Rebirth Counterattack with Space

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: The Hungry Ghost Reincarnates

Chapter 53 -53: The Hungry Ghost Reincarnates

The journey that should have taken three or four hours somehow took Wang Lizhen and her son Chen Qiuyu more than five hours to complete, but they managed to arrive just before the wedding banquet began.

Fortunately, it seemed that their diarrhea had healed without the need for medication. However, their appearance left much to be desired. They were ashen-faced like ghosts, with disheveled hair, and their new clothes were not only wrinkled but also smeared with grass, leaves, twigs, and sawdust. Brushing these off left streaks of grey and green. And if that weren’t enough, both mother and son were also emitting a strong stench of feces.

“Why are you two so late? Hurry up and come with the gift money. The banquet is about to begin.”

Wang Lizhen’s mother was sitting at an outdoor table eagerly waiting, so she spotted her daughter’s disheveled arrival immediately. Frowning, she went up to meet them, “Did you not clean yourselves properly after going to the toilet? You both reek.”

“We couldn’t catch the mule cart, and then we had diarrhea on the road. This damn girl also walked so slowly, dragging me down. Still, we made it in time.”

Wang Lizhen was crestfallen. She was completely exhausted from the walk, her stomach growling with hunger. Now that she had arrived and could smell the food, her mouth was watering, devoid of any previous thoughts of competing with others. She didn’t even bother to change into the shoes she carried in her basket, her mind solely focused on gobbling down food at the table.

Chen Qiuyu hung her head in distress, feeling a terrible pain in her feet. But her mother had only cared about hurrying her along the whole way, almost leaving her behind. She was terrified and had clung to her mother’s clothes out of fear of being abandoned.

“Why bother bringing a little girl? If you were to bring someone, it should have been the two older ones.” Wang Lizhen’s mother glanced disdainfully at her daughter and granddaughter, stepping back with distaste. “Stop wasting time, hurry up and wrap the gift money everybody agreed that you should also contribute three yuan.”

When the wedding banquet finally began, people sitting next to Wang Lizhen and her daughter leaned away, frowning in disgust. Wang Lizhen’s sister-in-law was particularly blunt in her revulsion, “No wonder mom wanted to switch seats with me right after she got back—Lizhen, where have you been to be covered in crap? You stink so much, how can anyone have an appetite to eat?”

“If you can’t eat it, all the better for me. I’ll eat your share, and I can even take home what’s left.”

Wang Lizhen didn’t wait for the elders to start eating—she stretched out her chopsticks first and grabbed a large mouthful of food for her bowl, then started filling her own brought container, and finally, helped her daughter, all the while responding with a carefree laugh.

Chen Qiuyu, in fact, didn’t need her mother’s help at all—she was already so eager that she had stood up, chopsticks in hand, reaching for the dishes.

“Dream on. If anyone’s taking leftovers home, it’ll be me.” Wang Lizhen’s sister-in-law rushed to serve herself as she saw everyone else eagerly helping themselves to the dishes.

Wang Lizhen, seeing her daughter already stuffing her mouth, struck her hand with the chopsticks and snapped, “Were you reincarnated from a starving ghost? Stop eating so much, hurry up and save some in the bowl for your father and brothers back home. If you eat it all, just wait and see if your father and brothers don’t beat you dead when we get back.” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Chen Qiuyu pursed her lips, looking as though she wanted to cry but didn’t dare. Wang Lizhen ignored her and, seeing that the dish in front of them had been emptied by others, hurriedly bowed her head and ate voraciously, truly resembling a starving ghost reincarnated.

The people around the table twitched at the corners of their mouths and disdainfully bowed their heads to eat their own meals. With such a formidable competitor in grabbing food, how could they afford to fall behind if they wanted to eat their fill?

—

Xia Yuan and her group arrived at the village when it was just a little past seven-thirty. Since there was no market day, the small streets of the village seemed a bit desolate.

“Let’s go to West Street; that’s where people usually take the surplus items from their homes to sell.” Xia Yuan had originally intended to say “black market,” but halfway through, she felt it was inappropriate and changed her wording. Holding Lu Yun’s hand, they looked around and then headed in a certain direction.

Lu Yun naturally knew that her mother had intended to say “black market.” Actually, it was far less strict now than it had been a few years earlier, and even the authorities were tacitly allowing it. The number of farmers taking their crops to sell was still not large, but such commercial activities had become more lively than in earlier years.

“The post office doesn’t open this early. Let’s go for a walk first and see if there’s anything we need to buy. Xiaoyun, you must hold onto your mother’s hand tightly and not run off on your own, understand?”

As they walked, Xia Yuan couldn’t help but instruct Lu Yun, deeply afraid she would recklessly run off, get lost, and end up being kidnapped, never to be found again.

“Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll hold your hand and promise not to run off on my own.” Although Lu Yun had never taken a child out shopping in her previous life, she still understood her mother’s worries. In this era, although the majority of people were simple, human traffickers were rampant.

Reflecting on those news stories from her past life, where mothers would lose their children just by eating noodles or get so distracted watching videos on their phones that they forget to watch their children, Lu Yun was speechless.

What in this world could be more important and deserving of attention than the safety of a child?

Especially for young children who are brought out, their safety should naturally be the top priority. What do little kids know?

Even if you teach them well at home, they can still be enticed by the myriad tricks of con artists and then wander off with them… And what’s worse, if deception doesn’t work, they might resort to brute force. How could little children withstand that?

Lu Yun firmly held her mother’s hand, and even though she was not truly a six-year-old child and was confident she couldn’t be easily abducted, being cautious was no big mistake, and she didn’t want her parents to worry.

By the time they finished wandering around West Street, Lu Yun had grown disinterested. The small market, while beginning to take shape, had only a few scattered vendors, and the variety and quantity of goods on offer were clearly insufficient. For Lu Yun, who was used to the dazzling array of goods in the future, this was hardly exciting.

Xia Yuan could easily see her daughter’s disappointment and thought of her “great warehouse,” smiling understandingly.

After strolling around without finding anything appealing, and just as they were preparing to leave, Lu Yun, with her keen eyes, spotted an old man with a weather-beaten face carrying a basket to an empty spot on the ground and sitting down, placing the basket before him.

Lu Yun stopped in her tracks, sniffed the air intently, and a sweet scent of honey drifted into her nostrils. She tugged on Xia Yuan and walked toward the old man.

There wasn’t much produce for sale in the old man’s basket; he had almost half a basket of water spinach, all tied up in bunches. Besides the water spinach, there were a few eggplants and cucumbers on top, and a beehive had been taken out and placed on the empty ground beside him.

The sweet aroma of honey came from there.