Chapter 1: Her Own Little Home

Chen Rou’s head was aching a little. It seemed like she had bumped it somehow. But wasn’t she just enjoying a rare moment of peace in a comfortable bed during this time of peace? How could she have slept so soundly that her head started hurting?

After tossing and turning for a while, Chen Rou finally opened her eyes. What entered her sight was a dim, grey room. She was stunned for a moment, then immediately became alert.

This wasn’t the room she had returned to after being reborn from the apocalypse into the peaceful era!

Just as this thought crossed her mind, a flood of unfamiliar memories surged into her head. Chen Rou, expressionless, flipped through these memories like watching an old black-and-white film.

She… she had transmigrated again.

She originally came from a thousand years in the future. By then, Earth’s environment had become extremely harsh due to severe pollution. Eating and drinking were constant problems, and life was incredibly difficult.

She had been attacked by a mutated shadow cat. Before she even felt the pain, she had been transported back to the peaceful era recorded in history books.

She even obtained a small spatial artifact with four-dimensional storage that could stockpile supplies.

The current situation was eerily similar to when she had first transmigrated to the peaceful era. Since she had already experienced it once, Chen Rou remained very calm this time.

The body’s original owner was also named Chen Rou, but she had a fiery and aggressive personality. The reason for the headache was that the original Chen Rou had smashed her head against the wall.

The cause of this was that her husband’s grandfather had passed away, leaving behind a small inheritance. Dissatisfied with the meager share their household received—especially after her mother-in-law secretly kept the larger portion for herself and distributed the rest to other family branches—the original Chen Rou resorted to threatening suicide to force her mother-in-law to hand over the hidden savings. She had caused quite a commotion.

But that headbutt had ended her own life and brought Chen Rou here in her place.

She was pretty sure the original owner’s soul had vanished. The body she had in the peaceful era was also gone—succumbing to depression, she had taken medicine and passed away, which had led to Chen Rou taking over.

Perhaps because the body had been damaged by the medication, she had transmigrated once again—this time to an even earlier era than the peaceful times: the 1960s.

Currently, it was the late 1960s. Though the country was starting to recover, poverty was still rampant everywhere. Compared to the future peaceful era, life here was unimaginably hard.

Take her current home, for example—it was a shabby mud-brick house.

There was only this single room. Outside, there was a simple earthen stove with a pot that had several chips and cracks. Aside from that, there were just two sets of bowls and chopsticks for her and her husband, along with some old clothes.

Of course, there was also a small amount of money left—just over eight yuan.

That was basically everything they had after splitting from the main family.

When Grandpa Han passed away, he had left behind a bit of money. Their share amounted to just thirty cents. However, Grandpa Han had once fought against the Japanese invaders, so the local government provided him with a monthly subsidy.

Since there weren’t many other expenses, the original Chen Rou had felt their portion was too little.

Chen Rou didn’t have much to say about the original owner. After all, she was now Chen Rou.

What she cared about most was her spatial storage. Without delay, she examined the entire space carefully, finally letting out a huge sigh of relief.

The space wasn’t large—just five cubic meters—but it was packed with supplies she had prepared.

Various kinds of meat, eggs, rice, and flour, all of which were scarce in this era, were stocked up inside.

Due to the limited space, she hadn’t been able to store a lot, but if she rationed it carefully, it would be enough to get by.

After confirming the supplies were all there, Chen Rou finally had time to sort through her memories of her so-called husband.

Han Guobin—a true northern man, over 1.8 meters tall. He wasn’t exactly handsome, but he wasn’t ugly either. Based on the memories, he was a reliable and hardworking man.

He was probably the one who had carried her back this time.

It was September now, and the autumn harvest would begin in the latter part of the month. Counting on her fingers, she realized she had been married here for about three months.

With these thoughts in mind, Chen Rou got off the kang bed. Though her head still throbbed faintly, she was used to enduring pain. The post-apocalyptic world was harsh, and earning a single meal often meant dealing with wild beasts. Injuries were nothing. Survival was all that mattered.

Chen Rou tidied up the room before heading to the small kitchen to cook something.

Her stomach was growling. There was barely any oil or water, but they still had some cornmeal and beans left. With the harvest approaching, their food reserves were running dangerously low.

Especially since the original owner hardly worked in the fields, always taking leave under the excuse of feeling unwell. Her husband had been supporting the household alone. Even though he earned ten work points a day, feeding two mouths wasn’t easy.

Chen Rou cooked herself a bowl of hand-pulled noodles. Seeing no one was around, she cracked an egg into it.

The pot wasn’t in great shape, with several missing pieces along the rim, but even getting such a pot after splitting from the main family was a testament to her husband’s capabilities.

Iron products were extremely scarce at this time.

Chen Rou didn’t have a pot in her spatial storage either. She did, however, have a kitchen knife and two watermelon knives she had specifically kept for self-defense. They didn’t take up much space.

Just as Chen Rou was halfway through her egg noodle soup, she heard the door open. Probably hearing the sounds from the kitchen, Han Guobin came in.

The two of them bumped into each other, with Chen Rou still having a mouthful of noodles she hadn’t swallowed.

“Wife, are you alright now?” Han Guobin asked, looking at her.

