This was a fairy tale story that anyone had heard at least once in their childhood.
The story featured a kind little girl who wore a red cloak to visit her grandmother, an elderly grandmother living alone in the forest and recuperating from illness, a brave hunter who used his wisdom to rescue the elderly grandmother and the little girl, and the root of all evil, the heinous man-eating monster, the Big Gray Wolf.
And—
“Ah, Grandmother, why are your ears so big?”
“To better hear you speak, my child.”
“Ah, Grandmother, why are your eyes so big?”
“To better see you clearly, my child.”
“Ah, Grandmother, why are your hands so big?”
“To better grab you, my child!”
“Ah, Grandmother, why is your mouth so frighteningly big?”
“Hehe… Of course, to better eat you up!!”
Ye Tang jolted awake sprawled on the table. The thick stench of wine in her mouth and the nauseating feeling in her stomach made her realize that this time she had transmigrated into a drunkard.
She groaned with a headache and kicked away the empty wine bottles at her feet. She propped up her thoroughly inebriated body and grabbed an empty wooden bucket from who-knew-where to start retching into her throat.
As a veteran transmigrator, Ye Tang was already accustomed to dealing with sudden bodily discomfort after transmigrating. This time, her luck wasn’t bad; she hadn’t arrived with a fatal injury. As long as she cleared her head a bit, she should receive intelligence about this world from the System.
Ye Tang had no memories before encountering the System. The black-hearted System had specifically wiped her previous memories to make her obediently play the role of a stepping-stone villainess, but it hadn’t expected that even without her past memories, Ye Tang could still bide her time enduring hardships and tear apart its simulated personality when it least suspected.
A System deprived of its simulated personality would no longer issue tasks or force Ye Tang to complete them. Ye Tang had gained long-lost freedom. But the memories wiped by the System couldn’t be recovered. Even if she died in the previous world, she would still transmigrate to the next one.
Fortunately, Ye Tang didn’t reject transmigration itself, and she had the temperament to face even the greatest events without flinching. No matter which world she transmigrated to, Ye Tang was confident she could live well.
After vomiting until her entire stomach was empty, Ye Tang laboriously pushed open the door of the wooden cabin. She dragged her feet to the water well in the yard and shakily drew up half a bucket of water.
The rippling water surface reflected an extremely haggard blonde woman.
The woman had glassy blue eyes like glass beads, but unfortunately, they were threaded with bloodshot veins, and there were thick dark circles under them. Her blonde hair, tied up behind her head, was dry and disheveled. Her skin was pallid with a sickly pallor, and there were abnormal reds around her eyes and on the tip of her nose—clear signs of excessive drinking.
A chilly spring breeze blew, but Ye Tang ignored the cold and scooped up well water from the bucket to rinse her mouth and wash her face. Because of this, she didn’t immediately notice someone boldly barging into the yard.
The red-haired, green-eyed village woman with a smattering of freckles on her face reacted like a stage actress who had just taken the stage the moment she saw Ye Tang. She excitedly led four or five village women dressed in various styles over and said in an unusually loud voice, “Good heavens, Mary! What kind of drunken fit are you throwing today?”
Ye Tang wiped the well water from her face and slowly raised her head. In a hoarse voice, she said, “Get lost, Ginny. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
From the original host’s memories, Ye Tang learned that the red-haired woman in front of her was named Ginny. Ginny was the granddaughter of the Old Village Head and had been spoiled rotten at home since childhood, wanting the stars but getting the moon—extremely arrogant and domineering. After marrying her, her husband had quickly taken over the village head position from the Old Village Head. As the proud village head’s wife, Ginny looked down on everyone in the village through her nostrils.
The original host and Ginny had little interaction; their only connection was being around the same age. Yet Ginny particularly enjoyed picking on the original host for some reason. Her bringing this group of lackeys today was probably just to watch the original host make a fool of herself.
Ye Tang’s single sentence made Ginny kick an iron plate. Bathed in the gazes of her lackeys, Ginny’s mouth twitched twice as she vowed to regain her face.
“Oh, my dear Mary, I understand you’re extremely worried about your livelihood after your husband’s death. But even if you’re eager to shed your widow status and seduce other men, you shouldn’t have driven your Angeline into the forest! The forest hasn’t been safe lately; they say a man-eating monster has appeared. Or could it be, Mary…”
Twirling a lock of red hair around her finger, Ginny smiled maliciously. “You’ve heard that rumor, which is why you sent your Angeline into the forest alone?”
Ye Tang rarely used words as knives unless the other party struck first.
“My family matters are none of your concern. By the way, Ginny, did you receive the flowers?”
Ginny was taken aback and casually retorted, “What flowers?”
Ye Tang laughed, her expression carrying sympathy and mockery. “Your husband Kevin came to visit me and Angeline the day before yesterday and brought us quite a bit of dried game. I figured we couldn’t let Kevin leave empty-handed, so I gave him the fresh flowers that Angeline had picked.”
Dried beef? Fresh flowers?
