Autumn, 1970.
The political situation had become even more turbulent, leaving everyone feeling vulnerable.
The once-bustling streets were now lined with closed shops, their walls plastered with big-character posters.
“Down with capitalism!”
“Cut off the tails of capitalism!”
…
Inside a small Western-style house in the city center.
“Your father and I have discussed it. Wantang, you will marry into the Huo family. Cuicui, you will marry into the Lu family.”
The Huo family were poor peasants going back eight generations, while the son of Commander Lu from the Lu family was already a battalion commander at a young age.
Song Wanying, dressed in a moon-white qipao slit to the upper thigh with her long, wavy hair draped over her shoulder, spoke with a solemn expression to her daughter and niece.
Standing beside her was a man of imposing stature, wearing a well-tailored suit and black trousers. He looked like an aristocrat stepped out of an oil painting—elegant and refined.
These words… were so familiar.
Su Wantang looked up, her pupils dilating involuntarily.
The imported chandelier hanging from the ceiling was blindingly bright. A twelve-inch color television was covered with a blue cloth, while a stack of bound volumes of the People’s Daily lay crookedly beside it. The radio was broadcasting the latest news…
The stark white light and the bloody scene of being stabbed to death intertwined repeatedly in her mind. Su Wantang could hardly distinguish reality from a dream.
Her gaze inadvertently swept past Su Zhichen at Song Wanying’s side and suddenly froze.
“Dad?” Su Wantang’s eyes reddened instantly.
Wasn’t her father supposed to have died during his first year in the countryside?
Su Zhichen was stung by those red eyes and looked away, unable to bear it.
Marrying a lowly peasant was indeed a grievance for Wantang.
But given the current situation and their family’s capitalist background… they had no choice.
Moreover, he couldn’t stand by and watch Wantang marry a divorced old man who was old enough to be her father.
“Wantang, your mother is doing this for your own good. Just listen to her and marry into the Huo family obediently.”
“Su Wantang!” Song Wanying’s eyebrows shot up. “You caused this mess, and now you’re acting picky? If it weren’t for you, why would my poor Cuicui have to marry into that tiger’s den of a Lu family? How did I give birth to such a wretched girl like you?!”
The exact same words again.
An incredible thought flashed through her mind.
Could it be…
She had been reborn?
Song Wanying’s curses and expressions of loathing still rang in her ears.
Su Wantang’s eyes burned. This was her biological mother—a woman who favored her older sister’s daughter and wished for her own daughter’s death.
It was only in her previous life, when she was being stabbed to death by a crazed Liu Cuicui, that Su Wantang learned the truth: her cousin was also Song Wanying’s daughter.
Song Wanying’s relentless favoritism was simply because Su Wantang was not the child of her and her “white moonlight” first love, but the child of the enemy who had torn them apart.
The motherly love she had yearned for all her life turned out to be a joke.
The Su family was a lineage of imperial physicians. Though they had declined, they still had enough connections to stay safe for the first two years of the upheaval.
Now, this sudden disaster was triggered because Liu Cuicui, jealous of Su Wantang’s beauty, had intentionally boasted about it in front of Wang Meng, the lustful Director of the Street Office who had recently lost his wife.
When Wang Meng saw Su Wantang, his eyes lit up. That very afternoon, he sent a matchmaker to propose marriage. Song Wanying happened to be out, and when Su Zhichen heard the proposal, he chased the man out.
The next day, the Su family received notice that the entire family was to be sent down to the Great Northwest.
Thus, the two marriages were settled: “the biological daughter marries a peasant, the niece marries into the military compound.”
But Su Wantang only learned after marrying into the Huo family…
Huo Jun was no good at all!
He was a scoundrel! A beast!
He blamed her for hindering his career and treated her with utter contempt.
Huo Jun was also pathologically suspicious. At the family compound, if she so much as greeted one of his comrades, he would accuse her of being loose-natured and proceed to beat and scold her.
It wasn’t until she happened to become the master of her family’s heirloom jade pendant and received the inheritance of the Medical Arts Space—helping Huo Jun get promoted—that her life improved slightly.
