Chapter 1: Back to 1990

February 13, 1990. The harsh winter was finally starting to relent, and the spring grass was slowly turning green.

Nan Province, Fang County, Xiahe Village.

There wasn’t much work in the fields at this time, and the card hall next to the store was bustling with people.

Shouting, slapping of the table, and curses filled the air. It was a noisy, smoky mess, suffocating to the senses.

“Su Ai, it’s your turn to play a card!”

“Damn it, did you drink some cat urine last night and are still asleep?”

“I said it’s your turn to play a card, are you going to play or not?”

“Hey! Are you going to play a card or not?”

Three men and a woman sat around a card table.

The men all stared at Su Ai, waiting for her to play, their voices laced with annoyance.

But Su Ai seemed lost in her own world, her eyes vacant, her expression dazed.

The man next to her finally lost his patience and pushed her. It wasn’t a hard push, but surprisingly, she tumbled to the ground.

With a loud bang, the man and the stool went over.

The pain in her buttocks and legs brought Su Ai back to reality.

She stared at the mahjong table in front of her, the familiar furnishings from the 1980s and 1990s, and the faces that seemed both familiar and strangely aged. Her eyes darted around, taking everything in.

Worn calendars on the wall showed the date: February 13, 1990.  February 13, 1990! February 13, 1990!

The pain in her buttocks served as a stark reminder that this wasn’t a dream. She had died in 2035 and was reborn in 1990.

She was reborn forty-five years ago, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar faces before her. In 1990, these friends were still alive. Did that mean… did that mean…

Su Ai couldn’t remember the last time she cried, but the overwhelming emotions threatened to consume her. Her eyes and nose instantly turned red, and her chest felt like it was being crushed by a heavy stone, making it hard to breathe.

She threw away the cards in her hand, quickly got up from the ground, and ran out like a woman possessed, bumping into several people along the way, earning their curses.

“What’s wrong with Su Ai? Is she sick?”

“Su Ai, where are you going? You haven’t finished playing cards yet, don’t you want to play?”

“Fuck!”

“Who the hell bumped into me, don’t you have eyes!”

As the noise faded behind her, Su Ai ran towards the familiar yellow dirt road she remembered, her legs and feet moving with incredible speed.

The intense exertion made her heart pound in her chest, her breathing became heavy and rapid, the air in her lungs felt thin, and her throat burned with every breath.

But her eyes seemed to be burning with a flame, getting brighter and brighter.

It hurt, and that meant it wasn’t a dream.

It meant all this was real.

The tears on her cheeks were blown away by the wind, but they kept flowing.

Finally, she reached the familiar house, and without stopping, she rushed inside.

With a bang, the flimsy door was pushed open by her, hitting the wall and bouncing back, attracting the attention of the person on the bed.

He turned his head and looked over.

The face that had been blurry in his memory suddenly became crystal clear.

A man in his twenties lay on the bed. He was about 6 feet tall, with short hair, wearing a white vest and large shorts, a quilt covering his abdomen, revealing a leg wrapped in a bandage. He lay on the bed with a pale face.

Next to him stood a little boy, just over two years old. He held a bowl containing dark Chinese medicine.

The little boy was too young to hold the bowl properly. He was already struggling, and now, frightened by Su Ai’s sudden appearance, his hand trembled. The bowl and medicine fell to the ground together, making a sharp sound.

He was scared and quickly hid in his father’s arms, looking at his mother at the door with fear.

Panic was evident in his eyes, and he was afraid of being scolded.

Ji Yang hugged his son, patted his back gently, and looked at Su Ai with some apprehension.

“The child is still young, it’s not intentional,” he explained for his son.

After all, he had a broken leg, and if Su Ai was going to beat the child, he might not be able to stop her, and the child would suffer.

“If you want money, I have it here…”

Before he could finish, he saw the woman standing at the door, her eyes even redder, tears rolling down her cheeks.

She wasn’t the bossy, arrogant person she usually was when she came home.

Her eyes were filled with too many complex emotions, so complex that even Ji Yang couldn’t understand them.

There was surprise, despair, pain, and regret. Countless emotions intertwined and accumulated, finally reaching a point where they could no longer be contained and exploded.

She was shaking all over, as if experiencing immense pain. She slowly slid to the ground against the door frame, then squatted down and burst into tears.

The cry was filled with regret and despair, and anyone who heard it felt uncomfortable.

This was the first time Ji Yang had seen Su Ai lose control like this, and even he was scared.

The child in his arms pursed his lips, looking at his mother squatting on the ground crying with reluctance. He also wanted to cry.

He straightened up, as if wanting to go over and comfort his mother.

Ji Yang hesitated for a moment, but still managed to sit up from the bed. The pain in his legs caused a thin layer of sweat to appear on his nose.

He had never seen Su Ai cry so hard before. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but as he sat up, Su Ai heard the noise.

She raised her head and stared at the father and son, then rushed over, sat on the edge of the bed, and held them tightly in her arms.

“Ji Yang!”

“Le Le!”

She hugged them tightly, her voice hoarse, suppressed, and trembling.

She hugged them so hard, it was a long-lost reunion, as if she wanted to absorb them into her bones.

Ji Yang was unaccustomed to this kind of intimacy.

He raised his hand, as if wanting to push Su Ai away, but drop after drop of tears fell onto his neck, the scorching temperature seeming to penetrate his soul.

He trembled for a moment, but finally his hand turned and gently patted Su Ai’s back, offering soothing words:

“What happened?”

“Did someone bully you?”

Ji Yang’s voice was as gentle as ever.

But it was this gentle, tolerant attitude that made Su Ai’s tears fall even faster.

She sobbed and apologized over and over in Ji Yang’s ear, saying sorry again and again.

In her mind and in her chest, the memories that had been swirling for decades became crystal clear at that moment.