coincidence, the Su family had been having a harder and harder time over the past few years, until even their father and Madam Zhao did not like the sister and brother pair. They blamed them for making the Su family like this.

The simmering resentment finally exploded a few days ago when Su Sanshou, Su Dafu's third brother, insisted on fishing in the Qing River with several of the village hoodlums. As a result, they had an accident and only half their lives were left when they came back. No one knew when or if they could wake up.

The Su family invited a witch to diagnose what was wrong and she said that Su Dani and her brother were fated to face adversity, which meant that they were in conflict with the Su family. In order to save Su Sanshou, it was necessary to pay tribute by offering the pair of children to the River God.

After hearing that, the Su family did not hesitate, and immediately wanted to hand over the sister and brother pair. When Su Dani heard that they were going to be sacrificed to the River God she kneeled and begged their father, Su Dafu, to spare them. Unfortunately, she did not get a response even after kneeling for a day. She only received disregard and indifference from her so-called relatives.

Su Dani was only eight years old and could not bear this at all so she impulsively smashed herself into a wall. Thus the modern Su Tang transmigrated in.

The Su family was shocked because they did not expect that Su Dani would dare to commit suicide. So they immediately invited a doctor. Madam Wu from the main branch and Madam Sun from the second branch were both afraid that Su Dani would die. After all, if she died they would have to send one of their own daughters as a sacrifice to the River God instead of Su Dani.

After Su Tang came over and learned that the brother and sister had such miserable lives, she naturally would not continue to be so submissive. After all, the Su family wanted to sacrifice them to the River God tomorrow so they would not dare let either of the siblings have any accidents. That was why she went to the kitchen so unscrupulously to eat and drink.

While the two siblings were peeling eggs on the shabby bedboard in the barn, they suddenly heard Madam Zhao's screaming and scolding voice from the kitchen.

Dalang trembled with fear. He looked at his sister and found that, unlike him, his sister, who usually trembled as long as Madam Zhao was angry, didn't seem afraid at all. When she felt him looking at her, she turned and smiled at him. "Eat quickly, don't be afraid. Your sister is here."

Seeing that his sister was so calm, Dalang's fear slightly dissipated and he continued to peel the eggs.

The two siblings had never had enough to eat their whole lives. Of course they would not be able to eat more than a mouthful of eggs in a year. Now that there were so many eggs in front of him Dalang couldn't help but eat them very carefully. It took a long time for him to swallow each mouthful.

Su Tang was not a real child so naturally she knew why Dalang was like this. When she saw it she could only feel even more sad in her heart.

As an editor, she had read a lot of online novels so she had some idea why she was here. She was afraid she would not be able to go back.

For that reason she could only live on in place of Su Dani and she pledged to take good care of her brother and let him grow up to live a good life. She really hoped that little eight-year-old girl also had a reincarnation and that she had met her mother by now. She hoped the original Su Dani could be born into a good family and live happily as a beautiful little princess in her next life.

While eating the eggs, Su Tang was thinking about what to do tomorrow. But while she was pondering she saw that the door of the barn opened. Someone rushed in and grabbed two eggs. "Big sister has so many eggs, give me a few!"

The boy who came was about five years old. He was the Erlang from the second branch of the Su family. Just now he heard Madam Zhao swearing in the kitchen and found out that Su Tang and her brother had eggs, so he rushed over to get some of them.

This Su Erlang was cunning and gluttonous and he liked to bully Dalang. Su Tang saw him licking his lips and trying to grab the eggs from her brother so she directly hit him on his hand and snatched the eggs back. "If you want to eat, you can go to the Qing River to see the River God in Dalang's place tomorrow."

Su Erlang saw that he had been robbed of his eggs and he felt unreconciled. He quickly reached out to try to take them back. But he saw Su Dalang had already collected all the eggs. He said, "I won't give them to you."

Su Tang saw her brother like this and a trace of a smile flashed through her eyes. Although he had been bullied since he was young he fortunately had not developed a cowardly temperament, that was very good.

Su Erlang was about to open his mouth and start to cry but Su Tang cut him off, "If you cry, I'll tell Grandpa that you want to be the sacrifice to the river god instead of Dalang. Third uncle and third aunt will probably be very willing."

"Bah, you go to hell by yourself, I'm not going. My mother said that even your own father, my uncle, doesn't want to save you. You are stars of misfortune. If you two are here, I will never be able to get a beautiful wife or become a high-ranking official!"

Su Erlang took one last glance at the eggs in Dalang's hands and decided he couldn't get them so he said. "I'll just give them to you. You're going to die anyway!"

After saying that, he directly ran away. Su Tang's eyes grew cold when she heard what Su Erlang said but when she looked out the door, her expression relaxed slightly.

TOC Next

*so this 'fated to face adversity' comes up a lot. It's actually '命硬' which literally means 'hard life'. It's a superstitious term that means that the person with the '命硬' has will face many struggles but always overcome them – but that isn't necessarily a good thing since (according to the superstition) they might end up proud and lonely from constantly withstands hard blows from life. It also signifies a 'bad' birth date that is liable to kill their relatives, according to the superstition.

'Did you get it?' Su Tang looked at the door. There was an orange cat lying lazily by the doorframe.

When it felt Su Tang's eyes, a conversation bubble appeared over the orange cat's head. "You two-legged beast, do you think this divine beast could not handle such a small thing?"

Seeing the orange cat with the speech bubble over its head, Su Tang rolled her eyes. 'Divine beast? You can barely be called a four-legged beast.'

That caused the orange cat to spit hair at Su Tang angrily, which Su Tang ignored before stretching out her hand. After a moment the orange cat pounced onto her wrist and disappeared. All that was left was a mark that looked like a small and lovely cat's head on her wrist.

"Sister?" Dalang had been happy to finally eat some eggs but when he heard what his brother said just now, he suddenly felt lost again.

Looking up, he found that his sister was staring at the empty doorway. He had no idea what she was looking at. He glanced at the empty door and asked Su Tang what she was looking at questioningly.

When Su Tang heard her brother's question, she looked down and saw her younger brother's face had doubts written all over it. She touched his head and murmured, "Hmm?"

"Tomorrow…" Dalang wanted to ask if the reason that they could eat such delicious eggs now was because they were going to die soon.

But then he saw his sister reach out her hand and produce a red candy from nowhere and Dalang became even more confused. "Ah?"

When Su Tang saw that he looked so silly, she only felt he was cute and gave him a smile. But then she became serious. "Dalang you need to listen to your elder sister. Tomorrow, you must always follow my words. When I give you this, you need to eat it right away and then you will not die. Trust me."

When Dalang heard his sister say all that in such a sure tone, although he was still worried, he nodded. "Okay, I believe in you sister."

Hearing her younger brother's childish voice expressing his trust, Su Tang's heart felt warm and she silently vowed to live up to this trust.

Dalang was six years old this year and he knew that in this family, only his sister was ever good to him, she even used to save her own food and give it to him to eat. So even if he didn't trust others, he would always trust his sister.

The brother and sister ate all the eggs together and then that evening Su Tang, under the resentful eyes of everyone else in the Su family, impolitely took away a big bowl of porridge that someone else had cooked. Once the siblings had enough to eat they went to sleep together.

Later, in the middle of the night, Su Tang slowly opened her eyes. Su Erlu, who was guarding the barn outside, was snoring outside the door. Su Tang got up carefully and went to a dark corner of the barn.

Su Tang made a gesture with her hand and the scene in front of her suddenly changed from a dark barn to bright sunlight.

What appeared in front of her was a large farm. She was facing a cabin. To the right of the cabin was a small hot spring. The spring water flowed into a rectangular fish pond where there were herring and grass carp swimming around.

There were 32 plots of land in front of the fish pond. At present, only six plots of land were open. The open plots were growing radishes, cabbage, apples, rice, and wheat, all of which were ripe.

Behind the fish pond was a pasture, which was divided into two parts, one for raising poultry, and the other for raising livestock. Right now there were a few chickens and cattle being raised.

Behind the cabin was a processing plant and a supermarket.

At present, the land, the fish pond, and the pastures were all open. But the supermarket and the processing plant were still closed.

Su Tang traveled to this strange world and instantly saw the arrogant orange cat that claimed to be the guardian of her space.

Su Tang hurriedly harvested all the crops in the six fields and when she was done she saw that the radishes, cabbage, apples, rice and wheat she had just harvested had all appeared inside the space warehouse. These things were Su Tang's greatest advantage in her life in this era. With these, she was at least not afraid of starving to death.

