A fine drizzle covered the entire village.

Aside from the occasional barking of dogs, most villagers stayed indoors, busy with their own affairs.

Qiao Yunxin trudged home through the muddy path, his steps uneven.

Behind him followed Doctor Zhao, the village physician.

The two hurried along in silence until they reached a three-room thatched cottage nestled at the foot of Funiu Mountain.

Qiao Yunxin stepped forward, pushed open the wooden fence gate, and turned sideways to let the elderly doctor enter first. He spoke anxiously, “Doctor Zhao, please hurry! My mother is still unconscious.”

Doctor Zhao huffed, catching his breath. “What’s the rush? I’m already here!”

He straightened his clothes, then lifted the straw curtain covering the main room’s entrance and stepped inside.

The thatched house was in poor condition, with gaps that let the wind whistle through.

The mud plaster on the walls was cracked and peeling, flaking off with every gust of the autumn wind.

Inside, there wasn’t even a single decent piece of furniture.

Too poor!

Even a passing rat would probably disdain stopping by.

Now that the head of the household had fallen ill, the already difficult days ahead would only become more unbearable.

The curtain of the western room was lifted, and out walked a sturdy young woman.

Though barely in her twenties, her face was full of worry.

Upon seeing Doctor Zhao, she forced a smile and said, “Uncle Zhao, you’re finally here. My mother just woke up!” She quickly stepped aside to let him in.

Doctor Zhao looked up and saw a woman sitting on the kang (a traditional heated brick bed).

She was not very old, but there was an air of weariness about her.

Around her stood a row of children, who all turned in unison to look at him as he entered.

The woman, having just regained her strength, weakly spoke, “Sorry to trouble you again, Doctor Zhao. It’s nothing serious, I just tripped. The children are making a fuss over nothing. After a while, let my eldest son see you off.”

Qiao Yunxin interjected anxiously, “Mother, since Doctor Zhao is already here, let him check your pulse. You really scared us earlier.”

Hearing this, Qiao Xin glanced at her eldest son. His concern was genuine—there was no pretending.

Fine, let’s just go along with it.

Doctor Zhao sat down on a stool beside the bed, extending his fingers to feel her pulse.

The motion was practiced and natural.

As he worked, he chattered, “Ignoring illness won’t do you any good. It doesn’t hurt to check, at least for the children’s peace of mind. If you’re worried about the consultation fee, we can talk about it later. Not like it’s the first time your family owes me.”

After a thorough examination, Doctor Zhao sighed in relief. “It’s nothing too serious—just liver yang rising, likely caused by emotional distress, which led to dizziness. You just need rest. However, your body is severely weakened. You’ll need to find ways to build up your strength. I won’t prescribe expensive tonics, but you should buy more eggs, eat meat, and drink broth to slowly regain your health.”

Qiao Yunxin and his wife, Xu Shi, nodded repeatedly. “Thank you so much, Doctor Zhao!”

Doctor Zhao packed up his medical kit and didn’t linger.

He got up to take his leave.

Qiao Yunxin followed him out, and once they were some distance from the house, he couldn’t help but ask, “Uncle Zhao, are you sure my mother doesn’t need medicine? The expensive ones we can’t afford, but maybe you could prescribe something cheaper? If not, just write me a list, and I’ll go into the mountains to gather the herbs myself!”

Doctor Zhao’s face darkened.

He scolded, “Nonsense! You can’t just wander around in the deep mountains! Your mother fainted from emotional distress, but at the core of it, she’s just too weak. Look at your family—you can barely afford enough food. Forget about medicine! Just make sure she eats meat regularly. That’s more useful than anything else!”

Only then did Qiao Yunxin nod in agreement.

He hesitated for a moment before opening his palm to reveal five copper coins. “Uncle Zhao, you know my mother’s temper. Please take this for now—it’ll help keep Auntie from complaining.”

Doctor Zhao sighed helplessly.

Thinking of his wife’s sharp tongue, he reluctantly accepted the money. “Fine, I’ll take this for now. The rest can wait until things get better for you.”

“Alright!”

…

Qiao Xin rubbed her aching head, feeling extremely annoyed by the anxious stares of her grandchildren, daughters-in-law, and sons.

The frustration in her heart grew stronger, but she couldn’t let it affect others too much.

She waved them off impatiently, like shooing away a flock of chickens. “Go, all of you! Let me rest for a while. Get back to whatever you were doing!”

“Mother, should I stay here with you?”

The one speaking was the second daughter-in-law, Zhang, who was just nineteen years old.

