Pampered Consort of the Fragrant Orchard c1-234

by N/A

  Ch. 003 – Eldest Aunt Stealing Things

  Eldest Aunt Stealing Things

  Seeing Du Xiu Heng's mysterious look, Du Xiao Li asked, "What good thing?"

  "Look!" Du Xiu Heng fished out two small bird eggs from his sleeve.

  "Bird eggs!" Du Xiao Li saw the bird eggs and happily cried out.

  "I saw this when I was chopping wood. In a bit, I'll cook this for you to nourish your body." Du Xiu Heng said with a smile, "You hold on to them first. I'm going to go dry out the moisture from the the wood, then take them to the town below tomorrow to sell."

  "Alright." Du Xiao Li carefully took the bird eggs from him. If this was in her past life, she definitely wouldn't even give them a single glance. But ever since coming to this world, drinking weirdly flavored clear water vegetable porridge every day, she felt that her own taste buds were about to deteriorate. That's why these two bird eggs looked even more pleasing to the eyes!

  Du Xiu Heng untied the bundle of wood and spread them out in the courtyard. Then he had the rice straws that Du Xiao Li took out in the afternoon all moved back inside, and then said to Du Xiao Li, who was still in the courtyard absentmindedly staring at the bird eggs, "Okay, I can cook that bird egg for you now! Let's go in."

  "Bird egg? Mother, I want to eat bird egg!"

  Du Xiu Heng had just taken the bird egg from her when a young boy's voice sounded. They turned to look. It was precisely their eldest aunt, Cui-shi, and her son, Du Xiao Tian.

  Du Xiao Tian's age was about the same as Du Xiao Li's, being older than her by a few months. His chubby and plump appearance looked like a winter melon. Hearing there were bird eggs, he pulled on Cui-shi's hand and incessantly swayed, muttering on about how he wanted to eat bird eggs. One look and you could tell he was a spoiled one.

  "Don't worry, I'll go get it for you right now." Cui-shi patted Du Xiao Tian's little hand and said. Afterwards, she turned to Du Xiu Heng, "Your younger brother wants to eat bird eggs, so give me the bird eggs."

  Du Xiao Li looked to Cui-shi, seeing her in cotton-padded clothes and quilted cotton trousers, and her hair styled neatly. Her fair white skin was not like an ordinary peasant woman's filled with wrinkles, and her eyes revealed her shrewish nature.

  "Why should we?" Du Xiao Li went and stood in front of Du Xiu Heng, glaring at Cui-shi and Du Xiao Tian.

  Cui-shi didn't expect that the little girl that would only hide behind the door whenever she saw her in the past would actually dare to glare to her. Placing her hands at her hips, she roared, "What are you glaring at me for? Today, this bird egg, I'm determined to get, so are you going to give or not?"

  "Not giving! Want to eat bird egg, go up the mountain yourself to get!" Du Xiao Li also mimic Cui-shi's appearance, placing her hands at her him, and roared back.

  "Yo." Cui-shi was angrily amused by Du Xiao Li, "Not only did you not die from illness, your guts even grew after getting better?!"

  "I'm someone that has toured the gates of hell. Grandpa Enma[1] told me that people need to have big guts to be able to live well, then afterwards had me sent back! Eldest Aunt, say, if my guts didn't grow a bit wouldn't grandpa Enma be angry with me if he sees?" Du Xiao Li looked to Cui-shi with a face full of childish innocence.

  If it was an ordinary village woman, as soon as they heard gods and ghosts and such, they would've long been scared off. However, this Cui-shi's character was shrewish, and usually never believed in the supernatural. Hearing Du Xiao Li say this, not only was she not scared off, she instead even walked towards her in quick steps and pushed her aside, saying, "What grandpa Enma? If you've met King Enma, they I would be King Enma's reincarnation. Move aside. Du Xiu Heng, hand over the bird egg!"

  Du Xiao Li had just recovered from her illness and had been malnourished for a long time. Getting pushed by Cui-shi like this, her entire person fell to the ground.

  "Younger sister!" Du Xiu Heng saw Du Xiao Li fall, and in a moment of panic, the eggs in his hand were seized by Cui-shi. He didn't bother with stealing the bird eggs back and ran to Du Xiao Li's said asking, "Younger sister, are you okay?"