"Xiao Four*, have you arranged everything for tomorrow?" Afraid that Su Erlu might suddenly wake up outside and not see her, Su Tang didn't waste any time. She had ventured into the space tonight to confirm things with the orange cat.

"Can't you change the way you call me? And I've already told you there will be no problem. Tomorrow, once you two are in the water, I can move you both out of the bamboo baskets and directly into the space." The orange cat was not satisfied with his name. He was a dignified divine beast but this name was so strange, it was no good at all.

When Su Tang heard what the orange cat said she reached out and patted it. Seeing its eyes squint comfortably, Su Tang smiled and said, "Please, Xiao Four."

Then, without waiting for the immortal beast to protest, Su Tang left the space. Su Erlu was still snoring so Su Tang slipped back into bed without incident and went back to sleep.

At dawn the next day, Su Tang and Dalang were rudely awakened. "Get up quickly! Don't waste time and miss the time to offer sacrifices to the River God or just see how I will deal with you!"

Madam Zhao was very distressed by the eggs and rice the sister and brother pair had eaten yesterday. And when she happened to see some egg shells on the floor of the barn when she came in just now she got even angrier.

Su Tang, who just woke up, frowned and glanced at Madam Zhao and their stepmother, Madam Wu, who looked like she was watching a joke coldly from the door. "We can get up by ourselves," she said in a cold voice. "Now that it's come to this, do you still think we can run?"

"I don't think you have the guts!" Madam Zhao snorted, "Hurry up, don't waste the auspicious hour!"

Su Tang ignored her and turned to help Dalang put on his clothes. She tidied him up and carefully explained to him, "Remember I told you, hold this in your hand and eat it when I tell you to eat. Do you believe that I will not let you die?"

Dalang looked at the glittering and translucent candy in his hand and nodded. Then he looked at Su Tang, "Sister, please don't die."

Before, when Su Dani smashed herself on the wall it had a great impact on Dalang. Now it was only two days later so the child didn't have any sense of security. Su Tang felt a little distressed. She nodded quickly. "No one will die. In the future, your sister will let Dalang learn to read and take the exam to be a big official."

When Da Lang heard his sister say so, he nodded up and down, "OK, Dalang will be a high-ranking official in the future!"

After all the arrangements were made, Su Tang came out holding her brothers hand. When she came out, she saw that Old Lady Huang had also arrived. This Old Lady Huang was a famous witch who lived nearby. If anything bad happened in the families of the villagers nearby, they would come and look for her.

As soon as Old Lady Huang entered the doorway, she happened to see Su Tang and Dalang coming out hand in hand, with a smile on her face she said. "The Su family is really sincere. These children both chose to serve the River God on their own. In the future, the Su family will enjoy good fortune and endless blessings."

This witch had always made her money by bluffing people, and calling things white when they were clearly black. So right now she was spouting all kinds of exaggerated words. But when Madam Zhao heard those words her face brightened a little. "How could we think so much? We just want our child to hurry up and get better soon."

Old Lady Huang was very clever and as soon as she saw Madam Zhao's expression, she knew what the other person was thinking so she immediately said, "That's natural. With the protection of the River God, I'm sure he will wake up right away."

After she said that, Old Lady Huang felt a chill on her back. When she looked behind her, she saw the little girl's eyes staring at her coldly.

Old Lady Huang has always relied on her bit of luck to make her money but she didn't really have any ability. And this time she was just cooperating with Madam Wu to make some money, so she didn't really feel anything about it. But when she saw the look in the eyes of the girl who 'volunteered' to sacrifice herself to the River God, Old Lady Huang felt a cold shiver run up her spine.

"Auntie Huang, since you said so, we'll just wait for the good news. Why don't you come in and have something to eat first. You don't have to worry that we'll be late and delay the auspicious hour." When Madam Wu and Madam Zhang, the wife from the third branch, heard what Old Lady Huang said, they exchanged glances, and then opened their mouths together to invite Old Lady Huang inside for a meal.

When Old Lady Huang looked inside and saw that there was chicken on the table, she forgot all about Su Tang's eyes. The Su family was so generous that they even prepared a chicken for her! As soon as Old Lady Huang came to the table she wasn't polite at all and immediately began to eat.

As soon as Old Lady Huang sat down, all the people from the three branches sat down after her. When Su Dafu came out, he glanced briefly at Su Tang and her brother, then looked away and stood beside Madam Wu.

Su Sani, Madam Wu's daughter, was only four years old this year. When she saw her father coming, she held out her arms for a hug. Su Dafu quickly picked her up and Su Sani giggled and grabbed at Su Dafu's beard.

When Dalang saw the interaction between his half-sister and his father, he tightened his grip on his sister's hand. Then he lowered his head so he didn't have to watch.

On the other hand, Su Tang coldly looked at how Madam Wu and Su Dafu stood together and coaxed their daughter, and she only felt it was ironic that they were also his children, but they could not even get a single glance when they were about to die. Meanwhile, Madam Wu's daughter could get such fatherly love.

The seemingly harmonious family was actually just a joke.

Su Tang's lips arced in a cold smile and she bowed her head and said nothing. Since she did not regard them as her family members, she didn't feel hurt at all.

Old Lady Huang ate and drank until she was stuffed. While she ate she bragged that she knew that the Su family had a bright future, and that their family fortunes would soon change, and even talked about how they would have a high-ranking official in the family soon.

Even the Old Master of the Su family was coaxed into smiling a bit. Although he was usually very reserved it was clear that he had kept the words she was saying in his heart. When Old Lady Huang saw the old couple was so happy, she felt very proud in her heart, she really had the ability to coax people!

The sun slowly rose and many people from the village gathered around the Su family to watch the hustle and bustle. Although Sujia Village* was a fairly big village, nothing could be hidden. Before today the people in the village heard that the Su family were going to send their children as sacrifices to the River God so naturally, they came out to join the fun.

"This family has such cruel hearts. A good child is being sent as a sacrifice to the River God. It's really a sin!" Some sensible people saw the thin and pitiful brother and sister standing in the yard and could not help but feel distressed.

"I think it's because of Madam Wu's ruthlessness, she just doesn't like raising another woman's children. I guess she's not afraid to be put in the frying pan for doing such a thing after she dies." Some people directly blamed Madam Wu. After all, who did not know that Su Dani and Su Dalang did not have a good life at home? But now it was so bad that they were even going to be sent away as sacrifices to the River God? There were so many children in the Su family but they happened to send the two whose mother died? Who would believe it wasn't because the stepmother was vicious?

The people who spoke were all married women with sharp eyes, they could tell at a glance that it was Madam Wu who was scheming something evil.

"You'd better be more careful about what you two say. Madam Wu is very kind. She has been married into our village for so many years and has never done anything wrong. Moreover, she is not the one charge of offering sacrifices to the River God. Her family hasn't separated, Old Master Su and Madam Zhao are both still there, right? It is not up to others to make arrangements for their grandchildren. Could a daughter-in-law not listen to the arrangements of her parents?"

There were also some young daughter-in-laws who heard what the others were saying and spoke up for Madam Wu.

When the woman who said there was something wrong with Madam Wu heard them defending Madam Wu, she just pursed her lips and said. "She is a person with a sweet mouth and a ruthless heart, if you think she is good, you can just keep making nice with her."

Madam Wu looked very kind from the outside and she never showed a bad face to anyone. But these old village women were at least somewhat accurate in judging other people after they had lived to such an age. Madam Wu was obviously not a good person and they knew not to come into contact with people like that, otherwise they would not even know when they were calculated against.

Madam Wu could hear the people saying that she was a vicious woman outside. She gritted her teeth. She told herself that she only had this one chance so it was okay to lose some of her reputation. As long as the two children died today, everything else could wait. Her reputation would recover with time.

Thinking about it this way, Madam Wu stood quietly beside Su Dafu, bowing her head and saying nothing, as if it were none of her business. Madam Zhang, the third wife, saw Madam Wu standing behind Madam Zhao with her head down, pretending to be a good person, and sneered.

Old Lady Huang looked at the sky. "It's the auspicious hour, let's go to the riverside!"

Sujia Village was right next to the Qing River, and some families with no land in the village made their living by fishing, so it was very convenient to go to the Qing River.

When the elderly Su couple heard Old Lady Huang say that it was time, they wanted to take Su Tang's brother and sister to the river right away but after only a few steps, they saw a group of people gathering not far away.

"Su Yonggui, are you really going to kill your own grandson and granddaughter like this?" The man who spoke looked to be in his fifties. Although he was dressed in plain clothes, they had no patches or mends. He walked over with a serious face.

