The train plunged into a tunnel, and a cluster of crowded faces reflected on the glass.
Shu Jin Yue was awakened by the sound of the wind. She wrapped her thin, old cotton-padded jacket tighter around herself. The chill in her body proved once again that this was not a dream.
"Aiyo, my back." A middle-aged woman in her forties stood in the aisle, her entire body leaning against the back of Shu Jin Yue's seat. From time to time, she rubbed her lower back and pounded her legs.
Jin Yue knew what she wanted, but she didn't move.
"Aiyo, young comrades these days have no respect for the old and care for the young. Back in our day…"
However, instead of hearing everyone condemn her, the woman heard—
"Oh, give it a rest. She paid for her ticket, why should she give it to you? If you wanted a seat, why didn't you buy a seated ticket earlier?"
"Exactly. The young lady is so young and doesn't look well. Why don't you ask someone else to give up their seat?"
"Keep it down, it's so noisy."
…
Shu Jin Yue remembered a similar incident in her past life. Back then, she had given up her seat out of kindness, but she never got to sit down again. No matter how tactfully she asked, the woman turned a deaf ear. When pressed, the woman even called her petty, asking what was wrong with letting an "elder" sit for a while… Being thin-skinned, she could only stand until the final station, her legs swollen.
Yes, she had been reborn. She had returned to the third year after being sent to the countryside, on the train ride home.
In her previous life, as the only child in the Shu family without a job, Shu Jin Yue, who had just graduated from junior high, was sent to the northernmost tip of the remote Shilan Province to become a sixteen-year-old Young Educated Youth.
At the time, her third sister, Shu Wen Yun, had promised to find a way to get her a factory job or a medical discharge to return home within a year at most. She waited and waited, hoped and hoped, only to find the money sent from home dwindling and the phone calls becoming less frequent. Even when a large number of Educated Youth returned to the cities ten years later, she was still unable to go back.
If it were just a matter of putting down roots in the countryside, she could have lived well with her medical skills, but… Shu Jin Yue thought of her past life's experiences and curled her toes.
Soon after arriving at the village, she was targeted by the production team leader's son and endured more than a year of his relentless pestering. Later, when he finally got married, she thought she was free. However, because she had once reported them, the family held a grudge against her. When the commune recommended candidates for Worker-Peasant-Soldier Students, she was clearly the most popular choice, but the team leader tampered with the votes, causing her to miss her first chance at university.
It was bad enough that during daily production labor, she was assigned the heaviest and most tiring work for the fewest work points. But when the college entrance exams were reinstated, she studied hard for two years, only for the production team to deliberately delay and make excuses when it came to issuing her letter of introduction and certification documents. She missed the registration deadline and, once again, lost her chance to attend university.
With no opportunity for a factory job, unable to go to university, and having lost contact with her family, the girl, like a lonely blade of wild grass, finally died on a cold and hungry night, fighting off a hooligan who was trying to assault her.
However, something even stranger happened—
After her death, Shu Jin Yue did not reincarnate. Instead, she became an A Piao, a wandering spirit. It was only then that she learned she was living in a period novel.
"What's wrong, young lady?" A kind voice pulled Shu Jin Yue back from her thoughts.
Sitting directly across from her was an old lady with a rosy complexion, wearing a cadre uniform underneath a thick army greatcoat that looked warm just by looking at it. Beside her sat another "patient," who was slightly older.
The woman had been coughing uncontrollably since she boarded the train, coughing so hard she was out of breath.
Although the two had different clothes and complexions, their facial features were seventy to eighty percent similar. They were likely sisters.
"Cough, cough… cough… Young lady, are you not… not feeling well?"
"Sis, you should talk less. The doctor said you can't be exposed to cold drafts right now."
The coughing old lady sighed. "I'm afraid this illness of mine is incurable."
"Don't say such pessimistic things. I'm taking you to a big hospital. You'll definitely get better."
"The people in the village say… cough, cough… they say I have tuberculosis. Some say it's heart disease… cough, cough… that it's fatal."
The moment the people around heard the word "tuberculosis," they immediately leaned away. Some even covered their mouths and noses, as if the air was filled with germs.
