Now, no one could keep deceiving themselves. This lazy man’s ancestral graves must have been smoking with good fortune, leaving the group of men along the street so furious they could barely speak, their faces twisted in anger. Amid the silence, someone who had seen much of the world suddenly whispered mysteriously,
“That… I think this lazy man’s wife… looks a bit like that.”
Everyone immediately sensed there was something juicy to discuss, thinking to themselves,
“Indeed: what does ‘that’ mean? Surely there must be some flaw, some mental deficiency, right? Otherwise, how could such a bargain really exist?”
They all whispered back mysteriously, “Like what?”
“Well…” Seeing everyone was openly curious, the man answered frankly, “A while ago, I went with some buddies to the city after finishing carpentry work in another town. We spent a few days there, and there was a girl in one of those pleasure houses… who looked quite a bit like this lazy man’s wife.”
At this point, no further words were needed—the implication was clear.
Everyone suddenly understood. “No wonder!”
Although the man had spoken in a roundabout, ambiguous way, he had made things clear enough. Who wouldn’t get it now? Without needing any verification, everyone immediately fell into disdain. “I knew a decent girl wouldn’t be willing to marry this penniless wretch!”
“Tsk tsk, this lazy man probably couldn’t even afford the redemption fee. She’s likely stolen from someone.”
“Really, isn’t he afraid of catching some disease?”
“In my opinion, the child in that girl’s belly might also be…”
“Hey! Can’t you wish them a bit of good?”
“Exactly, exactly, don’t spread such talk.”
These neighborhood whispers were like flies—barely noticeable, not loud enough to provoke rage, yet impossible to drive away. The first time these rumors reached the lazy man’s ears, he just laughed it off, thinking outsiders were talking nonsense. “My wife loves me so much she’s willing to run away with me and live in poverty. Of course, the child she’s carrying is mine. They’re just sour grapes.”
But after hearing it a second time, then a third, he couldn’t stay so calm anymore.
Shi Yun was born around this time. So, her position in the family was predictable.
“Bastard” and “mongrel” were the words Shi Yun heard most often as a child. Her mother tried hard to defend herself, but it was useless. The moment Shi Yun was born, her father roared angrily, “Why is it a worthless girl!”
“And she looks nothing like me!”
As Shi Yun grew older and her features became more defined, people on the street would often praise her, saying, “What a pretty little girl!”
But no matter how the lazy man heard it, he felt they were subtly implying Shi Yun didn’t resemble him. To save face, he would pinch Shi Yun’s cheek and scold her, “You filthy little monster!”
His paranoia grew worse. Every few days, he would grab Shi Yun’s face to examine how little she looked like him, constantly feeling as if people were laughing behind his back. The more he looked, the less she seemed like him, and naturally, he began to suspect Shi Yun’s mother of being unfaithful, always wondering if she had been cheating on him while he was out trying to earn money.
Not long after, Shi Yun’s mother died of a broken heart. Shi Yun’s mother was literate and had given her a name: Hui. At home, she always called her “Little Hui.”
What was there to regret? Where was the regret?
She left too soon and never had the chance to explain. From then on, Shi Yun’s life truly began its descent into hell. After her mother’s death, Shi Yun’s father no longer had any reason to keep her fed. Whenever he got drunk, he would rant about why the spawn of some other man should eat his family’s rice, and he would beat her at the slightest provocation every day.
A small girl like her couldn’t withstand the blows of a grown man, so she was covered in bruises from head to toe all day long. The lazy man also had an elderly mother who had disliked the woman her son married from the very beginning. She believed it was this kind of woman from disreputable places who had corrupted her son, making him idle and unambitious. So she seethed with resentment all day long, seeing Shi Yun as a thorn in her side, wishing she would follow her unfaithful mother to the grave.
With her mother gone, no one stopped the old woman from tremblingly pointing at Shi Yun’s nose and cursing her. Every day, besides having to serve her father and grandmother, Shi Yun endured both verbal abuse and physical beatings. Back then, she was just a little girl, and her life was truly as unbearable as being fried in oil or roasted over fire.
Although the name Xiao Hui wasn’t pleasant to hear, at least it was a name. After her mother died, no one called her Xiao Hui anymore. Instead, she was called “bastard,” “wild spawn,” or “worthless wretch” in rotation, and she grew accustomed to it.
Back then, after being beaten, she would roll out of the house to avoid being in her father and grandmother’s sight. Rolling around, she discovered that the earthen wall of the eastern neighbor’s house had been dug into a hole by rats a few days earlier. Shi Yun crouched down to look and saw neatly stacked boxes of books inside, covered in a thick layer of dust. So, whenever she had free time, she would find a sharpened brick and scrape away at the hole in the earthen wall. Day after day, she finally dug out a hole the size of a dog’s den.
Shi Yun was small and thin enough to crawl through it. On the other side was a study. When her mother was still alive, she had taught Shi Yun a few characters. So, hiding like a little mouse in the corner of someone else’s study to read books became all the beautiful moments of her childhood.
Of course, this generation of the eastern neighbor’s family probably didn’t care much for reading, so the place was often deserted, and no one ever discovered Shi Yun. In all that time, she was only caught once.
If discovered, she would be beaten out by the eastern neighbor’s master. The son of the eastern neighbor’s family was idle and uneducated, spending his days stealing chickens and catching fish. So when the elders of the eastern neighbor’s family saw that the poor, worthless man next door actually had such a diligent and studious daughter—covered in bruises yet still crawling over to read—they became even more infuriated and looked at her with even greater disdain.
