Volume One Chapter One In a Year of Famine, Who Would Refuse Heaven’s Favored Child of Fortune?

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In the winter valley, the cold wind howled. The underbrush rustled, and from afar came a heavy, grunting sound. A fat wild boar burst out of the thicket, likely weighing a good hundred pounds or more.

Hidden in the shadows, Jiang Xian tensed, her brow furrowed, instinctively gripping the trigger of the trap, prepared to act at the perfect moment.

The wild boar’s thick tusks gleamed coldly, its beady eyes—like green peas—darted about with vigilance, bristling hackles standing on end as it stepped slowly toward a rabbit nestled atop a thick carpet of fallen leaves.

Jiang Xian gave a sharp tug. With a sudden crash, the tripwire snapped taut, catching the boar off guard and tripping its front legs. The massive beast lunged forward, crashing heavily into the pit she had prepared long ago.

Several sharpened bamboo stakes pierced the boar’s body in an instant. The creature let out a piercing scream, struggled desperately for a few moments, and then was still.

“Wonderful! Another fruitful day!” Jiang Xian exclaimed with delight.

She effortlessly scooped up the rabbit and tossed it into her basket. Then, with barely any effort, she lifted the ropes tied at the four corners, hauling the adult boar up and slipping it into a burlap sack, slinging it over her shoulder with satisfaction as she headed down the mountain.

In three years of drought, only Jiang Xian had been able to hunt game in these southern mountains.

Nearby, several hunters from neighboring villages watched enviously as Jiang Xian descended, a wild boar over her shoulder and a brace of rabbits and pheasants on her back, all sighing in frustration.

“That girl is incredibly strong, and she has all the luck—she puts everyone else to shame!”

“Exactly! I haven’t caught anything in three days. If this keeps up, I’ll have to head south and seek refuge elsewhere.”

“Let’s go, let’s go. We’ll try another spot. The game’s all been hunted out by that girl, and we’re about to freeze out here!”

The hunters trudged off together, heading deeper into the mountains.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xian followed a narrow path down the slope, planning to sell her wild game at the market and pick up some New Year’s supplies for a prosperous holiday at home.

Lately, many families had moved out of the village, leaving plenty of vacant farmland. Jiang Xian had managed to save up fifty taels of silver and figured she could buy some choice rice paddies and fields.

Walking along the ridge toward the village, she bumped into the village headman hurrying toward the entrance. Noticing the dark, reddish hue between his brows—a sure omen of impending trouble—she called out, “Uncle Headman, where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”

Ever since she had crossed into this imagined Great Xia Dynasty eighteen years ago, Jiang Xian had discovered not only her superhuman strength, but also the ability to see the luck others could not.

Through years of observation, she had identified five distinct colors of luck: golden luck denoted boundless fortune, red luck signified longevity and prosperity, white luck was neutral, gray luck meant hard times ahead, and black luck was a sign of dire misfortune—if someone had dark clouds hanging over them, they would be plagued by ill luck their whole life.

There might be colors she hadn’t discovered yet, but every time her predictions proved true, she grew more confident in her unique ability.

The headman glanced up and, seeing it was Jiang Xian, smiled. This girl always remembered to bring him some wild game during festivals, thoughtful and capable. Even during the three years of drought, she had never missed a visit, and her household only seemed to prosper more each year—a clever, resourceful girl.

He answered with a grin, “I had just gotten to the fields when someone called me back—Chen Sanlai and his wife are about to abandon Silly Lass, and I have to go sort it out.”

Jiang Xian had glimpsed that little girl before: chubby and blessed, her face aglow with golden light, a child destined for great fortune.

A girl with such auspicious luck in the household would only bring increasing prosperity. What on earth were Chen Sanlai and his wife thinking, planning to abandon a child of destiny?

Curious, Jiang Xian asked, “Didn’t they just adopt her a couple of years ago? What suddenly made them decide to throw her out?”

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“I don’t understand it myself!” The headman grew indignant at the mention.

Three years ago, while heading to the fields at dawn, he’d found the little girl on the path—a plump, adorable child, like a figure from a New Year painting, dressed in a red silk bellyband embroidered with golden clouds and phoenixes, clearly from a wealthy family.

He’d searched everywhere for her parents, even went to the county town, but no one claimed a lost child. In the end, he had to treat her as abandoned and prepared to send her to the county orphanage.

Chen Sanlai and his wife had intercepted him at the village entrance, insisting on adopting the child as they’d been childless for ten years and longed for a lucky little girl.

As it happened, Chen Sanlai was the headman’s nephew, not far removed in kinship. Though he was a bit of a layabout, he was still family, so the adoption was witnessed by the clan elders in the ancestral hall. The couple renamed the girl Chen Laidi, but called her Silly Lass for short.

There’s an old saying in the village: an unflattering name helps a child survive.

The couple truly doted on Silly Lass, dressing her up every day and giving her the best of food and drink.

The child was sensible and sweet, cooking for her parents by age three, feeding the chickens and cutting pigweed, her honeyed words keeping the couple content and free from quarrels.

