"You know nothing. What does an eight-month-old baby understand? She can't even speak properly yet, so are you really worried she's going to rat you out to your mother-in-law?"
Reporting to her mother-in-law was one thing, but deep down, Madam Zhou couldn't bear to hear her mother speak about her little sister-in-law like that.
The little milk dumpling was genuinely lovable, and with so many people in the family, everyone had to fight for a chance to get close to her.
Fu Qiujiu was deeply frustrated. Apart from having a very short standby time, her mind was still that of a mature adult from her past life, but her body belonged to an infant.
She could speak, but her tongue simply refused to cooperate—she couldn't pronounce things clearly, nor could she string sentences together.
Madam Zhou carefully checked her over. She hadn't been scalded. Thank goodness—such a pretty little milk dumpling mustn't be left with scars.
"Qiujiu, don't be scared now."
Madam Zhou assumed Fu Qiujiu wasn't speaking because she had been frightened.
Fu Qiujiu shook her head. "Not sca-scared! Not sca-scared!"
The lisp paired with her babyish voice melted Madam Zhou's heart completely.
"You're certainly big-hearted. Medicine bought with all that money, and she ruins the very first dose right away. She really is a jinx. What did I tell you? It's because of her that you haven't been able to have a baby."
"Mother, didn't I have no news even before she came along?" Madam Zhou defended the little milk dumpling.
After months of getting along, Fu Qiujiu felt that Eldest Sister-in-law wasn't all that hateful. She wasn't a bad person; she just had a mother who was always looking to stir up trouble behind her back.
The mere existence of this mother severely disrupted the harmony of their household.
She was constantly coming over to ask for money, working Eldest Brother like an ox or a horse, and whenever she had some idle time, she would come over to pour poison into her daughter's ear.
Truly hateful.
Fu Qiujiu looked at Old Mother Zhou, whose spittle was flying everywhere. She wasn't trying to act cute on purpose; everything this tiny body did just exuded an air of natural cuteness.
There was no help for it—she was just born with it.
"What are you looking at me for? Even if you look at me, you're still a jinx. What family's baby starts walking as early as you? No fortune at all."
"Mother, stop talking."
Old Mother Zhou didn't believe it, but Madam Zhou knew how smart Fu Qiujiu was; she already understood many things.
If her own mother treated her poorly, she would eventually go and tell her parents-in-law. With the old man's explosive temper, how could he possibly stand for his precious darling to be scolded? He would throw a fit for sure.
Fu Qiujiu's dark eyes rolled around, and an idea instantly popped into her head.
"Little Aunt, where are you going? Don't fall again."
Fu Qiujiu didn't speak; she merely shook her head to indicate that she was fine.
"Let her fall! Better if she dies, saves her from cursing you." Old Mother Zhou looked at Fu Qiujiu as if she were an enemy.
Fu Qiujiu steadied herself against the edge of the kang and walked outside. Only then did Madam Zhou withdraw her gaze.
Fu Qiujiu hooked the corners of her lips into a smile that didn't belong to her age, resting faintly upon her tender mouth. She was going to teach Old Mother Zhou a lesson.
"Mother, that big rooster of ours is so fierce, make sure it doesn't peck Little Aunt."
Lady Wu was busy with her embroidery. Thanks to the blessing of her little sister-in-law, the family was no longer plagued by bad luck, and life had become much easier. But she simply couldn't sit around doing nothing; whenever she had a free moment, she would do some needlework to earn whatever little she could.
She had truly been terrified of poverty in the past few years.
Tian Guihua helped her sort the thread, watching as her own granddaughter pointed toward the domineering big rooster's head, full of imposing momentum, babbling away in a language nobody could understand.
Strange to say, though, this big rooster was exceptionally vicious. The moment her grandson Tianfu saw it standing at the doorway, he wouldn't even dare to come home.
Yet her own little daughter was a newborn calf that wasn't afraid of tigers; she didn't shrink back at all.
However, whether it was the big rooster that pecked everyone it saw or the little puppy in the courtyard, both were always extremely well-behaved in front of her daughter and had never once hurt her.
Thinking of these strange occurrences, Tian Guihua pressed her lips together and smiled. "It's fine, don't worry."
Fu Qiujiu was now able to communicate with these animals. Eating more and growing fast really did have its benefits.
