Chapter 1: Reborn Little Fool

The weather in Hongcheng in 1974 was unbearably hot. There were no fans or air conditioners back then, so people could only use palm-leaf fans to cool themselves, but even that didn’t help much. Moving around still left you drenched in sweat.

The director of the orphanage, carrying a lunchbox, walked into the inpatient ward of the textile factory’s affiliated hospital and entered one of the rooms.

The room had several beds, and on one of them lay a thin, sallow-faced girl with a white bandage wrapped around her forehead and dry, yellowish hair. She was slowly sipping water.

The director sighed as she looked at the girl. “Xiao Yu’er, are you feeling any better?”

The girl’s movements and gaze were sluggish. She finished the last sip of water before slowly nodding and replying, “Doctor Li said if everything’s fine after this afternoon, I can be discharged tonight.”

Her speech was also slow, which would probably frustrate someone with a quick temper.

The director nodded, thought for a moment, and handed the girl a key. “After you’ve eaten, have Doctor Li check on you. If everything’s fine, go back early. Since things have already been decided, you’ll need to prepare for the move to the countryside where there’s nothing.”

The girl waited until the director finished speaking, then after a pause, she simply replied, “Oh!”

After the girl responded, the director turned and left.

Jiang Pan Yu slowly picked up the lunchbox and opened it. Inside were two coarse grain cornbreads and a bit of pickled vegetables.

The cornbread was cold and hard, likely leftovers from the previous night or morning, brought over without even being reheated.

Jiang Pan Yu didn’t complain. She picked up the cornbread and began eating it slowly, bite by bite.

As she ate, she recalled the events of the past few days and could only sigh at the unpredictability of life—truly, life is full of twists and turns!

In her previous life, Jiang Pan Yu had been a typical office worker. She hadn’t done anything particularly bad or good, but she did enjoy watching drama unfold.

One day, on her way home from work, she saw a group of elderly square dancers and a bunch of young people getting into a fight. Curious, she went over to watch the commotion.

It turned out that the elderly dancers had been making too much noise at night, disturbing the residents, and the two groups had started arguing, which escalated into a physical fight.

Jiang Pan Yu remembered clearly that she had been holding a stick of candied hawthorn at the time. She was munching on it while watching the fight, occasionally commenting on the scene with other onlookers.

Then tragedy struck. One of the elderly women, waving a stone in her hand, accidentally let it slip. The brick flew through the air and hit Jiang Pan Yu squarely on the head.

She had still been eating the candied hawthorn when the brick struck. Blood flowed from her head, and the hawthorn in her mouth got stuck, choking her.

And just like that, she was choked to death. In her final moments, Jiang Pan Yu seemed to hear a crisp voice in her ear: *[Ding, Spectator Civil Servant System binding. Host deceased. Initiating transmigration mode. Countdown begins: three, two, one.]*

Her vision blurred, and her last thought was, *If only I’d known that watching this drama would send me straight to the afterlife.*

She shouldn’t have been so curious!

Now it’s too late for regrets!

Then, Jiang Pan Yu time-traveled, becoming an abandoned little girl in the 1960s. The girl, only two or three months old, was left in a bridge culvert by the roadside.

Unfortunately, during Jiang Pan Yu’s transmigration, her soul and body severely rejected each other. Forcing a mature soul into a young body not only damaged the body.

Jiang Pan Yu’s soul was also tormented. Out of survival instinct, she sealed away her memories from her previous life, and even her adult memories were forced into dormancy.

Thus, Jiang Pan Yu became a slow-reacting little girl in the 1960s. But misfortune didn’t end there. Jiang Pan Yu soon got adoptive parents, but they quickly noticed something was off with their daughter. Her reactions were slow, or rather, sluggish.

When children wet themselves or feel uncomfortable, they naturally whimper or cry when hungry or in pain.

Jiang Pan Yu could also cry and call out, but it took her a while to react.

After a medical examination, it was determined that Jiang Pan Yu had some neurological reaction issues. It might improve with age and medication, but it could also stay this way forever.

In other words, the child might be mentally challenged. Upon learning this, Jiang Pan Yu’s adoptive parents abandoned her again. It was the neighborhood committee that found her a place in an orphanage, where she grew up, though the conditions were poor.

It was hard enough to keep a group of children alive; expecting good food and drink was out of the question.

Due to her slow reactions, Jiang Pan Yu often had her food stolen by peers, leading to severe malnutrition and stunted growth.

Only when Jiang Pan Yu grew a bit older and dealt harshly with a few of her main bullies did her life improve somewhat.

This was just enough to avoid starvation; getting full and well-nourished was impossible, so most children in the orphanage were malnourished.

The children in the orphanage weren’t the type to eat and play all day; in fact, they had to do farm work, which paid for their schooling.

Knowing how hard it was to get an education, the children studied diligently, but job opportunities in the city were scarce.

Children from the orphanage basically couldn’t stay in the city and had to seek their fortunes in the countryside.

Jiang Pan Yu was also supposed to go to the countryside, but her grades were good. Although she was slow, she wasn’t stupid. Once she grasped the knowledge, her academic performance was among the best.

She even managed to get into high school, while many from the orphanage had to go to the countryside as educated youths due to failing exams.

Jiang Pan Yu’s success made three people in the orphanage jealous. These three were brothers surnamed Chen, who were sent to the orphanage after their parents died and no relatives were willing to take them in.

These three had often bullied Jiang Pan Yu, but she wasn’t one to take it lying down and would retaliate when wronged.

The Chen Brothers and Jiang Pan Yu had been enemies since childhood. Seeing that Jiang Pan Yu had gotten into high school, they stole her household registration from the orphanage office and signed her up for the countryside.

By the time Jiang Pan Yu got the news, it was already a done deal, and there was no turning back.

Jiang Pan Yu had her path to education abruptly cut off. Although she had no memories of her past life, deep down, she was not someone to be trifled with.

Those who had conspired to sign her up for the rural assignment each received a letter of complaint from Jiang Pan Yu, detailing all the misdeeds they had committed since childhood. More importantly, she didn’t omit the fact that they had secretly signed her up out of jealousy.

Children from the welfare home had all grown up in an environment of constant competition. While there were few truly wicked ones, they all had their share of minor flaws.

With so many minor flaws piled up, combined with their jealousy, it was clear that their character was flawed!

Such individuals naturally had to be dealt with severely. In the end, they were all assigned to extremely harsh rural areas. As for Jiang Pan Yu, although she had been signed up without her knowledge, the Youth Rural Assignment Office couldn’t simply remove her name. However, they did compensate her by giving her the highest tier of subsidies for rural assignments and allowed her to choose from several locations.

After careful consideration, Jiang Pan Yu ultimately chose the northern province. Given the national circumstances at the time, everyone was equally poor, so Jiang Pan Yu had to pick the lesser of the evils. The northern province was a major grain-producing region, so at least she wouldn’t go hungry there!