Chapter 5: Pregnant with a Baby

In the book, Yan Huaian not only accumulated gambling debts and nearly squandered the family fortune, but even after the family split, he didn’t repent; instead, he became even worse.

The little bit of money Old Yan had given him when the family split, he gambled it all away. Not only that, but Daya, Old Yan’s daughter, was humiliated by others. He had a chance to stop it, but because he resented his elder brother, he chose to ignore it, which led to the subsequent tragedy.

When such a thing happened, as the only female elder among the close relatives, Li Shi should have gone to comfort her, and Daya might not have hanged herself. But Yan Huaian wouldn’t allow it; he got drunk and hit Li Shi, causing her to miscarry…

Right, and the miscarriage!

Yan Yu jolted, ignoring everything else, and ran back to her room in one breath.

At this moment, Li Xuemei was standing on a cabinet, holding a bamboo pole and scraping along the ceiling beams.

“Don’t move!” Cold sweat almost broke out on Yan Yu. Seeing Li Xuemei look back at her in surprise, she softened her voice and gently said, “Mom, come down first.”

Li Xuemei reluctantly swept the beams twice more. Seeing there was really nothing there, she propped herself with the bamboo pole and sat down, shifting her body, preparing to jump down.

The cabinet wasn’t high; it was very easy to either climb up or jump down.

Yan Yu didn’t dare let her jump like that. If she really had a baby in her belly, what if something happened with that jump? It’s better to be safe than sorry!

“Mom, sit down, sit steady, listen to me.” Yan Yu ran over, her small arms only able to reach her calves.

Li Xuemei was quite tired, so she simply sat for a while. She thought of something, her eyes lit up, and she asked, “My good daughter, did you find something?”

Without hesitation, she hugged her leg, looked up, and grinned, her smiling, crescent-shaped eyes seeming to twinkle with stars.

“We have a system now, hahahaha!”

“What?” “Huh?” Li Xuemei and Yan Huaian, who had just pushed the door open and entered, asked simultaneously.

She explained the sudden appearance of the Xia Nation Support Trading Platform and the situation of them now living inside a book.

Seeing that both of them were stunned, she even used the bamboo pole to draw the appearance of the light screen on the ground.

After a good while, the couple looked at each other.

Li Xuemei was the first to react, immediately covering her belly.

She asked in a trembling voice, “So, I’m pregnant now?”

She hadn’t felt anything at all. Was all this real?

Was transmigrating into a book real? Was being pregnant real? Was the platform real?

Was it an illusion caused by her daughter’s constant thoughts about the so-called system?

Father Yan was incredibly excited. “Oh, my dear leader, slow down,” he said. “Come, I’ll help you down. Move little by little, yes, just like that.”

He carefully helped her down and watched his wife sit comfortably.

Father Yan replayed his daughter’s recent words in his mind.

He asked, “What happened next? What was written later?”

Dabao had read this book; it was truly amazing! So the sickly elder brother was actually so formidable, eventually even replacing the Emperor! How admirable!

{T/N: “Dabao” (大宝) usually means “Big Treasure” or “Eldest Precious”, often used affectionately for a firstborn child}

Yan Yu sighed. “I didn’t follow it after that,” she said. “Yan Lao’er was too much of a scoundrel, and his name was so similar to yours, I couldn’t bear to read on…”

So, she only read the beginning.

This book was also written a long time ago, and now, from this short beginning, she couldn’t remember much.

“This is good enough,” Li Xuemei comforted her. “It’s much better than knowing nothing at all.”

“Right,” Yan Huaian said, furrowing his brows, unable to continue. “At least we know your eldest uncle’s illness isn’t a big deal; he’ll definitely get better and even become a high official. But losing his son and daughter…”

In terms of his career, Old Yan was successful, but in other aspects, he was truly pitiful.

“Since we know all this,” Yan Yu said matter-of-factly, “of course, we must prevent those tragic things from happening. The Lizheng’s son didn’t approach Eldest Sister for no reason; he wanted to force Eldest Sister to marry him because he wanted our family’s ten mu of land.”

“What happened? Tell me in detail,” Li Xuemei said seriously.

“I just remembered something else,” Yan Yu continued. “Our family’s land is at the village entrance. Apart from ours, all the surrounding land has been bought by people from outside the village. They want to connect it all into one piece to build a small farm, easier to manage.”

It was that simple.

Some noble had taken a fancy to the Yan family brothers’ land, or perhaps it wasn’t the noble himself, but a steward below him, seeking convenience, who passed a message to the Lizheng, and the Lizheng then concocted this malicious idea.

Because by common sense, the Yan family brothers’ ten mu of land would never be sold, no matter what.

Yan Huaiwen was already a Xiucai scholar. While teaching, he hadn’t given up the idea of taking the imperial examinations. His eldest son inherited his talent for studying, and his grades at the academy were also good. This year, he was going to take the Tong Sheng exam.

{T/N: Tong Sheng (童生) = Student scholar / Exam candidate below Xiucai level}

Once he passed, there would be two people with official titles in their family.

This was a sign of a thriving family; they would only feel they had too little land, never too much.

“Oh, right, Dad, your twenty liang gambling debt was also set up by someone!”

Readers of the book had a God’s-eye view; the author had already provided clues for some things.

“Twenty liang? Gambling debt!” Li Xuemei stared at the father and daughter, and a memory flashed before her eyes of Yan Lao’er being called away from the fields to talk during the day.

She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now, thinking carefully, the way those people were dressed and looked really did resemble ancient debt collectors.

Yan Lao’er gave an embarrassed smile.

“Xuemei! Listen to my explanation.”

Li Xuemei glared at him and said, “What’s there to explain? The plot has laid it out clearly for you; our eldest brother split from us precisely because of this.”

Yan Lao’er slapped his thigh. “Exactly! These people are too wicked! How could they do such immoral things! Oh, Dabao, do you think the system our country arranged for us can lend us twenty liang of silver?”

“Dad, it’s a platform, not a system,” Yan Yu corrected him.

System and platform are literally two different things.

A platform, a platform, meaning it provides a trading platform.

It operates on the principle of equivalent exchange.

They must have things of sufficient value to be able to exchange for what they want on this platform.

“Haha, no matter what it is, the country is truly good!” For these unlucky souls like them, Fatherland truly worried itself sick. The words “support” and “aid” are especially good; they are precisely the targets for poverty alleviation, absolutely right.

“It’s just a pity that the platform’s trading time isn’t fixed,” Yan Yu said. “The next opening time is the twentieth of the fifth month, converted to the Gregorian calendar, the date is…” Yan Yu had been too excited just now and hadn’t paid much attention to the small print below the lunar calendar date. Now she looked closely.

“June 18th?”

Li Xuemei raised an eyebrow in surprise, and Yan Yu’s small eyes also lit up. The mother and daughter exchanged glances, understanding each other without words.

Yan Lao’er remained expressionless, seeing through the restless excitement of his wife and dear daughter. As a man who paid the bills, he knew all sorts of holidays like the back of his hand, and the dates that had cost him dearly in recent years were etched into his memory.

He slightly closed his eyes, crying internally.

He never expected that even after transmigrating into a book, he still couldn’t escape these vexing dates.

{T/N: June 18 (618) = China’s big mid-year e-commerce shopping festival}

Fine! Better go see Old Yan!

(End of Chapter)

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Lizheng — The local administrative head