She never expected to be tracked down by a crazed, beggar-like Liu Cuicui and stabbed to death in the street.
In this life, she would rather die than marry Huo Jun.
“Auntie, since my cousin doesn’t want to marry into the Huo family, as her elder sister, I shouldn’t compete with her. I am willing to marry into the Huo family.”
Liu Cuicui’s sudden words stunned everyone in the room.
Su Wantang’s eyes darted around. Why was this different?
In the previous life, Liu Cuicui had been incredibly eager to marry into the Lu family, grinning widely the entire way.
“Cuicui, what nonsense are you talking!” Song Wanying glared at Liu Cuicui.
“Auntie, I’m serious!”
Slap, slap, slap.
Song Wanying lightly smacked Liu Cuicui’s palm.
“You silly child, the Huo family are peasants. They have a whole nest of unruly relatives. If you marry there, won’t you be eaten alive?”
Su Wantang blinked.
So she knew all along…
Song Wanying, I will never crave your love again in this life.
But Liu Cuicui seemed determined. She pulled back her hand, which wasn’t even red, and said firmly, “Auntie, I’d rather die than marry into the Lu family. I want to marry into the Huo family!”
Song Wanying’s chest heaved with anger as she poked Liu Cuicui’s forehead with her index finger.
This time she clearly used force; after a few pokes, a red mark appeared on Liu Cuicui’s forehead.
“You stubborn girl, why are you being so foolish at a time like this!”
“I’m telling you, you must marry into the Lu family! You have to, whether you want to or not!”
“Then I’ll just go die right now!”
Furious, Song Wanying swung her hand to swat Liu Cuicui’s backside.
Such deep mother-daughter affection!
Su Wantang found the scene incredibly eyesore.
It was clearly the scumbag who refused to take responsibility and abandoned Song Wanying, yet she blamed her father for breaking them up.
Even after marrying her father and giving birth to her, Song Wanying had to bring her first love’s daughter home and cherish her like the apple of her eye.
Every time she showed favoritism, she would hypocritically scold Su Wantang: ‘Su Wantang, your cousin lost her mother. What’s wrong with me loving her a bit more?
Why are you so narrow-minded? So envious? Having a daughter like you is truly eight lifetimes of bad luck! Why didn’t you just die during childbirth?’
Su Wantang clenched her palms, suppressing the surging emotions.
“Mom, Cousin lost her mother at a young age. She’s a poor person with no mother to raise her, teach her, or love her. I won’t fight with her. Since Cousin wants to marry into the Huo family, I’ll marry into the Lu family.”
The three-fold “no mother” comment left both Song Wanying and Liu Cuicui stunned. Song Wanying’s face twisted slightly, but they couldn’t refute it.
Hearing the second half of the sentence, Song Wanying, finally catching a fault in Su Wantang, immediately raised her hand to strike.
“Su Wantang, you wretch! Can you really not tolerate your cousin that much? You think your cousin is like you? Thick-skinned and sturdy? Able to endure the hardships of farm work?”
Su Wantang caught Song Wanying’s swinging hand and flung it away.
Suppressing her disgust, she said, “Mom, I didn’t say that. Didn’t Cousin say she wanted to marry into the Huo family? What’s wrong with me fulfilling her wish? Isn’t this what you’ve taught me since I was little—that I must always yield to her?”
“Oh…” Su Wantang gasped, covering her mouth. “Could it be… all the kindness you usually show Cousin is just an act? Do you secretly want her to suffer?”
“Su Wantang!” Song Wanying raised her arm again.
But Su Wantang pointed at Liu Cuicui’s retreating figure and cried out, “Mom, Cousin ran off because she was angry with you.”
“Wantang, your aunt and your mother shared a deep bond—”
Thud.
The closing door blocked out Su Zhichen’s “peacemaker” style rambling as he followed Su Wantang upstairs.
Su Zhichen loved her, but he loved Song Wanying more.
Even if Su Wantang revealed the truth, she couldn’t guarantee Su Zhichen would believe her.
