Before the house was raided, the maidservant of the Prime Minister's residence absconded with t

The carriage moved slowly along the official road, with the rider leaning against the side of the carriage and closing his eyes to rest.

It's been three months.

After a long and arduous journey from the capital to Ping'an County, and then from Ping'an County to Taoyuan County, I have finally returned to this place.

Tao'er lifted the carriage curtain and looked at the scenery outside. The green mountains and clear waters were just like the scene in her dream.

However, her state of mind had already undergone a complete transformation.

She didn't know how the original owner had survived all these years; she was only four or five years old when her own grandmother sold her.

She knew nothing about what was happening when a stranger took her away. She was sold three times before finally ending up as a cook in the Prime Minister's mansion in the capital.

It was common for them to go hungry and cold, and being beaten and scolded was a daily occurrence.

If it weren't for the original owner's good fortune in encountering such a good family as the Prime Minister's mansion...

Then, inexplicably, she transmigrated into this world.

She doesn't know why, but these past few days she's been having a lot of dreams about the Liu family.

Sometimes, Tao'er couldn't distinguish between her own memories and those of the original owner. She felt that her mind was a mess, like a ball of crumpled hemp thread that she couldn't untangle.

She slowly sorted through these memories, gradually making sense of them.

The head of the Liu family was Old Man Liu Laogen, but in reality, it was his wife, Wang Shi, who made the decisions.

This Wang woman was a notorious figure in the surrounding area, known for her sharp tongue and cunning, and she had her family completely under her control.

Wang had four sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Liu Daniu, was the original owner's biological father.

This Liu Daniu is just like his name suggests. He's honest and simple like an ox, timid and cowardly, and excessively filial. At home, he's like a free beast of burden.

He did all the dirty and tiring work, ate leftovers, wore tattered clothes, and never dared to utter a sound when scolded or beaten.

If Wang told him to go east, he wouldn't dare go west; if Wang told him to kneel, he would never dare stand.

The second son, Liu Erniu, fared slightly better, though his status within the family was average.

He wouldn't go hungry or get beaten, but he wasn't much better off than an ordinary person. When Wang was in a good mood, she would give him a kind look, but when she was in a bad mood, she would still scold him.

The third son, Liu Sanniu, was a cunning and sly fellow who knew how to please Wang Shi. His sweet words were like honey, and Wang Shi was completely charmed by him.

Therefore, his status in the family was second only to the fourth brother, and his food, clothing and daily necessities were much better than those of his two older brothers.

The fourth son, Liu Tianbao, was Wang's darling and the hope of the entire Liu family.

Liu Tianbao studied from a young age, passed the imperial examination at the age of twelve, and became a scholar at the age of eighteen. In the countryside, this was a very important achievement.

Wang spared all the good things for her son, hoping that he would pass the imperial examinations and bring glory to the family, so that she could enjoy a life of luxury with him.

Liu Tianbao lived up to expectations. Although he failed the provincial examination several times, Wang firmly believed that her son would one day achieve great success.

The fifth daughter, Liu Jiaojiao, was the youngest daughter in the Liu family. Wang had four sons before finally having this one daughter, so naturally she was raised with great care.

Unfortunately, she was too picky and looked down on everyone, so she was still unmarried at the age of eighteen.

Other girls get married at fifteen or sixteen; if a girl is still unmarried at eighteen, she's considered an old maid.

But Liu Jiaojiao wasn't in a hurry. Her mother had said that her younger brother was a scholar, and she was going to marry into a wealthy family. She couldn't just agree to marry anyone casually.

As for the original owner's family, Liu Daniu's wife was named Zhang Su'e. She was a gentle and kind woman with a good temper, and she never raised her voice when she spoke.

But with this kind of personality, she was destined to suffer in the Liu family. She dared not talk back when her mother-in-law scolded her, she dared not utter a sound when her sisters-in-law bullied her, and even her sister-in-law could point her finger at her and scold her.

Her eyesight is bad; it was damaged from crying during her postpartum period.

At that time, the original owner was sold. She thought her daughter was lost, and she cried day and night, ruining her eyes from crying.

Things are blurry; it's okay on sunny days, but it's even worse on cloudy days.

The original owner had two older brothers, the eldest, Liu Tiezhu, was twenty-two years old, and the second, Liu Tiechui, was twenty years old; neither of them were married yet.

It wasn't because they were bad, but because Wang was unwilling to pay the bride price, saying she wanted to save the money for her fourth son's education and for her fifth son's dowry.

The marriage of these two grown men has been delayed indefinitely, and it has dragged on until they reach this age.

Tao felt a pang of sadness upon thinking about this.

All of this was kept completely from the original owner's parents.

They only thought their daughter had gone missing when she was four years old, and had no idea that she had been sold by her own grandmother.

For years they have been searching, asking around, asking everyone they meet if they have seen a little girl with a birthmark on her left wrist.

But in the vast sea of ​​people, how could they possibly find a four-year-old child who had been sold to the capital city thousands of miles away?

In the original owner's memory, there was a scene like this: Zhang Su'e heard that there was a lost little girl in the next town, about the same age as the original owner, and she wanted to go see her that very night.

Wang stopped them, saying that it was no big deal to lose a little girl; it would even save them food.

Zhang Su'e ignored the advice and insisted on going. As a result, she walked all night and developed several blisters on her feet. When she arrived at the place, she found that it was not her daughter.

On the way back, Zhang Su'e cried her eyes out, crying all the way.

When he got home, Wang made him kneel down as punishment and forbade him to eat for a whole day.

And then there's Liu Daniu, this honest man who's almost pathetic, who secretly cries every year on the original owner's birthday.

He dared not cry in front of Wang Shi, fearing he would be scolded, so he hid alone in the woodshed and swallowed his tears.

Tao'er felt a lump in her throat as she thought about this, even though it only happened in her dream.

She secretly vowed in her heart: now that she had taken the place of the original owner and returned, she would never let those people bully Liu Laoda's family again.

She wouldn't let any of them go, whether it was Wang Shi, Liu Sanniu, or Liu Jiaojiao.

As for Liu Tianbao, he was just a scholar, nothing in her eyes.

After traveling for more than half an hour, the carriage finally arrived at Xinghua Village.

Xinghua Village is small, with only thirty or forty households. Nestled against the mountains and beside the water, it is quite peaceful.

There were several old locust trees at the entrance of the village, and a few middle-aged women were sitting under the trees enjoying the cool air. When they saw a horse-drawn carriage entering the village, they all looked around curiously.

"Whose relative is this?" A middle-aged woman in a blue cotton shirt craned her neck to look.

"I don't know, I've never seen this car before."

The carriage stopped in front of the Liu family's house. Before Tao'er could get out of the carriage, she heard a commotion coming from the courtyard.

"Move aside..."

Please move aside...

Qingge jumped out of the car first and led the way.

The villagers who had been watching the commotion finally noticed them and curiously looked at the girl who had stepped down from the carriage.

Tao'er was dressed in a simple blue dress, with only a plum blossom hairpin in her hair. She didn't look particularly luxurious, but the way she stood there made her seem like an ordinary girl.

The villagers of Xinghua Village were stunned; they had never seen anyone like this before.