The Abandoned Daughter's Second Chance

The chicken Grandpa had promised Xiao Man was slaughtered on the sixteenth of last month. He had said she could have the drumsticks and wings, but who knew that a sure thing could suddenly slip away? That day, their back neighbor, Jiang Xuehua, took her two younger sisters to the river to do laundry. Her five-year-old sister accidentally fell into the water. Luckily, some adults nearby helped pull her out, but the child wouldn’t stop crying, no matter how they tried to comfort her. She was clearly terrified, so Grandpa and Grandma had Xiao Man contribute her chicken drumsticks to send over and calm the little girl’s nerves.

Of course, Xiao Man wasn’t going to argue with a child over it. She readily agreed and sent over a bowl of chicken soup along with the drumsticks and thighs. When Jiang Xuehua’s little sister saw the chicken, she miraculously stopped crying. Her parents were endlessly grateful, and Second Granny Qiu praised Xiao Man profusely.

After National Day, the weather cleared up, returning to the bright, sunny, and dry days of autumn. The production team began to harvest soybeans and sesame. The commune members pulled the soybean and sesame stalks directly from the fields, tied them into bundles, and carried them to an open space at the grain station to dry under the hot sun for a few days. They were left until the beans and seeds practically burst from their pods on their own. Then, they used flails to vigorously beat the stalks, and once they estimated that all the grains were threshed, they cleared away the stalks, leaving behind piles of gleaming golden soybeans.

The sesame was processed in the same way, just in a separate pile.

They had to take advantage of the sunny weather to harvest, dry, and store the crops all in one go. Moving the unthreshed stalks around would cause too many grains to fall out and be lost, so they were left piled up on the grain station’s drying ground, exposed to the sun and dew. At night, someone had to be sent to stand guard, both to prevent theft by people and to keep rats from eating the harvest. Captain Guan assigned this job to Grandpa. He could rest at home for half the day and then go out at night to keep watch by the bean piles. With this free time during the day, Grandpa cleaned out the pigsty he had previously built by the vegetable garden. Then, he went to a family in the village that was selling piglets and bought a pair of little black pigs to raise.

Watching the pair of lively and adorable little black pigs running around in their sty, Xiao Man was also very happy. She could finally take her basket and go out to dig for pig feed, which was a great excuse to wander around in the wild.

But to her surprise, Grandpa said, "The soil in our vegetable garden is so fertile. Look, other families’ autumn vegetables have only just sprouted, but ours are already ready to eat. In a few more days, they’ll grow even more lush and dense. How can the three of us possibly eat it all? I bought this pair of piglets specifically to help us use up the excess. There’s no need to go out and gather pig feed!"

Xiao Man was speechless.

’Grandpa, you’re unbelievable! I water these vegetables with spiritual spring water every day—spiritual spring water! Other people can’t even get a taste, and you want to use it to feed pigs!’

Although Grandma couldn’t see them, she was delighted that they had a new pair of piglets. She said, "Then let’s get some chicks, too. Chicks can also eat greens."

Xiao Man wanted to cry but had no tears. ’Great. As if it wasn’t enough that the pigs were about to get my cabbage, now a flock of chickens is going to be eyeing it menacingly too!’

Seeing Xiao Man’s scrunched-up little face, Grandpa chuckled, thinking he understood completely. "In a few days, when the chicks at your Eighth Aunt’s house are ready, we’ll bring ten of them back to raise. Don’t worry, Grandpa will weave a bamboo fence around the pigsty. The chicks can’t fly yet, so we’ll keep them inside the fence and they won’t be able to get out and ruin your flowers and plants!"

Grandma heard this and nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, we should keep them penned up. Those rose bushes smell so lovely, and Xiao Man waters them every day. We should cherish them. Don’t let the chicks peck and scratch them to ruin!"

