Chapter 2

Seeing Ruan Xi’s response, the original character’s second aunt, Sun Xiaohui, smiled and said, “If you don’t want them, give them all to our Xiao Jie.”

Ruan Xi looked at her second aunt but didn’t have a chance to speak before her grandmother, Liu Xinghua, interjected, “Only you could say something like that. The clothes were meant for Xiao Xi, and you want to give them all to Xiao Jie? How many can she wear in a day?”

Sun Xiaohui, embarrassed, lowered her head and continued eating her corn bun without saying anything.

Since Liu Xinghua had shut down Sun Xiaohui’s suggestion, Ruan Xi didn’t say anything further. From the original character’s memory, she knew that her second aunt liked to take advantage of any opportunity. The relationship between her and her grandmother was not good and had become especially tense recently. However, given Liu Xinghua’s authority in the family, Sun Xiaohui didn’t dare to argue back.

Ruan Xi quietly ate her meal, adapting to the new environment without saying much. Suddenly, her cousin Ruan Yuehua spoke up, “Grandma, why are we always eating pickled vegetables? Three meals a day of pickled vegetables, I’m getting sick of it.”

Liu Xinghua, eating pickled vegetables, replied, “We can’t eat meat every day. The copper mine on the mountain isn’t yours.”

As for the real reason they were eating pickled vegetables three times a day, Ruan Xi knew it well. Her fifth uncle, Ruan Changsheng, was about to get married, and Liu Xinghua had been saving money and cutting back on food to prepare a dowry for him.

Young cousin Ruan Yuehua didn’t understand, but the others probably did. Sun Xiaohui, although aware, had her own opinions and had been holding them in for a while. She scoffed internally but showed nothing on her face.

After dinner, when they went inside to prepare for bed, she couldn’t hold back any longer and complained to her husband, Ruan Changgui, “Xiao Xi said she didn’t want them herself. What’s wrong with me saying to give them all to Xiao Jie? She doesn’t want them, but our Xiao Jie does.”

“Just pretend you didn’t hear it,” Ruan Changgui, exhausted from a day of digging copper on the mountain, replied dismissively before falling asleep.

Sun Xiaohui hadn’t even started speaking when she saw Ruan Changgui like this, and her frustration grew. She had initially wanted to talk about the worsening family meals and the issue of splitting the family, but she had to swallow her words.

In the room shared by Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie.

Ruan Jie was fiddling with the clothes sent by Ye Qiuwen under the oil lamp. There were floral jackets, dresses, and even a set of women’s military uniforms. Military uniforms were the most fashionable and eye-catching clothes of the time.

Ruan Xi wasn’t interested in these clothes. As a fashion designer, she had seen all kinds of beautiful clothes. In this era of material scarcity and national poverty, even having enough to eat was a problem, let alone having stylish clothes. She examined the scrapes on her body under the oil lamp, wincing as she touched them. The village didn’t even have a barefoot doctor, let alone modern disinfectants and anti-inflammatory medicines. Injuries had to heal on their own.

Ruan Jie put on a polka-dot dress, lifted the hem, and asked Ruan Xi, “Sister, does it look good?”

Ruan Xi put down her arm and looked at Ruan Jie, responding perfunctorily, “It looks good.”

Ruan Jie’s joy was evident in her eyes. She smiled, “This time, you’re really not picky. So this dress is mine?”

Previously, when Ye Qiuwen sent clothes, the original character would pick the best ones first, leaving the rest for Ruan Jie. The good clothes are passed on to Ruan Jie only after the original character gets tired of them.

Ruan Xi didn’t mind, “If you like it, take it.”

Ruan Jie was so happy she couldn’t stop smiling. Even her hair seemed to be flying, and she couldn’t help but twirl around like a butterfly.

Suddenly, a clearing throat sound came from outside the floral curtain at the door, and she quickly stopped and stood still.

The one who cleared his throat was Ruan Changsheng. He greeted them from outside the door, lifted the floral curtain, and threw some items onto the bed without entering.

Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie turned to look and saw a few pieces of milk candy.

Seeing such precious candy, Ruan Jie’s eyes lit up, and she asked Ruan Changsheng, “Fifth Uncle, where did you get these?”

Ruan Changsheng, looking like a rascal, said, “Just eat them. Why ask so many questions?”