Shu Jin Yue, however, didn't flinch. Out of professional instinct, she took a closer look. From their conversation, she gathered that the old lady had been coughing for several years and had seen many doctors in the countryside, trying both Chinese and Western medicine. Not only had the cough not stopped, but it had gotten worse with treatment. Now, she was starting to show signs of edema, and her lips and nails had a purplish tint.
This was obvious cyanosis.
She remembered that the two old ladies had just helped berate the woman trying to snatch her seat. Jin Yue paused for a moment. "Ma'am, your illness isn't serious. It's just that the prolonged coughing has led to pulmonary distension, also known as pulmonary emphysema. You can't just treat the lungs; you also need to nourish the kidneys…"
Unfortunately, the two old ladies didn't take her words to heart. After all, an illness that so many doctors couldn't cure, what sense could a young girl like her make? It was probably just hearsay.
But they didn't argue with a child. "You must be sleepy, young lady. If you trust us, you can take a nap. We'll watch your luggage for you."
Shu Jin Yue glanced at her "luggage": a dark gray, patched cotton-padded jacket, a pair of worn-smooth green rubber shoes with split seams, a chipped enamel washbasin, and a yellowed towel… It was unlikely anyone would covet them.
Of course, judging by the cadre-uniformed old lady's attire and speech, she likely came from a good background and wouldn't be interested in her luggage either.
Shu Jin Yue forced an uncomfortable smile. When the train attendant passed by earlier, she remembered someone asking for the time. It was now past ten at night, and there were still eight hours until the final stop, Shucheng Station.
Just eight more hours to endure. "Are you going home to visit family, young lady?" The two old ladies couldn't sleep and started chatting with her in low voices. When they learned she was a Young Educated Youth sent to the countryside at sixteen, they couldn't help but sigh, thinking to themselves that she didn't look like a nineteen-year-old girl at all, but more like a fourteen or fifteen-year-old child.
The one in the cadre uniform bent down, pulled a brown leather suitcase out from under the seat, and took out an aluminum lunch box.
The moment it opened, everyone's eyes lit up. It was half of a snow-white steamed bun, with no impurities at all!
One had to know, in this era, being able to eat a mixed-grain cornbread was considered a good condition. Even a worker's family would be reluctant to bring a white flour steamed bun to eat on a train.
The old lady held the lunch box out to Shu Jin Yue. "Girl, if you don't mind that I've already broken off half, go ahead and eat."
The coughing old lady explained, "I… cough, cough… I haven't touched it. I'm eating from a diff… cough, cough… a different lunch box. It won't be contagious."
Before she could be polite or refuse, Shu Jin Yue's stomach let out a thunderous protest.
A few days ago, she received a telegram from her mother, Zhao Wan Qiu. She asked the production team for leave, but the team leader made things difficult for her in every possible way. It wasn't until a second urgent telegram arrived from her family and she made a scene while a commune cadre was there for an inspection that the team finally let her go. She had left in a hurry, and her rations were only enough to last until the next day. Today was already the fourth day.
"Thank you, Ma'am."
Of course, she wouldn't take it for free. Grain was too precious in this era. She took out a two-liang coarse grain coupon. It was more than enough for half a steamed bun, but she couldn't be bothered with precise calculations at this moment.
The cadre-uniformed old lady refused a couple of times but eventually accepted it.
The steamed bun had been sitting out for too long and was cold and hard. Every swallow scraped her throat, but Shu Jin Yue felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction. It was so real. The feeling of being alive was so real!
After being an A Piao for so many years, she couldn't smell or taste. Her imagination of "food" could only come from written descriptions, combined with the pitifully few memories from her twenty-odd years of life.
"Eat slowly, don't choke. The conditions where you were sent are tough. A child from our neighborhood went there too. Every time his parents get a letter, they cry."
"That's right, cough, cough. That place is even harder than our old… cough, cough, old hometown. The water from the well is all yellow mud… cough, cough… When it snows… cough, cough, you can't get out for ten days or half a month. What a sin…"
She had stayed in such a harsh place for over ten years in her past life, and three years in this one.
Every night, she went to bed hungry. When there was less farm work, she could only have one meal of thin gruel. At the end of the year, when the old grain was gone and the new grain hadn't been distributed, she couldn't even get a bowl of thin gruel and could only fill her stomach with water… She had already been menstruating regularly for two years in the city, but in the three years she was in the countryside, she had her period less than twice in total.
