(1) Body Parts

Xuzhou City is located in the north, so even in the height of summer, one can still find a cool spot under the shade of a tree.

Once the harsh midday sun had passed, the large trees in the alleys became the perfect places to cool off.

A few elderly men, wearing white undershirts, sat in a circle. Two of them held palm fans in one hand and chess pieces in the other, their brows furrowed for a long time, unable to make a move. The onlookers heckled them for it.

“Can you even play? If not, go play with the kids and give up your seat!”

“You take ten minutes to make one move—go home and squeeze toothpaste instead. Let me do it!”

“Old Zhang has been indecisive his whole life—his wife might run away from all that hesitation!”

The crowd burst into laughter.

At the entrance of the alley, Shen Wanwan strolled in.

She wore a tight-fitting black-and-white striped T-shirt on top and a pair of loose, ill-fitting jeans on the bottom. In her hand, she carried a brown cloth bag.

Today marked the third day since Shen Wanwan arrived in the 1990s.

Three days ago, she had just graduated from the police academy and successfully passed the entrance exams, about to become a criminal investigator. But she stumbled upon a human trafficking gang. In the struggle to rescue a young girl, she ended up chasing one of the traffickers and accidentally fell off a bridge into the river.

When she woke up, she had become Shen Wanwan, a young woman who had drowned in an accident in the 1990s.

Her luck was particularly bad. Xuzhou City was not wealthy, and resources were still scarce—especially in the Shen family, an ordinary household with barely any spare money.

Even the clothes she wore were hand-me-downs from a cousin’s niece on her uncle’s side, passed down through several generations and likely to be passed on again.

The only silver lining was that the original owner had also just graduated from the police academy, making their professions a match. If she had been a doctor instead, Shen Wanwan might have been out of a job.

She still had two days before she had to report to the station. Today, she had gone to the department store, hoping to buy some decent clothes for herself. But after an entire day of browsing, when she looked at the price tags and then at the meager change in her hands, she ultimately couldn’t bring herself to make a purchase.

She was simply too poor.

With the warm wind blowing, Shen Wanwan walked into the alley, looking utterly dejected.

A few middle-aged women sitting on small stools at the alley entrance watched her pass by. Once they were sure she was out of earshot, they clicked their tongues and started gossiping.

“Did you hear? Old Shen’s daughter is going to be a police officer—an actual criminal investigator!”

“That’s impressive!”

“What do you know? That girl is timid as a mouse. She doesn’t even greet us when she sees us! Her mother says she’s just shy, but come on, at her age? What’s there to be shy about? How is she supposed to be a criminal investigator?”

“Tch, so just anyone can be a criminal investigator now? We’d better keep our doors and windows locked from now on—”

Before the words even fully left her mouth, a bucket of dirty water was dumped out from the second house in the alley.

Lin Yuying stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the gossipers for a long moment before spitting out a “Tch!” and going back inside.

Shen Wanwan stood in the courtyard, watching her helplessly.

Lin Yuying was fuming. “You’re a police officer now, so why are you still such a pushover? They talk about you, and you don’t even talk back?! If they ever need our help in the future, we won’t lift a finger for them!”

The Shen family lived in the southern part of Xuzhou City, in a neighborhood known as the “Old Factory District,” named after a nearby sewing machine factory.

Years ago, the factory relocated to the northern part of the city, but poor management led to its closure. Despite this, the name “Old Factory District” stuck.

About twenty households lived here, and everyone knew each other inside out.

But that had its downsides—like if someone farted a few too many times in their sleep, the whole neighborhood would hear about it the next day.

Gossiping was a common pastime.

After falling into the river, Shen Wanwan had inherited all of the original owner’s memories, so she knew Lin Yuying well.

Lin Yuying was the most outspoken member of the Shen family—but only within their own courtyard. The moment she stepped outside, she became meek and quiet.

Shen Wanwan dropped her cloth bag, walked over to the washbasin stand, and washed her hands. “Why bother with them? I’m the one becoming a criminal investigator, after all.”

