The handcart creaked and groaned as it made its way toward the river.
From a distance, Li Hong shouted excitedly to Shen Nian,
“Niannian, look what I brought for you!”
Seeing her so happy, Shen Nian guessed right away what it was.
She hurried a few steps forward.
“Sister Li, you really did it!”
“Of course! Aren’t you happy?”
“I’m happy. Quickly check the fishing net for any holes. I’ve washed these two clothes, and then we can set the net. If we catch any fish, we’ll have to leave early tomorrow morning.”
“Alright, I’ll follow your lead.”
Li Hong checked the fishing net while Shen Nian washed the two pieces of clothing with soap and hung them aside to dry.
Though her memories had been chaotic and scattered before, she still noticed that the river channels contained loaches and freshwater clams.
After a few busy days, she planned to give some clams to Li Hong’s two children to eat.
This season’s clams were particularly plump.
Shen Nian hung the clothes on a nearby tree branch and checked the fishing net with Li Hong.
The lake was roughly twenty meters wide. Ping’an Village was nestled against the mountains and rivers. They had previously grown rice, but the yield was too low, so the villagers filled in the rice paddies with soil and planted wheat instead.
These were all vague memories in Shen Nian’s mind.
If they caught fish today, she thought, she could sell them tomorrow and buy some wire to make a bamboo raft. Then she could float it to the center of the lake, making it easier to set the fishing net.
She wanted to convert as many of the surrounding resources as possible into money, to put into her own pocket.
Shen Nian asked, “Sister, how many buckets do you have?”
“Two metal, two wooden.”
“Quick, bring them here. And don’t forget any wooden basins too.”
“Alright, alright! I’ll get them now.”
Shen Nian, regardless of whether they could catch fish, started preparing everything that needed to be done.
While Li Hong fetched the buckets, Shen Nian cast the fishing net into the river.
She found a large stone by the river, scooped some coarse sand from the crevices, and poured it into a basin. Then she filled it with river water and slowly swirled it to filter out the coarse gravel, leaving only fine sand.
Back when she had free time at the mining site, she would pan for gold in the mountain streams. On a good day, she could pan four or five grams; on a bad day, maybe only a fraction of a gram.
After years of geological work, she even panned herself a large gold bracelet.
Originally, with rising gold prices, she could have made a profit, but a bad snowstorm had ruined her luck.
Thinking of all this, she wiped her tears and blew her nose.
Gold panning was really hard on the eyes.
After filtering the fine sand bit by bit… finally—
Nothing.
It wasn’t bad luck, nor a lack of skill. The problem was the basin itself.
Yes, it was definitely the basin’s fault!
Convinced of this, she stubbornly went to try another basin.
When Li Hong returned carrying four buckets, balanced with several basins on her head, Shen Nian’s determination to pan for gold that day had completely died.
Li Hong smiled cheerfully, “Niannian, are these basins enough?”
Shen Nian threw her washbasin aside, smiling, “Enough, enough, Sister Li. Let’s wait a little longer, then we’ll haul in the net.”
“Okay, I’ll follow your lead.”
Li Hong noticed how competent Shen Nian had become now that her mind was clear. With her striking looks, surely some boys would like her.
If anyone found out she was normal again, that would be something else entirely.
The two of them fished by the river, while on the opposite bank a group of children were playing.
Shen Nian was just about to check the place where she had thrown the wild duck intestines yesterday when, suddenly, a small boy on the opposite bank fell into the water with a splash.
The children on the bank were so scared they scattered.
Li Hong panicked, pointing at the child in the water, stammering, “Th-th-there’s a kid—”
Before she could finish, Shen Nian had already jumped in with a splash and swam swiftly toward the opposite bank.
Li Hong was stunned. She knew Niannian’s mind had recovered, but she hadn’t expected her to be able to swim.
Usually, only the men in the village swam in this river. None of the village women knew how to swim.
Men could wade in with just shorts, but women couldn’t. Rolling up their pants would be embarrassing if seen by men.
Li Hong watched as Shen Nian swam across, grabbed the child, looped an arm around his neck, and dragged him to the opposite bank.
Li Hong wanted to help, but she couldn’t swim.
She quickly hid the buckets and basins in the nearby reeds and covered the handcart with reeds before running toward the wooden bridge a short distance away.
By the time Shen Nian got the child out, he had already fainted from water inhalation.
She was soaking wet, her shirt clinging to her body, outlining her grown-up, shapely figure.
Though she normally looked skinny, the thin shirt revealed her chest, perky hips, and a narrow waist.
It took her two minutes to swim across the river. The child struggled violently and had inhaled water into his lungs. She needed to perform CPR and give artificial respiration immediately.
Shen Nian placed her hands on the child’s chest. Just a few compressions in, she heard approaching footsteps and a woman’s wailing in the distance.
“My son! My son! Who pushed you into the water? If anything happens to you, how will your father and I live? Ah—”
Behind the woman, a group of villagers followed. A few children shouted, “Aunt Tian, we were playing with Simao. Did someone push him in?”
Tian Xiaoye didn’t have time for anything else. Hearing the child had fallen into the lake, she broke into a cold sweat, wiping her face with her sleeve—she wasn’t sure if it was sweat or tears.
“Who pushed him in? If my son had been swept away, I would have thrown them into the river myself!”
The other children shrank back, too scared to say who had done it.
Shen Dafu’s son shivered, turning to run. Tian Xiaoye shouted, “None of you are allowed to leave! If anyone dares, you’re the one who pushed my son in!”
Shen Erdan nervously followed along.
Tian Xiaoye rushed to the riverbank and saw Shen Nian quickly pressing Simao’s chest.
She screamed and rushed forward, pale-faced.
“My son! Shen Nian, you crazy woman, did you push my son into the water?”
As she spoke, she reached to grab Shen Nian’s arm.
Shen Nian’s face was stern as she pushed her away.
“Quiet! If you keep crying, your son really won’t make it.”
Tian Xiaoye grabbed Shen Nian by the hair, pulled her aside, and collapsed on the ground, holding Simao as he wailed.
“My poor baby! You died so tragically! You were treated so unfairly! My heart, my child… I can’t live either… ahhh…”
Shen Nian’s head throbbed. Just as she was about to step forward to explain, her half-brother, Shen Erdan, suddenly raised his hand and pointed at her.
“Aunt Tian, it was this crazy woman who pushed Simao into the water.”