“Waaah… Dad… sob… Grandma…”
The sound of a child crying his heart out kept echoing in her ears. Xu Sangluo frowned tightly and struggled to open her eyes.
Everything before her was dim. It took her more than ten seconds before she could barely make out her surroundings.
Then she froze.
Pitted earthen walls, a ceiling tangled with spider webs, and a cramped room.
A foul, moldy smell lingered in her nose, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
Xu Sangluo suddenly sat up, but her vision went black for a moment. She fell back down, the bed creaking with an old “squeak.”
Outside, the child’s crying grew hoarser, mixed with coughing.
Xu Sangluo’s mind was still a little muddled. She wasn’t sure whether she was dreaming or had been rescued after the car accident.
Wait… the car accident!
Recalling the moment before she lost consciousness, she seemed to still hear Xie Huaishu’s words ringing in her ears: “Even if I die, I’ll drag you down with me!”
Her eyes snapped open again. She quickly looked around, then hurriedly lifted the blanket to check her body.
To her surprise, aside from feeling a little weak, she found no injuries.
She immediately took out a cup of spring water from her space and gulped it down.
The fiery pain in her throat was soothed by the spiritual water, making her feel much more comfortable. Her mind also became clearer.
She struggled to get out of bed, her steps unsteady.
When the door opened, blinding sunlight suddenly poured in. She instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes.
But the child’s cries became even clearer in her ears.
She blinked, and once her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked toward the source of the sound.
Then she stiffened.
Not far away, a child clinging to the courtyard gate and crying his heart out instantly stirred up memories buried long ago.
The surroundings also fully came into her view, causing her to freeze once more.
Suddenly, she raised her hand and slapped herself hard across the face.
The burning pain made her eyes widen in shock, while an indescribable emotion surged in her chest.
This… wasn’t a dream?
But how was that possible? This place looked exactly like the Qin family home from more than twenty years ago.
And Qin Yan… hadn’t he already drowned and died young?
The crisp sound of the slap startled the child.
He sniffled and turned his head, only to be so frightened that he rolled down the steps and fell to the ground. Lying there, he cried even harder, his little face turning the color of pig liver.
Xu Sangluo was startled. She no longer had time to think and quickly ran forward, trying to pick him up.
But the child struggled in fear, crying even more desperately.
Wang Jinhua, who had hurried over to check on the child after being asked by Qin Zhiyi, had just removed the stick hooked on the door ring.
As soon as she pushed the door open, she saw a strange woman holding the child on the ground while he struggled.
Wang Jinhua’s expression changed. She rushed over, pushed Xu Sangluo aside, snatched the child back, and scolded angrily, “What are you doing?!”
At that moment, Xu Sangluo looked disheveled, and her vision kept going dark.
But now she was completely awake. She wasn’t dreaming.
She… seemed to have returned to the year 1983.
Qin Yan was held in Wang Jinhua’s arms as she comforted him.
Hearing the familiar voice helped calm him a little, but soon he burst into loud sobs again.
“Sob… Grandma Wang… Grandma… sob… Yanyan wants Grandma… wants Dad… sob…”
Wang Jinhua hurriedly patted and soothed him. “Be good, Yanyan. Your grandma is fine. The doctor is treating her injuries right now. She’ll be back soon. How about you come home with Grandma Wang and wait, alright?”
Little Qin Yan cried so hard he hiccupped. “Sob… Yanyan wants… wants Grandma… sob…”
“Be good, Yanyan. The doctor is checking your grandma’s injuries. We can’t disturb them. Be good now.”
While comforting the child, Wang Jinhua kept a wary eye on Xu Sangluo, who had gotten up but was still standing there in a daze. She seemed to have guessed who she was.
At this moment, because of Wang Jinhua’s words, the floodgates of Xu Sangluo’s memories finally burst open.
She remembered everything.
She remembered what had happened before her eyes.
This was one month after she had been forced to come to the Qin family.
Last month, she found out that her stepsister had impersonated her and taken her place at the university. While chasing after her to confront her, she was captured by human traffickers.