The newcomer was Su Yongqiang, the patriarch of the Su family. He had heard before that Su Yonggui's family was going to use their children as sacrifices to the River God but back when he first heard the news he only thought that it was some random nonsense. The villagers of Sujia Village had all lived by the river for generations and while they would occasionally offer some fruits, snacks, or the like to the River God, they all knew there was no real point to using living people as sacrifices.

So when he received the news early this morning that Su Yonggui was really going to give up his two grandchildren. Su Yongqiang immediately brought some people over to try to stop it.

When Madam Zhao saw Su Yongqiang coming, she immediately got aggressive. "What does the patriarch mean by that? What do you mean by 'killing our grandchildren'? These two stars of misfortune have made our family get worse and worse ever since we had them.

When their mother gave birth to Dalong she almost died and then later she really did die. Now my son finally got another wife, if she dies again, who would still dare to marry him? Those two are destined to destroy our family, even now our third son is lying sick in bed, but you don't want to let them go and serve the River God? What are we doing wrong? Should we just watch our third son die?"

Madam Zhao spoke with conviction, as if her words were sensible, and she seemed to think that she was being very reasonable.

Su Yongqiang ignored Madam Zhao and looked at his brother Su Yonggui. "Yonggui, I'm asking you, do you really want to do this? I won't listen to a woman. You, the head of the family, answer me yourself."

When Su Yonggui heard the patriarch questioning him in front of so many people, he felt ashamed. He hated Su Yongqiang for asking him this in front of so many people but he had already come this far so he said in a dull voice, "Brother Qiang, this is my family's business, so leave it alone!"

"Well, Su Yonggui, to think you don't treat your own grandchildren as human beings. I'll just see what will happen to your family in the future." Su Yongqiang had come to show his concern using his position as the Su family patriarch but if Su Yonggui told him to leave he really couldn't interfere.

He took a final look at the pitiful Su Tang and her brother, then turned his head and left.

Su Tang had also heard what Su Yongqiang said. Seeing that Su Yongqiang was turning around to leave angrily, she suddenly looked up in the direction where he left.

"Dani'er thanks Grandpa Qiang for helping talk for her, but my parents and grandparents told us that we are going to serve the River God. Before, my uncles and aunties always gave me and Dalang something to eat and when my mother was alive, she told me that if we get help from others, we should repay them. So when we go to serve the River God we will ask him to bless everyone!"

Su Tang knew that her body was only eight years old and had never so much as read a book. So she shouldn't be too articulate, which was why she deliberately spoke in a childish way.

And sure enough, when she finished speaking, the emotional women watching from the sides turned red and teary and cursed the Su family.

Su Yongqiang also heard Su Tang's words. When he heard the little girl's crisp young voice saying that she was going to serve the River God and ask him to bless everyone he felt even more powerless.

Old Lady Huang had always been clever, so when she saw that Su Tang's words seemed to be moving everyone's hearts, she was afraid the Su family might change their minds. If that happened, she would no longer earn any money, so she immediately whispered in Madam Zhao's ear that time was almost up, and soon they would miss the auspicious hour.

"Why are you saying all this nonsense? Let's go!" As soon as Madam Zhao heard that she was going to miss the time, she didn't care about anything else and she pushed Su Tang and brother forward.

Dalang remembered his sister's instructions. No matter what happened he shouldn't say a word and he shouldn't let go of his sister's hand. Back when he heard his sister say this he didn't understand why at all. But now he still obediently bowed his head and held his sister's hand.

When the villagers in Sujia Village saw how young the children were, so young they didn't even know what death was, they really sympathized with them. But it was another family's matters so they were not qualified to interfere.

Everyone here believed in the River God more or less, it was just that no one paid tribute to the River God with living people.

Su Yongqiang wanted to say something more but he was held back by the people on his side. Although he was the family patriarch, he really could not interfere with his brother's way of dealing with the affairs of his own children. After all, it was not as if Su Yonggui was selling his sons and daughters.

Su Yongqiang watched Su Yonggui's family drive the brother and sister to the riverside with red eyes and he was so angry he wanted to beat someone. "What on earth is Su Yonggui thinking? Madam Liu worked hard to give birth to that pair of children. Even if the Liu family is gone, why are they so heartless to their own flesh and blood?"

Su Yongqiang's nephew Su Fu'an was one of the one holding him back just now. Seeing his uncle like this, he said, "They haven't regarded Dani or Dalang as family members since long ago. It's no use talking about it. My brother is a good swimmer. Let's go up the river and keep watch later, we'll see if we can save their lives. Maybe Su Laochuan… although it will be a bit difficult, it is a way for them to survive. The amount of help our family can provide is only…"

Su Fu'an said a lot into Su Yongqiang's ear. When he saw Su Yongqiang's expression was still a little hesitant he sighed and said, "Hey, this is the lives of the two children!"

It would soon be autumn so the Qing River was fast and cold. When two children of that age were thrown into the river in a basket it would quickly be very dangerous. Su Fuhua was a good swimmer but it would not be easy to save them.

Su Fu'an words also meant, 'Since it's like this, let's just do the best we can.'

Su Yongqiang finally nodded, "Then go ahead. If you really save them, I will help you settle things after."

Su Yongqiang also understood that Su Fu'an was not being selfish by saying what he said. Because if those two children really wanted a chance to survive, it would be impossible for them to continue to live with Yonggui's family. So it would be better to find a way for them to live elsewhere.

Su Fu'an received the response he wanted from the patriarch and immediately smiled a little more before he hurried to find his brother.

When Old Lady Huang saw that Su Yongqiang and his group did not catch up and say anything more, she breathed a sigh of relief. She happened to glance back and saw Madam Wu urging her with her eyes, so she quickened her pace. "Don't keep the River God waiting."

Soon they came to the riverside and Old Lady Huang quickly set up the incense burner, and then burned some yellow paper. She gestured for the Su family to put the sister and brother in the basket.

"Lord River God, your faithful servants are here to present a pure boy and girl today. I hope you…" Madam Wu picked up Dalang and put him in the basket. Dalang had already eaten the candy his sister gave him so his head was drooping and his consciousness was already a little muddled.

But no one moved to pick up Su Tang. Old Master Su glanced at Su Dafu. Su Dafu froze for a moment but did not move. The second branch's wife, Madam Sun was standing beside her husband, when she saw Su Dafu like that she smiled sarcastically but did not say a word.

Seeing that his eldest son was motionless, Old Master Su glanced at his second son. Su Erlu had always been filial, so when he saw his father's glance he wanted to step forward but before he could he was held back by Madam Sun. She would not let her husband do such a thing.

If there was retribution in the future, it should be retributed to those who deserve it, but it had nothing to do with her husband.

Seeing that his two sons were immobile, Old Master Su flushed angrily and went over to do it himself. He directly picked up Su Tang and put her in the basket.

Su Tang kept staring at these people without blinking. Madam Zhao felt uncomfortable under her eyes and Old Lady Huang also felt that this little girl seemed a little unusual today, she was even vaguely afraid the girl might be born again and come back for revenge.

So she just stopped doing her mysterious things and immediately said, "The time has come to deliver the pure sacrifices to the River God!"

As she finished, Old Master Su and Madam Wu pushed the two baskets into the river, and the clear water swallowed them in an instant.

When Madam Zhao could no longer see the little girl's eyes, she breathed a sigh of relief and said to Old Lady Huang, "That's alright then!"

"Wait for me to finish the ceremony." Old Lady Huang quickly resumed her act.

Madam Wu felt relived and refreshed. Even though it had taken five years, she had finally gotten rid of the two evil seeds left behind by that Liu woman. Now only she, Wu Guixiang, and her children would be left to inherit the Su family.

Madam Wu tried to suppress the smile at the corners of her lips while she watched Old Lady Huang doing her strange ceremony.

After the time it took for a stick of incense to burn, Old Lady Huang sang out a conclusion to her ceremony. "The River God responded, he said that he was satisfied with the sacrifice offered by the Su family, so go back and wait for the good news."

Hearing what Old Lady Huang said, Old Master Su and Madam Zhao had looks of joy on their faces and thanked Old Lady Huang again and again as they hurried away from the river.

They did not know that just after they left in a hurry, several young men quickly appeared and jumped into the river at the same place where the baskets had just gone in.

Meanwhile, Su Tang and Su Dalang had already entered her space, "How long will he take to wake up?"

Su Tang put the sleeping Su Dalang inside the cabin and asked the orange cat to make sure everything was going smoothly.

The orange cat glanced over at the soaked Su Tang and said, "You should wait for at least another half an hour. Don't worry. I already put two stones in the baskets. They won't float up."

