The villagers of Dahe Mountain Village were all struggling to get by. Every household was tightening their belts, barely making ends meet. Take the Qin family, for example. With a weak financial foundation, even after spending all the money they had saved over the years, they could only buy about two hundred catties(one catty is about half a kilogram or roughly 1.1 pounds) of low-grade coarse grain.

To save on food, Grandma Qin was extremely frugal. Out of the five members of the Qin family, only Qin’s son, Qin Dahai, and the family’s precious grandson, Qin Baozhu, were allowed to eat enough dry rice to fill their bellies.

As for Qin Rongrong and her mother, Li Erhua, they only had a single bowl of unappetizing wild vegetable soup a day. The soup was dark, tasteless, and difficult to swallow.

Every time she ate, Qin Rongrong forced herself to gulp it down.

As long as she could stay alive, even pig feed was something she could eat.

After all, everyone in the village was living like this; she wasn’t the only one eating wild vegetable soup.

Whenever Qin Rongrong felt resentful watching Qin Baozhu devour his cornbread, she consoled herself with these thoughts.

But today, Qin Rongrong’s patience reached its limit.

As she felt faint with hunger, she suddenly recalled the famine in her past life, when the entire Dahe Mountain production team had starved except for the Song family.

In her previous life, the Song family somehow knew in advance about the impending disaster as if they could foresee it.

Old Man Song had even warned the villagers but no one took him seriously.

They thought he was just senile and talking nonsense.

But when the famine struck, the entire village was starving, while the Song family who had prepared early, had enough to eat.

During that famine, Song Wanyue, that little wretch, had already met her end.

But in this life, not only had Song Wanyue not died early, but she had the audacity to flirt with Chenchuan, the man Qin Rongrong had set her heart on!

Could it be that Song Wanyue had also been reborn?

The thought sent a shock through Qin Rongrong and she bit her lip hard, her mind consumed by a single thought.

That little wretch couldn’t be allowed to live!

No matter what, she couldn’t.

She had been given a second chance at life and she wasn’t going to let anyone else steal her happiness!

—

When Qin Rongrong dragged her weak, hungry body out of the room, it was already dark. The other households in the village had lit their kerosene lamps but the Qin family remained in complete darkness, without even a glimmer of light.

Grandma Qin was notoriously stingy. Unless it was time for bed, the Qin family wouldn’t light a lamp.

At that moment, Grandma Qin was fumbling around, trying to wash clothes. But “washing clothes” meant little more than swishing them around in water.

The Qin family had no surplus food and Grandma Qin, with her empty stomach was in a foul mood. She had a short temper at the best of times and now, seeing Qin Rongrong come out of the room, she yelled at her in a high-pitched voice:

“You useless girl, eating free meals all day! Get over here and wash these clothes! Are you trying to watch me work myself to death?”

Grandma Qin continued to curse but Qin Rongrong suppressed her anger and slowly made her way over, supporting herself against the wall. Her thin face was twisted with a crazed determination.

“Grandma, we have food.”

“What? What did you say?”

Grandma Qin’s shrewd old eyes widened in shock at these words.

“Grandma, listen to me…”

Qin Rongrong glanced at her grandmother’s old face, secretly smirking and then she whispered her thoughts.

The more Grandma Qin listened, the more excitement spread across her wrinkled face.

The Song family had food?

In these times, when everyone was starving, why should the Song family be the only ones with something to eat?

They were all from the same village; the Song family shouldn’t think they could hog everything!

Grandma Qin squinted her old eyes, made up her mind and raised her voice as she headed toward the village.

Left behind, Qin Rongrong scraped a claw-like hand against the wall, leaving a mark, her eyes filled with smug satisfaction.

Song Wanyue, let’s see how you live this time!

—

Since dinner, the wind had started howling outside and the sky had grown overcast. The wind whipped violently against the green shutters of the Song family’s house, causing them to rattle loudly. Soon, the wind brought with it heavy, hurried raindrops that slammed into the house.

In a small bed draped with a white mosquito net, a young girl jolted upright from a nightmare. A flash of lightning illuminated the room and with a pale face, Song Wanyue rushed out of the small room.

At that moment, Chen Juhua was busy covering the chicken coop with straw. When she turned around, she saw her little granddaughter, soaked and shivering, fling herself into her arms.

“Grandma, something bad is going to happen! Someone’s coming to steal our food!”

Song Wanyue’s small face was wet and her voice was trembling with tears.

“What? What are you talking about?”

The Song family was stunned by these words, except for Chen Juhua, whose face turned serious. She stopped what she was doing and turned to her granddaughter.

“Nannan(A term of endearment for wanyue), where did you hear this?”

“It was Great-Grandma who told me in a dream.”

