As soon as Xuanbao's childish voice fell, the whole courtyard fell silent, even the chirping of insects and birds stopped.
Mrs. Zhao's mouth opened wide, too shocked to scream.
How did this fool know there was no fetus in her womb?
Granny Lei's body stiffened, and she looked down at the child in her arms with disbelief.
She had just heard a child's soft, milky voice, was it Xuanbao speaking?
There was only one child in the courtyard—Xuanbao, right?
Was her Xuanbao able to speak?
Mrs. Liu also looked incredulously at her daughter, her heart in her throat, her lips slightly trembling, rubbing her ears carefully as she asked, "Xuanbao, did you... did you just speak?"
Was she hearing things?
Xuanbao had just spoken!
And she called out "Mom"!
Was it an auditory illusion?
Xuanbao thought Mrs. Liu hadn't heard clearly, so she repeated, "Mom, she doesn't have a fetus in her belly, so why is there fetal movement?"
Mrs. Liu burst into tears.
It was true, Xuanbao was speaking!
Granny Lei's eyes turned red.
Oh! Her Xuanbao was speaking, her words clear and her voice so sweet, it was delightful!
Mrs. Zhao nearly died from fright, shouting loudly: "Xuanbao, what nonsense are you talking! You're just a three-year-old kid, what do you know? The doctor in town said I have a baby sister in my belly!"
Mrs. Zhao deliberately said it was a sister, knowing Granny Lei had six sons and four grandsons, and that the Ruo Family lacked girls for generations, which is why they cherished Xuanbao, this foolish child!
But no one paid her words any mind.
Or rather, whether there was a baby in her belly was completely unimportant!
How could that be more important than Xuanbao being able to speak?
The two of them were completely immersed in the joy of Xuanbao speaking.
For more than three years, they had been hoping for this day!
Mrs. Liu, tears streaming down, excitedly told Granny Lei: "Mother, Xuanbao can speak now! Xuanbao called me mom!"
Granny Lei nodded vigorously in excitement, "I heard it, I heard it!"
She wiped away her tears with her hand, soothingly coaxing, "Xuanbao, I'm Grandma, call me Grandma."
"Grandma," Xuanbao obediently called out.
"Good girl, good Xuanbao! Xuanbao is amazing, she called Grandma! Haha... Xuanbao called Grandma... boohoo..." Granny Lei cried and laughed.
"Can Xuanbao call me 'Mom' again?"
"Mom," Xuanbao sweetly called out again, without getting tired of it.
She knew the two were her reincarnated grandmother and mother.
Her memories were filled with their care for this physical form.
She not only had a mom and a grandmother, but also a dad, five uncles, and four brothers. Everyone treated her well, often talking and playing with her.
It was wonderful!
In this life, she finally wasn't just a lonely flower.
"Boohoo..." Mrs. Liu and Granny Lei couldn't help but hug Xuanbao tightly, crying together!
Xuanbao, nearly suffocating from the hug: "..."
Mrs. Zhao was stunned too, how did this foolish child suddenly start talking?
But, she actually knew about her pretending to be pregnant? It would have been better if she never spoke, remaining a fool!
At that moment, the men of the Ruo Family returned from the fields, seeing the three hugging and crying, all were stunned.
Ruo Shui, seeing his mother and wife holding his daughter and crying, felt a heart-stopping moment, his face momentarily panicked: "What's going on? Mother, what happened?"
Everyone else was terrified too, asking what had happened.
Mrs. Zhao, seeing her husband return, felt guilty and quickly hid back in the house.
She was afraid Xuanbao would again say there was no baby in her belly, making Ruo He suspicious, leading him to realize nothing happened back then, and he would dismiss her.
Mrs. Liu and Granny Lei, seeing them return, quickly wiped away their tears.
Grandma Lei happily told everyone: "Xuanbao can speak now! Xuanbao just called me Grandma!"
Mrs. Liu excitedly said: "Husband, Xuanbao can speak now! Xuanbao, Daddy is back, call Daddy!"
"Dad!" Xuanbao obediently called out.
This shout of "Dad" was like thunder on a clear day, exploding in the Ruo Family's small courtyard!
It made Ruo Shui, a seven-foot-tall man, instantly tear up, standing there unable to move, not knowing what to do, with only one thought in his mind: Xuanbao could speak! Xuanbao could call him Dad!!
After calling out, Xuanbao rubbed her eyes, as if she had just seen a black aura enveloping her dad, but it disappeared immediately, making her suspect she had seen it wrong.
"Xuanbao called me brother! Xuanbao called me brother!" The little boy jumped up in excitement.
"Xuanbao, I'm the elder brother! Ruo Zhou, the eldest brother! Call me elder brother! I'll get you bird eggs!"
"Xuanbao, second uncle, call second uncle..."
"Xuanbao, second aunt..."
"Third uncle! Xuanbao, call third uncle..."
"Xuanbao, second brother..."
...
The whole family was scrambling to get Xuanbao to call them by their titles.
Granny Lei had six sons, named Ruo Hai, Ruo Jiang, Ruo He, Ruo Shui, Ruo Shan, and Ruo Chuan.
At that moment, only the second son's family, the third son, the fourth son, the sixth son, and the four grandsons were present.
Xuanbao obediently called them all: "Second uncle, second aunt, third uncle, sixth uncle, elder brother...,"
The sound was clear and pleasant, like celestial music!