  Du Xiao Li knew Cui-shi's temper, and she herself didn't have any strength right now. These eggs today, now that they've fallen into her hand, they won't be able to get back. Looking to the pebbles on the ground, her eyes glistened. Picking the pebbles, she threw them at Cui-shi. Afterwards, she sat up, and with her two little hands covering her face, she began crying.

  "Wu wu, eldest aunt is a bully, eldest aunt is a thief, stole my bird egg, wuu wuu....."

  Cui-shi reached out to block with her hands. Majority of the pebbles were all blocked by her, but there was a small stone she didn't noticed that wasn't directed at the upper body, and under the cover of those other pebbles, it struck her right leg, making her right leg feel numb. However the pain from the upper body made her very quickly overlook the discomfort on her leg.

  "You little brat, actually daring to throw rocks at me!" Cui-shi said as she was about to go over and hit Du Xiao Li, but Du Xiu Heng immediately stood before her and said, "Eldest aunt, younger sister is still small. The bird eggs you've already gotten, so there's no need to bicker with her."

  "Mother, I'm hungry, quickly go back and cook the bird egg for me to eat!" Behind Cui-shi, Du Xiao Tian, seeing that his mother had already gotten the bird eggs, began to urge.

  "Hmph, this time, I'll let you off. Next time, dare to hit me again, and just see how I'll sort you out!" Cui-shi patted the place the pebbles hit on her body, "That's right, this time I came to ask, Du Xiu Heng, the rice you borrowed from our family a few days ago, when do you plan on paying back?"

  Du Xiao Li was just thinking earlier why she'd came. Turns out she came to settle a debt!

  "Eldest aunt, the skies have just cleared. I went to the mountains to chop wood today, and still haven't had the time to sell them in town. So give me a few more days, in a few days, I'll definitely have the rice paid back!" Du Xiu Heng replied.

  "Mother, hurry up, hurry up." Du Xiao Tian pulled on Cui-shi, urging her to quickly go back.

  Cui-shi pulled Du Xiao Tian's hand and looked to Du Xiu Heng, "Seeing on your dead parent's behalf, I'll give you a few more days time. You better pay it back quickly, our family's Tian Shui[2] is running out of white rice soon, understand?"

  (T/N: man I feel like you can't get anymore cliche villain than this)

  "This nephew understands." Du Xiu Heng replied.

  "Hmph, let's go back then." Finish saying this, Cui-shi pulled along Du Xiao Tian and left.

  Du Xiao Li waited until Cui-shi left before getting up from the ground, patting the dirt off herself. Strolling to the edge of the courtyard, she placed both hands on the deteriorating fence and watched Cui-shi retreating figure.

  "Younger sister, what are you looking at?" Du Xiu Heng, seeing Du Xiao Li not crying anymore and even ran to the edge of the courtyard nonchalantly gazing down the mountain, walked over and asked.

  "Big brother, look." Du Xiao Li pointed to Cui-shi and said.

  "What's...." wrong? Before Du Xiu Heng could finish his words, he saw Cui-shi, who was about to reach the foot of the mountain, suddenly go limp in the legs and her entire person fell down. Because the ground was slanted, she tumbled a few times before finally stopping.

  "Aiyooo...."

  Cui-shi's pitiful cries came from the bottom of the mountain.

  "Mother, how are you?" Du Xiao Tian quickly ran down, looked to Cui-shi who was sprawled on the ground, and asked. When Cui-shi finally lifted her head, he suddenly cried out, "Mother, you crushed the bird eggs!"

  Cui-shi finally felt the dripping wet sensation on her face, and it was even sticky. Reaching out to touch it, there was crushed bird eggs on her entire face.

  "Mother, you crushed the bird eggs, what am I going to eat now?" Du Xiao Tian saw that the two bird eggs were both crushed and said with a bawling face.

  "Eat eat eat, all you know is eat. Quickly help me up! Aiyoo...." Cui-shi, seeing her own son's disappoi
nting look, scolded.

  Du Xiao Tian finally went to help Cui-shi up, supporting her as she limped back.

  "Hahaha...." Du Xiao Li, seeing the scene below the mountain, burst into laughter.

  She originally only hit the nerve on Cui-shi's leg, letting her be inconvenienced when going down, and tripping. She didn't expect that she not only tripped, she even crushed the eggs on her face. This made the gloomy feeling inside from losing the eggs immediately disperse.

