“I did nothing wrong!”
“She was the one who insisted on following me into the mountains. Once we were in the mountains, she ran off on her own. If something happened to her, what does that have to do with me?”
A voice, aggrieved and choked with sobs, rang out beside her ear.
Gu Wan’er frowned slightly.
Who is that… making so much noise first thing in the morning…
She opened her eyes groggily, and what came into view was a worn earthen wall, an enamel basin printed with large peonies, and a portrait of the Chairman hanging on the wall.
No matter how she looked at it, this was nothing like the room she rented!
Gu Wan’er snapped awake instantly, her still-muddled brain clearing at once.
“Big Brother, Wan’er grew up under your watch. Now she has such a big gash on her face—you can’t just refuse to take responsibility!”
Gu Wan’er immediately looked over.
Before her eyes was a man in his thirties, his brow slightly furrowed, looking in her direction with concern in his eyes.
Who is he?
Why does seeing him stir up an inexplicable sense of closeness in her heart?
Gu Wan’er felt rather puzzled.
Before she could think it through, her head began to throb with pain.
She bit her lip hard, suppressing the cry of pain that rose to her mouth, clutching her head as she absorbed the images suddenly flooding into her mind.
The original owner of this body was also named Gu Wan’er.
She had gone into the mountains with her older cousin and fallen into a hunter’s trap.
By the time she woke up, she was back home.
This scene felt so familiar… as if she had heard of it somewhere before!
Gu Wan’er’s brow furrowed slightly, her heart full of confusion, but for the moment she couldn’t make sense of anything.
“Wan’er, are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?”
The voice in her ear seemed to drift in from somewhere far away.
She looked toward the source of the sound with hazy, unfocused eyes, still dazed and not quite processing what was happening.
Her head throbbed in waves. She had no attention to spare for the voice beside her ear, and could only breathe in great gulps of fresh air to ease the pain in her head.
“Zemu, we can deal with everything else later. Let Uncle Fang come take a look at Wan’er first. If something really has happened to Wan’er, Big Brother won’t shirk his responsibility.”
Uncle Fang was the village’s barefoot doctor. Whenever anyone in the village fell ill, they got their medicine from him.
Gu Wan’er forced herself to endure the discomfort in her body and looked toward the source of the voice.
The speaker was around fifty years old, with a swarthy face and drooping brows and eyes, looking somewhat careworn.
Gu Wan’er instinctively realized this was the original owner’s uncle.
And the Zemu he spoke of was the original owner’s father, Gu Zemu.
Looking at Gu Wan’er—brow furrowed, lips pale—Gu Zemu didn’t hesitate for a moment. He immediately ran outside to fetch Uncle Fang.
Before Uncle Fang arrived, Gu Wan’er had already caught her breath.
For some reason, looking at the original owner’s father and uncle, she felt an inexplicable sense of closeness.
As if she herself were the original owner…
Gu Zemu soon brought Uncle Fang over.
Uncle Fang gave Gu Wan’er a simple examination and said lightly, “It’s just some external injuries. Nothing else is seriously wrong.”
“Then why is Wan’er in so much pain? Could she have injured her head?”
Gu Zemu pressed anxiously, one question after another.
Wan’er had never been injured like this before… and who knew if that gash on her face would leave a scar—she had always been so vain about her looks…
Uncle Fang glanced at Gu Wan’er and said with a frown, “That’s all I can tell. If you’re worried, take her to the county or the city for a proper look.”
“But a trip to the county for medical treatment won’t come cheap.”
Uncle Fang had a good temperament, and even after being questioned by Gu Zemu, he didn’t get angry.
After saying this, he didn’t linger at the Gu household any longer—he picked up his medicine kit and left.
Gu Zemu looked at his elder brother, Gu Zehai, furrowing his brow. “Big Brother, you heard what Uncle Fang just said.”
“Wan’er is our precious girl. Of course we have to take her to the county for treatment—it’s just the money…”
Gu Zehai understood what his younger brother meant.
The crease between his brows deepened. He puffed away at his pipe, saying nothing.
Beside them, Gu Ting’er, terrified that her father might actually offer up money, hastily said, “Fifth Uncle, our family has no money.”
“The family hasn’t split up yet. If Fifth Uncle wants to take Wan’er to a big hospital, he’ll have to go ask Grandmother.”
At those words, Gu Zemu’s face turned cold at once. “Big Brother, is that what you think too?”
Without waiting for Gu Zehai to speak, he demanded in displeasure, “If it weren’t for your Ting’er, our Wan’er wouldn’t be like this. You can’t seriously expect Mom to pay for it?”
Gu Zehai stayed silent for a long while. Just as Gu Zemu was about to lose his patience, he slowly spoke. “I’ll figure something out about the money!”
“Dad, what could you possibly do? All the family’s money was handed over to Grandmother. There’s no money at home!”
Gu Ting’er suddenly had a bad feeling.
She hurriedly tried to dissuade Gu Zehai.
Gu Zehai silently puffed away at his pipe. After a good while, he said in a hoarse voice, “Ting’er, a while back, someone from the neighboring village came to propose marriage. The bride price could be eighty-eight yuan. Tomorrow, go meet him.”
“I won’t!”
Gu Ting’er knew exactly who her father was talking about.
The man was an idle old widower who beat his wife.
The fact that he could put up such a large bride price meant he had already spent every last cent of his family’s savings.
If she married into that household, never mind having any good days ahead—she would be beaten from time to time on top of it.
She absolutely refused to marry such a man.
“Dad, I’m your own flesh-and-blood daughter. Are you really going to drive me to my death for Fifth Uncle’s family?”
Gu Ting’er’s eyes were already rimmed with red.
She couldn’t help raising her voice, which carried a trace of choked sobs, her body trembling slightly—she looked rather pitiful.
Being contradicted by his daughter in front of his younger brother made Gu Zehai lose face, and his expression grew even darker.
He raised his voice as well, rebuking her with anger, “If you had protected Wan’er, how would she have gotten hurt?”
“This is your fault to begin with. I’m cleaning up your mess, and you actually show me no gratitude!”
Hearing this familiar conversation, Gu Wan’er finally understood why everything before her eyes felt so familiar.
Wasn’t this the plot of the very novel she had read just last night?
In the novel, after the original owner’s cousin nearly got sold off by her father to the old widower, her personality changed completely.
She no longer cared about family ties. She worked hard to make her own fortune, and began taking revenge on the fifth household—that is, the original owner’s family.
In the end, some of the original owner’s family died, some were crippled, and some even ended up in prison.
And the original owner, left without her family’s protection, was targeted by a young hoodlum who coveted her beauty and was forcibly taken as his wife.
Beaten to death by a petty thug husband, she had lost her life at a young age—and in a daze before dying, she had seen this cousin return home in glory, dressed in the finest of wealthy attire.
Thinking of the plot she had watched last night, Gu Wan’er couldn’t help feeling a pang of bitterness in her heart.