Chapter 1: Being Difficult

  It was just the fourth watch, and Qizhen got up in the dim light, feeling her way to get dressed. Every morning, she had to get up first to boil water for Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle's family to wash their faces, then cook rice, and also feed the chickens and pigs.

  It's the time when crops are not yet ripe, and farm families have simple meals. A few steamed buns, some thin pancakes with corn porridge, plus their own pickled radish sticks, make up a meal.

  Only after her uncle's family finished eating could she wake up her brother, and then they would eat some leftover rice. If they were lucky, there might even be some vegetable soup to drink.

  Don't look at her being only ten years old, she has been through such days for four or five years. In fact, it's not just four or five years, if you count the previous life, she has been through more than six years, and now she still can't see the end of it.

  Qizhen'er had just fed the chickens and picked out two eggs from the coop when she heard voices coming from both Grandfather's room and Eldest Uncle's room. They were all getting up, so she had to hurry.

  Old Mrs. Liu carried a shirt and walked towards the kitchen, saw Qi Zhener and asked with a straight face: "Where are the eggs from this morning?"

  Qizhen'er handed over the eggs in her hands, "Here, Auntie."

  Liu saw her being so proactive, but couldn't scold her for this matter, and her face still looked unpleasant. She glanced at the kitchen and asked: "Is dinner ready? Your grandfather, grandmother, and uncle are waiting to finish eating before going down to work."

  Qizhen'er smiled and said, "The rice is all cooked, I'll go get you some water." She and her brother were still young and couldn't do any farm work. She was fine, but it was her brother - she had to be diligent so that they wouldn't pick on them.

  Liu glared at her back for a long time before taking the eggs and returning to her own room. She had to hide these eggs well, couldn't let that shameless thing steal them again.

  She serves a big family including chickens and pigs, after finishing the morning chores, she carries a large basin of clothes to go out. At the village head, there is a small stream, where villagers wash their clothes, but also some relatively idle women and daughters-in-law, few young girls go, even if they do, they are at least two or three years older than Qi Zhen'er. So every time she walks from home to the creek, she receives countless sympathetic and pitiful glances.

  "Zhen'er, how did you get out of bed so quickly?" Feng's wife asked with concern as she saw Zhen'er carrying a large basin filled to the brim with clothes. "You should rest in bed for several more days."

  For other people's concern, Qizhen still feels grateful, but she also knows that such concern is of no substantial help to her.

  "I'm fine, Aunt Feng. I'm quite robust and will be fully recovered after lying in bed for two days." With that, she picked up the basin and left.

  People around her looked at her with both sympathy and helplessness.

  Feng said pitifully: "How could her grandparents be so heartless? This little girl is already ten years old, and she's even shorter than our Chunni."

  Qizi's second daughter-in-law nodded in agreement, "Who says it isn't? She was beaten so severely and then knelt outside for a whole night. I heard that by dawn she had fainted, and only came back to life after Old Lady Ma pinched her and fed her medicine. And yet just a few days later they're making her do chores again. Even an adult can't take this."

  Those who knew the inside story told the truth: "What's the use of her grandparents talking? Who doesn't know that Old Qi's family is actually run by her eldest sister-in-law, Liu? I heard that she lost two eggs and Liu used a cow whip to beat Zhen'er. We've seen Zhen'er grow up, she's not like someone with dirty hands, it's really an insider, still from Liu's own family." Sighing, "Poor thing! Ma said her body was all bloody, some places even showing bone. This orphaned child, no one cares about her."

  Thinking of Qi Zhen'er's parents who left early, everyone dispersed. What good people they were, saying goodbye and leaving, leaving two children to suffer.

  When Zhen'er arrived at the creek, there were already several people there. For the convenience of the villagers to wash vegetables and clothes, some considerate people had also placed a few large stones by the creek, which were now occupied by several wives washing clothes. They were not in a hurry, washing while chatting and laughing, with the sound of laughter filling the air by the creek. In her past life, she would sometimes encounter such situations, each time making her blush and feel embarrassed, but this time she didn't have any feelings about it. She had heard even more vulgar words before, so she wasn't afraid of these.

  Behind, there were still a few people chatting about family matters, waiting for those women to finish washing. Qizhen found a slightly flat place and started washing clothes. She didn't have much time to waste here, after washing clothes she still had to go up the mountain to dig pig grass and pick firewood, if she went home late at noon, she and her brother would not be able to eat.

  As soon as she pushed open the door with a basin in her hand, Qizhen saw her younger brother Huzi sweeping the yard with a broom that was taller than him. Feng Jie from the eldest uncle's family was still standing in the yard, eating melon seeds and spitting out the peels all over the ground.

  Tuzi saw Qizhen'er return, excitedly ran over. "Sister, you're finally back. I swept the yard, see how well-behaved I am." Turning her head to see the yard was messed up by Fengjie again, she choked back tears and almost cried.

  Zhen'er immediately comforted, "Our Hu Zi is really amazing, so young and already able to help his sister with work." Hu Zi heard his sister's praise and burst into tears of joy.

  Qifeng'er couldn't care less about them, they didn't have any dignity at all. "Hey, Zhen'er, why are you back so late? Don't you want to go pick up firewood anymore?"

  Qifeng'er is just like her mother, with a reckless and cruel temperament, and she also likes to frame others. Zhen'er has been framed by her several times. Qizhener doesn't like her in this life or the last, but indeed, she's not likable at all.