  "Younger sister, how did you know that eldest aunt would fall?" Du Xiu Heng looked to the laughing figure and asked.

  "Guessed!" Du Xiao Li looked to Cui-shi's retreating figure and stuck out her little head. Afterwards, she turned and headed towards the house.

  "This can also be guessed?" Du Xiu Heng skeptically asked, and followed Du Xiao Li into the house. However, seeing Cui-shi tumble, he was also very happy inside and went to make dinner while humming a tune.

  [1] Enma - The mythical king of hell in Chinese mythology; can also be romanized as Yama

  [2] I think this is Du Xiao Tian's real name; Xiao Tian just means little sky and seems to be like a nickname; or it could be the author's type, I'm not sure

  T/N: Tbh this story is fairly cliche but I got really attached to the little dumplings, especially the brother. He's too precious, please protect him. Honestly this story is mostly lighthearted slice of life from what I've read so far, so don't expect any intense drama or complicated schemes. I'd say compared to other mary-sue novels in this genre this one is better than average. Just don't read this with like high expectations. It's tagged shoujo for a reason.

  Ch. 004 – Little Harvest from the Mountains

  Little Harvest from the Mountain

  Although she didn't get to eat bird eggs for dinner, Du Xiao Li's mood was still very good. Today's matter gave her an idea. Since they can find bird eggs in the mountains, then she might be able to find other things as well. Normally, mountains were filled with all kinds of good things!

  While eating, Du Xiu Heng saw that she wasn't saying anything and thought that she was still upset over the bird eggs getting stolen. "Younger sister, next time when I go into the mountains, I'll look again to see if there's more for you. Don't be sad anymore."

  "Big brother, I'm not sad. I was just thinking, since there's bird eggs in the mountains, then there should certainly be other things. Next time you go up the mountain, I'll go together with you." Du Xiao Li lightly flicked the vegetable porridge in the bowl and said, looking to Du Xiu Heng.

  "You can't. It's very hard to walk in the mountains. You're still small, what happens if you fall?" Du Xiu Heng immediately rejected.

  "I won't, just let me go, okay?" Du Xiao Li said, unwilling to give up.

  "No. If there's something, I'll bring it back for you. You just need to stay at home and wait for me. Be obedient." Du Xiu Heng was still unwilling to agree.

  Alright then, when you go into town tomorrow, I'll go myself! Du Xiao Li secretly thought to herself. It's not like she was a real child anyways. When she was ten, she'd stayed in the amazon forest before, would she still be scared to get lost in the mountains now?

  Early morning of the next day, Du Xiu Heng got up, had breakfast made, and hastily ate a bit. Seeing Du Xiao Li waking up, he said, "I probably won't be able to come back until the afternoon. I made quite a bit of breakfast, you can just warm it up at noon to eat. Your body still hasn't completely recovered, so wait for me at home. Don't go anywhere, understand?"

  Du Xiao looked to the vegetable porridge in the bowl and asked, "Big brother, what are you going to eat at noon?"

  "I'll just eat a bit of something from the streets. I'm going to go now, remember not to go anywhere!" Du Xiu Heng finished saying this and headed down the mountain with the chopped wood from yesterday on his back.

  "Ai, clearly still just a child......." Du Xiao Li came to the doorway, watching Du Xiu Heng's little figure, and sighed.

  She drew some water, and simply rinsed her mouth and washed her face. By the time she finished eating, the sky was already bright. Standing outside the door, she observed the surrounding terrain, discovering that behind this mountain was a range of mountains and in front was a flat plain. The mountain region in the back had a dense forest, and the flat plain in front had fertile soil. Only their little mountain top was barren and could only grow some weeds.

  "This here should be a basin edge, or the edge of a mountain range." After studying it for a while, she came to a conclusion. Using her hand, she rubbed her stomach, "No matter what, making money was the best path right now. First go see if there's anything that can relieve this desperate situation right now. Eating anymore of that wild vegetable, and I'll end up turning into a wild monkey!"

  Thus off she went. Du Xiao Li picked up a branch before the door and headed towards the back mountain. Very little people ever walked these mountains so there weren't any ready made roads, only the shadow of a small path walked by Du Xiu Heng when he recently went to chop wood in the mountains.

