Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Grandma Claire
***
The old grandmother’s house wasn’t far away, it took about 10 minutes to walk there. It was an ordinary village house built of stone and wood. The roof was made of thatch, and a cow was tethered at the entrance. On one side of the house was a crude farm enclosed by crooked fences, where many vegetables and plants were grown. Looking over roughly, only cabbage and sweet potatoes could be recognized.
“Come, come in quickly. My grandson and granddaughter have finished breakfast and gone to work in the fields, there’s no one in the house,” the old grandmother pushed open the small gate of the fence and led me inside.
The furnishings in the house were very simple, with only a set of table and chairs that could be called furniture, and an old oil lamp on the table. The thick wooden pillars had been eroded by time and looked somewhat decrepit and decayed. Parts of the mottled stone walls had cracked, with several strings of red currants hanging on them. A long wooden box lay horizontally in the corner, with a simple clothes rack beside it, and nothing else.
Besides the living room, the entire house had three small rooms, all with doors tightly closed at the moment.
“Come, child, sit down quickly. Let grandma get you something to eat first.” The old grandmother led me to sit at the table, then pushed open one room door and went in, bringing out some black bread and dried meat.
“There’s not much good food in the house to serve you. This venison was hunted by the village hunter some days ago, my grandson got quite a bit from him, and we’ve been preserving it with salt. Go ahead and eat.”
“…Thank you.”
The old grandmother’s gaze towards me was somewhat gentle. I was indeed quite hungry, so I didn’t stand on ceremony and grabbed a piece of black bread, taking a big bite.
The bread tasted very bad, sour and somewhat bitter, chewing it felt like gnawing on sawdust. But the venison was not bad, maybe because I had eaten so many fruits in the forest for so many days, I really missed the taste of salt.
The old grandmother saw me eating heartily and smiled with squinted eyes.
“Eat slowly. Really, this girl must have been hungry for days… Ah, right, I’ll go milk some milk for you.”
After speaking, the old grandmother shakily walked out supporting her waist, and soon came back with a cup of milk and placed it on the table. The venison was a bit too salty, and I was just feeling thirsty, so I tilted my head back and “gulp gulp” poured the whole cup of body-temperature milk into my stomach, wiped my mouth and continued eating, quickly finishing all the food on the table.
Patting my little belly, there was no feeling of fullness at all.
The old grandmother brought two more pieces of bread and a plate of venison from the kitchen, but they were quickly finished by me again.
…Still want to eat.
I smacked my lips, looking pitifully at the old grandmother’s surprised expression, with an innocent face.
“Poor girl, how many days haven’t you eaten… But you can’t eat anymore, okay? You’ll hurt your stomach. I’ll go milk another cup of milk for you, and after drinking it, grandma will help you clean up first.” The old grandmother stroked my hair, “Such a pitiful girl.”
…………
There was a flowing small river on the west side of the village. The old grandmother told me that the village women all bathed and washed clothes downstream, while the men were upstream, with a waterfall between the upstream and downstream.
Hmm… It seems this isn’t a ladies-first world, the men aren’t gentlemanly at all.
After bathing and returning to the house, the old grandmother took out a dress made of coarse linen and asked me to put it on.
“This is a dress I just made for my granddaughter, she hasn’t worn it yet, it’s clean, you put it on.”
When I heard this, I was shocked and immediately shook my head in refusal.
What a joke, asking me to wear a dress?
“Put it on quickly, I’ll wash that cloak of yours later, it’s too dirty.”
The old grandmother didn’t give me any chance to refuse, reaching out to pull down my cloak, her skinny body had surprisingly great strength, I immediately grabbed the collar to resist.
“No…”
“Be good.”
After pushing and pulling for quite a while, I didn’t dare use force for fear of hurting her, and finally couldn’t resist her, being forced to put on the dress.
The old grandmother looked at me, clean and renewed, and nodded with satisfaction.
“You girl, how were you born so beautiful. In my sixty-plus years, I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as you, much more beautiful than the lord’s daughter.”
The old grandmother picked a currant fruit from the stone wall, blew on it and put it in my mouth. The currant tasted sweet and sour, much better than those unknown fruits in the forest.
“Now can you tell grandma what your name is?”
“…Sylvia.”
This was a name that came out without any thought from my mind. I remembered when I was first in the dream, something with Xiaoxi’s appearance whispered in my ear, that must have been the name this body possessed.
“Can grandma call you Little Syl?”
I nodded.
“Little Syl, where are your parents?”
This question I truly didn’t know how to answer, so I slowly shook my head.
“…Is that so.” A look of pity appeared in grandma’s eyes, and she didn’t ask anything more, she had already formed her own understanding.
People with black hair and black eyes are rare… The girl before her definitely wouldn’t be from an ordinary commoner family. Girls born in commoner families had too many hardships and labor in life, they couldn’t cultivate such features and skin. Her granddaughter was only 18, just past the age of adulthood ceremony, but with daily exposure to wind and sun, her skin had already become somewhat rough and sallow.
