Chapter 3: Mu Family Daughter

Mu Hongluan's heart was in agony as she thought of this, and tears fell silently as she regretted deeply in her heart.

"We are ultimately destined to be apart. It would have been better to drink the Meng Po soup back then and forget each other, rather than suffer this heart-wrenching pain!"

After crying for a while, she thought to herself, "I wonder if what that little ghost said is true or false. With my current humble background, I don't know how to support him..."

Her thoughts kept swirling in her mind, and after pondering for a long time, she could only sigh silently. After coming to terms with it, she thought to herself, "In his previous life, despite being weak, he became an emperor but didn't enjoy any happiness. In this life, I hope he has a healthy body, and he doesn't need to be a wise ruler. If I have the chance, I will make sure he lives this life happily and peacefully!"

He was born earlier than me, and I am only six years old now. He must also be a young child. There's still a long way to go, so I should focus on the present. How can I assist an emperor when my stomach isn't even full? I might even lose my life carelessly, and I don't want to go back to the underworld to meet those two ugly ghosts!

With a firm decision in her heart, she put aside her thoughts and focused on being a daughter of the Mu family.

Among the children of the Mu family, Mu Hongluan was the eldest, followed by her two younger sisters, a younger brother, and a baby. In the current turbulent times, the family was also living in poverty. Having enough food for the children to eat was considered fortunate. At six years old, Mu Hongluan still had some clothes that were altered from Yang Sanniang's old clothes, but the younger ones didn't even have proper clothes and ran around in tattered rags.

The baby even crawled around naked, picking up anything and putting it in his mouth. Mu Hongluan couldn't bear to watch.

In her past and present lives, she had never experienced such poverty. In the past, her madam treated her like a treasure, and she had many maidservants and servants around her. But now, her parents, due to their difficult circumstances, had no choice but to let their five children grow up like wild monkeys, with no certainty of their future.

With her temperament, Mu Hongluan couldn't bear to see this. While Mu Da worked outside and Yang Sanniang washed clothes for others, she went to the river to fetch water by herself.

They lived in a small village near Taiyuan Prefecture, and as refugees with no official status, they were not allowed to enter the city according to the government's rules. Therefore, they had to settle in a small village a few miles outside Taiyuan Prefecture. Every day, they had to wait at the city gate before dawn and leave before dusk. If they were caught by the patrolling soldiers, they would be charged with a crime and imprisoned.

Currently, the soldiers were retreating in the face of the invading barbarians, but they were ruthless towards the innocent civilians.

Mu Hongluan lived in a small village at the foot of Xianren Mountain in Taiyuan Prefecture. There was a small lake on the mountain, and the water from the mountain flowed down to the village, forming a river that passed by the houses made of yellow mud on both sides.

When Mu Da and his wife first arrived, they chose a location near the stream for its convenience and cleanliness. Unlike the water near the densely populated area, which was contaminated with various pollutants, the water here was clean and suitable for consumption.

Mu Hongluan fetched water from the river and poured it into a large tub at home. Although it was summer, the river was deep and fast, so she didn't dare let her younger siblings bathe in it. Instead, she heated the water in a large pot over a fire and then went out to fetch her siblings.

"Go wash yourselves properly!"

She scolded her younger siblings, who were dirty and unkempt. They stood still, not knowing what their elder sister intended to do.

Having been through so much, her siblings were not afraid of her, but they were reluctant to be brought back home by her. They watched as she heated the water and then grabbed the youngest, leaving him in the tub. The water immediately turned murky.

Mu Hongluan noticed a foul smell coming from the baby and used a gourd ladle to scrub him with a piece of loofah she had picked outside. The baby, covered in dirt, initially didn't react, but when she scrubbed off the layer of grime, he started crying loudly.

The poor upbringing had left the baby unable to walk at over a year old, and now Mu Hongluan was the one taking care of him at home. Despite his wailing, she continued to scrub him until the water turned black. Then she lifted him out and warned him sternly, "Don't move. If you dare to run, I'll wash you again!"

Bao Sheng was so scared that he took two steps back and didn't dare to crawl away. He watched as the eldest sister ordered a few other sisters to pour out the water in the basin and replace it with fresh water.

