It wasn’t until she was sitting on the bus that Zhou Shengnan truly felt she had traveled through time.
She looked at the people around her, dressed in clothes distinct to the era and speaking in old-fashioned Northeastern dialect.
She felt no regret for her previous life, only joy at getting the chance to live again.
In her last life, she had been like a rat in a gutter, not knowing what the point of living was. All she could do was hide in the shadows and secretly watch ordinary people live happily.
When she was exhausted, she would hope that in her next life she might be a normal child with parents and family of her own.
She never imagined that after she died, her dream would really come true.
It was 1988. The original Zhou Shengnan was also twenty-one years old and worked at the Textile Factory.
Her father was a slaughterman, and her mother had once worked at the Textile Factory. Later, when her health deteriorated, Zhou Shengnan took over her mother’s job.
Her older brother had graduated from high school and picked up odd jobs. They weren’t well-off, but their home was warm.
Everything changed when the original Zhou Shengnan met a man named Chen Weihua.
Chen Weihua was handsome, and he worked as a purchasing agent at the factory. He was unmarried, too, so plenty of young women liked him.
The original Zhou Shengnan was at that tender age when love first blooms. Chen Weihua gave her signals that he was interested, and the two began dating in secret.
Last month, Chen Weihua told her that a friend had a way to get a batch of tape recorders from Hong Kong. They could sell them for double the price and make a tidy profit.
But Chen Weihua’s family had no money, so he could only ask Zhou Shengnan for a loan.
“Once I sell the goods, I’ll split the profits with you. Then I’ll come to your house and ask for your hand.
“Shengnan, don’t you want to marry me?”
Those words had clouded the original Zhou Shengnan’s mind with the sickly-sweet haze of romance. She’d blinded herself, taken the eight hundred yuan her family had saved, and handed it all over to him.
And then… she heard that Chen Weihua had borrowed money from several people at the factory, sold his job, moved away, and disappeared.
The next news she got was that he was going to marry the daughter of the director of the city’s Food Factory.
The eight hundred yuan she’d lent Chen Weihua had apparently become the contribution toward the “three turns and one sound” wedding set—the wedding gifts for the director’s daughter.
The original Zhou Shengnan was stunned. She’d secretly taken the eight hundred yuan her family had set aside for her mother’s medical treatment.
Now the money was gone, and when her mother learned her daughter had been swindled, she fainted on the spot. Zhou Shengnan, frantic with anger, set off for the city to demand an explanation.
While waiting for the long-distance bus, she grew angrier and angrier until she literally angered herself to death.
Zhou Shengnan rolled her eyes in exasperation. The original owner had really managed to die from her own stupidity.
You could believe in ghosts if you wanted, but you should never believe a man’s lying mouth!
But the worst of all was that bastard Chen Weihua.
He could deceive the original Zhou Shengnan’s feelings, but he absolutely could not cheat her out of her money, because that money belonged to Zhou Shengnan now.
“Chen Weihua, is it? Well, today I’m going to wish you a very happy wedding!”
Once she’d sorted things out in her head, Zhou Shengnan clenched her fist, her words dripping with gritted-teeth fury.
The bus rattled along for two and a half hours. By the time it reached Ji City, the sky was just beginning to lighten.
Zhou Shengnan got off and stretched her body, which she could handle with ease.
She had to admit, this body was great. It was flexible and strong, far better than the one she’d had in her previous life, riddled with old injuries.
As she warmed up, Zhou Shengnan headed for the address the original owner had learned.
On the way, she wondered whether anyone had rescued those four naked men who’d been licking sheet metal.
If nobody had, they could make a nice ice-sculpture display for the New Year.
Chen Weihua’s wedding venue was easy to find. Zhou Shengnan got there after about half an hour.
She looked at the courtyard gate with its red wedding character pasted on it, and at the newlyweds inside, cheerfully making the rounds toasts. She gave a cold snort.
She’d just been thinking of buying a knife and going in to castrate Chen Weihua when she spotted the neighbors next door cleaning out their pigsty.
A black pig was huddled in the corner, its snot hanging from its nose like a crystal pendant in the bitter winter cold.
“Auntie, I’ll give you two yuan. Could I borrow your pig for a little while?”
Zhou Shengnan pulled two yuan from her pocket and raised an eyebrow at the woman cleaning the pigsty. The look on her face was… distinctly shifty.
While Zhou Shengnan was negotiating with the woman, Chen Weihua was inside the courtyard, going from table to table with his new wife, Zhao Hongying, to toast the guests.
“Sorry we haven’t been able to look after you properly! Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to come!”
