Chapter 1

Late April.

The ice and snow had melted, the soil was damp—perfect timing for spring plowing.

At dawn, the hardworking households of Xujiatun were already carrying hoes, heading down to the fields in small groups.

But Xu Hehua had something on her mind. She declined the neighbors’ invitation to join them, hastily ate a couple bites of breakfast, then returned to her room to change into fresh clothes. Dipping her fingers in clean water, she smoothed her hair until it lay neatly in place. Only when she was satisfied did she pick up the offerings she had prepared and head out.

She had just reached the donkey shed when the gate was pushed open, and a hearty, familiar female voice rang out:

“Hehua! Are you home?”

“I’m here!” Xu Hehua led the donkey out and turned to greet the visitor. “So early in the morning—what brings you here, Sister Lancao?”

They weren’t actually related, though they grew up in the same village. Calling each other “sister” was out of long-standing affection.

Xu Lancao pointed to the basket on her arm, her face full of smiles. “We just ground some tofu at home, I brought you two pieces. And you are…” Her voice trailed off when she caught sight of the yellow paper in Hehua’s basket. The cheerful expression stiffened into awkwardness.

Xu Hehua rolled her eyes. “Enough, Tie Dan’s been gone for years.”

“Heh… right. Well then, don’t let me keep you. I’ll just leave the tofu on your stove.”

Lancao was straightforward by nature and tended to speak without thinking. Fearing she might say something that stabbed at her cousin’s heart, she laughed sheepishly and hurried into the kitchen.

But inwardly, she sighed at her cousin’s fate. Married at sixteen, Hehua had just gotten pregnant when her husband Li Shanhai went missing while hunting in the mountains.

It was the turbulent 1930s. After months with no news, the villagers concluded he had either been mauled by a bear or captured by bandits—either way, unlikely to end well. They urged Hehua to end her pregnancy and remarry while she was still young.

But she refused to believe her man was truly gone. Kind-hearted as she was, she was determined to bear his child to continue the Li family line, and to care for his elderly parents.

Even after her son Tie Dan died of illness at six years old, this “foolish” cousin of hers continued to tend the Li elders, never remarrying. Everyone in the village praised her loyalty.

Who would have thought—just over a month ago, after fifteen years of silence, Li Shanhai had suddenly returned, alive and well, proclaiming he had come to take his parents to the city to enjoy good fortune.

Back then, he really had been captured by bandits, who forced him into labor because he was young and strong. Months later, he crossed paths with the revolutionaries, joined them, and entered a new recruits’ camp.

From then on, his path carried him far away for fifteen years.

Now that the country had achieved victory and the wars were over, he had been transferred into a government post in the city.

No one quite understood what position he held, but it was said to be nothing too high. Still—a city official was a city official.

Had he been a decent man, Hehua’s long years of hardship might finally have paid off.

But that heartless wretch had long since remarried in the city and even fathered two children—the eldest already eight years old.

Yes, while her cousin had kept her widow’s vigil for fifteen years, raising his parents all that time, Li Shanhai had another wife and family in the city.

He even had the gall to claim his arranged marriage to Hehua had been “a backward feudal match,” and that as a literate, capable man, he deserved an educated wife.

Lancao spat inwardly. Ungrateful wolf! Shameless betrayer!

Thankfully, the Li elders still had some conscience. When leaving, they gave Hehua several dozen silver dollars and left her the family donkey.

That was a small fortune.

No one knew the exact amount, but the sight of the three spacious brick-and-tile rooms she now lived in, along with the sleek, well-fed donkey, told the story well enough.

Thinking of this, Xu Lancao felt slightly relieved. But then, glancing at her cousin, she couldn’t help but worry again.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” she asked. “Tie Dan’s grave may only be a few li away in the back mountain, but it’s close to the Li family’s village. What if it brings back bad memories?”

Xu Hehua chuckled. “Really, there’s no need. I’m just going to tell Tie Dan his father’s alive, that I divorced, and that we’ve built a new house. I’ll be back soon.”

