Ye Manman felt an intense itching all over her body in her sleep, a strong discomfort that woke her from her beauty sleep.
Then she was dumbfounded.
The first thing that caught her eye was an unfamiliar dim room, with walls made of dirt. A simple gray cotton quilt was laid on a peeling wooden bed, and an unknown man lay horizontally on it, uncertain if alive.
The environment was quite terrible.
She furrowed her brows but didn't make any hasty movements, instead, she looked down at her own condition.
Sure enough, the intense itching was caused by the 'clothing' she was wearing.
It seemed to be made of coarse burlap, grayish and clearly an old piece of clothing that couldn't be washed clean again.
Ye Manman felt like she was wearing a washed-up rag meant for servers, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
What she couldn't ignore more was the hunger pangs in her stomach, even though she clearly had dinner...
So what's going on here?
Just when she was confused, the door was suddenly pushed open, accompanied by a woman's panicked voice.
"Xie! Xie, are you okay?"
With a bang, the already flimsy wooden door made a loud noise, almost breaking on the spot.
Ye Manman looked up, and upon seeing the woman who rushed in, countless unfamiliar memories surged in her mind. Meanwhile, she finally understood that she caught up with the trend of transmigration.
Goodness.
As the eldest daughter of the Ye Group in Jing City! She actually transmigrated into a period novel where everyone had to work in the fields for workpoints and lacked food and clothing!
The woman standing in front of her now was the original character's stepsister, Ye Xiaotong, who as the reborn heroine of the period novel, would eventually step on her to the ground, reclaim the male lead, and start a cheat-like life.
Stepped on by someone else?
That was never a phrase in Ye Manman's vocabulary!
She scrutinized Ye Xiaotong, just about to think of a countermeasure, when her stomach let out an inconvenient sharp pain. Ye Manman had never experienced such intense hunger even when dieting to lose weight. Is she about to starve to death?
Clutching her stomach, she finally remembered the poor original character had been harshly oppressed by the stepmother for two days, doing all sorts of work hoping to leave with Xie Fengmian. Yet even when Xie Fengmian finally visited, she hadn't had a bite to eat.
Annoying, she needs to get something to eat first, then settle accounts with them properly later.
"Ye Manman, did our father ask you to take Xie to rest so you would bring him to your room? How inconsiderate! And you don't even know to avoid suspicion, it's strict on male and female interactions nowadays, be careful not to ruin Xie's reputation."
Ye Xiaotong, just reborn, was filled with hatred towards Ye Manman and didn't notice her tone and manner of address towards her.
Knowing everything about the future, she hated Ye Manman's good luck even more, determined not to let her and Xie Fengmian be alone today!
Seeing the hatred mingling in Ye Xiaotong's eyes, Ye Manman naturally knew what she was thinking.
But she wasn't interested in any garbage man; she just wanted to fill her stomach.
Seeing Ye Xiaotong sit by the bed intending to wake Xie Fengmian, Xie suddenly grabbed her hand, and the two quickly rolled onto the bed, prompting Ye Manman to let out a snort.
"So this is how you protect someone's reputation, huh, that's enlightening."
Ye Xiaotong wanted to retort, but before she could speak, her mouth was blocked, and Xie quickly flipped over and pinned her down.
Seeing a restricted scene about to unfold, Ye Manman rolled her eyes and left.
Seeing something inappropriate would ruin her appetite; she didn't want to eat while feeling nauseous.
In this era, there was no habit of storing leftover food, so Ye Manman could only follow the book's description to find the food the stepmother had hidden. But being a rich girl, she didn't know how to burn wood, almost setting the kitchen on fire before barely managing to cook some preserved meat and sweet potatoes.
"Never want to cook for myself again!"
Ye Manman bitterly took a bite of the hard-preserved meat, feeling so wronged she wanted to cry.
Who could have thought the Ye Family's eldest daughter would have such a miserable day, not only having to make her food but it also tasting so terrible!
The smell of meat attracted the napping stepmother.
No sooner had she begun eating than the stepmother rushed over, pointing at her nose to scold.
"You little wretch, you don't know how expensive firewood is without running a household, huh? How dare you eat all the preserved meat meant for New Year's, such audacity!"
"Ye Guoqiang! Come out and see what your darling daughter has done! Is this life still livable? Get out here!"
Ye Guoqiang was napping as he had to work in the afternoon, but was now woken up, having a headache.
"What happened now."
"What do you think happened, your darling daughter ate the preserved meat I saved for New Year's, and wasted the sugar too, how are we supposed to live now! Might as well not live!"
Ye Guoqiang never expected Ye Manman to be so bold, to eat the preserved meat. Their family conditions are poor; they only cut a small piece for stir-fry during the New Year, and here she ate it all in one meal, he was also very angry.
"Manman!"
Ye Manman fixed her gaze on him, showing no fear in the face of his anger.
"Can't I eat the family's food?"
Her gaze was so straightforward that Ye Guoqiang frowned and instinctively looked at the woman beside him, "It's not that you can't eat..."
The stepmother seemed about to say something, but Ye Manman didn't give her the chance.
"Then why can you eat and I can't? She has made me work for two days and won't let me eat; do you also think it's right for her to mistreat me like this?"
Her words stunned both of them, Ye Guoqiang hadn't reacted, while the stepmother widened her eyes and shrieked.
"What are you saying? How have I not let you eat, it's clearly you who didn't eat. How could I mistreat you, I'm wrongly accused, heavens, being a stepmother is not easy..."
As the stepmother shouted, Ye Guoqiang immediately felt overwhelmed and hurried to console her.
Ye Manman merely huffed, taking the last bit of sugar to make a cup of sugary water.
No one knew how she ended up starving the original character this way, now, without evidence, whoever shouted pitifully gets deemed right. This stepmother just manipulated Ye Guoqiang so well, forcing the original character's biological father to be blind to reality for ten years.
"How dare you still make sugary water! You've wasted this whole bag!"
Seeing her drink the last of the sugar, the stepmother rushed in wanting to hit her, though Ye Guoqiang held her back, her gaze towards Ye Manman resembled that for a mortal enemy.
Sugar wasn't cheap those days, a small bag could last a long time.
Ye Manman calculated that she wouldn't really dare hit her, hence ignored her, sipping slowly.
The stepmother was breathing heavily from anger, pointing at her but unable to speak, while Ye Guoqiang hastened to pat her back to calm her down.
As the house descended into silence, unexpectedly another kind of suggestive sound floated over, causing the two angry people to change expressions simultaneously.
"What's that sound?!"
They exchanged a glance, both startled, and quickly ran into the room.
The broken-down wooden door was opened once more, quietly hanging on its frame, but upon seeing the situation inside, the stepmother was overstimulated and fainted straight away.
"Xiaotong!"
"Mom!"
With two shouts, Ye Manman rubbed her ears.
Looks like there's a good show to watch.