Chapter 2: The Initial Encounter with Mu Ge's Fragrance

  I had difficulty breathing, a thin membrane separated me from the source of my life. Instinct made me struggle to get out, amidst the noise, someone picked me up, and then I opened my eyes. Ah! I was reborn again! I happily looked around, without noticing the midwife's scream. Hmm? The old table, the old orange, the old account... could it be that I was reborn in the countryside?

  I comforted myself that many rural professionals live in bungalows, but have considerable bank deposits. No, why are the women here all wearing their hair in a bun and dressed in long skirts?

  I comforted myself that I might have come to the future, where in my past life someone had popularized Tang suits, and family decoration advocated a return to simplicity.

  Until someone put another baby girl like a kitten next to me, she lay down beside me and opened her eyes to me, my god, her pupils were purple, she rolled her purple pupils at me, everything in the underworld flashed through my mind, I cried out in despair, but she laughed out loud, the women who gave birth in the house exclaimed in surprise, I cried and complained about the evil deeds of this purple float, I, I, I couldn't be a noble embroidery girl, I, I, I couldn't become a high-ranking official's daughter, forced to marry into this mysterious and wonderful era, and super poor, unfortunately all my complaints turned into the language of newborn babies, wailing loudly.

  I struggled to stretch out my small hand to hit her, but unexpectedly she grabbed my small hand with one hand and continued to giggle, what's so funny, little brat.

  A slender but shabbily dressed man came over with a hint of disappointment, picked us up and sighed: "If only you were two boys."

  "Xiucai, don't worry, your wife's body is so delicate, the second child will definitely be a boy. Look at your two daughters, they're so pretty and clever, the second one even has purple eyes like your wife." The midwife smiled and declined his offer of money, "Xiucai, no need to give me that, save it for your wife's recovery, having twins is very exhausting."

  "Hmph! Still a bookworm, valuing boys over girls... I'm really not satisfied with this life's father. But when I look up, I see that this life's mother is actually very kind and beautiful, a purple-eyed foreigner. No wonder they wouldn't find that monster's eyes strange. I angrily hold onto Mother's ***, sucking greedily, I'm really hungry! That annoying purple floater is occupying the other one, sucking calmly, with long and curly eyelashes, purple pupils shining brightly, a beauty mark on her forehead... just as stunning as when I saw her in the underworld. But why did she reincarnate as a girl?!"

  My mother liked jasmine, so my name became Jasmine. As for Zifu, she was too beautiful, and my father, a scholar, called her "Flower Brocade", taking the name of Huajin.

  When I was just learning to speak, I couldn't wait to tell her about the grudges between us. She always looked at me with a confused and innocent expression, which made me even angrier. At every opportunity, I would beat Jin Hui. Please don't think that I wanted to abuse children or take someone's life. I just wanted to force her to reveal her true nature, so as to eliminate the evil for the sake of heaven and earth. As it turned out, I was too naive. I was considered possessed by a ghost and was tied up and exorcised for three days amidst smoke and fire. That stinky Taoist priest even said that he had to starve me for three days in order to starve the evil spirit attached to my body to death. No matter how much my mother cried or my father begged, I was still tied to a large willow tree at the village entrance for three days. By half a day, I had already fainted. Just when I thought I would soon be able to get up again, Jin Hui came over with her own saved food and secretly untied me. She timidly tried to communicate with me: "Mù Jiǎo, can you eat first before beating me?"

  At that time, I didn't even have the strength to nod my head, so she fed me mouthful by mouthful, and then chattered on and on with tears in her eyes. My father aged a lot overnight, and she choked back sobs, telling me to get better soon, saying that as long as I got better, she would be willing to die.

  I don't know why, but that night in Jinzhu's arms, my tears fell like a broken thread. I wasn't quite sure if I was crying because I was moved by her or lamenting the awkwardness of this life.

  At the age of four, I accepted the fate of this life and accepted a sister who didn't know whether to call her Zifu or Jinxuan.

  When I was five years old, my Hui mother, who had been abducted and sold to the Han region, contracted a serious illness and ended her life of hardships.

  Then the learned father of the teacher began to impart knowledge to us, and I realized that in the vast expanse of Chinese history, there was a certain unknown dynasty, and those Four Books and Five Classics, Confucianism and Mencius' teachings, Chu Ci and Han Fu, I could recite from memory without forgetting, and even discuss with the old man, which was not difficult for me who had memories of past lives, but it was hard for him to make me a heavenly being, looking up at the sky and sighing: "Alas, what a woman!"

  Jinxiu, who had drunk Meng Po's soup, was very averse to reading books. She rarely put her heart into being a woman, but she was exceptionally skilled in needlework and had a deep love for natural science. Often, she would spend half the day studying snakes, mice, and insects. One time, she spent half the day talking to a venomous snake. When I nervously approached, the snake had already slithered away. She smiled at me and said that the snake told her that in the future, she would reign supreme over the world. She was overjoyed and said that if one day she really did dominate the world, she would definitely give all the best things to Muxi.