Likewise, her spatial dimension had come with her, and it actually still contained the seeds and supplies she had stockpiled inside it back then.
She was preparing to wait for a suitable opportunity to pull those things out.
Other things aside, sweetbao strawberries, super-sweet watermelons, and Kyoho grapes were all rare treasures in ancient times—at least, in all the time she had transmigrated here, she hadn't seen a single one.
After whispering her plan to the big rooster and the little yellow dog, the little milk dumpling grew a bit tired.
Seeing her start to rub her eyes, Tian Guihua hurriedly scooped her up into her arms and patted her gently a few times. The little milk dumpling drifted off to sleep, even letting out tiny, soft snores.
"Mother, I've never seen a child as easy to take care of as Little Aunt. She hasn't even cried a few times, and she doesn't make a fuss when sleeping. When Tianfu was that age, he'd keep us up all night, and I hardly got any sleep."
"Who's saying otherwise?" Speaking of this, Tian Guihua felt genuinely gratified. Whether she was a lucky star or not, she was definitely here to repay a kindness; she never had to worry about her little daughter at all.
Nowadays, whenever she needed to go, she would just say so. She would only occasionally wet her pants when fast asleep at night, but compared to the older children, she was an absolute breeze to raise.
Old Mother Zhou couldn't come for nothing, eating and taking things away with her. Tian Guihua wasn't a soft persimmon to be easily squeezed, but for Madam Zhou's sake, she chose to turn a blind eye.
What else could she do?
If she fussed too much, the two families would end up in a brawl.
Yet none of them expected that no sooner had Old Mother Zhou walked very far from the Fu family home than she was targeted by the village's flock of big roosters and a pack of dogs.
As she ran and stumbled, she was pecked a few times by a big rooster. Though the dogs didn't bite her, their baring teeth and snarling expressions scared her so badly that she peed her pants.
By the time Old Mother Zhou finally managed to break out of the encirclement, her face was covered in large red welts, her body and hair were covered in chicken feathers, and her pants were sopping wet.
She wanted to return to the Fu family, but she was afraid of being targeted by those beasts again, so she could only bite the bullet and head back. But with her eyelids swollen shut from the pecking, she looked utterly wretched.
Old Mother Zhou wondered to herself: Could that little girl really be harboring some kind of strangeness? She had only said a few words about her, and retribution had struck immediately?
Yet on second thought, it must have been a coincidence. What did beasts know? If that little girl really had such power, why hadn't she just let her die?
Word of this incident eventually reached Tian Guihua's ears through villagers who had witnessed it.
Tian Guihua merely smiled. Serves her right—it was pure retribution. Let's see if she ever dares to come over again to meddle with her daughter!
Chapter 12: Third Brother in Danger
Fu Qiujiu yawned. She had been woken up by the birds outside.
Through a daze of sleep-heavy eyes, she wanted to hear which family those fellows were gossiping about this time. The last time, she'd heard that Widow Yang's bellyband was bright red and utterly alluring...
And then she had fallen asleep.
"What on earth are these birds outside carrying on about, all that chirping and chattering? Look, they've gone and woken our girl up."
Tian Guihua patted her little daughter once more. In the past, whenever she woke up midway, a little coaxing from her would let her drift right back to sleep.
Today, however, the little milk dumpling was actually babbling away, sounding precisely as though she were having a conversation with those birds.
Fu Baiwan raised his head to look at the old elm tree outside the window, where two birds had landed. "Time for her to wake up anyway. Our girl hasn't had milk in a good while, hurry up and feed her."
Tian Guihua unbuttoned her tunic and fed her daughter right then and there.
Half-asleep, Fu Qiujiu got a mouthful of milk. She had just finished asking the little sparrow what it was calling her for.
Little sparrow: "Qiujiu, it's bad! Your Third Brother is in trouble."
In trouble?
Fu Qiujiu instantly lost her appetite. She babbled urgently, asking the sparrow what was wrong with her Third Brother.
Little sparrow: "He went deep into the mountains, and there are poisonous snakes there. By the time I came to give you the warning, he had run into a wild boar. Things aren't looking good."
A wild boar? Poisonous snakes?
This was terrible. Third Brother was in danger.