"You go outside and watch, tell me when it's safe to go out." Su Tang sent the orange cat out for observation.

The divine beast stretched lazily and disappeared from the space. Since she had known that the Su family would throw her into the river today Su Tang had long planned to use her space to escape.

Every time she entered the space, she would basically be in the same place when she went out again, but if the orange cat went outside, it could move the exit of the space. But the orange cat was just an orange cat so it couldn't run very fast, and it could only cover small distances.

Su Tang had prepared two stones in advance and put them in the space. So, just now as soon as they had been put into the river she had quickly moved herself and her brother into the space. At the same time, in order to avoid the baskets from being too light and floating back to the surface, the orange cat had moved the two stones into the baskets so that the baskets would continue to sink, as if they still had people inside.

In fact, the candy she gave to Su Dalang was nothing special, it was just a medicine that would make him faint. Although he was the younger brother of this body, her space was her greatest life-saving straw and she did not want it exposed.

Su Tang saw that it was time to harvest the crops in the fields again, so she went over and harvested them. She was then informed that third-level crops like corn and potatoes had been unlocked. She already had a large amount of rice and wheat in the space warehouse, so she planted corn and potatoes in the fields this time.

As for the pastures, Su Tang's chickens and cattle had all produced more things she needed to harvest, so soon there was more milk and eggs in her space warehouse.

Just as she finished putting all that away, the orange cat came back inside with soaked fur, "Su Yonggui's family left quickly but Su Fuhua took a few of his brothers and is looking for you two in the river. Maybe you should go out and have a look."

"Su Fuhua?" Su Tang heard that name and looked at the orange cat confusedly. She didn't know this person.

Xiao Four licked his paws and jumped onto a nearby cat tree. "Su Fuhua is Su Yongshun's second son, presumably he is here instead of his father because he is a good swimmer. Su Yongshun and Su Laochuan were close neighbors, to the point that Su Yongshun even used to call Su Laochuan his uncle."

Su Dani had never gone out much, so she hadn't known many people, and Su Tang had only just arrived in this world recently. Those two facts together meant that Su Tang wasn't that well informed about the other villagers, which was why she had especially asked the orange cat to go out and investigate the people around her. Outsiders could not see the orange cat because Su Tang's space's level was still too low, which meant that the orange cat didn't have enough power to manifest it's form in front of anyone but her.

But that was actually very appropriate for doing a secret investigation and, in only one day, the orange cat had managed to learn many things about Sujia Village.

When Su Tang heard the orange cat mention Su Yongshuan she realized what was going on. It was a case of 'two parties happening to work toward the same goal!' She smiled at the thought that Su Yongshun's family had wanted to help her and her brother.

The orange cat saw her smug look and rubbed its face with its paw. "When they're nearby, you should go out and let them 'save' you."

This was the host the orange cat found after a very long time, so he needed to make sure she didn't have any accidents. It was only with great difficulty that he could finally wake up, so he didn't want to have to go back into another long hibernation waiting for another master.

Su Tang did not object to his advice and, after about ten minutes, when she saw that Dalang was starting to wake up, Su Tang grabbed him and exited the space.

The two were directly engulfed by the river and, with great effort, she firmly held Dalang and swam to the shore, before collapsing on the beach completely drained of strength.

As she gasped for breath she couldn't help but complain that this Su Dani's health was actually far worse than her own health in her previous life. And in her previous life, she had not been particularly healthy or anything, because she rarely exercised. But Su Dani and her brother were much worse because they were never even able to eat full meals, so her body really had no strength at all. And this was after Su Tang had been energetically eating everything she could get her hands on from the Su family kitchen over the past two days. If she hadn't been doing that, she probably wouldn't even be able to drag herself this far.

Su Tang cursed these damned ancient times in her heart. The level of medical treatment was so low that in order for her to live happily she would have to exercise seriously in the future so that she wouldn't get sick. Sickness in an era with no medical knowledge was too scary after all.

While she was thinking random things, Su Tang spotted some other people not far away trying to find the siblings in the river, so she tried to cough loudly, "Cough, cough, cough…"

Su Fu'an was not as good at swimming as his younger brother Su Fuhua and the Qing River had a fast-moving current, so swimming was dangerous if you were inexperienced. He didn't want to become a rescuer who found himself needing rescue himself, so he hadn't gone into the river. Instead, he was standing on the bank and monitoring the situation anxiously.

Everyone here knew that the longer the time dragged on, the smaller the chances that the children would survive, so Su Fu'an was very anxious as he watched his brother and the several other young men who were continuously diving into the river to look for them. But then Su Fu'an suddenly heard the sound of coughing nearby.

Su Fu'an thought to himself, 'That's impossible.' but when he turned to check he really saw the brother and sister pair lying side-by-side on the shore. Their clothes were all wet and the girl was softly coughing while the boy beside her was lying motionlessly in the water.

"Dani, Dalang, are you all right?" As he walked over, Su Fu'an looked back and shouted, "Come on up, I found them!"

Su Tang also acted like she had just seen Su Fu'an. She looked at him and cried out "The River God said that my brother and I are fated to face adversity, so he did not accept us, grandma is definitely going to kill us, wu wu wu…*"

Su Fu'an had just come over when he happened to hear Su Tang's words. He was surprised, "You have met the River God?"

Su Tang nodded. "Who are you? The River God doesn't want us. wu wu wu."

When Su Fu'an heard her say that they were fated to face adversity, he gave Su Tang a look of pity, and then went over and picked up Dalang. He found that the child was still warm and didn't seem hurt, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

It was at this time that the medicine Dalang took wore off and he slowly opened his eyes and saw his sister. He immediately broke free from Su Fu'an's arms and hugged Su Tang while wailing.

When Su Fu'an called out to his brother and his friends who were still searching in the river they all returned to the shore. When they came over, they saw the brother and sister pair hugging and crying together. Su Fuhua asked his brother what had happened. When they heard that the River God disliked the siblings and refused to take them, they all looked at the brother and sister sympathetically.

They were afraid that the lives of these two children would only get more difficult in the future.

But Su Tang had actually done that on purpose. She knew that people in Sujia Village believed in the River God and she didn't want to have anything to do with her former family, so she deliberately said those words that she knew would give her a bad reputation. Now she estimated that most ordinary people would not want to get too close to her and no one would suspect any of the things she was planning for the future. She had not been married in her previous life so she was not hoping for love now after she had come to these strange ancient times, which was why having a bad reputation that would lose her marriage prospects didn't faze her at all.

After all, this reputation would discourage many useless suitors from bothering her. As for her younger brother, if he could not find a good family's daughter willing to marry him in the future, then she would find a way to cultivate such a woman on her own. There would always be a way to solve that sort of problem.

Su Fu'an and the others felt sad when they heard the crying brother and sister pair.

After a few words of consolation, Su Fu'an squatted down and said to Su Tang, "You don't know me but my name is Su Fu'an. Since the River God didn't want you, would you like to go live in another family?"

Su Fuhua and the several other men watched as Su Fu'an talked to the girl. The girl was drenched and her big black eyes were filled with surprise. "Go to another family? Is that alright?"

Su Tang was not shy about her desire to leave her family. Even if she was only eight years old, it was perfectly normal that she did not want to go back to a family that was not good to her at all.

Sure enough, Su Fu'an and his group did not suspect anything when they heard her reaction. Instead, when Su Fu'an heard her question, he just nodded and said, "Yes, it will be alright."

Su Fu'an seriously explained to Su Tang, "Su Laochuan came to our village a few days ago and he hoped to adopt a child. If you and Dalang are willing, you can ask the patriarch to tell your grandparents and parents to let Su Laochuan adopt you."

Hearing what Su Fu'an said, Su Tang felt relieved. Sure enough, he seemed to have the same idea that she did. After all, the Su family did not regard the brother and sister pair as human beings at all and their stepmother Madam Wu only wanted to get rid of them.

Su Tang didn't want to linger in their household any longer. She had read a lot of novels in her previous life and when the female leads would encounter this kind of thing and want to separate from the family something would always hold them back. For instance, her body was only eight years old, and she still had Su Dafu and Madam Wu to deal with. She was sure there was no chance she could separate from them on her own.

Before, when the orange cat went out to inquire, she found out that children here could not be separated from their parents, it was only after their parents had passed away that they could be separated. Because of this rule, Su Tang had to find another way to get rid of her family.

And it happened that around the same time Su Dani smashed herself into the wall and Su Tang arrived, Su Laochuan from the village died suddenly because his children had an accident outside. He could not stand the shock from the news and fell ill before dying a few days later. But before he died, he told his friends that he hoped that the lineage of his household would not be broken. He asked Su Yongqiang to help him by finding a successor for his house.