She had delicate features and a petite frame.

Normally, she was polite but also quite calculating.

Overall, though, she could still be considered a decent person.

Although she felt that the old lady had fallen ill at an inconvenient time, she couldn’t deny that the elderly woman had always treated them fairly well.

Now that she was sick, Zhang felt that she had to do her part—after all, she couldn’t let others accuse her of being unfilial.

“I already said there’s no need, so there’s no need. Why are you all just standing around? What about the chores in the yard? Stop watching over me and get to work!”

Qiao Xin tried to mimic the tone of the original owner of this body as she spoke to her somewhat shrewd daughter-in-law.

“Alright then. Eldest daughter-in-law, go make lunch. There’s still a piece of meat in the basket—stew it with some cabbage for the children to eat their fill.”

Xu hesitated. “Mother, wasn’t that meat saved for Second Uncle’s return?”

“No need to save it. If we keep it any longer, it’ll go bad. Just do as I say—why so much talk over a bit of meat?”

That tiny two-ounce piece of meat had already been boiled three times and still had one and a half ounces left.

Qiao Xin was utterly speechless.

This family had truly lived through hard times down to their bones.

Except for the eldest son and his wife, who had naturally broad builds and looked relatively sturdy, none of them had much meat on their bones.

The rest of the family—young and old alike—were as thin as matchsticks.

Two meals of coarse grain a day—it was a miracle they hadn’t fallen sick or died.

Especially the grandchildren, whose heads were disproportionately large for their thin bodies.

Watching them walk unsteadily, Qiao Xin couldn’t help but wonder if their frail necks might snap under the weight of their heads at any moment.

Years of malnutrition had left them with thin limbs and swollen bellies, making them look no different from famine victims in disaster-stricken areas.

Qiao Xin had every reason to believe that the original owner of this body had simply given up and fled.

Otherwise, why would she have left so willingly without a single word of explanation—leaving behind only vague memories?

Not even her “good son” seemed to miss her.

Even if they weren’t her biological children, hadn’t she taken care of them for so long? Did they really feel nothing for her at all?

After much insistence from Qiao Xin, the crowd of people finally dispersed.

The air around her instantly felt fresher.

She habitually leaned back, only to be poked painfully by the rough brick bed.

She had no choice but to evaluate her current situation.

The heavens truly favored her—throwing her straight into a living hell!

Winter was approaching, and apart from these three crumbling thatched huts, this family had nothing—no food, no clothing.

The boys’ buttocks were practically exposed, with their only pair of pants reduced to strips of fabric that offered no warmth at all.

None of them even had a decent pair of shoes.

They walked barefoot on the ground, their feet red and cracked from the cold.

Even the clothes on her own body were patched over patches, and the so-called quilt covering her was stuffed with straw.

It was unbearable!

Yet, the original owner’s second son had somehow managed to study and pass the entrance exam as a “tongsheng” (a scholar at the lowest level).

How exactly had they managed to support his education?

Qiao Xin’s memory was unclear.

Somehow, despite barely having enough to eat, this family had still produced three sons—each skilled in their own way.

However, they were all so low-key that they were practically invisible.

The second son was currently teaching at a school in town, earning a few hundred wen a month along with ten catties of coarse rice.

The eldest son and his wife worked as laborers at the dock, occasionally bringing home some scraps to satisfy their cravings.

Otherwise, the family might not have survived at all.

The youngest son also worked at the docks, doing the most grueling manual labor.

Yet, all these jobs had been approved by the original owner.

Clearly, they could have taken up positions as accountants or household stewards, but because those jobs required signing indenture contracts, Qiao Xin (or rather, the original owner) had refused.

Without a contract, which employer would trust them?

The original owner had one rule: her sons were not allowed to be too conspicuous, nor were they allowed to leave their hometown to pursue better opportunities.

Signing an indenture contract was absolutely out of the question.

As a result, their job options were extremely limited.

The more Qiao Xin thought about it, the more she couldn’t just lie there.

This couldn’t go on any longer.

What was the point of hiding?

They were all on the brink of starvation—what was there to be afraid of?

She wasn’t the original owner.

Qiao Xin wanted to live with dignity.

She refused to skulk around like a rat, living in constant fear, as if she had committed some terrible crime!

So what if the children weren’t biologically hers?

She had picked them up, not stolen them!

Even if their birth families came looking, so what? It wasn’t her who had abandoned them!

The ones who should feel guilty were the people who had lost their children in the first place!