READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 1: Lecherous Loafer
“What kind of evil did I do? This carefully selected girl for Lao San2 tried to make a scene and hang herself over such a trivial matter. If she wasn’t rescued in time, then the Su family’s mother would not have to desperately come to our Lao Ji family. Lao San should be back soon. It’s rare for him to come back and is it for a funeral?” Mother Ji said bitterly outside the door.
“Lao San’s wife, why haven’t you gotten up yet? Don’t you see how angry mother is? Just for giving Hou Wazi3 an omelette to eat, you go so far as to make a mess like this? Every month Lao San sends you money!” Feng Fangfang shouted from the door.
“You keep the money sent back every month, and I haven’t touched you at all. You have so much money, but I’ve never seen you be filial to me and your father. Even if I give my eldest grandson an omelette to eat, you try to give me trouble. All three of the families have separated4, what's wrong with giving my own things to my eldest grandson? If you have the ability, then you can also give birth to a grandson for me. But I’m used to it. It’s been almost three years since you’ve married and I have never seen your stomach bulge. I haven’t asked you to settle the accounts but here you are arguing with me. Look at what the Su daughter can do!” Mother Ji scolded angrily.
“Mother, don’t be angry. You can straighten your back about this when Lao San returns home. Let’s go back. Let Lao San’s wife think about it carefully.” Feng Fangfang quickly said when she remembered that there was a lot of work to do at home.
She didn’t feel like wasting her breath on Lao San’s stupid woman.
Su Danhong listened to the sounds outside the door gradually go away. She was lying on the bed in the room and opened her eyes with a look of helplessness.
She remembered being at Su Mansion coveting the first autumn rain. She opened the window to appreciate the first raindrops hitting the Japanese banana tree, but didn’t want to get cold.
After that, she became dazed and could vaguely hear her mother’s weeping.
Once she opened her eyes, she arrived at this strange place.
She never thought the stories she’s read about borrowing bodies actually existed. The education engrained in her since childhood made her stay up all night in order to sort out the memories of the Su Danhong who hung herself. Then, Miss Su’s three views5 were cleaned out and rewritten.This place was called China. It was her dynasty in the future. Many things had been passed down, but many things had been burned by the turmoil from earlier years.
She had been sheltered since she was a child. On extremely rare days, she would follow her mother to burn incense. Even then, she had to wear a cloak to not let people see her face.
But what about this future generation? Not only did they not respect their body, hair, or skin from their parents, they also cut their hair as soon as they could and did not care about their lives6.
The reason why Su Danhong hung herself was because she saw her mother-in-law secretly give the grandson an omelette. She was angry that her mother-in-law was unfair, so she clenched her teeth and hung herself.
Originally, she wanted to scare Mother Ji, but did not think she would really hang herself and die. Thus, she came.
However, Su Danhong left her a mess that was not small.
She was neither virtuous nor elegant and was disrespectful and unfilial. Every day she was happy to partake but not prepared to do any work. She was crafty, rude, and loved to take advantage of others like when she saw Mother Ji give her grandson an omelette to eat and she made a fuss.
Moreover, she did not have a child yet after three years of entering the household. In her time, this type of woman would inevitably be divorced by her husband.
No, she, Su Danhong, was unwilling to be an abandoned woman. Otherwise, the Su family’s ancestor’s face would be completely lost by her!
Su Danhong got up and began to clean herself up. She didn't dare to look in the mirror. She knew how shameful she looked from her memory.
After briefly tidying up, she opened the door and came out. Mother Ji and Feng Fangfang left without forgetting to close the courtyard door. She was the only one in the entire courtyard. She remembered where the water tank was and scooped a bucket of water from it to bring to the kitchen to boil water.
She couldn’t stand it anymore because she had not bathed for a month!
This was simply unimaginable to Miss Su.
As a wife and a young woman in her early twenties, how could the original owner be so sloppy?
Not to mention the greasy face or hair, there was the smell. It was unbearable!
Miss Su was very quick to start a fire and boil water.
