The sun, like a furnace, scorched the earth, as if determined to incinerate everything.
Gusts of scorching wind rolled in, causing the makeshift shelter to tremble and sway like a person with malaria, threatening to fall apart at any moment.
Bai Sheng’s first sensation upon waking was thirst, an unbearable, agonizing thirst!
This burning thirst, as if her internal organs were ablaze, had reduced her thoughts to a simple, primal state.
Water…
Even just a single drop would suffice.
She lay on a tattered straw mat on the ground, her will to survive forcing her to utter a hoarse, gravelly sound from her dry, aching throat.
“Is… anyone… there?”
No one answered.
“Water—”
Still no response.
An eerie silence enveloped the surroundings.
Only then did Bai Sheng begin to take notice of her environment.
This wasn’t a hospital?!
She distinctly remembered feeling short of breath during her chemotherapy, a flurry of doctors rushing to her aid, but she had no memory of what happened afterward.
If she had survived and woken up, wouldn't she be in a hospital?
But what lay before her…
A simple shelter fashioned from branches and dry grass, creaking in the wind. Through the gaps in the roof, strong shafts of sunlight pierced through, falling onto the dry, sandy ground, particularly dazzling. Inside, a few patched-up clothes and an old straw hat hung. By the entrance, a chipped, broken pottery bowl sat.
“Water!”
Bai Sheng’s heart leaped, like a drowning person suddenly finding a lifeline. She managed to shift her body, mustering her last ounce of strength, and crawled, inch by painstaking inch, towards the broken pottery bowl.
Each inch she crawled left her feeling drained, but the thought of water in the bowl fueled her with enough breath for the next crawl.
After a long while, she finally reached the rim of the bowl.
Empty!!!
The broken pottery bowl was half-filled with sand, indicating it hadn't held water for a very long time.
The hope that had flickered to life was instantly extinguished. Bai Sheng no longer had the strength to lift her head, her cheek sinking powerlessly into the sand. After a moment, she slowly reopened her eyes to look around again.
In front of the shelter's entrance, a makeshift straw pavilion had been erected for shade. Beneath it lay two children, clad in rags, their small bodies emaciated and withered, resembling dried twigs.
“Hey—” Bai Sheng’s throat produced a sound like bellows, utterly indistinguishable.
The two children remained motionless.
Bai Sheng suddenly understood, those two children might already be…
However, she then noticed that both children were dressed in ancient costumes.
Bai Sheng’s gaze lingered on them for a while before shifting to the distance.
Bright daylight, and boundless yellow sand!
She could be certain of it—she had transmigrated! And into an ancient, arid desert region!
Now, her weakness wasn't due to late-stage cancer but to dehydration. This could be considered a stroke of immense fortune.
The immense shock consumed a good portion of Bai Sheng's remaining strength. Her cheek, pressed against the sand for so long, was stinging painfully. Gritting her teeth, she shifted her right arm, intending to rest her head on it.
Just as she was about to place her face on her forearm, she suddenly noticed a small, nameless red flower tattooed on her right palm. The color of the flower was strangely crimson.
A tattoo?
In her previous life, she had no tattoos on her body. Could this be from the original owner?
What a peculiar tattoo, and on her palm, no less.
Bai Sheng curved her right thumb and gently rubbed the red flower.
Suddenly, a dazzling red light flashed, and in the blink of an eye, Bai Sheng found herself in a different location, while a snorting sound echoed in her mind, “Hmph hmph… Spirit Spring Space hmph hmph… officially activated, please owner drink water from the spirit spring quickly! Hmph hmph…”
Spirit Spring Space? Was this a space she had brought with her upon transmigration?!
Bai Sheng was ecstatic.
Heaven had not abandoned her!
“Hmph hmph… Please owner… drink water from the spirit spring quickly, hmph hmph… or you’ll die of thirst, hmph hmph…”
A pig?
Bai Sheng looked up and indeed saw a large black pig standing before her. It was tall and massive, its beady black eyes fixed on her, emitting snorting sounds.
A pig that could talk??
“Hmph hmph… Please owner—” Ah, forget it. It’s quite clear the owner is too weak from thirst. I’ll drag her there.
The large black pig stepped forward, bit down on Bai Sheng’s collar, and began dragging her towards the spirit spring.
Fortunately, the ground was covered in dense, soft grass and flowers, otherwise, Bai Sheng felt she would surely have been disfigured.
