“You damn fatso who wastes grain coupons, the rooster’s already crowed and you’re still sleeping! Get your ass up for me, right now!”
“Don’t all these mouths in the family need to eat?!”
After the door was kicked open with a rude thud, Ji Chunhua heard the familiar, shrill scolding of her stepmother, Xu Li.
Her temples throbbed with pain, and she couldn’t force her eyelids open.
A bitter taste filled her mouth as she thought: I knew it had to be a dream.
Because she was clearly already dead, having died on a winter day when the mountains were sealed by heavy snow. Pushed forward to block a kitchen knife by the stepsister she had doted on and loved the most.
Thinking she was still a wandering soul, Ji Chunhua was suddenly jolted as Xu Li grabbed a handful of the hair on top of her head—
“I’m talking to you! Got chicken feathers stuffed in your ears? I told you to hurry up and get out of bed! We’re out of vegetables at home! We can’t afford green vegetables these days, so you’re going to the mountains to find some wild ones!”
“After breakfast, Ji Qin still has to go to the matchmaking fair! If you delay my Ji Qin’s marriage prospects, you just watch how I’ll tear you to shreds!”
What?!
Her scalp screamed in pain. Ji Chunhua’s plump, full-figured body trembled violently, and then her eyes flew open.
Her round eyes were riddled with bloodshot veins. Even Xu Li was startled by her gaze, which was like that of a female ghost!
“What are you glaring at me for! Trying to scare me to death?” Xu Li snapped her hand back and smacked the edge of the kang bed twice with a broom.
Dust and dirt rustled down, filling the air with choking particles.
Xu Li added, “If you don’t get up, I’ll call your brother to beat you!”
“Let’s see if he’ll still be so nice to you then!”
Ji Chunhua finally scrambled and tumbled out of bed, her breathing rapid and trembling.
Because this scene was far too familiar.
This was one year before her death.
On this day one year ago, she was about to accompany her stunningly beautiful stepsister, the village belle Ji Qin, to the matchmaking fair organized by the Village Committee Women’s Federation.
And at the fair, Ji Qin would choose one of the wealthiest households in the village from among her many suitors—the pig farm owner, Yu Guang.
In her past life, Ji Chunhua was both envious and genuinely happy for her sister.
Although they were half-sisters, and the fat, slovenly, gloomy, and insecure Ji Chunhua had always been used as a foil to Ji Qin—a subject of ridicule and mockery to praise one by belittling the other—Ji Qin had always spoken up for Ji Chunhua.
So, Ji Chunhua doted on Ji Qin, treating her with all her heart.
On the day Ji Qin got married, Ji Chunhua didn’t sleep a wink, and she spent the whole time helping with everything.
But she never imagined that this marriage, which Ji Chunhua had so envied and blessed, would gradually become not enough for Ji Qin.
An overseas tycoon suddenly came to the village to fund the development and construction of Yaohe Village. The man was gentle, considerate, and cultured. Ji Qin quickly became entangled with this tycoon. She had an affair!
Ji Qin didn’t dare tell anyone. Even though Ji Daqiang and Xu Li were snobs who only hoped Ji Qin would marry a rich man, they wouldn’t dare to do something so shameful that they would be condemned and drowned in the spit of their neighbors.
So, Ji Qin tearfully begged Ji Chunhua for help, claiming her mother-in-law was harsh and mean and always bullied her, which was why she couldn’t bear it anymore.
How could Ji Chunhua not know that her brother-in-law’s mother was not that kind of person at all?
But she doted on Ji Qin too much, so her morals couldn’t help but follow her emotions.
Although she didn’t know how she could help, she still promised Ji Qin she would think of something.
Unexpectedly, Ji Chunhua never thought that Ji Qin had, in fact, already thought of a solution.
And that solution was—to use Ji Chunhua.
One day, it snowed heavily in Yaohe Village for three days and three nights, sealing off the mountains.
Using the excuse of discussing a plan, Ji Qin tricked Ji Chunhua by telling her Yu Guang wasn’t home.
She brought Ji Chunhua to a side room in her house to chat and eat.
Midway, as she spoke of her miserable situation, she tearfully begged Chunhua to drink with her. Although Chunhua was a terrible drinker, she couldn’t bear to refuse.
Later, she passed out drunk.
When she opened her eyes again, she felt naked, and her head was splitting.
The next second, the door was slammed open!
Ji Qin was the first to rush in. She slapped Ji Chunhua’s soft, full face, her expression one of shame and fury as she cursed and cried.
After that, the rest of the Ji family also arrived.
Naturally, they beat and cursed her, dragging her onto the floor without even caring that her clothes weren’t fully on.
Ji Chunhua felt as if she had been struck by a club, not reacting at all until she was dragged into the courtyard.
Only then did Ji Chunhua belatedly realize that her sister’s plan was to make Yu Guang the one who made the mistake first.
That way, she would have the moral high ground, allowing her to not only get a divorce but also receive compensation.
But what happened next was something even Ji Qin hadn’t anticipated—Yu Guang woke up.
And Yu Guang had long known about Ji Qin’s affair with the tycoon!
It was just that he had always felt that Ji Qin was beautiful and had been wronged by marrying him, a man nine years her senior. He thought that if he just endured it, she might settle down and live peacefully after the tycoon left. He never expected her ambitions to be so wild.
When an honest man snaps, no one can stop him. The pig farmer, his bare thighs showing, rushed to the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen knife, and went to hack Ji Qin to death. In that split second, amidst the chaos, Ji Qin pushed Ji Chunhua forward to block the knife!
Puchi.
Bright red blood soaked through the pristine white snow on the ground. The crowd fell deathly silent.
The pig farmer let out a miserable laugh and slit his own throat.
Yaohe Village instantly descended into chaos.
Amidst the clamor and screams, Ji Chunhua’s fat body, slowly losing its warmth, was stepped on by several people, but no one paid her any mind. The Ji family ran as far away as they could, leaving this degenerate Ji Chunhua to die.
Ji Qin also took advantage of the chaos to elope with the tycoon.
Ji Chunhua felt the snowflakes land on her face. She wanted to cry and laugh, but she could barely keep her eyelids open.
Later, after an unknown amount of time, someone seemed to walk in through the gate.
Hearing the sound, Ji Chunhua used the last of her strength to see his fierce and dark face.
It was the village tyrant everyone feared—the foreman, Duan Hu.
It was said that he had even been in prison a few years ago for accidental injury.
But it was this man, the scoundrel and uncivilized brute in the villagers’ mouths, who took off his own thin jacket in the harsh winter to dress her and then hoisted her fat body onto his shoulders.
Wearing flip-flops, he ran out through the thick snow amidst the shouts of the crowd and the frantic barking of wild dogs.
Before she died, the only thing Ji Chunhua heard was his extremely coarse curse: “Fuck, what the hell did you eat to be so damn heavy!”
“…”
It was the first time Ji Chunhua had ever felt like laughing after being cursed at.
His words made her heart feel warm and sour.
But that bit of warmth was ultimately covered by the bone-chilling cold.
“Whether you live or not is up to you, fatso.”
“Anyway, I helped you.”
“My old lady said that if you see something like this and don’t help, you’ll have terrible luck later.”
“Seeing someone in trouble and not saving them is no different from murder.”