The three members of the Li family fell silent.
No one spoke, and the awkwardness was palpable.
The reason was indeed unspeakable.
Thud!!
Just then, someone threw a large clump of dirt into the yard.
Cheng Yun immediately went to open the door, looked around but saw no one, and could only curse loudly, “Who’s the damn thing that threw dirt into my yard? If I catch you, I’ll give you a good beating.”
Li Qinkuai followed by closing the door, then looked at her parents and older brother, calming herself before saying, “Anyway, from now on, let’s not set our sights on Duan Pengyue. There are so many educated youths sent to the countryside—he’s not the only one.”
“Alright, alright, you go rest first. I’ll have your dad look for other good educated youths.”
Cheng Yun coaxed Li Qinkuai back to her room to rest.
Still uneasy, Li Qinkuai pressed them, “Dad, Mom, Brother, promise me you won’t go looking for him again, and definitely don’t cause him any trouble. Just act as if what happened before never occurred.”
She didn’t want her family to do anything wrong to Duan Pengyue again.
In her previous life, before she was burned to death, Qing Shuangyun had personally told her that her parents and brother had been killed by people she hired, and that she wouldn’t be lonely down there—the whole family would be reunited.
Li Qinkuai knew very well that she had dragged her parents and brother into this. If she hadn’t insisted on marrying Duan Pengyue, she wouldn’t have died, and her parents and brother wouldn’t have been implicated because of her.
“Fine, we’ll listen to you. We won’t cause him any trouble.”
Only after hearing Li Dafu’s promise did Li Qinkuai feel reassured. She then turned and headed to the washroom.
Perhaps because she had slept on the straw with Duan Pengyue, she now felt itchy all over. She definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep without washing up.
After her bath, Li Qinkuai lay down on the wooden plank bed, covered with the thin cotton quilt her mother had newly made for her this year. Listening to the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves outside, she felt a sense of comfort and peace.
The next day, as dawn was just breaking, Cheng Yun came knocking on Li Qinkuai’s door.
“Qinkuai, get up quickly and eat. Mom boiled an egg for you today.”
Li Qinkuai opened her eyes, dazedly looking toward the door, then realized she had been reborn back to the year she was nineteen—the days when she had to work in the fields.
Even though Li Qinkuai’s father was the production team leader, that didn’t mean she was exempt from labor.
“Alright, I’ll get up right away.”
Li Qinkuai quickly put on her clothes, washed up, and sat down at the dining table.
In front of her seat was a bowl of porridge, with an egg placed beside it, while a bowl of pickled vegetables sat in the middle of the table.
Her parents and brother were drinking porridge that had more water than rice, eating it with the pickled vegetables.
In Li Qinkuai’s bowl, however, the rice was clearly visible. Although eggs weren’t available every day, if she said she wanted one, she would definitely get it.
“Qinkuai, what are you spacing out for? Hurry up and eat.”
Li Dafu picked up a bite of pickled vegetables with his chopsticks, watching his daughter still sitting there in a daze, and urged her.
Snapping back to reality, she replied with a bitter “Mm,” picked up her chopsticks, and began to eat.
Li Qinfen reached over, picked up the egg beside Li Qinkuai’s bowl, and with practiced ease, tapped it against the corner of the table, peeled off the shell, and placed the egg into Li Qinkuai’s bowl.
“Eat up.”
Looking at the tender white egg in her bowl, Li Qinkuai’s eyes reddened. She quickly lowered her head to drink her porridge, afraid her family would notice something was off.
In her previous life, after she married into the Duan family, no one ever peeled an egg for her, and she never learned how to do it herself—when she tried, she’d end up peeling off bits of the egg white along with the shell.
The Duan family would mock her at such times, calling her a country bumpkin who had never eaten an egg and didn’t even know how to peel one, which angered Li Qinkuai so much that she refused to eat eggs again.
But now, at home, her eggs were always peeled and placed in her bowl before she ate them.
Thinking about it, she found it laughable—laughable how foolish she had been, like a pig.
The best days and happiness were right before her eyes, yet she couldn’t see them. Instead, she had foolishly yearned for things that didn’t belong to her and even lost her life because of it!
After finishing her meal, Li Qinkuai went out to the fields with her family.
Li Qinkuai had attended school for a few years and knew how to read and write. Additionally, because her father was the production team leader, she was the only work-point recorder in the village.
It was an easy, non-strenuous job with plenty of free time.
And it was precisely because of this that she had the time to seduce Duan Pengyue.