Before leaving, he reminded them, “Each of you gets two pieces, don’t fight.”

Ruan Jie’s attention was drawn to the milk candies. Seeing Ruan Changsheng leave, she quickly turned to the bed, picked up four pieces of milk candy, and handed two to Ruan Xi, whispering, “He definitely didn’t give any to Big Brother and Little Brother.”

In the family, there were two other cousins of the same generation as Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie, named Ruan Yuejin and Ruan Yuehua, who were Ruan Jie’s biological brothers.

Ruan Changsheng liked Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie but didn’t like Ruan Yuejin and Ruan Yuehua. So, whenever he got something good to eat, he would secretly give it to Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie, not to the other two.

Ruan Xi accepted the two pieces of milk candy from Ruan Jie, feeling a bit emotional—before transmigrating, these were snacks she wouldn’t even look at, but now they had become precious treats she rarely saw.

After blowing out the lamp and lying in bed, Ruan Xi couldn’t sleep.

Ruan Jie, sleeping beside her, breathed evenly, occasionally turning over.

Ruan Xi stared at the white mosquito net above her, listening to the faint sound of mosquitoes outside, and thought about her next steps.

Returning to modern society was probably impossible; she had to live with her current identity. Although life was hard and poor now, she knew things would improve with time. She didn’t want to write to the military district, asking her parents to take her to live with them now. She had always been strong and didn’t like asking for help.

Of course, if her parents offered to take her, she wouldn’t refuse, as it was rightfully “hers.” Compared to the impoverished mountainous area, the military district had complete facilities, making life more comfortable and providing more convenience and resources.

However, according to the original plot, it wasn’t convenient for them to take her now. Additionally, in the 1970s, the country strictly controlled population movement, with armed patrols everywhere, so she couldn’t leave the mountains for the next few years.

Not being able to leave the mountains made studying a problem.

The original character was only fourteen, the age for schooling, but there were no teachers on Fengming Mountain, so she had stopped going to school two years ago. To attend school, she would have to go to the town outside, which took two days of walking on mountain roads, making it impossible.

Moreover, in this era, the belief that studying was useless was prevalent, and few people across the country took education seriously. Before the revolution, Fengyan Village had teachers who taught children to read and write, but after the revolution, there were no more teachers, and everyone stopped studying.

Ruan Xi turned over and thought—since there’s nothing else to do, why not save up for a sewing machine and go back to her old profession?

From the original character’s memory, she knew that tailors were still highly respected in this era, and their lives were relatively comfortable. Whenever someone needed clothes made, they would invite the tailor to their home and treat them well. But this couldn’t be done just by deciding to do it. In this era, sewing machines, like radios, bicycles, and watches, were luxury items—expensive and requiring ration tickets. Especially in this impoverished mountainous area, there were probably only a few sewing machines in the entire Fengming Mountain.

Ruan Xi turned over again.

Even if she had a sewing machine, the original character didn’t have the skills. If she suddenly started measuring and making clothes for people, it would be inappropriate and likely arouse suspicion, making people think there was something wrong with her.

To make everything seem natural, she would need to… first find a mentor?

Ruan Xi turned over and lay on her back—yes, find a mentor!

Even in summer, the mornings in the mountains were still chilly. After washing up, Ruan Xi stood in the room, braiding her hair. She tied the braids with ribbons at the ends. Since she was a bit injured and there was nothing urgent, she slept in a bit longer, and no one woke her up.

After braiding her hair, she looked at herself in the mirror for a while. The girl in the mirror was very delicate and beautiful, with a natural charm in her face and features, especially her lively eyes, like a little deer in the deep forest. She smoothed her braids in front of her and went to the main hall to eat.

Everyone else had gone out, leaving only her grandmother, Liu Xinghua, at home.

While eating, Ruan Xi asked Liu Xinghua, “Grandma, do we still have any eggs at home?”

Liu Xinghua, sitting by the door sewing a shoe sole, replied, “Yes, we’ve saved some. Do you want to eat eggs?”

Ruan Xi took a bite of her corn bun and some pickled vegetables, “I fell into a mountain hollow and fainted yesterday, and someone saved me. He carried me a long way, so I thought I should thank him by cooking him a couple of eggs.”

Liu Xinghua glanced at Ruan Xi, “That’s something to be thankful for. I’ll go boil two eggs for you.”

