Chapter 1

“Crack! Crack…”

The thorny branches whipped against her body, leaving bloody welts.

Gu Nanzi winced in pain, her teeth gritted.

She had a dream.

In that dream, she lived in a home that was like a den of tigers and wolves.

She slaved for that family, washing clothes at three, climbing on the stove at four, and working the fields at five…

She worked alone to feed the whole family, yet her cruel adoptive parents constantly beat and berated her, forcing her to sleep in the pigsty, eat pig food, allowing her sister to steal her boyfriend, and forcing her to marry a vegetable for her street-smart brother…

That wasn’t even the worst of it. The key was that her adoptive father and brother lusted after her, constantly trying to get into her bed, while her adoptive mother and sister stood guard outside the door…

In the dream, Gu Nanzi was almost abused to death.  When she woke up…

“Crack!”

Gu Nanzi was hanging from the rafters, being beaten.

“Marry him or not? You little slut, if you don’t agree to marry the living dead from Xiejia Village today, I’ll beat you to death!”

Gu Youcai’s face was contorted with rage, his eyes like those of a hungry wolf, as he swung the thorny branch in his hand.

Gu Nanzi felt a searing pain, her mind in a daze.

“Stop hitting her! Those clothes are barely decent enough for her to be seen in. If you ruin them, I won’t buy her new ones. Take them off and then beat her!”

Li Chunhua cackled maliciously from the side, “She looks like a girl sold in a brothel. Marrying a living dead man, she’ll just end up cheapening herself for someone else anyway. Let the head of the family get a taste of her today…”

As soon as she said that…

Gu Youcai’s cloudy old eyes lit up, and he reached out with a lecherous grin to grab Gu Nanzi’s waistband…

Gu Nanzi: “!!!”

She opened her eyes to see an incredibly ugly old face, and her body reacted before her brain could process the situation!

Pull-up!

Leg up, foot hooked!

Neck lock!

Swing!

“Bang!”

“Ah!”

Gu Youcai was flung against the wall, letting out a pig-like scream.

Li Chunhua, who had been planning to go outside to keep watch, heard the commotion and turned around. Seeing the scene, she immediately lunged at Gu Nanzi, claws out.

“You little slut, you dare hit your father! You’ve gone mad! I’ll beat you to death today!”

Father?

Whose father would strip their daughter naked?

And “I’ll beat you to death”?

This deceitful father and mother!

Gu Nanzi scoffed inwardly, watching Li Chunhua charge towards her. She raised her leg again, repeating the move and flinging her against the corner of the wall!

“Ah!”

“My old back!”

Gu Youcai had just gotten back to his feet when Li Chunhua crashed into him, sending them both tumbling to the ground with groans of pain.

Without the two obstacles dancing around in front of her, Gu Nanzi finally had a chance to look around…

The room was small and dilapidated.  A pigsty built with broken bricks was on one side, with two piglets grunting inside.  On the other side, a wooden board propped up with broken bricks served as a bed, with faded bedding piled on top.

Her gaze moved upwards to the thatched roof, which was leaking rain, and down again…

To the rafters that were binding her hands!

The moldy rafters were dark and contrasted sharply with her delicate white wrists.  There were bloody welts on her wrists, a sight that was both shocking and heartbreaking…

The scenes from her dream, scenes that had made her blood boil, gradually overlapped with the scene before her.  Even the two people groaning in the corner matched the faces of her dream!

Gu Nanzi: “!!!”

Deep breath!

Another deep breath!

Who could explain to her, a leading researcher, how she could have a dream that transported her to this place?

This beating, this abuse…

Had she retired before the age of thirty, breaking some heavenly law?  Was this her punishment?

“You damn little slut, you dare hit your own mother and father! I’ll fight you!”

“I’ll kill you, you little slut, if I have to die for it today!”

While Gu Nanzi was distracted, Gu Youcai and Li Chunhua scrambled to their feet, grabbing whatever they could find on the ground and swinging it at her.

She felt a dull thud on her arm, the sound of bone shifting accompanied by an intense pain…

Gu Nanzi snapped back to reality!

Her fingers flew, untying the ropes binding her wrists.  She snatched the stick from Gu Youcai’s hand and kicked out at the two of them…

“Mother and father? Mother and father who treat their daughter like an animal? Mother and father who make their daughter get up before the rooster crows and go to bed after the dogs are asleep?”

Gu Nanzi slammed Gu Youcai to the ground with the stick and, holding it up, looked at Li Chunhua, her voice hoarse as she growled, “Whose parents make their daughter sleep in a pigsty and eat pig food? Whose mother watches her husband and son climb into their daughter’s bed?”

The scenes from her dream, scenes that made her want to vomit, flashed before her eyes: Li Chunhua forcing her to gather firewood in the rain, making her kneel in the courtyard in the snow, and leaving her to work the fields alone under the scorching sun…

Gu Nanzi didn’t hesitate. She swung the stick at Li Chunhua!

“Li Chunhua, I wasn’t abused to death, I wasn’t taken advantage of by those disgusting men, it was purely because of God’s mercy. Who are you pretending to be a mother to?”

“Whose mother is as vicious as you? Whose father is as depraved?”

Gu Nanzi roared, her voice raw, as if a voice in her heart was screaming for her to ask these questions.

The thunderous blows of the stick rained down, and Li Chunhua and Gu Youcai howled in pain.

They never imagined that Gu Nanzi, who had always been submissive, would suddenly erupt, and they never imagined that she would dare to hit them…

“You little slut, you’re actually arguing!”

Li Chunhua regained her senses and, while dodging the stick, screamed at the top of her lungs, “It’s a tragedy! A daughter is trying to kill her own parents! Help! Someone!”

Gu Youcai, seeing this, struggled to get up from the ground, but Gu Nanzi was quick.  Another blow to the head sent him crashing back to the ground.

“Slut! I’m going to kill you!”

Gu Youcai, his teeth bared in pain, clutched his head and shouted.

“Heh!”

Gu Nanzi sneered, her stick swinging with even more force, “Either you die today, or I die.  So I’m not going to hold back!”

Her arm still ached, and her body was covered in bruises.  Every movement was agony, which showed how mercilessly the two of them had beaten her before.

Since that was the case, what was she afraid of?

She didn’t care if this was a dream or if she had really transmigrated.  She had hit them, and that was a win!

For a time, the pigsty-turned-room was filled with the sound of the stick and screams.  After a while…

Gu Nanzi was tired.  She couldn’t hit anymore.

She leaned against the stick, collapsing to the ground.

Gu Youcai and Li Chunhua, half-dead from the beating, seized the opportunity to run out of the yard, screaming as they ran.

“Murder! Gu Nanzi is trying to kill her own father and mother! Help! Someone!”

“Save me! Gu Nanzi, that little slut, she’s gone mad!”

“…”

As their screams echoed, a wave of voices and footsteps grew closer.

Gu Nanzi: “…”

No matter what the time period, being labeled as unfilially would make people point fingers and gossip…