As soon as Su Tang heard that there was such a thing she made up her mind to take her brother to his household. Only by doing that could she completely get rid of her previous family. She had the space and she had the skills to live a good life with her younger brother so there was no need to have anything to do with her so-called relatives that treated her and her brother so badly.

Madam Wu, Madam Zhang, and Old Lady Huang had all conspired together to take her and her brother's lives. The previous owner, Su Dani, had no options but Su Tang could have exposed it if she wanted to. But she didn't want to, because she wanted to use ths situation as a pretext to separate from those people completely.

Earlier, when the orange cat told her that Su Fu'an had brought people to save her and then went on to mention his relationship with Su Laochuan's family, Su Tang knew that the two brothers probably wanted to help her separate from her family. So now that Su Fu'an had said it out directly, Su Tang breathed a sigh of relief inside. Since he had already mentioned it himself, that was much better because now she didn't have to make a plan to make him mention it.

Although her heart was very willing, Su Tang did not immediately agree. Instead she asked, "After the adoption, Dalang and I can not go back. Won't grandma and mother hit us?"

Even if she desperately wanted to leave, she couldn't leave a ruthless impression, just like those words she spoke one the riverbank to Su Yongqiang earlier. She had to let the other villagers know that she and her brother were not doing well at home and gain pity. That way, if Su Yonggui's family tried to do anything it would be easier for her to respond.

Planning ahead never hurt anyone.

Sure enough, when the men heard Su Tang's question, they all seemed sympathetic. Su Fuhua even directly said, "You will be Su Laochuan's son and daughter. If Su Dafu dares to do anything I'll beat him for you."

Su Fuhua and Su Dafu were from the same generation so he could say such things without worry.

When she heard him say that, Su Tang felt it was enough, so she nodded, "Then I'll be adopted!"

Su Fu'an breathed a sigh of relief. Then he asked the Dalang, "What about you Dalang?"

Dalang had been pushed into the cold river today so he was a little frightened. In the first place, he had a very simple thought in mind and that was to stay with his sister, so when he heard Su Fu'an's question he directly clung to Su Tang, "Where my sister goes, I'll go."

In this world, only his sister had ever been sincere to him. Even if Dalang forgot everything else, he would never forget this.

When Su Fu'an and Su FuHua heard that, they both breathed sighs of relief. They had explained things clearly to the two children and let them make their own decision. If they didn't want to go, although they would be unhappy in their hearts, they wouldn't force them. Because, although Su Fu'an's family had benefited from Su Laochuan's family in the past, they would never force anyone to join his family.

Now that they saw the brother and sister were willing to go they were relieved. They sent someone to go to Su Yongqiang and tell him that the two children had been fished up and then they took the two children back to the village.

When Su Tang and her brother followed Su Fu'an to Su Yongqiang's house, they saw that Su Yonggui and his family had already arrived.

When Madam Zhao saw the brother and sister pair coming she squinted at them fiercely, and Madam Wu looked pale. She had tried her best to get rid of the two evil seeds left behind by that Liu woman but she didn't expect that they would survive. She hated that she had spent her private money but still hadn't achieved her goal.

Madam Wu gritted her teeth as she looked at Su Tang and her brother. She turned away and happened to see Chen Xiuxiu, one of her friends in the village, winking at her. She glanced at her parents-in-law and her silent husband before carefully walking over.

Chen Xiuxiu whispered something in Madam Wu's ear after she came over. After hearing it, Madam Wu restrained herself from showing a look of joy, thanked Chen Xiuxiu, then walked over to Madam Zhao and whispered in her ear.

There were a lot of people in Su Yongqiang's courtyard and it was very lively, many people had come to see the two siblings who came back even after being sacrificed to the River God. And although Madam Wu was very careful, her every move was seen by Su Tang.

Watching Madam Wu conspiring with the other woman, Su Tang sneered in her heart. Only a fool thought that they were the only smart person while the rest of the world were all fools.

Su Fu'an took Su Tang and her brother into Su Yongqiang's yard. The Su family used to only be very prominent in Sujia Village but later they began to decline. Now even the ancestral home of the Su family was gone, so now when they gathered they would do it in front of the patriarch Su Yongqiang's house.

"Uncle Qiang, we brought Dani and Dalang back." Su Fu'an went to Su Yongqiang and wanted to say a few words.

But Madam Zhao directly said, "What kind of fate is this for our family? It was not easy for us to get rid of them but now these two stars of misfortune are back again. Even the River God said that their fate was too full of adversity. Who would dare raise such children? Our whole family will be killed by them and then there will be grass at the head of our graves because there won't be anyone left to clean it up!"

Madam Zhao had a good voice and she took this opportunity to narrate the story of Su Tang's adverse fate. The meaning of her words were very clear: her family dared not to continue to support Su Tang and her brother.

Su Yongqiang looked at Madam Zhao antics but because she was distantly his sister-in-law, all he could do was put on a black face. Eventually, he looked at Su Yonggui, "Yonggui, you are the head of your house. Now that Dani and Dalang are back, what do you say?"

He had sent someone to invite Su Yonggui's family here just now when he heard that the children had come back. But his messenger told him that Su Yonggui's family had been busy planning to have a good meal to celebrate the third son's recovery. There was no sadness at all about the loss of their own grandchildren.

When Su Yongqiang looked at Su Yonggui he felt a chill in his heart. After all, who would dare to make friends with a man who did not even put his own grandchildren in his eyes?

But Su Yonggui was surprised when Madam Zhao cut in and said, "What are you talking about?"

Madam Zhao pointed at the two wet children standing there and said. "If you don't believe me, ask them why they were returned by the River God, it was because the River God did not want to deal with their adverse fate!"

Su Fu'an and Su Fuhua were surprised to hear Madam Zhao say that. They clearly remembered that when the brother and sister had been fished out of the river there was no one there who heard what Su Tang said but them. And they didn't tell anyone. So how did Madam Zhao know?

Su Yonggui looked at Su Tang and her brother, "Is what she said true?"

The reason why Su Fu'an had not told anyone was because he felt that it would not be good for their reputation. If it was spread everywhere, wouldn't life be even more difficult for the brother and sister in the future? Maybe if someone wanted to get married to one of the siblings in the future, he could tell that person in private, but how could he want Su Yonggui's family to hear about it? He gave Su Tang a warning with his eyes.

Su Tang saw the warning Su Fu'an's eyes and knew he was well-intentioned but, unfortunately, she wanted to spread this kind of reputation. So when she heard Su Yonggui ask her that question, she nodded directly.

"Yes, the River God said that we have a fate filled with adversity, so he let us come back. Grandma, we could not serve the River God well, I'm sorry! Please don't hit me and Dalang."

When she said those words, everyone looked at Madam Zhao with condemnation in their eyes. Although they all lived in poverty in Sujia Village, that did not mean they approved of abusing children.

Before when people saw the sister and brother dirty and always dressed in rags they would privately talk about their terrible stepmother. But now hearing Su Tang say that, it seemed certain that the two children had not been treated properly by the whole family. The onlookers all whispered to each other about it one after another.

Su Yonggui was a person who was afraid of trouble and who liked to save face. When he saw everyone gossiping about his family, his face reddened in shame. When he heard Su Tang's words, he did not respond to her, instead he said, "Old Qiang you heard it yourself. These two children have an adverse fate. Our family doesn't want to end up the same way Su Laochuan's family did, we have no choice!"

After Su Laochuan died there was no one to continue his family line. It was the most pitiful and talked about story currently circulating the village. Su Yonggui felt like these two children were stars of misfortune so he did not want to take them back.

That was why he wanted to offer them to the River God in the first place, but who could have expected that even the River God couldn't tolerate their adverse fate. His branch of the Su family had been getting worse and worse the past few years, and he knew it must have been the work of those two children.

"That's right, we raised our children with our own blood, sweat, and tears. Now that we finally have children and grandchildren we just want to enjoy happiness for a few days. If those two come back, we may all lose our lives soon. We really don't dare take them back." Madam Zhao said.

On one side, Madam Wu heard those words and her face showed a trace of disappointment. She really wanted to get rid of those two evil seeds directly but she would at least be a little happier if they were thrown out of the family.

When she thought of this, Madam Wu looked at the two siblings standing there. She listened to the villagers all around who were pointing at her with blame and she just continued to keep her head down. As long as those two were around her reputation would never get better. But the days ahead were still long, she did not believe that they could always be this lucky.

