Chapter IV. A Tragic Childhood

Inside the dilapidated dirt house, an extraordinarily skinny little girl had been starving for breath long ago.

Three brothers and three sisters went out to work with their parents early in the morning, and she stayed at home because she was too skinny and had contracted a wind chill.

Hearing footsteps, she walked breathlessly toward the door of the tattered room, and a woman called out, "Ning Xuan, we're back! Quickly help us pour water!"

Ji Ningxuan poured the water with heavy steps, but her body was too weak, when she handed the bowl to her father, she accidentally spilled the water on her father's body, and her father's already grim face became even more frightening, and with a slap, Ji Ningxuan was knocked to the ground, leaving blood in her mouth.

The mother came forward to persuade: "Alright, just don't be angry! Ning Xuan she's still young, besides she's sick, don't blame her, I'll pour water for everyone."

After saying that, the mother got up and went to pour water for everyone, the father scolded loudly: "You useless thing, you can't even pour a water, what a waste! I've raised you for so many years for nothing, and you still get sick every day, what a useless thing! Humph ..."

After saying that, his father glared viciously at Ji Ningxuan again.

At dinnertime, the family sits at a rickety table, more drinking than eating.

This year there was a lot of rain, the crops were flooded, and everyone was busy for most of the year, but there was hardly any harvest.

Now that the family was stretched thin, the so-called meals were some wild vegetables that my mother had painstakingly found in the field and boiled in water, although there was little seasoning in them.

That's all that's left, and all the wild vegetables in the field are almost picked by the neighbors.

I was lucky enough to get a few bites of food today; a while back, the family didn't even have a bite to eat.

After eating and finishing her work, Ji Ningxuan wanted to go to her playmate Ji Yang to talk about how she was scolded by her father today, but she just arrived at Ji Yang's house, but she heard the sad news that Ji Yang died of dysentery.

Ji Yang is Ji Ningsuan's neighbor and playmate, he is two years older than Ji Ningsuan, they often work together to chat, recently Ji Yang always said uncomfortable, we thought he had an ordinary wind chill, and the family did not have the money to ask the doctor, so it has been consumed, who had thought that Ji Yang just went ...

Ji Ningxuan returned home despondently with tears in her eyes, her father was drinking the rough peach blossom wine he had brewed himself, he was furious when he saw Ji Ningxuan with tears in her eyes.

My father slammed the bottle to the ground with his hand and cursed: "You little brat, you have no conscience! What's the matter? I scolded you a few times, you are still upset! I'm your old man, I gave birth to you, you eat my food, live in my house, what's wrong with me scolding you a few times? You're a loser! You've grown up so much, and you haven't seen you honor me, and you're sick every day, do you want me, your old man, to take care of you?"

After saying that, her father punched and kicked Ji Ningxuan, and she suffered multiple injuries on her body and face, while her father lay on a stool and huffed and puffed.

Not only did Ji Ningxuan's body ache, her heart ached even more.

Usually she slept in the same room as her brothers and sisters, so I'm sure there's no place for her in that cramped kang now, long gone.

She barred her tears, and they flowed like broken beads, as if they were going to flow to the ends of the earth.

She went to the yard outside the house and sat down against a pile of weeds, she didn't dare to go too far away from home, she wanted to be quiet, she didn't know when this kind of day would be the end, without realizing it, she fell asleep, and no one came to look for her to come into the house until dawn.

After a few more years of light, Ji Ningxuan was nine years old, but she was still thin and weak.

One night, the mother rushed over to say to Ji Ningxuan: "Some time ago, I heard that the neighboring village Wang family, want to find a daughter-in-law for their son, I made a special trip over to see, their family is better than our family conditions, if you marry over, at least will not be like this all day long starvation. I persuaded them, they said they could consider it, they should have secretly inquired about your character, today, I went to the Wang family again, I did not expect, they agreed to this marriage. I didn't expect them to agree to this marriage! It's not that Mother is cruel, but our family really has no choice! Instead of starving like this, it would be better to marry you off to someone else's family and still be able to make a living. I've already discussed this with your father, in a while, pick a good day and you'll go over there, and when you're old enough in a few years, it won't be too late to marry again."

Ji Ningxuan said helplessly, "I don't want to marry! You guys are trying to drive me away!"

My mother said righteously, "Since ancient times, parents' orders, matchmakers' words, you can't make the decision. Besides, if you really go to the Wang family, your life will be better than in our family."

Ji Ningxuan was helpless, even if she didn't agree what could she do?

After a few days, hungry Ji Ningxuan, is working for the employer, the harvest is not good, to the rich farming, barely able to earn a living, but the employer is always looking for a variety of reasons to deduct money, work quite a lot, but the money can not get their hands on.

Suddenly, Ji Ningxuan's eyes went black and she fainted.

Mrs. Peixianhua happened to pass by, she saw that there was something extraordinary about the girl's brows, and on a whim, she wanted to recruit her into the White Rose Palace.

Ji Ningxuan's mother said, "My son has already been betrothed to someone else, if you take her away, how can we explain to others?"

Mrs. Peixianhua said frivolously: "This girl who is less than ten years old, you have already betrothed her to someone else, you parents, you are also really cruel! It doesn't matter, your daughter is still young, I'll give you some more silver, you give the family who betrothed you that your daughter is too young, and you decided to cancel the marriage contract, if they don't understand anything, you let them come to White Rose Palace to find me!"

After saying that, Mrs. Pichia gave Ji Ningxuan's mother a bag of silver.

They were a poor family and had never seen so much silver! The whole family knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "Thank you, Living Bodhisattva! Thank you, Living Buddha!"

Mrs. Peixianhua seemed to have remembered something else and continued, "If she performs well in my palace, then in the future, you guys won't have to live through this kind of days where you have to eat the first meal and not the next."

Ji Ningxuan's family was once again grateful.

When Ji Ningxuan woke up, Mrs. Peixianhua looked at her and said, "Everyone calls me Mrs. Peixianhua, I gave your parents some silver, they have sold you to me, this is the White Rose Palace."

Ji Ningxuan was at a loss for words for a moment, but there was nothing she could do.