Chapter 3: She Came From Another Time

“Alright, alright, the child just came home. Don’t scare her,” Father Huo looked at his daughter who had just returned and seemed overwhelmed. He gently pulled his wife into his arms and comforted her softly.

Su Miaomiao watched the scene and felt a strange emotion rise in her heart.

The Huo family’s family atmosphere actually seemed pretty decent — how did they end up being sent down?

She glanced again around the living room at the rest of the people present.

Big and small, there were nearly 30 of them.

The Huo family really was a large clan.

“Dad has two older brothers and one younger sister. First Uncle’s family has eight members, Second Uncle’s family has seven, ours has six, and Aunt’s family has three. But Aunt lives in Haishi, and even they were implicated this time.” Huo Zhenbo explained the current situation of the Huo family to Su Miaomiao, though his voice was terribly hoarse.

Su Miaomiao was surprised, but she nodded quickly.

People in that era tended to have big families — there was a great need for population growth, after all.

“Besides me, who else is in our family?” she asked after a moment of thought.

“You still have a second and third brother — they’re twins. Grandpa wasn’t feeling well this morning, so they went with Grandma to take him to the hospital. I’ll go pick them up later,” Huo Zhenbo explained.

Su Miaomiao nodded, then suddenly remembered the most important thing: “Right — where exactly are we being sent down to?”

“Our family is going to Mo City. First Uncle’s family is also in Mo City, though we’ll be placed in different counties. Second Uncle’s family is going to Nan City, and Aunt’s family is being sent to West Mountain,” Huo Zhenbo replied without hesitation.

“What about Grandpa and Grandma?” Su Miaomiao realized he hadn’t mentioned them yet.

“They’re with us,” he said.

Su Miaomiao nodded.

That made their group a total of eight people.

“Originally, we should’ve thrown you a welcome banquet and introduced you to everyone properly. But with things the way they are now, we’ll have to wrong you a bit,” Huo Zhenbo said apologetically.

Even though it was his first time meeting Su Miaomiao, the way she had just shut down that heartless Huo Lingxiu left him extremely satisfied.

This is what a child of the Huo family should be like.

“It’s fine,” Su Miaomiao shook her head.

She really didn’t care about things like that.

“Then you stay and rest for now. I’ll go check on Grandpa. Please keep an eye on Mom for me,” Huo Zhenbo said with a tone full of guilt.

After all, it was their family’s trouble that dragged her into this. And now they were asking her to help out too.

“Okay.” Su Miaomiao still felt reasonably positive about the Huo family so far, so she agreed without hesitation.

After Huo Zhenbo left, Tang Chunlan slowly calmed down.

Though the Huo family’s situation was a mess, Tang Chunlan and Huo Jianguo still took Su Miaomiao around to meet the other family members.

After all, everyone would be going their separate ways the next morning — it was best to at least get familiar with the faces.

“Miaomiao, you really didn’t come back at a good time. Your First Uncle doesn’t have much to give right now. This pocket watch has been with me for many years. Take it as a welcome gift,” First Uncle took a delicate pocket watch from his coat and handed it to her.

It was clearly something he had treasured.

“No, no, that’s not necessary,” Su Miaomiao waved her hands quickly.

She was someone who couldn’t handle people being nice to her.

“What, you don’t want it because it’s been used?” First Uncle looked at her with a wounded expression.

“Of course not.” Su Miaomiao immediately responded.

“Since it’s not, then take it,” First Uncle said firmly as he stuffed the pocket watch into Su Miaomiao’s hands.

Only then did Su Miaomiao realize — his earlier words had all been on purpose.

“Miaomiao, this bracelet was given to me by my mother when I got married. Now, I’m passing it on to you,” added First Uncle’s wife, taking off the bracelet from her wrist and handing it to Su Miaomiao.

“Miaomiao, I’m your Second Uncle — here’s a fountain pen for you.”

“I’m your Second Aunt…”

“I’m your older male cousin from First Uncle’s side…”

“I’m your second cousin from Second Uncle’s side…”

And so on.

Once First Uncle started the gesture, the other relatives followed suit, each rummaging through their belongings to find something to give as a welcome gift.

Most of the Huo family’s valuable possessions had already been confiscated. What remained were just a few secretly hidden keepsakes — and now they were all handed over to Su Miaomiao.

After all, this girl had only just come back and was already being sent to suffer with them. They truly felt sorry for her.

They just wanted to be a little nicer to her — even just a bit more — to ease her burden.

Su Miaomiao looked at the pile of items now stacked in her arms, and for a moment didn’t even know how to describe how she was feeling.

She wanted to return them, but none of them would take the gifts back.

In the end, it was Father Huo who stepped forward to thank everyone on her behalf.

After that, the family members returned to their rooms — they had to pack, after all, with the train ride coming early the next morning.

Tang Chunlan led Su Miaomiao to the room that had previously belonged to Huo Lingxiu.

“Miaomiao, you’ll stay here tonight. Your dad and I are just next door. Call us if you need anything,” she said gently.

Tang Chunlan really wanted to spend more time with her daughter and had so much she wanted to say.

But given how tight and urgent everything was now, all those conversations would have to wait until they arrived at their new assigned location.

“I understand. Go ahead and take care of things,” Su Miaomiao replied.

“Good girl.” Tang Chunlan patted her hand and quickly left.

Su Miaomiao shut the door and looked around the room.

The room was decorated mainly in pink. By the window was a princess-style bed, across from it a desk, and beside that a large wardrobe.

Though the room had been cleared out, the décor alone showed just how much the Huo family had once poured their love into Huo Lingxiu — only to raise a thankless white-eyed wolf.

Su Miaomiao sat down in front of the desk, looked at her reflection in the mirror, and let out a long sigh.

She hadn’t enjoyed a single day of the good life — yet she hadn’t missed out on the suffering either.

Mo City.

She searched her memory for information about the place.

That location was equivalent to Heilongjiang in the real world.

Yes — the real world.

Su Miaomiao was not from this world. She had transmigrated here.

She had been carrying out a mission at the time, and in order to protect the person she was escorting, she had taken a bullet for them. When she next awoke, she had become a child abandoned in the wilderness of this world.

That child had already died from the cold and snow — which conveniently gave her soul a vessel to inhabit.

Later, she was picked up by her adoptive father and brought home, and lived in this world for 18 years.

This world closely resembled the 1980s of the real world.

Low productivity, a struggling economy — society was in a very primitive stage.

Most people couldn’t eat well or dress warmly, and the political environment was still unstable.

Thankfully, her adoptive father had excellent butchering skills, so she never lacked food or clothing all those years.

He even raised her to be chubby and healthy — and after his death, passed his job on to her.

In her past life, Su Miaomiao had lived in constant danger and chaos, running from one mission to the next.

The calmness of this life was something she truly cherished.

Originally, she had intended to live quietly like this — but unexpectedly, she got caught up in the Huo family’s troubles.

Now, they were headed to Mo City — bleak, cold, and harsh. Life there would be far tougher than in the real world.

There would be no guarantee of a decent standard of living.

And Su Miaomiao had always had high standards for her quality of life.

She could escape on her own, sure — but if she did, the punishment and consequences for the Huo family would be even more severe.