Chapter 33

“What’s the point of asking him? I don’t really want to know…”

Meng Yinyin purposely put on an indifferent expression, muttering, “Besides, it’s Lu Chen’s personal matter. It would be awkward for me to ask. We’re not really in a relationship. We’re just working together.”

Meng Xuan: “…”

At this moment, he couldn’t help but feel a little sympathy for Lu Chen.

Really, having to deal with his stubborn, unyielding, and prideful sister, and still managing to do everything with patience—that’s not something just anyone could handle.

Thinking this way, Meng Xuan’s opinion of Lu Chen improved even more.

It just goes to show, you can’t make comparisons. Once you do, things you never liked can suddenly seem much better.

In the end, Meng Xuan couldn’t be bothered to try to persuade her. With an ambiguous hum, he turned and went back inside.

It almost seemed like he was mocking her.

Meng Yinyin glared at his back in frustration, then looked outside. She couldn’t see Lu Chen anymore along the road. She wondered if he always walked that fast or if he was just eager to meet Dabao’s mother.

The more she thought about it, the more irritated she became.

But then she remembered how stubbornly she had just told her brother she wasn’t curious about Lu Chen and Lin Xiuzhi’s past. If she went to Dabao’s house to check things out now, her brother would definitely mock her!

After thinking for a moment, Meng Yinyin decided not to go out and instead sulkily returned to her room.

Well, if there’s ever a chance, I’ll find out these things for myself.

Meanwhile, at Dabao’s house…

Lu Chen arrived with the watermelon and the snacks for the two children, and he immediately spotted Dou Zhengrong struggling to move with a crutches.

Lu Chen wasn’t sure about the exact condition of Dou Zhengrong’s legs, but it was clear that his legs weren’t functioning properly. He could only use his arms to support the crutches and barely manage to stand or move.

Seeing this, Lu Chen immediately approached.

“Do you need any help?”

He wasn’t familiar with Dou Zhengrong, but since he was Lin Xiuzhi’s husband and the father of Dabao and Erbao, Lu Dashan decided to help him as much as he could, considering these two connections.

When Dou Zhengrong heard the voice, he looked at Lu Dashan for a moment, and after a pause, he finally recognized who he was. He then managed to force a polite smile.

“It’s Lu Chen, right? Well, please, could you help me carry the water?”

He wanted to cook, but both of his hands were occupied with the crutches, and he couldn’t spare a hand to carry the water bucket. In the past, he had been using a ladle to carry the water bit by bit to the pot, but perhaps he had grown tired of this method, or perhaps he was disappointed with his own incapacity, so he wanted to try carrying the water bucket while supporting himself with the crutches.

In the end, it turned out that he had overestimated himself. He couldn’t manage to carry the water while dragging his crippled legs.

He had truly become useless.

Seeing his despair, Lu Chen seemed to ignore it completely. Without showing any reaction, he simply carried the water bucket to the stove and even helped pour the water into the pot.

Then, he turned and handed the basket and its contents to Dou Zhengrong.

Lu Chen explained, “Thank you for the vegetables.”

Lu Chen wasn’t one to speak much to unfamiliar people, but these few words were enough for Dou Zhengrong to understand his meaning.

This was a gesture of reciprocity.

Looking at Lu Chen’s expression, Dou Zhengrong hesitated for a moment before finally accepting the return gift.

After all, neither he nor Lu Chen were the types of people who usually refused help.

“Thank you. Dabao and the others should like the things you brought,” Dou Zhengrong said, though his face involuntarily showed a tinge of bitterness and guilt.

He hadn’t returned home in so many years. As a father, he should have brought gifts for his children, but this time, not only did he fail to bring them anything they liked, he had even become a burden to them.

Lu Chen could see the pain in Dou Zhengrong’s eyes but didn’t offer any words of comfort. He simply said, “It’s nothing,” and prepared to leave.

However, at that moment, a voice suddenly came from the house. It was Dabao, calling out excitedly.

“Dad, Dad, Mom is awake! She’s awake again!”