The very first thing Third Brother did every time he came home was to pick her up. She would even ride on top of his head; Third Brother was the strongest one and always hoisted her up high.
Third Brother could not be allowed to come to harm.
"De-de..."
"Brother?" Fu Baiwan poked his daughter's tiny foot. It was plump and white; though it couldn't fit in his mouth all at once, he still felt like nibbling on it.
"Your brothers went out. When they come back, they'll play with Qiujiu again, alright?"
Fu Qiujiu shook her head. Her tongue—this thing made every sentence come out in fragments. Fortunately, her parents shared a mutual understanding with her, and even such vague speech could be understood.
"San-de..."
"Third Brother?" Tian Guihua didn't know the situation. "Your Third Brother went into the mountain. When he comes back, Qiujiu will have meat to eat. The wild chicken leg will be for Qiujiu."
Fu Qiujiu wasn't picky about food, but she especially loved meat, and her appetite was great. By now, she had already started learning how to hold chopsticks like a proper person, and although she couldn't eat with them very well yet, other children her age couldn't even use their fingers flexibly.
Fu Qiujiu was anxious, but she knew that making a huge fuss was useless. When it came to dealing with her parents, she had a trump card.
"Oh my, what's wrong with Daddy's precious Qiujiu? Why are you dropping golden beans? Missing your Third Brother, are you?"
Fu Qiujiu nodded heavily. "Miss... de-de."
The moment the little girl cried, the old couple's hearts melted, and they agreed to any demand.
"Old Fu, it's getting late. Around this hour, Sanjin is usually already back."
Fu Baiwan instantly understood her meaning. Although their third son went into the mountains every day and could be considered an old hand, it was always the swimmers who drowned.
"Then I'll go meet him. Maybe his harvest this time is quite big."
Tian Guihua smiled, lowered her head, and kissed little Qiujiu on the forehead. "Qiujiu wait right here, your Third Brother will be back very soon."
No, Fu Qiujiu couldn't rest easy; she had to go too.
Fu Baiwan stood up, ready to leave, but the little milk dumpling reached both arms out toward him at that very moment. "Daddy... hold me..."
"Qiujiu, stay at home and wait for Daddy, alright?"
Deep in the mountain forests there were all sorts of bugs and mosquitoes, and Fu Baiwan couldn't bear to let the milk dumpling go in and suffer.
"Mm~" Fu Qiujiu shook her head, her pink little mouth puckering high up in the air.
Her little daughter was angry—who could possibly withstand that?
"Be a good girl, Qiujiu. There are bugs in that mountain, is Qiujiu scared?"
Fu Qiujiu still kept her mouth puckered, wearing a look of deep displeasure. "Hmph!"
Seeing this, Fu Baiwan felt a churn in his stomach. "Should I just carry her along? It shouldn't be a problem."
Tian Guihua was somewhat worried, but since her daughter was angry, she had no choice but to humor her.
She knew full well that had it been one of the boys throwing a tantrum, her husband would have started yelling long ago.
"Alright then. We might just run into Sanjin right at the foot of the mountain."
Fu Baiwan picked up Fu Qiujiu and said in a soft voice, "Qiujiu, you're not angry with Daddy anymore, are you?"
She wasn't angry anymore, but she was anxious.
Fu Qiujiu planted a kiss on her daddy's face. "Find... de-de..."
Her daughter had kissed him! Fu Baiwan happily decided that he wouldn't wash his face tonight—no, he wouldn't wash it tomorrow morning either.
"Let's go, let's find your Third Brother."
Fu Baiwan hoisted Fu Qiujiu onto his shoulders, letting her grab his hair to sit securely. That way it was safe.
Fu Baiwan hadn't thought much of it; his third son had been there so many times before. Even if he didn't catch anything, he always returned safely every single time, so he wasn't particularly worried.
Along the way, he even chatted idly with people.
"Baiwan, your little daughter is getting prettier and prettier by the day."
Although it was the truth, Fu Baiwan was still immensely pleased, and he didn't bother to be modest. "That's right, my girl takes after her mother. Could she possibly look dowdy?"
Fu Qiujiu, however, was in a rush. Heartlessly, she grabbed a handful of her daddy's hair. "Go!"
Wincing in pain, Fu Baiwan didn't get angry at all. "Alright, let's go."