To celebrate buying the piglets, Grandpa specially asked someone going to the market to buy a pound of fatty pork. They would render the fat and cook the meat over two meals. Having meat to eat was, of course, a happy occasion. In those days, whether it was pigs, chickens, or ducks, they were all fed with rice bran, crushed corn, and green vegetables, with zero commercial feed or growth promoters. The flavor was pure and delicious. You could say that when one family fried meat, the aroma wafted through the entire neighborhood, making any passerby drool with envy.

However, Xiao Man’s family lived in a standalone house with its own courtyard. Their back neighbor was separated by a small path and a few clumps of bamboo, so she wasn’t sure if they could smell the aroma.

Now that Grandpa was no longer guarding the reservoir and was living at home normally, he would sometimes watch in surprise as Xiao Man practiced her Tai Chi Boxing in the courtyard in the morning and evening. He would mutter to Grandma, "Our Xiao Man is pretty smart, learning all this just from pictures. Her postures look quite proper, but I wonder if she’s really doing it right." The old couple didn’t disturb her or comment on it further. Xiao Man took advantage of their lack of knowledge; she could practice Tai Chi Boxing and Five Animals Qigong openly, but the seated meditation for Energy Introduction and Cultivation required a long period of absolute quiet. For that, Xiao Man still had to go into her room, close the door, and slip into her space to complete it.

After completing her Energy Introduction, her physique and stamina had changed drastically, and her senses had become much sharper. She could now perceive events outside while she was in the space—though for now, this was limited to a short range, such as sensing what was happening within their courtyard. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Perhaps because it was about to dissipate, the Spirit Lord’s wisp of Divine Sense now appeared somewhat blurry. However, this didn’t stop him from acting as a guardian for Xiao Man, guiding the rookie who was just beginning on the Cultivation Path.

Xiao Man once again thanked the warm-hearted Spirit Lord, but he just snorted coldly. "I just can’t stand the sight of a weakling like you. You’re about to become a Cultivator, and you’ll have an even greater need for this space in the future. I just hope you don’t end up hating me too much!"

Xiao Man was confused. "Why would I hate you?"

The spirit snake replied, "This space was more or less ransacked by me. I’ve already harvested all the fruits of the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. When you need them someday, won’t you hate me then?"

"But the plants are still here. They’ll flower and bear fruit again."

"Yes, they will. But you’ll have to wait a few hundred years!"

Xiao Man was stunned for a moment. ’Is it that serious? Does it really take that long just to flower and bear fruit?’ But then she thought about how a person’s life is only a few short decades. She’d be lucky to live to sixty or seventy and had no extravagant hopes for anything more. So she smiled and said, "It’s alright. I probably won’t need them, and I will absolutely never hate you, Spirit Lord!"

The Spirit Lord’s lips curled into a meaningful smile. ’This foolish, dense little girl. Do you have any idea how long the life of a Cultivator is? Well, let her be. She can slowly decipher the Space Jade Scroll later. Everyone has their own destiny and blessings. Fools have their own fortune. Besides, doesn’t she have the Purest Spirit Spring and those Purple Jade Lotus Seeds?’

His gaze shifted to the vibrant Purple Lotuses on the first level of the Spiritual Spring, and a sharp, greedy light flared in his eyes. ’What a pity, what a pity. I guarded them for hundreds of years, but in the end, I was not fated to enjoy them...’

While the Spirit Lord’s Divine Sense circled the Purple Jade Lotus plants, reluctant to leave and practically drooling with desire, Xiao Man was practicing the Space Instant Teleportation Technique he had personally taught her, bubbling with excitement and pure joy. She leaped and dashed through the vine-tangled rocky ridges behind the peak, and the feeling was even more thrilling than racing a motorcycle down a wide-open, empty highway! ’You never know what’s in this space until you explore it,’ she thought. ’And a closer look reveals one surprise after another! There are so many good things growing among these ancient, vine-covered rocks!’

She ate a few mountain grapes that looked like black gems, picked some wild strawberries, and even found ground cherries! They were all berries that little girls love. ’Come to think of it, these are things that snakes like to eat, too...’ She had just realized that snakes and little girls apparently have the same taste!