“Wait until midnight, and I’ll go get it myself. You won’t be able to find the place,” Chen Meiling said, setting down the work in her hands and digging through her pockets for a while. “Here’s fourteen yuan and eighty cents that we got from your grandma. Take it all with you tomorrow when you go to the county. See if there’s anything you need to buy, get yourself something good to eat, and come back early in the afternoon. The roads aren’t safe at night.” With that, she stuffed all the money into Jiang Wanting’s hands.  

Jiang Wanting carefully folded each bill.  

This was probably the most money Chen Meiling had ever held in her life, yet she didn’t hesitate to give it all to Jiang Wanting—just so she could go to the county, look around, and eat something nice.  

Jiang Wanting couldn’t help but smile. “Mom, I’m not going just to wander around. I want to see if there’s any small business I can do to earn some money. You’re handling all the farm work, and I can’t really help much. I just thought—”  

“Running a business?” Chen Meiling looked worried. “What if you get arrested?”  

“No, the government’s been encouraging self-employment for a while now. There’s no shame in earning money through hard work.”  

“Well… alright.” Chen Meiling was still hesitant. “But don’t tell anyone in the village. I don’t want them gossiping again.”  

“Don’t worry. I’ll leave early and come back early, avoiding them as much as possible.”  

That night, Jiang Wanting slept restlessly. She dreamed again.  

She saw a little girl sleeping deep in the mountains. The girl was about three years old, her clothes patched and tattered, her legs and feet covered in wounds and dried blood. In her arms, she clutched a large lingzhi mushroom. Then, a man approached from a distance—his face was blurry, but his presence felt eerily familiar.  

The man reached out and touched her forehead. “You’re burning up.” Then he picked her up and carried her away.  

Jiang Wanting woke up. Outside, the sky was just beginning to lighten. Chen Meiling wasn’t in the room. The dream had felt so real.  

“You’re awake?” Chen Meiling came in and saw Jiang Wanting sitting dazed on the bed. She set down the boiled eggs, steamed buns, sweet potatoes, and corn she had retrieved, arranging them on the table before storing them in the cupboard. Casually, she peeled an egg and handed it to Jiang Wanting. “Eat something to fill your stomach. I’ll make porridge in the morning. Eat well before you leave.”  

Chen Meiling swiftly put everything away, then went to the yard to light the stove.  

Jiang Wanting didn’t sit idle either. She wolfed down the egg in two bites, then grabbed a bucket to fetch water from the well.  

Taking advantage of the early hour when no one was around, Jiang Wanting set off for the county in the direction Chen Meiling had pointed out, carrying their entire family fortune in her pocket.  

The day before, Chen Meiling had given her fourteen yuan and eighty cents. She had set aside one yuan to repay a debt—of the borrowed money, ten cents had already been spent by Jiang Wanting. Now, her total funds amounted to fourteen yuan and seventy cents.  

Jiang Wanting had no intention of staying trapped in this small mountain village forever. She needed to earn money—and she needed to return to her past life’s home to figure out what had really happened.  

For someone like Jiang Wanting, who had never worried about food, drink, or money in her past life, her current situation was extremely difficult. But the silver lining was the economic climate of this era—even a pig could fly if it caught the right wind.  

Jiang Wanting followed the winding path, fields of crops lining both sides, obstructing her view. This made her extra cautious. After all, she was carrying all their money—if she got robbed, they’d be left with nothing for the entire month.  

Her heightened alertness, however, made her pick up on a faint, weak cry for help.  

She didn’t want to get involved. Trouble was the last thing she needed, having only been in this world for two days. Everything—the environment, the people—was still unfamiliar to her.  

Jiang Wanting kept her head down and walked another two hundred meters. The cries faded away. The voice had sounded like a child’s—young and fragile. What if they were in danger, like falling into an abandoned well? After a brief internal struggle, she turned back.  

This time, she listened more carefully, pinpointing the direction of the sound.  

The spot wasn’t hard to find—a flattened patch in a cornfield. There, a little girl struggled desperately beneath a man, crying for help.  

Without thinking, Jiang Wanting grabbed a rock from the roadside and charged forward, smashing it against the man’s head.  

The man swayed, then collapsed face-first into the cornfield. Jiang Wanting yanked the girl out from under him, and the child immediately threw herself into her arms.  

Jiang Wanting’s heart pounded with relief. Thank goodness she’d come back.  

“Are you hurt? I’ll take you to the police station to report this.” She pulled the girl away to check for injuries.  

The girl’s clothes were torn but still on her body. There were red marks on her skin—she’d been hit, but Jiang Wanting was relieved it hadn’t gone further.  

The girl’s name was Cuini. She shook her head, wiping her tears. “I can’t report it. If the village chief finds out, my dad will beat me to death.”  

“What does the village chief have to do with this?” Jiang Wanting tried to reassure her. “If you’re worried about your reputation, I’ll keep it a secret.”  

Cuini kept shaking her head, pointing at the man on the ground. “That’s Brother Niu. If I report him, the village chief will definitely know.”  

“Who?” Jiang Wanting could hardly believe it. “Niu?” The same Niu who had almost bought her?  

Niu was also capable of something this despicable?  

Cuini rushed over and tried to roll Niu onto his back. Jiang Wanting stepped in to help, and after much effort, they finally turned him over.  