  My heart sank, could it be that the karma of our past life is not over yet?

  I thought for a moment without making any noise, and then said to her, that is to say, I want to be the king of beasts, dominating the world must be the king of all animals, and my whole body will grow hair, are you willing?

  She shook her head and said no more.

  At the age of six, Jinxiu has become a "village flower", almost every boy's dream girl. Although she has a mixed bloodline, in the simple and honest Flower Village, people are very friendly to her. Occasionally, someone tries to bully her, but they usually become the number one public enemy of the village boys, which I call the "Jinxiu phenomenon".

  There was a Wang Banshan from a neighboring village who saw us and told my father, "Jinxiu's past life's sins are too heavy, she must be sent to the temple before the age of eight to accompany the ancient Buddha, in order to resolve her past life's grievances. Otherwise, she will definitely cause chaos in this life, harming everyone around her. And I am a wrongly reincarnated vengeful spirit, it was because of her that I came into this world. We two are mutually destructive, we must be separated, only then can both of us be safe."

  Mother's early death made Father hesitant, and I was a bit suspicious that this fortune teller wasn't an ordinary person. Just as I was about to ask him if there were any other ways for me to get back on track, I turned my head and saw that the blind man was fondling the embroidered silk... Hmm? He had a lustful smile on his face, he was taking advantage of her.

  I was furious and went forward to beat that blind man severely. When he limped away, he still said loudly, "You will end up lonely for the rest of your life because of Jinxiu."

  I was about to curse loudly, but I saw Jinxiu, who had always been timid and cowardly, pick up a stone and accurately hit the blind man's occipital bone, swelling into a big lump. This was her first time taking action, and indeed "her skills were not ordinary".

  "Whoever wants to separate me and Muzhen, I'll never be finished with him."

  She choked with sobs, panting heavily at me: "Mujin Jinxiu will always be with you, we will always be together, you won't end up lonely and old."

  My body was shivering in the severe winter of the south, and she and I were both breathing out white mist. But a warm current was clearly spreading in my heart, and the feeling of being needed is so good, especially for me who often gets lost in memories of past lives and confused present life. A sister who listens to everything you say and loves you so much is truly precious. I finally have a sense of home.

  Later, a die-hard fan of Jinxiu, Xiaosi told me: This Wang Banshan would say the same thing to every family with sisters to cheat money and sex. Fortunately, our family didn't listen to him. From then on, whenever Wang Banshan appeared at the village entrance, the Jinxiu fans would immediately unite to tease him severely, and afterwards, Wang Banshan dared not appear again.

  Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long, and the problem of all the kids who lost their mothers catching colds appeared. The scholar's father remarried, and she was an extremely fierce woman. In front of the scholar's father and the villagers, she was gentle and virtuous, but as soon as the scholar's father went out to teach, she began to order me and Jinxiu around like servants, and the image of the evil stepmother from Cinderella was embodied in her without a doubt. Only I, Jinxiu, and our family's very cool big yellow dog knew her true identity.

  I think she could have competed for the Oscar, but ten months later, Wangcai, my and Jinyu's younger brother from a different mother but same father, was born, ending her acting career. Her stepmother face finally showed up completely, however our scholar dad was so happy that he didn't care about my and Jinyu's grievances anymore.

  A year later, the career of Jinzhuang and I was ended by a flood that left nothing, and Xiucai's father fell seriously ill again. The already poor family became even more destitute, Erniang wanted to kill Dahuang, but Jinzhuang and I fought to protect him, even Xiucai's father disagreed, no one dared to tell her that this was the dog raised by that barbarian woman when she was alive.

  One day, I inadvertently overheard that under the urging of Second Wife, Master Xiucai finally agreed to let her call in a matchmaker to sell me and Jinxiu off.

  Tomorrow, Yapozi is coming to pick people up. Jinxiu and her fans held collective and individual farewell ceremonies. I accompanied her by the big willow tree to see off the last fifth-grade buddy.

  The sunset is like a colorful silk scattered across the sky, she leaned on my shoulder, crying sadly, I carefully looked around, afraid that her cry would again attract that poisonous snake that often spoke to her, fortunately it did not attend today's farewell concert.

  I lowered my head, damn it, this girl had wiped all her snot and tears on me again. I glared at her with annoyance: "Tomorrow, the matchmaker is coming to take you away, if you keep crying, be careful or you'll turn into a fish-eyed person, and I'll sell you to Old Zhang's son in East Village as a child bride."

  That old Zhang is a one-eyed widower, his son is an idiot, making a living by selling tofu, with a bad temper, and he especially dislikes kids, probably because those little brats always mock and bully his son.

  The big people in the village would coax children with a great trick: if you make another noise, I'll send you to old Zhang's house, it never fails.