The Song family panicked at these words. Could the old lady be wrong?

This must mean that the news had leaked and the villagers knew that the Song family had food stored away.

“Mom, what should we do now?”

Song Xiangdang looked to his mother for help. His brothers, Song Xiangdong and Song Xiangguo were both working at the coal factory, so Chen Juhua was now the backbone of the Song family.

“Oh my, Mom, what should we do? If our food is stolen, I’d rather drown myself in the river.”

Liu Hongmei, one of the daughters-in-law was already crouched on the ground, wailing.

Chen Juhua, her face stern, shot her a sharp look.

“Liu, stop that nonsense! Nothing’s happened to the Song family yet and you’re all acting like withered eggplants. Look at you, so pathetic!”

The old woman then turned to her husband and said, “Don’t worry, I’ve already made plans for something like this.”

“Xiangdong’s wife, Xiangguo’s wife, quickly gather the family and move the grain from the back room into the cellar in the front yard.”

“Yes, Mom, I understand.”

Zhao Xiuying, who was standing at the door, immediately gathered the family with Lin Yuehong, and they hurried to move the grain.

“Grandma, what’s going on?” Song Wanyue asked as she obediently followed Chen Juhua.

Chen Juhua smiled as she wiped the rain from her granddaughter’s face with a clean towel.

“Don’t worry, Nannan. Grandma is here, nothing will happen.”

The young girl felt reassured by her grandmother’s words and clung to her arm with a sense of security.

Chen Juhua, seeing how much her beloved granddaughter relied on her, felt her heart soften.

As the grandmother and granddaughter were enjoying a moment of affection, Liu Hongmei suddenly interrupted:

“Mom, there’s something I think I should mention.”

“What is it?”

Chen Juhua frowned at Liu Hongmei.

Liu Hongmei wore an expression that said, “I’m only doing this for the Song family’s good,” as she lowered her voice to speak:

“Mom, look, now that people know the Song family has food, they’ll be watching us like hawks. If we let them catch us off guard, the Song family could be in serious trouble. So I think it would be wise to move the grain to my mother’s house. That way, you and Dad can rest easy.”

Liu Hongmei was pleased with her idea, thinking herself quite clever.

But Song Wanyue, hearing this, couldn’t help but laugh.

Ha, only Aunt Liu could come up with such nonsense.

She was greedy and foolish that much was clear.

But before Liu Hongmei could say more, Chen Juhua doused her with a bucket of cold water, making her scream.

“Mom, what’s this about?”

“What do you think, you fool! Liu Hongmei, do you take me for an idiot? You want to send our grain to your mother’s house that bottomless pit where everything goes in and nothing comes out!”

Chen Juhua was furious, glaring coldly at her. Liu Hongmei, eyes darting nervously, didn’t dare to meet her gaze.

What’s gotten into Mom? Liu Hongmei had thought she could scare the old woman into submission and take advantage of the situation to suggest moving the grain to her mother’s place. It would solve the Song family’s problem and keep her parents well-fed. It was a win-win!

So what if she had a little self-interest? She was still thinking of her own parents. Wasn’t that just being a good daughter?

Liu Hongmei felt wronged and muttered under her breath.

“I’ve never seen such a stingy family.”

But this only fueled Chen Juhua’s anger. She grabbed a large stick and began beating Liu Hongmei.

“I’ll teach you a lesson, you wretched thing! You’ve been taking things to your mother’s house ever since you married into the Song family. Don’t think I don’t know! If you think the Song family is stingy, fine, go back to your parents’ place today!”

Liu Hongmei was stunned.

Was this really necessary? The Song family’s grain was going to be stolen by the villagers, so why not send it to her parents’ house instead?

They were relatives, after all. Why give the food to outsiders when it could go to her own family?

Liu Hongmei felt even more justified and was about to argue when Old Man Song hurled a smoking pipe at her, making her jump.

She looked around, confused. Why was everyone so angry?

“Xiangdang! Get over here, you rascal!”

Old Man Song’s veins bulged as he angrily called for his son, Song Xiangdang.

In the back courtyard, Song Xiangdang, who was lugging a sack of grain, rushed over and wiped the rain from his face.

“Yes, Dad?”

His father, face flushed with anger, shouted, “Is this the kind of wife you married?”

Old Man Song was a man of few words and now, so angry that his neck was red, all he could do was repeat that phrase.

Song Xiangdang didn’t know what had happened, so he looked to his mother for an explanation.

“Mom, what’s going on?”

“You should ask your wife.”

Chen Juhua’s face remained stern as she spoke.

Though Song Xiangdang was an honest man who focused on his work, he knew his wife was a troublemaker. He glared at Liu Hongmei and shouted:

“You miserable woman, what have you done to make Dad so angry?”