Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 427: Yue Niang Is Yin Le

Qin Yao was very fortunate to have had the foresight to bring torches from home.

By this time, the sky had completely darkened, and the surrounding area was full of low hills connected by wild grass and thickets. Looking out, a stretch of blackness reached the horizon, with no end in sight.

Having set off from Fake Ya Village, Qin Yao had already walked for more than an hour and had not found any village.

Just as Qin Yao began to doubt whether she was on the wrong path, a faint glimmer of light appeared in the darkness, accompanied by the sound of barking dogs.

Half sliding, half running down the slope, Qin Yao finally saw a small village hidden in a mountain hollow.

At the village entrance, there was a simple earthen shrine made of tiles, with a wooden sign next to it inscribed with the three childlike characters for Xinghua Village. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Qin Yao let out a half sigh of relief; she had finally found Xinghua Village.

In the countryside, people sleep early; at this time, it was around nine o’clock in the evening according to modern time, and the villagers of Xinghua Village were already in deep slumber.

The village dogs, having detected the presence of a stranger, persistently barked without stopping.

Qin Yao ignored the incessant barking dog and headed toward the only lit area in Xinghua Village.

It turned out that the household owner was grinding soybeans with a torch in a simple straw shed to make tofu.

The rich aroma of soybeans wafted into her nose, and Qin Yao’s stomach growled in hunger.

"Who’s there?"

A cautious shout came from inside the straw shed.

Seeing a shadowy figure standing in the dark, the woman grinding the beans was startled and quickly retreated into the house to awaken her husband.

"Dear, I think I saw a ghost—wake up quickly, it’s terrifying..."

Upon hearing these words from inside, Qin Yao found it both amusing and frustrating. She quickly spoke up, "I’m passing through to visit relatives, a human, not a ghost!"

Inside was quiet for a moment, then a middle-aged couple peeked their heads out. Qin Yao relit the torch that the wind had just extinguished; the light illuminated her face, revealing a sincere smile.

The couple breathed a collective sigh of relief and asked who she was looking for.

"I’m here to find my cousin; her name is Yue Niang. Do you know her?" Qin Yao inquired politely.

Since she was a woman, the couple easily let down their guard. With a surprised glance at each other, the woman surprisingly asked:

"Yue Niang said her family was all dead—how could there be a cousin?"

The woman spoke in the local dialect, which Qin Yao found difficult to understand, but she grasped the mention of Yue Niang and deliberately showed an expression of joy, excitedly asking:

"It seems you know my cousin. I’ve finally found her!"

Her words might not have been entirely comprehensible to the others, but seeing Qin Yao’s expression of ecstatic joy, the man decided to take her to Yue Niang’s house to let them sort it out themselves.

It was so late, and they didn’t have the heart to leave a lonely, pitiful woman outside, nor did they dare to take her into their own home.

All the way, Qin Yao spoke words of gratitude, expressing the joy and anticipation of seeing a relative, matched by the occasional grumble of her stomach. By the time they reached Yue Niang’s doorstep, the man was completely unsuspecting.

He knocked on the door while calling out, "Ah Yue! Your cousin has come to see you! Open the door quickly!"

After a long series of knocks, the naked wooden door of the mud hut, which had no fence yard at all, opened with a creak, revealing a narrow gap.

The firelight cast light on her half-delicate and fair face, the other half bearing an ugly scar.

Because the man was blocking the way, Qin Yao did not have a chance to clearly see Yue Niang’s face, only finding her voice somewhat familiar, as if she had heard it before from somewhere.

Yue Niang exchanged a few words with the man in the local dialect; her tone revealed shock but no denial.

She leaned out from behind the man to glance, her eyes suddenly widening.

Qin Yao was soothing her grumbling stomach when she sensed the woman’s emotion and looked up. Her counterpart inhaled sharply.

Qin Yao finally saw Yue Niang’s face: half beautiful, half monstrous. The beautiful half made her squint slightly in puzzlement—it was so familiar!

Yue Niang suppressed the intense emotions in her heart and spoke a few more words with the man. The man nodded to Qin Yao and left.

Outside, there was only Qin Yao holding the torch and touching her stomach.

And a face full of disbelief, suddenly kneeling down, and exclaiming, "Benefactor!" from Yue Niang.

This term ’benefactor’ unlocked Qin Yao’s memory.

Yuhua Mountain... bandits... the captured woman Yin Le!

"Are you Yin Le?" Qin Yao confirmed her identity again.

Upon seeing her, Yue Niang’s emotions were quite agitated; kneeling, she looked up at her and nodded, somewhat somberly saying, "Yes, Yue Niang, also Yin Le."

Qin Yao only felt that the world was full of coincidences.

She had never thought she would see that charming woman who had escaped from the bandit’s lair again in such a situation.

Qin Yao told her to stand up; Yin Le slowly rose, seemingly fearful yet concealing, hiding the burned half of her face in the shadow, looking at her only with the good side.

Qin Yao asked curiously, "How did your face end up like this? What happened to your family?"

She still remembered that back at Yuhua Mountain, her face was fine.

In Yin Le’s heart, Qin Yao had always held a special place, and facing her direct inquiry without concealment suddenly caused her long-frozen heart to ache. Her eyes welled with tears, and she hurriedly turned her back to restrain her surging emotions and invited her inside.

Upon entering the house and lighting the oil lamp, Yin Le had already composed herself.

Qin Yao extinguished the torch and sat at a basic square table.

Yin Le poured her a cup of cold water and asked if she was hungry, "Shall I heat a bowl of porridge for you?"

Qin Yao waved it off. "No need."

She placed her luggage on the table, took out the buns she had bought, and with two large bites consumed one along with the cold water.

As she ate, she observed the room, which could be seen at a glance. Over twenty square meters, with a dirt bed, a simple wardrobe, a table, and two stools.

In the corner, there was a makeshift sideboard with wooden planks and stones, stacked with pots, bowls, and miscellaneous items, and an empty rice jar.

A soft sound of swallowing reached her ears; Qin Yao, with keen hearing, immediately identified the source as Yin Le standing opposite her.

The woman was much thinner than she remembered, her once-beautiful face gone. Now, her face bore scars across half of it, with visible patches of new red flesh, to the point of being somewhat repulsive.

Of course, someone like Qin Yao, who had once faced zombies, would not feel much about it.

If a rotting corpse were in front of her, she wouldn’t react much, unless the smell was unbearable.

"In these two years, how have you been?" Qin Yao offered half of her bun to her, a meat-filled one, fragrant even cold.

Yin Le did not stand on ceremony and took it, chewing it slowly, wanting the flavor to linger a little longer.

It had been a long time since she had eaten such refined food. Her prior mention of heating porridge for Qin Yao was merely a polite remark.

Thankfully, Qin Yao did not agree but instead took out her own prepared buns to eat.

Otherwise, she would have been even more embarrassed, for in the dead of night, she wouldn’t know where to borrow half a bowl of white rice to cook porridge for her benefactor.