In February 1975, Xiaoshitou Village, Xiaoshiqiao Commune[1]In rural China during the 1970s, a people’s commune was a collective administrative and agricultural unit. Communes generally oversaw production brigades and smaller production teams. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729664_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729664_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, Qinghe County, S Province, lay deep within the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Mountains stretched endlessly in every direction, and there was only one road leading out of the village—a dirt road at that.
Zhao Shuhe was squatting in her family’s yard, washing radishes. The weather was bitterly cold, and her hands had turned red from the cold. She was sixteen that year, the youngest girl in the family, with one elder sister and two elder brothers.
As she washed the radishes, her mind suddenly went blank. It was as if someone were pushing her out of her own body. Zhao Shuhe froze. She was still squatting there, still holding a radish in her hands, but she felt as if she no longer existed!
No—that wasn’t right. She was still there, but her body no longer obeyed her!
“Whoa, it’s freezing!”
It was her mouth speaking, but she wasn’t the one speaking.
Zhao Shuhe panicked. She wanted to shout, wanted to stand up and run, but she couldn’t do anything! She had been pushed into a corner of her own mind. She could see and hear, but she couldn’t move.
The person who had taken over her body stood up and shook the water from her hands, looking around in every direction.
“Wait… where is this?”
Firewood was piled up in the yard. The walls had been rammed from yellow earth, and the roof was covered with black tiles…
This wasn’t the place she had intended to go. Li Qingqing shouted, “System[2]In Chinese web novels, a “system” is often a supernatural or technological mechanism that guides characters, assigns tasks, or provides special abilities. Its specific functions depend on … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729664_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729664_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, come out!”
Zhao Shuhe was so frightened that her soul nearly flew out of her body. 【Who?! Who’s speaking?!】 she screamed inwardly.
“Wait, wait, wait… You can hear me?” The voice sounded flustered too. “That’s not right. The system said this was an empty shell… How are you still here?”
Zhao Shuhe couldn’t understand a word she was saying! What system? What empty shell? All she knew was that something had appeared inside her body.
【Are you a ghost?】 Zhao Shuhe asked inwardly. The most frightening thing she had ever encountered was hearing people say that ghosts had once haunted the rear mountain. She had only heard the story from others, never imagining that one day she would experience something like this herself!
“Hey, you really can hear me! All right, I’ll explain. I’m not a ghost—I’m human! A living human! It’s just… um, my name is… Never mind, my name isn’t important. A system brought me here, but it got the location wrong and sent me to the wrong place.”
Zhao Shuhe was completely bewildered. What did she mean by “system”? What did she mean by “location”?
“Um… let me put it this way. I don’t belong to your era. I’m from a very, very distant future. The system was supposed to take me somewhere else, but it malfunctioned and stuffed me into your body.”
Zhao Shuhe still didn’t quite understand. She only wanted to know one thing: When would this person leave?
“Soon, soon. The system is being repaired. Once it’s fixed, I’ll leave! Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to your body.”
Zhao Shuhe didn’t believe her, but there was nothing she could do. Still, she felt that this person didn’t seem to harbor any ill will and didn’t seem intent on harming her. And so, that person settled down inside her body.
On the first day, Zhao Shuhe’s mother called everyone to eat. The person picked up a bowl and began wolfing down the food. After two bites, her expression changed.
“This… this is a meal?”
It was coarse-grain porridge with pickled vegetables. Zhao Shuhe’s family was considered fairly well-off in the village—they could at least eat their fill!
【Do you eat this every day?】 the person asked her inwardly.
Zhao Shuhe found the question inexplicable. 【If I don’t eat this, what else would I eat?】
The person said nothing more and obediently finished the meal.
From the second day onward, that person did Zhao Shuhe’s work during the day, while at night the two of them chatted inside Zhao Shuhe’s mind. She also began showing Zhao Shuhe her memories.
Zhao Shuhe saw high-rise buildings. She saw iron boxes racing along roads. She saw screens so bright they dazzled the eyes. She saw an entirely different world.
She stared, utterly transfixed.
【Are all of these things real?】 Zhao Shuhe asked.
“They’re real. This is what the world will be like several decades from now.”
The images were far too clear to have been fabricated. Zhao Shuhe saw that person sitting in a brightly lit room, tapping away at a glowing panel. She saw people on the streets wearing clothes of every color. She saw shops filled with food and all kinds of goods.