Regardless of Madam Wu's thoughts, Su Yongqiang looked at the Su family. When he heard them say they didn't want to raise them, he looked at Su Dafu and wanted to ask him. After all, he was the real father of the two children, "What do you think Dafu?"

Su Dafu and Madam Wu stood together on one side. It was a bit ironic that they were still holding Su Sani, whom they had brought along to watch the hustle and bustle. After hearing the question, without even looking at Su Tang or her brother, Su Dafu said, "I'll listen to my parents."

It was really chilling to see such a father.

Su Yongqiang sighed and said, "These children belong to your family but you don't want to raise them. Who do you think should raise them? The genealogy says that they are your family's children.

"Then strike them from the family genealogy. We don't want such children with adverse fates like them." Madam Zhao said without hesitation.

Su Yongqiang was enraged and he looked at Su Yonggui, "In your family are the women in charge?"

Su Yonggui angrily reprimanded Madam Zhao for speaking ahead of him but then went on to say, "Old Qiang, you've seen it. Anyone who dares to raise these children would be going against the River God. We really don't dare to take them back."

Su Yongqiang sighed, "Our Sujia Village still has to answer to our ancestors before us. Even if you don't want to raise the children, it's not as if you can just throw them away. It just so happens that there is no one to inherit Su Laochaun's line now that he has died. If you agree, then sign this adoption document. Then, in the future, these two children will belong to Su Laochuan's household. Anyway, Su Laochuan and his whole family are all already gone so they are not afraid of the children's adverse fate."

After Su Yongqiang finished, when he saw Madam Zhao looked like she wanted to speak, he immediately added, "If you don't want to sign it, then you find another family who is willing to take them back and raise them, or if not, you can take them back and raise them yourself. After all, they are your children!"

Su Laochuan's family used to be somewhat well-off but now they had nothing left but a broken-down grass and mud house. Otherwise, he wouldn't need to struggle so much to find someone who was willing to be adopted into Su Laochuan's household. After all, people who would be willing to let their children be adopted into another family were all living in poverty themselves, so if they were going to give their children up the minimum condition was that their children could at least be well fed.

But Su Laochuan's family had nothing for an adopted child to inherit but, despite that, the child would have to carry on Su Laochuan's household. What kind of parent would be willing to give away their children to another person's family and have their children call someone else their parents? Especially if the new 'parents' couldn't even feed them.

Su Yongqiang was the head of the Su family so it was impossible for him to really let this brother and sister be removed from the family genealogy. People removed for their family genealogy did not have the qualifications to take the imperial examinations and were despised everywhere. To do so would make the children's lives much harder.

He couldn't just destroy the lives of the two children, so now there was basically nothing he could do except adopt them into Su Laochuan's household.

When Madam Zhao heard Su Yongqiang's words, she swallowed the retort that was on the tip of her tongue and shut up. The two children had an adverse fate and she still wanted to live for a few more years to see her grandson become an official and bring back a wife.

The witch Old Lady Huang had come to her house the other day and said personally that there would be great wealth in her family in the future. If she brought these two children back and allowed them to kill her, how could she enjoy the happiness that would be coming in the future?

When Madam Zhao did not speak, Su Yonggui hesitated for a moment and looked around at the rest of the Su family. But whenever his eyes moved to them everyone would dodge his gaze. None of them dared to raise these children with an adverse fate. Plus, they all had children of their own, so why would they raise another person's children?!

Su Yonggui knew that if he didn't agree now he would have to take the two children back himself. If he didn't want to do that, he had no choice but to adopt them into Su Laochuan's family. Su Laochuan's family was already dead so they were not afraid of fate, no matter how adverse it was.

"Back the Su Laochuan helped our family a lot while he was still here, so why don't we let them go and carry on his family line." Su Yonggui fumbled for a while but eventually found a reason to make it sound like he was being very generous.

Everyone knew in their hearts exactly what was going on though, so when he said those word the only response from the onlookers were mocking smiles.

Madam Wu listened to the discussion and her hands clenched into fists while she looked at the brother and sister pair. She could not let those two evil seeds affect her reputation so right now she couldn't do anything but later, later…

'Anyone can tell your stepmother had bad intentions at a glance but you want to just let her go?' The orange cat had been following Su Tang all this time and even right now it was lying in front of her, just no one else could see it.

Seeing the dialogue bubbles that popped up over the cat's head, Su Tang sneered and murmured, "For a gentleman's revenge, ten years later is not too late. She owes Su Dani a life, don't worry, I won't forget!"

Madam Wu had clearly intended to kill her two stepchildren and Su Dani had even been forced to commit suicide. If Su Tang hadn't arrived in this world then Su Dani would have truly died. So she would repay this blood debt between her and Madam Wu, maybe not today, but the future ahead was still long.

When Su Yongqiang saw Su Yonggui agreed he directly had someone come and write the adoption document. Then he personally oversaw Su Yonggui, Madam Zhao, Su Dafu, and Madam Wu all stamp their finger print on the document one after another.

Su Tang watched from the side and felt very grateful to Su Yongqiang. This document stamped with their fingerprints would make it much easier for her to avoid any future troubles from these so-called relatives. Su Tang would remember this favor.

Su Yongqiang knew very clearly that there were no good people in Su Yonggui's family, so he was afraid that if he didn't do this now then they would make more trouble in the future that he would have to clean up. That was why he had them all press their fingerprints here and now, to avoid any future problems.

After Su Yonggui, the last one, pressed down his fingerprint, Madam Zhao said that she still had things cooking on the pot at home, so she needed to leave. She stayed just long enough to watch Su Dani and Su Dalang have their names removed from Su Yonggui's family genealogy before she turned and went home.

From the beginning to the end, she never gave Su Tang or her brother so much as a single glance.

Seeing that made Su Yongqiang and the other Su family elders very angry but, unfortunately, they could not really do anything to Madam Zhao. Finally, they asked Su Tang and her brother to complete the final step. Su Dani changed her name to Su Tang while Su Dalang changed his name to Su Yongnuo. They wrote their new names under Su Laochuan's name.

This meant that Su Tang and Su Yongnuo had officially become the children of Su Laochuan and were no longer members of Su Yonggui's family.

In this way, the adoption was completed. Because Su Laochuan had not yet been buried, Su Yongqiang's wife Madam Zhou*, hurriedly made two sets of clean filial piety clothes for the brother and sister pair to wear during the mourning period.

Later that same day Su Laochuan was buried by his new children who were dressed in their new filial piety clothes. The two were busy until late evening when Su Yongqiang personally sent them back to Su Laochuan's old home.

"Su Tang, Su Yongnuo, these red dates were prepared by your sister-in-law for you. From now on, you two will live on your own. If you need anything, you can come to my house and find your Elder Brother Qiang."

When they arrived, Su Yongqiang handed over the adoption document to Su Tang. "Everything will get better and better for you two now. Before Su Laochuan left us he hoped that someone would take over and carry on his family line because, sadly, your brother Su Yonghe, your sister-in-law Madam Liu, and their son encountered mountain bandits in Linxian County. When the news came, we were told that they had already been buried by the Yamen. As Su Laochuan's children, you have a duty to bring them back and reunite them with your parents. But don't worry about that for now."

Because Su Tang and her brother had been adopted but Su Laochuan and his family were already all gone Su Yongqiang, as the Su family patriarch, had some things he had to explain to the two kids.

When Su Tang heard him say this she pulled Su Nuo to kneel down and kowtow to Su Yongqiang. When Su Yongqiang saw her doing this he hurriedly moved to help them up.

"Elder Brother Yongqiang, don't help us up. If it hadn't been for you this time, I don't know what would have happened to my brother and I. When my mother was still alive she told us that we should remember the kindness others show to us. Elder Brother Yongqiang, I will never forget the kindness that you have shown us two siblings for the rest of my life."

Su Tang was actually very sincere when she said this. Su Yongqiang and Su Fu'an had played a big role in allowing her and her brother to successfully leave Su Yonggui's family today.

Of course, Su Tang knew that their motives were not entirely altruistic, but they were all human beings, and who in this world was not a little selfish? In the end, what mattered was that they had helped her and her brother with no evil intentions, so she would remember this favor.

Su Yongqiang felt like these two children that he didn't know very well had suddenly grown up. So, after a moment, he thanked them and told them to get up.

"In the past, you didn't have a good life at home and, unfortunately, as the patriarch I couldn't interfere in Su Yonggui's family affairs. But after today you will belong to Su Laochuan's family, so if there is anything you can't solve, just come to me or your sister-in-law. Although it will be difficult now for you to live on your own, it will get better once Little Brother Nuo grows up. It's important to do your best in the future and try to live a good life."