Ginny recalled the evening three days ago when her husband had indeed taken some dried meat from the cellar. When she asked what it was for, he vaguely said it was for giving to someone and that he had to go to town during the day, so she didn’t need to leave the door open for him at night.
She had assumed he was going to town to build connections and schmooze with the wealthy there, so she hadn’t asked further and yawned indifferently before going to sleep. She hadn’t expected—hadn’t expected—
“Violets, fireweed, purple loosestrife, daisies, mugwort… Ginny, didn’t you notice where Kevin stuck the bouquet made from these flowers?”
Satisfied at the sight of Ginny standing there pale-faced and feigning composure while her hands trembled nonstop, Ye Tang spread her hands and turned to head back.
“No worries, you can stand in my yard and think about it slowly. Excuse me while I take my leave first.”
“…”
Ginny gnashed her teeth, nearly biting her gums until they bled.
‘That’s why she had always hated Mary! She was nothing but a bastard whose father died young. What right did she have to be taller than her, have fairer skin, a slimmer waist, and even a prettier face!
Before Mary got married, not a single man in the village hadn’t ogled her, and Kevin was one of them… If her grandfather hadn’t been the village head, Kevin might not have agreed to marry her back then and would have pursued Mary instead!
The most infuriating part wasn’t even that. It was Mary’s smug face, as if she knew everything—that was what disgusted her the most! Mary had seen through Kevin deceiving her long ago! And she had exposed this shameful fact in front of everyone!’
“Flowers—”
Gritting her teeth to squeeze out the word, Ginny racked her brain for which little slut might have seduced her husband. She turned around and glared ferociously at her little lackeys with a twisted smile.
Besides herself, the ones who saw her husband most often were this bunch of green-leaf sidekicks by her side. That bouquet she hadn’t gotten might very well be stuck in one of these sluts’ homes.
“I’m thirsty. I want some tea. I’m going to impose on your homes right now—surely you won’t mind giving me a cup of tea?”
“O-Of course not…”
“My house still has gingerbread baked this morning; it goes perfectly with tea!”
In this village, Ginny was like the law itself. Scared by the viciousness emanating from her, the lackeys all smiled obsequiously and echoed her words.
Back in the original host’s home, Ye Tang didn’t care about Ginny and her lackeys. She scanned around with her eyes for anything that could serve as a weapon. Soon, she spotted a hunting rifle hanging on the wall.
The original host of this body was named Rosemary Jennings, a widow whose husband had died a month ago.
Mary’s husband Henry was a carpenter who had inherited his craft from his father. After Old Henry died, he became the village’s only carpenter.
Carpentry didn’t earn much money, and people often bartered goods instead of paying cash. Fortunately, there were no competitors for Henry in the village, so Mary and her husband lived fairly comfortably. In the second year of their marriage, nineteen-year-old Mary gave birth to a daughter, whom her grandmother named Angeline.
Angeline was six years old this year, but just a week after her sixth birthday, Henry, who had gone up the mountain to fell trees, was found dead in the forest.
The poor man seemed to have slipped and fallen from a slope. His neck had struck a tree trunk below, and he died on the spot.
Mary had a very good relationship with her husband, who was five years older. She couldn’t accept his untimely death. After Henry died, she washed her face in tears every day and began drowning her sorrows in wine to numb the pain—there were plenty of bottles of wine that villagers had given in exchange for carpentry work. Some of these wines had been collected by Old Henry during his carpentry days and were now aged brews.
Mary stayed drunk day in and day out, living in a daze. Half an hour ago, she had received a message from her mother saying that her mother, who lived alone, was ill. So, in her drunken stupor, she called her daughter Angeline and told her to bring the last egg cake in the house to her grandmother living in the forest.
A visit gift of just one egg cake was rather meager, so Mary thought for a moment and stuffed a bottle of wine into the basket slung over Angeline’s arm.
“Tell Grandmother, wine is a cure-all… Whether it’s a fever or a cold, a hot cup of wine will fix it.”
The drunken Mary mumbled, unsure if she was explaining to her daughter or trying to convince herself that giving wine to a sick person was fine.
“Got it, Mama!”
The sensible Angeline nodded vigorously at Mary. She went to put on the velvet cloak her grandmother had given her.
That cloak was red like a blooming rose, red like a ripe strawberry, red like a pigeon’s blood. Angeline’s vivid red back was Mary’s final memory.
Ye Tang brushed the dust off the hunting rifle, checked the rifle and the gunpowder inside, then slung it over her shoulder. She tore the hem of her long skirt and tied it up to her thigh.
The Mary she had become was none other than Little Red Riding Hood’s real mom from the fairy tale.
The great sinner who let her daughter go out alone, indirectly causing her daughter and mother to nearly end up in the wolf’s belly.
In the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood,” the hunter happened to pass by the grandmother’s house. The clever man cut open the sleeping Big Gray Wolf’s belly and released Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. Little Red Riding Hood stuffed stones into the Big Gray Wolf’s belly, and the grandmother sewed it up. When the very thirsty Big Gray Wolf woke up, it dragged its heavy belly to the well to drink and fell in, drowning.