“Alright then, I won’t nag. You’ve always been capable.” Not wanting to overstay her welcome, Lancao turned to leave in her usual whirlwind manner. But after only a few steps, she hurried back.

Hehua, who was thinking of what gift she might return later, looked up in confusion. “What is it now?”

Lancao glanced around to make sure no one was near, then whispered: “Someone asked me the other day how much money you still had. I told them you spent it all building the house, even borrowed two silver dollars. Don’t let it slip otherwise.”

Hehua smiled faintly. “That’s the truth. What money I got, I used right away to buy land and build this house. Better people believe I’m broke than keep hounding me. A woman alone—money’s hard to hold onto.”

It was true. When she first received the money, she had immediately gone back to her natal village, bought a plot with the help of the village head, and built a new home. This way, everyone would think her wealth was gone.

Blood kin or not, in hard times sudden wealth made one a target.

She wasn’t heartless—she had helped when she could—but most only wanted to take advantage. She wasn’t a saint; better to spend it on herself.

Now, although some criticized her for wasting resources by building such a large house, no one shamelessly came asking for loans anymore.

Of course, this was only outward appearance. In truth, tucked away in her possession were a few small gold bars from her late mother-in-law. No one knew about those.

“As long as you’ve got a plan,” Lancao finally relaxed, and this time left for real—disappearing so quickly that her figure vanished within moments.

Hehua laughed. “Still as hot-tempered as ever.”

---

On the road to the back mountain, she passed scattered villagers with hoes on their shoulders.

They greeted her warmly to her face, only to whisper behind her back.

It had been only a month since her divorce, but she was already used to it, too lazy even to roll her eyes.

Envy, jealousy, pity, slander—it was always the same few lines.

She had been a widow for more than a decade. What insult hadn’t she heard? What gossip hadn’t she endured? A few idle whispers couldn’t hurt her anymore.

Fortunately, the further into the mountain she went, the fewer people she met.

After an hour’s walk, she reached the shabby earth-god shrine at the mountain’s foot. She hesitated, then stopped.

Tying the donkey to a nearby tree, she gathered dried branches and roots, and carefully cleaned the little shrine.

It wasn’t large, and in half an hour she had it neat again.

Before leaving, she took out two coarse cornbread buns meant for Tie Dan and placed them in a chipped clay bowl as offerings. She left without making a wish.

She didn’t believe in gods or Buddha. Could they bring Tie Dan back to her?

But she believed in cause and effect. Doing good where she could wouldn’t hurt.

Delayed by these chores, the sun was already high when she reached the graveyard.

It wasn’t a family cemetery. Children under twelve were not allowed to be buried in ancestral graves, so the nearby villages had tacitly set aside this hillside for children who died young.

Tie Dan had died at six, and was buried here.

But Hehua, pitying that he had seen so little of the world, had chosen a spot at the very top.

The higher you stand, the farther you see, so the old saying went.

She couldn’t read, didn’t understand big principles, but she knew a mother should always give her child the best.

It did make each visit a labor, though—she had to pick her way over rotting leaves and small mounds before reaching the highest point.

This time was no exception.

Luckily, the snow melted more slowly here, so the path wasn’t too muddy. In half an hour she reached her son’s grave.

But to her surprise, not far from Tie Dan’s mound lay a rolled-up, tattered mat.

Her brow furrowed—clearly, another family had lost a child.

Life was hard; death was no rarity.

But to abandon a body like this, without even burying it? With wild boars and wolves in the mountain? That was cruel.

Sighing, Hehua laid out the offerings before Tie Dan’s grave, burned paper money, and weeded the area thoroughly.

Then, picking up her iron spade, she began to dig a pit nearby.

No matter whose child it was, since she had stumbled across them, she couldn’t just leave them exposed. Burying them would be a good deed.

Xu Hehua had spent her whole life doing farm work, her strength considerable. Since the snow had only just melted, the soil was moist, and within no time she had dug a pit nearly a meter deep.

If it were dug too shallow, wild beasts could dig it open.

Thinking this over, Xu Hehua, who had been about to stop, went another foot deeper before climbing out of the pit, satisfied. She reached down to lift the grass mat to put it inside.

