C1 Kneel down and Call Me Sisterinlaw

"What are you pretending for? Get up already!"

So noisy!

Something was even moving in her stomach. Shen Shuling slept fitfully, her eyes barely open to a sliver. She was startled by the figures standing in front of her. This was her private bedroom—how could there be strangers here? Had she been kidnapped?

"Other women are out there working in the fields five months pregnant, and you're acting all frail?"

Every bit of sleepiness and fatigue vanished with that remark. Shuling opened her eyes, her gaze steady as she scanned the room from left to right. The first thing she noticed was an old calendar on the wall, the year glaringly clear—1991.

It was as if a hidden switch in her mind had been flipped. Memories surged forth like a fountain, yet Shuling's expression remained unchanged. She half-closed her eyes, accepting the flood of unfamiliar memories.

Three seconds later, Shuling sighed softly.

She had joined the trend and time-traveled. If her old colleagues at the office found out, they'd probably be furious. They had planned to retire in a few years and head to a retirement home together, but here she was, sneaking back to the '90s, decades younger.

Looking down at her prominently rounded belly, Shuling smiled.

How beautifully her belly was shaped! There had to be a healthy, lively little one inside.

She spent her entire life in the fields, researching new grain varieties. She never had the time or energy to start a family, and not having children was her deepest regret.

Well, she got a second chance at youth and even a baby. With that, Shen Shuling let go of her lingering dissatisfaction about her sudden passing in the modern world. After all, her project was complete, and she could retire with a sense of accomplishment.

Suddenly, a dark hand reached out from the side, aiming for Shuling's belly.

Shuling reacted with lightning speed, grabbing the hand with one swift motion. She turned her head slightly, eyes narrowed, gazing coldly at the man with the dark face.

"Don't you know you shouldn't touch a pregnant woman's belly without permission?"

Lim Shaohua felt like he was being stared down by a fierce mountain tiger. What happened to the woman who usually wouldn't say a word? How did she suddenly change?

"Yeah, I know you... ah!"

Before he could finish his crude sentence, Shuling casually grabbed something from the bed and stuffed it into his mouth full of yellow teeth.

"Your mouth is filthy. Stay away from my child."

Shuling threw off the covers, protecting her belly with her right hand as she stood. Her entire presence radiated a warning to keep away.

Lim Shaohua gagged a few times before spitting out the sock from his mouth. His face turned pale. When had a village bully like him ever been treated this way? He turned, ready to confront Shuling again.

"You old hag, you dare lay a hand on me! Do you really think your husband is coming back? That old man next door won't last much longer either! This house and the secret recipe he's got will all be mine soon enough!" Lim Shaohua advanced with large strides.

"Are you out of your mind? Even if my father-in-law is gone, the recipe won't go to you. What, are you planning to call him 'Dad' now?"

"Hah, why don't you kneel and call me 'Sister-in-law' first, and let me hear it."

Shen Shuling's father-in-law, the "old man" Lim Shaohua was referring to, was Lim Shan, who had just turned seventy this year.

The Lim family had been tofu sellers for generations, with a secret recipe passed down through the years, only to the most skilled son in each generation. Father-in-law Lim Shan was the current keeper of the recipe. His wife had passed away early, and he had raised two sons and a daughter by carrying tofu from house to house. Unfortunately, his daughter married far away and hadn't been heard from in years, and his eldest son and daughter-in-law passed away early, leaving behind only his eldest grandson, Lim Tianyang.