Chapter 363: Eighty-Era Gourmet System (1)

"Dani! Dani!"

"Is Dani still unconscious?"

"Sigh, she just won't wake up. My man just said she had no breath left, and Lao Qian came over to check her nose, saying something about her breath being as thin as a gossamer thread—sounded all bookish and fancy. Anyway, she still has breath, it's just very weak; if you didn't look closely, you'd really think she was gone..."

"Heaven have mercy, the Zhang Family has suffered a great disaster this time! It's no wonder she fainted when she heard the news. The pillar of the family is gone, and Zhang Pozi couldn't catch her breath and followed him, leaving behind orphans and a widow. How are they going to live from now on!"

"Oh my, she's awake, she's awake! She's finally awake!"

"It's good that she's awake! It's good that she's awake!"

"Dani! Dani, you must try to think positively!"

"That's right, the dead cannot return to life. No matter how sad you are, you must pull yourself together. You still have Shuisheng and his brother to raise; you mustn't do anything foolish!"

Amidst the clamor, Xie Yang opened her dry, weary eyes.

The bright light stung her, causing her to close them again just after opening them.

"Alright, alright, Dani is awake, everyone disperse. Shuisheng, take your younger brother and go play with Daniu, don't disturb your mother's rest."

In the corner, a thin, dark little boy nodded silently, took the hand of his brother who was sniffing snot, and walked out of the main room.

The neighbors who had crowded the room dispersed one by one, leaving only the warm-hearted Liu Shen behind.

She brushed the sweat-dampened bangs from Xie Yang's forehead, picked up a bowl of Brown Sugar water from the bedside, and helped Xie Yang sit up:

"Dani, you've been unconscious for most of the day, and with what happened at home, you surely haven't eaten properly these past two days. You must be starving, right? Drink this bowl of Brown Sugar water first to soothe your stomach, and later I'll have Shuisheng bring you a couple of steamed buns. Don't worry about Shuisheng and his brother, I'll have Daniu keep them company. You just take your time to recover; there are still plenty of things waiting for you to decide later."

Xie Yang adjusted to the light, opened her eyes, nodded at Liu Shen, and thanked her in a hoarse voice.

"What are you thanking me for! We're all neighbors, and when your mother-in-law was alive, she helped me plenty. My eldest son being able to get into the Gad Steel Factory was thanks to the news A Li gave us! If he hadn't said anything, we wouldn't have known the Gad Steel Factory was hiring recently."

"..."

Xie Yang listened silently as her sea of consciousness received the Task for this plane and the data on the character she had transmigrated into.

The original owner of the body she had transmigrated into was named Xie Dani, twenty-four years old this year.

She was born during a flood in their hometown; the original owner's mother sat in a large wooden tub with a swollen belly, while the original owner's father and two older brothers pushed the tub against the current to escape to the mountains.

On the way, the original owner's mother's water broke, and she stubbornly held on until they reached the mountainside, where she gave birth to the original owner with the help of a woman from the same village.

However, because she had stayed in the womb for a while after her water broke, the original owner's brain was somewhat slow to react.

When she was little, the family didn't notice; they just thought the child was obedient and didn't cry or fuss when hungry or tired. In reality, it wasn't obedience—it was just that she hadn't reacted yet.

It wasn't until the original owner was nine years old that the village set up a primary school taught by Educated Youth, and the village Cadre went door-to-door to do ideological work, mobilizing parents to send their children to school.

Thanks to her two cousins, the original owner also entered the school.

That was when the symptoms of a slow brain and delayed reactions became apparent.

By the time the teacher finished lecturing on a text, she was still stuck on the title; her progress in recognizing characters and counting was also much slower than the other children.

Because she had to help with chores at home after school, she had no time to study, causing the disconnected knowledge points to pile up.

So much so that by the end of the semester, even the worst children in the class could score fifty or sixty points, while she only got eight.

Of course, if she had been given extra time for the exam, perhaps she could have answered a few more questions correctly.

Spending money to study for half a year only to score eight points?

The Xie Family immediately felt that this child was simply not cut out for studying, so they just had her drop out.

Originally, the Xie Family didn't really want to provide for a girl's education; if they stopped her when her grades were good, they would be criticized by the village Cadre, but if her grades were bad and she stayed home to work, who could say they were in the wrong?

Thus, after experiencing one semester of school, the original owner was forced to drop out and start doing housework: pulling pigweed, sweeping the Pig Pen, feeding the chickens and ducks, washing clothes for the whole family...

The original owner wasn't bright, but she was very diligent in her work.

Her movements were a bit sluggish, but the quality of her work was high.

Over time, she became the errand girl for the Xie Family.

"Dani, go wash the clothes!"

"Dani, go chop the firewood!"

"Dani, there's no water in the vat, go fetch some!"

"Dani, did you sweep the Pig Pen? Why does it still smell so bad?"

"Dani,..."

Because of her slow reactions, before she could even refuse, the people who ordered her around had already left, so she had to silently finish the work her family assigned her.

Over time, she developed iron shoulders—her strength was much greater than that of the average woman, and during the busy farming season, she could earn more work points than the average strong laborer when rushing to harvest in the fields.

Her only flaw was her slow reaction, a problem she was born with that couldn't be helped.

Otherwise, she would definitely have become the most sought-after girl for ten miles around.

Regarding this point, the Xie Family hadn't thought about hiding it, but by the time they considered the matter of marriage, the rumor that "Xie Family's Dani is a fool" had already spread throughout Shangxi Village, and even the residents of the town had heard of it.

That year happened to coincide with the restoration of the College Entrance Examination; for a family to produce a college student was such a glorious thing!

Even if they didn't get into college, an Educated Youth with a high school education would have an easier time finding a job.

Therefore, families with sons would rather tighten their belts to marry a cultured wife for their son; families with daughters would do whatever it took to send their daughters to school for a few more years to learn a few more characters, making it easier to find a husband later.

A big fool like Xie Dani, with a first-grade education and an exam score of only 8 points, instantly became someone every family looked down upon.

No matter how poor their conditions were, they didn't want to marry a foolish wife for their son.

If they ended up giving birth to a litter of little fools, wouldn't they become the sinners of the family?

"If she can't get married, she'll just be an old maid! It's fine to keep her at home."

The first year Xie Dani couldn't get married, the Xie Family thought quite openly about it; Dani had hands and feet, and apart from her slow brain, she was healthy in every other way. She could do the work of several laborers at home. With her there, the women of the Xie Family were much more relaxed, and the men only needed to work the fields—there was someone to do the heavy lifting like fetching water, chopping wood, and splitting firewood, and they could eat as soon as they got home.

"Dani still hasn't found a match? If you ask me, it's fine to wait a few years, but she still needs to get married."

The third year Xie Dani couldn't get married, her cousin, who was five years younger than her, was preparing to discuss marriage. When the woman's family heard that the Xie Family had an old maid in her early twenties who hadn't been promised to anyone, they wondered if they would have to give a share of the family property to this old maid when the family split up later. They immediately turned around and looked at other young men, which made the second aunt of Xie Dani so angry she could have breathed fire.

Only then did the Xie Family begin to take the original owner's marriage seriously.

They felt she could no longer be kept at home.

Although having her around makes things much easier for them, what about later? Once the brothers divide the family property, who will be responsible for supporting Dani?