Chapter 1: The rich woman turned into a poor little girl

“Has your brain been kicked by a donkey? The Qi family is offering such a good marriage, and you don’t want it, but now you want your cousin to take your place?”

Wang Juhua poked her daughter’s head in frustration, lowering her voice so that Jiang Li, who was in the next room, wouldn’t hear.

“Qi Shaoqiang is a handsome guy, and he is also a serious regiment commander who has been transferred to civilian work. I heard that he will soon be assigned to work in the county.”

“The Qi family is small in number but wealthy. Qi Shaoqiang’s mother, your future mother-in-law, is also a kind-hearted person. Haven’t you seen the five blue brick and tile houses in his family?”

Jiang Hongmei lay on the table and cried, “Anyway, I won’t marry. If you force me, I’ll hang myself on this beam! You can carry my body away!”

Wang Juhua took a deep breath, her head buzzing, and pointed at Jiang Hongmei, saying, “I’m telling you, the Qi family has already sent the engagement gift, so you have to marry him, whether you like it or not.”

After Wang Juhua left, Jiang Hongmei raised her tear-swollen face and began to tremble all over.

God is merciful and has allowed her to live this life again. In this life, she must not choose the wrong person.

In her previous life, she listened to her mother and married Qi Shaoqiang. Qi Shaoqiang was a cold-hearted man who was busy with work all day and never went home.

She lived alone in an empty house with Qi Shaoqiang’s mother. Her life was extremely miserable.

Her cousin Jiang Li married Zhuang Guoliang, a gangster from the next village. She heard that he was selling goods on the black market and took advantage of the first wave of opening up, becoming a well-known local entrepreneur.

The day she saw Zhuang Guoliang being interviewed on TV, Qi Shaoqiang took out the divorce agreement with a cold expression on his face, saying, “Let’s get a divorce. I’ve had enough of this over the years.”

“The house belongs to the company and cannot be given to you. The money in the savings account belongs to you. I just want to live a peaceful life for a few days.”

On TV, Zhuang Guoliang had become more elegant and handsome as he grew older. Jiang Li stood side by side with him, being interviewed by reporters. They drove luxury cars and lived in a villa with a nanny.

The son and daughter left by Zhuang Guoliang’s ex-wife were smart and sensible. One was admitted to a famous university, and the other became a dancer. Both were very respectful and filial to Jiang Li.

Jiang Hongmei clenched her fists. Why should she, an orphan, be so lucky as to become the wife of the richest man?

Thinking of this, she wiped away her tears and searched the kitchen, the chicken coop, and the streamside, but didn’t find her cousin Jiang Li.

It was strange. Jiang Li usually got up before dawn to wash clothes and make breakfast, so why wasn’t she up today?

Jiang Hongmei walked to the room where the firewood was stored and knocked on the door, “Jiang Li, why don’t you get up? Is your butt exposed to the sun? You’ve been sick for two days, and your bones are too lazy. I’ll beat you to death when grandma comes back!”

Jiang Li turned over in bed and muttered, “Auntie, you don’t need to clean my room. Leave the breakfast there. I’ll eat it when I get up.”

When the dirty words from outside the house came in, Jiang Li’s confused mind finally became clear.

She had been traveling through time for three days, but she was still not used to it.

Overnight, she went from being a landlady in Guangdong City, living a life of idleness and waiting to die, to a poor little person, poorly clothed and with little food.

The original body’s parents were both dead, and she lived in a woodshed. There were seven people in the family, big and small, and she was responsible for all their lives. No one cared about her when she was sick for three days.

They guessed the person had died due to the high fever, so they let Jiang Li pass through.

Jiang Li slowly got up and climbed out of the bed made of several broken wooden boards.

Without a comb or a mirror, she used her fingers to smooth her hair into a single braid before opening the door.

Jiang Hongmei looked at the gorgeous and charming face and was so angry that her teeth itched.

Jiang Li looked like her mother who died early, with almond eyes, cherry lips, and dimples on both sides when she smiled, just like a vixen.

When she was a child, her mother was different from other wives in the village. She used snow cream and clam oil to wipe her face and a flowery handkerchief to wipe sweat. She also sewed clothes, told stories, and taught Jiang Li to play chess and recognize words.

Jiang Li was not like the other children in the village who were dirty all day. She was fair-skinned, wore clean and tidy clothes, and exuded a fragrant scent.

When she was in school, her male classmates also flattered her. Fortunately, her second uncle and his wife were both dead.

Her grandmother didn’t allow her to continue going to school, so Jiang Li worked at home all day and soon became pale and haggard, which made Jiang Hongmei feel a lot better.

“Come with me to the county,” Jiang Hongmei ordered.

Jiang Li looked up at her strangely, “I’m sick and can’t walk. And I don’t have any money to pay for the bus fare.”

“I’ll pay for the bus fare. You accompany me to the supply and marketing cooperative. I want to buy some things.”

Jiang Li’s heart was filled with alarm. During the three days since she came here, no one in the Jiang family cared about her. Jiang Hongmei looked at her with hatred and jealousy in her eyes.

There must be some bad intention in suddenly asking her to go out.

“I won’t go. Grandma told me to work. I have to wash clothes and make lunch.”

Although Jiang Li had no intention of working, she still had to say this.

Jiang Hongmei held her breath, “Then finish your work quickly. We’ll have lunch in the county. I’ll buy you some meat buns.”

She went on a blind date two days ago, and her mother gave her five dollars to make clothes. She bought some cloth and spent two dollars and forty cents on it, leaving some money left.

Jiang Li was a little tempted when she thought of the big, snow-white, and soft buns. During the days she was sick, she had eaten very few grains of rice, only pickled vegetables and black steamed bread.

But she still refused, “I’m sick and my hands and feet are slow, I can’t finish the work…”

Jiang Hongmei had no choice but to roll up her sleeves and work herself. She first picked some eggplants from the fields, boiled them in water, then steamed a pot of steamed buns made from two-gram flour, and cut a few slices of bacon to stew with green beans.

After cooking, stew it all in the pot and eat it when the Jiang family comes back from work.

Now is the time for a double harvest, and men, women, old and young all have to go to the fields to work, and the food quality is much better than usual.

Jiang Hongmei was going to the fields, but she had a blind date these two days, and Wang Juhua was worried that she would get tanned and look ugly, so she asked her to rest at home.

As for Jiang Li, she was so sick that she couldn’t get out of bed, and no one took care of her.

After Jiang Hongmei finished cooking, she saw Jiang Li still lingering by the stream behind the house. She snatched the clothes from her hands and washed them in no time.

“Hurry up, or you’ll miss the bus to the county.”

Jiang Hongmei urged, but Jiang Li took her time. She took a tattered straw hat hanging on the wall to protect herself from the sun, then followed Jiang Hongmei to the road where they were waiting for the bus.

Dashuping Production Brigade belonged to Jiaoshan Commune, which was under the jurisdiction of Yongfang County.

However, it takes more than three hours to walk from Dashuping to the commune along the mountain road. On the contrary, the journey to the county is shorter, only an hour and a half on foot, and even faster by car.

So if members wanted to buy needles and thread, they had to walk to the county.

The two of them arrived not too early, and Jiang Li was quick to grab a seat, which was by the window.

Jiang Hongmei was a step slow in paying the fare and was forced to squeeze into the corner of the bus with two big geese. She looked so miserable that she was about to vomit.

She covered her nose with a handkerchief and looked disgusted, and kicked the goose.

The aunt who brought the goose on board was immediately unhappy, “What’s wrong with you, girl? You kicked my goose . You have to pay for it!”