Transmigrated as a Peasant Girl with Prophetic Dreams: Using My Space to Become the Richest Person - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Wang Dani is Missing

After finishing her talk with Yang Yu and Yang Tian, Yang Xue turned to Qian Yue’e. “Mother, we’re having wild chicken for dinner tonight.”

Qian Yue’e didn’t answer immediately, prompting Yang Xue to ask curiously, “Is something wrong?”

Qian Yue’e smiled weakly. “It’s nothing… it’s just, are we really going to eat it today?”

Clearly, Qian Yue’e was reluctant to part with such a valuable asset.

Yang Xue saw the hesitation in her mother’s eyes but pretended not to notice. She nodded firmly. “Yes, let’s eat it. Dr. Li said our bodies are weak; we must nourish ourselves to recover quickly.”

“Besides, this is a rooster. It won’t lay eggs even if we keep it. Keeping it would just waste our limited grain, and we don’t have any extra food to spare for a pet.”

Yang Xue had specifically chosen a rooster because she anticipated that her mother might want to raise it. By framing it as a “waste of grain” and a “necessity for recovery,” she gave her mother a practical reason to agree.

The moment Qian Yue’e heard that Yang Xue needed it for her recovery, the reluctance in her eyes vanished instantly.

She reached out and took the chicken with much more purpose. “Alright. Mother will make chicken soup for all of you tonight.”

Yang Yu and Yang Tian, who had been standing by worried they might lose their feast, looked at each other and shared a secret, joyful grin.

…

Meanwhile, search and rescue efforts were in full swing at the foot of the mountain.

The villagers who hadn’t fled to the mountain were truly devastated by the flood. When the Village Chief led the able-bodied men down, the first person they found was an elderly woman wedged into a rocky crevice. Her body had been submerged for days; it was a tragic sight. She was gone.

The atmosphere grew heavy as they pulled her out.

The second person they found, however, offered a glimmer of hope. He was still alive, though barely clinging to life due to exposure and lack of food. After being lowered from a rooftop and fed some thin rice water, a bit of color finally returned to his pale face.

News trickled in from other search parties—some good, some bad.

The good news: some survived by climbing trees that hadn’t been uprooted. Others had clung to wooden planks or roof beams and floated until the waters receded. When these survivors saw the rescue teams, they burst into uncontrollable tears, cursing their own stubbornness for not listening to the Chief.

The bad news: many of the very old and the very young had been claimed by the torrent.

By the end of the day, most people had been accounted for. Those still missing were presumed dead, likely swept too far away to survive.

Among the missing was Wang Dani.

Aside from her, the rest of the old Yang family had been surprisingly lucky. Old Man Yang had been swept into some debris, resulting in a leg wound that was now inflamed from the floodwater, but he was alive.

As for Yang Da’s family: Yang Da had survived by hugging a sturdy tree in the yard. His eldest son, Yang Chunlin (20), had the strength to save himself by climbing. His daughter, Yang Miao (16), had grabbed onto a floating beam. The youngest, Yang Chunshu, was like a monkey and had climbed higher and faster than any of them.

Then there was Zhao Zhaodi. When the flood hit, she had been clutching Wang Dani’s arm in terror. Both were swept away. Mid-surge, Wang Dani managed to grab a branch, and Zhao Zhaodi grabbed Wang Dani’s leg.

The small tree groaned under the weight of two people and the rushing water. Wang Dani had intended to kick Zhao Zhaodi off to save herself, but before she could, the tree gave way.

The two were swept away again. This time, Zhao Zhaodi was the one who caught a tree. Having learned her lesson, she knew the tree couldn’t hold both of them. When she felt Wang Dani reaching for her clothes, she didn’t hesitate—she kicked Wang Dani away with all her might. Zhao Zhaodi survived; Wang Dani vanished into the dark water.

Now that she was rescued and heard that Wang Dani hadn’t been found, Zhao Zhaodi actually felt a sense of relief. If the old woman had survived, she would have skinned Zhao Zhaodi alive for that kick.

…

The next day, as the rescue work wound down, villagers began returning to clear the wreckage. Since Yang Laosan’s family had nothing left to clean, Yang Xue and her siblings stayed on the mountain while Yang Laosan and Qian Yue’e went down to help.

They went straight to the old Yang residence, though Yang Xue suspected they were just walking into a trap of verbal abuse. But in this world, even after “separating” the family, a son couldn’t completely ignore his parents during a disaster.

Yang Xue’s hunch was right. The moment they arrived, Old Man Yang unleashed a torrent of fury. His leg was hurt, but his mouth worked perfectly fine.

“You worthless son! You knew the flood was coming, yet you didn’t warn us properly! You just wanted to see us swept away, didn’t you?”

“Unfilial! Traitor! No wonder you were in such a hurry to divide the family and run. Aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning?”

“Why didn’t the heavens strike you down? It’s all your fault, you cursed brat! You killed your mother! A son as unfilial as you is headed straight for the eighteen levels of hell!”

Yang Laosan and Qian Yue’e were stunned. Didn’t warn them? The Village Chief had shouted it from the rooftops! They were the ones who refused to believe. And now they were being blamed for Wang Dani’s death?

This was the ultimate “turning black into white.”

Yang Laosan felt a brief shock hearing that his mother was gone, but the feeling faded quickly under the weight of his father’s insults. Yang Da and Zhao Zhaodi stood by, fanning the flames.

Years of oppression had made Yang Laosan hesitant to talk back, but after days of Yang Xue’s “re-education,” he wasn’t about to stand there and be a punching bag.

“Father,” Yang Laosan said, his voice surprisingly steady. “Since you clearly don’t need our help, we’ll go help the other neighbors.”

Without waiting for a response, he grabbed Qian Yue’e’s hand and walked away.

Old Man Yang was so shocked by this unprecedented defiance that he forgot to stop them. By the time he found his voice again to scream curses at their retreating backs, they were already out of earshot.