Chapter 1: Traveling Through a Book

“Your sister-in-law is so feverish, we have to rush her to the hospital. Yunyang, go get all the money from under the kang bed.”

Gu Yunyang stood motionless. He was eight years old, but thin and small, his beautiful eyes filled with hatred as he stared at the woman on the bed.

“Yuncan, you go!”

Gu Yuncan, a girl who looked exactly like Gu Yunyang, equally thin and small, glanced at her brother before running to another room. She lifted the kang mat, and seeing it was empty, her face turned pale. She stammered as she ran back, “The… the kang bed is… empty.”

Gu Yunyang’s chest heaved, his small hands clenched tightly. He wanted to rush over and beat the woman on the bed to death!

“She must have stolen it! That was our only money! So vicious! Let her burn to death!”

“Don’t talk nonsense! How could your sister-in-law steal money? Mother forgot. She spent it on medicine a few days ago. Quickly go borrow fifty from your eldest sister.”

“I won’t go!” Gu Yunyang stood in front of Gu Yuncan. “You can’t go either.”

“Gu Yunyang!”

Enraged, Gu’s mother coughed violently. Gu Yunyang’s face changed, and he stepped forward to pat her back. Gu’s mother angrily pushed him away, coughing even harder.

Gu Yunyang’s eyes turned crimson.

His older brother sent sixty yuan home every month, but this woman only gave ten yuan to their mother, keeping the rest for herself. This prevented their mother from seeking medical treatment, causing her cough to worsen and her body to grow weaker day by day.

A few days ago, he had accidentally discovered this woman using the money to support another man. At that moment, he had wanted to fight her, but thinking of his mother and younger sister, he forced himself to endure it. If something happened to him, no one would take care of his mother and sister.

He didn’t dare tell his mother, fearing she couldn’t bear it. He had already lost his father and couldn’t lose his mother too.

Listening to his mother’s increasingly violent coughing, Gu Yunyang clenched his small fists, turned and left the room. He grabbed a plastic sheet at the doorway, draped it over his small body, and dashed into the heavy rain.

Before Jiang Yiyi opened her eyes, she heard violent coughing, and a flood of memories not her own surged into her mind. She had transmigrated into the book she had stayed up all night reading – a period drama novel, as the female supporting character.

The original owner dropped out of high school, claiming it was to save money for her more intelligent brother to attend school. In reality, she had a boyfriend, Bai Jun, whose family was poor. The original owner wanted to drop out and work to support Bai Jun’s education.

But this was the impoverished early 1980s, when the private economy wasn’t yet developed, and there were no job openings. Just as the original owner was worried, she heard someone say that the Gu family was arranging a marriage for Gu Yunze, a soldier, offering two thousand yuan as a bride price.

The Gu family had once been quite well-known in the area. After the reform and opening up, Gu’s father started a construction team and earned a lot of money. But the good times didn’t last long. Once, while working, Gu’s father fell from a scaffold and died instantly. Gu’s mother was overwhelmed with grief, and her health deteriorated day by day. Gu Yunze was in the army and couldn’t take care of the family. Fearing her own death was imminent, Gu’s mother wanted to find a daughter-in-law to help look after her younger son and daughter.

Upon hearing the news, the original owner personally approached the Gu family, saying she was willing to marry Gu Yunze, but the bride price should be three thousand yuan, supposedly for her brother’s university education.

Gu’s mother readily agreed, taking out all the family’s savings and sending a telegram to Gu Yunze, claiming she was critically ill and urging him to return home immediately.

Gu Yunze returned overnight, only to discover he had been deceived and didn’t want to get married. Gu’s mother threatened suicide, so Gu Yunze had no choice but to compromise, obtaining a marriage certificate and holding a wedding banquet.

On their wedding night, the original owner didn’t want to consummate the marriage, claiming she had her period. The next day, Gu Yunze hurriedly returned to his military unit.

Although they hadn’t consummated their marriage, Gu Yunze sent his allowance home every month – sixty yuan. The original owner kept fifty yuan for herself and gave ten yuan to the Gu family for living expenses.

The original owner used the money to buy clothes and shoes for Bai Jun, and his favorite foods. She even rented an apartment for him in the county town so he could focus on his studies. She completely ignored her brother, who ate only one steamed bun per meal at school, believing that giving him five hundred yuan for university was already more than enough.

That year, Bai Jun was successfully admitted to university. The original owner was overjoyed, taking out all her money and even stealing the twenty-odd yuan left in Gu’s mother’s money box, leaving with Bai Jun for Beijing, where he was attending university.

Bai Jun studied, and the original owner worked to earn money. To ensure Bai Jun had no worries, she took on any job, her body severely overtaxed. In just one year, she looked like she was in her thirties.

Bai Jun showed no displeasure, showering her with care and attention, making her feel deeply moved. She looked forward to the day when Bai Jun graduated, got a job, and she would become a wife supported by the state. However, she never noticed that Bai Jun never took her to school, nor even touched her.

Four years later, Bai Jun graduated from university and secured a job in Beijing. He said he wanted to take her out for a trip before starting work and bought her new clothes. The original owner was overjoyed and went with him, only to be tricked into the mountains and sold to an old widower. The old widower beat and scolded her daily. Within a few years, the original owner was abused to death.

Jiang Yiyi opened her eyes to see a frail woman, her face sickly, her body stooped, coughing violently. Her white hair swayed with each cough.

“Mother.”

Hearing the call, Gu’s mother’s eyes lit up. She covered her mouth, trying to suppress her cough, but it worsened, as if she would cough up her insides.

“Little sister, go pour Mother a glass of water.”

Gu Yuncan seemed disbelieving, staring at her. Her sister-in-law had been married to her older brother for almost two years, and this was the first time she had called her “little sister.”

Gu’s mother was equally incredulous, her cough subsiding. She tremblingly held up a finger and asked in a shaky voice, “Eldest daughter-in-law, what’s… what’s the date?”

Seeing her shocked expression, Jiang Yiyi wanted to laugh. “Mother, I haven’t lost my mind.”

Gu’s mother covered her mouth, then quickly let go. “Are you very uncomfortable? Mother will send you to the hospital.”

The sound of rain outside reached her ears. Gu’s mother was so weak; she might collapse before reaching the hospital. “I just got caught in the rain, it’s nothing serious. Drink some water first, then have Little Sister get some alcohol to help me cool down. I’ll just sleep for a while.”

Gu’s mother didn’t bother with the water and had Gu Yuncan fetch some alcohol. The two women wiped her chest, back, palms, and soles.

In a daze, Jiang Yiyi fell asleep again.

…

“Marrying into your family, we’ve been cursed for eight generations. Your whole family is a bunch of burdens. Today you ask for fifty, tomorrow one hundred. Do you think our family is a bank?”

“Mother…”

“Shut your mouth! You only know how to give birth to money-losing brats! Qin Gang was blind to have married you!”

“And you, your mother-in-law! You’re so old, yet you still let your children come to our house to ask for money. Have you no shame?”

“You little brat, what are you glaring at? I’ll gouge your eyes out!”

Jiang Yiyi opened her eyes again.