[Little Ya, you are finally awake!] The System shouted in her mind, full of anxiety.
[System, where are we?] She asked in trepidation, her grape-like eyes trying to scan the surroundings.
The thick vegetation was all over the place, and occasionally there were some dead trees mixed in. The man was carrying her like a rag doll, holding her from her back's clothes.
It was really uncomfortable and… dangerous. If the clothes were torn because it couldn't hold her weight anymore, she would fall down.
At this moment, Xiao Qingya would be stupid not to realize she had been kidnapped. There was a strange man holding her—her mother or siblings wouldn't hold her like this!
Unfortunately, the System also couldn't answer much since it had just woken up around the same time she regained her consciousness.
She also heard the notification sound, and when she checked it, she found out that her latest mission had been completed. She had earned fifty points from changing Zhou Shuran's plot.
Even so, she couldn't be happy because of her current predicament.
[Is this not written in the plot?] She asked the System with a hopeful tone tinged with desperation.
[Host, there is no such a plot. This might be the butterfly effect of the plot you have changed before.] The System told her before it fell silent.
It was about how to help Xiao Qingya escape. They couldn't afford to go to the next world with such an opportunity presented before them.
Xiao Qingya silently shed some tears inside her heart.
Will she die again this time?
***
A few hours after the incident at the river, Zhou Shuran finally calmed down a little. Besides the fright, she didn't suffer any physical injuries.
The plan to go home earlier was thus postponed.
"Little Ya is sleeping?" She asked, watching the little one from outside the bedroom.
Zhou Anran was busy, and as such, she just told her elder sister and the children to go to the fields. She didn't want her matters to hold them back. They went to the field a little later than usual after making sure Zhou Shuran was alright.
"She looks tired," Xiao Yuyan muttered, nodding as she closed the door.
Zhou Shuran had changed her plan to go back during lunch when her elder sister and the children returned. Xiao Fenghao would escort her back home.
"She woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep. Let's not disturb her," Zhou Shuran said gently and took Xiao Yuyan's hands.
The two had no other activities they could do. After they watered the vegetables growing around the house and picked them, they went to the kitchen to prepare more food for lunch.
Previously, they only had the time to get a few bites of steamed bun for breakfast, which made Zhou Shuran feel somewhat guilty. Her elder sister's family didn't even have the time to take care of themselves because of her.
"Little Aunt, you look so pale. Take a rest and don't force yourself," Xiao Yuyan suggested in a concerned tone. "You also couldn't sleep last night, right?"
She was actually also quite worried about her little sister's health. Xiao Qingya rarely woke up in the middle of the night—when she slept, she resembled their second brother more, like a log.
The difference was in their biological clock. Xiao Qingya almost always slept and woke up at the same time every day, unlike Xiao Fenghao's disordered sleeping schedule.
She didn't know whether it was because of the System's existence which influenced her.
As they conversed, they suddenly heard a rapid knocking on the door. The person proved to be an impatient one, as if they wanted to smash the door just to get inside.
Zhou Shuran's expression changed slightly. "Yan'er, stay here. I will go to greet the guest."
Xiao Yuyan nodded, and an inexplicable feeling filled her heart. She stared at the back of her little aunt thoughtfully. Zhou Shuran soon left the room.
Speaking of her little aunt, she had confirmed with her mother and others that she couldn't hear Xiao Qingya's inner thoughts. Otherwise, Zhou Shuran wouldn't be caught off guard even if she didn't believe the little one's conversation with the System.
The fear painted on Zhou Shuran's face or her trembling body this morning wasn't fake.
As Xiao Yuyan was a little too engrossed in her thoughts, she was startled when a shrill voice cut through the room.
A familiar old woman appeared on the door's threshold. Her eyes sharp as she scanned the room, and in a furious, unpleasant voice that could shatter one's drums, she scolded Xiao Yuyan.
"What kind of niece are you? Such an unfilial child!" Chen Huayun's chest heaved with rage. "How can you make your aunt do this kind of work?! You deliberately didn't let her go back because you enjoyed free labor, didn't you?"
"Your mother is such an ungrateful wretch." She sneered, voice boomed in the room. "The daughters she gave birth to are all the same, vile and cunning."
"Mother!" Zhou Shuran tried to explain exasperation amidst her mother's torrent of words. "Don't blame Yan'er or elder sister. It's me who wants to stay here longer."
She was truly embarrassed right now. The moment she opened the door, she hadn't expected her mother would barge in recklessly into the house like that.
"Shut up!" Chen Huayun scolded Zhou Shuran. "You don't know when people are trying to take advantage of you. I wonder who did you take after!"
She crossed her arms on her chest and demanded to Xiao Yuyan, glaring at her. "Where is Zhou Anran, that wretch?"
"Since Shu'er has helped your family today, it should be that wretch turns to be filial and help her parents' family. As a daughter, she can do that much, right?" She said mockingly before Zhou Shuran could even utter a few words to interrupt her mother.
Chen Huayun's barrage of insults lasted for a long time. From the initial silence, Xiao Yuyan grew annoyed. She was also worried whether the commotion had woken up her little sister.
She got up and exited the kitchen, earning even more fierce scolding from Chen Huayun. However, the moment she stepped into the room, Xiao Yuyan froze.
Her sister had disappeared!