Bad people got their due, and kind people triumphed over the man-eating monster with wisdom. As a fairy tale ending, “Little Red Riding Hood” was undoubtedly a happy one. The problem was: in reality, no one eaten into the belly by the Big Gray Wolf could still be alive.
Rather than waiting for the hunter to coincidentally rescue Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, it was more reliable to take action herself and keep the Big Gray Wolf away from Little Red Riding Hood. Even stepping back ten thousand steps, even if Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother could survive a few hours inside the Big Gray Wolf’s belly, Ye Tang wasn’t willing to leave a six-year-old child and a sick old woman confined in a pitch-black enclosed space for hours.
Yes, she was going to save Little Red Riding Hood. She would deal with that glib-tongued beast before it could swallow the original host’s mom.
With an adult’s pace, it took about half an hour from the village to the original host’s mother’s home. With Little Red Riding Hood’s pace and stamina, she should already be halfway there. That meant Little Red Riding Hood was about to encounter the Big Gray Wolf.
Ye Tang quickened her steps.
At the village entrance, a few idlers were sipping wine from small tin cans while complaining about their wives. When they saw Ye Tang exposing her fair, slender legs without a care for decorum, they all whistled.
“Wheee—”
“Good white thighs! Mary, have you finally come to your senses and decided to forget that deadbeat husband of yours? Hahaha—”
“Yeah, yeah, those who put on airs are the most boring! Mary, you’re so young. If you want money, you can totally earn it by ‘putting your body to work’! We don’t mind helping you out with that!”
Amid the giggling and jeering, the hooligans spread their arms toward Ye Tang, looking as if they were waiting for her to throw herself into their embrace. Of course, even if Ye Tang didn’t throw herself at them or tried to dodge, they would lunge forward and grab her anyway.
Ye Tang came to an abrupt halt. She took the hunting gun from her back and gripped it in her hands, squinting one eye as she aimed at the hooligans.
—What a coincidence. She had never used this hunting gun before and knew nothing about its performance or condition. She did need a target to test it out, and these guys had just walked right into it.
“I’ll count to three before I shoot.”
The hooligans had only noticed Ye Tang’s white thighs and hadn’t seen the black hunting gun on her back. Only when she pointed it at them did they all freeze in shock.
Pointed at by the dark muzzle, one of the hooligans pretended to stay calm and took two steps forward, leering as he teased, “Mary, a gun isn’t a toy. Come over here. I’ve got something much more suitable for a lady to play with—”
Click.
The crisp sound of chambering froze the hooligan’s greasy smile on his face.
Ye Tang leisurely curled her lips.
“Three.”
Bang!
The moment Ye Tang pulled the trigger, the firing mechanism at the rear right of the barrel caused the flint to strike the steel and spark, igniting the gunpowder in the pan below. The gunpowder propelled the bullet flying out of the barrel.
The lead hooligan watched wide-eyed as Ye Tang fired, followed by a burning sting on his right cheek. He instinctively touched it and immediately felt a handful of blood.
“Oh, this is my first time using a hunting gun. Looks like my aim isn’t great yet. Don’t worry, next time I’ll aim a bit more accurately.”
As the hooligan looked up, he saw Ye Tang smiling as she pulled back the bolt.
Almost everyone in the village used the same kind of rifle as a hunting gun. This rifle could hold five bullets at once. After firing one bullet, pulling the bolt allowed the next one to fire.
“Mad—madwoman!!”
“Madwoman! Mary, you crazy bitch!”
“Mary’s gone mad!”
Intimidated by Ye Tang’s presence, the hooligans scattered in panic. Even as they fled, they couldn’t resist hurling a few curses her way.
But in that one glance back, the hooligans got smashed on the head by the wooden sign hanging at the village entrance for directions—the bullet that had just grazed the lead hooligan’s cheek had also nicked the rope suspending the sign. As the hooligans ran, the already frayed rope snapped completely. Those under the sign got pummeled by a chain of falling wooden boards, seeing stars.
Ye Tang slung the hunting gun back onto her shoulder and walked past the hooligans. She flexed her arms a couple of times, trying her best to walk faster.
This body’s condition was truly awful. Her fingers had trembled uncontrollably when she aimed earlier, and her vision had been blurry. This wasn’t just from a momentary drunken haze; the original host likely already suffered from alcohol poisoning.
A calm and composed mindset paired with a healthy body were usually inseparable. To live well, she couldn’t ignore the body’s poor state. Ye Tang planned that after dealing with the Big Gray Wolf, the first thing she’d do upon returning was thoroughly detoxify this body, which seemed to reek of wine even in its blood.
The spring forest sun wasn’t too harsh. As Ye Tang sorted through the original host’s memories while jogging, she was panting after just five minutes.
It seemed she needed to build up her basic stamina too.
Such a frail body couldn’t protect itself or Little Red Riding Hood. As a widow, if she showed any weakness, people really would bully her. Whether it was Ginny or those hooligans, she couldn’t always solve problems with a hunting gun, nor could she carry one everywhere with bullets loaded at all times. To protect Little Red Riding Hood and herself properly, her fists had to be as tough as her resolve.