Under the pretext of road repairs, only one corpse was unearthed. Once the road was restored, Gu Liancheng received notice: the final decision from above was to cremate the remains and, when the time was right in the future, give the ashes to Jiang Zhao and Jiang Tang.
Hearing the news, Gu Liancheng felt a mix of emotions. He had thought the organization would question Jiang Zhen, but they had considered the situation even more carefully.
Xiao Jianzhou said:
“Jiang Zhen indeed has a twin sister named Jiang Zhen (Jiang Zhen’s original twin name: Jiang Zhen/姜真). She went missing when their parents saw a mirage. Based on the clues we have, the experts speculate that at that time Jiang Zhen was no longer in our world. This recent mirage allowed her to return by chance. Unfortunately, before the sisters could recognize each other, her sister was killed by bandits. Sigh… at least the two children were saved.”
Some questions weren’t really Gu Liancheng’s place to ask, but he worried about hidden dangers and spoke up for Jiang Zhen.
“Is the organization not going to ask Jiang Zhen about the world she came from?”
Xiao Jianzhou replied:
“You’re letting your concern cloud your judgment. After she arrived, even a raw sweet potato and plain boiled water tasted like delicacies to her. That shows the world she came from was extremely harsh—perhaps even worse than the darkest times before Liberation. Growing up in that kind of environment would make anyone extremely cautious. When she looks at us, she probably sees people who are simple and kind. She’s like a hunter who wants to retire, hiding among a flock of sheep and pretending she’s just another sheep.”
“But if you went to her now and said, ‘I know who you are,’ what do you think she would do?”
Gu Liancheng answered, “If it were me, I’d run away immediately and hide somewhere I believed to be safe, blending into the crowd.”
Xiao Jianzhou nodded.
“Exactly. Liberation is recent. There are still bandits in the mountains, and the borders aren’t peaceful yet. If she wanted to escape, it wouldn’t be difficult. If she crossed the border into another country, the loss would be enormous. On the other hand, if we detained her now for interrogation or research, she’d immediately see us as enemies. Anything she said wouldn’t necessarily be reliable, and we’d have no way to verify it. Both paths lead nowhere.”
Gu Liancheng didn’t dare imagine such consequences. Jiang Zhen was his wife in name, and he suddenly felt the weight of responsibility.
“What does the organization need me to do?”
Xiao Jianzhou told him not to overthink.
“Just live normally. Let Jiang Zhen feel that she’s part of a family. Let her gain attachments in this world, a sense of belonging, and trust. When that happens, she’ll tell us herself.”
Gu Liancheng understood. “I know what to do now.”
…
Gu Liancheng had left early and didn’t come back, sending word that he was repairing roads. With him gone, Jiang Zhen happily shut the courtyard gate and took the four children into her space.
In the apocalypse, resources had been scarce. Seeds were precious and difficult to maintain, so there hadn’t been much to plant. The space had remained mostly empty. But here, it adapted perfectly.
The two chicks Gu Pan had brought in on the day they first met—supposedly for temporary care—had already grown into half-jin-sized young chickens.
Unfortunately, the girl had been cheated by the seller. Both were roosters. They couldn’t lay eggs.
Gu Pan wailed angrily. “I said I wanted hens! I even paid two extra cents!”
Jiang Zhen comforted her. “It’s okay. We can eat them.”
Jiang Zhao calculated carefully. “Mom, there’s so much empty land here. Why don’t we buy more chicks?”
Raising chickens and ducks would make the place smell. Jiang Zhen didn’t want her space filled with stinky odors.
“We can’t raise too many. Just a few barred hens for eggs. But that little pond—we could raise more fish fry there.”
Gu Hui excitedly ran around the open land. “Auntie, let’s plant vegetables!”
“Sure. And we can plant some fruit trees too. Then we’ll have more fruit than we can finish.”
Vegetables definitely needed to be planted. But since it was winter, seeds and saplings were hard to buy. They would have to wait until spring. For now they could at least plan and turn the soil, planting a few winter vegetables—so that if anyone discovered them, they could claim they bought them outside.
