Chapter 1: Rebirth

Intense hunger kept Jiang Liyun from sleeping any longer, filling her with confusion.

Despite her poor health and advanced age, she rarely felt hungry and found everything tasteless on normal days. Why was she suddenly so hungry?

Jiang Liyun instinctively opened her eyes, only to find herself in a dimly lit, dull grey room.

The room’s walls were made of mud, and straw was piled in the corners. Wooden beams stretched across the top.

On the ceiling beams, several ropes were hung with hooks made of tree branches, supporting clothes, and bamboo baskets.

All of this was both unfamiliar and familiar to Jiang Liyun.

Unfamiliar because she hadn’t seen this room for decades, but as for being familiar… In her youth, she lived in this room.

Back then, lying on the bed, she would gaze at the walls of this modest dwelling, vowing more than once that she would have a better life in the future.

She dreamt of eating rice every day, indulging in meat, and residing in a small house with brick and tile.

Her childhood poverty fueled an unparalleled desire for wealth, and indeed, she amassed a considerable fortune.

When a person relentlessly pursues their goals, everyone makes way for them.

So… Why was she here? She should be lying in her own villa!

No, she should be dead by now.

Jiang Liyun gazed blankly at the ceiling beams, unable to fully comprehend the situation.

What had happened to her?

Do distant memories suddenly surface before one’s passing, causing a blurred line between reality and illusion?

Everything felt so vivid; even the cracks on the tree branch used as a hook were remarkably clear.

In her youth, the rural abundance of mice posed a threat to improperly stored food and clothing. To deter mice, people hung their belongings on ceiling beams.

The clothes hanging there were particularly familiar to her—a blue short-sleeved garment she bought after starting work at the sofa factory. She wore it for many years.

As she reminisced about the past, a door opened, followed by a soft voice saying, “Sister, it’s time for breakfast.”

Jiang Liyun shivered, looking up to see a girl around ten with a yellowish complexion and dry, yellow hair.

The little girl stood at the doorway, smiling at her, revealing a small but heartwarming smile.

Jiang Liyun felt her heart skip a beat at this smile, losing control, and her eyes welled up, on the verge of tears.

Xiao Yu! This was Xiao Yu! Her sister Jiang Liyu, whom she hadn’t seen in decades!

Her younger sister, Jiang Liyu, left home at the age of nineteen because her sister-in-law criticized her for being dependent, and she went to work. Since then, there has been no communication.

Initially, she clung to hope, believing her sister would return someday. However, as decades passed, she became painfully aware that her sister most likely faced misfortune outside and might never come back.

Yet, now, her sister appeared before her, looking like she was in her early teens. Was this a hallucination before her death?

“Sister, what’s wrong?” Jiang Liyu asked with concern.

Meeting her sister’s worried gaze, Jiang Liyun suddenly snapped back to reality, realizing something profound.

The reality of it all felt unsettlingly genuine.

This couldn’t be a dream!

Jiang Liyun, who had faced numerous challenges in her lifetime, took a deep breath and said, “I’m fine. I’m getting up now.”

During the initial disappearance of Jiang Liyu, she lived in constant worry. Over the years, every thought of her sister caused unbearable heartache.

However, time has a way of soothing all wounds.

Now, Jiang Liyun could control her emotions and prevent herself from losing composure.

“Okay!” Jiang Liyu responded and left, closing the door behind her.

Jiang Liyun watched as the door closed firmly and then gave her thigh a sharp pinch.

It hurt a lot.

Suddenly, a thought raced through Jiang Liyun’s mind, causing her heart to race.

Perhaps all of this wasn’t fake.

If that were the case, then… was she… reborn?

The caregiver who looked after her enjoyed listening to audiobooks while doing chores, often listening to stories about rebirth and time travel. Jiang Liyun found herself in a situation similar to those stories.

She couldn’t be certain, but she hoped it was true.

Bowing her head, Jiang Liyun lifted the towel covering her, carefully examining her body.

The skin above her two legs was fair, but below the knees, it was sun-darkened, adorned with numerous tiny scars, and her feet were covered in calluses.

Yet they were intact, filled with strength.

She could still control these legs!

Jiang Liyun slowly got out of bed, standing on the floor.

After many years, she could walk again!

She shed the old sleepwear, taking down the blue short-sleeved shirt from the ceiling beam, and put on a new pair of black pants before heading towards the door.

After thirty years without the chance to walk, the sensation of standing on the ground again overwhelmed her, making her want to run outside and cheer.

Of course, that was just a thought.

Stepping out of the door, Jiang Liyun’s eyes first caught sight of soybean straw drying at the entrance. Then, she noticed various vegetables growing in the backyard and in the distant fields and houses.

The sunlight touched her skin, the morning breeze brought a slight chill, and as she took a deep breath, she felt every pore on her body expanding—indescribably refreshing.

Soybeans were now ready to be harvested, and the weather had cooled. It was probably around October in the Gregorian calendar, but she wasn’t sure of the exact date.

