Chapter 3

“What retribution? You can’t just say things like that. You… stay here by yourself, then. We came out of kindness to check on you, and you’re so ungrateful. Fine—let’s go.”

Mother Huang was feeling guilty—especially when she met Shu Yue’s gaze. Panic rose in her heart. She hadn’t expected Shu Yue to know everything they had done. When the Cheng family returned, whether they believed Shu Yue or not didn’t matter—what mattered was that Huang Fang had given birth to another girl, and nothing could change that. They had to take advantage of the fact that the Chengs weren’t home yet, and discuss how to handle what came next.

As she watched the mother and daughter leave, every bit of strength drained from Shu Yue’s body. She had just given birth, and on top of that, she was still processing the absurd truth of her rebirth. At this moment, only holding her son tightly in her arms made everything feel real.

She recalled her previous life. When she woke up then, there was only a sleeping baby at her side, and no one else in the room. She could only hear Mother Cheng’s laughter outside, endlessly praising Huang Fang, the eldest daughter-in-law, for giving the family a grandson and bringing glory to the Cheng household. No one remembered that another woman—Shu Yue, the second daughter-in-law—had also given birth that day.

She had sat up by herself and confirmed her baby was a girl. Knowing her in-laws valued sons over daughters, and given her own stigma as a “capitalist’s daughter,” she had no expectations of kindness from the Cheng family. She took care of her baby alone, washed clothes, cooked meals—no one nursed her through her confinement. Lacking experience and nourishment, her milk never came in properly. The baby often cried from hunger, and Shu Yue had no choice but to trade some of the clothes she’d brought from the city for rice, cook it into thin porridge, and feed it spoon by spoon.

After all that hardship raising her child, in the end… that child became the monster who destroyed her entire family. How could she not hate?

Now, given a second chance, she would raise her son well—and make every person who harmed her pay the price.

Looking at her son sleeping soundly in her arms, Shu Yue kissed his soft little cheek. How wonderful—to have the chance to hold him again. This time, Mama will live well. This time, Mama will give us both a good life.

Exhaustion overwhelmed her. Ignoring the pain, Shu Yue got out of bed, latched the door, and lay down with her son in her arms, ready for a deep sleep.

She quickly drifted off. In her dreams, old memories surfaced.

She had once been carefree, raised in comfort. Though her mother died young and her father remarried, she’d gone to live with her maternal grandparents. Life with the two old people had been warm; they treated her with nothing but love, and her two uncles cherished her as if she were their own child. Even without her parents nearby, Shu Yue had never lacked affection.

But one day, she sensed something was wrong at home—everyone wore worried expressions. Her grandfather told her the family had offended someone powerful, had been reported, and would likely be sent down to the countryside. Her uncles had already made arrangements for their own children—some transferred to other places, some married off—but they worried about Shu Yue.

They had considered sending her back to her father, but when her uncles visited him several times, he avoided them every time. Clearly he’d heard about the investigation of her grandfather and wanted no trouble. He wouldn’t even acknowledge his own daughter—how could anyone expect him to care for her?

There was no good work unit that could transfer her, and they couldn’t find a suitable match for her to marry off within a few days. They didn’t want her exiled along with them, so the family decided to register her to “go to the countryside” as a sent-down youth. It was still hard, but much better than formal exile. They divided the family’s savings and valuables among the younger generation, hoping to give each a little security for the future.

And so Shu Yue went to Heilongjiang, alone. She thought if she kept her head down and worked hard, she could live quietly. But among the other educated youths sent down with her was Sun Qing, who knew Shu Yue’s family background—and made sure everyone else knew it too. The name “capitalist’s daughter” spread quickly through the village.

Sun Qing told everyone Shu Yue took her mother’s surname, that she’d grown up in the Shu household, living in a small Western-style villa in the capital, with a maid to cook, a car to ride in, a garden, radios and bicycles and other luxuries ordinary people could only dream of.

Naturally, the villagers showed her no kindness. A capitalist’s daughter who hadn’t been formally exiled? That smelled suspicious. Nobody wanted to associate with her. The other youths excluded her; the villagers spat on the ground when she passed, cursing her as bad luck. She lived like that for about a year.

From crying every day, to being helpless under constant rejection, to finally growing numb and resigned—Shu Yue thought this was the life she would lead. But then some of the village riffraff and bachelors, seeing that she had no protector and never fought back, began to target her. Whatever her “class background,” Shu Yue was strikingly beautiful—and a helpless female youth with no backing was easy prey.

One afternoon, walking alone back to the youth lodging, a man suddenly lunged from the roadside, dragging her toward a haystack. Shu Yue screamed in terror, but he clamped a hand over her mouth and kept pulling. She bit his hand savagely and broke free, running in blind panic, tears streaming down her face. She didn’t know how long she ran or if he was still chasing her. When she finally tried to stop and catch her breath, she stumbled and fell straight into the river.

She couldn’t swim. All she could do was cry for help.

The first person to appear was the very man who had tried to assault her. Grinning lewdly, he stripped off his coat, pretending he meant to “save” her, but his face said clearly what he really wanted.

At that moment, Shu Yue felt utter despair. She was ready to stop struggling. Dying… seemed easier than living.