Mother Lin pushed the door open and saw that her daughter was already awake. She was just about to smile in relief when she noticed Lin Siya’s movements and rushed forward at once. “Xiao Ya, my Xiao Ya, what is wrong, what is wrong?”
Seeing her daughter like this, Mother Lin was deeply worried, afraid that drinking the medicine had left some lasting aftereffects.
After an unknown amount of time, Ouyang Siya finally calmed down. Her whole body felt as if it had just been pulled out of water, soaked and exhausted, but her mind had settled.
What she had just gone through was the process of accepting this body’s memories.
The original owner of this body was named Lin Siya, already married. This incident had happened because her sister in law and mother in law accused her of improper relations with another man, scolding and mocking her relentlessly. In a moment of despair, she had drunk poison.
The middle aged woman in front of her was her mother. This era was one where people could not eat their fill or dress warmly, and buying anything required ration coupons.
It was the spring of 1976 in Huaxia, a time of collective labor.
She had a brother who doted on her greatly, named Lin Jianshe, who was still unmarried. Her father, Lin Aiguo, was an itinerant doctor. This was an age that favored sons over daughters, yet the Lin family was different. Her parents actually favored her more than her brother.
As for the husband of this body’s former owner, Zhao Tianlei, he had joined the army after graduating from middle school and had been away for many years. He was now apparently a company commander. They had married before the New Year. This man was very cold and seemed never to smile.
Mother Lin saw her daughter looking at her and realized that she was fine. Only then did she truly relax. “Xiao Ya, does your throat hurt? Your father said it would take at least half a month to recover. As long as you woke up, I am already very happy.”
From this moment on, Ouyang Siya was Lin Siya.
She could be said to have taken over this body.
“Rest a bit more. I will go bring you some millet porridge,” Mother Lin said briskly. As soon as she finished speaking, she hurried out of the room to fetch the porridge.
That was maternal love. Lin Siya saw it, felt it, and it was warm.
In the cultivation world, Ouyang Siya had been a genius, but her parents had perished in a protective battle. From the time she could remember, she had always been alone.
Now she was Lin Siya, living out Lin Siya’s life in her place.
“Xiao Ya, here it is, here it is.”
Mother Lin came in carrying a large bowl of millet porridge. She set it on the cabinet, propped up the pillow so her daughter could lean against it, and prepared to feed her.
Lin Siya was not used to being fed, but to avoid arousing suspicion, she gave a very slight smile. It was stiff and a little unnatural.
Mother Lin assumed it was because her daughter’s throat hurt and felt even more heartache, so she did not think much of it. “Xiao Ya, eat the porridge. Do not worry. As for your sister in law and mother in law, I will not let them off. Your brother and your father have already discussed it. Either you divorce that Zhao boy, or you separate households. But all of that will wait until you recover. For now, just stay home and rest properly.”
Lin Siya nodded and ate slowly, taking very small mouthfuls because her throat still hurt. If it had been before, she would have already healed it with spiritual energy, but now she did not even know whether her spiritual energy was still there.
She finished the large bowl of porridge.
After reaching the Golden Core stage, Lin Siya had long since practiced fasting and rarely ate ordinary food, since it was detrimental to cultivation.
“Rest some more. I will be planting vegetables in the yard,” Mother Lin reminded her as she carried the bowl out.
Lin Siya nodded gently.
Mother Lin simply felt that her daughter seemed much more dazed than before. Thinking that all of this had been caused by Wang Cuihua and Zhao Meiyun, hatred flared in her heart.
Lin Siya sensed a trace of killing intent and looked toward Mother Lin, but only saw her retreating back.
Lying on the bed, Lin Siya circulated her energy and sensed her Nascent Soul in her dantian. Joy spread across her face. In the next moment, she guided spiritual energy from her throat down to her dantian, and the sharp pain in her throat vanished without a trace.
The pain was gone, but a new worry arose.
There seemed to be almost no spiritual energy in this world. Although she still had Nascent Soul level cultivation, it existed only as a soul. This physical body could not even exert the abilities of the Qi Refining stage.
This body was not hers and contained many impurities.
It seemed she would have to take things step by step.
She suddenly thought of her cave abode. Closing her eyes, she silently recited a phrase. In the next instant, Lin Siya disappeared from the crude room.
Seeing the familiar surroundings before her, a smile appeared on her lips. Here were the seeds she had collected, fertile spirit soil she had obtained by chance, some spirit beasts, spirit fruits, the spirit wine she had brewed, and various medicinal herbs.
She knew very well that what her cousin and fiancé had coveted was precisely this cave abode space.
She had obtained this space by chance from the remnants of an ascended immortal, meant for a fated person. She had stumbled upon it after falling into a cave while training in the forest.
Because she had reached the Nascent Soul stage at such a young age, she had suppressed her true strength to the Golden Core stage, which had still drawn the schemes of others. If they had known she was already at the Nascent Soul stage, who knew how many petty villains would have tried to suppress her?
“Xiao Hu, Xiao Hu.”
Not long after she called out, an egg hopped over in front of her.
Lin Siya stroked the egg gently. “Xiao Hu, how did you return to your original form? Is it because my physical body was destroyed that this happened?”
The egg bounced a few times in response.
“Xiao Hu, cultivate well. For now, you can use the spiritual energy in the cave abode,” Lin Siya said softly. She had no choice but to give up cultivating here for the time being. In this world with almost no spiritual energy, the cave abode’s reserves were better used to help Xiao Hu hatch.
Her spirit beast was a Flying Sky Tiger, born from an egg rather than live birth.
Hearing noises from outside, Lin Siya returned to the room in the next instant and pulled the quilt over herself.
Looking at the patched quilt, which she had not paid attention to before, she felt a brief moment of distaste, then quickly let it go.
In an era where everything required ration coupons, how was one supposed to live?
“Xiao Ya, Xiao Ya, why are you not awake? Did Mom not say you were awake? Why are you not awake?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Lin Siya did not need to open her eyes to know that it was her brother. From now on, she would properly repay the affection they had shown her.
Lin Jianshe stared for a long while, even leaning in close, yet saw no sign of his sister waking up.
“Could it be that Mom was just comforting me?” he muttered, scratching his head.
Hearing his muttering, Lin Siya almost laughed out loud. It seemed this brother would be easy to get along with.
She just did not know whether they would ever realize that the soul inside this body had already changed.