Chapter 1: Rebirth in 1976

Beijing, Huaguo, 2024. First People’s Hospital.

Inside a pristine white hospital room, an elderly woman lay on her side on the bed, exhaustion evident on her face.

Her wrinkled fingers gently caressed an old black-and-white photograph, worn and tattered from years of handling.

It was clear that she had looked at and touched this photo countless times.

In the picture, a man and a woman sat side by side.

She still remembered—it was taken in the summer of 1984. Back then, the woman in the photo was twenty-five, and the man was thirty.

It was taken when they registered their marriage.

The man in the photo had sharp, defined features, his handsome face stirring hearts effortlessly. Yet fate had frozen his time in the winter of 1987.

The woman in the picture beamed with warmth and happiness.

“Gu Nan, I don’t think I can hold on any longer.”

“Thirty-seven years… I’ve lived for thirty-seven years without you, trying my best to keep going.”

“I’ve saved tens of thousands of lives, but I never got the chance to save you.”

“I miss you so much… so, so much…”

The elderly woman’s once-clear eyes instantly welled up with tears, turning murky with sorrow.

The medical instruments monitoring her vital signs gradually settled into silence.

“Professor Su!!”

“Professor Su!”

“Wu wu…”

At that moment, grief engulfed everyone in the hospital room. The revered physician, a titan in the medical field, had completely fallen.

…

“Su Niannian! I’m talking to you—did you hear me or not?!”

“If you refuse to take your brother’s place and go to the countryside, then I’ll marry you off instead! There’s someone in the neighboring county willing to pay twenty yuan in bride price to take you in.”

“Even if he already has two children and a bad leg, he’s an honest man with a steady temperament. That’s not a bad option for you!”

Twenty yuan! In 1976, that was a considerable sum.

If the man weren’t a widower with two children, if he weren’t disabled, or if Su Niannian weren’t so beautiful, there was no way the bride price would be that high.

But it didn’t matter. If Su Niannian refused to take Su Junlang’s place and go to the countryside, Tao Chunhua would sell her to that widower in exchange for twenty yuan to spend as she pleased.

Su Niannian’s scattered consciousness was slowly pulled back by the sharp, grating voice beside her.

She looked around. The small room was cramped, furnished with only a few simple wooden pieces. The walls, once covered with old newspapers, had turned a dull yellow from years of wear and tear.

At this moment, Su Niannian was sitting on a small wooden stool, leaning against the wall.

Across from her, Tao Chunhua was gesturing aggressively, spitting as she spoke.

Her father sat by the dining table, silently puffing on his dry tobacco pipe, not uttering a single word.

On the worn wooden table sat a chipped enamel mug, steam rising from the cheap tea leaves steeping inside.

Near the door, a calendar hung prominently, its bold red print reading 1976, a sight that sent a jolt through Su Niannian’s heart.

Memories of the past surged forward all at once.

Had she… been reborn?

Back to 1976, before she was forced to the countryside?

In her past life, Su Niannian’s mother had passed away when she was only eight years old. She still remembered that cold autumn day—the icy river swallowed her mother’s life.

From then on, she became a motherless child.

Less than two months later, her father remarried, bringing Tao Chunhua into their home.

Tao Chunhua was a widow from a neighboring village, and she had a son one year older than Su Niannian—Lang Junlang.

Later, Tao Chunhua gave birth to a son and a daughter for her father.

In front of outsiders, she played the role of a dutiful wife and loving mother flawlessly, leaving no room for criticism.

But at home, Su Niannian was treated like a servant, constantly at her stepmother’s mercy.

Whenever she did something that displeased Tao Chunhua, she would be beaten without hesitation.

However, Tao Chunhua was cunning—she only hit Su Niannian in places covered by clothing, making sure no one would notice. And Su Niannian, ashamed, never told anyone.

She endured in silence until 1976, when Tao Chunhua decided to send Su Niannian to the countryside in place of her so-called “brother,” who wasn’t even related to her by blood.