Her eldest brother, Li Qinfen, was the production group leader, responsible for assigning tasks to the educated youth and supervising their work.
Cheng Yun, on the other hand, worked in the fields doing lighter tasks like weeding and planting vegetables to earn a few work points, and she also had to return home to cook during mealtimes.
The family had a clear division of labor, and once they reached the fields, each went about their own tasks.
“Qinkuai, want to come with me?” Li Qinfen called out.
In the past, Li Qinkuai would head straight to the field where the educated youth worked as soon as she arrived, looking for Duan Pengyue to seduce him.
But now, she dared not go. She could no longer have any relationship with Duan Pengyue.
Li Qinkuai shook her head in refusal and turned to another field instead, checking if any villagers had taken temporary leave and needed their work points recorded.
After making her rounds and finishing her tasks, Li Qinkuai had broken into a light sweat on her back. She casually found a large tree to sit under and cool off.
As soon as she sat down, a strange voice echoed in her mind.
“Ding—!! Discovered one foxtail grass. Reward: half a pound of pork belly. Space granted.”
As soon as the voice faded, Li Qinkuai found herself in an enclosed, seemingly endless space.
On the ground lay a piece of pork belly, weighing about half a pound.
In these times, meat was especially precious. Li Qinkuai quickly picked up the meat and held it in her hand, then recalled the voice she had just heard in her mind.
This place was called a space. Could it be a reward from heaven for her rebirth??
But how was she supposed to leave this place?
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Li Qinkuai instantly found herself back under the tree, still holding the pork belly.
Panic struck her. If anyone saw her wandering around the fields with pork belly in hand, wouldn’t it look like she was deliberately showing off?
Better to return to the space.
The next second, Li Qinkuai entered the space again. With just a fleeting thought, she could come and go as she pleased.
Remembering the voice from earlier, Li Qinkuai left the space to search for foxtail grass. This time, she deliberately looked for a whole patch.
As soon as her hand touched the foxtail grass, the voice sounded again.
“Discovered a patch of foxtail grass. Reward: three pounds of pork!”
As the voice faded, the foxtail grass before her disappeared. Li Qinkuai entered the space and, sure enough, found three pounds of meat lying on the ground.
She cried out in joy. This was three pounds of meat! Meat obtained without spending money or ration tickets—it was like free meat!
It was almost noon, and her mother would likely be returning home soon to cook.
Li Qinkuai left the space, stuffed the half-pound of pork belly into her pocket, and headed home.
As soon as she arrived home, before she could even put the meat away, Cheng Yun returned, holding a bunch of leafy greens in her hand—likely the vegetables for lunch.
“Qinkuai, why are you back so early today? Did you not eat enough this morning?” Cheng Yun asked curiously.
Li Qinkuai shook her head and told Cheng Yun to close the main door.
Cheng Yun grew even more puzzled. “What’s going on? Why all the secrecy? Or have you taken a fancy to another educated youth?”
Li Qinkuai shot her an annoyed look. “Mom, do you really think all I care about is men?”
Cheng Yun chuckled to herself, thinking, “Isn’t that exactly the case?”
“Mom, look what this is!”
Li Qinkuai took out the meat and proudly lifted her chin as she asked.
“You! Where did you get this meat? This is pork belly, and it’s five-layered—looks really good!”
Cheng Yun’s eyes lit up, fixed intently on the meat.
“I found it in the grass. Someone must have hidden it there secretly. Mom, before the villagers come home to cook, hurry up and prepare this meat. Otherwise, once the aroma spreads, whoever lost it might come looking for it.”
Li Qinkuai casually made up an excuse.
Cheng Yun didn’t doubt her and nodded eagerly. “Alright, I’ll start cooking it right away. I promise to make it delicious!”
Knowing her mother’s personality, Li Qinkuai added another reminder. “Mom, since this meat was found, cook it all at once. Don’t save any.”
“Ah, I know, no need to worry about that! Go get back to work.”
Cheng Yun brushed her off, then added, “Later, remember to call your dad and your brother back to eat. We won’t bring them lunch today.”
Li Qinkuai returned to the field, intending to continue exploring the space—figuring out how it worked and how to exchange items.
Under a tree, she spotted a seven-spotted ladybug. An idea struck her, and she reached out to catch it.
“Ding! One wild seven-spotted ladybug discovered. Reward: one free-range chicken.”
Hearing the voice in her mind and seeing the ladybug vanish from her hand, Li Qinkuai entered the space. There, she found a hen pecking at the three jin of pork she had just exchanged!