Chapter 11

Today is the day Grandma Sun adopts Lan Tian. Since last night, Lan Tian had been too excited to sleep and only managed to doze off in the wee hours of the morning. She woke up early, changed into the new clothes and shoes Fifth Aunt made for her.

The adoption ceremony is not as complicated as in later generations. It's quite simple: go to the Mo Family Ancestral Hall to pay homage to the ancestors. The ceremony only concludes after Lan Tian's name is registered in the family genealogy in the presence of two elder ancestors of the Mo Family and the village chief. Afterwards, the village chief would go to town to add Lan Tian's name under Grandma Sun's household registration, and from then on, Lan Tian would officially be a person of Mo Village.

Mo Yuanle and his wife went to the Ancestor Temple ahead of time to prepare the offerings needed for the ancestral homage. When Zhao Li arrived, Lan Tian was looking at herself in the mirror, while Grandma Sun was washing dishes in the kitchen. Zhao Li called out as she entered the courtyard, "Auntie, are you done?"

Lan Tian gripped the door frame, leaning forward to look outside, "Auntie, you're here! Have you had breakfast? Grandma is washing the dishes, she will be done soon."

"I've eaten. Oh, looking at yourself in the mirror, huh? Let me see…" Zhao Li held Lan Tian's face, turning it left and right, then 'smack smack', kissed her cheeks, "You've gotten fairer, and your cheeks are plump. My Tiantian looks so beautiful today, just like a princess." Her tone was like coaxing a child. Although Lan Tian's body was that of a child, she was actually over a hundred years old. Weak and powerless, she couldn't break free from Fifth Aunt's clutches and could only look at her with innocent eyes, making Zhao Li reluctant to let go. It took Grandma Sun coming out to finally rescue her, and the three of them proceeded to the Ancestor Temple.

Lan Tian's name remained the same, named Lan Tian as before. Since then, Grandma Sun called her 'Lanlan', Fifth Aunt called her 'Tiantian', and Uncle called her 'lass'.

The night Mo Yuanle spoke to the village chief about adopting Lan Tian, by the next day, all of Mo Village knew about it. Grandma Sun, being a childless widow eligible for welfare, it was only fitting for her to adopt a child to support her in old age, and the village chief agreed immediately.

Mo Village is surrounded by mountains with only a rough road connecting to the outside world, practically secluded from the rest of civilization. Since the village's founding many generations ago, no outsider had entered. With Grandma Sun adopting Lan Tian as a granddaughter, it was the biggest news in Mo Village.

There she was, walking down the road, like a featured exhibit. Lan Tian herself was unaware of this uniqueness. The only difference today was that the villagers were unusually enthusiastic, greeting Grandma Sun with comments like, "Sister-in-law, is this your granddaughter? Nice," followed by a slew of kids pointing and making remarks at her.

Burning incense to the ancestors, three bows and then kneeling, an elder of the Mo Family intoned the rites, "Today we have a girl born in 1970 in Dragon Country... entering our Mo Family, hereafter recognized by the descendants of the Mo Family as the granddaughter of Mo Jiahua, surnamed Mo, named Lan Tian. We open the Ancestor Temple, the ceremony is complete!"

This elder of the Mo Family, with white at his temples and advanced in age, still had a powerful voice. Half an hour into the chanting, it lulled Lan Tian to sleep. Grandma Sun, kneeling beside, saw her granddaughter's head drooping slowly and subtly nudged her. Lan Tian, half-asleep, looked up, charmingly innocent, and Grandma Sun couldn't resist pulling her up, affirming Lan Tian's rightful place as her granddaughter from this day forward in the Mo Family.

After the homage to ancestors, the weather remained clear without rain. They harvested the rice and then went to plant the next season's seedlings, Grandma Sun and Fifth Aunt went to transplant rice seedlings.

This morning, Lan Tian drank the porridge Grandma left, fed the chickens and ducks, boiled a pot of water, cooled the copper pot by the well, and once cooled, filled a thermos to bring to Grandma and Fifth Aunt working in the rice fields outside the village.

The boiled water took some time to cool. Lan Tian sat under a camphor tree facing the front gate, seemingly gazing at the distant mountain peaks, but actually lost in thought.

After a mundane half month, Lan Tian finally believed she had returned, not in a dream, nor undergoing the Heart Demon Tribulation. Dreams aren't this vivid; the Heart Demon wouldn't let her relive her childhood but would send her back to when Grandma had just died.

Lan Tian sighed, feeling a mix of emotions, initially thrilled thinking she achieved Foundation Establishment, only to die in the Heart Demon Tribulation and somehow return to her childhood.

Could it be that fate saw her suffering too much in her previous life and granted her a chance to start over?

Heh... Let's be serious, everyone is grown up here!

According to the Cultivation World, what happened to her is called soul transmigration, only this time it was into her own body, thus not implicating any other karma. Lan Tian felt quite fortunate, behaving naturally with her family but indifferent to outsiders.