Su Tang nodded and promised, "Elder Brother Yongqiang rest assured that we will certainly have a good life. We will also remember our brother, sister-in-law and nephew. I will personally go to pick them up and bury them along with our parents here at home."

Su Tang had always respected others to the same degree they respected her. Although it was not very pleasant to say, if Su Laochuan hadn't died, it would have been much more difficult to take her brother away from Su Yonggui's family.

She was only a wandering soul, so it was the same for her no matter who she recognized as her parents. But since she had promised to recognize Su Laochuan as her father and continue his family line she would certainly fulfill her obligations as his daughter.

When Su Yongqiang saw that Su Tang was so sensible he nodded happily. Then he left to go home while saying it was late.

Even though he felt the siblings had a pitiful lot he knew that they would have to live on their own from now on. Him and his family could occasionally give them some help but, ultimately, what kind of life they would live in the future depended on their own effort.

Su Tang took her younger brother and sent Su Yongqiang off. Only then did she take a look at the grass and mud house left behind by Su Laochuan. There was a window that pointed due south and inside the first thing she saw was a kitchen stove which connected to a kang bed inside.

The kitchen and the inner room were separated by a small door, which opened into a long room with a dining table and two benches with lame legs. There was a set of dirty bedding on the kang bed and a set of men's clothes, that seemed to be almost more patches than clothes, inside a cupboard in the corner.

There was also a window on the north side. The house was not big at all but it was enough for two children. Outside the grass and mud house, there was a small yard surrounded by an uneven fence. There was a small pile of firewood outside the door and a large water jar next to the firewood. There was a small vegetable garden on the other side that had cucumbers, beans, eggplant and cabbage lettuce. Because autumn was coming soon the garden was already producing food, which made Su Tang feel very gratified.

Su Nuo ran around the house and asked Su Tang happily, "Sister, is this our new home?"

Su Tang nodded. "Yes, this will be our new home in the future."

Su Nuo was very happy, "Can I invite Dongzi and Gouzi to play at home?" Dongzi and Gouzi were some of Su Nuo's friends from the village that he used to play with.

"Of course." Su Tang promised. She seemed very happy they would never see Su Dafu again. "From now on, we have nothing to do with our previous home Xiao Nuo…"

Su Nuo's expression was depressed for a moment but then he regained his smiling face. "They didn't want me and my sister anyway. But I have my sister and my sister has me. It's enough just for us two to be together."

Su Tang had thought he was too young to really understand anything that had happened so when she heard him say those words she felt a little sad and a little distressed that he had to carry so much on his small shoulder. But at the same time she was happy that he understood who had been good to him and who hadn't been.

"Well, let's live a good life together in the future. Let's eat meat every day and make them feel regret!" Su Tang said finally.

Su Nuo nodded "Mhm!"

Su Nuo had been woken up by Madam Zhao early in the morning, then he spent some time tossing around inside a basket in the river, and finally he had to go through an adoption and a funeral both. So not long after arriving at their new home, Su Nuo was already very sleepy. Su Tang helped him wash up and then sent him to go to sleep first. Meanwhile, Su Tang herself forced herself to stay awake so she could check the things around the house.

Although Su Laochuan had been poor there were still some valuable things in his house. Su Tang looked around and found that there was a complete set of bowls and chopsticks. There was also an iron pot, a near-empty jar of lard, and a little bit of sauce in a sauce jar, and about two scoops of brown rice in the rice jar.

These were the only things left to Su Tang and her brother, there was no money at all. After she finished checking everything, it was already dark outside. Su Tang took advantage of the fact that Su Nuo was asleep and entered her space again.

The orange cat was lazily lying on its cat tree and didn't move at all when Su Tang appeared. She ignored the cat and picked up a bucket to fetch some of the water from the spring, then took out the clothes she and Su Nuo had worn today and washed them in the bucket before hanging them up outside the cabin. Inside the space the sun was always shining so the clothes would soon dry.

After that, she took a bath using the spring water. It was quite magical in how it worked very well to clean her even though she had no soap, shampoo, or shower gel. It washed her clean just by rinsing.

Once she finished washing herself she took a robe from the cabin and wrapped it around herself before going out into the yard to bask in the sun. While she was out there she harvested all the things produced by the space.

When she glanced at the progress bar she saw that the farm was about to rise to level four from all the things she had harvested. And when she opened the warehouse, she saw that there were carp, herring, honey, milk, wool, cabbage, corn, rice and wheat, apples, and radishes all piling up inside.

Su Tang felt hungry so she took out two apples, one for the orange cat and the other for herself. "So I can take something from outside and sell it to the farm, but the price will be halved, right? Unless it is something that the space doesn't have, then it will be worth a lot of points, right? And at level five I can unlock the processing plant?" Su Tang questioned the orange cat.

The orange cat nibbled on the apple she gave it before responding. "Yes, as the space's farm grows higher level more new functions will be unlocked and you will be able to grow more magical things. At level five the processing plant can be unlocked and then you can use the points to activate the different processors inside. At level 30 the supermarket can be unlocked. And beyond that, there will be many new features you can continue to unlock as you develop. You are welcome to explore!"

Why did it sound like a sleazy salesman?

Su Tang narrowed her eyes and stared at the orange cat. But, eventually, she realized that for now the farm would make it easier for her to improve her life, so Su Tang just nodded. Then she took the freshly washed clothes and left the space.

It was still dark out when she came outside of the space so she wanted to lay down and go to sleep. But when Su Tang lay down and smelled the quilt her nose wrinkled in displeasure, so she pushed all the bedding to Su Nuo's side of the bed and fell asleep while wearing her still-damp clothes.

As she fell asleep, Su Tang had only one thought in mind. She had to make some money quickly and improve her life.

The next day Su Tang got up early. Her clothes had dried while she slept and Su Nuo was still asleep. She took a bucket of milk from the space, washed the eight red dates that Su Yongqiang had given them yesterday, and deftly removed the pits. Then she put them in the pot and boiled them with milk and brown rice.

When Su Nuo opened his eyes, Su Tang's red date milk porridge was ready, and the room was filled with the sweet scent of porridge. When Su Nuo caught a whiff of such a good smell he hurriedly put on his newly washed clothes and rushed out to find Su Tang.

He came out just in time to see Su Tang fill a large bowl with milky white porridge that was dotted with red date meat and emitting a strong scent. Su Nuo's stomach growled and he said, "Sister, it smells so fragrant! What is that?"

It looked like the little glutton liked it, when Su Tang saw that she said with a smile, "This is red date milk porridge."

After she finished speaking she could practically see the question marks over the little guy's head. Since when did they have milk at home? Why didn't he remember Brother Yongqiang delivering any milk yesterday?

While he was wondering, Su Nuo saw his sister walk to one corner of the house and set down the bowl porridge in a corner in front of a small bamboo basket. Then she clasped her hands together and said. "Praise the River God!"

Su Nuo looked at his sister and felt very confused. He had no idea what his sister was doing. But then he saw that the bowl of porridge in the corner vanished like magic! He pointed at the corner and stuttered "Sister… sister… porridge… the porridge…"

Out of Su Nuo's sight, the orange cat, who was carrying the pot for the River God, picked up the bowl of porridge and quickly licked it clean, then it shot a contemptuous glance at Su Nuo before disappearing into the space.

Su Tang thought it was all very funny but she still pulled Su Nuo aside and put a finger over her lips and said. "Shh, don't tell anyone."

When Su Nuo saw his sister do this, his small hands also covered his own mouth in shock and his big eyes stared widely at Su Tang. He did not dare to speak.

Su Tang nodded solemnly, "The River God saw that we were pitiful and he didn't just leave us with nothing, so he taught me how to cook. In the future, he wants me to cook for him like this and in exchange he will give us some benefits and show us the path to prosperity. Xiao Nuo you must not tell anyone else. The River God knows all. So now it's time for us really to serve him."

Su Tang had made up this reason after some thought. Now that she lived with her brother alone, soon she would be taking new things out of the space one after another. This was part of the reason why she wanted to be 'sacrificed' at the Qing River. In the future, even if she had some inexplicable things or acted in strange ways, as long as she used the River God as an excuse, no one would suspect anything. After all, all the people nearby really believed in the River God.

That was why she had the orange cat put on such a scene in front of Su Nuo this morning. That way Su Nuo would not be surprised when new things appeared at home.

Sure enough, when Su Nuo heard his sister say this, he nodded immediately. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

After that Su Nuo's curiosity about the milk naturally disappeared. He assumed that it must have been given to them by the River God. He even thought that maybe the River God didn't like the food in the river, so he sent it to his sister for her to cook.

