3 – Something isn’t Right

While they were talking, the second son of her great-grand-uncle, Qixun’s second grandpa, also came over carrying a willow basket, and the children got busy greeting him.

Second Grandfather Yan Hongshan was the younger brother of First Grandfather Yan Hongyun. Although the two had separated their households, they had a very good relationship because their old father was still alive. Yan Hongshan had heard that the eldest nephew’s house was burnt down and, feeling worried, he came to have a look. He also brought food and silver.

“Brother, I heard that Fengchi’s house was on fire, so I came to see it. You’re here too?” Fengchi was the courtesy name^[1] of Qixun’s father Yan Yongwu.

Yan Hongyun said, “I just found out after the third and fifth girls went over to tell me this morning. You also sent food here? I was just saying that I wanted the children to move in with me, but they didn’t want to. I’ll ask my niece-in-law when she comes back. If she doesn’t want to, I’ll ask the brothers^[2] to clean up the house when the weather clears up. We can’t let the children suffer.”

Yan Hongshan nodded, “Okay, I still have some savings at home. My wife asked me to bring ten taels of silver. We have to prepare bedding and clothes for the winter. Food is easy to say. Each family in the clan will send some here, so they won’t starve.”

Yan Hongshan had only one son who gave birth to two grandsons. He and his wife were in good health and worked well. They actually lived a more comfortable life than his older brother Yan Hongyun.

Yan Hongyun didn’t argue about this. He had eight grandsons, and six of them were old enough to study. Fortunately, they had studied with Qixun’s father before, so he didn’t have to pay tuition, which saved a lot of money. But the cost of writing brushes, ink, inkstones, and paper was also not small. In addition, the family only had 30 to 40 acres of land, but there were 17 mouths to feed. Although the eldest son worked as an accountant in town, and the second and third sons would also go downtown to work part-time during the slack season, life was really tight.

Yan Hongshan was different. His son was a xiucai scholar^[3] and taught in a private school in the county town. His two grandsons were still young and the eldest grandson had only been studying for two years. It wasn’t yet time for him to really spend money, so he had some savings.

The two old brothers walked around the three rooms, discussing how to help their niece-in-law, nephew, and grandchildren make a living, while Lingzhou talked to his sisters.

He always felt something was strange, as if there was something wrong with his three sisters.

Xiaoxun was better. After all, she was sick, so it was normal to be a little depressed, but the third sister and the fifth sister bore gloom in their eyes and eyebrows, and seemed a little absent-minded.

Then he thought about their fine house being burnt down, and he found it understandable.

In fact, Qixun also felt that her third sister and little sister weren’t the same as she remembered.

Although the family had faced a disaster, which meant they would definitely not be happy, and some sadness was inevitable, but the trance on their faces didn’t seem to be due to the house fire.

In short, it seemed that something wasn’t right.

However, the biggest problem was that she had awakened her past life memories.

The two grandfathers helped to sort out the mess at home, and when they saw that it was almost noon, they took Lingzhou back.

Here, most people only ate two meals a day, and the pots and pans at home weren’t in good condition and needed cleaning. In addition, it wasn’t suitable for them to entertain guests given their current situation.

The third sister Yan Lingsu kept the food and other items sent, and only refused second grandfather’s ten taels of silver. Ten taels of silver was almost the annual living expenses of a commoner family. Without mother around, they dared not accept it.

After sending people away, third sister returned to the house, touched Qixun’s forehead, and found that she didn’t have a fever. She took her pulse again. Seeing that she was fine, she went to the west room to fetch firewood with peace of mind. Qixun also joked to her third sister who was leaving: “Sister, since when did you know how to take a pulse?”^[4]

Yan Lingsu paused for a moment but ignored her. She fetched firewood and heated up the porridge and pancakes that Granny Zuo had sent early in the morning. This was lunch for the three sisters.

Qixun ate the pancakes and thought about the space from her previous life. If the space was still there, she really wouldn’t have to worry about anything.

Because of her memories of more than eight years in this life, she knew the time and space she was living in now. The current court was called the Great Xia Empire, which was a bit similar to the prosperous Tang Dynasty of her previous life. However, the history of this time and space was completely different from the history of her previous life.

The Great Xia Empire had been established for more than 300 years. The empire was strong, but the life of the lower-class wasn’t easy. Apart from other things, the situation of the two uncles’ families was very good in the village, but they were wearing patched clothes just now.

Qingze Prefecture, where their Yanjia Village was located, wasn’t geographically located in the heart of the central plains,^[5] but it was also a prosperous prefecture. Yanjia Village belonged to Ping’an Town, Linjiang County, under the jurisdiction of Qingze Prefecture. Because it was close to the waterway leading to the capital, transportation was convenient. Although it was surrounded by mountains on three sides, it wasn’t isolated. There were hundreds of people in the village, most of whom were from the same clan, helping each other. They were poor, but if the weather was good, they could live a decent life.

The empire was strong and the administration was relatively fair. Qixun felt that if she worked hard, her family would have a promising future.

Of course, in this feudal dynasty, social status was very important. If her father could pass the imperial examination and get an official position, with her genius brain, she could live a rich life.

She wasn’t worried about her livelihood.

What she was worried about was that if her space was gone, there would be no potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and various seasonings here. No matter how rich she was, her quality of life would be greatly affected.

She was born rich in her previous life and she was a person who was devoted to scientific research. She didn’t care about other things, but she couldn’t stand being wronged when it came to food.

When Qixun thought that she could no longer enjoy those delicacies due to the geographical species restrictions of the times, she felt a little disappointed.

She was lost in thought, and third sister and Xiaowu also drank porridge and ate pancakes from time to time, and seemingly also in deep thought about something.

When Qixun came back to her senses, she saw Xiaowu’s delicate eyebrows slightly wrinkled, as if she found it hard to swallow, and she couldn’t help laughing.

This little girl had always been a little spoiled, and now she was only eating porridge and pancakes without even a side dish. Wasn’t it just a little worse than the food at home before?

After dinner, the three sisters began to pack up.

The two grandfathers had helped put away some heavy sundries. The three of them just needed to fetch water, sweep, and clean the doors, windows, tables, and chairs.

In addition, some bottles and jars in the burnt-down house that weren’t destroyed had to be found and cleaned so that they could be used later.

Of the three rooms here, the west room was originally her mother’s boudoir before she got married, later becoming a utility room. It was fairly spacious. After the things in the room were sorted out, it was just right for her second brother to stay there temporarily, but it might be cold in winter, so they could only light a brazier to keep warm.

The east room was originally her grandfather’s living room, with a brick kang.^[6] Because there was a kang to be burned, a kitchen was built outside the east room and connected to it, and a door was opened inside.

Qixun didn’t have any outer clothes and Lingsu was afraid that she would catch a cold, so she asked her to sit on the bed and play while she and Lingyu went outside to look for household items that survived the fire. They did collect some undamaged pots and bowls as well as a few porcelain bottles.

The two cleaned up the items, sent the pots and pans to the kitchen, and moved the rest into the house.

By the time they cleaned up the kitchen and the house, two hours had passed.

The clan leader also sent someone to take a look and said that he would ask each family to collect some food and send it to them tomorrow.

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