March should have been the busiest time of the year for farming families. The crops needed fertilizing and weeding, and vegetable gardens were ready for eggplants, yardlong beans, and other spring vegetables.
Yet beneath the large tree at the entrance to Shouyun Village, an unusually lively crowd had gathered.
A major incident had shaken the village.
Han Xiuxiu, the daughter of the Han family on the eastern side of the village, had jumped into the river.
Although no one had actually seen her leap into the water, many villagers had witnessed the hunter from the back of the village carrying her ashore.
With nothing more than a few gossiping mouths, the villagers had already pieced together the entire story.
“I saw it with my own eyes,” Aunt Zhang declared. “The Han girl was carried out of the river, and that hunter kept pressing on her chest for a long time…”
Her words immediately drew gasps from the crowd, and several people exchanged meaningful looks.
“Carried.”
“Her chest.”
Those became the phrases repeated most often, as though everyone had stumbled upon some scandalous secret.
“Well, her life may have been saved, but her reputation is ruined. Who would dare marry her now?”
Although few openly agreed, the expressions on everyone’s faces revealed that they thought the same.
Bad news traveled fast. Within two days, everyone in the surrounding villages would know what had happened. Whoever married Han Xiuxiu in the future would surely become the subject of endless gossip.
Country folk valued reputation above all else.
Finding a husband for the Han girl would be difficult now.
“What a pitiful child,” someone sighed. “She lost her mother when she was little, and now this…”
“But why did she jump into the river?”
That question stumped everyone.
The Han family lived on the east side of the village, and no one had heard of anything unusual happening recently.
Why would she suddenly try to kill herself?
Unless she’d truly been driven into a corner, who would willingly jump into a river?
The villagers speculated for quite a while without reaching any conclusion until Mrs. Li Shun suddenly slapped her thigh.
“I remember something!”
At once, everyone’s attention turned toward her.
She cleared her throat dramatically before beginning.
“Yesterday one of my chickens went missing. I searched all the way to the cemetery behind the village. It was almost dark when I got there, and suddenly I heard someone crying…”
Before she could continue, someone interrupted impatiently.
“We’re talking about the Han girl. Stop rambling.”
Mrs. Li Shun shot him an annoyed glare.
“Don’t interrupt! It was already nearly dark, and you know how creepy that graveyard is. Luckily my dog was with me, so I worked up the courage to look. Turns out someone was kneeling before the grave of the Han family’s first wife, crying.”
“The Han family’s first wife was buried there years ago. The girl wasn’t even ten when her mother died.”
The crowd sighed sympathetically before urging her to continue.
“The Han girl was crying and saying, ‘Mother, Father and the others want me to marry a fool. I don’t want to. They scold me and won’t even let me eat.’ Tell me, do you think that’s why she jumped into the river?”
The listeners became engrossed, eagerly piecing the story together while wondering exactly which fool the Han family intended to marry her off to.
“That’s probably it. Otherwise why would she suddenly jump into the river?”
“That makes sense! Didn’t I hear a couple of days ago that the Zhang family was looking for a bride for their simple-minded son? It must have been him.”
“The Zhang family’s fool had a terrible fever as a child that damaged his brain. He talks and behaves like a little kid. Even if he gets married, he probably won’t know what to do on his wedding night. Isn’t that just throwing the poor girl into a pit of fire?”
“The Han girl is so pretty, too. Her mother was beautiful as well. Such a shame she died so young. If she were still alive, she’d never let her daughter marry a fool. Once a stepmother enters the family, even the father changes. Han Daliang used to dote on that girl.”
“That’s right. Children without mothers are always the most pitiful.”
The villagers sighed and shook their heads as they talked, but no one actually thought of helping the unfortunate girl.
Han Xiuxiu’s room was little more than a cramped shed.
It had originally been the family’s woodshed. After Li, her stepmother, gave birth to a son, Han Dongdong, Han Xiuxiu’s original bedroom had been given to the boy. She and her younger sister, Han Xiaoxiao, had cleaned out the woodshed and turned it into their bedroom.
Though tiny and low-ceilinged, it was kept spotlessly clean.
The room had only a single small window. A patch of dim sunlight fell beside the bed, faintly illuminating Han Xiuxiu’s frail body.
Her leap into the river had shattered the fragile peace the family had maintained for years.
Only yesterday, Han Daliang had thought his family far better off than anyone else’s.
Today, they had become the laughingstock of every village for miles around.
Li hated Han Xiuxiu even more.
That girl had always suffered silently. No matter how often she was beaten or scolded, she’d never complained to outsiders.
Who would’ve thought that quiet dogs bite hardest?
Instead of making a fuss, she’d simply jumped into the river.
Now everyone believed it was the cruel stepmother who had driven her stepdaughter to suicide.
The villagers were undoubtedly criticizing her behind her back.
Li almost wished Han Xiuxiu had actually died.
If people were going to curse her anyway, the girl might as well have stayed dead.
Instead, she’d been rescued by a hunter.
Spring clothing was thin.
She had been carried in his arms and had him pressing against her body while trying to save her.
Her reputation was completely ruined.
The marriage arrangement with the Zhang family would almost certainly fall apart.
Li had already planned how to spend the bride price.
She wanted to renovate the house, and if there was money left over, send her precious son to the village school. Learning even a few characters would let him earn several hundred more copper coins each month as a shop clerk in town.
Everything had been carefully planned.
Now Han Xiuxiu’s jump had destroyed it all.
The more Li thought about it, the more she cursed the girl in her heart.
Once everyone had left, Han Daliang looked at his unconscious daughter.
