The familiar texture confirmed it immediately: the matte-finished object in her hand was exactly what she needed—a flashlight.
She clicked the switch, and a beam of light shot out nearly a hundred meters, illuminating everything around her as clearly as if it were day.
Had she been bound to some sort of wish-granting superpower?
Cheng Nuo struggled to contain her excitement. To confirm her suspicion, she continued, "If only... a car would appear too."
One second, two seconds... ten seconds passed. The area remained completely empty.
"If no four-wheeler, a two-wheeler would do!"
Silence was her only answer. Had it not been for the flashlight in her hand, she would have assumed the whole thing was a hallucination.
Cheng Nuo curled her lip. She should have known such good fortune wouldn't fall into her lap.
Half an hour later, Cheng Nuo entered the territory of Yunxi Village.
The Meng family's brick-and-tile house was on the west side of the village, while Zhang San’s hut stood to the east. She didn't stop; instead, she detoured to a few other households.
The night was deep, and the villagers, having eaten their evening meals, were long asleep. The entire village was as tranquil as a pool of autumn water, save for the occasional cry of a startled bird from the distant forest.
A dark figure melted into the night. With nimble grace, she easily cleared one mud-and-thatch fence after another, nonchalantly coming and going through the houses. No one realized that on this ordinary night, a "little thief" had visited their homes.
As morning light began to break, Yunxi Village emerged from the darkness. The sun crested the horizon, waking the quiet village. Wisps of cooking smoke swirled in the air, and the crowing of roosters shattered the silence.
Mother Meng was used to waking up late, but after eating two large bowls of trotters gifted by a neighbor last night, she had suffered from severe indigestion. She had vomited everything up in the middle of the night, leaving her so distressed she spent the rest of the night pacing and wailing.
Now, her stomach was growling. She got up, scanned the room, and began to shriek, "That lazybones Cheng Siniang! The sun is already high, and she’s still not up to bring me water! I think she is..."
She stopped mid-sentence, remembering that Cheng Siniang had been sent back to her family for adultery. Word had come yesterday that she had hung herself from the banyan tree at the village entrance; there was no telling if she was dead yet.
Mother Meng sneered. Good riddance—better off dead. With that obstacle gone, her son could marry into a wealthy, noble family. If she hadn't died, it didn't matter; her overprotective brothers would surely come to stir up trouble, and she could use that opportunity to play the victim and divorce that useless, foolish Cheng Siniang.
Enough. Don't think about that bad omen.
There was still half a pot of mutton soup in the kitchen. If she soaked some crispy white steamed buns in it, the bread would absorb the essence of the broth—delicious, tender, and savory. Nothing was more blissful than a bowl of that on a winter morning.
Thinking of this, she smacked her lips and hurried toward the kitchen. She stopped when she saw smoke rising from the kitchen chimney, the scent of mutton soup filling the air.
Mother Meng was delighted. Had the sun risen in the west? Had her daughter become sensible and started cooking?
She excitedly pushed open the kitchen door. "Sijing, you’re up so—" She stopped dead, her face twisting in shock as she saw who was inside.
"Why are you here?"
Cheng Nuo looked at Mother Meng and let out a satisfied burp. "It's a kitchen. I'm eating. What else would I be doing? Using the latrine?"
On the square table sat a large basin and a pile of marrow bones. Because it had been boiled for so long, the broth was a creamy, milky white. Unfortunately, only a thin layer remained at the bottom—forget the mutton; there wasn't even a scrap of meat left.
Mother Meng lunged forward like a madwoman, her heart aching. She remembered the trotters she’d vomited up last night—the celebratory gift for Dalang that she hadn't even gotten to taste!
"Cheng Siniang, you damn harlot! Who gave you permission to touch our food?" Mother Meng was grinding her teeth in rage, looking ready to reach out and claw at Cheng Nuo’s throat.
Cheng Nuo raised an eyebrow. "Your food? Your son married into the Cheng family as a live-in husband. Every brick, every tile, every bowl, and every basin here belongs to the Chengs."
Her voice was quiet but resonant, and the half-smile in her eyes held a chilling coldness.