When she asked the children, they said winter vegetables here included cabbage, chives, and radishes. But the things eaten most were potatoes and sweet potatoes—from autumn all the way until the following spring.
Jiang Zhao faintly felt something was off. His mother had never worked in the fields, but why did she need to ask children about such common knowledge?
He quickly said, “Mom, the climate outside means it’s too late to plant anything now, so seeds are hard to buy.”
Gu Hui raised her hand. “Great Aunt keeps lots of seeds every year. We can ask her for some.”
Jiang Zhen slapped her forehead. “Right! We’ll just say we’re saving them to plant in the spring next year, and then we’ll secretly plant them in the space.”
Inside the space, the climate was always at the best planting season all year round. Things could be planted anytime, and the weather inside was extremely comfortable. Everyone had taken off their cotton coats. It wasn’t until someone knocked on the door outside that they reluctantly came out of the space, immediately wrapping their cotton coats tightly again in the cold.
“I really want to stay in the space and never come out,” Gu Pan sniffed, stamping her feet from the cold.
Jiang Tang nodded fiercely in agreement. If only they could spend the night in the space, that would be even better. Unfortunately they couldn’t—Mom said the space’s level wasn’t high enough yet.
The knocking on the door became a little urgent. Jiang Zhen made a bet with the children. “Guess who it is?”
“Uncle.”
“Aunt.”
“The annoying bad guy next door.”
Jiang Zhen opened the courtyard gate. It was Gu Jiaoxia. The children’s great aunt had come, bringing some cabbage with vermicelli and rice.
…
Cabbage, vermicelli, and rice were all rare good things. Since Gu Jiaoxia had brought them, it meant her own home would have none left to eat. Jiang Zhen felt a small sense of guilt. She hadn’t truly treated others with sincerity, yet Gu Liancheng’s elder sister treated her wholeheartedly.
Gu Jiaoxia had heard something that morning and hurried over in worry. “Qi Junshan’s uncle’s whole family was killed by bandits. Didn’t you hear anything from the neighbors this morning?”
Jiang Zhen: “…There was some noise next door, but their house is noisy every day—either the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law arguing or the couple quarreling. I didn’t know it was such a serious case. How can they be sure it was bandits?”
Gu Jiaoxia held a cup of hot tea and still felt chilled at heart. “At his uncle’s house, even a two-year-old child was silenced. It must be bandits. I just don’t know how they provoked them.”
Jiang Zhen thought that judgment was too rash, but if the people hadn’t been dead long, she might be able to read some memories from the corpses’ brains.
Jiang Zhen immediately said, “Big Sister, help me watch the children for half a day. I’ll go find Gu Liancheng and ask him to come home to sleep tonight. After such a terrible case, I’m afraid to stay alone with four children.”
“Yes, yes, that’s exactly what I meant. Go quickly. By the way, will you come back for lunch?”
“I won’t. Big Sister, you take the children to eat.”
The four children came running out of the kitchen holding cooking utensils. “Mom, where are you going?”
“Auntie, won’t you take us with you?”
Jiang Zhen waved her hand. “You stay home. I’m going to handle serious business only adults can do.”
…
Gu Jiaoxia truly liked Jiang Zhen’s proactive personality. Her younger brother was the same—he ran off to repair roads on the second day after getting married and hadn’t returned for more than ten days. Fortunately Jiang Zhen hadn’t gotten angry and was still cheerful about it.
If it hadn’t been for repairing that road, in those ten days they surely would have developed their feelings. Fortunately the road was finished now, and with what happened to the Qi family’s uncle next door, no matter how busy Gu Liancheng was, he would definitely come home tonight.
Adults had adult matters to worry about, and children had their own concerns too. Gu Pan said, “Great Aunt, I want vegetable seeds—and four chick hens. They must be hens.”
Gu Jiaoxia laughed. “Why do you want seeds now? I’ll give them to you when spring comes.”
“No, I’m afraid Great Aunt will forget. I want them now. After lunch can we go to your house to get the seeds?”
“Alright. But when spring comes, don’t forget to plant them.”
…
The road had already been repaired. Jiang Zhen quickly waited until Gu Liancheng came out.