The people of the Ruo Family turned their heads to wipe away tears secretly.
It was so beautiful!
This was the most moving sound in the world, without a doubt.
They had hoped for this call for more than three years, over a thousand days and nights.
Finally, it had come!
Now they could see who would still dare to say their Xuanbao was a fool!
At this moment, they thought Xuanbao speaking was the biggest surprise, but even more surprises were to come.
During dinner, Xuanbao was able to feed herself.
When it was bath time, Xuanbao wanted to wash herself.
After the bath, Xuanbao dressed herself and walked out.
Xuanbao not only spoke, ate, and bathed herself, she could also walk!
So many surprises made the Ruo Family a bit incredulous, as if they were dreaming.
It was late at night, and the whole village was asleep.
Ruo Shui and his wife held each other and cried silently, out of joy and the many past hardships and heartaches.
They didn't dare sleep, fearing they would wake up to find it was just a dream.
Ruo Xuan's soul had just recovered, and with a child's body, she had long fallen asleep from exhaustion.
Ruo Shui asked Mrs. Liu how Xuanbao suddenly started speaking; the night had too many surprises, and he had forgotten to ask.
"I don't know either, I went with Mother to deliver firewood to the village chief, leaving Xuanbao alone in the house. When we came back, we saw Xuanbao... but I have already retaliated!" Mrs. Liu recounted the situation in detail.
Thinking of Xuanbao's darkened face and bruises, she wished she could beat Mrs. Zhao up again.
"Good beating!" Ruo Shui's heart twisted as he listened, clenching his fist. Was Zhao not human?
Ruo Shui wanted to check Xuanbao's injuries. Though his wife had applied medicine, he was still uneasy, but it was too dark around to see clearly. He could only feel his daughter's breath—she was breathing.
Only then did he relax.
If she weren't pregnant with his third brother's child, and if he didn't have a rule against hitting women, he would have wanted to get up and beat her again!
But since he couldn't beat her, she shouldn't expect to have a good life either!
She almost killed his daughter. There was no way she could stay at the Ruo Family!
Mrs. Liu thought of something and said, "Do you think Xuanbao's soul woke up because she choked?"
Before, they had taken Xuanbao to see many doctors, who all said she was born mentally handicapped and incurable.
They didn't believe it and didn't give up. Xuanbao was so good; how could she be mentally handicapped?
Later, a wandering monk said Xuanbao wasn't mentally handicapped, only that her soul hadn't awakened. Once it did, she would be normal.
However, the monk didn't know when her soul would awaken, only that it could happen anytime or never in her lifetime.
But they all believed Xuanbao would wake up one day.
For the first time, Ruo Shui trusted heaven: "Heaven blessed us, Xuanbao finally awakened!"
Mrs. Liu agreed: "Husband, I want to find a good day to repay the gods at the temple."
"Okay." Ruo Shui wanted to ask if Xuanbao's first words were calling for her mother and what else she said.
At that moment, Ruo Xuan turned over.
He immediately fell silent.
Fearing to wake the child, they didn't dare speak anymore, nor move, and they slowly fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, Ruo Xuan was awakened by hunger, her stomach growling.
Last night's dinner was just a big bowl of wild vegetable soup. Usually, at night, she could have a bowl of egg custard and a bowl of wild vegetable soup.
This treatment was unique to her in the Ruo Family, but Zhao ate that bowl of egg custard.
Ruo Xuan knew from memories that the family was too poor to afford food without silver to buy grain.
The reason was her uncle, bitten by a dog in the military camp, got rabies and bit people, costing a lot of silver in compensation.
Her second uncle went to the county for exams, didn't see the road in the dark, fell off a mountain, broke his leg, and the treatment cost a lot of silver, too.
Her third uncle had an eye disease, couldn't see at night, and had seen many doctors without being cured.
Since birth, she hadn't cried or made noise, didn't speak or walk by age three. Her parents visited many doctors for her, spending much silver.
The family's earnings weren't enough for them three's medicine, so they became poorer.
Ruo Xuan thought that the Ruo Family shouldn't be like this.
It must be because of that black aura.
A black aura overhead meant being plagued by bad luck, but where did the bad luck come from?
She was too hungry and lacked Spiritual Power, unable to find the reason for now.
As a Xuancao Flower that only needed sunlight and rain to grow, she understood hunger for the first time, and it was a bit unpleasant.
Ruo Xuan thought of cultivation, it would stop the hunger!
Moreover, through cultivation, she could gain Spiritual Power!
Ruo Xuan immediately started to cultivate, only to sadly discover that the Spiritual Energy here was too thin! Almost nonexistent!
Moreover, her body's Dantian felt like it was frozen, unable to store Spiritual Energy at all.
She glanced at the moonlight streaming through the small window.
Fortunately, being a flower, she could absorb the Sun and Moon Essence to cultivate.
She quietly crawled into the moonlight and lay there, then in her tiny Dantian, she diligently dug and dug!
Dug a pit to store Spiritual Energy.
It was almost dawn before she finally dug a small pit, storing a tiny bit of Spiritual Energy, just enough for a small spell.
Her stomach still growled a bit, and she wanted to eat.
Ruo Xuan then thought of the unripened persimmons hanging on the tree in the yard and the old hen too old to lay eggs.