Chapter 3

“They took 500 yuan from the Zhuang family to kill me and perform a ghost marriage with their son who died early. I woke up inside a coffin this morning. There must still be blood in the room I was kept in. Also, there’s a bamboo tube by my bed that still has the water I didn’t finish that night. If they haven’t poured it out, that water can be tested. I’m sure it contains sleeping pills or something similar.”

“With this evidence, the charge of attempted murder against Chen Daniu and his wife should stick, right?” Qiao Xinyi raised her head and asked the few people still staring at her wound.

“If what you’re saying is true, then yes,” Chen Dachuan replied and looked toward Fu Qingshan. Seeing Fu Qingshan nod, he realized this wasn’t a lie. She really had escaped from a coffin, and the part about the Chen family taking 500 yuan was also likely true.

“What about the part about swapping children?” Fu Qingshan asked. Concerned that the crowd gathering around would waste time with too many questions, he said, “Your injury needs to be treated at a hospital. Head wounds can’t be delayed. The fact you were unconscious all day yesterday might’ve been a temporary coma.”

Chen Dachuan and the others nodded repeatedly. “Yes, she needs to get checked out properly at the hospital.”

Qiao Xinyi glanced up at Fu Qingshan—this man was surprisingly kind.

“When I was eight, Chen Daniu and his wife beat me in the head. After that, it felt like my brain locked me away inside. I couldn’t speak. After they decided I was mentally disabled, they no longer bothered to watch their words around me.”

“I personally heard Chen Daniu and his wife say that if they had known I’d turn out this way, they wouldn’t have swapped me back back then. That if they’d known I’d end up a ‘fool,’ they would’ve kept the girl from Bed 2 instead.”

“The Chen family had their baby at the Provincial People’s Hospital. They were in Bed 1. That night, two other families gave birth in the same ward—Bed 2 and Bed 3.”

“From their private conversations, I gathered that the father from Bed 2 was a soldier, and the mother was an accountant at a factory. The couple in Bed 3 were both workers too, but just ordinary laborers from the workshop.”

“That year, the Chen couple swapped their own daughter with the child from Bed 2. When they saw me—fair-skinned and good-looking from birth—they thought raising a pretty girl could fetch them a better bride price. So they gave their real daughter to the Bed 2 couple, took me from my biological parents, and brought me back to Gazi Village.”

Qiao Xinyi continued, “I’ve heard this story countless times over the years. If you bring Chen Daniu and his wife in and interrogate them, they’ll definitely confess.”

Everyone was stunned into silence.

After a long pause, one of the older officers finally spoke. “If all this is true, then Chen Daniu and his wife are truly vile.”

Everything Qiao Xinyi said came from the original host’s memories.

At eight years old, the original host was beaten so badly she became what others thought was mentally challenged. In truth, she wasn’t intellectually disabled—she had become selectively mute and withdrawn. She understood everything but had shut herself away to escape the fear caused by Chen Daniu and his wife.

Everyone in the village thought she was mentally impaired, so they never watched what they said around her. Over the years, her mind became a vault of village gossip—and secrets that Chen Daniu and his wife thought they had hidden well.

When Qiao Xinyi took over the body, she also inherited all of the original host’s memories.

And the original host had indeed been beaten to death by the Chen couple that night.

After taking down her statement, one of the older officers habitually said, “Alright, we’ve got your statement. You’ve worked hard.”

Unexpectedly, Qiao Xinyi responded without thinking:
“Not hard—just unlucky.”

The officers froze for a second, their expressions stiff. Their sympathy for the girl in front of them deepened.

Qiao Xinyi inwardly winced at her slip of the tongue—she hadn’t meant to say that out loud. But then again, she didn’t think she was wrong. Both she and the original host had truly suffered bitter fates.

As someone from the 21st century, Qiao Xinyi had never endured such hardship in her 23 years of life—until now.

She had been born with a congenital heart defect and, being a girl, was abandoned by her biological parents just days after birth.

Director Qiao of the orphanage found her under a blooming magnolia tree after a whole night of strong winds. When Director Qiao discovered her, her body was covered in magnolia blossoms, so she gave her the name **Qiao Xinyi**.

Heaven gave Qiao Xinyi a frail and sickly body, but also a higher-than-average intelligence. Thanks to that, her academic path was smooth—she relied on scholarships to support her studies, medical treatment, and medication. With the patents she held, she lived a life free of financial worries.

For others, it seemed like God had opened a window just for Qiao Xinyi.

Unfortunately, that window didn’t stay open long. The year she was about to graduate with her master’s degree, she fell ill and died.

She didn’t expect that after death, she’d be chosen by some so-called system and sent to a parallel world in the 1970s.

Qiao Xinyi had only one mission in this world—to change the fates of three major villains.

To be fair, it wasn’t a bad task. Coming here had, in a very real sense, given Qiao Xinyi a second chance at life.

What’s more, the system paid her a monthly salary: **300 yuan per month**, with an automatic **20% annual raise**, **13-month pay per year**, plus **holiday benefits**.

Honestly, the benefits were pretty good.

On the first of every month, her salary would be automatically credited. She could withdraw it for use or spend it in the system’s marketplace to purchase whatever she needed.

The only downside was that if she didn’t begin her mission within six months of arrival, she’d be erased by the system and die again. That rule was apparently to prevent “employees” from slacking off.

Another big pitfall: the only information the system gave her about the three villains was a **tiny newspaper article of just 200–300 words**.

From the news snippet, she was only able to extract a few useful points:

1. All three villains were **male**.  

2. Two of them, the younger ones, were **twin brothers** named **Xiao Zhou** and **Xiao Yu**. Judging from the timing, they were only **five years old** this year.  

3. All three were from the **provincial capital of Z Province**.  

Other than that, there were only **grainy black-and-white mugshots** published in the newspaper at the time of their arrest.

After some thought, one of the older officers said, “Chen Dachuan, you and your friend take the girl to the hospital for a check-up. Head injuries can’t be delayed. We’ll head to Gazi Village and bring everyone involved back for questioning.”

After all, the girl had just regained her senses. If her head injury got worse, she might go back to being “not quite right.”

Due to limited police manpower in small towns, Fu Qingshan volunteered:  

“I’ll take her to the hospital. You focus on the case.”

Fu Qingshan was a soldier and knew Chen Dachuan, so the officers felt comfortable entrusting the girl to him and nodded in agreement.

Everyone then went their separate ways— the police headed to Gazi Village, and Fu Qingshan rode a bicycle and took the girl to the hospital.

The hospital wasn’t far. As soon as they arrived and the doctor parted her hair to examine the wound, he was so shocked he called out loud and quickly summoned colleagues and nurses to rush her inside.

Fu Qingshan was kept busy running errands—paying fees, handling registration. But when the nurse asked for the patient’s name, he froze.

He only knew that everyone called her Silly Girl, but figured she wouldn’t like that name. In the end, he left the **“Name”** field blank.

After all the commotion, by the time Qiao Xinyi was transferred to a hospital room, **an hour had passed**.

When Fu Qingshan walked into the room, Qiao Xinyi was awake, lying in bed with a stiff expression. Anyone could tell that she was in a foul mood.

One glance at the bandages on her head, and Fu Qingshan instantly understood **why** she wasn’t happy.