Besides, the matter of rebirth was too bizarre; Su Wantang had no intention of letting anyone know.
Having more important things to deal with, Su Wantang suppressed her complicated thoughts and locked her bedroom door.
She removed the Ice-type Jade Pendant she had worn around her neck since childhood and bit her fingertip.
The sharp pain made Su Wantang wrinkle her nose instantly, her innocent, doe-like eyes misting over.
As the drop of blood fell, a flash of emerald light appeared, and Su Wantang entered the familiar space.
Just like in her previous life, there was a thatched hut in the space containing various medical books and prescriptions. There was also the phantom of an old man who served as a teacher of medicine. Outside the hut grew various medicinal herbs.
After confirming the pendant had recognized her as its master, Su Wantang’s soul withdrew.
Looking in the mirror at the teardrop-shaped mark on her collarbone—the sign that the pendant had been absorbed into her body—Su Wantang breathed a sigh of relief.
With her foundation secured, Su Wantang began to consider the current situation.
Su Zhichen would not agree to let her accompany them to suffer in the Great Northwest. With seven years left until the turmoil ended, it would be difficult for a weak woman with her background to survive in these chaotic times.
That left only one choice: go to the Lu family.
The marriage with the Lu family was a verbal agreement made years ago when her grandfather saved Old Master Lu’s life.
With that life-saving debt, as long as she wasn’t obsessed with marrying Lu Huaian for love, seeking protection shouldn’t be difficult.
Thinking of Su Zhichen, Su Wantang felt a bit uneasy.
She left her room, intending to find him.
The Su family lived in a small Western-style house; Su Wantang’s family lived on the second floor, while the first floor was formerly for servants.
Su Wantang’s room was at the very end—the largest room with the best lighting.
As she went out, she passed Su Zhichen and Song Wanying’s room.
The door wasn’t fully closed, leaving a crack.
Su Wantang hesitated but didn’t stop walking. However, the words coming from inside pinned her to the spot in the next second.
“You’re saying you had a dream?”
“In the dream, you married Lu Huaian, but he wouldn’t touch you, leaving you to be bullied by your in-laws? You finally moved into the family compound, only to find Lu Huaian with another woman?”
“What other woman? It’s the ‘white moonlight’ he couldn’t forget even after marriage.”
Su Wantang pondered: It seems I was right not to intend to marry Lu Huaian.
Song Wanying found it hard to believe. The Lu family were high-ranking officials; how could they do something so shameful?
“Cuicui! I know you don’t want to marry into the Lu family, but now is not the time to use a dream to trick me into being foolish. You cannot marry into the Huo family!”
“Huo Jun is not a man you can rely on! And that mother of his is famous for tormenting her daughters-in-law, and his younger sister is no saint either!”
Su Wantang clenched her fists and continued listening.
Liu Cuicui said indignantly, “Auntie, it’s true!”
“Later, Lu Huaian and that slut were caught in bed together and he was kicked out of the military.”
“What?” Song Wanying cried out.
“Then their whole family took their anger out on me, forced me to divorce Lu Huaian, and I ended up on the streets.”
“Let me catch my breath.” Song Wanying found it hard to accept and clutched her chest to calm down.
Seeing she still wasn’t convinced, Liu Cuicui dropped a bombshell.
“Auntie? Or maybe I should call you Mom?”
“I agree to let you marry Huo Jun, but my daughter cannot suffer even a bit. Aren’t the Huo and Lu families both in Beijing? When you go to Beijing, just move into the Lu family house with Su Wantang. Don’t go to that rural Huo family. When you find Huo Jun later, go straight to join him at the military post.”
“Auntie, you’re so good to me.”
“Still calling me Auntie?”
“Mom.”
“Good girl.”
…
Hearing their display of mother-daughter affection, Su Wantang curled her lips into a cold sneer.
They were certainly calculating everything to their advantage.
She turned and left.
After searching the house and finding no sign of Su Zhichen, Su Wantang frowned.
Suddenly, she remembered something and headed outside.