Wu Guihua grasped the jade pendant again. It was hot to the touch, and in the next instant she found herself in a world filled with birdsong and fragrant blossoms.
At her feet lay an empty little courtyard. Three neat, clean thatched cottages stood inside it, and there was a well in one corner.
Outside the courtyard were plenty of fruit trees and vegetables. Beyond them stretched lush green meadows leading to a small mountain. A large patch of medicinal herbs grew at the mountain’s left foot, farmland lay in the middle, and on the right was a pond of three or four mu…
Summoning her courage, Wu Guihua made a round of the place, then picked a big apple from one of the trees. Crunch, crunch—at last, she felt a little more at ease!
Her own father, Wu Hongshan, had secretly sold a wild boar in the city and traded with the buyer for this jade pendant. He had also gotten a gold bracelet in the deal.
Li Hongyuan’s family had moved to Nandawa from elsewhere. They were so poor they had nothing to their name—not a house, not a strip of land.
When she was eighteen, she had been so besotted with Li Hongyuan that her head had turned to mush. She’d insisted on marrying into the Li family.
Her father had no choice. He secretly sold the gold bracelet and built her a new courtyard as her dowry. The inconspicuous jade pendant went around her neck.
She’d never imagined that the courtyard would give her a place to call home, or that the pendant would turn out to contain a Blessed Realm.
It seemed the immortal who had owned it had cast it aside, and it hadn’t been looked after.
But to her, it meant a lifetime free from worry over food and clothing. It also gave her the confidence to rid herself of the Li family, a pack of bloodsuckers, and make the scumbard and his mistress pay!
Thinking of her father, whose bones had long since turned to dust, Wu Guihua burst into tears.
In her previous life, she had worked herself to the bone for decades. Even when she was dying of terminal cancer, her mother-in-law cursed her and her gambling-addicted son broke her leg. She’d regretted it so bitterly she could have kicked herself.
How had she failed to heed her father’s warning? The Li family had taken everything from her, squeezing every last bit of wealth her father had left her—and taking her whole life along with it!
She should never have believed Li Hongyuan’s sweet talk. She should never have let her mother-in-law brainwash her. She should never have caused the death of her bright, devoted daughter, and she should never have indulged her selfish, ungrateful son!
Luckily, she’d been given another chance!
This time, things would be different!
Those who owed her would pay her back—with interest!
Those who had harmed her would pay in blood!
“Mom, dinner’s ready!” Li Lan called, banging on the door.
Wu Guihua wiped away her tears and went out to eat with her daughter.
The fragrant pork-and-cabbage stew and golden millet porridge were the best meal the two of them had eaten in over a decade.
From the west room, Li Xiaojun pounded on the door and cursed. “Let me out! I’m hungry! I want meat! You bitch, you good-for-nothing! I’ll get Grandma to beat you to death!”
“You ungrateful little wretch! Go eat shit!”
Wu Guihua didn’t feel sorry for him in the slightest. Missing one meal was nothing. In her previous life, even as she lay dying, she’d still been rummaging through garbage bins for food. What was this by comparison?
She slept soundly through the night!
Wu Guihua opened her eyes to the sound of cursing from the west room. She went straight over, found a rag, stuffed it into the Old Hag’s mouth, tied her hands and feet, and threw her onto the kang.
As expected, Li Xiaojun—the “Sickly One”—had a mild fever again. He’d make a perfectly useful prop.
After locking the courtyard, Wu Guihua picked up a tattered bundle. Li Lan carried the dazed Li Xiaojun on her back, and the three of them set off.
The Military District where Li Hongyuan was stationed was only a hundred li from Anbang County. The three of them took a bus from the county seat and, after a drawn-out journey, reached a town near the Military District at three in the afternoon.
Wu Guihua couldn’t help sneering.
So this was the place Li Hongyuan had always called “far away” in her previous life—and his excuse for not coming home for more than a decade!
A half-old Liberation truck was parked at the entrance to town. Two young soldiers in green uniforms stood at the back, helping women and children climb into the truck bed.
Wu Guihua hurried over with her daughter and son.
“Comrades, is this truck from the Military District? I’m taking my children to see their father. Could you give us a ride part of the way?”
The two young soldiers didn’t recognize her and were immediately wary.
Wu Guihua gave them Li Hongyuan’s name at once.
“I’m Li Hongyuan’s wife, and these are his daughter and son. He wrote home saying he was in Third Battalion. Do you know him?”