Although this girl came wearing only a tattered cloak, the cloak was clearly not an ordinary item, probably even those minor nobles she had seen couldn’t afford such quality.
She must be from some extraordinary noble family, who experienced some unimaginable changes in their family, leaving only this poor girl who escaped. But she didn’t plan to dig into such matters, the girl had already been through so much hardship, why reveal old wounds, it wasn’t important to the old woman.
“Do you have anywhere you want to go?”
I shook my head again.
“Then, how about staying at grandma’s place for now?”
Hearing the old grandmother’s words, I tilted my head to think.
Grandma seemed very nice, and anyway I didn’t know where to go now, and had no money. Might as well stay here temporarily, and after figuring out the general situation of this world, make the next plan.
“…Okay.”
The old grandmother showed a delighted expression, wrinkles creasing on her face.
“My name is Claire, Claire Franci. You can just call me Grandma Claire.”
I nodded to show I understood.
“Grandma… Claire, what… do you… need… me to do.”
Hearing my stumbling words, Grandma Claire couldn’t help but laugh, “Silly child, how old are you, what would grandma have you do. Grandma just likes you, you just need to not mind staying at grandma’s place. Although grandma’s place doesn’t have anything good to eat or wear, you won’t go hungry, just settle down here for now.”
The words spoken were simple and sincere.
Having been in the business world for 3 years, used to seeing a world of scheming and deception, I deeply knew the principle that to get something, you must first give, and had long made it a life principle. From meeting Grandma Claire until now, the pure kindness she showed made me somewhat at a loss for how to respond, my heart urgently wanting to do something for grandma.
“I… can… clean.”
After speaking, I looked around, wanting to find items like rags or brooms.
“Silly child…” Grandma Claire pulled me back into her arms, her eyes full of pity, “Poor child, must have been scared badly, can’t even speak properly… Don’t know what suffering you’ve been through…”
Her voice became somewhat choked up towards the end, her eyes slightly red. What an emotional old person.
To be honest, I wasn’t very comfortable with this. As a 26-year-old uncle-level man, it had been too long since anyone had held me like this, my face felt somewhat embarrassed.
Feeling her body so thin it was somewhat bony, I didn’t struggle away, just let her keep holding me.
No, it’s not as bad as you imagine.
I wanted to tell her this, but when the words came to my lips, I couldn’t say them no matter what.
…………
Dusk was approaching.
The twilight about to be submerged by the hills, like a candle about to go out, was fulfilling its final duty for today.
For this small village, it didn’t have the bright lights of a modern city, so the night was very dangerous, everyone would rush home before the sun set.
“Grandma, we’re back!”
The sudden voice broke the silence, the old wooden door was pushed open with a “creak”, and hearing the sound while wiping the table, I turned my head curiously to look. A pair of young people covered in mud walked in from outside one after another.
“I’m starving! Is there anything to eat… eh, who are you?”
The brown-haired girl who entered first immediately saw me and showed a surprised expression.
“What’s wrong, do we have a guest?”
Following behind the girl, the boy who looked even younger asked while knocking off the mud stuck to his shoes.
“Hello… to you.”
I somewhat embarrassedly greeted them.
“You’re back!” Grandma Claire walked out from the kitchen wearing an apron, “Tired? Rest a bit first, dinner will be ready soon… Barry! You’ve gotten mud everywhere! Go outside and clean up before coming back!”
“Grandma, why don’t you say anything to Elia, she has more mud on her feet than me!”
The boy complained somewhat dissatisfied.
“Both of you go clean up before coming in! Clean the house yourselves later!”
“It’s okay… I’ll… clean.” I hurriedly threw down the rag in my hand and ran to the kitchen to get a broom.
“Grandma, who is she?” The girl named Elia asked somewhat curiously.
“Little Syl… come come, don’t rush to get the broom, let me introduce you.”
“This is my granddaughter, Elia.” Grandma Claire pointed at the girl and said, then pointed at the boy, “This mischievous one is my grandson, named Barry.”
“You two, this little cutie is Sylvia, you can just call her Sylvia, from now on she’s your little sister.”
“Eh???”
“Little sister?”
The siblings immediately became very curious.
“That’s how it is, alright, clean off the mud and come sit down, I’ll explain more to you later. Little Syl don’t clean up either, go sit down, dinner will be ready soon.”
“Okay.”
Soon, the simple and plain dishes were set on the table, Grandma Claire lit the oil lamp on the table, and the dim room immediately brightened up. The siblings could now clearly see my face, and their reactions were completely different.
“Ah! So cute!!!” Elia stared at me like she had seen some rare animal, the light reflected in her eyes gave me goosebumps.
Barry’s face in the light was somewhat red, clearly showing the appearance of a shy little boy.