Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Transmigrated as a Baby
"Don’t blame me. If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for being born from that slut’s womb. Now, just die and be reborn."
Drifting in and out of consciousness, Yun Jiao heard a woman say those words. Immediately after, a sense of weightlessness washed over her.
SPLASH...
In an instant, she was enveloped by the seawater.
Yun Jiao instinctively flailed her hands and tail, but she soon realized her tail... was gone.
In the dead of night, anyone who happened by would have cried out in shock, for the thing thrown into the sea was a baby.
A normal child would have drowned soon after sinking into the sea.
But this tiny infant was now inhabited by the soul of a Deep Sea Merfolk from the Otherworld.
The seawater posed no threat to her. In fact, it felt wonderfully familiar. She felt no discomfort even as the water washed over her face.
After an unknown amount of time, Yun Jiao exhaustedly closed her eyes, her tiny body drifting along with the waves.
The fish in the sea noticed this strange newcomer. A few swam closer out of curiosity, but none harmed her. Instead, they began to circle around her.
Suddenly, an enormous sea turtle swam over.
The great turtle circled the sleeping infant twice, then decisively took hold of her little clothes in its mouth and swam off in a specific direction.
The next morning...
Dawn was breaking. The sky was still dark and heavy, but a single ray of light was enough to illuminate the situation on the beach.
Resources were still scarce in 1980, especially for small seaside fishing villages. To fill their bellies, people had to go to the beach every day to find food. With any luck, they might find some valuable seafood to sell and supplement their family’s income.
The tide had just gone out. Villagers who had timed it perfectly headed to the beach with their buckets, eyes still bleary with sleep, to forage for whatever the sea had left behind.
Seeing the growing crowd, Yun Xiaowu headed for a more remote spot.
Heh... He had a secret spot. He could always find good things there, and he was the only one who knew about it.
"Huh? A big one!"
He spotted something big moving on the distant reef flat and took off at a run.
But as he got closer, he jumped back in fright.
It was a giant sea turtle!
"Whoa, that’s a huge turtle."
The hopeful glint in his eyes vanished.
’I thought it was some huge fish, but it’s just a sea turtle!’
He would’ve been happy to find turtle eggs, but of all things, it had to be a turtle.
According to the local customs, a sea turtle was the Dragon King’s Turtle Minister. Catching one would bring bad luck.
People who made their living from the sea were very superstitious.
Yun Xiaowu walked over and patted the great turtle’s shell. "Turtle Minister, what are you doing up here? You should get back in the sea."
The turtle moved its somewhat clumsy body, turned its head, and nudged something toward Yun Xiaowu’s feet with its beak.
Yun Xiaowu looked down, then let out a piercing shriek.
’A baby! It’s a baby!!!’
Yun Xiaowu’s face went deathly pale with fright. He thought the baby was dead.
The turtle gave him a look one might give an idiot.
Still holding the slumbering Yun Jiao in its mouth, it nudged her toward him again.
Yun Xiaowu snapped out of it and, trembling, took a closer look.
He saw that although the infant’s clothes were soaked, her face was rosy and she was still breathing.
He quickly scooped up the infant. The turtle, as if its mission was complete, left the child with him and crawled back into the sea.
Yun Xiaowu was visibly flustered. "Wait, Turtle Minister, hold on!"
But it was no use. The Turtle Minister had already vanished into the waves.
Yun Xiaowu: ...
’What do I do? I just came out for a bit and ended up with a baby.’
Feeling conflicted, he knew he couldn’t just leave the baby here. He carefully cradled the child in his arms and ran for home.
’Looking closer, this baby is really pretty.’
...
"What did you say? You brought back a what?!"
Early that morning, a roar echoed from the Yunmu Family’s home.
The roar slowly woke Yun Jiao.
She opened her eyes, letting out an unconscious whimper.
Instantly, everyone in the dilapidated house turned to stare at the baby in Yun Xiaowu’s arms.
Yun Jiao wiggled her arms and legs. She felt like she was being restrained. Her little face scrunched up as she tried to struggle angrily.
But her struggles were useless. Yun Jiao grew annoyed, and her whimpers turned into tiny, frustrated cries of "Ah! Ah!"
Yun Jiao: ???
Yun Jiao: !!!
’What have I become?!’
"Quick, get this baby into some dry clothes."
The Yun family sprang into action. As Yun Xiaowu’s mother was changing the infant’s clothes, she cried out in surprise.
"Father! Mother! It’s a girl!"
Yun Jiao’s eyes widened as she stared at the person leaning over her. ’What is this thing?’
A girl! All the men in the house grew excited.
"Move aside, everyone! Let me have a look."
Granny Yun pushed her sons aside and peered down. A huge smile blossomed on her face.
"It really is a girl! And such a pretty one! Look at these little arms and legs, so pale and chubby! Oh, and her big eyes are so bright and lively! Her little face is just beautiful, so beautiful! She looks just like one of the little attendants you see with the immortals."
Several heads crowded in for a look at this rare sight.
Everyone started chattering at once. "She’s so pretty! Is she really a little sister?"
"Xiao Wu, where did you find her?"
"Dad, can we keep her?"
Seeing that everyone adored the sweet little baby, Yun Xiaowu puffed out his chest, his earlier apprehension gone.
He said mysteriously, "You might not believe this, but she was a gift from the Dragon King."
He’d barely finished speaking when his father rapped him on the forehead.
"Cut the nonsense and speak plainly! I’ll beat you senseless if you keep spinning tall tales!"
Yun Xiaowu hopped in agitation. "But it’s true! I didn’t see the Dragon King, but I saw the Turtle Minister! It was a giant sea turtle, and it’s the one who gave me the baby!"
Seeing that he didn’t seem to be lying, the rest of the Yun family was stunned.
Old Man Yun took two puffs from his long-stemmed pipe.
"I’ll go ask the village chief if anyone in the nearby villages has lost a baby. If not..."
He looked at the fair-skinned baby girl and made up his mind. "Then we’ll raise her as our own!"
It was no wonder the whole family was so delighted. The truth was... their family was overflowing with boys and had no girls.
The family had more than a dozen members, but only three of the elders were women. The younger generation was composed entirely of boys.
Nine children, and every single one was a boy.
Everyone else envied them for having so many sons, but only the family itself knew what a burden it was to have so many boys—so many mouths to feed.
As a result, their family was now the poorest in all of Bailong Village.
It wasn’t that Mr. Yun and the others wanted to have so many children. It was mainly that in those days, especially in the countryside, there wasn’t much in the way of birth control. Once a woman was pregnant, they couldn’t bear the thought of an abortion, so they had no choice but to have the baby.
Only after Little Nine was born did they learn that women could get IUDs. The two wives in the family went to get them without a second thought. If they had any more children, the whole family would starve.
"Are we really going to keep her? With our family’s situation, how can we possibly afford to raise another child?"
Another woman’s voice piped up.
Hearing this, Yun Xiaowu clutched the swaddled Yun Jiao protectively.
"If Little Uncle and Little Aunt won’t raise her, my parents and I will! I’m the one who found her. She’s my sister."
Aunt Yun put her hands on her hips. "You little brat, do you think raising a child is as easy as raising a kitten or a puppy? She’s still so little, she’ll need milk. Where in the world are we going to find milk for her?"
"Then I’ll take my sister and go ask for milk."
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