Ruan Xi finished the remaining rice in her bowl in one bite, stood up with the bowl, and said, “I’ll do it myself.”

She took the bowl to the kitchen, washed the bowl and pot, found the eggs, and then put two raw eggs into the iron pot filled with water.

Although the original character’s life experiences and skills were in her mind, Ruan Xi still choked on the smoke while lighting the fire. When she finally got the earthen stove lit, her face was smudged with soot.

Coughing while tending the fire, Liu Xinghua poked her head in and asked, “Xiao Xi, can you manage?”

Ruan Xi caught her breath, “Yes, I can handle it.”

Liu Xinghua, scratching her head with a needle, said, “If you can’t, call me.”

Ruan Xi managed to boil the two eggs on the earthen stove, though one of them cracked. She dried the eggs, put them in her yellow backpack, and headed out.

Following the mountain path to the stilt house where the Ling family lived, Ruan Xi knocked on the door but found no one inside. So she turned around and searched nearby, eventually finding the boy Ling Yao on a hillside.

Ling Yao was tending the production team’s grazing pigs while he sat on the hillside reading a book.

Ruan Xi walked straight up to him and said with a smile, “How peaceful.”

Ling Yao looked up at her, recognized her, and gave a polite smile, “Hello.”

Ruan Xi sat beside him, took two pieces of milk candy and two eggs from her backpack, and handed them to him, “Thank you for helping me yesterday. This is a small token of appreciation. I hope you don’t mind.”

Milk candy and eggs—how could Ling Yao mind?

Since coming to Fengming Mountain with his parents, he hadn’t tasted candy. He had eaten eggs, but only a few times a year. Sometimes, his mother would make him an egg drink when he was very sick.

He shook his head at Ruan Xi, “I didn’t really help much. It’s not necessary.”

Ruan Xi remembered him carrying her a long way on the mountain path. Seeing his thin and frail frame, she knew it wasn’t an easy task. She directly stuffed the milk candy and eggs into his hands, “You must accept them.”

Ling Yao looked at the milk candy and eggs in his hands, then at Ruan Xi. Meeting her bright eyes, he knew he couldn’t argue with her, so he took one piece of candy and an egg and handed them back to Ruan Xi, “Let’s share.”

Ruan Xi smiled and accepted the candy, but she pushed the egg back to him. “I don’t like eating eggs; they make me feel choked.”

Ling Yao didn’t insist further and accepted one piece of candy and two boiled eggs.

Perhaps because Ling Yao was the first person she saw when she opened her eyes, or maybe because he looked young and had a gentle, introverted personality that made him endearing, Ruan Xi felt a natural sense of closeness to him.

She recalled his conversation with his mother last night and asked him, “You don’t know me?”

Ling Yao slightly pursed his lips and nodded, “No.”

“Do you know the brigade leader Ruan Zhigao?”

Ling Yao nodded again, “Yes.”

“I’m his granddaughter. My name is Ruan Xi.”

“Oh, I’m Ling Yao.”

Ruan Xi smiled, “I know you. The day you arrived, I went to the stilt house to see the excitement. I heard you came from a big city, and everyone in the village found it fascinating, crowding outside the stilt house to watch.”

Ling Yao also remembered the day he arrived in Fengyan Village. They had walked from the town, taking two whole days. Both his and his mother’s feet had blisters that stuck to their shoes. With red-rimmed eyes, his mother held back her tears for half a day but couldn’t hold them back by midnight.

His father, unable to bear it, suggested that his mother take him back to the city, preferably getting a divorce to sever ties, but his mother refused. No matter how hard it was, she insisted on staying with his father, and the family of three settled down there.

Ling Yao was naturally a quiet person, and after arriving in Fengyan Village, he spoke even less. Every day, besides tending the production team’s pigs and cows, he spent his time reading and studying, not interacting with anyone. He didn’t mention these things and only smiled slightly, saying, “We all have the same nose and eyes, nothing special.”

Ruan Xi didn’t plan to have a deep conversation with him. She just wanted to deliver the gifts and express her gratitude. She stood up from beside Ling Yao, adjusted her backpack, and said, “Alright, I won’t disturb your reading anymore.”

Ling Yao watched her figure disappear into the dense forest, then looked down again at the eggs and milk candy in his hands.