115: Chapter 115 Her cousin was reborn (2)

Chapter 115: Her Cousin is Reborn (2) "Alright, alright, don't worry about that. I'll keep an eye on her. Oh, Xiao Lingdang, what about our mission target? Do you still not know who yours is?"

Xiao Lingdang shook her head.

"I don't know yet. I'll tell you when he appears. You should just focus on being a child. In ancient times, people marry early. In a few years, your mother might have to pick a family for you to marry into."

Jiang Wan also frowned, looking at the dusty, coarse cloth clothes she was wearing.

"Who told you to send me to ancient times anyway? We'll take it one step at a time; it's still a bit early for that. Alright, Xiao Lingdang, you go back first. I hear people talking; they should be coming down."

Xiao Lingdang looked and saw it was true; they were coming down the mountain.

"Fine, then be careful yourself. Call me if anything happens."

Xiao Lingdang disappeared. Jiang Wan continued digging for wild vegetables, and soon someone called her.

"Xiao Wan, how much have you dug?"

Jiang Wan stopped the stick in her hand and saw her fourth cousin, Jiang Ju, coming over.

Jiang Ju was one year older than Jiang Wan, with her hair in twin buns and two small, unknown wild flowers pinned in. Her face was flushed red from the sun, like a ripe apple, and her eyes rolled around playfully.

Except for her, the names of the children in the family were all given by her grandfather.

Her grandfather had attended school for two years in his youth and had a bit of learning.

The sons in the family were named Jiang, He, Hu, and Hai, with the character 'Da' in the middle: Jiang Dajiang, Dahe, Dahu, and Dahai. The girls were Taohua and Hehua.

There were too many granddaughters, so he simply named them Mei, Lan, Zhu, Ju and Chun, Xia, Qiu, Dong. If it weren't for the fact that Jiang Wan's name was given by her father before he left, she might have ended up with one of those names.

As for the grandsons, they were Dong, Nan, Xi, and Bei. Of course, for girls, a single character was enough.

For boys, just calling them Jiang Dong, Jiang Nan, Jiang Xi, and Jiang Bei sounded a bit unpleasant. To show off his knowledge, he added another character in the middle: Xiao!

Jiang Xiaodong, Jiang Xiaonan, Jiang Xiaoxi, Jiang Xiaobei—didn't that sound much better?

Jiang Wan felt that the names her grandfather gave were much better than the village names like Da Ya, Er Ya, Tiedan, or Goudan.

Hearing Jiang Ju's words, Jiang Wan let her see the basket beside her.

"Fourth Sister, look, my basket is more than half full. It'll be full in a while. Fourth Sister, what about you all? Did you find any wild fruit?"

Jiang Ju brought the basket in her hand to Jiang Wan.

"We found some. We were lucky and came across a fruit tree; the wild fruit on it had turned yellow. If we had come two days later, the birds might have eaten them all. I ate two, and they're quite sweet. Here, Xiao Wan, you take two to eat as well."

Jiang Ju grabbed two fruits and put them in Jiang Wan's hand, then went to dig for wild vegetables too.

Jiang Wan brought the wild fruit to her nose and sniffed. Hmm, this scent, this color—wasn't this just wild guava?

Jiang Wan looked at the surrounding environment. So she was currently in the south; she had thought she'd been sent to the north.

Jiang Wan ate one and put the remaining one back in the basket to give to her mother when she returned.

Eating too much of this wasn't good, but a small taste was fine.

Looking at the cousins coming down the mountain, Jiang Wan noticed that her third cousin hadn't come down—the one the system had just told her was problematic.

It wasn't until they had finished digging for wild vegetables that Jiang Zhu arrived late. Her basket also contained some wild fruit, but not many.

She wore her hair in a single spiral bun, with a light green short jacket on top and gray trousers below. She was the best-dressed among them. However, her expression was somewhat cold.

Before Jiang Ju could speak, Jiang Zhu spoke first.

"Oh, I accidentally wandered a bit far today and almost got lost. It took me a long time to find the way down the mountain. I'm exhausted. It's getting late. Since the digging is done, let's go home, or else Grandma will scold us again for being late."

After speaking, without waiting for a response, Jiang Zhu walked ahead on her own.

Seeing that Jiang Zhu had already left, the others could only follow her.

The sixth cousin, Jiang Chun, walked to Jiang Wan's side.

"Fifth Sister, Fifth Sister, have you noticed? Third Sister has been so strange these past few days!"

Jiang Wan was indeed curious.

"Oh, what's wrong?"

