“Xin’er, oh my daughter, uwaaa…”
The sound of sobbing and wailing made Zhu Xin’s head throb with a buzzing pain.
Opening her heavy eyelids, the first things she saw were old roof beams covered in spiderwebs and a ceiling made of mud, dust, and straw.
Zhu Xin froze for a moment, then struggled to sit up and looked around.
She was in a narrow, cramped room, less than eight square meters in size.
The room had mud walls plastered with layers of yellowed Newspapers. Many portraits of great men and leaders were pinned up, along with a yellowed calendar turned to November 1966.
Beneath the calendar sat an old, grey wooden table holding a chipped enamel mug. Printed on the mug in striking vermilion characters were the words: “Labor is Most Glorious.” Beside it stood several equally old and grey square wooden chests, likely used for storing clothes.
Opposite her bed was a wooden window without even a pane of glass. It was covered with a layer of thin, yellowed paper. A hole had been torn in the bottom part of the paper, and the cold wind blowing through it made the room feel like an ice cellar to Zhu Xin.
Zhu Xin stared at the dilapidated, vintage surroundings for a long time before her groggy head finally cleared.
She had been a modern Corporate Drudge. While pulling overtime at work for a meager Pittance Wage, her body had given out and she had fainted. When she woke up, she was in the Sixties Era—a time of scarcity—and had become the Zhu Xin who shared her name.
The original owner of this body had just turned eighteen. She had a fiancé she had been betrothed to since childhood. They had always been fond of each other and were planning to marry in two months.
Who could have known that a week ago, her fiancé, Hu Xinkai, would suddenly have a change of heart and demand to break the engagement?
The original Zhu Xin didn’t understand why he suddenly stopped loving her and refused to marry her. No matter how many times she pressed Hu Xinkai for a reason, he heartlessly shut her out.
In a fit of anger and resentment, she dragged her parents to his house to demand an explanation, but to no avail. She then went to his village to cause a scene, but he continued to avoid her.
Eventually, a woman who couldn’t bear to watch any longer told her the truth. Only then did she learn that half a month ago, when her fiancé went to the capital for an exchange of revolutionary experiences with a group of Little Red Guards, he had caught the eye of a White-Rich-Beautiful Young Miss, the daughter of a high-ranking official in Jingdu. He had started dating that Young Miss and would soon be moving to the capital to work at a state unit. Naturally, he abandoned his countryside fiancée.
Everyone in the fiancé’s village knew about this, but they had all kept it from her. The original Zhu Xin was so furious and aggrieved that she felt she had no face left to live in this world. In a fit of rage, she jumped into the river in her fiancé’s village.
After she jumped, her parents cried out for help and leaped in to save her. However, neither of them knew how to swim, and they both ended up floundering in the water.
Seeing that things were going south, the woman who had spoken to her earlier rushed back to the village to call a group of people to the rescue.
By the time the original Zhu Xin was pulled out, she had long since stopped breathing.
When her heart started beating again, the soul inside had been replaced by Zhu Xin.
Outside, Zhu Xin’s mother, Ye Sulan, was arguing with her husband, Zhu Ershan. “That bastard Hu Xinkai! He’s the reason our daughter ended up like this. Are we really just going to let him off the hook?”
“Old Mr. Hu brought over two chickens, a bag of white sugar, a piece of cured meat, two handkerchiefs, and five catties of Flying Pigeon flour to apologize. What else do you want?” Zhu Ershan muttered, crouching on the doorstep with a leaf-wrapped cigarette in his mouth.
Old Mr. Hu was Hu Xinkai’s father. After Zhu Xin jumped into the river the day before yesterday, everyone in the surrounding villages found out that his son had socialized with a wealthy Young Miss and abandoned his childhood fiancée, becoming a modern-day Chen Shimei.
To prevent his son’s scandal from growing and ruining his prospects, Old Mr. Hu had spared no expense yesterday. He bought expensive items like meat and sugar—treasures in the eyes of country folk—and took Hu Xinkai to offer an apology, hoping for a peaceful settlement to break the engagement.