Even the roughest face couldn’t withstand such dragging. Pig, couldn’t you have kept my face upwards? As expected, second brother is as clumsy as ever!
After dragging Bai Sheng to the spirit spring, the big black pig, concerned she wouldn’t have the strength to cup the water, simply tossed her entire body into the spring.
The spring's source was elevated, with water gushing out from it and cascading into a stone pool.
The bottom and sides of the stone pool were paved with stones, and the water was chest-deep. Bai Sheng sank into the pool and, opening her mouth, gulped down water greedily.
This water was incredibly sweet!
As the spring water entered her stomach, every cell in her body felt as if it had come alive. Her body instantly felt revitalized.
Bai Sheng continued drinking until her stomach felt distended, then she surfaced from the stone pool with a splash.
Perhaps it was the restoration of her vitality, but the original owner’s memories flooded into her mind like a tide.
The original owner was a slave wife assigned by the prefecture to Lu Ye, the eldest son of the second branch of the Lu family!
She had never expected to transmigrate into a mere slave, and even gained a ready-made husband!
Lu Ye had two younger brothers and one younger sister. Parents—Bai Sheng suddenly remembered, her nominal parents-in-law had died of thirst two days prior, their bodies still placed in the stone shed beside the house. As for Lu Ye and his three younger siblings…
Thinking of this, Bai Sheng immediately shouted at the big black pig, “Quickly send me out of the space! Saving people is urgent!”
“Hmph hmph… Owner can enter and exit the space with just a thought—”
Before the big black pig could finish speaking, Bai Sheng vanished from its sight.
Lying under the tattered straw pavilion were Lu Ye’s younger brother, Lu Yun, and the youngest brother, Lu Yu. Bai Sheng felt for the breaths of the two children, seemingly detecting faint signs of life. She immediately helped Lu Yun sit up, opened his mouth, and channeled spirit spring water into his mouth with her right palm.
The big black pig had said she could enter and exit the space with just a thought. Yes, she got it, and she applied it creatively. This red flower on her palm must be the entrance to the space.
Feeling that Lu Yun had drunk enough, she quickly went to feed Lu Yu.
After feeding them water, Bai Sheng sat beside the two children, hugging her knees, and waited quietly.
Waiting for a miracle of life.
For God to give her a second chance at life, not only bestowing her with a Spirit Spring Space but also giving her family. Even if she had transmigrated to a desert, she was immensely grateful.
From now on, she would live well and cherish everything she had!
“Cough cough cough—” The elder brother Lu Yun opened his eyes first. He looked at Bai Sheng blankly for a moment, then immediately tried to get up to find Lu Yu, “Little brother, where’s little brother?”
“Little brother is here!” Bai Sheng helped Lu Yun sit up.
Lu Yun turned and saw Lu Yu lying beside him, his chest still rising and falling, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
“Where are your elder brother and sister?” Bai Sheng asked softly.
Lu Yun stared at Bai Sheng in astonishment for a while, then, with reddened eyes and a quivering lip, he sobbed, “Big brother went hunting this morning, *sob sob*… you fainted from thirst, and Auntie, Third Aunt, and Grandma… *sob sob*… secretly sold Sister to the town in exchange for a few barrels of water. When Big brother returned and found out, he immediately chased after them and hasn’t returned yet. *Sob sob sob*…”
Bai Sheng thought for a moment and said to Lu Yun, “Little brother will wake up soon. You stay here and take care of him. I’ll go to town to find your big brother and sister!”
“En,” Lu Yun wiped his tears and nodded.
These two children had nearly died of thirst, and Lu Ye and Lu Hua surely couldn’t be faring any better, especially Lu Ye, who had been traveling constantly. If he died of thirst out there, she would become a widow. Once she became a widow, she would be reclaimed by the prefecture and reassigned to another man as a slave wife. She absolutely did not want to be tossed around like merchandise, and if she were assigned to a short, ugly, and lonely old man, how could she, a seasoned admirer of handsome faces, possibly survive?
According to the original owner’s memories, Lu Ye was quite good in all aspects. Bai Sheng had decided he was her man.
A free, fresh meat, handsome hunk – she wouldn’t refuse!
Bai Sheng returned to the shelter to grab the old straw hat and found a worn-out water skin outside the shelter. She then set off.
Lu Yun watched her receding figure, his small brow furrowed in thought.