After finishing her IV drip, Shen Tang went back to her room and fell asleep almost immediately. She didn’t wake up until the next afternoon.

Staring at the clothes hanging on the bedpost, Shen Tang sighed softly. It seemed there was no going back.

When she stepped out of the room, the first thing that caught her eye was a portrait of a red chairman. Below it stood a wooden table with a teapot and an enamel cup. In the center of the room was a large rectangular redwood table.

Her aunt lived in a single-story house with four rooms in total. The central area served as both the living room and the kitchen.

The original owner of the body usually only stayed here for a day during holidays.

Seeing that Shen Tang was awake, Zhou Ling walked over and felt her forehead. Only when she confirmed that Shen Tang no longer had a fever did she relax.

There was hot water ready on the stove. Since her aunt wasn’t accustomed to public bathhouses, she had built a small shower cubicle with red bricks at home. It was not only convenient for bathing but also for washing clothes.

After Shen Tang finished bathing and hung her washed clothes to dry, Zhou Ling brought her a meat bun that had been warming for a while to help fill her stomach.

Shen Tang sat quietly by the doorway, her hair loosely draped over her shoulders. Her stunningly beautiful features seemed to brighten the entire courtyard.

Perhaps because the meat bun smelled so delicious, her little cousin, who had been playing with mud in the yard, toddled past her from time to time. Each time she passed, she swallowed hard and secretly sniffed the air.

This three-year-old little girl was quite amusing.

“Hong Mei, come here.”

The little one immediately dropped the broken bowl in her hands and pattered over. Tilting her head back, she gulped and forced her eyes away from the bun in Shen Tang’s hand.

“What’d ya call me for?”

Shen Tang picked out some of the meat filling from the bun and held it to the child’s mouth.

Drool dripped from the little girl’s mouth, but she still remembered Zhou Ling’s instructions from earlier: “I can’t eat it. Mom said this bun is for you, sis. I’ve already had mine.”

Shen Tang was slightly surprised. This child had quite some self-control.

“Shen Tang, dear, are you feeling better?”

Aunt Zhang from outside happened to pass by with a vegetable basket. Shen Tang greeted her politely.

Noticing the drooling little girl, Aunt Zhang walked in with a smile. “Hong Mei, where’s your mom?”

“In the house,” the little one replied in a baby voice.

Aunt Zhang’s eyes shifted, and she lowered her voice. “Dear, how about I introduce you to another match? I can see you really like children. This man has four kids and is only ten years older than you. He looks quite like Battalion Commander Han, just a bit shorter. But I’m sure he has better taste than Battalion Commander Han.”

Shen Tang frowned. She had no intention of becoming a stepmother. With so many children, the laundry and cooking alone would exhaust her.

Just look at her aunt—after taking a day off, she was busy from morning till night without a moment’s rest.

However, since the original owner had explicitly said she wanted to marry a divorced man, Shen Tang held back her temper and politely declined.

“I don’t really like children anymore. I’m only eighteen. I’d prefer to marry someone who’s never been married. Thank you for your concern, Auntie.”

Aunt Zhang didn’t know about Shen Tang’s family background, but she had heard that Zhou Ling was originally the daughter of a former landlord. Her family had been criticized and treated like outcasts. She assumed Shen Tang had come to rely on Zhou Ling to avoid being sent to the countryside. The thought made her uncomfortable.

The man she was suggesting was, after all, a military officer. If not for Shen Tang’s striking beauty, she wouldn’t have dared to introduce someone with a problematic family background to him.

“Listen, dear,” Aunt Zhang said, “your reputation isn’t the best right now. Finding a man who treats you well is already a blessing. Women shouldn’t be too picky—the pickier you are, the harder it is to get married.”

Before Shen Tang could respond, she noticed someone walking in from outside.

It was a man carrying meat in his hand. His eyes were deep and filled with an aloof coldness.

“Aunt Zhang, if you like divorced men so much, why not have your daughter marry one someday? Comrade Shen has Aunt Zhou and Political Commissar Fang to worry about her matters.”

Aunt Zhang felt a pang of guilt. “Battalion Commander He, what brings you to Director Zhou’s house again? But you’re a man—you wouldn’t understand women’s matters. Comrade Shen here likes men who are divorced with children. I’m just trying to accommodate her preferences.”

Shen Tang was fuming inside at her words, but this was a mess the original owner had created. No matter how she tried to explain, people just wouldn’t believe her!

