Chapter 004

Meng Li sat alone in her room, adjusting her mood while listening to the sounds outside.

After dinner, Gu Huijuan helped Grandma Cheng clean the dishes. As she tidied up, she kept murmuring, “What’s the point of raising him this big? He spends all his time out there, and after eating, he can’t even help clean the dishes.”

Grandma Cheng, being an outsider, didn’t say much and simply replied, “He’s still young.”

Gu Huijuan scoffed, “He’s almost eighteen! And you still call him young? Yongmei from the west room, Shao Jun from the east room—they were all born in the same year. None of them are as troublesome as him or as useless.”

Grandma Cheng didn’t say anything more and took the dishes out.

Meng Li listened to every word, reminding herself that Gu Huijuan was talking about the original person, but in reality, Gu Huijuan was talking about her now.

She was Meng Li now, not the person she used to be.

Meng Li remained silent in her room. After a brief pause, Tang Yuan’er suddenly pushed open the door and peeked in to say, “Mom says you should sleep outside tonight. I’ll sleep in the room with Grandma.”

Meng Li understood what she meant. The Cheng family only had three rooms in total. When the original person hadn’t left and was still living in the Cheng family, there had been no room for her, so she slept on a small bed in the middle room.

Cheng Chunliang and Gu Huijuan slept in the east room, and Grandma Cheng shared the west room with Tang Yuan’er.

It was likely because Meng Li had been injured and needed rest that Grandma Cheng’s room had been given to her for the night.

The original person had always been an extra, and as for Meng Li, the time traveler, she naturally couldn’t bring herself to consider herself an essential part of the Cheng family. The fact that they had provided her with a bed and kept her from sleeping on the streets was already something to be grateful for.

Meng Li glanced up at Tang Yuan’er and replied, “Got it.”

Tang Yuan’er, having received the answer, withdrew her little head and left.

That night, when it was time to sleep, Meng Li went straight to lie down on the bed in the middle room.

Grandma Cheng was very polite and came to find her, offering for her to sleep in the room, but she didn’t go.

Even when Grandma Cheng tried to persuade her, she didn’t budge. In the end, Grandma Cheng could only shake her head and sigh before returning to her own room.

Inside, as she tucked Tang Yuan’er into bed, Grandma Cheng still sighed.

Meng Li lay on the small wooden bed, feeling no drowsiness. She waited until the lights in the other two rooms were turned off, but she still hadn’t closed her eyes.

The more she thought about it, the more suffocating it felt. She couldn’t understand what bad thing she had done to deserve this kind of punishment.

If she could return, she would be willing to pay any price to try.

But looking at it now, it seemed like she wouldn’t be able to go back.

She lay there, holding her breath, thinking deeply into the night until she finally fell asleep.

Once asleep, she had a dream. In the dream, she hadn’t traveled back to the 1970s. Instead, her parents had made a big feast for her, with mountain delicacies and seafood. She gobbled down the food, stuffing it into her mouth so quickly that she nearly choked to death.

Just as she was about to lose consciousness, the sound of a door slamming suddenly woke her up.

In the dim morning light, she saw Cheng Chunliang and Gu Huijuan leaving the house, but she only glanced at them.

Afterward, she turned over, found a comfortable position, and went back to sleep.

It was so cold, and no one wanted to leave the warm bed so early.

When Meng Li woke up again, Gu Huijuan and Cheng Chunliang had already left the house.

She felt relieved and got up to wash up and eat.

After finishing her morning routine, she went to Gu Huijuan’s room to find some face cream to apply. However, when she reached the vanity, she noticed the snowflake cream was missing.

It was Tang Yuan’er, leaning on the doorframe, who looked at her and said, “Mom said you can’t use it, so she put it away.”

Meng Li stared at Tang Yuan’er for a moment, then immediately realized what had happened.

Gu Huijuan wouldn’t even let her eat plain steamed buns, so of course, she wouldn’t allow her to use something like face cream.

While Meng Li was slightly stunned, Grandma Cheng appeared in the doorway, looking down at Tang Yuan’er and asking, “What’s going on?”

Tang Yuan’er tilted her head back and looked at Grandma Cheng. “He was looking for the snowflake cream, but Mom put it away.”

Grandma Cheng wasn’t surprised by this at all. She didn’t get involved in the matters between a mother and child. She simply looked at Meng Li and said, “Eat your meal.”

Meng Li slowly regained her composure and responded simply, “Oh, okay.”

…

Children often don’t express things clearly. Tang Yuan’er couldn’t exactly pinpoint it, but she felt that after Meng Li woke up, she wasn’t as fierce and intimidating as before. Now, she wasn’t as scared of her. While kneeling on the small stool eating, she looked at Meng Li and asked, “Why did you become so delicate?”

Meng Li chewed on a soft steamed bun, her mood better than last night. She looked at Tang Yuan’er and replied, “Hmm?”

Tang Yuan’er picked up a bit of pickled vegetables and put it in her mouth. “Men don’t use snowflake cream.”

Meng Li understood what she meant. She swallowed the chewed-up bun, took a sip of congee, and then looked at Tang Yuan’er. “But it’s so dry in the winter. My face feels all tight and rough, and when you touch it, it feels all prickly and uncomfortable…”

Tang Yuan’er shifted her gaze to Grandma Cheng and said, “Really delicate!”

Meng Li: “……”

Grandma Cheng didn’t know Meng Li very well. Since Gu Huijuan married into the Cheng family, she hadn’t had much real interaction with Meng Li.

