Volume One, Chapter 18: The Widowed Mother Abandoned by Her Sons in the Year of Famine 18 [Expression]

“Wow! She can speak now!”
“See, I knew she was just hungry and out of it! Hello, Tian Tian, I’m A Cai.”
“My name’s Nan Nan. Has your soul not run away?”
Chen Dadan was speechless. How could the village chief’s granddaughter be so silly?
He glanced happily at the little girl and hurriedly squeezed in to introduce himself.
“My name is Chen Dadan, but you can call me Uncle Dadan.”
“And I’m Huzi. Your name sounds really nice!”
A gentle breeze stirred.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled golden light, while the children’s laughter echoed in the air.
After lunch, Mo Mo took the excuse to go for a walk.
Since the incident with the mountain bandits, she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing—she was ready to play the saint for once.
After consulting with the system,
she arranged for two tons of water to be placed into every well within inhabited areas.
No matter if it was all used or not, another two tons would be added punctually the next day.
It wasn’t that she was unwilling to give more, but she couldn’t interfere too much with this little world, or her good intentions might backfire.
“Are you sure, Sister Mo? That’s quite a large expense!”
“Don’t say that. I’m already feeling the pain in my heart. Hurry, hurry, let’s resolve this quickly.”
“All right. One ton of water costs one energy coin. The current eligible locations for deployment have been locked in. Daily expenditure: 40,000 energy coins. Please confirm operation.”
“Confirmed, confirmed!”
In the next moment,
blue beams of light shot straight up into the sky from the distant horizon.
Everyone in this world stopped what they were doing.
They looked up at the sky, seeing faces filled with hollow, numb despair.
From afar, a faint “whoosh, whoosh” sound could be heard.
Curious people chased after the blue light and saw it emerging from the wells.
After about fifteen minutes, the blue light slowly faded away.
“No way, no way!”
Chen Dadan cautiously approached the well and stared in disbelief.
“Water… it’s really water…”
His eyes gleamed brightly as he frantically waved to his companions.
“Thank heavens! There’s water! We’re saved! Everyone, come quickly!”
Boom! The crowd erupted instantly!
They dashed madly to the well, eagerly setting down their wooden buckets to scoop water.
We can survive! We can survive! Sob, sob!
They silently gave thanks to the fairy who sent the water.
Countless tiny glimmers of light swarmed toward Mo Mo, entering her body.
“Hey? It’s merit light? Quite a lot too.”
“Yes, Sister Mo. After all, this little world has some mystical elements. You saved so many people, you’ve certainly earned merit.”
“Good. Once this world ends, I can head to the Soul Purification Pool again. Delightful.”
The Soul Purification Pool was a wonderful thing; once soaked, one wished to go again because it protected the soul from reincarnation, allowing it to exist for a long time.
When Mo Mo reached the cave entrance, she found it quiet.
The villagers were all gone, surely gone back to the village to see the wells.
Hmm? Wait, there was someone inside.
Inside the cave, Wang Fang was bent over, rifling through others’ bedding.
Her arms bulged with stolen goods, and whenever something fell, she hurriedly picked it up and stuffed it back in.
“Damn it, these things are hidden so tightly. Chen Qiang, just wait—once I catch you, you’re done for!”
Just as she was about to search the next house—
“Hey!” Her wrist was grabbed tightly.
“You—you! Uh, mother-in-law, why is it you?”
“Why can’t it be me? If it were someone else, would you try to fight them?”
Mo Mo shook off her hand and demanded, “What are you sneaking around doing?”
Wang Fang rubbed her reddened wrist and nervously covered the things in her arms.
“N-nothing. I wasn’t feeling well and was about to rest. A Wei is taking care of Xiao Da. Grandma, you should go to the village quickly; the gods have appeared!”
“I think you’ve just exposed yourself! Feeling unwell and going to sleep in other people’s beds? Return everything you took! Why learn to be a thief when you can do something decent?”
“Mother-in-law, you’re speaking too harshly. What thief? What things? I didn’t take anything.”
This rogue made Mo Mo laugh with anger. She grabbed her clothes and began searching.
Goodness, silver coins, silver hairpins, handkerchiefs, scarves, even socks were stolen.
Seeing all her stolen goods taken away, Wang Fang gave up and flopped to the ground, starting to rant wildly.
“Ahhhhh! Take them all, take everything! The whole damn family bullies me alone! The man ran away! You’re not a real mother-in-law! What’s the point of living? It’s because no one’s on my side! Mother! My dead mother! Come take me away! The Chen family doesn’t care about me! Why is my life so bitter? Mother, ahhh!”
Watching her roll on the ground, Mo Mo was speechless.
She had quite a lung capacity.
“Stop rolling and speak properly! What do you mean by ‘no one on your side’? If I hadn’t bought you both out, you’d have been sold into a brothel by that black-hearted Chen Qiang long ago!”
Wang Fang looked up slyly from the ground at her mother-in-law. “Then why don’t you care about us now?!”
“Has your brain turned to mush? Have you forgotten the family split? If it weren’t for the fact you didn’t actively do bad things, I would have cut you off long ago! Don’t take advantage and then act innocent!”
Grumbling, she stood up, knowing her mother-in-law wouldn’t fall for her act.
“My life’s been hard, you know that. That bastard Chen Qiang took all the family’s money.”
“I don’t care how hard your life is, stealing from others is never allowed.”
Mo Mo pulled out twenty taels of silver from her space and tossed it to her.
“Keep this twenty taels safe. If you really can’t make it, then remarry.”
Wang Fang was shocked that her mother-in-law would say such a thing, unable to close her jaw.
Taking the silver, she chuckled, “With your words, maybe I really will remarry. You won’t be mad? I’ll bring your eldest grandson along.”
“I don’t have the energy to argue. Return the things now, and if I catch you again, you’ll lose those claws of yours!”
“Got it, got it. If I do it again, you can smash me!”
Rolling her eyes, Mo Mo left for the village to see the commotion.
The fortunate eldest daughter-in-law quickly returned the stolen items one by one and tidied the ruffled bedding.

—Two years later—

“Hey? That’s not right. How come the gaps are so big?”
“What does it matter? It’s just woven for holding potatoes, not for bathing.”
“Still, you can’t be so careless. Aunt Cui will scold us if she sees it. It’s really annoying to work with you!”
“I’m the one annoyed! Your endless nagging is giving me a headache!”
Two young villagers bantered as they worked on weaving baskets.
Nearby, other villagers weaving baskets watched them with amused smiles.