Mother Meng instinctively swallowed. For the first time, she felt a desire to retreat from her daughter-in-law. She quickly regained her composure and said sternly, "You committed adultery; the whole village knows it! My son will divorce you the moment he returns. If you have any shred of shame, you’ll hide at your parents' house and stop embarrassing us."
Cheng Nuo looked at her with a smile. "Old woman, you’ve got it wrong. Meng Nanzhou is just a live-in son-in-law. What right does he have to divorce his wife? A son who marries out is like spilled water. If anyone is doing the divorcing, it’s me, Cheng Siniang, divorcing my husband!"
O-old woman?
Had Cheng Siniang gone mad?
Mother Meng slammed the table, clutching her chest as she gasped for air. "You, you... my son is a Xiucai!"
Cheng Nuo ignored her, standing up with her hands on her hips. She’d eaten a bit much and needed to move around to digest.
She had thought that after being accustomed to nutritional pills in her previous life, she would have no interest in food. But the moment she saw that mutton soup this morning, all five senses had been awakened.
It turned out she didn't dislike food; it was just that egg custard was bland. How could it compare to the savory richness of mutton soup? She’d just gotten greedy and eaten a bit too much.
The woman’s satisfied expression was an eyesore to Mother Meng. She rolled up her sleeves and reached out to pinch Cheng Nuo’s arm—a habit from the past. She always chose spots hidden under layers of clothing, applying enough force to hurt without leaving visible scars.
The original owner had complained to her husband about it, only to be rebuffed by Meng Nanzhou saying, "What daughter-in-law doesn't suffer under her mother-in-law? You’re just too delicate." Fearing for her reputation, she hadn't dared to tell her family or complain to outsiders, terrified of shattering the "happy" facade she worked so hard to maintain for five or six years.
But Cheng Nuo wouldn't swallow such indignity.
As Mother Meng moved to strike, Cheng Nuo grabbed her arm, pulled it forward with a sharp, swift motion, and sidestepped.
"Ow—!"
With a crash of overturned basins and bone scraps, Mother Meng went down, her hair soaked by the soup, looking utterly wretched.
"You little harlot! You dare push me!"
It was always Cheng Siniang who suffered; when had it ever been Mother Meng's turn?
Cheng Nuo crossed her arms. "Are you alright? Do you want me to help you up?" Her words were polite, but she didn't move an inch.
Mother Meng wondered if she hadn't woken up yet. If this wasn't a dream, why was Cheng Siniang acting so differently?
Just as her rage boiled over and she was about to explode, a shrill cry came from the doorway.
"Everyone, come and see! The daughter-in-law is beating her mother-in-law! Neighbors, come and get justice for my mother!"
Mother Meng, struggling to climb off the floor, heard her daughter's voice and immediately flopped back down, clutching her knees and wailing, "Oh, it hurts! My leg! I think it's broken..."
An eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl in a pink jacket ran into the room. Her hair was slicked back into a neat bun, adorned with an exquisite silver hairpin and light pink flower beads. Her skin looked even fairer against the bright red lipstick, but her face was twisted in hatred, looking as if she wanted to tear Cheng Nuo to pieces.
It was Meng Sijing, Meng Nanzhou’s younger sister, who had tormented Cheng Siniang plenty in the past.
Relying on her brother being a Xiucai, she considered herself superior to the other village girls. In a countryside where fifteen-year-olds were already married off, she had dragged it out to nearly twenty, unwilling to marry just anyone. Mother Meng doted on her daughter, hoping to land a wealthy match. Now that Meng Nanzhou had passed the imperial exam, the family felt that Meng Sijing’s marriage into a powerful, wealthy family wasn't far off.
"You ugly Cheng, if anything happens to my mother, my brother won't let you get away with this!"
Seeing the mutton bones all over the floor, Meng Sijing ground her back teeth. Everyone said mutton soup was good for the skin, making it smooth and delicate. She hadn't even touched a drop, and this ugly woman had eaten it all. Was she a pig?
Cheng Nuo spread her hands, looking innocent. "I didn't touch her."
The neighbors, alerted by the commotion, soon crowded the courtyard.
Cheng Nuo swept her gaze over the crowd. Sure enough, the gossips who had been there for the "adultery-catching" were there, and even the lazybones Zhang San was leaning over the mud wall to watch the show.
Very well. Everyone who needed to be here was here. The show was about to begin.