“You worked so hard to get into the police academy, made something of yourself for once—can’t you at least let me have some bragging rights? Getting into the academy and still being bullied—ugh, you!”

Shen Wanwan dried her hands, then raised her hand in an oath. “Alright. If they ever come to me for help, I absolutely won’t lift a finger—provided they run into a criminal case.”

Lin Yuying: “…You—!”

Shen Wanwan had no interest in arguing about neighborhood gossip. Instead of wasting energy on words, she’d rather figure out how to improve their lives. Just looking at the Shen family’s rundown house, with its leaky roof and drafty walls, was enough to give her a headache.

But as a criminal investigator, her salary was fixed—172.5 yuan per month. If she were on her own, she could manage, but in the Shen family, she had the highest income. Lin Yuying still made a living by sewing buttons and washing clothes for others.

Shen Wanwan wasn’t particularly ambitious, but she refused to resign herself to a life of hardship.

The Shen family had three bedrooms. The grandmother had one to herself, Lin Yuying and her husband shared another, and Shen Wanwan shared a bunk bed with her younger brother, Shen Zhuo, who was in high school.

Given their ages, this arrangement wasn’t ideal, but there simply wasn’t another room available.

Since enrolling in the police academy, Shen Wanwan had lived on campus and only came home occasionally, so the setup had remained unchanged.

The room had little furniture aside from the bunk bed and two small desks crammed into the corners—one behind the door, where it was too dark to see anything without a candle or desk lamp, and another by the bed, which at least had some natural light.

The better-lit desk belonged to Shen Zhuo, who was pretending to study when Shen Wanwan walked in.

If she hadn’t already seen his 25/100 math test score, she might have actually believed his act as a top student.

When Shen Zhuo saw her enter, he kept his head down, staring intently at his Chinese textbook, deliberately avoiding her gaze.

Shen Wanwan raised an eyebrow, walked up behind him, and clamped her fingers around his neck without hesitation.

During her time at the police academy, she had excelled in every subject—including hand-to-hand combat.

The original owner had been decent in academics but weak in combat, lacking physical strength. Compared to before, her skills were on a whole different level now.

Shen Zhuo let out a pained groan—with this kind of strength, he almost thought it was his own father beating him.

“Sis! Are you crazy?!”

The original owner of this body had been quiet and well-behaved at home, never laying a hand on Shen Zhuo.

As soon as Shen Zhuo looked up, Shen Wanwan noticed a watermelon seed stuck to the corner of his mouth.

In Xuzhou City, watermelons cost fifty cents per jin (about half a kilogram). The Shen family rarely indulged in them, maybe once or twice a year, and even then, each person only got a thin slice.

Seeing the watermelon seed, Shen Wanwan immediately understood why Shen Zhuo was suddenly so dedicated to studying.

Whether it was their grandmother or Lin Yuying, they all favored the only boy in the family.

Even their names reflected this bias—Shen Zhuo’s name meant “outstanding” (卓越), while the original owner’s name simply meant “gentle and graceful” (婉).

Shen Wanwan asked, “Where did you get the watermelon?”

Her tone was less than friendly, but Shen Zhuo wasn’t actually afraid.

He was only briefly stunned before swatting her hand away and answering nonchalantly, “How would I know? Grandma gave it to me.”

As the youngest in the family—and a boy at that—Shen Zhuo had grown up knowing that all the best things in the house belonged to him.

Leftover chicken drumsticks from New Year’s dinner, sweet treats gifted by neighbors—it was all his. Eating a bit of watermelon was nothing special.

But today, his sister didn’t act as usual. Instead of silently putting down her cloth bag and tidying the room, she threw the bag onto the bed, turned around, and stormed toward the kitchen.

In the dimly lit kitchen, their grandmother, Liu Cuixia, was carefully pushing a covered piece of watermelon to the very back of the cupboard, struggling to hide it away.