Tian Jing felt a pain in the back of her neck, not just pain but also a chill.
Something's wrong! How could she feel pain?
Hadn't she died? Seeing that she was about to be infected by the zombie virus and turned into a zombie, she had self-destructed her abilities.
While she was pondering, a flood of memories suddenly surged into her mind.
After a long while, she finally understood. She had indeed died, but had transmigrated into the body of a Tian Jing in the 1970s in another world.
The Tian family had four generations living under one roof. The original host's father was the second eldest, with two sons and two daughters. The original host's personality had been suppressed to the point of being very withdrawn.
Not long ago, the elders of the Tian family claimed that the family was short of money and intended to use the original host to exchange marriage with her elder brother, Tian Lifu.
The person to be exchanged with was Li Zhengguo, a retired soldier reportedly injured on duty, a 25-year-old cripple, who lived deep in the mountains.
The original host was unwilling to marry into the deep mountains and had fiercely resisted, threatening to report the Tian family.
She was betrayed by her sister, Tian Ping, and her report failed.
After being forced to marry, the original host, due to her unresolved grievances, constantly clashed with the Li family. No matter how well they treated her, she would make trouble.
By accident, she discovered that she was not the Tian family's biological daughter. When her real relatives came to pick her up, she left without looking back.
Upon returning to her birth family, she thought she had found familial love. Little did she know that behind the familial affection lay hidden interests, and she became a victim of those interests.
After organizing the original host's memories, Tian Jing realized that the timing of her rebirth coincided with the marriage exchange, after Tian Ping's betrayal.
She wanted to escape, she didn't want to deal with the original host's messy life. But in this era, you needed a letter of introduction wherever you went.
After much deliberation, she could only temporarily accept the original host's fate. Once the country developed and people had more freedom, she could then live the life she desired.
However, that was a matter for later consideration. What needed to be considered now was how to negotiate with the Tian family and sever ties.
With this frail body, any woman from the Tian family could easily overpower her. How could she negotiate? If only her abilities were still here. With power, she wouldn't fear anyone's hand chop.
As she thought this, she felt her palm heat up. This felt very similar to the sensation when her abilities were activated in the apocalypse!
Tian Jing became excited. She immediately shifted her bound body, trying her best to sit cross-legged and activate her abilities using the method from her past life.
After a very long time, Tian Jing opened her eyes and found that some light was already filtering in from outside the woodshed. The ropes binding her hands and feet had already snapped. Sensing her abilities within her body, she was already at level two. No way? When her abilities were first activated, she was at most level one. How could she have jumped directly to level two?
There was some movement outside. Tian Jing put aside her thoughts. In any case, the higher the level, the better. At least she wouldn't be easily taken down by an ordinary person's hand chop.
Soon, she heard the astonished voice of Ding Aihua, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Tian family, "Oh, Mother! The trees around the house, how did they suddenly wither? And the fruits on them are all shriveled."
Tian Jing's eyes flickered. Could it be that she had inadvertently absorbed the energy from those trees?
In her previous life, her abilities weren't this overbearing, were they? In her past life, leveling up her abilities required mutated plant core fragments. Absorbing plant energy only replenished stamina; she had never heard of anyone using a plant's energy to level up.
"You're going to die, why are you shouting so early in the morning? Hurry and bring the basin." This was the scolding voice of Old Mrs. Tian. Too many troublesome things had been happening in the family recently, and the eldest daughter-in-law was shouting and making a fuss so early in the morning. What kind of behavior was that?
"Mother, come out quickly and see." Ding Aihua didn't pay attention to her mother-in-law's scolding; it was all bark and no bite.
Old Mrs. Tian had already opened the cabinet door, waiting for the basin to scoop flour to make breakfast. Hearing her eldest daughter-in-law still shouting outside, she grumbled as she walked out the door, "You brainless woman, why must you first thing in the morning..." Are you looking for a scolding?
The rest of her words were immediately swallowed when she saw the date tree and the pomegranate tree in the courtyard completely withered. They turned into an even sharper cry, "My dates and pomegranates! Who is this debt-collecting ghost who did this? What retribution! Your ancestors for eight generations deserve to be thrown into the oil pan, and your descendants for eight generations will be born without an anus! My dates and pomegranates!"
Tian Jing in the woodshed "..."
This was almost like mourning. Was it necessary?
Old Mrs. Tian's wailing attracted many onlookers.
Old Mr. Tian, who had followed his wife out, was also stunned by the strange phenomenon in the courtyard. But he quickly regained his composure, grabbed his wife's arm, and pulled her back inside.
Old Mr. Tian pointed at Old Mrs. Tian and blamed her, "When such a strange thing happens, shouldn't we keep it quiet? How can you be shouting it out so loudly? What will people think of our Tian family?"
"I was just anxious and heartbroken, and I forgot!" She had saved those fruits on the two trees again and again, planning to pick them in the next two days.
Seeing her husband angry, Old Mrs. Tian ignored her heartache for the fruits and found an excuse for herself, "Old man, you mean those two fruit trees weren't man-made?"
"What do you think? Could man-made be so powerful? Could it make all the fruits shrivel so uniformly?" Old Mr. Tian was busy stuffing shredded tobacco leaves into his pipe.
Old Mrs. Tian shivered, "Then, then, what did it?"
"How should I know?" Old Mr. Tian replied impatiently. He wasn't someone who could divine the future.
"Oh!" Old Mrs. Tian exclaimed with a start. Before her husband could glare at her, she quickly covered her mouth and whispered in his ear, "Could it be the Great Immortal Huang?"
The pipe was full of tobacco leaves. Old Mr. Tian wanted to take a puff to calm his nerves. He held the lit match to the pipe, took a deep inhale to light the tobacco, but upon hearing his wife's words, he choked and coughed uncontrollably.
Old Mrs. Tian quickly patted his back, "I say, why are you smoking so early in the morning without washing your face or eating? Isn't this tobacco worth money? It's better to exchange it for some grain."
Old Mr. Tian almost coughed out his lungs before he stopped coughing. Hearing her words again, he couldn't help but curse, "Why are you chattering all day? How often do I smoke in a few days? Keep your mouth shut and don't spout nonsense outside."
Her husband was truly angry, so Old Mrs. Tian dared not linger. She walked out of the room to get the basin. She didn't even dare to scold her eldest daughter-in-law for not coming to scoop the flour.
Outside, Tian Yongren, the eldest son of the Tian family, slapped his wife as soon as he closed the courtyard gate, "Did you get a little too bold these past two days? Such a big thing happened, and you didn't tell me quietly, but opened the courtyard gate and shouted for Mother to come out?"
Ding Aihua covered her face and turned to argue with her husband. Seeing the fierce look in his eyes, she immediately quieted down.
Although his wife had stopped making trouble, the look of defiance on her face made Tian Laoda frown. He let out a heavy snort and said, "This matter is so strange, will it sound good if it gets out? What will people think of our Tian family? Shouldn't you hide it and keep it quiet? Why are you making such a big fuss? You know Mother loves to blabber, why didn't you tell me first? Would it kill you to tell me first?"
Ding Aihua then realized that the changes in the courtyard were not a strange phenomenon as she had thought, but a mysterious event that would cause endless speculation. "Then what should we do?"
"What else can we do? We can only pretend not to know."