Third Battalion Commander Li Hongyuan?!
The two soldiers and all the women and children in the truck turned to look at her in unison.
Wu Guihua wore a blue padded jacket patched over and over. Her hair was dry and yellow, and her face was so lined you could trap a mosquito in the wrinkles.
Li Lan was eighteen or nineteen, yet thinner than other children of thirteen or fourteen.
Li Xiaojun’s cheeks were burning with fever, and he kept mumbling that he was hungry…
“Where did this swindler come from? Battalion Commander Li’s wife is called Wang Yun. She’s gorgeous—she’s my son’s primary-school teacher. Just yesterday, Battalion Commander Li and Teacher Wang were strolling hand in hand past my house!”
A young wife glared at Wu Guihua and cursed.
Wu Guihua pulled a letter of introduction from her clothes and thrust it straight into the two soldiers’ hands.
“This is the letter of introduction from our village. It says it all: I’m Li Hongyuan’s wife, Comrade Wu!”
“Wang Yun is my husband’s elder brother’s wife. After his brother died, Li Hongyuan said his widowed sister-in-law was having a hard time, so he brought her and her children near the Military District to look after them! Since when did a widowed sister-in-law and her husband’s Uncle become a couple?”
Wu Guihua dropped to the ground and started wailing and cursing.
“Li Hongyuan, you heartless bastard! I brought a house and a dowry into our marriage. I served your mother for more than ten years and raised two children. Things got so bad I had to sell my blood, and you never sent a single cent home!
“I thought you were too busy defending the country. If my mother-in-law and children hadn’t fallen ill this time, and we hadn’t been so desperately short of food, I wouldn’t have come.
“I never imagined you were so busy under the covers with your widowed sister-in-law!”
It was the busiest time of day in town. As soon as the commotion broke out around the Liberation truck, everyone came over to see what was happening.
The women and children in the truck crowded toward the back, nearly tipping the front end up.
The two soldiers were frantic and tried to reason with Wu Guihua, but then Li Xiaojun rolled his eyes and passed out.
Li Lan wasn’t stupid either. She let herself topple to the ground with a thud!
“The children of a hero who defends the country are starving to death because he’s fooling around with his sister-in-law!” Wu Guihua clutched her daughter and son and cried out in anguish. The whole town was in an uproar.
“What happened? Who’s starving to death?”
“I don’t know. Sounds like a soldier from the camp is carrying on with his sister-in-law and neglecting his wife and kids back home. He’s starved his own children to death!”
“What? That’s despicable! There are pests among the troops who defend our country! What a heartless thing to do!”
The two young soldiers were running around in a panic. At last, they came to a decision, lifted Wu Guihua and her children onto the truck, and hurried back to the camp.
Wu Guihua sat on the truck with her daughter and son in her arms, never stopping her stream of words. She sobbed as she spoke.
By the time the Liberation truck came to a stop, everyone had already heard all about the Li family’s despicable behavior!
The army wives and children riding with them even handed over their corn buns to Wu Guihua and her children.
Poor things. They were truly pitiful!
Since ancient times, it had been hard to serve both country and family; it was understandable that a soldier couldn’t look after home.
But she lived only a hundred li away, and he hadn’t gone back for more than a decade or sent a penny home, driving his wife to sell blood to feed his mother and children? No one had ever heard of anything like it!
And to make matters worse, he had a widowed sister-in-law and her nephew and niece living with him, brazenly passing them off as his wife and children. It was outrageous!
As it happened, Li Hongyuan was reporting to the Political Commissar. A deputy regimental commander in their regiment was about to be discharged from the army.
Li Hongyuan had served for nearly twenty years and had the seniority for the position. He and his wife were devoted to each other; his son had just enlisted, and his daughter was about to start university. Theirs was a model family.
Li Hongyuan was the ideal candidate to take over as deputy regimental commander!
He stood ramrod straight, his expression composed, while inside he was practically bursting with joy. He was just about to make a statement of commitment when a young soldier pushed open the office door.
“Battalion Commander Li! Political Commissar… You’d better come and see! Battalion Commander Li’s wife from back home has come with the children. His son and daughter starved to death over by the town. We’ve brought them back!”
Whose wife and children?!
Who had starved to death?!
The Political Commissar was utterly bewildered, but Li Hongyuan’s face turned pale in an instant!