Zhang Hongmei tried her best to calm down and chat with Liu Erya, attempting to ignore the restlessness in her heart.
"Hongmei, I'm going home today. I don't have school tomorrow, so I'll come to find you to study, okay?"
"Okay, I'll cook you something delicious tomorrow. If you want to take leave for spring planting, you'll have to start studying the later courses in advance."
"Okay, I'll come tomorrow."
Liu Erya left, but Zhang Hongmei couldn't calm down. She checked the house, fed the sheep, and then went into her spatial dimension.
Sitting in the bathtub, I drifted into thought. Things were happening now, almost identical to my past life; major events were occurring at different times. And what about the disasters?
Better safe than sorry. No, I have to talk to Liu Maocai. But how should I say it?
Zhang Hongmei was in a dilemma, and scratched her head again. This feeling of powerlessness was driving her crazy.
After thinking for a long time, I still couldn't come up with a way that would allow everyone to take precautions against disasters without revealing themselves.
In the end, I still think I should start with Liu Maocai. Oh, and the old lady too. She's wise. I'll go find her tomorrow.
It felt like I had finally found a savior, and I wasn't so panicked anymore. I cheered myself up: Man can conquer nature, I was just being too attached to appearances.
But even so, I still couldn't cheer up. I couldn't muster any interest in anything, and even eating a piece of cake didn't make me feel any better.
I'm going to sleep now. I'll deal with it later. I'm not a savior or a Mary Sue. I'll do what I can. At worst, I just want the people I care about to be safe and sound.
I tossed and turned in bed for ages before finally drifting off to sleep. But I still had a dream, and when I woke up I didn't even know what it was about.
It was still early night outside, too cold to go out, so Zhang Hongmei sat on the bed with her knees bent and chin resting on her knees, lost in thought. After more than ten minutes, she suddenly sat up. She climbed to the bedside table and took the flat box from the storage ring on it.
She sat cross-legged on the bed and opened the box on her lap. Inside were ten or more property deeds, all in Beijing. Zhang Hongmei had never been to Beijing and didn't know where the deeds were for the houses.
I put it aside and saw a key underneath. It looked similar to the key from my past life. There was also a letter underneath; it seemed that this was the most important thing.
After reading the letter, Zhang Hongmei wanted to throw away everything in her storage ring and pretend she had never known anything.
What's going on here? I never expected that this skinny little girl was actually a member of the royal family of the previous dynasty, and a direct descendant at that.
This is terrible! Can I go back? Cui Lin was targeted because of his enormous wealth, which ultimately led to his sacrifice.
It's quite a dramatic story: the only heir to the throne was brought out by a loyal servant, kept in hiding, and raised to adulthood, watching him marry and have children.
Surviving was difficult during a time of war. Perhaps it was the hardship of material life, or perhaps it was the fear of the chaotic world, that caused Cui Lin's father to have no ambitions. Instead, he became a scholar and a university lecturer.
The couple loved each other dearly, but they only had one child, Cui Lin, until the loyal servant passed away.
When Cui Lin was twelve, their identities were finally discovered by someone with ulterior motives, leading to another great escape. Unable to bear the constant fear, he left her the storage ring, told her the truth, and abandoned her to live alone. Cui Lin's father committed suicide, and her mother followed him in death.
Cui Lin enrolled in school and joined the army as an orphan.
But secrets don't stay hidden forever. The persistent search finally led them to Cui Lin. However, she had already given birth to Zhang Hongmei and had no choice but to tell Zhang Aiguo the truth, which was when they applied to go to the border.
As for their sacrifice, it was arranged by someone. Since they couldn't obtain the wealth of the previous dynasty, there was no need to keep her alive. The main reason was that they felt she didn't know anything about it.
After all, Cui Shipu and his wife appeared too peaceful to outsiders.
Moreover, he even begged for food when he was a child and on the run. There was no trace of wealth about him.
The fact that Cui Shipu and his wife treated Cui Lin badly, disregarded him, and even looked down on him in public doesn't confirm that Cui Shipu knew the whereabouts of the treasure, so they both assumed that Cui Lin didn't know.
This is so melodramatic! I don't want this kind of identity. Zhang Hongmei threw the box aside and slumped onto the bed in despair. She knew there was something wrong with the box and didn't want to look at it, but she couldn't resist and looked anyway. Now, not knowing and knowing are two completely different things.
Since things have come to this, I have to accept it. Am I really going to die again? Forget it. On the bright side, maybe knowing beforehand would have allowed me to avoid danger? (Seriously, Ah Q?)
He opened the treasure map in the envelope, and it turned out to be hidden in the mountains behind Liujiatun. He'd keep it until he had the chance; it was the reward for all his fear and anxiety. (He still wouldn't admit he loved money.)
Dejected, I left the space. I should probably deal with the immediate problem first.
Squeeze out the goat milk, mix it with flour, and put it in the space to ferment. Cook for yourself first, because food is essential for life, and you can't go hungry if you don't eat.
A big bowl of hot tomato noodle soup with a poached egg filled me up, and I felt much better.
The dough has already fermented and is steaming in the pot. It's not convenient to go check on the old lady with bare hands, and it's also inconvenient to take other things. These visible, good things are the most presentable.
This time I brought out a whole pot of steamed buns. I ate them for a few days and then got tired of them, so I just gave them all away. They even looked nice.
Having finished his mourning period, he was allowed to enter other people's homes, so he carried the basin directly into the yard.
The old lady welcomed her into the house, saying, "You little rascal, be careful with your food. Just let me try it, that's enough. You don't need to make it all the time, it's such a waste."
“How could it be a waste for my great-grandmother to eat this? You can eat it without worry, I can afford it.”
"Grandma, I had a nightmare last night. I dreamt of a drought, and the fields yielded nothing. It terrified me." Zhang Hongmei decided to tell the story this way, as she couldn't think of any other explanation.
"Tell me exactly what happened?"
The old woman and the young man sat side by side on the kang (a heated brick bed). The old woman looked nervous. Farmers are most afraid of disasters; if there is no harvest, it will be fatal.
"I don't remember very clearly, I only remember that there was a drought for several years."
"Aimin, go and call your third brother over. Tell him I need to speak with him, and he should come right away," the old lady called out to her grandson.
"Understood, Grandma." Liu Aimin always treated the old lady's words as gospel, so he put down the saw and immediately went to find someone.
"Grandma, could this really be true?"
"I don't know either. I just feel that we should take it seriously. Although you're just a girl and your dream shouldn't be taken too seriously, it only snowed once last year and then there hasn't been any since. That's not right. There should be at least one snowfall a month every year. I never really paid attention to it before."
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