When Xu Qinghe opened her eyes again, she wasn’t fully awake yet before she let out a groan.
“Ow…”
Her entire body hurt. She was freezing cold, and her stomach burned with hunger.
Clutching her stomach, she forced herself to sit up.
Everything before her looked both unfamiliar and familiar at the same time.
The nightmare she had been having for over half a month had come true.
There was no time to examine her surroundings.
Xu Qinghe hurriedly took a cup of warm brown sugar ginger tea out of her space.
The moment she opened the thermos, the sweetness of brown sugar and the spicy aroma of ginger rushed into her nose.
Her mouth immediately flooded with saliva.
The burning in her stomach intensified.
She couldn’t wait another second.
Tilting her head back, she gulped down the tea.
Warmth and sweetness flowed from her mouth into her aching stomach.
The bone-deep hunger and misery instantly eased.
Her limbs, stiff from the cold, gradually regained feeling.
Even the cramping pain in her stomach lessened.
After draining more than half the cup in one breath, Xu Qinghe finally felt a little better.
Only then did she begin sorting through the memories belonging to this body.
The body’s father had been conscripted at the beginning of the year and sent to the frontier with the army.
Only the original owner and her mother had been left behind to depend on each other.
Fortunately, her parents had always been frugal and had managed to save some money, so life hadn’t been especially difficult.
But this winter, a once-in-fifty-years snow disaster struck.
The winter became unusually cold and unbearably long.
The original owner’s mother had already been worried sick about her husband.
Then she caught a chill.
She fell ill and remained bedridden for days without improving.
Soon afterward, news arrived that her husband had died in battle.
Overwhelmed by grief and heartbreak, the woman could no longer hold on.
A few days later, she passed away as well.
After both parents died, there were no close relatives to care for the girl.
Since her father had died serving the country, the local government showed mercy and allowed her to register as an independent household.
Unfortunately, the orphaned girl herself failed to survive the winter.
After processing the memories, Xu Qinghe clasped her hands together and bowed toward the south.
“Thank you for lending me your body. I hope you’ve been reunited with your parents.”
After the silent prayer, she finished the rest of the ginger tea in one gulp.
Warmth spread steadily from the center of her body into her limbs.
The dizziness and blurred vision she had felt upon arriving slowly faded.
She climbed down from the heated kang bed and looked around the house her predecessor’s parents had left behind.
The house wasn’t large.
It was a simple earthen dwelling with three rooms.
The main entrance opened into the central hall.
On either side were side rooms, each containing a kang bed.
All three rooms were only a little over ten square meters in size.
To the left side of the hall stood a mud stove connected to the kang.
To the right sat a large clay water jar.
A low wooden table occupied the center of the room.
Beside the doorway of the right-hand room rested farming tools such as hoes and stone shovels.
The room where Xu Qinghe had awakened was the left room.
Apart from a kang bed and two baskets filled with hemp fibers, there was almost nothing inside.
The small window was covered by three layers of woven grass mats.
The hanging mats were weighed down with stones to keep out the snow and wind.
Unfortunately, they weren’t very effective.
Cold wind still slipped through the gaps around the window and the cracks between the mats, carrying away what little warmth existed.
Instinctively, Xu Qinghe wrapped her thick hemp clothing tighter around herself.
It didn’t help.
She was still freezing.
The reeds stuffed inside the garment poked through the fabric, making her itch and ache all over.
Rubbing her hands together, she noticed that a wooden bar had been placed across the front door.
Only then did she feel safe enough to retrieve supplies from her space.
She quickly changed into cotton-padded pants and a cotton jacket, then pulled the hemp clothing over them.
The soft fabric settled against her skin.
For the first time since arriving, warmth stopped leaking from her body.
She glanced into the room on the right.
It was the same size as the left room.
A kang sat beneath the window.
Only a single thin grass curtain covered the opening, fluttering wildly in the wind.
Apparently, even something as cheap and mediocre as woven grass mats was considered too valuable for ordinary peasants to use freely.
Several bundles of dried ramie fiber sat on the kang.
The original owner and her mother had probably intended to weave cloth during the winter.
In one corner stood several flattened hemp sacks.
When Xu Qinghe opened them, a wave of moldy odor hit her face.
At the bottom lay only a tiny amount of millet mixed with dust.
She couldn’t tell whether the mother and daughter had been unwilling to eat it or were saving it as seed for next year’s planting.
Returning to her room, she adjusted the stones holding down the window mats.
The draft weakened somewhat.
The room also became noticeably darker.
She took a makeup mirror out of her space and looked at herself.
The reflection was shocking.
Sparse, dry, yellowish hair had been carelessly tied up.
A thin, dark, malnourished face.
Sunken cheeks.
Not an ounce of extra flesh.
Pale, cracked lips.
Lifeless, exhausted eyes.
Pulling down her lower eyelid, she found almost no color at all.
Severe malnutrition.
Possibly intestinal parasites as well.
Her hands were no better.
The skin was cracked, swollen, and red from exposure.
Her fingernails were jagged and uneven.
Dirt filled the nail beds, skin creases, and spaces between her fingers.
Thick calluses covered her palms.
She bared her teeth at the mirror.
Her teeth were yellow and coated with heavy tartar.
Fortunately, she didn’t see any obvious cavities.
After removing her reed shoes, she inspected her feet.
They looked just as bad as her hands.
Chilblains.
Cracked skin.
Layers of dirt.
Heavy calluses.
Bits of reed fiber stuck to the soles.
Her feet were so cold they had become numb.
The heels had nearly lost sensation.
Looking at the drafty house and her severely malnourished body, Xu Qinghe couldn’t help feeling worried.
The stones holding down the grass mats rattled in the wind.
At any moment, the gale outside could tear them loose.
The curtains flapped wildly.
There was almost no privacy or security.
Taking things from her space inside either bedroom was too risky.
After pacing around the house several times, she finally settled in the central hall.
At least it offered a little more privacy than the side rooms.
In one corner she found a clay brazier.
She filled it with coal and the remaining stalks of dried crop residue she could find.
Soon the coal caught fire.
Bright red flames reflected across her face.
Steady warmth radiated outward.
Xu Qinghe held her hands and feet close to the brazier.
The cold numbness gradually disappeared.
Though unfortunately, the chilblains began itching even worse.
Sighing, she moved the brazier beside the small wooden table.
Then she took a small bowl of steamed egg custard and a small serving of wontons out of her space.
The house had problems.
Her body had problems too.
But that was alright.
She possessed an entire storage space filled with modern supplies.
She could solve these problems.
Not only that—
she could build a better life than the one this body had ever known.