Chapter 1 Half an Egg

Dashun Chaoyuanshan Village beach.

Just after noon, several fishing boats out to sea slowly approached the shore. A young man was running towards the village in a panic, holding someone in his arms, followed by two middle-aged men and women who were staggering.

"What happened to Mingzhu?"

"Are you holding your breath? This could be fatal."

"What kind of fate is this for the second branch of the Ye family? The second son of the Ye family died while collecting pearls, and now his daughter is also going to die?"

"Don't talk nonsense. Didn't you see that Boss Ye and his wife didn't say a word?"

"Who was that person holding Mingzhu just now? He doesn't look like a kid from the Ye family?"

The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment. The news that Mingzhu from Ye Laoer's family was carried back by a man, all wet, quickly spread throughout the village.

Ye Mingzhu woke up when someone put her on the bed. She was a little dazed and her eyelids felt as if they were heavy and she couldn't open them. She could only vaguely see a figure at the head of the bed.

"Mingzhu, Mingzhu, are you awake?" The man with a haggard face shouted Ye Mingzhu's name loudly.

"Don't shout, she must have woken up. She's a pearl diver, she won't drown, she'll be fine in a while." A sharp voice muttered.

"That's good." The middle-aged man was obviously relieved.

Ye Mingzhu made a groundhog cry in her heart: What's good about it? She can't even wake up now, so why should I call a doctor?

Ye Mingzhu, feeling angry, rolled her eyes and fainted again. The two people at the head of the bed didn't notice at all.

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Mingzhu woke up in silence. When she opened her eyes, she saw the blackened beams, the spider webs in the corners, and a spider crawling slowly on them.

Ye Mingzhu was first surprised how she could see the hairs on the spider's legs with her 600-degree myopia. The next moment, she sat up in shock. Isn't this a ward?

She traveled through time!

What emerged in her mind were the original owner's fifteen years of memories.

Both of them are named Ye Mingzhu, but they have different fates.

She was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of ten and luckily had a bone marrow transplant. After her recovery, she taught herself handicrafts and painting at home. She was a well-known DIY jewelry designer on the Internet. She died in her hospital bed at the age of 23 due to a relapse of leukemia.

Unexpectedly, I traveled through time and space to become Ye Mingzhu, a pearl diver from the Dashun Dynasty.

The Ye family had no land, and their ancestors made a living by pearl diving. Her father was the second child.

Grandma Ye passed away early, and after the three brothers got married, they divided the family property early. Although they went into business together, the profits belonged to each branch.

Half a year ago, her grandfather took his three sons to go pearl hunting, but only his eldest uncle and third uncle came back. Her grandfather and her father died in the sea together.

Her mother was eight months pregnant and due to emotional excitement she suffered a difficult labor, resulting in the death of both mother and child.

The second house left behind the fifteen-year-old original owner and his ten-year-old younger brother, the sickly Ye Yun'an.

After the funeral, Uncle Ye and Uncle Ye San were worried that the siblings would not be able to live on their own, so they discussed asking them to live with them.

The two sisters-in-law of the Ye family were not happy.

The eldest wife of the Ye family had three sons. Ye Yunjian was 20 years old and married Hu after six months of marriage.

Ye Yunkang was 17 years old and had already been engaged. His fiancée was Lin's distant niece, Xiao Lin.

Ye Yunshun is 14 years old.

The second branch of the Ye family has a daughter and a son, Ye Mingzhu is 15 years old and Ye Yunan is 10 years old.

The third branch of the Ye family has two sons.

Ye Yunping is 15 years old (one month younger than Ye Mingzhu), and Ye Yunli is 9 years old.

Ye Lao Er and Ye Sanshu are only two years apart in age. They have a good relationship and their children are of similar age, so it stands to reason that they should go to his house to live together.

However, the birthdays of the children of the second and third wives are close to each other, so the second wife always gives birth to the children first. Fang felt that she was being overshadowed, and she treated the children of the second wife a little coldly.

Lin was unwilling to raise two half-grown children.

Uncle Ye values ​​his good reputation the most, and he cannot let the villagers tell people that his younger siblings are gone. They don't care what their nephews and nieces say, and finally decide to let the siblings eat at their home.

Everyone in the village praised Uncle Ye for his kindness and righteousness, but the lives of the Ye siblings changed drastically.