【Where you come from… can everyone eat their fill?】
“Yes! People can eat whatever they want.”
Zhao Shuhe was an innocent sixteen-year-old girl growing up in the 1970s, and she was beginning to discover another side of the world. On the third day… and the fourth day… that person continued showing her things. Zhao Shuhe saw schools. She saw hospitals. She saw girls with schoolbags on their backs laughing as they ran across the streets.
She hardly spoke. She only kept watching.
On the morning of the fifth day, that person suddenly said, “The system is back up.”
Zhao Shuhe instinctively asked, 【You’re leaving?】
“Yes. The location error has been fixed. It’s time for me to go.”
Zhao Shuhe couldn’t quite describe how she felt. During those five days, it was as if she had dreamed a very long dream and seen all kinds of things from another world. She couldn’t say whether what she felt was envy or something else.
That person sighed. “Zhao Shuhe, your life is too hard. I’ve spent these five days gritting my teeth and enduring it.”
Zhao Shuhe didn’t know how to respond. Compared with the other girls in the village, she was treated very well at home. But compared with the people in that person’s memories, her life truly was miserable.
“This yellow earth, these Ten Thousand Mountains—they’re a lock, a barrier. You have to get out.”
Zhao Shuhe asked in confusion, 【Get out? Where would I go?】
“Go outside. Go see all the things you saw in my memories. You shouldn’t spend your whole life trapped in this mountain hollow.”
Zhao Shuhe fell silent. She was only sixteen and hadn’t even finished middle school. Her parents loved her and had supported her education. Many girls in the village had never even set foot inside a school. But what would happen after middle school? There was no way forward. High school and secondary vocational school[3]Secondary vocational schools in China provided specialized technical or occupational training after basic schooling. In the 1970s, admission and access varied according to local educational policies … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729664_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729664_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); were in the county town, and her family couldn’t afford the expense.
【You say I should get out, but how am I supposed to do that?】 Zhao Shuhe asked.
That person sighed. She knew that in 1975, without a letter of introduction[4]In Mao-era China, official letters of introduction were commonly used to establish a person’s identity and authorize travel or administrative arrangements. Rural residents faced significant … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729664_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729664_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, a rural girl couldn’t even leave the commune, let alone get out of the Ten Thousand Mountains. She also knew Zhao Shuhe’s circumstances. Her family had no connections, and the village was even farther from the county town. In this era when educated urban youth were being sent to the countryside[5]The “Sent-Down Youth” movement involved urban students and young people being relocated to rural areas, particularly during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), where many worked in … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729664_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729664_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, not even one educated youth had been assigned to this ravine crisscrossed with yellow earth!
That was how impoverished and remote this place was!
And even if she managed to leave, what then? Without an introduction letter, without grain coupons[6]Grain coupons were rationing documents used in China to purchase allocated quantities of staple foods. They were an important part of the planned distribution system during this period. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729664_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729664_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, without connections, where could a young girl go?
She didn’t continue.
Zhao Shuhe understood. 【You don’t know either.】
“I’m sorry. This era is too difficult… If you were living in my time, you could leave whenever you wanted and go anywhere you pleased. But now…”
Zhao Shuhe let out a laugh instead. 【Then why are you telling me all this?】
“Because you have to remember this idea. Things will change. They won’t always be like this! Keep living, keep waiting, and look for an opportunity. Even if you can’t leave now, you must leave someday! Do you hear me?”
Zhao Shuhe had known for a long time that once a girl in the village reached sixteen or seventeen, her family would begin looking for a husband for her[7]In many rural Chinese communities of this period, families played a significant role in arranging or introducing potential marriage partners. Marriage could be closely tied to household circumstances … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729664_1_7').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729664_1_7', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. She would marry someone from the neighboring village or from the mountains beyond, have children, work the fields, and spend her entire life managing the household.
That was the fate waiting for her. But she had seen those memories: those bright classrooms, those clean streets, those girls in beautiful clothes walking along the roads…
They smiled with such freedom.
“I can’t help you,” the person replied, sounding a little embarrassed. “I’m only a passerby here. I can’t leave anything behind… Zhao Shuhe, remember all the things I showed you.”
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