Not to mention the curves a girl her age should have; she was flat as a board. Her hair was dry and yellow, floating fluffily in the wind, making her look just like a little chick. No wonder her blind date didn't work out.
That's right, she was returning to the city this time because her mother, Zhao Wan Qiu, had sent a telegram summoning her back for a blind date under the pretext of a serious illness. In her past life, because she was young and had been harassed by a man in the countryside, she was extremely resistant to such things and refused to go.
Later, when her mother threatened to kill herself, she went, but upon hearing that the man had a bad family background, she mindlessly said some hurtful things… Of course, even if she hadn't said those things, he wouldn't have taken a liking to her anyway.
But the reborn Shu Jin Yue knew that this was her only chance to change her fate. If she stayed in the countryside, with the team leader's family's clan power and absolute control in the local area, her path back to the city through a factory job or the college entrance exam was blocked. She couldn't even marry a decent man. She remembered that this family was completely overthrown two months after her death when they provoked a big boss from Shucheng City who was there on an inspection tour. That family had truly picked on the wrong person.
She didn't think that just by being reborn, she could immediately fight heaven and earth and topple a large family that had been entrenched for hundreds of years. Revenge had to be taken, but first, she had to ensure she wasn't trapped and left to die in that small place.
The night was long, and the journey was arduous. Seeing them chatting idly, another woman from the diagonally opposite seat joined in. "Old sister, are you forty-five this year?"
The question was for the one in the cadre uniform; the coughing old lady had already fallen asleep.
"Fifty-three. My grandson is already a soldier."
"Aiyo, you don't look it at all! Old sister, your complexion looks just like a young girl's."
Although it was a bit of an exaggeration, Shu Jin Yue still glanced at the old lady's face again. Generally, women of this age wouldn't have such a rosy complexion, especially under the pale light of the train.
Shu Jin Yue had noticed it as soon as she got on the train. She discreetly glanced at her lips and hands again, and her heart was eighty to ninety percent certain.
In her three years in the countryside, she had the good fortune to meet an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor in the cowshed and learned a thing or two from him. She could diagnose basic common and frequently occurring illnesses. Plus, being an A Piao in her past life was incredibly boring, so she had audited many medical school courses and read numerous professional books over the shoulders of medical students pulling all-nighters.
An A Piao's memory seemed to be terrifyingly strong. Her mind was now filled with all sorts of medical knowledge, especially about traditional Chinese medicine.
"Ma'am, have you been experiencing frequent night sweats, insomnia, lower back pain, and tinnitus in recent years?"
The old lady was taken aback. "That's true. How did you know?"
Shu Jin Yue made up a casual explanation and reminded her, "You should go to the hospital for a check-up as soon as possible."
To be precise, the coughing old lady's illness wasn't difficult to treat. "Your condition might be more serious than the other ma'am's." It was a strange illness.
The woman from the opposite seat was surprised. "My mother-in-law has these symptoms too, but the doctor said it's just menopause. It'll be fine after a couple of years. Everyone goes through it. It's not serious enough to spend money at a hospital, is it?"
Hearing this, the old lady also remembered that these symptoms seemed to have appeared the year her period stopped. They had been going on for three or four years, and she usually felt fine.
She could eat and sleep well, had plenty of energy, and a rosy complexion. Wasn't she perfectly fine? On the contrary, her sister was coughing so badly, yet the young girl said it wasn't serious, while she, who wasn't sick, was "more serious." Wasn't that just nonsense!
Thinking of her son's position, she had seen her fair share of various methods of flattery and ingratiation. But this young girl's move was quite "unconventional." Heh, if she showed that she believed her words, would the girl then take the opportunity to recommend a "miracle doctor" to her?
"I'm perfectly fine, I don't need to see a doctor." The two-tenths of pity the old lady initially felt for her faded. She closed her eyes to rest.
Seeing this attitude, Shu Jin Yue knew it was no use trying to persuade her further. In any case, she had given her warning. Her own body was too weak, and she didn't have much energy to meddle in other people's affairs. Right now, she had a top priority—how to stay in the city.
She couldn't help but think of that blind date. To be precise, according to the original novel's plot, he would become her third brother-in-law.