Ye Sulan, the second daughter Zhu Yue, and the third son Zhu Heping had firmly refused the Hu family’s goods. They didn’t want Hu Xinkai’s hypocritical apology; they wanted justice.
Unfortunately, the Zhu family was poor. Four generations lived together, and the three branches of the family had not yet split their households. Currently, Old Mrs. Zhu was the head of the household. When Old Mrs. Zhu saw all the good things the Hu family had sent, she accepted them without a second thought. She even took it upon herself to make the decision for Ye Sulan’s branch of the family, forgiving Hu Xinkai on Zhu Xin’s behalf and breaking the engagement.
Zhu Ershan was a man of foolish filial piety. He had listened to his mother since he was a child. Even though his daughter had suffered such a great loss, he didn’t dare resist or contradict his mother’s decision.
Ye Sulan was also soft-natured. When Old Mrs. Zhu made the decision, she protested a few times but was silenced by a scolding from the old woman.
In contrast, Zhu Xin’s younger sister and brother had tried to protect her and demand justice. Unsurprisingly, they were scolded and beaten by Old Mrs. Zhu and the eldest uncle’s family, then dragged away by their own parents to stop the fighting. And so, the matter was suppressed.
Now that Zhu Xin had been unconscious for three days, Ye Sulan was worried sick. Yet she didn’t dare argue with her fierce mother-in-law to take back the Hu family’s gifts and demand justice. She could only argue with Zhu Ershan.
Zhu Ershan and his elder brother had both inherited their parents’ mindset of Son-Preference. In his eyes, as long as he gave his daughter food and clothes and raised her to be married off, he had fulfilled his duty as a father. He wouldn’t spare another thought for her beyond that.
His mother had already accepted the Hu family’s apology gifts, and those things were worth quite a bit. If the engagement was broken, so be it. He couldn’t understand why his wife and children were making such a fuss.
Realizing she couldn’t count on her husband, Ye Sulan turned her gaze to her second daughter and youngest son, asking in a low voice what they should do.
Zhu Yue said, “Mom, there’s no point in us worrying here. Let’s wait until Big Sister wakes up.”
Zhu Heping was a hot-tempered youth. He rolled up his sleeves and headed for the door. “Mom, if Dad won’t handle this, I’ll go find my Red Guard classmates and give that Hu family a thorough struggle session! Hu Xinkai’s behavior is typical of a landlord’s whelp, driving my Big Sister, who is from a Proletariat family of Politically Pure and of Good Class Origin, to her death. If I don’t severely criticize those Hu people, I’ll be failing my sister!”
It was now November 1966, the first year of the Ten-Year Turmoil.
The Zhu family had been poor peasants for three generations, making them Proletariat of Politically Pure and of Good Class Origin. Once the policies from above were implemented, the children in the family all joined the Little Red Guard ranks.
The three children of the second branch had all stopped attending school. Aside from the second child, Zhu Yue, who hadn’t joined the Little Red Guard to go around and criticize capitalism, revisionism, and Soviet influence, the eldest, Zhu Xin, and the youngest, Zhu Heping, were both Red Guards. They often spent their time with other teenagers who were no longer in school, going around to “struggle” against people.
However, Zhu Xin only went along to join the crowd; she didn’t actually enjoy tormenting people. Most of the time, she liked following the Little Red Guards on the exchange of revolutionary experiences to travel and eat local specialties. She had lived quite a carefree life.
Zhu Heping was different. He was only fifteen, a rebellious and reckless age. With his worldview not yet fully formed, he loved joining other Little Red Guards in impulsive, mindless actions that drew public ire.
For the past few days, Zhu Heping had been in the city with a group of Red Guards, struggling against people. It wasn’t until this morning that he heard from a classmate that his elder sister had jumped into the river, and he had rushed back.
Seeing his sister unconscious and pale as paper, the fire of rage burned in his heart. If Zhu Yue hadn’t stopped him, he would have stormed the Hu house long ago.
