Step by step, a gentle breeze leads to a smooth path

Chapter 395 The Invisible Red Bead

"Tingnan, is something on your mind? Tell your godmother. Why are you so shy? Have you grown distant from your godmother after all these years apart?" Jiang Qianqian saw Tingnan's unusual awkwardness and used reverse psychology.

"Godmother, how could that be? I just don't know why, but I always feel like I can't get married easily, like someone is watching me." Song Tingnan thought for a moment and then expressed her worries.

Jiang Qianqian was a trusted elder who had watched her grow up and was a woman who shared her thoughts.

Jiang Qianqian said in surprise, "Huh? Tell me what happened? I've never heard your parents mention that you had an arranged marriage? Which family's boy is it?"

"No, godmother, I don't have a fiancé watching me openly." Song Tingnan unbuttoned the top button of her collar and pointed to the bead around her neck. "I have a bead here that gets hot when something happens to me."

"What beads? When were they put on? I didn't see them." Jiang Qianqian leaned closer to take a closer look.

"You can't see it? Godmother, you really can't see it? The red round bead, I can't remember when I put it on." Song Tingnan was astonished. What was going on? Was it really that surreal?

"I really didn't see it... Tingnan, you... don't worry, let's ask your mother first, she lives nearby." Jiang Qianqian hurriedly asked Yuan'er to call Song Xiuying, since Zheng Xiangqian's whole family now lived in the county town.

Song Xiuying rushed over and looked again and again, but did not see any beads. "Tingnan, I'm sure you didn't have any beads around your neck before you were two years old."

"Mom, can't you see it either?" Song Tingnan was a little dazed. What was going on? Had she gone crazy? She quickly grabbed Song Xiuying's hand. "Mom, reach out and touch it. It's right here. The bead isn't small. Can you feel the bump?"

Song Xiuying's voice trembled, and she was almost crying, "No, it's flat, I can't feel it. Tingnan, what happened? You're not mistaken, are you? Does it hurt?"

"Mom, it doesn't hurt."

Even Jiang Qianqian, a middle school teacher and a materialist, couldn't help but believe in ghosts and gods because she had never heard of such a thing before.

"Sister Ying, were there any unusual signs when you gave birth to Tingnan?" Song Tingnan's red bead is invisible to others. Could it also be an upgraded version of that 'virginity mark'?

She knew that Ting Nan wasn't the type to talk nonsense, and this was too strange; Jiang Qianqian preferred to believe it was some kind of 'miracle'.

Starting with Qin Shi Huang, in order to promote chastity, he ordered the invention of the "virginity mark" (守宫砂). A bright red dot was placed on the arm of a girl at birth.

This seems extremely superstitious now, and everyone learned about it from characters like Zhou Zhiruo and Ji Xiaofu in Jin Yong's novels "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" and Xiaolongnu in "The Return of the Condor Heroes."

Song Xiuying recalled, "There was nothing unusual. Tingnan was my fourth child. Like her older siblings, she was born at home, with a local midwife who was very experienced."

It was a bit difficult during childbirth. I could hear her muttering to herself, opening cabinet doors and pulling out drawers, rubbing and pushing on my belly. It wasn't too much of a struggle, and then the baby came out.

Jiang Qianqian pressed further: "And after you were born? Were there any unusual occurrences in the sky or among the animals?"

"After she was born, she didn't cry. The midwife held her upside down by her feet, patted her bottom, and then she cried." Song Xiuying paused, looked at Tingnan hesitantly, and said, "Tingnan was not even a year old when her father and grandmother passed away one after the other. Some people in the village gossiped, saying not only that I was a jinx, but also that Tingnan was a cursed star... Tingnan, her mother didn't believe it, not at all."

Those gossipy women say I'm a jinx, but how can they say that about you? Trust me, I sent you to your uncle's house because there's no one else in the family who can earn enough work points, and I was afraid we wouldn't be able to support you. Otherwise, how could I bear to do that…”

Seeing Song Xiuying hurriedly explaining, Song Tingnan grabbed her hand to stop her, "Mom, I know, I know, I believe you! I know that was the best choice you made at the time."