The summer heat had arrived abruptly, and the temperature soared. The sun beat down relentlessly, baking the earth, while scorching waves of heat dominated every corner of Panshi Village. Even the cicadas buzzed incessantly from the branches of the paulownia trees, as if competing to be louder.

Under the giant paulownia tree at the eastern edge of the village, a group of men and women, young and old, fanned themselves with small bamboo fans, enthusiastically gossiping about the hottest news in Panshi Village.

Their noisy chatter completely drowned out the cicadas’ cries.

“Did you go see it yesterday?” A short, stout woman glanced toward the western part of the village with a complicated expression.

“I saw it. Nearly broke my neck trying to get a look. That girl from the Shen family always seemed so quiet, but who would have thought she had such a fiery temperament? Breaking off an engagement—was that really worth risking her life?”

“Don’t Su Changhe and his wife fear Li the Butcher climbing out of his grave to settle accounts with them?”

“As long as they can latch onto the Xu family’s fortune and marry their precious daughter, Xu Jiaojiao, to their son, they couldn’t care less about Butcher Li’s coffin staying shut!”

“Well, you can’t entirely blame Wang Chunmei for being snobbish. On one side, you’ve got the wealthy accountant’s daughter, and on the other, a girl who lost her father and comes from a family of widows and orphans, with no strong laborers and is so sick she could die any moment. Even a fool would know which side to choose.”

As the group gossiped excitedly, a voice filled with anger and resentment erupted from behind them.

“Su Changhe! Wang Chunmei! You two scoundrels deserve a thousand cuts! I’m coming for you today!”

Before anyone could react, a woman holding a gleaming butcher’s knife stormed into a nearby courtyard.

Moments later, a sharp scream pierced the air, followed by the sound of utter chaos: chickens squawking, dogs barking, and people shouting.

….

The thatched roof was tangled with cobwebs, the mud walls were reinforced with straw, and the yellowed cotton mosquito net draped over a simple, roughly constructed bed frame.

Shen Zhihuan stared at her surroundings in stunned silence.

Wasn’t she at the Huaguoshan Resort left to her by her grandparents?

Her gaze fell on an old mirror with oxidized black edges, its age evident. Compelled by some inexplicable force, she walked over to it.

The girl reflected in the mirror appeared to be thirteen or fourteen years old, her cheeks sunken to the point of resembling a skull wrapped in sallow skin. Her twin braids were dry and yellow, looking much like straw left in the fields after harvest.

After a thorough inspection of her reflection, Shen Zhihuan frowned in disbelief.

She looked like a walking skeleton.

When the girl in the mirror mirrored her frown, Shen Zhihuan felt a sudden, disorienting explosion in her mind. Memories she didn’t recognize surged into her consciousness like a tidal wave.

Shen Zhihuan!

The original owner of this body was also named Shen Zhihuan.

Her father, Shen Jianguo, had fled to Panshi Village during troubled times and somehow caught the eye of Butcher Li’s youngest daughter, Li Qiuhua. They eventually had four children: Shen Zhimei, Shen Zhilan, Shen Zhihuan, and Shen Weidong.

The once-childless Li family, infamous for having no heirs, suddenly thrived with offspring.

But disaster struck.

A natural calamity claimed the lives of Butcher Li, his wife, Shen Jianguo, and other villagers who had gone to the city market that day.

Witnesses near the landslide said they heard a thunderous roar and felt the earth shake violently. By the time the villagers rushed out of their homes, the two mountains connecting the village to the county had collapsed into a heap of rubble.

In the years that followed, the family’s only helper, Shen Zhilan, got married and moved away, leaving behind two frail women and a young boy.

Men earned nine or ten work points a day, sometimes eight at the lowest, while women, no matter how hard they worked, could barely manage six or seven.

The original Shen Zhihuan had been a premature baby and was frail from birth. Shen Jianguo, Li Qiuhua, and Butcher Li had doted on her, letting her study in school with Xu Jiaojiao, the accountant’s daughter, instead of working in the fields.

Though quiet by nature, the original Shen Zhihuan had excelled in her studies, consistently ranking first. The family’s wall was nearly covered with her award certificates.

Had it not been for the political upheaval and the loss of their family’s pillars, she might have gone on to graduate high school or even college.

Now, without strong laborers, the family relied on Li Qiuhua’s seven work points earned through grueling labor in harsh conditions.

Low earnings meant little food and even less money. Families with more labor could buy extra rations if needed, but Shen Zhihuan’s family barely scraped by, unable to afford basic supplies, let alone surplus grain.

This also indirectly led to the situation where those who were a little better off would avoid the original owner’s family when they saw them, for fear that the original owner’s family would find an excuse to take food from them.

Naturally, shrewd families like Su Changhe and Wang Chunmei avoided them like the plague.

Testing her neck with a gentle touch, Shen Zhihuan winced in pain.

The original owner of this body had attempted something drastic—harming herself over the betrayal of a family that didn’t care about her.

“Third Sister! You’re awake!”

A small boy entered cautiously, carrying a bowl of herbal medicine. His skinny frame and cheerful face lit up as he rushed to her bedside.

“Third Sister, don’t do anything foolish again for that scoundrel Su Zijie. Little Fatty said he’ll marry you when he grows up!” Shen Weidong declared earnestly, placing the bowl before her.

If only siblings could marry, Little Fatty wouldn’t even stand a chance, he thought bitterly. One White Rabbit candy wasn’t nearly enough compensation for giving away his brilliant, beautiful Third Sister.

“…”

Shen Zhihuan nearly choked on the herbal medicine, her body shaking with suppressed laughter. Were kids this precocious in these times?

If her inherited memories were accurate, Little Fatty was about the same age as her younger brother!

“Don’t worry, Third Sister. I’ve already settled it with Little Fatty. The bride price is eight hundred yuan—no less,” he added confidently.

Speechless, Shen Zhihuan finished the medicine and handed the empty bowl back to Shen Weidong.

“You’re planning to marry me off to a chubby kid two months younger than you?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Eight hundred yuan as a bride price? Did these two boys even know what eight hundred yuan looked like?

Even the wealthiest family in the village, Su Changjiang, who had married off his daughter to a factory cadre, had only demanded three hundred yuan as the bride price.

“…”

Shen Weidong froze, his expression tangled in confusion.

Watching his adorable, conflicted face, Shen Zhihuan couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.

She didn’t know how she had ended up here, but now that she occupied this body, she was determined to take care of the original owner’s widowed mother and young brother.

“Where’s Mom? Did she go to work?”

She glanced at the empty doorway.

Judging by her mother’s reputation as a loving, devoted parent, she should have been at her bedside, teary-eyed and refusing to leave. It didn’t add up.

“Mom made the medicine for you, left me to watch the fire, and then went out,” Shen Weidong explained.