  She was indeed frightened and then pinched my left cheek: "You lied to me, Old Zhang's son starved to death last month."

  My face must have swollen, I often feel strange, she clearly doesn't remember anything from her past life, but her strength still has the majestic aura of Zi Feng, I covered my face: "Then let's make a sequel for Old Zhang."

  "Unbelievable, she pinched my right cheek again: 'Old Zhang was buried just the day before yesterday, and you still stole his tofu stand and said something about opening a tofu company. You're such a bad egg, always trying to scare me.'"

  "Who told you to get my clothes dirty again?"

  We chatted on and off, quietly entering the yard, the big yellow dog barked a few times, sniffed out it was us, and lay back down to sleep.

  A coughing sound came from inside the house, and even if I hadn't studied medicine in my past life, I could feel that it was likely a lung infection. I had originally wanted to use Old Zhang's tofu frame to learn how to make tofu and start a side business to earn more money to treat his illness. Now it seems that no matter what, I'll have to follow the toothless old lady, otherwise who will help pay for the medical expenses?

  "Second daughter's voice came from the window: 'You lowly little prostitute, your father is so ill and you're still out at this late hour, not even knowing when to come home.'"

  I gazed at the last wisps of clouds on the horizon, secretly despising her for not only being illogical and using profanity when scolding people, but also having no standards to speak of. However, I was also afraid that Father would believe her words, which made me even angrier: "Second Aunt, we're going to pick some Platycodon grandiflorus for Father, he'll be asleep soon."

  At night, Jinxiu was still holding me like an octopus in the electric blanket, secretly sobbing: "Muyi, I'm scared, what if Yapo separates us?"

  "Don't worry, sister will think of something." I usually only use the word "sister" at special moments to emphasize the effect, and indeed she gradually put her heart down and fell into a deep sleep. However, I was more bewildered than her in the dark night.

  The next day, Chen Dama, a toothless old woman with a big mole on her chin, came. As expected, she set her eyes on Jinxiu and we haggled over the price from three taels to six taels, while I sold myself at a cheap price of two taels, on the condition that I would be sold to the same household as Jinxiu to take care of her.

  At that time, Erniang and that big-mouthed toothless old woman had the same expression, as if they were looking at an alien, I guess they didn't expect me to be so eloquent.

  Don't say I'm a city girl who's used to haggling with street vendors, let alone the fact that after returning from studying for an MBA in the UK, I had the luxury of choosing from among the top 500 foreign companies and earning a good salary. Alas, a hero doesn't talk about past glories, nowadays my worth is just these two ounces of silver.

  Jin Yu was delighted to be with me, but looked at me with tears in her eyes, and my heart was like a knife twisting.

  I pulled her to kneel in front of the window of Xiuzi's father, silently kowtowed three times, and said loudly: "Father, we will follow Chen Dama to Xian Yuanda's house as a maid, Muxin will take care of Jinyu, please take care of your body, don't worry about us, after a few years, when we are released, we will definitely come back to serve you."

  These are all rumors, the old ladies all say that they take girls out to work as maids, but no one knows what kind of business it is. The road to Xi'an is long and far away, who can still come back alive?

  In this life, my fate is drifting away because of Jinxiu. Even if we both fall into the dust, I must strive to grasp our fate in our hands. With my looks, I may not even be qualified to be a maid by the side of a famous courtesan, but at least I can be her agent!

  I raised my head to gaze at the old, faded window frame, wondering if that scholar father was lying in bed asleep or sitting up to take a last look at me and Jinxiu through the window.

  The house is too quiet, even the coughing that usually gives me a headache has stopped. It seems he still favors boys over girls, now that he has Wangcai, getting rid of a daughter or two doesn't matter to him anymore!

  I was leading Jincheng, gloomily wanting to leave, but heard a weak voice from the man inside the house, accompanied by an almost inaudible sob: "You...you take care of yourselves, don't let people bully you, Dad...sorry to you."

  I couldn't hold back my tears any longer and said loudly: "Dad, don't worry, we will definitely come back."

  Dahuang wagged its tail and slowly came over, still coolly rubbing against me and Jinchui. It looked at Chen Danni with some confusion, then looked at us again, making a mournful cry in its mouth. I trembled as I stroked Dahuang's head; Wangcai's small body struggled in Erniang's arms, crying for us to hold him, even the normally fierce Erniang was very sad.

  Old Mrs. Chen began urging us to get on the bus, and the surrounding neighbors who were watching also helped to wipe away tears.

  I gritted my teeth and pulled Jinzhuang onto Old Lady Chen's ox cart.

  That day, the little friends in Huajia Village all sat on a willow tree, one by one shouting: "Mugun, Jinyu, come back early."

  The big yellow dog ran behind our ox cart for a very long time.

  So we were taken out of Huajia Village by Chen Damao, who had a big mole on her face, with an ox cart. That year, I and Jinxiu were just eight years old, exactly the age to enter primary school.