Chapter 1

The sunset sat atop the mountain peak.

Amidst the lush greenery and rugged rocks of the mountains, a narrow winding path snaked its way up, disappearing into the greenery at the summit.

The sunset’s glow reddened the sides of the climbing women’s faces. They carried baskets on their backs, singing songs as fiery as the sunset—

Early in the morning, we go to herd the cattle, oh, we go to herd the cattle, oh, along the ridges of the fields.

Rain falls on the front mountain, but the back mountain is clear, oh, the back mountain is clear, oh, waiting for the Red Army to come.

A big red flag, oh so red, oh so red, oh, toppling the landlords.

A big red flag flutters in the air, oh, flutters in the air, oh, I follow the Red Army

…

The song echoed through the mountains, drifting into a mountain hollow and landing on a young girl’s hair.

The girl, about fourteen or fifteen years old, had a delicate oval face, clear eyes with long lashes, a straight nose, and rosy lips. She lay in the mountain hollow with her eyes closed, unmoving. Her sleeves and pant legs were torn, and her forehead was scraped. Her clothes fluttered in the mountain breeze.

When Ruan Xi regained consciousness, her first sensation was that her entire body felt like it was falling apart, with pain spreading through her limbs and bones as if they had been shattered and reassembled. She heard the gentle sound of the wind and distant, loud singing that sounded like a mountain song. Beneath her was a bed of hard rocks that seemed to press against her bones. She thought she had fallen off the mountain and died, but surprisingly, she was still alive. As her consciousness slowly returned, her body remained unresponsive. Ruan Xi tried to open her eyes, but it was a struggle. After a long effort, she managed to open them slightly.

Through the slit, she saw a clear blue sky, with the edges tinged with the brilliant red of the sunset and nothing else. She took a gentle breath, blinked slowly, and suddenly saw a person in her field of vision.

To be precise, it was a boy.

The boy looked about thirteen or fourteen, his face backlit by the sun.

Ruan Xi couldn’t see his expression clearly but could make out the fine fuzz on his cheeks. She saw him open his mouth to speak but couldn’t hear what he was saying; her ears filled with a buzzing sound.

Dizzy and heavy-headed, she closed her eyes again. In a semi-conscious state, she felt herself being lifted from the ground and carried on someone’s back, moving slowly forward in the evening breeze. The person carrying her had a thin frame, and each step seemed to take all their strength.

She didn’t know how long they walked, but the buzzing in her ears gradually subsided, and she heard the wind again, though the mountain song was gone. She opened her eyes to see the sky darkening, and in the distance, there was a stilt house built against the mountain.

The stilt house looked very old and had only one floor.

She didn’t have the strength to think about anything else or to look around more, so she closed her eyes again. After some time, she heard a warm, deep female voice ask, “Who is this?”

Ruan Xi was put down, lying on a wooden plank. She heard the boy catch his breath and say, “I don’t know, she’s injured and unconscious.”

The woman’s voice was clearly displeased: “Didn’t I tell you not to meddle in other people’s business?”

The boy replied, “This is… learning from Lei Feng and doing good deeds.”

The woman said, “You don’t even know her. How do you know she won’t take advantage of us?”

The boy responded with silent silence.

Lying on the hard wooden plank, the pain in Ruan Xi’s body gradually subsided, leaving only the scrapes on her forehead, elbows, and knees hurting a bit. The weight on her eyelids suddenly lightened, and she opened her eyes. It took almost no effort this time, and she sat up directly. As soon as she sat up, she met the gaze of two people in front of her.

One was a tall boy, about thirteen or fourteen, with a youthful face, handsome features, and a clear, innocent look. The other was a middle-aged woman, her face full of worry and fatigue but with a unique charm in her eyes. Both were wearing gray, patched jackets and straight pants. They did not have proper shoes, only straw sandals, which Ruan Xi had only seen in museums.

After scanning their outfits, Ruan Xi’s mind had only one word—poor.

Then she felt confused and incredulous—was there still such poverty in modern society?

Before she could greet them or verify her thoughts, her mind suddenly exploded. Without any preparation, countless memories that didn’t belong to her flooded into her brain, occupying all her mental capacity. In just a few seconds, she not only gained another person’s memories and life experiences but also learned another shocking piece of information—she had fallen off a mountain and died, and her soul had entered a period novel!

Novels have protagonists and supporting characters, and she was unlucky enough to become a supporting character in the story, with the original character also named Ruan Xi.

The original character’s father was a military officer. Due to unavoidable circumstances, he left her in the countryside to be raised by her grandparents. Meanwhile, the female lead was the orphaned daughter of her father’s comrade and was personally raised by her parents in the military district.

At sixteen, her parents brought the original character to the military district. Growing up in the poor and remote countryside, she was like an ugly duckling compared to the female lead, constantly making a fool of herself and being laughed at. She was often compared to the female lead.

The original character’s mindset became unbalanced and twisted in such an environment. She then targeted and framed the female lead, trying to take everything from her, including the male lead in the story. Eventually, she became a typical villainous supporting character with a tragic end.

