Chapter 7

Without hesitation, Emily squatted down and placed her hands on Qi's chest. Qi's two sisters screamed and backed away, fearing to be too close to her, the "disaster star."

Although Qi's mother's face changed drastically, she held Qi tightly and pushed Emily away, stuttering, "Wha-what... do you want to do to Qi?"

Emily sat down on the ground, feeling helpless against the strength of this tribal group.

Moon was also somewhat puzzled, but instantly guessed that Emily wanted to try to save Qi.

Nevertheless, Yellow Leaf had followed Granny Maple for many years, and her judgment on whether someone was dead should not be wrong.

Even so, Moon unconditionally supported Emily and provided her with an exit: "Yellow Leaf said Qi was already dead. What if she's not skilled enough? What if Qi can still be saved? My sister-in-law is so frail, what can she do to Qi?"

A hint of panic flashed through Yellow Leaf's eyes, but no one noticed.

An shouted loudly, "How could Yellow Leaf be mistaken? This disaster star must be trying to disturb Qi's soul, maybe even preventing him from reincarnating!"

Moon was furious. She punched An in the face, causing her to stagger backward several steps, then covered her nose as blood flowed from her fingertips.

Moon warned An with narrowed eyes and a raised fist, then spoke much more gently to Qi's mother, "Yellow Leaf said Qi was dead already. Let my sister-in-law take a look. If she can't save him, things won't get any worse. But what if she can save him? Don't you want Qi to come back to life?"

Qi's mother looked at Qi's pale face, hesitated for a moment, then gently put him down, looking at Emily with hopeful eyes.

Emily gratefully glanced at Moon, not daring to delay. She touched Qi's chest. Although his heartbeat was weak, it was there!

She rejoiced inwardly but also became more nervous. Now, whether Qi could be saved depended entirely on the drowning rescue methods she had learned but never practiced.

She lifted Qi with some difficulty, kneeling on the ground with one leg bent, placing Qi's abdomen on her raised knee so that his head hung down.

She began to pat Qi's back—once, twice, three times...

Water from Qi's stomach and trachea began to flow out through his mouth, but perhaps due to prolonged drowning, although his airway was clear, Qi could not breathe on his own.

Emily watched as Qi lay motionless on the grass after being put back down, not breathing. Without further thought, she took a deep breath and pinched Qi's nose, beginning mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Moon widened her eyes, watching Emily's shocking actions, while the surrounding tribal people gasped in shock. She felt sympathy for her brother.

According to Male's conditions, he could marry ten wives without any problem if he wanted to. Yet, he couldn't find anyone he liked and instead set his sights on this outsider.

This outsider looked frail and petite, but unexpectedly, she could even lay hands on a six or seven-year-old boy! If she was accepted by the tribe, wouldn't it be highly likely that she would have to find several partners? Male would have to share this sister-in-law with the men of the tribe? Moon felt sorry for Male!

At this moment, Moon's emotions were extremely complicated. On one hand, she hoped that Emily could save Qi, this little life.

On the other hand, she wondered if she should agree with the tribe that Emily was a disaster star and let the tribe execute her, sparing Male from prolonged suffering?

Meanwhile, An, seeing Emily's actions, felt her spirits soar. Her chance had come! This outsider, who was so thin, had actually kissed Qi in front of so many people.

Male will find that he has mistaken someone else for the most suitable partner – himself!

The moon, Emily, unaware of the psychological activities of An and other ethnic groups, persisted in artificial respiration until Qi's chest began to rise and fall with autonomous breathing. She breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the grass, exhausted but happy, smiling.

The people around had various reactions to Emily's expression: mostly awe, with a few resentful or even jealous glances.

When Qi's mother saw him breathing and opening his eyes, she hugged him excitedly, tears of joy streaming down her face. She couldn't close her mouth, grinning from ear to ear. To see her son, whom she had thought dead, come back to life filled her with an ecstatic joy that Emily could somewhat understand.

Initially focused solely on saving Qi, Emily's simple artificial respiration had seemed to drain all her strength. When Qi finally woke up, Emily relaxed, and even the strength to stand seemed to abandon her.

