Shen Youyou quickly refused Yuanyuan’s kindness, her face turning red as she said,
“Yuanyuan, you eat it yourself. I’m not hungry.”
Joking aside—even if she hadn’t been human for a long time, she still wouldn’t stoop so low as to snatch food from a child.
After she sat down, Mo Yan ignored her refusal. He ladled a bowl of chicken soup, scooped in several pieces of chicken, and handed it to Shen Youyou.
“Eat a little. Don’t be shy. Hasn’t Aunt Shen come up the mountain these past two days? I don’t think I’ve seen her.”
Holding the bowl, Shen Youyou answered guiltily,
“I… I don’t know either. I was actually hoping to ask you. Why am I living alone on this mountain? And I noticed there’s no sign that I ever lit a fire over there—how did I usually eat? I don’t remember any of it.”
Hearing this and seeing the confusion in her eyes, Mo Yan finally believed that she truly had lost her memory.
Thinking about it, it wasn’t all that strange.
She used to be a foolish girl who understood nothing, no different from a child. Suddenly becoming a normal person and losing all her past memories—somehow, that made sense.
So Mo Yan told her everything he knew, bit by bit.
Of course, most of it was what he’d heard from others—after all, he hadn’t been here very long himself.
It turned out that Shen Youyou was the second son’s daughter of the Old Shen family from Shenjia Village at the foot of the mountain.
When she was three years old, she’d had a high fever that damaged her brain, and she became foolish. Her body kept growing, but her mind stayed at the level of a three-year-old child.
Two years later, the eldest branch of the family had a son—but the boy kept falling ill. Eventually, Grandma Shen invited a fortune-teller to see whether something unclean was involved.
Unexpectedly, the fortune-teller said it was because of Shen Youyou’s existence that the eldest son’s precious boy kept getting sick. Their birth charts clashed; they were incompatible. If they wanted the boy to recover, the foolish girl had to be thrown away and not allowed to live in the Shen household.
At the time, Grandma Shen planned to sell Shen Youyou off. After all, she was just a foolish girl—keeping her would only waste food.
It was only because Shen Youyou’s mother fought desperately to protect her that she survived.
Even so, she had to agree that Shen Youyou could no longer live with the Shen family.
So her parents built her a thatched hut on the mountain and left her to live there alone.
Shen Youyou’s mother would bring food up the mountain once a day.
And just like that, Shen Youyou slowly grew up.
Strangely enough, after Shen Youyou moved to the mountain, the eldest branch’s precious son really did stop getting sick.
Because of this, the Shen family believed the fortune-teller’s words even more firmly and regarded Shen Youyou as a bringer of bad luck.
They forbade her from returning home.
Although the second branch pitied their daughter, the couple were weak-willed and dared not oppose Grandma Shen. So they continued raising their own flesh and blood on the mountain.
Perhaps she was lucky—despite everything, she managed to survive all these years without incident.
Later, Mo Yan arrived in the mountains with the two children. For reasons unknown, they also settled there.
Only then did Shen Youyou finally have neighbors.
When there was nothing to do, she would play with the two little children.
Seeing that she was merely foolish and not malicious, Mo Yan allowed the children to keep her company.
He never expected that one day, the foolish girl would suddenly become… not foolish at all.
And somehow, something had happened down the mountain—because for two days now, no one had come up to bring her food.
After listening to all of this, Shen Youyou fell silent.
This life was truly miserable—perhaps even worse than her own in the apocalypse. At least she’d never gone hungry back then.
She glanced at the steaming bowl of chicken soup in her hands, then down at her flat, hungry stomach.
She didn’t refuse anymore. Facing Mo Yan, she said sincerely,
“Thank you, Brother Mo. If I ever get the chance, I will definitely repay you for the food you gave me tonight.”
Then she began to eat.
The chicken soup tasted… average at best. It seemed to be nothing more than chicken boiled in plain water with some salt.
But seeing how happily the two children were eating, Shen Youyou didn’t comment. She made do and finished her first meal in this new world.
After getting clarity on things, Shen Youyou felt much lighter.
She used to be foolish anyway—no one would be able to tell whether she was still the same Shen Youyou or not.
As for the mother who had been bringing her food all this time, Shen Youyou decided to go down the mountain the next day to take a look.
Emotionally and morally speaking, that woman had fed her for so many years. She should at least check whether something had happened and fulfill her duty.
With her thoughts settled, Shen Youyou spent the night making do in her thatched hut.
Surprisingly, she slept quite well.
The mountains were peaceful and lush. Aside from the occasional sounds of small animals accompanying her to sleep, there was nothing unpleasant about the place.
To her, those sounds were like lullabies—making it even easier to fall asleep.
How wonderful.
She was no longer alone.
She finally had her own kind.
She could finally live a normal life.
After getting up, Shen Youyou went next door to borrow some fire from Brother Mo. She lit the simple stove outside, fetched water, boiled it, and washed up with warm water.
Although it was already spring, mornings and evenings were still quite chilly.
Back in the apocalypse, when she was the only one left in the world, she honestly had little desire to live.
Especially when she saw the blotches of lividity on her body—she couldn’t even stand herself.
She had once thought about ending it all. Living like a walking corpse felt meaningless.
And in that world, more than zombies, what she feared most was loneliness.
But she was a zombie—it wasn’t easy to die. Unless her head was blown off in one shot.
And she couldn’t bring herself to be that ruthless.
So she drifted along, barely surviving.
She never expected that things would actually turn around.
She had gained a new life in another world.
Perhaps in her previous life she had done too many good deeds, and Heaven pitied her—so it exiled her to ancient times instead?
Even though conditions here were harsh, to Shen Youyou, none of that mattered.
What mattered was that she had a healthy body—and other people like her.
Someone to talk to.
That alone was wonderful.
After washing up, Shen Youyou set off in high spirits, following the directions Brother Mo had given her, and headed down the mountain.
Sure enough, after about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, she saw a village at the foot of the mountain.
As she drew closer, she saw people coming and going—it was lively, especially near the village entrance, where a group of elderly men and women sat basking in the sun.
She thought to herself, This must be Shenjia Village.
So she strode inside.
But just then, one of the old women at the village entrance exclaimed in surprise,
“Oh my! Isn’t this the foolish girl? Why have you come down the mountain?”