Seeing this, the man didn't say anything aloud, but in his heart, he thought that Fu Family's little girl was being spoiled to an outrageous degree—riding on her old man's head and even barking orders at him, while the two old folks of the Fu family didn't even try to discipline her.
When she grows up... who would ever dare to marry her?
"Baiwan, you've spoiled this daughter of yours right up to the heavens."
Fu Baiwan had been all smiles with him just moments before, but hearing those words made his expression sour. "An old man's daughter is supposed to be spoiled."
It's not like you're the one spoiling her, none of your damn business.
Rolling his eyes, Fu Baiwan carried Fu Qiujiu toward the back mountain.
Because Fu Qiujiu kept crying out to find her brother, and Fu Baiwan was a father who spoiled his daughter without limits, whatever his daughter said went. He actually carried her right into the mountain.
"Qiujiu, we can't go any further in. It's dangerous."
It wouldn't matter if something happened to him, but his little daughter couldn't suffer even the slightest mishap. If a mosquito bit her, he wouldn't be able to sleep all night until he hunted that mosquito down and slapped it to death.
Though that was also partly because the sachet Fifth Brother had given the little daughter wasn't on them right now; otherwise, she wouldn't even get bitten.
"De-de, de-de..."
"Sigh..." This drove Fu Baiwan frantic with worry. He was anxious about his son, yet he didn't want to let his little daughter fall into danger.
"Qiujiu... you really can't go in there."
"Shu-shu..."
Go-go?
Fu Baiwan automatically translated: "Qiujiu can't go, there are tiger mamas in there."
Never mind whether his daughter could understand him; he was clearly just trying to scare the little girl, yet he ended up scaring himself instead.
Could Sanjin have run into some massive beast?
In case...
He didn't dare to think any further. Hesitating for a moment, Fu Baiwan told himself he would just walk in a little bit further; if he still hadn't run into his son by then, he would head back home and rally some men.
As long as Fu Qiujiu could go, everything was fine.
Walking along, Fu Baiwan called out for his son at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing loudly and scaring up quite a few birds in the forest.
"Daddy, fa-fa..." Fu Baiwan didn't know which way to go, but Fu Qiujiu knew.
She had just asked the wild flowers and grass along the path, and her Third Brother had indeed walked this way.
Following the direction pointed by her tiny finger, Fu Baiwan actually spotted traces of trampled grass. Figuring that walking this way should lead him to his son, he pressed forward.
Chapter 13: Who Threw Such a Good-Looking Little Big Brother Away?
Fu Baiwan carried Fu Qiujiu forward a few dozen paces when he heard rustling movements coming from the brush ahead. The color drained from his face in terror.
Fu Qiujiu, however, remained completely unruffled.
"Qiujiu, don't be scared!"
Fu Qiujiu signaled that she wasn't scared at all.
If not for this body being far too small, walking through here all by herself wouldn't have mattered in the least. If her martial arts prowess from her past life had recovered, she would have even more confidence.
Ah, to grow up—she had to grow up quickly.
With the assistance of the flowers, plants, trees, and flying birds, Fu Qiujiu found Fu Sanjin quite smoothly.
Even Fu Baiwan was puzzled that they had bumped into him just by wandering blindly; had he relied on his own instincts, he probably would have walked right past him.
His daughter truly was blessed.
Father and daughter spotted Fu Sanjin from afar. Beside him lay a wild chicken and a wild hare, while a gorgeously dressed little boy sat upon a large boulder nearby.
Fu Qiujiu sat high up and saw far; she caught sight of the little boy's face at a single glance.
Damn, an absolute stunner.
What a sin—someone actually threw away a baby this good-looking?
What kind of world was this?
Even though her older brothers were already peerlessly handsome, compared to this little cutie, they were still slightly lacking.
If this little cutie were placed in the modern era, he would be a guaranteed child star, and when he grew up, he'd undoubtedly have the aura of an overbearing CEO.
She really wanted to give him a kiss.
Seeing that Fu Sanjin was safe and sound, the boulder hanging in Fu Baiwan's chest finally settled. He glanced at the young boy in unusual, fine clothing sitting on the boulder and roughly pieced things together.
"What's going on?"