"Come here!"

Hong Luan grabbed him and threw him into the basin again, this time pouring the pre-soaked soapberry water over his head, vigorously rubbing the sparse yellow hair on his head. The soapberry water seeped into his eyes, making Bao Sheng cry loudly. When he struggled in anger, the eldest sister slapped him on the forehead.

"Smack!"

"Behave yourself..."

The other sisters couldn't help but shrink their necks when they saw the red mark on Bao Sheng's forehead, secretly swallowing their saliva.

"The eldest sister is so fierce!"

When the eldest sister was foolish, their parents protected them and they didn't dare to provoke her. Now that she had recovered from her illness, she was even more fierce and couldn't be provoked!

The three of them saw Bao Sheng being rubbed in the water, crying with a bright red face. After finally being let out, he dried himself off, but was not allowed to go elsewhere. He could only sit obediently in the sun.

Hong Luan carefully examined the clean Bao Sheng. The little kid, with clean eyes and thick eyebrows, looked quite likable.

Without waiting for her instructions, the three maidservants had already shown their initiative and brought the other siblings over. They didn't need Hong Luan to do it herself. The three of them splashed water on themselves, rubbing their bodies and massaging the straw-like yellow hair.

Hong Luan was very satisfied with their understanding of the situation.

After the siblings had cleaned themselves and used the bathwater to wash their tattered clothes, they hung them in the courtyard to dry, and the sun gradually set.

Hong Luan directed the younger ones to start a fire, while she herself washed the rice. When she opened the lid of the rice jar in the main hall, she saw that the rice at the bottom was mixed with sand, and she muttered, "This family is really poor!"

She reached into the jar, scooped up a handful of rice, and hesitated for a moment before letting half of it slip through her fingers.

After washing the rice, she poured three ladles of water and added two sweet potatoes that Yang San Niang had dug up. The five children stood by the stove, watching the pot and drying their hair by the fire.

The second maid beside Hong Luan carefully observed her and whispered, "Eldest sister?"

Hong Luan turned to look at her. These sisters in the family all looked like Yang San Niang, with clean and fair faces and delicate features. As for Hong Luan, she looked somewhat similar to Mu Da and Bao Sheng, with features deeper than ordinary people, a high and straight nose, and slightly blue eyes, indicating a mixed ethnic background.

Since the founding of the Great Peace Dynasty, there had been constant internal and external troubles, with ongoing border conflicts and wars between the two countries. Interethnic marriages between Han people and various ethnic groups were not uncommon. Therefore, Mu Da's appearance did not attract much attention in the heartland of the Central Plains.

"What is it?" Hong Luan asked the second maid. The second maid looked at her and opened her mouth, but hesitated for a while and didn't speak. The third maid, on the other hand, was straightforward.

"Eldest sister, the second sister is asking if your illness is really cured?"

After hearing this, the second maid glared at the third maid and said, "Mind your own business!"

These sisters in the family were born one after another, with only a year's difference between them. The third maid was born just two months after Yang San Niang, so the second maid was five years old, and the third maid was four, and the fourth maid was three.

Although these little maidservants were young, they were very sensible. It was also a sad fact that children from poor families had a few more hardships than those from well-off families.

Seeing this, Hong Luan laughed and said, "Alright, alright! Mother said that the medicine from the immortal is very effective. After taking it, the illness will be cured!"

At this time, it was necessary to publicize the effectiveness of the medicine from the immortal. If people knew that a girl who had been dumb for five or six years suddenly could speak and laugh, and even recognize characters, if such news spread, their family would be in trouble!

She then exaggeratedly praised the medicine to her siblings, "The medicine from the immortal is really amazing! When you put it in your mouth, the fragrance... oh! I felt a cool sensation from my lower abdomen to the Baihui acupoint, and then from Baihui to Yongquan, and all the meridians in my body were cleared. My mind became clear instantly!"

She didn't know what Baihui and Yongquan were, but she had heard a storyteller talk about them in the courtyard before. Just these two sentences were enough to make her siblings stare at her in amazement. They were all very envious. The fourth maid, who didn't know much, lit up at the mention of food and asked, "Eldest sister, is the immortal medicine... tasty?"