“Groom, you’re a lucky man, marrying our director’s daughter. Congratulations!”
Chen Weihua was handsome, and standing beside Zhao Hongying, the two looked like a perfect match.
Quite a few people knew that Chen Weihua had appeared out of nowhere, with no connections to speak of, yet somehow managed to come up with three thousand yuan in bride price and the “three turns and one sound” wedding set.
With his handsome face and silver tongue, he’d really managed to win the director’s daughter.
Marrying the director’s daughter was practically a shortcut that saved him twenty years of hard work.
Many people made snide remarks, driven by envy, jealousy, and resentment, and kept urging Chen Weihua to drink.
They were hoping he’d be a drunken heap by the time he got to the wedding night.
“Come on, we’ve had plenty to drink. Why don’t we have the bride and groom share a wedding cup?”
As soon as those words were spoken, people at all thirty-odd tables in the courtyard cheered and clapped, urging the couple to drink.
It was too cold to eat much outside. Most people had come for the excitement and to curry favor with the factory director.
Director Zhao watched his daughter and son-in-law with a smile, enjoying the feeling of being fawned over.
Chen Weihua and Zhao Hongying exchanged shy looks, then finally raised their glasses.
Just as their arms entwined and their glasses were about to touch, a sudden string of firecrackers crackled outside.
“Oink! Oink!”
The firecrackers startled everyone. They assumed another family nearby was celebrating a wedding.
But before anyone could look toward the gate, a filthy, shaggy black pig came squealing into the courtyard.
The yard was packed with tables and chairs, and the pig charged wildly in every direction.
Anyone who didn’t get out of the way in time was knocked to the ground, with the food from the tables spilling all over them. It was a humiliating mess.
“Ah! Stop it! Don’t let it come over here!”
Zhao Hongying’s father shouted furiously. If a pig ruined the wedding feast, he’d never be able to show his face again.
But the pig had been blasted on the backside by firecrackers. It was in too much pain to do anything but charge into whatever was in front of it. There was no stopping it.
Tables and chairs went flying. Guests fled in panic, and the festive wedding banquet turned into a farce.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
Just as Chen Weihua and Zhao Hongying were about to lose their tempers, their faces livid, a tall figure appeared in the doorway.
Zhou Shengnan held a large broom borrowed from the neighbor for cleaning out the pigsty in one hand, and a slop bucket full of pig shit in the other.
When she saw Chen Weihua, a fierce, frenzied glint flashed in her eyes.
“A broom dipped in shit—Lü Bu reborn! You little bastard, eat this, courtesy of your Grandpa Sun!”
After Zhou Shengnan soaked the broom in the slop bucket, her fighting power shot through the roof.
With the thing in her hand, it was as if she were wielding Lü Bu’s halberd. She charged straight at Chen Weihua.
Anyone in her way was as good as dead—man or Buddha. As far as she was concerned, everyone was an enemy, so there was no need to worry about hitting the wrong person.
She was like a thug who’d barged into the women’s bathhouse. Wherever she went, the guests scattered faster than rabbits, terrified of getting splattered with shit.
“Z-Zhou Shengnan?”
The moment Chen Weihua saw her, his whole body stiffened with fright, and his voice turned panicked.
He hadn’t expected Zhou Shengnan to track him down here and ruin his wedding.
It was only eight hundred yuan. Did she really have to chase him all the way here?
Disgust and irritation flashed in Chen Weihua’s eyes. He was just about to put her down and yell at her as usual, to bring her back under his control.
But the very next second, the shit-covered broom swept through the air with a gust of force and smacked Chen Weihua right across his handsome face.
Perhaps because this body had inherited her father’s strength—he was a butcher—Zhou Shengnan was stronger than an average man.
Chen Weihua felt the full-force blow, thrown with all her might, as if a heavy truck had run over his face.
The tall man, well over six feet, went flying.
His body traced a graceful arc through the air before landing with a splat.
Before Chen Weihua could react, the rampaging pig came past and stomped all over his face with its four hooves.
Then it took a dump right on him, covering his face without wasting a bit.
“Weihua?” Seeing Chen Weihua lying motionless on the ground, Zhao Hongying rushed over. “Who are you? Why are you ruining our wedding?”
At Zhao Hongying’s accusation, Zhou Shengnan gave a cold laugh.
“Please. You think I wanted to come to this wedding you all paid for together?
“Chen Weihua owes me a thousand yuan and won’t pay me back. He also got one of our factory’s women workers pregnant. I’m here to deliver justice!”
“Bullshit! I only took eight hundred yuan from you!”