Fu Sanjin shook his head. "I was on my way back from hunting when I saw him lying here. I don't know what's wrong with him, and I didn't dare move him. I was also afraid he might get hurt by a wild boar, so I thought I'd wait here for his family. Why did you come here, Dad? And you brought Qiujiu too, how dangerous is that!"
Fu Baiwan glared at him, thinking: *Does your old man not know it's dangerous?*
*It was all because I was worried about you.*
Yet a father could never bring himself to say such mushy things to his son.
Hearing Fu Sanjin talk like this, Tang Xian let down his guard. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious; Feng Ji had gone off to find medicine for him while dragging a heavily wounded body, and he had no clue how things were turning out either.
Fu Qiujiu knit her delicate little brows as she looked at the little cutie's furrowed face. Of course it felt terrible to be poisoned.
"De-de..."
Fu Sanjin wiped his hands twice on his clothes before reaching out, intending to hold his younger sister. But alas... he grasped empty air.
The little milk dumpling had actually lunged straight for the boy on the boulder.
He awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
She patted the little cutie's face with her hand, hoping to keep him from passing out just yet.
If he fell asleep again, he probably wouldn't wake back up.
Tang Xian frowned. The little milk baby actually had the audacity to slap his face at random—didn't she know that was a capital offense?
Fu Qiujiu had originally only intended to pat him once to wake him up.
It was all because his face was too irresistibly lovable that she couldn't help taking a little advantage of him.
Tang Xian had already regained consciousness while they were talking, but his body was already weak to begin with, having endured a long and exhausting journey only to run into venomous creatures.
His body probably couldn't hold out much longer.
Yet his entire body felt as though it were enduring the torment of purgatory; one moment he was plunging into an ice cellar, and the next he seemed to be burning in raging flames...
Suddenly, a trace of coolness appeared on his cheek.
The skin beneath his hand was smooth and delicate. Acting completely like an older aunt at heart, Fu Qiujiu couldn't resist pinching his cheek.
The moment Tang Xian opened his eyes, they carried a hint of murderous intent, and the words "Don't touch me" that rose to his lips froze when he saw it was a pink-and-white, carved-jade little milk dumpling.
"Wipe your drool..."
Uh... awkward.
Relying on the appearance of being a little baby, Fu Qiujiu didn't feel awkward in the slightest.
"Qiujiu, come here, come to Daddy."
Fu Qiujiu turned around to look at Fu Baiwan, then glanced back at the handsome little cutie. Good-looking he certainly was, but the way he looked at her was a bit fierce.
She stood there without moving.
Probably accustomed to the doting gazes of her family, Fu Qiujiu wasn't quite used to seeing such a cold and arrogant look from him.
Although she hadn't taken his pulse, looking at his condition, Fu Qiujiu could sense his agony. Moreover, his lips were turning increasingly purplish-blue; he wasn't far from the poison acting up.
"Child, where is your family?" Fu Baiwan sighed. Seeing this child left unattended reminded him of his own seventh son whom he had lost, stirring a deep sense of pity within him.
Tang Xian was in too much pain to speak, nor could he push away the drooling little milk dumpling's paws.
Fu Qiujiu had no choice but to pull her paws away with great reluctance. If she kept touching him, the little cutie might just drop dead on the spot.
"Dad, what do we do about this?"
Fu Sanjin had originally wanted to wait for the child's family to return, but after waiting for nearly an hour without seeing a single soul, he was fretting over what to do when his backbone arrived.
Fu Baiwan took a deep breath. "This child looks like he's been poisoned. Could he have been bitten by a poisonous snake? Then... then there's no saving him."
The town with a physician was very far from their village, and coupled with the fact that this was deep in the mountain forests, even though the Third Son had strength and traveled fast, this child's condition probably wouldn't hold out until then.
Fu Baiwan sighed and shook his head. "Eight chances out of ten, they knew he couldn't be saved and just threw him out here."
Hearing the father and son talk like this, Tang Xian was practically about to be pissed into unconsciousness. Was he some pitiful, abandoned babe or something?
It was just that he still had to conserve his strength to suppress the poison inside his body, leaving him with no way to explain.
Fu Sanjin believed what his father had said, but judging by the material of the little cutie's clothes and his delicate skin from earlier, Fu Qiujiu knew instantly that he definitely hadn't been abandoned.
Oh well, for the sake of his good looks, Fu Qiujiu decided to save him.