She didn’t need to touch the water from March7 as the eldest young miss of Su Mansion in her last life. However, her mother was very strict with her. Her mother not only wanted her to memorize the three obediences and four virtues8, but also wanted her to learn needlework, cooking and being in charge of family affairs. She was at least better than someone who didn’t know how to distinguish the grains and their four limbs were not diligent9.
Therefore, she didn’t shame the kitchen.
Miss Su was about to go to clean herself when the hot water was ready, but her stomach was growling. She remembered that it was almost noon and she had not eaten since yesterday.
Last night, she was determined to build a delicate and soft body even though it would not be as good as her previous life. She should not be too different from a beautiful figure, but she also could not have instant success, could she?
So she boiled the last drop of water, then prepared a bowl of rice noodles, and cracked two eggs open.
There seemed to be a saying here, that the body was the capital of the revolutio 10?
She left the eggs and rice noodles there and she would eat it after she washed up. Then, Su Danhong carried the water to the room.
Being able to walk around with a bucket of water like this was much better than in her previous life. Back then, she would walk to the garden and would be out of breath. Now, she could walk anywhere with a bucket of water.
Su Danhong entered the room and began to take her clothes off to wash her body. She untied her clothes and the smell came out. Su Danhong closed her eyes and she almost fainted.
She could not believe this woman!
One bucket of water was not enough to clean her body. She went out to boil water, then carried it in to wash up again. She also washed her greasy hair, which was full of knots.
“I’m back.”
The tall Ji Jianyun opened the courtyard door with a tired look on his face.
It was not easy to sit on the hard train seat for two days to go home from work. It was really tiring.
“Danhong?”
Ji Jianyun closed the door and shouted again, but no one answered still. He frowned and went straight to the kitchen.
He bought two sesame strips11 before taking the train. During the return trip, he was so hungry that his chest was sticking to his back12.
He went to the kitchen. On the stove was a bowl of cooled down rice noodles with scallions floating on top. There were also two eggs on top. Ji Jianyun was shocked. After, he went over to start eating.
Ji Jianyun wolfed down the rice noodles and eggs and felt comfortable.
He probably thought this bowl of rice noodles and eggs were very appetizing because he was so hungry.
Even though one bowl was not enough, it was enough to cushion the stomach and it was no longer unbearable. He planned to go to sleep when he finished wiping his mouth.
“Ah! Lecherous loafer!”
Su Danhong, who had just washed her hair and was sitting on the bed drying it, was startled by Ji Jianyun when he pushed the door open. She screamed without thinking.
- 登徒浪子 (dēngtúlàngzǐ) – Dengtu means someone who is lecherous. Langzi means loafer. The story for Dengtu is that Dengtu Zi had a woman who admired him, but he did accept her. Instead, he had a wife that was messy, ugly, and had a serious illness; and he loved her and had five children with her.
- 老三 (lǎo sān) – Third eldest child
- 猴娃子 (hóu wázi) – Wazi is baby/small child and hou is monkey
- Family separation means that the family has decided to divide their resources and financially separate into new families.
- 三观 (sānguàn) – fundamental values of a person
- The part refers to how taking care of your body can be considered filial piety. So by cutting off your hair or not taking care of yourself, you are disobeying your parents when they are the ones that gave you your body.
- 沾阳春水 (zhān yángchūn shuǐ) comes from the phrase 手不沾阳春水 (shǒu bù zhān yángchūn shuǐ) meaning someone who is pampered and does not need to do housework. They do not need to touch cold water in cold weather, with March being a metaphor for the cold.
- 三从四德 (sāncóngsìdé) – Confucian morals for women. Three obediences mean obey the father, husband and son. Four virtues are ethics, speech, manners, and skills.
- 五谷不分，四体不勤 (wǔgǔ bù fēn, sì tǐ bù qín) – means not participating in labor and lack the knowledge of it.
- 身体是革命的本钱 (shēntǐshìgémìngdeběnqián) – one of Mao Zedong’s saying that means good health is a prerequisite for work.
- 麻条 (mátiáo) – Pic
- 前胸贴后背 (qiánxiōngtiēhòubèi) – famished