On the way, she was rescued by Qin Zhiyi, who had just retired from the army and returned to his hometown. He sent her back safely.
But her stepmother slandered her, claiming she had eloped with a man, and even forced Qin Zhiyi to take responsibility, refusing to let her enter the house.
At that time, she still believed her stepmother was her real mother. Since childhood, she had been forced to give in to Xie Huaishu in everything.
And now, not only had her chance to attend university been stolen, she was also being forced to marry.
Disheartened, she followed Qin Zhiyi back to the countryside. Yet she was filled with resentment and unwillingness, locking herself in her room and tormenting herself.
This moment also became one of the greatest regrets of her life in the decades that followed.
That day, Qin’s mother fell and broke her leg while gathering wild mountain goods, plunging the Qin family into even greater hardship and chaos.
Taking advantage of the situation, she asked Qin Zhiyi to send her away.
Qin Zhiyi agreed. He took her to a friend of his and even helped her find a job.
But after saving enough money for a train ticket, she ran off to another city and completely cut off contact.
When she finally came to her senses a few years later and returned to repay the Qin family, she discovered that after her departure, the family had nearly fallen apart.
Qin’s mother, who kept working despite her injured leg, eventually had to undergo an amputation.
And little Qin Yan, left without anyone to watch over him, fell into the river and drowned.
Xu Sangluo squeezed her eyes shut.
By this time, the child had almost been soothed by Wang Jinju. He was only sniffling now and had stopped crying.
However, he still refused to leave with Wang Jinju, stubbornly insisting on staying at home to wait for his grandmother and the others to return.
With no other choice, Wang Jinju stayed with him to wait.
Seeing Xu Sangluo standing there silently, she ignored her.
She didn’t know much about this daughter-in-law of Da Qin. She had only heard that the woman had been unwilling to marry Qin Zhiyi and had been making a fuss about wanting to die every day.
Naturally, Wang Jinju didn’t like her either.
Xu Sangluo’s gaze passed through the courtyard gate and rested on the familiar yet strangely distant dirt road outside.
Then she turned her head to look at Qin Yan. Covering her stomach, she quietly turned and walked toward the kitchen.
She was very hungry now. And according to her memories, Qin’s mother’s injury this time wasn’t actually very serious—it was only because she kept working while injured later that it eventually led to the amputation.
Thinking that they should return soon and that it was almost noon, she decided to cook something first.
Wang Jinju glanced at her, worried she might waste the Qin family’s already scarce food supplies, and wanted to stop her.
But she was also afraid Xu Sangluo might start causing trouble again, so in the end she sighed and let it go.
Xu Sangluo walked into the kitchen.
The kitchen was very small and packed with many things, but everything had been neatly arranged. It was obvious that Qin’s mother was a diligent woman.
She went inside and lifted the lid of the rice jar.
The rice was already nearly gone, and the burlap sack of flour on the shelf was almost empty as well.
Qin Zhiyi’s retirement had come too suddenly.
Although the Qin family had a private plot and allocated farmland, Qin’s mother alone couldn’t manage it all, so she had only planted one mu of wheat.
After handing over the public grain and the mandatory purchase quota, what remained had been eaten by the family of six until now and was nearly gone.
Xu Sangluo glanced outside, then secretly took some flour out of her storage space and poured it into a small sack.
Fortunately, her space had come with her.
Looking at the empty stove, she took out a cabbage and some fresh shiitake mushrooms.
Then she scooped out some flour and began kneading dough with spiritual spring water.
But she was too weak right now, and kneading the dough felt exhausting.
She quickly drank a few mouthfuls of the spiritual spring water and secretly ate a small bread. Only then did her strength recover a little.
Just as she was rolling out the dough, she suddenly noticed the kitchen grow dim.
When she turned around, she saw Wang Jinju standing at the kitchen doorway, holding little Qin Yan’s hand.
One looked at her with scrutiny and suspicion, while the other stared at her with curiosity.