At sixteen, Su Niannian had already started working at a garment factory, earning a stable salary of twenty yuan per month. Young workers with official employment were exempt from being sent to the countryside.

Since her younger half-siblings were still children, the responsibility of relocation should have fallen on Li Junlang.

But Li Junlang was an idle loafer with no job, spending his days carelessly. There was no way he would willingly accept a life of hard labor in the countryside.

And so, Tao Chunhua forced Su Niannian to take his place. Not only that—she even planned to sell Su Niannian’s factory job for a hefty sum!

A well-calculated scheme.

In her past life, to avoid marrying a crippled man in his second marriage, Su Niannian agreed to go to the countryside. But at least she had the foresight to sell her factory job before leaving.

She sold her factory job for two hundred yuan and set off for the countryside, bringing along the money and a few ration tickets she had painstakingly saved through frugal living.

With careful spending, two hundred yuan would have been enough to live a modest but sufficient life in the countryside—warm meals and decent clothing.

But everything changed when she arrived in Kaoshan Village.

There, she was relentlessly tormented by two educated youths, Lu Xingguang and Huang Yingying. They schemed against her at every turn—framing her for others’ wrongdoings, accusing her of theft, and even slandering her reputation with baseless rumors of immoral conduct.

Even the money she had so carefully guarded was completely swindled away by their sweet words and deception.

Just when Su Niannian had reached the end of her rope, news broke that the national college entrance exam had been reinstated.

Seizing this rare opportunity, she poured all her effort into studying, relying on her previous academic foundation. Though it was a struggle, she managed to gain admission to an ordinary university.

But just as she was about to return to the city and start her university life, Tao Chunhua struck again.

She intercepted Su Niannian’s college acceptance letter and handed it over to her own son.

One fateful night, Tao Chunhua drugged Su Niannian and brought a thug into her room, intending for him to violate her.

However, the man was physically incapable of the act. Instead, he took pleasure in tormenting young girls, leaving Su Niannian covered in bruises and wounds of all sizes.

To ensure Su Niannian would never have the chance to reveal the truth, Tao Chunhua even paid the thug one hundred yuan. Her demand was simple—keep Su Niannian locked away and out of sight. As long as she remained imprisoned, her son’s identity swap at the university would go undiscovered.

And so, Su Niannian was confined to a dark, windowless storage room.

Day after day, she endured unspeakable physical and psychological torment at the hands of the thug.

Until one day, the thug was arrested for committing a crime, and only then did Su Niannian finally escape from that dark, filthy, and revolting prison.

And that was when she met Gu Nan again.

The only man in Kaoshan Village who had ever shown her even a shred of kindness.

But by then, Su Niannian had lost all hope. Her body and soul had been ravaged to the point of near destruction. Though she had never been physically violated, the trauma ran so deep that just the sight of a man made her feel sick to her stomach.

For two whole years, Gu Nan cared for her with unwavering patience.

He helped her rediscover herself, taught her to accept the world around her once more, and rekindled her will to live.

At that time, Gu Nan was like a brilliant ray of light, slowly illuminating her world—a world that had been nothing but cold and hopeless darkness.

Then, in 1984, Gu Nan proposed.

Su Niannian hesitated. She feared dragging him down. By then, Gu Nan had already built a successful career—his future was bright, radiant like the sun itself.

At thirty, he was mature and steady, a man who handled everything with careful thought. His looks and physique were impeccable, admired by many.

And she… she was nothing but a broken woman, both inside and out.

How could she ever be worthy of a man like him?

It wasn’t until he told her that from the very first moment he laid eyes on her, he had been deeply drawn to her.

That he had waited.

Waited for so, so, so long.

Looking into his eyes, filled with nothing but love for her—seeing the deep, unwavering affection in them—Su Niannian finally said yes.

Their married life was the happiest, most peaceful, and most joyful time of her entire existence.

But fate always favored the cruelest twists.

Misfortune never seemed to leave those who had already suffered enough…