But the moment she picked it up, a weak cough came from within.

Xu Hehua was a brave woman. After just one moment of shock, she reacted quickly, hastily putting the mat back down and fumbling to pull it open.

…Inside was a frail, skin-and-bones little girl.

She even recognized her.

A child from Li Family Village—the same place as her ex-husband. Her name was Dani, about… eight years old?

If she remembered correctly, this girl’s parents had already passed away, and she was living with her uncle and aunt.

In these times, even one’s own children didn’t always get fed; let alone a “burden” like her? Such children really did eat less than chickens but worked harder than oxen.

Looking at how emaciated she was, Xu Hehua had every reason to think she’d starved to death… No, not completely. She was still breathing.

Coming back to her senses, she hurried to Li Tiedan’s grave and took a few pieces of rock sugar meant as offerings. She then grabbed the water gourd from her donkey’s back, drank down more than half the water, and dropped the sugar into the gourd, shaking it hard.

When she took a small sip and confirmed the water was sweet, she picked up the coughing girl and poured the sugar water into her mouth.

Xu Wanchun felt her head spinning, her body weak. She couldn’t figure out what was happening. Instinctively, she swallowed, gulping faster and faster until she choked and began to cough.

“Don’t rush, don’t rush, slowly now, there’s more.” Afraid the child would choke, Xu Hehua quickly moved the gourd away, waited for her to catch her breath, then fed her two more sips.

By now, with her stomach barely soothed, Xu Wanchun had managed to open her eyes, and her mind regained a bit of clarity.

If she remembered right, she had gotten caught up in a medical dispute and had been injured by mistake.

Then, in the midst of chaotic screams, she had closed her eyes…

Normally, that would mean either she died or she was being treated in the hospital.

But at this moment, Xu Wanchun was stunned. The woman before her, hair pinned in an old-fashioned bun, wearing a short top with crossed lapels and frog buttons, holding her and feeding her water—who was she?

Looking down at her own body, scrawny as bean sprouts and skeleton-thin, Xu Wanchun vaguely understood her situation. She couldn’t catch her breath, her vision blackened, and she fainted again.

=

She didn’t know how long she was unconscious.

When consciousness returned, Xu Wanchun found herself lying in a warm quilt. Her body felt stronger than before.

She didn’t rush to sit up. Instead, she lifted her chicken-claw-like hand to look at it.

It was real…

This wasn’t a dream…

She really had become a child…

For a while, Xu Wanchun closed her eyes in resignation. But since she couldn’t find any memory from the body’s original owner, she simply opened them again and looked around the room.

To be honest, in real life Xu Wanchun had never seen such a primitive house.

Yes, primitive!

Not even a bare cement house—this was straight red brick.

There was no ceiling; the roof beams and reed poles were fully exposed.

Adding in the solid but not-at-all stylish furniture, plus the clothing of the woman who saved her, Xu Wanchun guessed she had transmigrated to the past.

As for the exact year, she would need to ask someone.

Thinking that, she couldn’t just lie there any longer. She carefully sat up, holding onto the bed.

At that moment, a woman’s voice came from outside: “Hehua, are you really planning to adopt that girl?”

“Mm, if the child agrees.”

“What’s there to disagree about? Her uncle and aunt are heartless. At least with you she can eat her fill. I bet she’s eager for it. But sis, I just don’t get it—if you want to adopt, it’s not like our village doesn’t have children in need. Why adopt an outsider from Li Family Village? And will your parents even agree?”

“Sis Lancao, you don’t understand. I share a bond with Dani. She was abandoned right next to Tiedan’s grave.”

“And what does that prove? Anyway, I can’t support it—not that I’m against you adopting, but if you do, it should be a healthy child. Dani… she’s too plain, too shabby. When she grows up, how much dowry will it take to get her married?”

“……”

Inside the bedroom, Xu Wanchun, who had been carefully listening for information, froze for a moment before realizing… and her whole face went stiff.

What?

“Shabby”?

Were they talking about… her?!