Bang, bang, bang!
A violent banging on the door assaulted her eardrums, interspersed with foul language.
“Open the door!”
“Don’t think you’re some phoenix from a golden nest just because you went to high school. It’s your good fortune to be the village chief’s wife!”
“You’re not some precious young lady from the city. If you don’t have the fate for it, don’t dream the dream! If it weren’t for the Dai family’s reputation, do you think you’d be worth a thousand yuan?”
“Let me tell you, we didn’t raise you for sixteen years for nothing. I’ve already taken the money. In three days, you’ll marry him whether you want to or not!”
“Even if you die, you’ll be a ghost of the village chief’s family!”
The dilapidated door panel seemed as if it would shatter in the next second. Wen Zhile quickly pressed against it, instinctively analyzing the meaning behind the woman’s words and her current surroundings.
There was only one Dai family she knew.
She had once heard her mother say that when she was just a hundred days old, she and her father were about to be sent down to a remote southern region for re-education.
Fearing that she, a mere infant, wouldn’t survive, they used their connections to send her to the home of a distant cousin in her mother’s hometown, Jianghe Village.
Jianghe Village was under the jurisdiction of Jianghe County, which in turn was under Jingzhou City. Three years later, the national situation improved, and her parents’ status was restored. They immediately went to Jianghe Village to bring back their three-year-old self.
The cousin her mother mentioned had married into a family with the surname Dai.
The Dai family had a daughter, Dai Nuan. Just this month, Dai Nuan had come to the city to look for a job and had stayed at her house for nearly a month. She had just left this morning.
But she wasn’t Dai Nuan, so how could she be at the Dai family’s home?
She had returned to Jingzhou City at the age of three and had lived in the Jingzhou University professors’ residential compound ever since. How could she have been raised by the Dai family for sixteen years, and be beaten and cursed by them like this?
As she was thinking in a panic, a line of text slowly appeared before her eyes: [Sister, you have been reborn.]
Wen Zhile was stunned for a moment.
Reborn?
[To put it simply, you have died and come back to life.]
Wen Zhile stared intently at the line of text.
The line vanished, only to reappear with a new message: [You died and were reborn into a parallel world.]
“?!” She had heard of the parallel world theory when she was in university in ’89, but how could she have died? How did she die?
[Sister, you did indeed die. As the last Qi Luck Holder in the original world, the world collapsed and ceased to exist after your death. Your soul was then reborn into a parallel world, and your memories have only just awakened after sixteen years. The year is now 1989. In this life, you are already sixteen years old.]
[As for the cause of your death, only you yourself know.]
Wen Zhile’s fingers tightened slightly. She had no memory of it at all.
[All the memories in your consciousness are from your past life and have no connection to this one.] The two lines of text remained before her eyes for three seconds before the content changed: [You can now try to recall your memories from the sixteen years after you arrived in the parallel world.]
Wen Zhile took a slow, deep breath.
She stared at the incredibly realistic text before her, temporarily setting aside the cause of her past life’s death, and began to recall her experiences in this life.
Once she started, new memories flowed forth like a gurgling stream.
Nearly ten minutes later, Wen Zhile finally sorted through her thoughts. Her back was soaked in a cold sweat, and she slumped to the floor, completely drained. This life was too absurd.
[Sister, your Qi Luck has been stolen. That person is now in your home, calling your parents Mom and Dad.]
Without a second thought, Wen Zhile asked, “Is that person Dai Nuan?”
[Yes, Sister.]
Hearing the confirmation, an indescribable feeling washed over her heart.
This state lasted for a minute before she pushed herself up using the door panel. Pressing her ear against it, she forced herself to calm down.
Only when she heard Dai Rong, Zhang Danhua, and Dai Guangzong walk out of the main house, talking and laughing, did the tension in her heart ease slightly.
After waiting for another ten minutes or so, Wen Zhile opened the door and ran into Dai Rong and Zhang Danhua’s room, rummaging through their chests and cabinets.
[Sister, what are you doing?]
“Getting my money and going home.”
In her past life, her mother had said that when they sent her to the Dai family, they had left them with many grain, oil, and industrial goods coupons, as well as five thousand yuan in cash. To express their gratitude on the day they picked her up, they gave the Dai family another three thousand yuan.
She was going to take all this money and these coupons with her!
Wen Zhile practically turned the room upside down, breaking out in a thin layer of sweat, but she found nothing.
She rested against the wall, recalling the memories of this life again, trying to find a clue.
The Dai family had said they were going to the county town to eat and shop, so they probably wouldn’t be back for a while. But she couldn’t rule out an accident, so she had to hurry.
Wen Zhile immediately ran out, turned right into the room of the Dai family’s son, Dai Guangzong, and searched high and low. Finally, after lifting the bedsheet, she discovered something.
Hidden under the bedsheet in the corner of the kang was a cloth bundle, pressed down by the huge wooden chest at the foot of the kang.
Wen Zhile strained to lift a corner of the chest, pulled out the cloth bundle, and opened it. Inside was a stack of coupons and a wad of cash.
She gave it a quick scan, stuffed the bundle into the coarse cloth schoolbag on her back, and ran to the base of the courtyard wall.
The house the Dai family lived in was an old one left by their elders, and the walls were very low.
Wen Zhile glanced at the height, took a deep breath, backed up a few meters for a running start, and leaped at the wall. After grabbing the top, she scrambled upwards with all her might.
“Why didn’t you forget yourself? Guangzong’s fiancée specifically asked for a new TV. What can we buy without the coupons! It’s a good thing the bus hasn’t arrived yet, or it would’ve been a wasted trip!”
Zhang Danhua’s shrill voice carried from a distance. Wen Zhile immediately let go.
“After we send that wretched girl to the village chief’s house, we’ll welcome our daughter-in-law.”
Dai Rong chimed in sheepishly, his voice growing closer.
Soon, the wooden gate opened. Zhang Danhua entered first and strode into the main house. Immediately after, her sharp screams rang out, one after another:
“We’ve been robbed!”
“That wretched girl ran away!!”
“Quick, go after her!!!”
Zhang Danhua shot into Dai Guangzong’s room and nearly fainted at the sight. “That Wen girl is truly a born wretch! I fed her and clothed her, and she’s still not satisfied. How dare she steal from us and run away? Just wait until I catch her. I’ll beat her to death!”
“Search the house first!”