Ye Sulan had always disapproved of her son being a Little Red Guard. She felt that the things they did were immoral, and she feared that if one did too many bad things, retribution would eventually come.
Furthermore, with her son running around everywhere with the Little Red Guards and often being away from home, she never knew if he was alive or dead. This made her even more opposed to it.
She grabbed Zhu Heping and glared at him. “Struggle? How are you going to struggle? That Hu kid has socialized with a Young Miss, the daughter of a big leader in the capital. They have a massive background. Even if you’re a Red Guard, if they want to deal with you, it’ll be as easy as crushing an ant. Stop making a mess and look after your sister. We’ll ask her what she wants to do once she wakes up.”
Inside the room, Zhu Xin finished listening to their conversation. Memories of the original owner surfaced, and she accepted the reality that she had transmigrated to the Sixties.
She thought silently to herself: When others transmigrate, they become wealthy young misses or princesses. But me? I’ve come directly to the impoverished Sixties, and during the most intense year of the Ten-Year Turmoil at that.
This was an era of criticizing all sorts of Capitalist, revisionist, and low-class elements. The whole country was on edge, and every word or action had to be cautious. Had she come to this era just to experience human suffering?
Sighing, Zhu Xin climbed out of bed and walked out of the room.
Ye Sulan was overjoyed to see her daughter awake. she rushed forward to support Zhu Xin’s swaying body. “Xin’er, you’re finally awake! You nearly scared me to death! You silly girl, why would you be so foolish as to jump into the river? Did you never think about what I would do if you died?”
Regardless of how much Zhu Ershan and the rest of the Zhu family favored boys over girls, Ye Sulan, as a mother, treated her three children equally. She cherished them all as treasures and gave them the best she could within her means.
Perhaps it was the lingering emotions of the original owner for her mother, but as Zhu Xin looked at the woman before her—wearing old, patched clothes and looking haggard and weathered despite being only forty—her eyes couldn’t help but redden. “Mom, I was wrong. I’m sorry for worrying you.”
Ye Sulan’s eyes also grew red as she pulled Zhu Xin into her arms. “Xin’er, I know you’ve been wronged. I’ll go kill a chicken and stew it to nourish your body. Once you’re better, I’ll take you to the Hu house to demand justice.”
Ye Sulan went to the chicken coop in the yard to catch a chicken, which inevitably led to a clash with Old Mrs. Zhu. A shouting match erupted in the kitchen.
Zhu Yue supported Zhu Xin as they returned to the room the sisters shared. “Big Sister, you haven’t fully recovered yet. It’s cold outside; you should rest in the room.”
The original owner had jumped into the river in the dead of winter. After bobbing in the water for a long time before being pulled out, her body had turned blue from the cold. A normal person would have died from such an ordeal, but Zhu Xin had miraculously survived.
Although Zhu Yue was confused about how her sister, who couldn’t swim, was still alive after being in the water for half an hour, she was glad she had woken up. Still, she felt a lingering worry.
Of the three siblings, the eldest sister was the weakest. When their mother was pregnant with her, their hometown was suffering from a famine. There was nothing to eat, so the eldest sister hadn’t received any nutrition in the womb. She was born prematurely and was as thin as a kitten as a child. Despite this, she had a fiery personality and had always protected her younger sister and brother.
Zhu Yue knew how much her sister loved Hu Xinkai. Now that her sister had been abandoned and had even jumped into the river, Zhu Yue truly worried she wouldn’t be able to pull through the double blow to her body and spirit.
Zhu Heping leaned carelessly against the doorframe and asked, “Big Sister, do you want me to take a squad of Red Guards to the Hu family’s door and vent some of that anger for you?”
Zhu Xin sat on the bed and allowed Zhu Yue to cover her legs with a quilt. “No rush. Once my body has recovered, I’ll go to the Hu house to settle the score.”
Hu Xinkai had abandoned her after finding a better prospect, driving the original owner to suicide. She would certainly pay a visit to this ungrateful Chen Shimei. She would teach that scum a lesson and secure some benefits for herself. Only then could she vent the original owner’s grievances and put her soul to rest.