Jiang Chun looked at the third cousin walking ahead and lowered her voice to make sure she couldn't hear.

"Fifth Sister, haven't you noticed? Third Sister used to love fighting with us for food, but she hasn't fought for it these past few days. She doesn't even argue over how much Grandma distributes. Also, didn't she used to really despise Third Brother Zhou from the village chief's family? She said he was sickly, only knew how to read, couldn't do anything, and would be blown over by a gust of wind."

"She even said he'd studied for so many years and hadn't even passed the Tongsheng exam, and that whoever married him would be cursed with bad luck. But the day before yesterday, when I went to wash clothes with her, she saw Third Brother Zhou passing by and actually gave him a handkerchief!"

Before Jiang Wan could speak, Jiang Ju, who had overheard, cried out in surprise.

"What? Such a thing happened? What happened then? Did Third Brother Zhou accept it?"

Jiang Chun shook her head.

"Of course not. Third Brother Zhou just said 'men and women should not touch' and walked away quickly. You didn't see it, but Third Sister's face looked terrible then!"

Jiang Ju rolled her eyes.

"When has she ever had a pleasant face?"

After hearing this, many thoughts crossed Jiang Wan's mind.

Someone she looked down on before, suddenly taking an interest in him—that meant the person must be outstanding. Since he was a scholar, he must have achieved academic success later on.

Since this third cousin knew about future events, if it wasn't rebirth, then it was transmigration.

This question would have to wait until Jiang Wan observed more to know which one it was.

Actually, whether Jiang Zhu was transmigrated or reborn didn't matter much to Jiang Wan.

Jiang Zhu was already 16 this year and wouldn't stay at home for much longer.

She was just bored. In ancient times, there were no phones, computers, or TVs to watch. How could she manage without finding something to pass the time?

Back home, Jiang Wan showed the wild vegetables to her grandmother and then put them in the kitchen.

In the kitchen, her mother was cooking with the Eldest Aunt.

No one was fat these days, and Mother Jiang's figure was also slender. Perhaps because of her cold fair skin, she looked a bit fairer than Jiang Wan's Eldest Aunt.

Her grandmother was also quite good at organizing; the four daughters-in-law were paired up and took turns once a day.

Even though her Fourth Aunt kept saying her Fourth Uncle was a scholar and that she might become a Xiucai's wife in the future! How could a Xiucai's wife work in the kitchen?

When her Fourth Aunt first said that, she was severely scolded by her grandmother.

Grandma said if that was the logic, she was the mother of a Xiucai! Didn't she still feed the chickens and ducks?

Her grandmother also said he hadn't become one yet, and to come talk to her about it once he did.

"Mom, what's for lunch today?"

Jiang Wan poked her head in to look and saw her mother snapping green beans. She looked around the kitchen and found there was no meat at all, only leafy greens.

Jiang Wan felt completely unappetizing. Why was it all grass? Were they raising rabbits?

Jiang Wan quietly asked Mother Jiang:

"Mom, is there no meat today?"

Mother Jiang smiled and tapped her forehead.

"If your grandmother didn't bring any out, then there isn't any."

In the Jiang Family, Grandma Jiang was the Empress Dowager. All the grain was with her. Even if the family bought meat, Grandma Jiang would lock it in her room and only bring it out when it was time to cook.

Now that it was almost time to stir-fry, since no meat was visible, there wasn't any.

As far as Jiang Wan knew, there should still be a piece of cured meat in Grandma Jiang's room.

In this hot weather, if they didn't bring it out to eat, were they waiting for it to stink before eating?

Jiang Wan thought this and muttered it out loud.

Mother Jiang glanced at the door and then patted Jiang Wan's small head.

"What nonsense are you saying? Be careful not to let your grandma hear you. Alright, go out and play. Come back when the food is ready."

"Oh."

When Jiang Wan left the kitchen, she saw her third cousin following her Fourth Aunt to embroider.

No, it should be said she was asking Fourth Aunt to teach her.

This was something never seen before. The Eldest Aunt didn't know how to embroider; when did this Third Sister learn?

She suddenly knew how?

With other sisters watching nearby, Jiang Wan also walked over.

Seeing the splash of green on Jiang Zhu's white handkerchief, Jiang Wan raised an eyebrow.

Yo! It's actually quite good. Although the lines are a bit messy, it's still recognizable.

What's embroidered on it is bamboo.

The leaves are some round and some pointed, but it's not hard to see that it's bamboo.

This... surely she's not going to give it away again?

It wouldn't be that Third Brother Zhou again, would it!