Then he suddenly slapped Li across the face.
“It’s all because of your rotten idea! You’ve ruined Xiuxiu!”
The slap was so hard that Li staggered sideways.
“You hit me?”
Covering her face, she threw herself at Han Daliang, scratching and clawing at him.
“I’ve devoted myself to this family all these years, and you actually hit me! You agreed to marry her into the Zhang family too! Now that something’s happened, you’re blaming everything on me? So you father and daughter are one family, and I’m just an outsider?”
Their precious only son, Han Dongdong, was frightened by the sudden fight and burst into loud tears.
The house instantly descended into chaos.
Hearing both his wife and son crying, Han Daliang’s anger quickly fizzled out.
Seeing his hesitation, Li became even more unreasonable.
“So what if she jumped into the river? I’ll take Dongdong and jump in too! I’ll die as well! There’s no point living anymore! I’ve been married into this family for years, and you still treat me like an outsider!”
Han Daliang grabbed her arm.
“Who treats you like an outsider?”
“You have no conscience! All you care about is your daughter—you don’t care about your wife or son! Fine! I’m leaving! I’m going back to my parents’ house!”
She refused to back down.
Faced with his overbearing wife, Han Daliang immediately lost his nerve.
“Stop making a scene. Haven’t we been embarrassed enough already?”
“Embarrassed?” Li sneered. “Your grown daughter was carried home in another man’s arms—that’s embarrassing! If I were her, I’d hang myself rather than continue living in shame!”
Her voice grew louder and louder.
Han Daliang tried to cover her mouth.
She bit and struggled anyway, and the two continued wrestling and shouting until both were exhausted.
Eventually, Li, her hair disheveled, picked up their son from the floor and returned to her room.
Han Daliang’s clothes had been torn loose. His face was scratched, and red marks covered his body.
He was no match for Li.
That slap had only enraged her further.
Powerless, he looked first at the unconscious Han Xiuxiu, then at the tightly shut door of Li’s room before collapsing onto the threshold of the main hall.
The Han household became eerily quiet.
Han Daliang sat smoking his pipe.
Li remained shut inside her room.
Han Xiuxiu lay motionless in bed, her brows tightly knitted as faint groans escaped her lips.
*So thirsty…*
Her throat burned as though on fire.
It felt dry enough to smoke.
Half-conscious, Han Xiuxiu felt pain all over her body.
Especially in her chest.
Almost instinctively, she reached up to touch it.
A slight rise beneath her hand.
The undeveloped chest of an adolescent girl.
Suddenly—
A tiny hand touched her face.
Every hair on her body stood on end.
A childish voice choked with tears cried,
“Big Sister… don’t die…”
For some inexplicable reason, Han Xiuxiu’s eyes stung.
She slowly opened them.
By the weak light coming through the window, she saw that she was lying on an unfamiliar bed.
A coarse gauze canopy hung overhead.
The quilt covering her was made of rough blue homespun cloth, stiff to the touch.
She coughed.
Her throat hurt terribly, and even her chest ached with the effort.
This wasn’t the dull pain of someone who had suffered from chronic illness.
Although weak, her limbs still obeyed her.
She rolled over slightly toward the edge of the bed.
A little girl of six or seven knelt there, her eyes red and swollen with tears.
Then—
A flood of memories crashed into her mind.
Han Xiuxiu squeezed her eyes shut in pain.
Seeing her frown, the little girl reached out to feel her forehead.
“Big Sister… are you better?”
The unfamiliar memories overwhelmed her.
Her brain felt like it had stopped working.
An agonizing headache pounded through her skull as beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Terrified, the little girl burst into tears.
“Father! Come quick! My sister’s dying!”
Hearing Han Xiaoxiao’s cries, Han Daliang rushed inside.
Seeing Han Xiuxiu drenched in sweat and writhing in pain, he panicked.
“Xiuxiu! Don’t scare your father! What’s wrong?”
The moment Han Xiuxiu saw him, her headache intensified.
The face before her perfectly matched the memories now inside her mind.
At that instant, she understood.
She had truly transmigrated.
She had become a young village girl whose suicide attempt had failed.
The little girl beside her was the original owner’s younger sister, Han Xiaoxiao.
The anxious man was her father, Han Daliang.
Han Xiuxiu pinched herself hard.
The sharp pain made cold sweat break out across her body.
Finally, the physical pain grounded her.
Supporting herself against the bed, she slowly sat up and studied the man before her.
He looked to be in his early thirties, yet hardship had aged him into looking well over forty.
His weathered skin was dark and sallow.
A strange sadness welled up inside her.
It belonged to the original owner.
Softly, she whispered,
“…Father.”
“You silly girl,” Han Daliang scolded gently, his eyes reddening. “How could you be so stubborn? If something had happened to you, how could I ever face your mother?”
After catching her breath, Han Xiuxiu finally managed to croak,
“…Water…”
Han Daliang hurried to fetch some.
Apparently, he’d never taken care of a sick person before.
He brought her a bowl of cold water.
One sip chilled her all the way to her heart.
She rolled her eyes.
If she hadn’t been dying of thirst, she wouldn’t have swallowed a single mouthful.
Noticing her expression, Han Daliang scratched his head awkwardly.
“How about… Father cooks you some egg soup? Are you hungry?”
“Hungry…”
Han Xiuxiu resisted the urge to roll her eyes again.
Of course she was hungry.
The original owner had been constantly mistreated by her stepmother—often left half-starved while still forced to do endless housework.
To pressure her into accepting the marriage, her stepmother had deliberately withheld food for several days.
Her stomach had practically stopped functioning from hunger.