After sitting for a moment, her strength returned, and she gave a faint smile to the moon, who was staring at her in astonishment, rushing forward to help her up.

Qi's mother, holding her two daughters, knelt down in front of Emily, devoutly bowing in gratitude. Her words were filled with thanks for saving her son's life, promising to send Qi to serve Emily in a few days.

Emily understood her words and quickly waved her hand, refusing the offer. She interpreted Qi's mother's intention to send him to serve her as gratitude for saving Qi's life, rejecting any notion of having him as a servant in return.

For Emily, saving Qi was simply a matter of not wanting to see such a young life perish, with no ulterior motives, let alone having someone become her servant.

Seeing Emily's gesture, the moon finally breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that her sister-in-law's affection for Qi was purely out of saving him, not a desire for him to grow up as her young husband.

An, angry and resentful, questioned Qi's mother, "How could you be so confused? If it weren't for this disaster, Qi wouldn't have drowned. Is there any need for her to save him? Is she really saving him? Clearly, she's taking advantage of Qi! He's still so young; when he grows up, our tribe has plenty of good daughters for him to choose from. Is it worth following this old woman? Maybe Qi drowned because this woman deliberately caused trouble!"

With these words, the reverence that most people had towards Emily turned into fear, with little or no reverence left.

Although Emily didn't seek their admiration, upon hearing An's words and seeing their gazes, she was momentarily stunned. She faintly realized that she had inadvertently touched upon a taboo of this tribe, as An's implication seemed to suggest that Qi's mother's offer of service wasn't about being a servant but rather Emily pursuing a relationship with a much younger man.

Damn! This misunderstanding is huge!

Her first reaction was unexpectedly: If Male found out about this, would she live to see the sun rise tomorrow?

Though Male had been good to her so far, could he tolerate being cuckolded?

Her becoming Male's partner was already a haphazard occurrence, how could she possibly have any designs on a six or seven-year-old child? She wasn't a pervert!

So Emily hurriedly grabbed the moon's hand, shaking her head repeatedly, hoping the moon would understand her meaning.

The moon, who had initially been displeased with Emily for kissing Qi, now understood her expression. Emily was merely innocently saving Qi, with no other intentions.

The moon breathed a sigh of relief, affirming that her brother, Male, had made the right judgment!

Since her sister-in-law was approved by Male, she would unconditionally stand by her side!

Emily couldn't speak their tribal language, so the moon stepped forward, proudly declaring, "My sister-in-law saved Qi's life with no ulterior motives."

Recalling An's words calling Emily a disaster, the moon's gaze shifted, her voice firm: "She is the auspicious match bestowed upon Male by the true goddess Nuwa, and she is also the lucky star bestowed upon our Nuwa tribe by the true goddess Nuwa!"

Although the method Emily used to save Qi was too unconventional for her liking, she couldn't reject her brother's trust in her sister-in-law.

Since both she and An could speak their minds, why couldn't she, the moon, proclaim Emily as a lucky star? If it weren't for her sister-in-law, who else could have saved Qi?

Sure enough, as soon as she said this, many of those who had shifted from awe to fear towards Emily now reverted back to awe.

Speaking up for Emily in this way, Emily gratefully held the moon's hand, her eyes shimmering with gratitude.

An glared at Emily with hatred, then turned to the people behind her, "She cannot be the lucky star bestowed by Nuwa! She is a disaster! Believe me!"

Her words lacked conviction and persuasive power. After all, it was clear to everyone that Emily had saved Qi's life, even if her method was indeed strange.

The tribe members looked at her disapprovingly but remained silent. The men were out hunting for food, leaving only women in the tribe. They didn't want to confront An directly to avoid trouble.

While the moon and An were the two most beautiful women in the tribe, the intentions of the moon were clear to everyone; she was only interested in the mountains and kept her distance from other men.

But An was different.

Although it was well known that An liked Male, Male hadn't chosen her as his partner for many years. Regardless of whether the men in the tribe had partners or not, they all treated An kindly, which made the women in the tribe feel threatened.

So An had good popularity among the men in the tribe, but very few female friends, only Huang Ye was closest to her.