Cuini pointed at Niu’s face. “Look, it’s Niu. The cut on his face—I did that when I fought back with a knife.”  

The moment Jiang Wanting saw his face, her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the cornfield.  

This was the first time Jiang Wanting had truly seen Niu’s face. The last time, by the river, she had nearly drowned, her eyes unable to open—she’d never gotten a clear look at him.  

But now, she finally saw him—especially that scar on his face.

That scar struck Jiang Wanting like a bolt of lightning, unleashing a flood of terror from the depths of her memory.  

In her past life, Jiang Wanting had finally agreed to marry Wang Jianmin after his relentless pursuit. But after the wedding, Wang Jianmin never touched her again—they lived together respectfully, like distant guests.  

Wang Jianmin went on business trips more and more often, and Jiang Wanting grew increasingly dissatisfied. She felt empty inside. Watching other couples—whether they were arguing or being affectionate—she envied them terribly.  

Jiang Wanting thought it was because she was too reserved, too serious, that Wang Jianmin had lost interest in her. Hoping to mend their growing estrangement, she decided to change.  

The year she took the initiative to change was their fifth year of marriage—1990 in her past life.  

On their wedding anniversary, Jiang Wanting prepared a table full of delicious dishes, bought a new, seductive dress, set up candles and red wine, and even bought Wang Jianmin a luxury-brand wallet as a gift.  

But by 9 pm, Wang Jianmin still hadn’t returned. She called his workplace, and the receptionist on duty said he had left long ago.  

Jiang Wanting waited another hour, her unease growing. In five years of marriage, this was the first time Wang Jianmin had stayed out late without calling. As the clock neared 11, she wrapped herself in a shawl and went to the intersection to wait for him.  

A light night breeze made her shiver, even though the air was warm. There was still no sign of Wang Jianmin. Then, out of nowhere, a group of men appeared. Up close, they looked like thugs. By the time Jiang Wanting sensed danger, it was too late to run. Someone clamped a hand over her mouth and dragged her into a deserted alley.  

The leader had a scarred face. Terrified by his menacing appearance, Jiang Wanting froze, forgetting to scream. He moved like a seasoned criminal—in seconds, he dislocated her arms and stuffed her mouth, leaving her unable to cry for help or escape.  

That same scarred face now lay unconscious in front of Jiang Wanting. Only this time, the scar was fresh, the blood dried but still visible.  

Jiang Wanting was drenched in cold sweat, her body trembling. The nightmare from her past life was right in front of her—utterly defenseless.  

“Y-your knife—where is it?” Jiang Wanting’s voice was hoarse as she remembered Cuini mentioning a knife.  

Cuini fumbled around before finding the small blade and handing it to her. “Sister, are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere? I’ll take you to the county hospital.” Seeing Jiang Wanting’s extreme reaction, she grew worried.  

Jiang Wanting no longer cared about legality or carefully planning her next move. Acting purely on instinct, she used the knife to slice open Niu’s crotch. With one swift motion, Cuini gasped and hid behind Jiang Wanting, covering her mouth.  

Tears streamed down Cuini’s face, but she didn’t stop Jiang Wanting. This woman was standing up for her in a way even her own father and sister never had.  

“Sister, we have to run! If he dies, they’ll come after us!” Cuini tugged desperately at Jiang Wanting, begging her to leave.  

Jiang Wanting snapped out of her daze, the reality of what she’d just done hitting her. Fear set in. “Y-yes, let’s go, quick!” She urged her trembling legs to move. “Move, damn it!”  

She slapped her own thighs in frustration. Seeing this, Cuini burst into tears. “I’m sorry, sister! This is all my fault! I shouldn’t have screamed, shouldn’t have made you save me!”  

“Don’t talk nonsense. Grab your things and help me up.”  

Cuini didn’t hesitate. She snatched up a tattered burlap sack, slung it over her arm, and helped Jiang Wanting limp out of the cornfield.  

They didn’t dare waste a second. Only after hobbling several hundred meters did they finally stop to catch their breath.  

Cuini, just a child of ten or so, couldn’t hold back her fear. “Sister… is Brother Niu dead? Are the police going to come after us?”  

Jiang Wanting scanned their surroundings. They were already outside the village, on a wider road, but there was no one—no people, no cars—in sight. She reassured Cuini, “What happened today stays between us. No matter who asks, you never speak a word of it. Act like it never happened. Understand? If we deny everything, no one can touch us!”  

Cuini nodded vigorously. “Sister, what were you going to do out so early today? Did I mess things up for you?”  

“I was heading to the county to see how I could make some money,” Jiang Wanting replied. “What about you? What’s a kid like you doing out alone at this hour?”  

Cuini opened her burlap sack, revealing several lingzhi mushrooms inside. “I was going to sell these. I picked them from the cliffs two mountains past the back hills. You saved me today, sister—I’ll give them to you.”  

The mushrooms were slightly damaged from the earlier struggle. “Are there a lot in the back hills?” Jiang Wanting asked.  

Cuini nodded. “It’s the right season now. In another month, they’ll be scarce. If you need them, sister, I can go pick more for you every day.”  

“How much can you sell these for on your own?”  

“The factory canteen in the county gives me fifty cents per mushroom.”  

“Can you take me to the canteen?”  

Cuini nodded eagerly. She’d do anything for Jiang Wanting—her savior.