“You useless money-sink! You jinx! Still lying there playing dead? Get your ass up and feed the pigs! Are you trying to starve my precious grandson to death?!”
Lin Xi struggled to open her heavy eyelids. What met her gaze were dim, yellow mud-plastered walls, with thick spiderwebs clinging to the corners. A pungent stench—a mix of mold, stale sweat, and poultry manure—revolted her senses, forcing its way into her nose.
Where is this…?
Lin Xi’s mind suddenly exploded with a roar. This was the exact smell from her previous life—the smell of the human traffickers’ den she was sold into!
She jerked her head down. What she saw were a pair of tiny, thin hands covered in scratches and grime. These were not the hands she remembered—the ones calloused by years in a sweatshop and deformed by the passage of time.
Propping up her small, frail body with great effort, she scanned her surroundings. The rickety wooden bed, the blackened quilts, and the chipped bowl sitting on the low table beside her…
Everything was identical to the most terrifying nightmare buried in the depths of her memory.
She had really come back!
She was back in the 1970s. Back to the year she was only three years old—the year her tragedy was about to begin!
“What are you dazing off for? Are you deaf?!”
The door curtain was violently whipped aside with a loud clatter. A tall, harsh-featured rural woman stood at the doorway with her hands on her hips. It was none other than her cold-blooded aunt, Li Guilan.
Behind Li Guilan, a chubby little boy in split-seat pants with a runny nose poked his head out. He was clutching half a dark, coarse bun in his hand—this was Lin Xi’s cousin, Lin Dazhuang.
“Mom, she’s not moving. Is she gonna die? If she dies, no one will fight me for food anymore!” Lin Dazhuang shouted slurringly, his eyes full of loathing as he looked at Lin Xi.
Upon hearing this, Li Guilan didn’t show a hint of concern. Instead, she slammed her hand against the doorframe and cursed even harder: “Die? She dares to die?! The money and rations her father sent back from the army haven’t been finished yet. If she dies, who’s going to go claim them? You little brat, I’m warning you, stop playing these tricks! Get up right now!”
Money and rations!
Those words stung Lin Xi like a needle.
She remembered now. In her previous life, it was exactly because of the pension and various supply coupons her father, Lin Weiguo, sent back from the frontier troops that these so-called “relatives” developed their wicked intentions.
Her father was a hero, guarding the borders and unable to return home even once a year. Her mother had passed away due to complications during her birth, so her father had entrusted her to the elders. [Her father] took care of his elder brother, sister-in-law, and elderly mother by sending the majority of his military allowance back home every month.
But these people, while living off her father’s blood, sweat, and tears, treated her like a dog!
In her previous life, it was at this exact moment—when she was suffering from a persistent high fever—that her grandmother and aunt decided she was nothing but a burden. Coveting the remainder of her father’s money, they decided to finish the job once and for all. Under the cover of night, they sold her to human traffickers passing through the village!
The money they received in exchange was used to buy new clothes for her cousin, Lin Dazhuang, and a brand-new “Forever” brand bicycle for her uncle, Lin Dajun!
As for her, she was sold into a remote mountain gully. She was beaten, starved, and worked like a beast of burden. Finally, in her twenties, she died of exhaustion and illness in a dilapidated rented room.
That life was an endless abyss of darkness and pain.
But now, she was back!
“Grandmother, I’m hungry…” Lin Xi squeezed the words out of her parched throat with every ounce of strength she had. Her voice was soft and sweet, carrying the distinct fragility of a child.
She had to survive first.
“Hungry? Starve to death then, you money-losing brat!” A shrill, caustic voice drifted in from the courtyard. An old woman with a face full of wrinkles and triangular eyes walked in leaning on a cane. This was the true power-holder of the family: her biological grandmother, Wang Cuihua.
Wang Cuihua didn’t even spare a glance at Lin Xi on the bed. She walked straight past Li Guilan, snatched a half-eaten cornbread bun from her grandson Lin Dazhuang’s hand, and distressedly blew the dust off it. “Oh, my precious grandson, eat slowly, don’t choke. This was meant for your father when he gets back from the fields, you little glutton.”
Lin Dazhuang was dissatisfied and opened his mouth, ready to wail.
“What are you crying for! There’s more in the pot! Have your mother get it for you!” Wang Cuihua coaxed her grandson. The speed at which her expression changed made Lin Xi’s stomach churn.
This was her biological grandmother! To her grandson, she was a doting protector; to her granddaughter, Lin Xi was worth less than the weeds by the roadside.
Having received her orders, Li Guilan shot a fierce glare at Lin Xi and turned toward the kitchen. Soon, she emerged carrying a bowl of steaming egg custard drizzled with fragrant sesame oil. The scent made Lin Dazhuang’s mouth water instantly.
“Mom, let Dazhuang eat,” Li Guilan said with a fawning smile as she handed the bowl to Wang Cuihua.
Wang Cuihua took the bowl, scooped a spoonful, blew on it, and carefully fed it to Lin Dazhuang. “My good grandson, eat up. Eat and grow taller and stronger than your uncle in the army!”
The three generations sat in harmonious bliss, completely ignoring the girl on the bed who was starving to death. They treated the dying Lin Xi as if she were thin air.
Lin Xi’s fingernails dug deep into her palms; the sharp sting of pain was the only thing keeping her conscious. She stared at that bowl of egg custard, her eyes turning red with resentment.
She remembered clearly: those were the grain coupons and money her father had sent back. In his letter, he had specifically instructed them to use it to nourish her body.
But now, every bit of it was going into Lin Dazhuang’s stomach!
“I want to eat too…” Lin Xi spoke again, a hint of pleading in her voice.
This time, her only response was the cold strike of Wang Cuihua’s cane.
“Eat? Eat what?! What does a little brat like you need so much food for?” Wang Cuihua cursed, thumping her cane loudly against the floor—thump, thump—as if she were stabbing Lin Xi’s very heart. “Sooner or later, you’ll belong to another family anyway. Raising you is a waste of food! Your father is a muddle-headed fool, too, spending money on a girl when he could be buying my precious grandson more new clothes!”
Li Guilan chimed in from the side: “Exactly. Mom is right. A girl is just a money-losing venture; she’s nowhere near as precious as our Dazhuang. I think she’s just lazy, lying in bed waiting to be hand-fed. As if life is that easy! If you don’t get up right now, don’t even think about eating for the rest of the day!”
“If she won’t get up, then no food it is!” Wang Cuihua declared with finality. “Let her starve; we’ll see if she gets up then! Once she’s hungry enough, she’ll learn how to find work to do!”
With that, she gathered her precious grandson in her arms and walked out of the room with Li Guilan, slamming the dilapidated wooden door shut behind them.
Bang! The sound sealed Lin Xi away in total darkness and hunger.
The room fell instantly silent, save for the sound of Lin Xi’s own shallow, ragged breathing. She lay on the bed, her body trembling slightly from a mix of physical weakness and burning rage.
She knew this wasn’t just a simple case of scolding or skipped meals.
This was the calm before the storm.
In her previous life, this was exactly how they did it: they starved her for days until the fever left her delirious and completely stripped of the strength to resist. Then, the human traffickers would appear in the middle of the night…
This time, she would never sit still and wait for death!
Her tiny hands clenched into tight fists.
Just you wait. In this life, I, Lin Xi, will make you spit out everything you’ve taken from me—with interest!
I won’t be sold again. I’m going to survive, and I’m going to the frontier to find my father!
He was her only real family. Her only hope.