Seeing that no one in the tribe supported An's opinion, Huang Ye gently took her arm, "An, don't worry. Time will tell whether she is a disaster or a lucky star. The true goddess Nuwa will tell us. Why is your nosebleed still flowing? Come, let me help you stop the bleeding."

This statement received affirmation from the people present, leaving Emily stunned once again! Huang Ye's skillful words invalidated the high hat of the lucky star that the moon had given her, returning her position to undecided between disaster and lucky star. Moreover, it made it impossible for anyone to refute.

Although she didn't care about this lucky star label, it was the moon's way of protecting her.

And she firmly refused the disaster label!

Now she was pulled back into limbo by Huang Ye's actions...

Emily could only watch as Huang Ye supported An with a friendly smile and left.

Damn it! Huang Ye's excessively friendly smile made Emily shudder. She had a bad feeling: more trouble awaited her!

Fortunately, despite An and Huang Ye's words, Qi's mother and two sisters thanked Emily profusely as they left with Qi, which brought her some comfort.

As people dispersed, she carefully examined the riverbank and indeed found many reeds growing in the shallow water. However, without any tools, Emily tried to break them but found it extremely difficult. Truly, reeds were as tough as silk!

The moon, seeing Emily's gesture, directly asked, "Sister-in-law, are you displeased that Male hasn't made new bedding grass? This kind of grass isn't suitable for bedding. Let me take you to find better grass." Emily shook her head, unwilling to go, pointing at the reeds.

Seeing her firm attitude, the moon smiled and said, "Then I'll go borrow a stone knife."

People who washed clothes usually carried stone knives when they went out because they would also bring a bamboo basket to the riverside while washing clothes, containing some fish or shellfish to attract fish, shrimp, and crabs. When the animal skins were washed, there would often be some catch, and the stone knife would come in handy for cleaning the fish, shrimp, and crabs to take back for cooking.

After borrowing the stone knife, without further ado, the moon went down to the river and cut open the reeds. Emily, on the other hand, stood by with empty hands.

Emily looked at the moon walking briskly ahead of her, carrying a small bundle of reeds, with a complex mix of emotions.

Blocked by a large bundle of reeds, all she could see was a lot of moving reeds. Although the reeds seemed light, they were still moist with water. She was carrying only a small bundle, not even a fifth of the moon's large bundle, which was relatively easy. However, if she were to add more, she might find it difficult to walk.

But the moon, carrying such a large bundle of reeds, still seemed unconcerned. The disparity in strength... she probably wouldn't be able to catch up no matter how hard she tried.

Although she hadn't known the moon and Male for long, and had only recently understood their conversations, Emily was certain they would protect her.

But to survive in this tribe, she couldn't always rely on the moon and Male, especially now with An and Huang Ye showing ill intentions towards her.

If she couldn't keep up physically, she would have to excel in other areas. After thinking it over, besides her own intellect, there was the unknown system, and she didn't have much else to rely on.

The knowledge in her head... like computers, phones, games, and various apps, were all useless in this primitive world where people wore animal skins to cover themselves!

What was needed here was probably knowledge in agriculture and medicine, which, for a delicate city girl like her, might not be much.

After thinking it over, Emily came to the conclusion: to survive better in this world, she had to work hard to upgrade the system!

Spreading the reeds on the roof to dry was quite novel to Emily. Before she could do anything, the moon had already spread the reeds around the circular roof to dry.

With the sun about to reach its zenith, the moon invited Emily to go to Banana's house to see if they could help.

Along the way, the moon chattered away. Emily finally understood that, due to a lack of manpower and resources, it was common for two or three families to share meals in the Nuwa tribe. For the past few years, she and Male had been sharing meals with Banana, Dashan, and their family. Emily had met Banana yesterday; she was the slim woman who had brought them bamboo-tube rice.

Male and Dashan were responsible for hunting for food, while she and Banana usually did chores around the house, dug wild vegetables, and cooked. Male and Emily were siblings, while Dashan and Banana were siblings.

It all made sense now to Emily, but she was still somewhat puzzled. They had been sharing meals for the past few years, but they were all very young. Where were their parents? Had they all passed away?

However, she couldn't speak the language of the Nuwa tribe, and the question seemed a bit abrupt, so she temporarily set aside her doubts.