She didn’t even know what she looked like now.

Jiang Liyun entered the adjacent room.

She didn’t have a mirror in her own room, but she remembered a nail on the wall in the adjacent room holding a mirror.

Indeed, she saw the mirror and, next to it, a calendar with most of its pages torn off.

Approaching the mirror, Jiang Liyun saw her younger self, around twenty years old.

Her gaze then shifted to the calendar.

October 15, 1987, was the twenty-third day of the eighth lunar month, Thursday. Auspicious for marriage, worship, burial, breaking ground…

1987! It was 1987! This year, she was only twenty—not married yet!

“Li Yun, why haven’t you had your meal?” A gentle voice echoed, and Jiang Liyun turned around to see her mother.

Her mother looked exactly like the photo used for her funeral. There was no significant change.

Shortly after Xiao Yu went missing, her mother passed away. The funeral photo used was taken at her first wedding, and now only a year has passed since that event.

Jiang Liyun deeply glanced at her mother, suppressing the overwhelming emotions, and sat down at the Eight Immortals table in the room.

On the wooden table, there were bowls filled with sweet potato-cooked rice porridge and a large bowl of unsalted steamed vegetables in the middle.

This was their family’s breakfast.

Sitting at the table, slowly savouring the sweet potato porridge, Jiang Liyun finally confirmed one thing.

She died, and now she’s alive.

She, reborn.

Jiang Liyun’s life was a tale of inspiration and hardship.

Her father, a disabled man nearing thirty, struggled to find a wife. It was around that time that a famine struck.

Her mother fled to this area, almost starving to death, and was rescued by her father, who then married her.

Her father’s physical limitations made him slow at work, earning about the same work points as the village women. Her mother, frail and weak, couldn’t handle heavy tasks.

This led to their family’s perpetual poverty. In the 1970s, when the production team settled their accounts at year-end, while others received money from the team, her family owed money to the team.

Back then, fields were not privately contracted. After the production team collected grain, they would distribute rationed food to each household. Pigs and silkworm cocoons raised by the production team would be exchanged for money, and a portion of it would be given in advance to the team members.

Their family received food and money, but without strong labour, they couldn’t get work points, ending up owing the team money in the end.

So, when the production team distributed goods and money at the end of the year based on work points, her family would end up with nothing.

In her childhood, she dared not take too much rice, and she often went hungry.

As she grew up, when she mentioned this to peers, those born in the 1960s confidently claimed that, although resources were scarce during their upbringing, they never went hungry.

She remained silent after hearing their remarks.

Her childhood experiences of going to bed hungry were vivid and real.

One summer, when the commune leaders inspected their production team, the squad leader prepared white rice, pickled vegetables, and egg drop soup to entertain them. Because it was hot and in the evening, they ate outside, and she got to witness it.

They didn’t eat anything extravagant, but she couldn’t help but salivate.

At that moment, she thought that if she could have white rice every meal and eat until she was full, it would be perfect.

Who would have thought that everyone’s living conditions would improve so much later on?

Anyway, her family was always the poorest in the village.

Originally, as she and her siblings grew up, their family’s situation could have improved. However, when her mother was in her thirties, she unexpectedly became pregnant with Jiang Liyu. After giving birth to Jiang Liyu, her health deteriorated even further.

While other women menstruated for a few days each month, her mother bled for twenty days, relentlessly.

Her mother didn’t have enough breast milk and was almost unable to feed Jiang Liyu. Even though Jiang Liyu survived, she was frail from a young age and fell sick from time to time.

With two sick family members, how could their family’s situation improve?

When her mother gave birth to Jiang Liyu, her brother had just started working at the factory, which slightly improved their financial situation. Her sister went to the town to attend junior high school, and she herself was in the fourth grade of elementary school.

With her brother and sister away, she bore the responsibility of managing everything at home. She had to care for her mother and the newborn, Jiang Liyu. In the last two years of elementary school, she attended school for less than a month in total.

During that time, few people had the opportunity to attend junior high school, and she naturally had no chance.

Jiang Liyu was practically raised by her. To her, Jiang Liyu was like her own child.

It’s easy to imagine how devastated she felt when Jiang Liyu went missing without a trace.

In short, after Jiang Liyu’s birth, despite her older brother working at the commune’s brick and tile factory, their family remained poor due to her mother’s illness. Desiring a better life and money, at the age of sixteen, she shamelessly volunteered at the sofa factory organized by the commune and eventually became a worker there.

And this year, in 1987, her older brother broke up with his first partner due to financial constraints at home. Her second sister had just married her intellectually challenged brother-in-law, and she had started interacting with her first husband, Xie Zugen.

Just from the name “Zugen,” one could tell how much Xie Zugen was valued by his family.

Indeed, Xie Zugen’s father was an only child, and Xie Zugen himself was the only son born to his father in his thirties, receiving all the love and attention at home.

People in the village said that after marrying Xie Zugen, one could expect to live a comfortable life.

So she married him.