After learning all this information, Ruan Xi’s vision went black, and she fainted again.

The woman in front of the bed was startled and said, “What’s wrong now? I told you not to meddle in other people’s business, but you didn’t listen. Meddling only brings trouble, and we can’t afford it if something happens.”

Ruan Xi had already figured out that the woman was unhappy with the boy for helping “her,” fearing it would cause trouble. Not wanting to cause more trouble for the boy, she propped herself up on the bed and decisively stood up. Her soul and body had almost fully merged, and she no longer felt dizzy, weak, or had ringing in her ears. She had fully recovered and felt like a normal person again. She smiled at the boy, “I’m fine now, thank you.”

Then she looked at the middle-aged woman, still smiling, “Thank you, Auntie, sorry for the trouble.”

While the middle-aged woman and the boy were still in a daze, she left the stilt house with her military yellow backpack. Outside, she took out a flashlight from her bag and walked forward while rubbing her temples with her fingers.

She couldn’t help but sort through the new information in her mind. It was now 1973, and this place was Fengming Mountain. The original character had just turned fourteen, the same age as the handsome boy she had just met.

She shone the flashlight on herself. “Her” hair was long, reaching her waist, black and shiny, braided into two pigtails tied with bright red ribbons. She wore a floral jacket, the fabric neither new nor old, without any patches.

In the original character’s memory, there was information about the mother and son. The boy’s name was Ling Yao, and the woman was his mother, Zhou Xueyun. His father was Ling Zhiyuan, and they were all from a big city. A few years ago, during the nationwide revolution, Ling Zhiyuan made a mistake and was sent to Fengming Mountain for reformation. He was assigned to the Fengyan Brigade, where the original character lived. It was said that Zhou Xueyun was not punished, but she brought her son Ling Yao to accompany Ling Zhiyuan to Fengming Mountain. Having learned from their mistakes, the family of three was very cautious after being sent down, rarely interacting with the villagers. They only appeared in the village to work and earn work points and otherwise stayed out of sight. That’s why Zhou Xueyun said those things when Ling Yao carried her back after finding her unconscious in the mountain hollow.

Ruan Xi processed this information, using a flashlight to carefully navigate the rugged mountain path back “home.”

Thinking about the living conditions of that home in her memory, Ruan Xi couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on.

Mentioning mountainous areas inevitably brings up the word “poor,” especially in the 1970s. Not only were they poor, but families were also large, and having enough food to avoid starvation was considered a great blessing. However, because the original character’s father was a military officer, he regularly sent money and various coupons home. The original character’s grandfather was also the brigade leader of Fengyan Village, making him a local official. So, their life was relatively better.

At the Ruan household, an oil lamp was lit inside.

Grandfather Ruan Zhigao sat at the table, picking up a corn bun with his chopsticks. Seeing the fifth son, Ruan Changsheng, with bruises on his nose and eye, he said irritably, “You do nothing all day but fight. You’re almost old enough to get married.”

Ruan Changsheng, eating pickled vegetables, remained silent.

The second daughter-in-law, shaking water off her hands, walked to the table and asked, “Why hasn’t Xiaoxi come back yet?”

As soon as she finished speaking, a beam of light swept in from outside, and Ruan Xi returned with a flashlight.

Ruan Xi had just taken a couple of steps inside when Ruan Zhigao raised his chopsticks and called her, “Stop there, you stand right there.”

Ruan Xi stopped, turned off the flashlight, and put it in her backpack. She quickly scanned the room, taking a few seconds to adapt to this new family and her relatives.

The eight members of the Ruan family all looked at Ruan Xi, noticing the scrapes on her forehead and the holes in her clothes and pants.

Ruan Zhigao asked, “What have you been up to?”

Ruan Xi looked at herself, “I accidentally fell into a mountain hollow.”

Ruan Zhigao, seeing she was fine, didn’t bother further and waved his chopsticks, “Eat!”

Ruan Xi took a deep breath, put her backpack aside, and went to the washbasin to wash her face and hands. She didn’t change her clothes for now. After washing her face and tidying her hair, she went to the stove, served herself a bowl of rice, squeezed into a seat at the table, and started eating.

The rice with pickled mustard greens wasn’t as bad as she had imagined; it was quite tasty.

Ruan Xi didn’t speak. After a couple of bites, her cousin Ruan Jie nudged her with her elbow and smiled, “Sister Qiuwen sent us clothes again, and there’s a beautiful dress too, a big package.”

Hearing this, Ruan Xi paused with her chopsticks halfway to her mouth.

Qiuwen, whose full name was Ye Qiuwen, was the novel’s female lead. The original character’s parents raised her in the military district. She knew about Ruan Xi’s existence and occasionally sent some of her old clothes.

Chewing her rice, Ruan Xi responded indifferently, “Oh.”

Ruan Jie looked at her in confusion, “Aren’t you happy?”

In the past, whenever Ye Qiuwen sent clothes, Ruan Xi would be very excited and would try on clothes with her for half a day.

Ruan Xi reached for the pickled mustard greens with her chopsticks, “Not interested.”