Chapter 003

After taking down the bathing curtain and pouring out the bathwater basin by basin, Meng Li sat on the edge of the bed, panting heavily to catch her breath. Although her original body was strong, she herself was not someone who could handle much physical labor. Even a little work left her feeling utterly exhausted.

Resting with her hand propped on the edge of the bed for a while, Meng Li soon felt her face dry and tight. She got up and began searching through the dressing table. However, all she found on the table was a redwood comb and some miscellaneous items—nothing for moisturizing her face.

After thinking it through, Meng Li realized it made sense. This room was usually where Grandma Cheng and Tang Yuan’er slept, so it was normal that there weren’t any skincare products here.

With that thought, Meng Li turned and opened the door. Seeing that no one was around outside, she walked directly across the central room to the bedroom of Gu Huijuan and Cheng Chunliang.

When she reached Gu Huijuan’s dressing table, she indeed found a jar of snow cream.

It was a flat, round tin box with a yellow lid, on which the words “Friendship Skincare Cream” were printed.

Meng Li reached out and picked up the jar of snow cream. She unscrewed the round metal lid and, as if examining something novel, brought it to her nose to sniff its fragrance. After taking in the scent, she used her index finger to scoop out a small amount of the white cream. She dabbed it first on her nose, then on her forehead, chin, and cheeks.

After Meng Li finished dabbing the cream on five spots on her face, she screwed the lid back on and set the jar of snow cream down. Her gaze wandered unconsciously, and suddenly, she noticed someone leaning against the doorframe.

Caught completely off guard, she was startled and clutched her chest in fright.

She hadn’t heard Tang Yuan’er come in—there had been no sound at all. At that moment, Tang Yuan’er was leaning on the doorframe, her big round eyes wide open, staring at Meng Li as if she were observing a monkey in a zoo.

Meng Li steadied herself, took a deep breath, and asked, “Wh…what is it?”

Tang Yuan’er didn’t reply. Instead, she turned and bolted out of the room. She dashed through the door covered with a cotton curtain, braved a few steps into the snow, and ran straight into her family’s kitchen. With her eyes still wide, she whispered to Grandma Cheng, “Grandma, he’s stealing Mom’s snow cream…”

Grandma Cheng didn’t pay it any mind and continued cooking her meal.

That troublesome child was probably staying for dinner. It seemed she’d have to cook an extra bowl of rice tonight.  

Meng Li ignored Tang Yuan’er’s odd behavior. She raised her hands and spread the snow cream evenly over her face, patting it gently into her skin.

Her face now felt moisturized and carried a pleasant fragrance, which lifted her mood considerably.

Since the snow outside was falling heavily, Meng Li decided to stay indoors after freshening up.

Her body was still weak and couldn’t handle the chill of the cold wind.

She stayed in the room until Grandma Cheng came in, carrying a tinned rice pot. Grandma Cheng called out to her, “Give Grandma a hand and help bring out the table. Your mom’s almost home from work. The dishes are warming in the big pot, and we’ll eat once they’re served.”

Meng Li didn’t hesitate and quickly stepped forward to help. She reached out to assist Grandma Cheng in pulling out the square table tucked under the long wooden bench, allowing her to place the rice pot on one corner of the table.

The tinned rice pot was still hot, so Grandma Cheng put a cloth underneath it to prevent it from scorching the surface.

After setting up the table, Meng Li sat down on the bed nearby.

The Cheng family’s section of the four-sided courtyard house consisted of three rooms. The central room wasn’t cluttered with many items—just a bed, a long bench, and a square wooden table. The furniture was made of solid wood and varnished, giving it a polished look. On the long bench sat an old, half-functional transistor radio.

Meng Li hadn’t been sitting on the bed for long when Gu Huijuan and Cheng Chunliang returned home together after work.

Standing under the eaves outside the curtain-covered door, they dusted the snow off their clothes while chatting with the neighbors from the east and west rooms. Their conversation was light and casual, mostly about how the snow kept falling one storm after another.

When the voices of the neighbors faded, Grandma Cheng’s voice could be heard, saying, “The child is awake.”

Gu Huijuan didn’t sound particularly surprised. “How did he wake up?”

“Well, he just woke up on his own after sleeping for a while. What other way could there be? After getting up, he even bathed and changed his clothes. He looks much better now, and he hasn’t complained about any pain. He should be fine,” Grandma Cheng replied.

As she spoke, she lifted the door curtain and entered the room, setting down the bowls and chopsticks she had been carrying. Turning to Meng Li, she said, “Your mom’s home now. Come and eat. After dinner, get to bed early. A few more days of rest, and you should be completely fine.”

Meng Li nodded but hadn’t even straightened her legs to get up from the bed when her biological mother, Gu Huijuan, walked in carrying a dish.