At first, this child didn’t speak, and later, she simply stopped coming home.

As for what kind of person Meng Li was—whether she was pretentious, delicate, or spoiled—Grandma Cheng had no idea.

All she knew was that this child had a bad temper and liked to stir up trouble outside.

Grandma Cheng didn’t want to bring up the snowflake cream again, fearing it would make Meng Li feel even worse. So, she changed the subject and asked, “How are you feeling today? If anything still feels uncomfortable, we can take you to the hospital to see a doctor.”

Meng Li shook her head while biting into the steamed bun. “No need to see a doctor again.”

After breakfast, Meng Li didn’t go to the hospital or leave the house, as she still felt a bit weak.

With the weather being so cold outside, it was better for her to stay at home and rest.

Since she wasn’t going out, during the day, she was naturally left with Grandma Cheng and Tang Yuan’er. However, Grandma Cheng and Tang Yuan’er didn’t stay at home all the time; they had their own social visits and errands to run.

So, most of the time, it was just Meng Li alone at home.

In this courtyard, aside from the Cheng family, the Shao family and the Luo family also lived in the east and west rooms. There were people her age as well—specifically, Luo Yongmei and Shao Jun, whom Gu Huijuan had mentioned last night.

But in Meng Li’s memory, the original person had barely spoken to these two peers. Perhaps influenced by Gu Huijuan, Shao Jun and Luo Yongmei had looked down on her from the start and didn’t want to play with her.

Later, she became the ruler of the capital, and Luo Yongmei and Shao Jun went out of their way to avoid her.

Occasionally, they would run into each other in the courtyard, but they wouldn’t even exchange greetings.

Since that was the case, Meng Li naturally didn’t bother with them.

Even if she did, it would only be asking for trouble and discomfort.

After spending two days alone at home, Meng Li began to feel restless, as if her bones were itching all over.

Staying at home like this during these times wasn’t an easy thing to do.

Meng Li had initially planned to stay home and study. Although it was winter break, the original person had been a senior in high school. However, in this era, there was no college entrance exam, and very few people took studying seriously. As a result, the original person’s schoolbag didn’t even have a single book in it.

With no books to read, no assignments to work on, and no phone in hand, the house had no computer or TV either. The only thing available was an old, broken half-semiconductor radio, which left her with nothing to do but stare at herself in the mirror, engaging in a pointless staring contest.

If she kept staring like this, wouldn’t it drive her crazy?

Before Meng Li had crossed over, she had been a well-behaved, soft, obedient girl, but even she couldn’t endure a life like this, feeling like she was trapped in a prison. Moreover, it wasn’t just the monotony of the situation; the cold, judgmental expressions from her mother and stepfather were getting worse every day, as if they were trying to chase her out with their looks.

Meng Li leaned against the headboard, her shoulders slumping in exhaustion, replaying everything that had happened in the past two days in her mind. She pursed her lips slightly, thinking—if she stayed in the Cheng family any longer, it would drive her mad. Maybe she should try to find some excitement, reconnect with her old “brothers.”

It seemed she didn’t have any family in this world, and as she thought about it, only her group of brothers had treated her well.

They used to call her “Third Master,” and wherever they went, they always pampered her.

With that thought, Meng Li quickly got up from the bed and stood in front of the vanity mirror.

She looked at the reflection of “herself.” Her skin was pale, her eyebrows and eyes delicate, her nose straight, and her lips soft and thin. She didn’t have the fierceness and heroism that the original person, Meng Li, possessed. If it weren’t for her slightly roughened skin from the wind and her short hair, she could easily pass as a fresh, youthful beauty.

She thought to herself that she couldn’t face her brothers with such a soft and meek demeanor, so she focused on training her gaze in the mirror. As long as her eyes were fierce, wild, and commanding enough, she would truly be Meng Li again.

After practicing her gaze for a while, Meng Li moved on to practicing cursing in front of the mirror. These words were already in her mind, and she didn’t need to ask anyone for help. Even when this body still belonged to Meng Li, she had already known many rough words.

With a fierce expression, Meng Li cleared her throat, pointed at her reflection in the mirror with her index finger, and then took on a serious, defiant tone:

“Bastard, what the hell are you staring at? You looking for a beating? Go ask around the entire city, who doesn’t know the name of Third Master Meng? You dare act tough in front of the third master? I’ll tell you, that’s like a hen wishing a weasel a happy new year—you’re just asking for trouble!”

“Bastard, what’s the matter, you’re not convinced? If you’re not, you don’t need to worry about the third master stepping in. I’ll send two of my brothers to show you what’s what! Don’t let me see you around Beijing again, or I’ll slap you every time I do, and I’ll make sure you’re so obedient you won’t know what hit you!”

Meng Li was just getting into the swing of things, her defiant attitude coming on strong, when she happened to glance over and saw Tang Yuan’er silently peeking from the doorframe, staring at her. This little girl always did this. Normally, Meng Li would have been startled, but this time, she simply followed her instincts and shot Tang Yuan’er a fierce look.

When Tang Yuan’er met Meng Li’s gaze, she flinched in fear, quickly turning around and running off.

Meng Li felt a small sense of pride, thinking to herself that her practice was paying off. But before she could savor the moment, she heard Tang Yuan’er panting outside the door, saying, “Grandma, Meng Li has really gone crazy! She hasn’t left the house in days, and now she’s standing in front of the mirror, cursing herself and calling herself a bastard!”

Meng Li: “……”