Chapter 2

Staring at the two faces in front of her—Huang Fang and her mother—Shu Yue thought, so this is what it means for enemies to meet on a narrow road.

She glanced at the baby placed on the inside, next to her. With just one look she knew it wasn’t the ungrateful wretch Cheng Hui; that meant this was her son.

What was going on? Was she hallucinating? It felt as if she’d gone back to the day she gave birth—and to the moment before her son was switched by Huang Fang.

Wonderful. Heaven had eyes after all; it had actually given her a chance to return to this moment. There was no time to wonder why something so strange had happened. Propping herself up, she raised her hand and slapped Huang Fang across the face. When Mother Huang saw her daughter struck and was about to step forward to argue, Shu Yue didn’t spare her either—treating them the same, she landed another crisp slap.

“You… what are you doing, hitting people? I—I even helped deliver your baby! How can you be so out of line?” Mother Huang, after her initial panic, quickly calmed down. Since Shu Yue was already awake, the baby couldn’t be switched. In any case, they mustn’t let her know they had intended to swap the babies. It was all Huang Fang’s fault for dithering. If they’d done it earlier, there wouldn’t be a problem. Now that Shu Yue was awake, how could there still be a chance?

“That’s right, little sister-in-law, are you crazy? My mother stayed here the whole time to help deliver your baby. How can you bite the hand that feeds you?” Huang Fang recovered as well. Under no circumstances could she let Shu Yue learn about the swap. Her in-laws were already displeased that she hadn’t given them a son; if this came out, she might be sent back to her parents’ home.

At that moment, Shu Yue wasn’t really listening to the mother and daughter. All her attention was on the wall, where a portrait of a great leader and a calendar hung.

The date read: September 10, 1975.

Nineteen seventy-five? Truly 1975. This was the day she gave birth—the day before all the tragedies.

So it wasn’t an illusion—she had really gone back.

She had been reborn.

“Shu Yue, what are you staring at? You hit the two of us and now you want to play dumb?” Huang Fang hugged the baby in her arms, already regretting not acting faster. Because of her hesitation just now, the son that was about to be hers had flown away. Bowel-deep regret twisted inside her, and the anger she held back naturally had to be vented on Shu Yue. After all, this younger sister-in-law had always been easy to push around. No matter how they scolded her, she never talked back—she only hid and cried. With a pushover like that, why not squeeze?

Jolted by Huang Fang’s scolding, Shu Yue came back to herself and immediately gathered her son into her arms. In her previous life she hadn’t protected him; now that she had another chance, she would carry him on the tip of her heart and guard him well. She would never again let him die young without ever seeing the world properly.

“Why shouldn’t I hit you? I was unconscious, not dead. Every word you said about swapping babies—I heard it, word for word. You scattered beans outside, wouldn’t let me eat, watched me bleeding and still refused to deliver me—just so you could wait until you had your baby and then come and swap it with mine. If I report you to the Public Security Bureau, that’s intentional injury—it’s a criminal offense. For doing something more beastly than beasts—don’t you deserve to be slapped?”

Every word out of Shu Yue’s mouth cut like a knife into the hearts of the Huang women. They truly panicked—she had heard everything. What now?

Seeing their faces blanch in an instant, Shu Yue hated that she had just given birth and, on top of that, hadn’t eaten. She really had no strength. Otherwise she would rush over and beat them until they were picking their teeth up off the floor.

Quarreling and brawling—things she had despised in her past life as shrewish behavior—suddenly seemed very useful. Faced with a whole family of vicious people, if she didn’t act like a shrew, she would only be bullied and squeezed dry.

Thinking of her former self, she vowed silently: she didn’t mind being called a shrew, so long as she and her son could live well. Whatever it took, she would do her best.

“You… you’re spouting nonsense! We have our own baby—why would we swap yours? It’s all your wild guessing. I’m warning you: you can eat whatever you like, but you can’t say whatever you like. Don’t forget, this is the Cheng household. Your in-laws don’t think much of you, ‘the capitalist’s young lady.’ If you keep making trouble, they’ll throw you out. Without the Cheng family, you have no one to rely on. I advise you to rein it in—stop causing trouble for yourself and for the Chengs,” Mother Huang threatened bluntly.

An out-and-out threat. Shu Yue sneered at her. This was exactly why the mother and daughter dared to treat her with such contempt. They knew that in this family her husband wasn’t at home, her in-laws disliked her, and she had no natal family to depend on. So even if they swapped her child, even if she suspected something, no one would stand up for her or back her.

From the day she married into the Chengs, everyone looked at her askance because of that label “capitalist’s young lady.” To the point that when she was about to give birth, her parents-in-law went to the city to host their youngest son’s wedding. He was marrying a city bride and couldn’t be slighted. The bride’s family wanted the banquet at a state-run restaurant, and they agreed at once—leaving two women about to give birth at home. The only thing they thought to do was invite Mother Huang over to look after Huang Fang.

As for Shu Yue, she was invisible. Even though she too was a Cheng daughter-in-law, and the child in her belly was a Cheng, no one cared whether she lived or died.

How tragic—how had she let her life become so spineless?

“Whether you meant to swap the babies, you know in your own hearts. People act, Heaven sees. Heaven saw what you did today. Retribution will come—just you wait.”

Shu Yue knew her situation wasn’t good. The rest of the family wasn’t home, and the Chengs’ house sat on the edge of the village with no neighbors nearby. If she pushed the Huang women too hard, she feared they might do something truly vicious. For now, all she could do was throw down some harsh words. As for what to do next, she would have to think carefully. In this house, she had no one she could rely on.