In her past life, Chen Rou had never married. In the post-apocalyptic world, survival was the priority—who had time to think about relationships?

But deep down, she had longed for companionship. However, after witnessing the treacherous nature of humanity—seeing people push their partners into the jaws of beasts just to survive—she didn’t dare indulge in such thoughts.

From the memories, though, this man seemed dependable. Although he was not very talkative, he was clearly someone who could be relied upon. Even when the original owner didn’t work, he never complained.

Chen Rou thought that a man like this might be worth giving a chance.

If it didn’t work out, they could always part ways later.

“I’m fine now. Are you hungry? Do you want some too?” Chen Rou swallowed the noodles and asked.

Han Guobin was indeed hungry. Seeing that she was fine, he nodded. “Okay.”

Chen Rou had stocked up two boxes of noodles in her space—not a lot, but enough for now.

Not afraid of being questioned, she cooked him a bowl of noodles as well. The bowls were quite large, so she made him a generous serving.

Han Guobin was stunned when he saw the fine noodles. He looked at his wife and asked, “Fine noodles?”

“I went to town the other day and bought some. You just didn’t know,” Chen Rou replied casually.

The original owner often yearned for life in the town and frequently skipped work, always finding excuses. Most of the time, she would sneak off to the town.

A round trip took an entire day, as the distance was not short.

Because of this, she was familiar with the town’s black market and would often bring back some good food.

Han Guobin knew this as well, so he didn’t say anything more and simply sat down to eat.

The thin noodles were indeed delicious, incomparable to those coarse grain noodles. The texture was especially smooth and silky.

After finishing such a big bowl, Han Guobin still felt unsatisfied, but he didn’t say anything.

Today, it was already a surprise that his wife shared a bowl of thin noodles with him.

Thinking of this, Han Guobin glanced at his wife and hesitantly said, “Don’t go looking for Mother anymore. Father really didn’t leave much behind, and there’s still Second Uncle’s and Third Uncle’s families.”

Chen Rou understood what he meant.

The savings that Grandpa Han had set aside for his own funeral would indeed have some leftover after everything was taken care of, but to say it was a lot—that wasn’t likely.

Of course, Chen Rou was clear it wouldn’t be as little as just a few cents, either.

Among the three sons of the Han family’s eldest branch, Han Guobin ranked second—not the eldest, not the youngest. After he got married, he was separated out to live on his own. His eldest brother’s family also moved out together. Now, Father Han and Mother Han lived with the third son, Han Laosan. Han Laosan wasn’t married yet, but it would probably happen this year, since he was already seeing someone.

It was said she worked at the township’s supply and marketing cooperative, earning twelve yuan a month. That was quite a sum and very respectable.

Han Laosan also worked as a scorekeeper in the production team and often went to town. Through these frequent visits, he got to know this girl.

Naturally, Father Han and Mother Han were overjoyed.

In fact, if it hadn’t been for the need to prioritize Han Laosan, whether Han Guobin, the second son, could have married this year would have been a different story altogether.

The old couple’s favoritism toward their youngest son was common knowledge.

But Chen Rou didn’t keep pressing the matter. She simply looked at Han Guobin and said, “Whether there’s anything left or not, I don’t want to pursue it anymore. I’ve seen clearly enough now. Father and Mother’s hearts are biased beyond reason. You’re my husband. From now on, we’ll just go to work diligently and live our own little life well. That’s enough for me.”

Han Guobin was stunned for a moment and looked at his wife.

But Chen Rou no longer looked at him. She picked up the bowls and went to wash them.

It was already evening. As she washed, she counted on her fingers: if she got pregnant this year, the child would probably be born around next year’s summer harvest. Wouldn’t that delay her ability to work and earn work points?

So, forget it. Let him hold it in.

Still, despite the scorching heat, she insisted on taking a bath. As for washing her hair, she’d wait until after work tomorrow.

When she came out after bathing, she saw Han Guobin still sitting there, so she said, “Go take a bath.”

Han Guobin looked at his wife, wondering if she had really figured things out. Why did it feel a little strange?

He didn’t voice his thoughts and simply went to bathe. Since all the water at home was fetched from the village well, he didn’t wash at home. Instead, he went out to the river.

When he returned, his hair was still dripping with water. Chen Rou took his clothes to wash and even took out a bar of soap to use.

Seeing Han Guobin glance over, she said, “I bought another one for bathing. Use it next time you wash.”

“You keep it for yourself,” Han Guobin shook his head.

Soap was such a rare thing. It was good enough for his wife to use it. A rough man like him didn’t need it.

Although Chen Rou appreciated his thoughtfulness, they weren’t really close. Right now, their relationship was merely at the level of cooperating to get through life together, so she didn’t say much more.

After washing the clothes and hanging them up to dry, she took out her shoes to sew the soles.

It was almost seven in the evening now. The sky would darken soon. To save on kerosene, most families in the village would go to sleep as soon as it got dark or gather together to sew shoe soles and chat.

Chen Rou’s relationships with others were average at best. She didn’t have many friends, and no one was eager to be friends with someone like her.

So, seeing the sky gradually darken, she prepared to go to bed.

Han Guobin had worked all day, plus the little commotion with his wife earlier, so he was tired too. He simply joined her and lay down on the kang (heated brick bed).