“I want to go see the bodies of Qi Junshan’s uncle’s family.”
“What do you want to see that for?” The bodies were too horrible to look at. The case had been taken over by the Public Security Bureau, but since it involved Qi Junshan, the army had some records. She could go if she wanted, but why see those cold corpses?
Jiang Zhen said, “I can talk to the dead.”
Gu Liancheng: “…Why didn’t you mention this before?”
Jiang Zhen chuckled. “Nowadays everyone talks about science and breaking the Four Olds—how would I dare mention it? After surviving the earthquake last time, I realized I could see the last moments of a dead person’s life from their body. I don’t know what’s going on myself. If Qi Junshan weren’t such a big threat, and if the deceased weren’t his uncle, I wouldn’t even tell you.”
Gu Liancheng was truly grateful for the organization’s decision. If Jiang Zhen had been brought to identify the corpse the moment it was excavated, something as absurd yet real as talking to the dead—she would never have revealed it.
She would have made up some nonsense, gained trust and a certain degree of freedom, then escaped and vanished without a trace like a clay ox entering the sea.
Fortunately that hadn’t happened. As expected, Jiang Zhen was slowly revealing things to test them. At a time like this, they absolutely couldn’t scare her into retreat.
Gu Liancheng said, “I believe you, but the leaders might not. When you report it, will you say directly that you can talk to corpses?”
“Of course I’ll say it directly,” Jiang Zhen said. “Whether they believe it or not, one test will prove it. As long as my ability can help justice, it has value. Let me ask one more thing—you won’t lock me up for research, right?”
“Absolutely not,” Gu Liancheng promised.
Only then did Jiang Zhen feel reassured.
…
Soon Jiang Zhen saw the bodies—Qi Junshan’s uncle, aunt, a cousin who had married into the family, the cousin’s husband, and a two-year-old child. The murderer was truly insane.
Standing in the autopsy room, Jiang Zhen saw the memories of the five people before their deaths.
The uncle and aunt had invited Qi Junshan home for drinks. “Junshan, the business you’re doing—killing and robbing—it was dark before Liberation, but now the sky has brightened. Your uncle and aunt can’t participate anymore.”
Qi Junshan drank a cup of wine and smiled gloomily. “Uncle, Aunt, when you cried and begged me to help you get rich because you couldn’t survive anymore, you weren’t saying that.”
“At that time it was a society where people devoured each other. How can it compare to now? Back in the hometown, land reform gave us several mu of farmland, and we also have a house in the city. Your brother-in-law is an outsider and a teacher. If we raise the children well, our family can become scholarly in the future. Who doesn’t hope to rise in life? You’re already married now—have a child soon and live an honest life.”
After returning home, Qi Junshan discussed it with his mother. “Uncle wants to walk the righteous path. That’s equivalent to betrayal. My brothers will only think I betrayed them. Then it will be our whole family that gets wiped out. My hands are already stained black and can’t be washed clean, but my younger brother knows nothing. Mom, what should we do?”
…
Qi Junshan had deliberately sold out his uncle. He wasn’t the one who personally committed the murder—the killer was someone else.
Jiang Zhen came out of the autopsy room and said to the people waiting outside, “It really was bandits. I saw a face—I saw him drinking at the Qi family’s wedding banquet that day. If we follow him, we should have a chance to find the bandits’ lair.”
“That’s great.”
Even Xiao Jianzhou couldn’t help showing excitement. During the last bandit suppression operation, the number of bandits hadn’t matched the intelligence they had. They had suspected that some were hiding in other mountains. If the bandits weren’t eliminated, Fan City would never know peace.
Xiao Jianzhou said, “Comrade Jiang Zhen, once the bandits are wiped out, we’ll request credit for you.”
Jiang Zhen thought to herself: with such an obviously strange ability, they weren’t even surprised. They thanked her and told her to go home and live normally. It seemed the department behind them already knew she was unusual. Perhaps when they repaired the road, they had already dug up the corpse of “Jiang Zhen” and chosen to cover it up.
Since they were offering goodwill, Jiang Zhen wasn’t an ungrateful person. She said, “You’re welcome. If you need me again next time, just call me.”