Hearing this, Dou Zhengrong didn’t have time to explain anything further to Lu Chen. He hurriedly turned around, supporting himself with the cane, and rushed into the house.

Lu Chen paused for a moment, but in the end, he didn’t leave. Instead, he stayed where he was, listening carefully to the sounds from inside.

He heard Dou Zhengrong, Dabao, and Erbao talking inside.

“Xiuzhi, Xiuzhi, how are you? Are you okay?”

“Mom, Mom, are you awake now?”

“Mom, do you recognize me? It’s Dabao…”

What did this mean?

Lu Chen furrowed his brow outside, a feeling of unease growing in his mind.

Could it be that Lin Xiuzhi had lost her memory?

Just as he was wondering, a burst of joyful laughter from Dabao came through the door.

“That’s great, Mom! You finally remember me! Woo woo woo, I was so scared that you’d really forget about us… Mom, you don’t know how scary it was when you woke up yesterday. You said you didn’t recognize us… woo woo woo…”

The voice of Lin Xiuzhi inside was faint, almost inaudible to Lu Chen. But from Dabao’s words, Lu Chen could roughly guess the situation.

It seemed that Lin Xiuzhi had indeed woken up in the past couple of days. However, maybe she was still recovering from illness, or perhaps she had been in a daze from too much sleep, so when she first woke up, she didn’t recognize Dabao and the others.

But judging by Dabao’s joyful tone now, it seemed that Lin Xiuzhi was completely awake.

Lu Chen felt relieved and finally turned to leave.

What he didn’t know was that inside the house, Lin Xiuzhi had indeed woken up and was no longer confused. Everything seemed to be returning to normal.

But the only one who knew the truth was Lin Xiuzhi herself. Everything had not really returned to normal.

Or, to put it another way, nothing would ever return to normal.

Because the “Lin Xiuzhi” from before was dead, and the current Lin Xiuzhi was a soul from the 21st century.

The Lin Xiuzhi from the 21st century had no idea how she ended up in the body of another woman with the same name. She clearly had just taken a nap, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself under a shabby, dark roof.

Not only that, when she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by a strange man and two children she had never seen before, who kept calling her “Mom.”

Lin Xiuzhi was greatly startled. She wasn’t married, so where did these children come from? Naturally, she thought she was dreaming, and in her dream, she angrily said that she didn’t know them. Even though the man looked worried and the children were crying, she still looked at them with disgust and caution.

But soon, she fainted again, thinking she would wake up soon and escape this strange dream. However, to her great disappointment, when she opened her eyes again, she was still in that broken house with the same strange man and children by her side.

Lin Xiuzhi couldn’t believe it. She closed her eyes again and pretended to sleep.

This time, however, new memories that didn’t belong to her appeared in her mind. She spent more than a day slowly accepting the fact that she had transmigrated into another woman’s body, a woman with the same name, and that it was the 1970s. The conditions were poor, the family was impoverished, and she had a husband with a crippled leg and two burdensome children…

After sorting through the memories of the original “Lin Xiuzhi,” she was even more shocked to find that the names of Lin Xiuzhi and Dou Zhengrong were very familiar. They seemed to match the protagonists of a novel she had read before.

Although she couldn’t remember the exact plot of the novel, she recalled that in the original story, the heroine and hero overcame all sorts of difficulties and hardships together, facing challenges such as in-laws’ torment, family accidents, and finally struggling to build a business. It could be said that the heroine went through everything imaginable in the book.

Rather than saying this was a sweet novel, it would be more accurate to call it a tragic story. Only in the final chapters did it barely manage to achieve a sense of resolution. Unfortunately, by then, the heroine was already in her forties, having spent most of her life in suffering.

Only in middle age did she experience a bit of happiness. Compared to the decades of hard work and struggle, that little bit of happiness seemed hardly worth it to Lin Xiuzhi.

After all, there were not many years left to live. What good would more money do now?

When she had read the novel before, she had thought the heroine was so foolish and naive. If it had been her, she would have never been so silly. After her husband’s legs were injured, she would have left him and the burden of the family behind, starting a new life. Only someone with a masochistic tendency would have stayed.

