Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 1

Disputing Over an Egg

Late at night, Mo Yan sat in front of her computer and placed her hands on her keyboard, then took them back off repeatedly without saying a single word.

She was an unknown web novel author, whose favourite thing was to write xianxia novels full of mystique and a hint of whimsy. In her opinion, it was paramount that the male lead was celestial-like, and the female lead was beautiful.

But recently, xianxia novels had fallen by the wayside in favour of farming novels set in the past. As Mo Yan had grown up in a small village, she thought she’d be able to come up with something good, so steeled her nerves and started to write a farming novel of her own.

She had only written just over a hundred thousand words before she gave up. [1]

Despite initially being enthusiastic about the prospect, she was afraid any prospecting publishers wouldn’t like it, and her web novel would be laughed at by her friends.

She didn’t know the first thing about daily life in ancient times, let alone becoming a farmer or running a business! If only she could go live in a farming village from the past to know what it was really like…

In the end, Mo Yan succumbed to sleep before she could write anything, and her head laid on top of her keyboard. A long string of gibberish started showing up on her screen.

“Yan’er, Yan’er!” (The name of a character, followed by ‘’er’, is considered an endearing term.)

A hurried shout woke her up. When she opened her eyes, she saw a lady in ancient clothing hugging her as she slapped her cheek lightly while calling her. When she saw that Mo Yan had woken up, her face, previously full of tears, started smiling.

Mo Yan took a look at her surroundings. She was in a farmer’s home, and although it was simple, it was kept neat and tidy. Even though bricks hadn’t been laid in the courtyard, it was sweeped impeccably clean. However, the ladder to the rooftop had collapsed on the floor.

The sky was grey and stormy, with thunder sounding in the distance. A few chickens started pecking at the earth to try and find worms.

Then, a sudden bout of dizziness hit her as memories that didn’t belong to her were shoved into her brain.

This was Chenzhong Village. Her soul had transmigrated into the body of a ten-year-old girl, who was also called Mo Yan.

There were five people in the Mo family. Her father was Mo Zenian, and he didn’t work in the village so was rarely at home. While her mother was Mrs. Liang, who was fierce and shrewish. She was known in the village as someone who shouldn’t be messed with, but she was also known as a good worker. [3]

Her brother was called Mo Feng, and he was fourteen. He was a good-for-nothing student who didn’t even understand a single book. Finally, there was her sister Mo Ling. She was sixteen and should’ve been married by now, but she had to help her mother take care of the household. Therefore, she was always incredibly busy.

I’ve actually transmigrated!

The woman in front of her wiped away her tears as she lectured Mo Yan, “You scared me to death! I told you not to go to the rooftop, I can cover the wheat grains by myself!”

“Sis, don’t worry. I’m completely fine.”

Mo Ling went inside the house and put her younger sister on the kang (a mix between a bed and a table), and checked if she was ok multiple times, and if anything hurt. Each time, Mo Yan shook her head and told her she was fine.

Then, the thunder rumbling in the distance got louder, and Mo Ling ran out to cover the wheat grains on the rooftop. Even though it wasn’t much, food was still food. If it was touched by rain and got mouldy, that would be a big waste.

The wheat grains were left on the rooftop because the chickens would eat it all if they saw it. When they got hungry, they could eat as much as a man.

Mo Ling had just gotten the ladder upright again when their mother rushed into the courtyard.

The sound of Mrs. Liang’s lecturing accompanied the rumbling of the thunder.

“Didn’t I tell you to cover up the wheat grains? Why haven’t you done that yet! If they aren’t safely in the house by the time it starts raining, I’ll-”

She would’ve probably continued lecturing Mo Ling for hours upon end if it wasn’t for a sudden coughing fit.

Mrs. Liang was recognised by the entirety of Chenzhong Village to be a hot-headed person. However, she wasn’t called a shrew because she wasn’t illogical, she just had a short fuse.

