Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Li Changming said to Meizi, "You should hurry home. This fish won’t be as tasty if it dies, so it’s best to prepare and cook it soon."

Meizi thanked him again, then happily ran off with the fish.

Li Changxing looked at Li Changming. He opened his mouth to say something, but then swallowed his words.

’It’s all just speculation, anyway,’ he thought. ’Bringing it up would only upset my cousin for no reason. He’s a good man, but he still hasn’t managed to get married.’ But Li Changxing could only sympathize in his heart. ’I’m in the same boat, after all.’

As Li Changming watched Meizi’s retreating figure, his heart filled with a faint sense of joy.

’It’s nice just to see her,’ he thought. ’It doesn’t matter if I can’t marry her. She’s so pretty, sweet, and lively. She should marry a young man and have a much better life than I could ever offer!’

With the fish basket on his back, he entered his small courtyard. The moment he saw his mother, Granny Hua, the small spark of joy he’d felt from seeing Meizi was instantly extinguished, replaced by a sense of helplessness and a heavy heart.

It went without saying that Li Changming had his troubles. As the saying goes, "Every family has its own cross to bear." Who doesn’t have their share of difficulties?

But Juhua’s family, being small, didn’t have many worries. Aside from the initial sorrow she and Zheng Changhe had felt over her face, there really wasn’t anything to fret about.

Now, Juhua wasn’t too concerned about her face and her disposition had brightened considerably, so the two of them were much more content. Add to that the fact that the family had bought some land and saved a bit of money, and life was naturally going very smoothly!

Zheng Changhe and Juhua returned home famished after working hard in the fields. He tossed the heavy fish basket to Yang Family and said cheerfully, "Look! We caught quite a haul, didn’t we? Even Juhua netted a big carp! No one would believe it, catching a big carp with just a small sieve-basket. You don’t see that kind of luck every day! Let’s eat, quick. I’m so hungry my stomach’s caving in."

With a wave of his hand, having boasted of his achievements and his hard work, he sat down at the table and waited for Yang Family to serve him his rice.

Juhua was starving as well, but she found Zheng Changhe’s behavior amusing. She went into the kitchen to dish out the rice while Yang Family helped bring the leftover dishes to the table. Yang Family shot Zheng Changhe a glare and said, "Look at you, acting like you just harvested two acres of wheat. Is catching fish that tiring?"

Zheng Changhe chuckled, wolfed down his meal in a few large bites, and told Yang Family that the water in the seedling paddies wouldn’t recede for now. He figured it would take until tomorrow, but added that once the water was gone, they’d be able to catch some fish in the fields.

Yang Family urged him to keep an eye on the seedling paddies and not just focus on catching fish. The seedlings had been flooded for so long that the water needed to be drained quickly, or it would affect their budding and flowering.

Zheng Changhe nodded repeatedly, assuring her he was keeping it in mind.

After eating, Juhua joined Yang Family in cleaning the fish.

She said to Yang Family, "Mother, let’s salt this carp. We can cook a fresh bowl of the small fish for dinner tonight and salt the rest. We’ll be catching more tomorrow anyway."

Yang Family glanced at her and asked, "Wouldn’t this big carp be better fresh? Don’t you want some?"

Juhua smiled. "Didn’t we just finish eating that pig’s head? It’s not like last year when we were in the pork offal business and always eating meat. It’s not so cheap to eat meat this year. This fish, once salted, will be perfect for when we’re tending the seedlings. We have plenty of vegetables from the garden in the summer, but not as much meat."

Seeing how methodical Juhua was in managing their livelihood, Yang Family chuckled. "Whether we save it for later or eat it now, it’s all for our own family. Just don’t neglect your health. You need a strong body to have the energy to work."

Juhua nodded. She didn’t believe in being miserly, either. Diligence and frugality were both essential to running a household; one was no good without the other.

The next day, when the water had mostly receded by evening, Juhua and Qingmu went to the fields to catch fish. Zheng Changhe went along as well, shouldering a hoe.

The water in the seedling paddies was very shallow now, and the fields looked like they had just survived a catastrophe. The rice seedlings were no longer a vibrant green, but were caked in the mud and sand stirred up by the flood.

Juhua watched Qingmu wade through the paddy, his ears pricked for the sound of splashing water. He managed to catch a few fish that way, but it was incredibly time-consuming. Plus, trampling all over the field wasn’t good for the seedlings.

So she offered an idea. "Why don’t we block the outlet with a basket? The fish won’t be able to escape. That’s better than running around like headless chickens, ruining the seedlings in the process."

Zheng Changhe, who was nearby, heard her and laughed. "Isn’t that what I’m doing? See? There are plenty of fish in this basket. Qingmu, stop searching. The field is a muddy mess after being flooded, and you’re just making it worse by trampling all over the seedlings."

Qingmu climbed onto the field embankment and said to Juhua with a smile, "I was planning to do that in the first place. But I heard you and Dad saying that once the paddy was drained, you could just pick the fish right up. You made it sound so easy, so I had to come down and try it for myself."