Xie Zugen’s father was the accountant at the commune’s brick and tile factory, and Xie Zugen was also arranged to work on the transportation team of the factory. In terms of family background, she was far inferior to Xie Zugen. She could marry him because Xie Zugen’s personal qualities were not exceptional.

Xie Zugen was short, fat, and especially lazy.

But she could accept all of that.

After marriage, since Xie Zugen didn’t like to work, she did more, and they got along quite harmoniously.

At the end of 1989, after giving birth to her son, even her initially picky mother-in-law became more favorable towards her.

In the blink of an eye, the 1990s arrived, and her surroundings underwent significant changes.

With the addition of a child…

She swore to earn more money, ensuring her child could have whatever he wanted without experiencing the hardships she endured in her childhood.

As the village-owned sofa factory faced closure and couldn’t pay salaries, she found a higher-paying job in a chemical fibre factory, working three shifts a day. In her spare time, she set up stalls in town to sell bamboo shoots and fish.

She didn’t earn much, but by 1993, she had managed to save more than ten thousand.

She believed that as long as she worked hard, her life would inevitably improve, and she even contemplated sending her child to the town or county to receive an education.

However, all of these were just her assumptions.

Xie Zugen got involved in gambling, losing tens of thousands of yuan, and it escalated to the point where he came to her asking for help to repay the debt.

Only at this point did she discover that Xie Zugen had been secretly gambling with people for several years.

She knew Xie Zugen enjoyed playing cards but always assumed it was just a small game among villagers, involving a few cents or dollars, at most losing a few yuan in a day.

She never imagined that Xie Zugen could lose so much money at once.

Xie Zugen’s willingness to lose such a significant amount was actually related to her in-laws. Her father-in-law served as the accountant at the commune’s brick and tile factory and had quietly accumulated a considerable amount of money over the years, with even more in recent years.

Previously, when Xie Zugen lost money, her father-in-law would always help repay the debt.

Even this time, with tens of thousands at stake, her father-in-law managed to come up with the money, albeit reluctantly.

But what did it matter if her father-in-law could come up with the money?

She wasn’t an ignorant girl; she knew how difficult it was to make a gambler quit gambling.

She didn’t mind Xie Zugen being lazy, neglecting their child, or being inept at everything else.

But she refused to be with a gambler.

Who knew if Xie Zugen would accumulate even more debt in the future and bring her tens of thousands in debt?

She had never seen so much money in her life!

She filed for divorce.

The Xie family members were unwilling to agree to the divorce, and Xie Zugen even knelt down, begged for forgiveness, and swore never to gamble again in his life.

However, she was a determined person, and when she made up her mind, no one could make her change it.

She insisted on getting a divorce and wanted custody of her son.

The Xie family naturally resisted, but during the process, Xie Zugen lost tens of thousands more in gambling.

In the end, she successfully divorced.

After giving the Xie family 10,000 yuan, she left with her child.

She quit her three-shift job at the chemical fiber factory, moved to the town, and enrolled her son in the local kindergarten.

She started selling various foods in the town: dumplings, vermicelli soup, dried stinky tofu, five-spice tofu, tea eggs, and more. While the earnings weren’t substantial, it was better than working a regular job.

Later, she even rented a shop near the town’s primary school to run her own store.

Her life continued to improve, while the Xie family’s situation deteriorated.

As she had anticipated, Xie Zugen couldn’t quit gambling, accumulated more debts, and eventually found himself in a hopeless situation.

Then, Xie Zugen turned to her, pressuring her to help repay the high-interest loans.

She was unwilling, and Xie Zugen started causing trouble by frequently visiting her shop, disrupting her business.

Reporting the matter to the police was ineffective; Xie Zugen would leave when he saw the police but return once they were gone.

Frustrated, she thought about finding a man to help drive Xie Zugen away.

She didn’t require him to be wealthy, just someone with good character, no bad habits, and who treated her son well—someone who could stand up to Xie Zugen.

She chose Feng Yi.

Feng and her family are neighbors. Feng Yi has grown up with her since childhood, and he has a good character. The crucial point is that when Feng’s mother married into the Feng family, Feng Yi came along as unwanted baggage. The Feng family has always looked down on Feng Yi and completely ignored his marriage.

Feng Yi is not young anymore but has not yet found a wife.

When she mentioned it to Feng Yi, he readily agreed and even helped at her shop every day.

Their marriage was set, but just a few days before the wedding banquet, Xie Zugen, heavily drunk, crashed his motorcycle into her, and the bike rolled over her waist.

She became paralyzed!

For her, this was an unexpected disaster.

At that time, she had saved tens of thousands of dollars, but it was not enough for her treatment. As for compensation from the Xie family, they had already been bankrupted by Xie Zugen, and there was no money left.

She still had a child to raise.

Just when she felt helpless, Feng Yi took over her shop and started supporting her family.

She thought Feng Yi was taking care of her after her paralysis out of pity, but it was more than that.

Feng Yi managed the shop and took care of her simultaneously, and this care lasted for twenty years.