But Shi Yun was extremely clever. Every time, she would hide the small hole securely behind a wooden box. The eastern neighbor’s family was baffled, not knowing how she got in. Later, they guarded the main door day and night but never saw anyone sneaking in.
After being beaten by the neighbor, Shi Yun would still have to endure beatings from her father or grandmother. When the neighbor dragged Shi Yun over and threw her to the ground, her father or grandmother would put on a smiling face and apologize profusely. But as soon as the neighbor left, their faces would darken like the bottom of a pot, filled with disgust. They would grab a broom or a stick and hurl it at Shi Yun:
“You worthless little wretch, always eyeing what others have, just like your shameless mother!”
She would silently endure the beating, neither crying nor making a fuss. Afterward, she would just sit quietly under the tree by the front door, occasionally picking up fallen leaves and tracing their veins for fun before burying them again.
Until one day, the son of the eastern neighbor’s family returned from catching fish at the Jijiang River. He sat in front of the eastern neighbor’s house, spread out a large net, and began sorting the fish. Shi Yun sat under the tree nearby, biting her nails and hugging her knees as she watched him work.
The landlord’s son propped up a stool and began picking through the contents of the basket, tossing out a pile of waterweeds that had drifted in with the net, along with a strange fish—plump, round, and covered in soft spines.
Shi Yun sat under a tree, biting her nails. Suddenly, as if she had discovered some rare thousand-year-old stone or ten-thousand-year-old treasure, she grew excited. Stumbling several times over the dirt and rocks on the road, she scurried over to the young man and pointed at the fish, asking foolishly,
“Brother, what is this?”
The daughter of that poor, wretched family was usually withdrawn and unsociable, never speaking to anyone. Her sudden appearance startled the young man. Upon recognizing her as the lazy man’s daughter, he couldn’t help but laugh twice, snorting as he said,
“It’s a fish that can send you to the heavens if you eat it.”
“Then I can find Mama in the heavens!”
This little bastard was so stupid it was almost laughable.
“Yes, take it home and eat it. Your mama is waiting for you in the heavens!”
The little girl’s face lit up with an utterly foolish smile as she happily cradled the fish.
“Thank you, brother!”
Her father was unwilling to work, and her elderly grandmother couldn’t be relied upon either. The family had always lived hand-to-mouth. The fish Shi Yun brought back finally made her somewhat useful, so for once, she wasn’t beaten that day. But that didn’t mean an outsider’s worthless bastard had the right to eat at the table. Still, her father did toss her a fish head bone with a bit of leftover brain matter—an act of great mercy.
Shi Yun shrank into the corner and didn’t touch it. As expected, disaster struck that very night. Her parents and grandmother lay in their room, their bodies convulsing so violently they arched backward, their lips turning blue and purple. They gasped for air but couldn’t draw any in. They tried calling for Shi Yun to fetch help, but after shouting several times, no one answered.
Young Shi Yun stayed awake all night, hiding in the woodshed, listening to the two of them cry out and curse, wondering why the damned girl hadn’t come yet.
Expressionless, she huddled in the corner, listening as their cries of pain and curses gradually faded until they fell completely silent. Only then did she quietly crawl over to check their breathing. Silence. Still silence. Finally, freedom.
A young child couldn’t hide her feelings. Shi Yun used all her strength to suppress the corners of her mouth from curling upward. She had to think of every sad thing in her life to keep from smiling before she scrambled on her hands and knees to the doorstep of the western neighbor’s house, pounding on the door with all her might.
The western neighbor’s family had been farmers for generations. Hearing a child crying at the door, they hurried to open it and found Shi Yun, sobbing as if her heart would break. Between choked breaths, she stammered,
“My dad and grandma… they won’t move anymore.”
The neighbor quickly gathered people to check. Pushing the door open, they found the two lying stiffly on the bed, their faces and lips blue and purple. A touch confirmed they had no breath left. They called for help and reported it to the authorities, but the officials dragged their feet for several days before arriving. By then, the bodies had already begun to rot.
During those days, Shi Yun stayed with the western neighbor’s family. Though they ate coarse grains and simple vegetables, at least no one beat her, and life was somewhat better. When the officials finally arrived, they inspected Shi Yun’s home and concluded: they had eaten something bad.
Pufferfish poison—once it touches the tongue, it rots; once it enters the belly, it rots the intestines. There’s no saving anyone from it.
Who could they blame for poisoning themselves by eating wild fish they shouldn’t have? Certainly not the officials.
So, the rest of the matter was no longer their concern.
Nonsense—how could they possibly hold a fish accountable, one that had already been reincarnated several days ago?
The fish had no worries, but the family to the west certainly did. A few days ago, some unlucky relatives of the lazy man’s family had come to at least collect the bodies of the two and bury them, but they absolutely refused to take the little girl along. They argued that since she wasn’t of their bloodline, why should they have to feed an extra mouth?
But the little girl couldn’t stay with the western neighbors forever. They had their own sons and daughters, all farmers, and another mouth to feed was a burden.
Just then, the son from the eastern neighbor’s family suddenly stepped forward and said,
“We’ll take her in.”
The western neighbors found it strange. The eastern family was so stingy that even a fly entering their home would have to leave a leg behind—how could they be willing to raise an extra little girl? But then again, who knew? Maybe an iron tree would bloom, or the sun would rise from the west.
Shi Yun had already been eating free meals at the western neighbors’ for several days, so of course, she didn’t dare voice any objection to this decision.
However, the sun would never rise from the west, and an iron tree only blooms once in a thousand years. Shi Yun certainly didn’t have the good fortune to wait that long.