Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Qingmu glanced at the speechless Juhua and stifled his laughter. "They’re only good if you add sugar," he said. "But we don’t have any."

Zhang Huai quickly chimed in, "I’ve been meaning to tell you, but I keep forgetting. There’s a huge beehive in the woods on that mountain over there. We should go knock it down and get some honey."

Juhua’s face lit up. Her gloomy mood over the cucumbers vanished in an instant. ’Honey mixed with egg whites would make an even better face mask! Besides, honey is delicious.’

After a moment, though, she grew a little worried. "Honey is great, of course," she said to the two of them. "But what if we get stung? Wouldn’t that be a huge problem? Some bees are highly venomous."

Seeing how interested Juhua seemed in the honey only strengthened Zhang Huai’s resolve to get the hive.

He waved a hand dismissively. "It’s nothing to worry about, as long as we’re prepared. People do it all the time. You just have to wrap your head and face tightly with old clothes, wear a bamboo hat, and once you knock the hive down, cover it with something. After the bees scatter, you can bring it back."

Qingmu added that Zhao San had done it before.

"Don’t you remember? Last year, he brought us ten jin of dried fish and a small jar of honey. It was a whole jin’s worth!"

Juhua nodded eagerly. That time, Zhao San had brought them many gifts to thank her for saving Little Shitou. ’So that honey came from a hive he’d knocked down.’

And so, Zhang Huai and Qingmu agreed to take down the hive the next evening. Afterward, Zhang Huai headed back to the village, his path lit by the moon and accompanied by the clamor of croaking frogs that filled the fields.

Meanwhile, Juhua sliced more cucumber. She lit the oil lamp and had Qingmu help her apply the slices to her face. Afterward, she washed her face and applied another layer of egg white.

The next evening, just as planned, Zhang Huai and Qingmu successfully brought down the large beehive. But even though they had taken every precaution, Qingmu was still stung once through his clothes, and a large welt swelled up on his arm.

Juhua divided the honey into two portions and told Zhang Huai to take one home.

But Zhang Huai refused. He could see how much Juhua seemed to like the honey and was reluctant to take half. ’There isn’t that much to begin with.’

Juhua said to him, "Take this home for your mother. It’ll be a nice gesture. Otherwise, I’d feel terrible keeping it all for myself. Can’t you see I’ve already kept a good amount?"

Seeing that she was insistent, Zhang Huai finally took the honey and headed home.

When Juhua applied the egg white mixed with honey to her face, it felt much more soothing. It wasn’t uncomfortably tight like when she used only the egg whites.

When Yang Family saw her applying honey to her face, she didn’t ask whether it was effective, simply saying happily that they should save the honey just for her to use on her face.

Seeing the hopeful look on her mother’s face, Juhua sighed to herself.

「A while later」

The rice harvest began. Those joyous yet exhausting days showed Juhua a life even more arduous than transplanting rice seedlings.

Every day before dawn, her parents and brother went to the fields to cut and thresh the rice. With no threshing machine, they had to rely completely on manual labor, beating the stalks against the inside of a threshing bucket to knock the grains loose.

Under the scorching sun, they were drenched in sweat as they carried pole after pole of rice back home, yet their faces beamed with the joy of a bountiful harvest.

Juhua was so busy she was practically running off her feet. Feeding the pigs and chickens felt like a minor chore; she rushed to do the laundry and cook, and she also had to tend to the rice drying in the courtyard, turning it from time to time. Even their little Black Dog—who ought to be called big Black Dog by now—knew to chase any grain-pecking chickens out of the yard.

But in the evenings, when everyone came home from the fields, Juhua would serve a hearty meal. The family would relax, body and soul, eating a leisurely dinner in the courtyard. It was a wonderful feeling.

Zheng Changhe laughed and talked boisterously. Exhausted from a day of labor, he was now basking in the cool breeze under the bright moon. He had already devoured three bowls of rice with gusto, and he was still ready for more.

Juhua quickly stopped him, telling him to wait a while before having more, or he’d be uncomfortably full. Only then did he lean back on the bamboo cot, humming in sheer contentment.

’Someone once said that happiness is simple: it’s sitting in the cool shade of a tree after a hard day’s work, drinking a bowl of plain water, and eating a simple meal.’

Juhua couldn’t agree more.

She had just stopped her father from eating too much, yet she herself had wolfed down three bowls of rice. They weren’t filled to the brim, but still, it was three whole bowls!

Qingmu stared at her, dumbfounded. "How can you eat so much?" he asked. ’His sister normally ate two bowls at the very most.’

But Yang Family chuckled and stopped Qingmu. "Let her be. A good appetite is a good thing. Oh, Juhua, you must be exhausted, aren’t you?"

Juhua said sheepishly, "I’ve been so busy, my stomach felt completely empty. It took three bowls of rice for me to feel full."

’In the past, my appetite was so poor,’ she thought. ’Part of it was because I wasn’t healthy, but the bigger reason was that I just wasn’t tired enough. I wasn’t working hard enough.’