Once that little scene was over Su Tang served up two bowls of porridge and ate them with Su Nuo. The porridge that was made mainly from ingredients produced by the space smelled very fragrant and also tasted very good. Su Nuo even felt a little afraid while he ate and from time to time he would glance nervously at the bamboo basket in the corner of the room.

Su Tang saw that and said, "Don't look so much. If the River God is satisfied with the food, of course he will reward us."

When Su Nuo heard her say that he didn't dare look in the corner again. He just concentrated on eating the red date milk porridge in front of him. Before he had been eating carefully so he hadn't noticed, but he quickly found that this porridge was just too delicious, "Sister, it's so good!"

The little guy quickly began shoveling his food into his mouth so fast that he probably couldn't even taste it and Su Tang couldn't help but laugh.

The brother and sister ate the two bowls of porridge, then went outside to wash the bowls and chopsticks. When they went back into the house they saw that the bowl that had just disappeared had magically reappeared, but the porridge inside had been eaten clean. Su Nuo immediately called out to Su Tang, "Sister, look, the bowl is back!"

Su Tang saw the stuffed orange cat lying lazily to one side with contempt in his eyes. A conversation bubble popped up over his head. 'Your brother is really ignorant!'

'Since when did a great quadruped divine beast like yourself quibble so much about the IQ of a biped? What is the world coming to?'

When the orange cat understood Su Tang's meaning it turned its head away angrily and showed off it's furry butt. Su Tang just smiled and pulled Su Nuo over to open up the bamboo basket. Inside the bamboo basket were many apples and radishes. When Su Nuo saw that, he just stared in surprise.

All the radishes and apples were strangely even in size and they seemed to give off a faint fragrance. Su Nuo looked over at Su Tang and said. "Sister, look, the River God has given us a reward."

Su Tang nodded. "In a while we'll go up the mountain together. When we come back, we can tell people that they are all things that we picked from the mountain, and then we'll go into town to sell them."

Right now, the space's farm was only level three. She had taken a look at a few things that could be planted and saw that they basically could all be sold directly, even by poor children. That was to say, radishes or apples were both relatively common things. Though they wouldn't sell too high, at least it was easy to make an excuse explaining where they came from.

Su Tang wanted to sell these first to make some money and then wait a few days for the space's farm to reach level five, then unlock the processing plant and see what the processing plant had so she could see what the best next step was to make money.

She knew she couldn't always take things out from the space's farm like this. The things from the space were all generally the same size and shape. It was okay to take them out once in a while but if she kept taking them out she knew she would end up attracting people's attention. She needed to be very careful.

Sujia Village was close to the Qing River, but it was also close to a mountain. Near Sujia Village was the steep Black Bear Mountain*. Because the Qing River flowed down the Black Bear Mountain it's current was particularly fast near the village, so even the old veteran fisherman would sometimes fall into danger on the river.

The Black Bear Mountain was rich in resources so there were many people in Sujia Village who lived on the game and other things they gathered from the mountain. The mountain had no owner so the villagers nearby were free to harvest what they could.

But the Black Bear Mountain was steep and craggy so most of the villagers did not dare to go very deep into the mountain. Because of the danger many villagers simply did not know what was or wasn't on the mountain. So, using the mountain as an excuse, Su Tang could explain away almost anything she brought out from her space, even though they looked as if they had been copied and pasted, which was a little strange.

In the past, Su Nuo and his two friends would sometimes go up the mountain and occasionally they would find the eggs of wild birds or pick some wild fruits. One time they even hunted back a duck. So when Su Nuo heard his sister say that, he immediately understood her intentions and said, "OK."

The River God would never tell anyone else that the food had really come from him so no one would have any reason to doubt. Su Tang patted his head and gave him a gentle smile. Then the sister and brother pair washed their faces and then brushed their teeth using the spring water from the space.

After that, the siblings went out together carrying bamboo baskets. On the path outside, they happened to see Su Yongshun walking toward them with his wife Madam Qin. They were both carrying bamboo baskets and also some small bags of grain. The two seemed to be surprised to see the two siblings on the path. "Are Tang'er and Little Brother Nuo** going out?"

When Su Tang had held the funeral for Su Laochuan yesterday they had gotten to know some of the other members of the Su family. So now, when she saw Su Yongshun and Madam Qin, she smiled and said, "Why did Elder Brother Yongshun and sister-in-law come here? As you know, now that Xiao Nuo and I live alone we can't just do nothing all the time so right now we are planning to go up the mountain and see if we can pick some fruits or something. Maybe we can make some money selling whatever we find in town."

Su Yongshun and Madam Qin had received a lot of help from Su Laochuan when he was still alive, so their family felt very grateful to Su Laochaun's family. That was why Su Fu'an and Su Fuhua had worked so hard to get the siblings adopted into Su Laochuan's household in the first place. But they also knew that the sister and brother pair were still young, which was why they had come over this morning to bring them something to eat.

Both Su Yongqiang and Su Yongshun thought that the siblings would be coming to their respective families for help while they got settled in. They didn't expect at all that, on the very first day after they seperated, Su Tang was already planning to take her brother to find a way to make a living.

Su Yongshun and Madam Qin looked the siblings, who had been on their own for one night, up and down. The clothes Su Tang and her brother were wearing had been washed in the spring water yesterday so now they looked very clean and Su Nuo's hair was tied into a neat bun behind his head.

On the other hand, Su Tang's hair had been braided on both sides and then wrapped into two buns. She had a pair of small white mourning flowers in her hair to show her filial piety and overall she looked very neat and clean. She seemed completely different from the time when she was living in Su Yonggui's family. Instead of a ragged beggar, she now looked like the child of a poor family who was careful to keep herself clean.

When they saw the siblings looking like this, they both felt very comforted in their hearts. After all, these two were children from their village so they had some fondness for them just because of that. But who would have expected the relatives of these small children were so cruel? Now, it seemed that if these two were willing to work hard, they would be able to start living better lives.

"Yesterday we had no free time so we didn't come over. But today, your sister-in-law and I wanted to come and see you. This is for the both of you." Su Yongshun and Madam Qin tried to give Su Tang what they were carrying.

"Brother Yongshun and sister-in-law also have their own children to raise, we can't accept this. Brother Yongqiang already gave us a lot yesterday, enough for us to eat for a few days. By then we will find a way to make money on our own. We are representing our parents now, so how can we always live on charity?"

Su Tang knew that Su Yongshun and Madam Qin were doing this out of the kindness of their hearts but she didn't want to take advantage of them. She had the ability to make money and did not need to rely on others to make her living so, ultimately, she really did not need their help.

Su Yongshun and Madam Qin looked unhappy at her refusal. "You don't need to be so polite with your brother and your sister-in-law. My family received a lot of help back when your parents still were around, and our two families will keep getting along in the future."

As he spoke, he pushed everything in his hands to Su Tang.

When she saw that they were so determined, Su Tang was too embarrassed to refuse any further. She just thought secretly to herself that she would return the favor in the future. Moreover, even if she and her brother were considered to be their own family now, they would still have to live in Sujia Village and interact with the other villagers in the future.

After she sent Su Yongshun and Madam Qin away, Su Tang took her brother up the mountain. The two of them didn't go too deep, and after walking around for a while, they hurried down the mountain and rushed to Qinghe Town, which was the closest town to Sujia Village.

While Su Tang was on the road she put the radishes and apples into the space to temporarily lighten their burden. After walking with the empty baskets for more than half an hour, they could finally see Qinghe Town.

Originally, Su Tang had thought that maybe they wouldn't be able to walk all the way to town because, after all, Su Nuo was still so young. But what she didn't realize was that Su Dani and Su Dalang often did hard labor all day when they were living with Su Yonggui's family. Back then Su Nuo had the strength to run up the mountain all day with his friends even when he wasn't getting enough to eat. So now that he had a full stomach, it was nothing much for him to walk to Qinghe Town.

Qinghe Town was not very big, there were only a total of two intersecting streets. Today the siblings had arrived too late to beat the crowd. When they arrived, all the farmers from nearby had already set up their stalls selling various things like eggs, common vegetables, and so on.

As soon as Su Tang saw the situation she pulled Su Nuo to an empty space and set the bamboo basket on her shoulder on the ground in front of them. At the same time she secretly put the things back into the baskets so they when they pulled off the cover, apples and radishes were revealed inside.

"Selling apples, sweet and delicious apples, and crispy radishes. Go back to make them into dumplings and stew! They're all delicious!"