But now, she was shocked to find herself in the same position, having transmigrated into the role of the heroine she had once seen as a fool. Moreover, she had inherited her exact life.

After experiencing the harsh reality firsthand, she realized how shallow the descriptions in the book were.

The real world was far harder than she had imagined.

For instance, the dark, narrow room with a strange smell, the bed, and two crying children who didn’t understand anything. Most importantly, there was the husband, who was disabled, unable to handle basic needs like eating, drinking, or going to the bathroom on his own…

If she stayed here, she would become nothing more than a free servant for the whole family.

She refused!

But right now, her body still hadn’t fully recovered. She felt weak and could barely get out of bed. So, she would have to wait before escaping.

Before leaving, however, she needed to act as if nothing had changed. She absolutely couldn’t let anyone know that the soul in this body was no longer the original owner’s.

Otherwise, it could cause trouble.

Fortunately, she was still sick, and thanks to the original owner’s memories, pretending to be her wasn’t difficult. She just had to suppress the occasional expression of disdain and disgust. Luckily, the dim lighting in the room kept her from being too noticeable.

“Xiuzhi, how are you feeling now?”

While Lin Xiuzhi was lost in thought, Dou Zhengrong’s voice interrupted, snapping her back to reality.

She suppressed the impatience rising within her and weakly replied, “I don’t have much strength, I probably need to rest a bit more.”

Her voice was faint, but the tone carried an unfamiliar stiffness, as if she was suppressing some emotion.

Dou Zhengrong didn’t think much of it. He assumed it was just because she was unwell.

Moreover, they had been married for a few years, and due to work commitments, he hadn’t been able to be by her side much. Lin Xiuzhi had to take care of the two children alone. It would be impossible for him not to feel guilty.

Thinking this way, he believed the reason she was acting like this was because he had neglected her.

With that, Dou Zhengrong softened his tone and said, “Are you hungry now? What would you like to eat? I’ll make it for you.”

Lin Xiuzhi almost blurted out a sarcastic reply, thinking, with his disability, what could he possibly cook? She would still need someone else’s help!

But luckily, she came to her senses just in time and swallowed her disgust. However, when she spoke again, her tone inevitably carried some annoyance.

“Is there anything ready to eat? Just give me something to fill my stomach for now.”

She had been lying down for so long, and she was starving. Even coarse grain pancakes, she would have to accept unwillingly.

To her surprise, Dou Zhengrong hesitated only briefly before asking, “There’s watermelon. Can you eat it?”

What?!

Watermelon?!

Lin Xiuzhi couldn’t help but widen her eyes when she heard this.

She was both hungry and thirsty. What she wanted more than a meal was a sweet drink or something similar, but she knew that such luxuries didn’t exist in this time.

However, watermelon was something she never expected.

“Yes!”

Seeing her so eager, Dou Zhengrong struggled to support himself on his crutches and brought in a basket.

Luckily, the basket wasn’t heavy, or he wouldn’t have known how to carry it inside.

Once inside, Lin Xiuzhi stared at the juicy, red watermelon and had to swallow before she could stop herself from drooling. The moment the basket was placed in front of her, she grabbed the biggest, ripest piece and began to eat.

After swallowing a mouthful of sweet watermelon, Lin Xiuzhi suddenly realized something felt off.

According to the original story, Dou Zhengrong’s family would never have watermelon, which was practically a luxury at this time.

So, where did this watermelon come from?

Or was it possible that Dou Zhengrong was more capable than she had imagined?

Before Lin Xiuzhi could dwell on this, Dou Zhengrong answered her unspoken question.

He explained, “This watermelon was brought over by Lu Chen just now. I had Dabao send him some vegetables earlier as a thank-you for bringing you medicine last time.”

“I didn’t expect him to send watermelon. I wonder where he bought it.”

Hearing the somewhat familiar name “Lu Chen”, Lin Xiuzhi froze in surprise.

Lu Chen?

Lu Chen!

Wasn’t he the man in the original story who remained single for life for the heroine?!!