Lin said that there was not enough food at home, so she moved all the food from Ye Laoer's house over.

The family doesn't want to keep idle people, so Ye Mingzhu wants to go into business with Uncle Ye and Uncle Ye San, and the profits will belong to Uncle Ye's family.

The Ye family has many people, and Ye Yun'an is in poor health and cannot go to sea, so he helps with cooking, washing clothes, and feeding chickens and ducks at home.

Ye Mingzhu went to sea almost every other day. Some people thought that Ye Mingzhu was too young and that going to sea frequently was bad for her health. Lin wiped her tears and told them that there were many children in the family and if she didn't go to sea, she would have no money to buy food.

Ye Mingzhu lowered her head and said nothing, because Uncle Ye said that all the pearls she collected should be saved for her, not only for her and her siblings' food and drink, but also for Ye Yun'an to marry off in the future. If the villagers knew about it, they might plot against her.

Seeing that she didn't say anything, the villagers stopped asking questions.

The original owner drowned because she casually dug open the pearl oysters she had collected and dug out a light golden pearl the size of a little finger.

Lin frowned and scolded the original owner for opening the pearl oyster and asked her to hand over the pearl. The original owner thought that the golden pearl had a special meaning and wanted to leave it to her younger brother, so she begged Lin to let her keep it.

The weak original owner was pushed into the sea by her aunt the first time she had an argument with her. In a panic, she put the pearl in her mouth.

The original owner had spent a lot of effort collecting pearls today. After coming up, he had not eaten anything. He was tired and angry. After struggling for a few seconds at the bottom of the sea, he sank down due to exhaustion.

Mrs. Lin watched Ye Mingzhu sink and scolded her for pretending to be dead. She even stopped Uncle Ye from going into the water to save her.

In the end, Ye Mingzhu was rescued by a passing villager, but the original owner had passed away, and the one who was rescued was the modern Ye Mingzhu.

In Ye Mingzhu's opinion, the original owner was stupid. Without her parents, she and her brother could just live alone. It would be good for her to earn money and spend it on her own. Why did she have to go to other people's houses to look up to their faces, eat and drink poorly, work for others for free, and finally lose her life.

Ye Mingzhu looked around the entire room and could only describe it in one word: poor!

Apart from the wooden bed under her, a table, a chair, and a wooden box in the corner made up the furniture in the entire room.

Fortunately, the original owner was in good health and young, otherwise Ye Mingzhu would have vomited to death.

"Squeak..." The door opened and a little head popped in. Seeing Ye Mingzhu sitting there, there was a glint of surprise in his eyes and he immediately ran to the bed.

"Sister, sister, are you awake?"

Ye Mingzhu looked over and saw a short, raggedly dressed boy squatting in front of her bed, his eyes full of heartache and worry. This was the original owner's younger brother, Ye Yun'an.

"Sister, are you thirsty? Are you hungry?" Ye Yun'an took out a black egg from his body and handed it to Ye Mingzhu.

"Sister, this egg is for you."

Ye Mingzhu's mouth secreted saliva quickly. The original owner hadn't eaten eggs for a long time. Where did this egg come from?

Seeing that Ye Mingzhu didn't move, Ye Yun'an took the egg back and peeled it carefully: "Sister, you fell into the sea and need to replenish yourself. Eat it quickly."

After saying that, Ye Yun'an swallowed his saliva involuntarily, but still stubbornly put the egg to Ye Mingzhu's mouth.

Ye Mingzhu took the egg without any pretense. She broke it in half, put one half in her mouth, and handed the other half to Ye Yun'an: "Half each."

Ye Yun'an didn't take it. This was for his sister to nourish her body, and he couldn't eat it.

"..." Ye Yun'an just opened his mouth and stuffed half an egg into it. His eyes widened. It smelled so good. Just as he was about to take it out, Ye Mingzhu whispered, "I just fell into the water. I can't eat too much. You eat it."

Ye Yun'an then ate in small bites, looking reluctant.

Ye Mingzhu felt sad and she secretly swore that she would make sure Ye Yun'an would have a life without worries about food and drink in the future.

"Bang..." The door was suddenly pushed open. Ye Yun'an was so scared that he stuffed the egg into his mouth and almost choked. Ye Mingzhu quickly patted his back and waited for him to swallow the egg in his mouth. She swept her sharp eyes towards the person who came.