  "Having just rained, don't know if there will be things like mushrooms growing." Du Xiao Li muttered to herself while walking. "If there is, then tonight we can drink mushroom soup."

  After walking for about an hour, she finally finished walking through these two little mountains, formally entering the forest in the mountains.

  "So tired. This current body gets tired after walking just a little while." She panted as she sat down on a rock, lightly patting her two legs. "Don't know what time it is right now either. How did ancient people determine time again? Better quickly look and see if there's anything."

  But after strolling around in the mountains for quite a while, never mind mushrooms, there wasn't even an edible piece of land!

  "My god, is there a need to be this poor? Isn't it said that there's treasures in the mountains?" After looking around for a good while and not finding anything, she couldn't help swearing. "Could it be that the place I entered wasn't right? The good things aren't....." here?

  Before she could finish speaking, she saw a gray rabbit appear in her line of sight.

  "Wild rabbit!" Gray rabbits were usually always hares. She unexpectedly didn't find any mushrooms, but instead encountered a hare!

  She lowered her head and looked around. Not far from her left side were two small rocks. She gently crouched down and picked up a small rock, throwing it at the hare that was currently eating grass in front.

  "Zi zi*!" Sensing there was someone, the hare was just getting ready to run when its front leg was struck by the rock, making it fall entirely on the ground, letting out a sharp cry. Du Xiao Li quickly went forward to catch it, but unexpectedly the hare with an injured leg got up from the ground, and continued to run forward. Although its speed wasn't as fast as before, it still wasn't something she could catch up to with her short arms and legs. She quickly picked up another rock from the ground and threw it at it. This time hitting the hare's head. It swayed in its original spot twice, and then fainted.

  (*T/N: Apparently the sounds rabbits make.)

  Du Xiao Li ran up and picked up the hare, discovering that it was quite heavy, reckon it was about four or five catty. In order to prevent the hare from continuing to run when it wakes up, she pulled two blades of grass from the ground and had its front and hind legs separately tied. Afterwards, she finally sat her butt on the ground and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "This body really is just too weak. If it was in the past life, the first rock would've been able to take its life. Where was there still the need to be this troublesome! However, luckily still caught it. This fat, should be able to eat it for a few days?"

  Du Xiao Li rested for awhile. Then, carrying the hare by the back of the neck, she strolled around the mountain for awhile, before seeing a kind of fruit similar to an apple. It was very small, about the size of her little fist.

  Seeing something to eat, she finally noticed her own already rumbling stomach. It was probably already long past noon. She threw the hare on the ground,
then climbed up the tree to pick a few. Carefully taking a bit, it was so sour that she felt her teeth didn't belong to her anymore.

  "What fruit is this, so sour?! She forcibly swallowed the fruit, and muttered to herself. "Practically a match with hawthorns. If it's used to make sugar-coated hawthorns, should be pretty good to eat! Aye, after eating this, feel even more hungry now."

  (Sugar Coated Hawthorns)

  She slowly returned to the ground and picked up the hare, "Better go back home then, big brother should be coming back."

  She went around quite a distance from the side, and didn't go back using the path she came from. Afterwards, she headed towards the outside according to the direction she came from. Unexpectedly, near the exit, she actually found some wild mushrooms. On the root of a large tree, one was already completely bloomed, and one had even just popped out from the ground.

  "Mushrooms!?" Du Xiao ran over, carefully using a branch to loosen the surrounding dirt, and had the root stem below dug out. Looking at the long root stem below, her face let out a smile. Looks like this mountain does have a lot to eat!

  Having found mushrooms and a hare, she felt the things for today were enough already, any more and this little body probably won't be able to carry. Thus, she picked up her pace and rushed back home.

  Originally she thought that Du Xiu Heng wouldn't return this early, but unexpectedly as soon as she got back, she saw him run out from the courtyard. And after seeing Du Xiao Li directly walking over, did he finally heavily let out a breath. "Didn't I tell you to stay at home and rest? Where did you go?"

  Du Xiao Li brought out the mushrooms and hare in hand before him, saying, "Big brother, look what I found! We'll have meat to eat tonight!"

  Du Xiu Heng originally wanted lecture her, but when he saw the smile on her face, those words were all swallowed back down. Taking a turn, those words turned into words of concern, "Are you hurt anywhere?"