Mo Ling ignored her as she quickly climbed up onto the rooftop, bundled up the wheat grains, and put them into a sack. Then, as it hadn’t started raining yet, she breathed a sigh of relief as she covered the sack with an oilcloth and used a brick to hold it down before coming down from the rooftop.

Tending to the stove in the kitchen, Mo Ling finally got to take a well-deserved break. As she glanced around and saw that her mother hadn’t returned yet, she grabbed something from a basket suspended in mid-air.

There were eggs inside that basket, laid by the few chickens that they had. They were afraid rats would get to them and eat them, so they suspended the basket in mid-air. Next to it was another basket with leftovers inside.

Mo Ling took a little water from the water reservoir to wash an egg. Then, she secretly shoved it into a pot of porridge to cook.

When it was dark, it finally started raining. Mo Feng had gotten home from school and anxiously started asking when dinner was ready as soon as he stepped inside the house.

Mrs. Liang had joined them from the living room and asked with a smile on her face, “Feng’er, you’re back. Are you tired from studying?”

Mo Feng ignored her and hollered at the kitchen again, “Is dinner ready yet?!”

Mo Ling quelled the rage in her heart and replied, “Almost. We can eat soon.”

She knew that she’d have to endure another scolding by her mother if she spoke rudely towards Mo Feng. Even since Mo Yan was born, she had developed a persistent cough. It wasn’t too bad during the summer, but during the winter she’d cough so much she’d often be unable to catch her breath.

There wasn’t any need to check the stove further, so Mo Ling wanted to check on Mo Yan. It was dark inside their room, and she wanted to light a lamp. But then, she heard Mo Yan, who was still on the kang, say, “Let’s just go out!”

Mo Yan got down from the kang and walked towards her sister. Thankfully, there wasn’t a lot of furniture in their room, so she managed to not trip over anything just by holding onto the edge of the kang.

Suddenly, Mo Ling remembered the egg she had left inside the porridge. She left her sister behind and rushed towards the kitchen.

On the kitchen table, Mrs. Liang had put down a bowl of salted vegetables, a small bowl of yellow bean sauce, and a plate of green beans, fried without any salt or much oil. This was all of the food for the entire family. They could only get this much because it was currently the harvest season. In winter, they’d be lucky to have the salted vegetables.

Mo Feng had already flipped open the pot lid and was about to help himself to some porridge when Mo Ling hurriedly tried to stop him, “Let me do it.”

But she was a bit too late, and Mo Feng had already started scooping the porridge into his bowl. He felt something hard in the pot, so he scooped that up too and grinned, “There’s even an egg for me! Not bad, you must know I’m hungry.”

Mo Ling grabbed the handle of the ladle he was holding and berated him quietly, “Put it down, that’s not for you.”

“If it’s not for me, who’s it for? Mum? She’ll definitely let me have it.” After saying that, he endured the pain and quickly placed the egg in a bowl, then raised it into the air and yelled, “Mum, can I eat this egg?”

Mrs. Liang was confused, “What egg?”

It wasn’t for Mum! Mo Feng glared at Mo Ling, “So you were going to eat it in secret!”

That triggered Mo Ling and she smacked the hand Mo Feng was using to hold his bowl, “Scram! This egg is for Yan’er, her body’s weak and she needs the nutrition!”

Once he heard the egg was for Mo Yan, Mo Feng was full of shock and confusion, “She needs the nutrition? She doesn’t do anything but eat and sleep all day. What does she think she is, the daughter of a noble? In her dreams, maybe.”

Mrs. Liang slapped the table and roared, “Those eggs are meant to be sold! You unfilial child! Are you trying to make us go bankrupt?”

Mo Yan had just entered the kitchen at this point, and was immediately scared by her mother’s roar. She thought to herself, It would’ve been fine if the only change was that my life was a little harder, but coupled with this fiery mother of mine, this won’t be good.

Edited August 16, 2023, to try and get the rest of the story up to the current standards. This includes using the current terms and polishing up the translation.
[1] By Chinese web novel standards, that’s practically nothing.