  Qī Zhēnér put the basin under the shelf and seriously hung up the clothes, ignoring her provocation. Hǔ Zǐ heard her say that, turned around and glared at her. She must be thinking of telling Dà Bó Niáng that her sister is slow in doing chores, so that her sister would get scolded again.

  This little brat dares to glare at her, she's so fed up. Qi Feng'er saw Hu Zi glaring at her and was furious. She thought for a moment, then stretched out her hand to show Hu Zi: "Hu Zi, look, Sister Feng has some melon seeds here. This is what my aunt gave me, do you want to try some? They're really fragrant."

  Qifeng had never done any work, and Liu's family had always treated her as a treasure. In the whole village, she was only slightly inferior to the daughter of the Li family, while others were far beneath her, let alone Qi Zhen, who had been working since childhood. So Qifeng was raised by Liu's family to be delicate and pretty, with those few melon seeds in the palm of her white and tender hand, not to mention how tempting she was.

  The tiger cub looked at it with a straight throat, and his hand unconsciously stretched out. It wasn't until halfway that he thought of asking Qizhen's opinion, turning back to gaze at her with eyes full of longing.

  Their warmth and food were already a problem, let alone such small snacks. Qizhen couldn't resist his pleading eyes, closed her eyes and nodded slightly.

  The tiger's eyes lit up with excitement.

  Feng'er saw him so happy, and smiled even more. She slowly walked to Hu Zi's side, stopping at a distance of one arm from him, stretched out her hand to pass the melon seeds to Hu Zi, who happily reached out to receive them.

  The tiger's hand had not yet reached the phoenix's side when the phoenix let go, and instantly all the melon seeds fell to the ground. She angrily shouted: "What are you doing? I was kind enough to give you melon seeds to eat, but you actually threw them on the ground. Do you know how expensive these melon seeds are? They were specially bought for me by my aunt from a fruit shop."

  Qizhen knew that Qifeng was lying, and her aunt had always looked down on them country people. She had given Liu some things a few times, but she had always been condescending towards him. How could she possibly buy melon seeds for Qifeng to eat? It must be that Liu had sent her something again, and not wanting to return anything valuable, she had grabbed a handful of not-so-fresh melon seeds to give to Liu, pretending it was for Qifeng as a little snack. But now wasn't the time to talk about this, if she didn't calm Qifeng down, she would definitely slander them again in front of Liu.

  "Feng'er sister, I clearly saw that it was you who accidentally let go first and spilled the melon seeds on the ground. How can you blame Hu Zi?" Qi Zhen'er said indignantly.

  Qifeng didn't argue with them anymore, she insisted: "It's all Tiger's fault. His hand was below mine to catch the melon seeds, but he didn't catch them well and they spilled. It's his fault, I'm going to tell my mother."

  If she had been reasonable, Qizhen wouldn't have been afraid of her at all. But since she was being so unreasonable and speaking nonsense in front of Liu Shi, Qizhen was at a loss for what to do. It was all because of the lost eggs on Qingming Festival that Liu Shi hated her to death and would find any excuse to torment her, possibly even implicating Hu Zi.

  Qizhen didn't want to reason with her anymore, and directly asked: "What do you want? You should know that this isn't something that can be made true just by your reckless talk." Even if she had to compromise, Qizhen wanted to make her a little afraid, so she wouldn't be too excessive.

  Hearing Qizhen'er's softening, Qifeng'er was overjoyed. Aren't you capable? Every day working and smiling, who are you showing off to? She despised them the most when they were like this. "Pick up all the melon seeds on the ground, including the skin and shells, and eat them for me, and I'll let you off."

  Behind the clothes rack is a vegetable garden, and the chickens in our house love to wander around every day. There's a lot of chicken poop here. When Tiger was sweeping the floor just now, she only swept the middle of the yard roughly, and didn't sweep here. Several melons have fallen onto the chicken poop. Qizhen saw it, and Qifeng also saw it. She just wants to make things difficult for her.

  The little boy was young and couldn't bear it, so he shouted directly: "The melon fell on the chicken manure, how can you eat it? You bully my sister!"

  Qifeng at this time was not afraid, anyway, no one in her family liked these two good-for-nothings, so she bullied them. "You can't eat, but I'll tell my mother about it. Be careful or my mother will whip you with a belt!" She said, imitating her mother's gesture of holding a belt and waving it around.

  Qī Zhēn ér was actually afraid, she completely believed that Liú Shì could do such a thing. She had been whipped before and remembered the pain vividly; if Hǔ Zǐ were to be whipped, he would definitely not be able to bear it.

  Qizhen'er blocked Qifeng'er's path as she was about to go and report, "I'll eat." She squatted down and picked up the melon seeds on the ground, one by one, sending them to her mouth.

  Huzi saw her like this and burst into tears, "Sister, I'll eat with you together."

  Qī Zhēn'er blocked his hand and shook her head at him. Qī Fèng'er was obviously looking for trouble, and Hǔ Zǐ was just a fuse.

  The little boy saw his sister's determined eyes and knew she wouldn't let him help, so he cried even louder.

  Although Zhen'er didn't cry, her heart was equally sorrowful. This was the closest person to her, always bullying and oppressing them without mercy, while the adults would scold or beat them for not having parents, even turning a blind eye to their peers' oppression.