A year after adopting Silly Lass, Chen Sanlai’s wife became pregnant and gave birth to twin boys—big, healthy babies loved by all, who ate and slept well and never fussed. Everyone credited Silly Lass’s fortune for bringing the brothers.

Despite the three years of drought, every household tightening their belts, Chen Sanlai struck it rich while peddling goods—he found a large nugget of gold, sold it for two hundred taels of silver, built a grand brick house, and lived in luxury, drawing envy from the village.

Even as poorer families held onto their children, his was the first to make a fuss about abandoning their adopted daughter. How could the headman not be angry?

Recalling the headman’s impending misfortune, Jiang Xian kindly offered, “I was just heading to Doctor Chen’s house myself. Why not go together and see what’s happening?”

“Sure, let’s go. But aren’t you tired carrying that boar on your shoulder?” the headman asked, curious.

Jiang Xian shook her head. “Not at all, I’m used to it. It’s nothing!”

“You really are something, girl. Your parents are lucky to have you!” he exclaimed.

Jiang Xian only smiled. With her superhuman strength, carrying two or three hundred pounds was like lifting air. No matter the task, she could do the work of ten. Maybe these gifts were heaven’s compensation for crossing into this godforsaken place.

They hadn’t gone far when a stretch of the ridge suddenly cracked and collapsed.

Jiang Xian dropped the boar and dashed forward, grabbing the headman and whisking him to safety as easily as lifting a chick. Looking at the gaping pit, she asked, “Uncle Headman, are you all right?”

Heart still pounding, the headman stared at the bottomless hole, then exhaled and shook his head. “I’m fine. Thank you, Xian girl! If not for you, I’d have been crippled!”

Jiang Xian saw the black aura dissipate from his brow, replaced by a faint red glow—disaster averted.

She replied modestly, “It was nothing, just a small favor.”

But the headman made a note in his heart to repay her someday. “Let’s go settle things at Sanlai’s, then I’ll thank you properly!”

“No need to stand on ceremony.”

They set off again, Jiang Xian returning to heft the hundred-plus-pound boar onto her shoulder.

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The headman once again sighed inwardly—if only this Xian girl were his daughter.

At the village entrance, the grand three-courtyard brick house belonged to Chen Sanlai.

A crowd had gathered at the gate, voices brimming with indignation.

“Chen Sanlai, are your hearts made of charcoal? Even us poor folks never think of abandoning our children, yet you, living so well, want to throw out Silly Lass?”

“Exactly! Three years ago, the headman was going to send her to the orphanage, but you insisted on adopting her. She brought you twins and a stroke of luck, and now you want to cast her aside?”

“If you truly don’t want her, at least send her to the headman so he can find her a good home! Why dump her at the doorstep and douse her with slop? She’ll catch her death of cold in this weather!”

“Such cruelty! How could our village have people as heartless as you?”

No matter how the villagers scolded, Chen Sanlai and his wife remained unmoved.

On the ground, Silly Lass shivered violently from the cold. She wore only thin clothes, now soaked with slop, her lips turning purple as she looked up tearfully at the parents she had called to for three years, pleading for mercy.

“Father, Mother, please don’t send me away. I’ll eat less, work even harder, and take care of my little brothers. I beg you, please don’t drive me out…”

The little girl tried to crawl toward the Chen family’s doorstep, but Chen Sanlai stomped over, angrily kicking at the mud by the door, scaring her into stillness. She pouted, head held high, eyes brimming with tears—utterly pitiful.

Chen Sanlai was unmoved, roaring fiercely, “Get lost! If you don’t leave, I’ll kick you to death!”

“Father, I can’t bear to leave you and Mother. I’ll do whatever you say, just please don’t send me away…”

“Enough wailing! You’re not our real daughter anyway. Go wherever you want, just stop taking food from my sons’ mouths!”

When Jiang Xian and the headman arrived, this was the scene that greeted them.

Silly Lass, lying on the ground, her round little face dirty, hair a tangled mess, her bright eyes brimming with tears as she crawled pitifully toward the Chen family’s threshold. For all her wretchedness, her good looks shone through.

Jiang Xian thought, cleaned up and dressed properly, she would be a beautiful, lively girl.

Normally, a child abused and mistreated would gradually show hardship in her features, a dull gray aura like a pearl gathering dust. But around Silly Lass, the golden glow of fortune had not diminished at all—such concentrated luck, could she be a child of destiny?

Jiang Xian glanced at Chen Sanlai and his wife. A child with such overwhelming good fortune would bring luck to those around her. Yet, the well-fed couple now had black clouds swirling about their brows—a sign of imminent misfortune.

Just then, Chen Sanlai’s wife, Zhao Jinniang, came out with a bucket of slop and dumped it ruthlessly over Silly Lass, shouting slanderously, “Go, go, our house is too small for a greedy, lazy girl like you! Leave at once!”

With this, the blackness on Zhao Jinniang’s brow deepened, the golden luck nearly vanished.

Jiang Xian’s pupils widened, as if she had discovered a new world.