Without so much as glancing at Meng Li, Gu Huijuan set the dish down on the table and said curtly, “Everything’s been served right in front of you. Please, have your meal.”

Meng Li could hear the sarcasm in those words, but she didn’t respond. After all, the woman in front of her—this nearly forty-year-old comrade—was now, in name, her biological mother.

That said, “in name” was the key phrase here. For one, Meng Li couldn’t bring herself to truly see this woman as her mother.

And for another, Gu Huijuan had never treated the original body as a daughter either.

With the original body’s memories now part of her own, Meng Li understood clearly why “she” had never been welcomed by Gu Huijuan. As a burdensome child—a useless, despised nuisance—she had received little more than looks of disgust and sharp, cutting words from her so-called mother.

If it weren’t for how cruelly Gu Huijuan had treated the original body—leaving her unsupported and constantly bullied—how could she have ended up fighting so recklessly, to the point of becoming a notorious gang leader in the capital, avoiding home entirely?

In a world where no one cared for her, she had no concerns or attachments. Why bother treasuring her life?

It was precisely because she didn’t care about her own life that she lost it this time.

Although the original body had been fierce outside, she had never acted arrogantly in front of Gu Huijuan. She had always been a dutiful child. Faced with Gu Huijuan’s cold disdain, her response was simply to leave silently, ignoring her mother entirely.

Having just transmigrated into this body, Meng Li hadn’t fully adjusted to her new identity and naturally kept quiet as well.

She sat down at the heavily greased dining table and waited silently for Gu Huijuan, Cheng Chunliang, Grandma Cheng, and Tang Yuan’er to take their seats one by one. Only then did she pick up her chopsticks and begin eating.

Meng Li glanced at the food on the table but found she didn’t have much of an appetite.

Before the transmigration, she had been able to eat lavish meals of meat and fish whenever she wanted. Now, the dishes on the table were far from appealing: stir-fried salted vegetables with shredded pork, stewed cabbage with glass noodles, pickled radish, and fermented soybeans.

In the white porcelain bowls sat two types of steamed buns: one made of coarse grains and the other of refined flour.

Whether coarse or refined, every household was subject to strict rations. Buying food required grain coupons, and once those were used up, no amount of money could buy even a grain of rice.

Meng Li didn’t think much of it and reached out for one of the refined flour steamed buns.

But before her fingers could even touch it, Gu Huijuan smacked her hand sharply with her chopsticks.

The sudden sting made Meng Li pull her hand back immediately. She frowned slightly and looked at Gu Huijuan.

Gu Huijuan stirred the porridge in her bowl with her chopsticks and said in an indifferent tone, “Every household only gets so much refined flour each month. If you eat it, what will your Grandma and your little sister eat?”

On the surface, the words seemed reasonable—respecting the elderly and caring for the young was indeed expected.

But Gu Huijuan herself had already taken one of the refined flour steamed buns.

Meng Li held her breath, swallowing back the words she wanted to say. Beside her, Grandma Cheng chuckled softly.

Grandma Cheng picked up a refined flour steamed bun and placed it in front of Meng Li, her tone gentle. “What does it matter if I don’t eat? The child just woke up—he should eat something good to build his strength.”

Gu Huijuan remained unmoved. She reached her chopsticks into the dish of salted vegetables and shredded pork. “The family only gets two pounds of eggs each month, and he ate two of them in one go today. Isn’t that enough nourishment? Mom, his body’s already strong; he doesn’t need this much extra care.”

Grandma Cheng ignored Gu Huijuan’s remark and continued holding the steamed bun out toward Meng Li. “Take it.”

Meng Li looked at Gu Huijuan, then at the steamed bun in front of her, but in the end, she didn’t take it.

Instead, she lowered her head, stirred the porridge in her bowl to let out the steam, and drank it in a few large gulps. After that, she grabbed a coarse-grain bun, ate a couple of bites with the salted vegetables and cabbage with glass noodles, and then stood up and left the table to return to her room.

As soon as she set down her chopsticks and walked away, the atmosphere at the dining table noticeably improved.

When it came down to it, she was the only one with the surname Meng, the extra person in this family, awkward and out of place.

Meng Li sat in her room, staring into space, her heart feeling heavy and stifled.

Before transmigrating, she had been a pampered daughter, cherished by her parents and treated like a princess. To endure treatment like this now—pretending she wasn’t hurt—was a lie she couldn’t fully convince herself of.

But what good was feeling wronged? There was no one to stand up for her anymore.

The one causing her pain was her own mother. What could anyone else even say?

Meng Li tilted her head back, gazing at the ceiling, determined not to let her eyes grow wet or allow herself to cry.

If this was going to be her life from now on, what use was crying anyway?