It was May 1968, just after spring planting. The autumn harvest was still months away, making it the most difficult period of the year when food supplies were running low.
Shilinggou Village sat deep in the mountains. Every household carefully rationed their grain, afraid to waste even a single grain of rice. The locust trees at the village entrance had already been stripped bare of flowers and leaves by hungry villagers looking for anything edible.
Most families could scrape by until harvest, but the Xiao family at the end of the village was nearly out of food.
Before dawn, the eldest son and his wife were already arguing in the courtyard.
“Xiao Boss! We spent all our money saving Ye Qing, and now your mother is borrowing millet to cook porridge for her. How are we supposed to live like this?”
“Honey, calm down. It’s a human life. We couldn’t just let her die on our kang bed. I’ll work harder and earn more work points so you and the baby can eat…”
“Shut up! I’m not worried about the grain—I’m worried about you! You’re already starving every day and still working in the fields. How long can your body keep going?”
Their voices drifted through the broken window and woke Ye Qing.
At first she couldn’t make out the words. What she noticed first was a rich, irresistible smell.
Food.
The aroma instantly awakened her starving stomach.
For someone who had spent ten years struggling through the apocalypse, the smell of grain was almost intoxicating.
Yet instead of relaxing, she became alert.
She couldn’t even open her eyes properly. Her body was weak from hunger. All she could tell was that people were nearby and food was close at hand.
Hadn’t she already died?
Memories of the Apocalypse
Ye Qing remembered the end of the world.
After humanity reached unprecedented technological heights, disaster struck: earthquakes, tsunamis, extreme cold, and countless natural catastrophes.
Some people awakened supernatural powers.
Ye Qing had gained a Strength-type ability. Unfortunately, compared to elemental powers like fire, wind, lightning, and ice, hers wasn’t particularly impressive. People with her ability often ended up as expendable frontline shields.
Wanting to survive, she left the survivor bases and hid alone in a remote mountain.
She survived there for ten years.
Over that decade, she ate every edible thing she could find. But food became scarcer and scarcer.
By the time she died, she hadn’t eaten for a month.
In her final desperation, she dug three huge pits searching for earthworms to eat.
She found nothing.
And ultimately died from starvation and frustration.
Yet instead of meeting the King of Hell, she woke up here.
“There’s a Ghost!”
Summoning all her strength, Ye Qing finally forced her eyes open and sat up.
Immediately someone beside her screamed:
“Ghost! There’s a ghost!”
The young man had been happily eating a roasted sweet potato. Startled, he choked on it and began coughing violently.
His mother rolled her eyes.
“Idiot child. Stop talking nonsense. Ghosts are feudal superstition.”
The embarrassed young man hurried outside.
“Ye Qing’s awake. I’ll go get everyone.”
Soon the entire Xiao family gathered around the kang bed, staring at Ye Qing.
Ye Qing silently observed them.
They lived in a simple earthen house with mud walls and packed-earth floors. The people wore plain clothing and looked nothing like the desperate survivors she’d known in the apocalypse.
Most importantly…
They didn’t seem hostile.
Learning the Truth
The middle-aged woman explained:
“This is Shilinggou Village. You fell into the river and were rescued by my youngest son. You’ve had a fever ever since.”
Then she hesitated.
“Your parents already agreed to marry you to my youngest son…”
As she listened, memories flooded into Ye Qing’s mind.
Only then did she realize:
She had transmigrated.
This wasn’t the apocalypse.
She was now Ye Qing, a village girl living in northern China during the 1960s.
The Original Ye Qing’s Tragic Life
The original owner of this body had lived a miserable life.
Her mother died when she was five.
Within six months, her father remarried.
The stepmother treated her terribly. She worked all day and never had enough to eat.
When she turned twenty, her father and stepmother saw an opportunity.
As a young woman and laborer, she could be sold into marriage for a good bride price.
Eventually they found a man willing to pay eighty yuan.
The original Ye Qing secretly went to look at him.
He was old.
Ugly.
Vulgar.
She immediately fell into despair.
But after years of abuse, she had no idea how to resist.
Then, a few days ago, distracted and depressed, she accidentally slipped into the river.
The Marriage Trap
The Xiao family’s youngest son, Xiao Yang, happened to pass by and jumped into the river to save her.
Both of them nearly died.
Their clothes were soaked, and Xiao Yang had carried her in his arms.
Normally nobody would have cared—it was an emergency rescue.
But Ye Qing’s father and stepmother saw an opportunity.
They claimed:
“Our daughter has been seen by a man. Nobody else will marry her now.”
Then they demanded a huge bride price from the Xiao family.
When the Xiao family resisted, they threatened to accuse Xiao Yang of improper conduct and ruin his government job.
In the 1960s, a stable job determined a person’s entire future.
The Xiao family had no choice but to pay.
After paying the bride price and medical expenses, they were completely broke.
That explained the argument outside.
The original Ye Qing had dragged the entire Xiao family into poverty.
A New Resolve
As these memories settled, Ye Qing could still feel remnants of the original owner’s despair urging her toward death.
But Ye Qing rejected that idea immediately.
In the apocalypse she’d spent ten years fighting for survival.
This world had no zombies.
No mutated monsters.
No endless disasters.
How could she possibly want to die here?
Her determination to live burned stronger than ever.
The Sweet Potato Porridge
Seeing her dazed expression, the middle-aged woman brought over a steaming bowl of millet and sweet potato porridge.
Embarrassed, she said:
“The village doctor said you need fine grains to recover. I could only borrow a little millet and mixed it with sweet potatoes. Make do with this.”
Ye Qing barely heard the explanation.
Her eyes were fixed on the bowl.
Before transmigrating, she’d spent years eating tree bark, insects, worms, and anything remotely edible.
Now there was a real bowl of hot porridge in front of her.
Sweet potatoes.
Millet.
Actual food.
She nearly cried.
Without waiting, she thanked them and began eating.
The porridge was scalding hot.
She didn’t care.
She gulped it down desperately.
The moment the food touched her tongue, she felt overwhelmed with emotion.
This is the most delicious sweet potato porridge I’ve ever tasted.
To her, the bowl wasn’t food.
It was life itself.
She quickly finished the entire bowl and even scraped the bottom clean.
Watching her, the Xiao family felt sorry for her.
They weren’t wealthy either, but even they had never seen someone this hungry.
They assumed she’d been starved her entire life by her family.
When she finished the first bowl, they pitied her.
When she finished the second bowl, they were surprised.
When she finished the fifth bowl…
Their expressions changed.
The bowl emptied.
The Xiao family’s faces turned green.