He Xu glanced at her. The young girl was so angry she looked like her hair was about to stand on end, yet she was too tongue-tied to retort.

Tch, what a fool.

“Aunt Zhang, you’re always so eager to help others. But if I recall correctly, you make a few bucks every time you successfully set someone up. Doesn’t that count as profiteering?”

Aunt Zhang’s eyes darted around nervously. “Battalion Commander He, don’t you dare slander me! How is this profiteering? I’m just being helpful. If you don’t want me to make introductions, fine. It’s getting late, and I still have fields to till. I won’t bother you anymore.”

With that, she scurried away as if someone were chasing her, vanishing in an instant.

Shen Tang couldn’t help but crack a smile.

He Xu shot her a sidelong glance, and the smile on her face instantly vanished, replaced by a look of fear.

“Scaredy-cat.”

Remembering the tantalizing dream from the previous night, He Xu’s expression shifted slightly.

How bizarre—he’d actually felt desire for a soft, foolish, and timid pushover!

Shen Tang’s ears twitched as she caught his disdainful remark. Unwilling to back down, she gritted her small canine teeth.

Pouting her red lips, she muttered under her breath, almost inaudibly, “You’re the scaredy-cat.”

Just then, her aunt Zhou Ling emerged from the kitchen and happened to see the resentment on Shen Tang’s face.

She scolded her with a laugh, “You still don’t accept it? A perfectly good girl like you insists on marrying a divorced man with children. If your parents found out, they’d break your legs.”

Shen Tang hurriedly assured her, “I know I was wrong, Auntie. I was young and foolish before, but now I’ve come to my senses. I’ve just started working and I’m still young. There’s no hurry to find a partner—I can wait a couple more years.”

Zhou Ling finally seemed satisfied. “As long as you understand.”

Turning around and noticing the meat in He Xu’s hand, she couldn’t help but break into a smile.

“You rascal, you always bring meat when you visit. Our family isn’t lacking in that. You should save your money to marry a wife. When you’re on missions, you should also think about your family. Always risking your life like this won’t do.”

He Xu held great respect for Zhou Ling. Even though she was nagging him, he simply nodded gently in agreement.

Zhou Ling took the meat back to the kitchen.

Shen Tang suddenly remembered something and followed her in.

Mostly because He Xu was sitting outside, and she felt somewhat awkward around him.

Of course, it definitely wasn’t because she was afraid of his sharp gaze.

“Auntie, do you think it’s possible for me to take leave and return to the capital next month?”

Zhou Ling was wiping the stove and turned to look at her. “Why do you want to go back to the capital? The round trip would take at least a week. You just joined the song and dance troupe—it’s not a good time to ask for leave.”

“On the 13th of next month, it’s my grandfather’s 70th birthday.”

The original owner came from a military family. Her grandfather was a deputy commander, her father was a division commander in the capital military region*, her mother was a chief orthopedic surgeon at a major hospital in the capital, her eldest brother had joined a research institute at a young age and married a military doctor, and her second and third brothers were also making their mark in their respective fields.

As the only daughter in the family, Shen Tang had naturally been spoiled growing up.

However, after being reborn, the original owner had been solely obsessed with Han Zhongguo and had never warned her parents about the Shen family being framed and sent away.

Now that she occupied the original owner’s body, she had no intention of becoming Han Zhongguo’s lapdog, but she still wanted to help the Shen family.

From the original owner’s memories, she knew that on the day of Grandfather Shen’s birthday celebration, someone would report them. The Revolutionary Committee would not only find a large number of foreign books in their home but also discover evidence among those books that would bring down the Shen family.

Grandfather Shen would be so enraged that he’d cough up blood on the spot and pass away from illness a few days later.

Without the grandfather’s protection, Shen Tang’s parents would be stripped of their positions and sent to the harshest areas for reform, while her brothers and their wives would also be implicated.

The second uncle’s family would promptly disown their children in the newspaper to cut ties but would only manage to save their youngest son.

The younger generation of the Shen family would nearly all die or be left disabled. Even after being rehabilitated ten years later, the family would never recover its former glory.

The original owner had managed to avoid being sent away because her mother had publicly disowned her in the newspaper, allowing her to hastily marry Han Zhongguo and escape that fate.

If she wanted to save the Shen family, she first had to ensure the grandfather’s survival.

He Xu, sitting on his chair, couldn’t help but prick up his ears when he overheard the young girl’s words.