When Lin Zhiyue regained consciousness, she found herself lying on a man’s back.
In her dazed state, fragments of memory seemed to force their way into her mind.
Only after receiving memories that clearly did not belong to her did Lin Zhiyue realize—
She had transmigrated.
The original owner of this body was a little girl.Age: unknown.Name: unknown.And… and… this little girl seemed to be mentally slow—a fool.
The girl’s memories were astonishingly pure: blue skies, birds singing in the woods.
The clearest memory was of a beautiful young woman who often held her while crying softly and coaxing her to sleep. That should be her mother.
Then there was a handsome man, strings of candied hawthorns, a broad sturdy back carrying her through mountain paths—
Just like now.
The feeling was familiar, filled with safety.
That was her father.
Everything else in her memory was blurry and indistinct.
It was dusk, the sky already darkening, and Lin Yan continued slowly along a narrow trail beside the road.
He knew very well that they were on the road fleeing famine.
He dared not walk on the main official road, afraid of bandits or starving refugees turned robbers. Yet he also dared not enter the forest, fearing wild beasts.
Nor could he stop.
He hoped to cover more distance and catch up with his father and elder brother’s group.
He could not stop.
He had already run out of food.
Lin Yan was twenty-six years old this year, the second son of the Lin family from Dahe Village in Anping Town, Youzhou.
The Lin family was the village’s only scholarly farming household.
The eldest son, Lin Dian, was twenty-nine years old, married to Madam Li, and had two sons and one daughter.
Eight years ago, Lin Yan married Zhao Wan, née Zhao. The following year, their only daughter, Lin Zhiyue, was born.
Six years ago, Lin Yan passed the county examination and became a xiucai scholar. He had been full of ambition and preparing to advance further—
When he suddenly realized that his daughter, already over one year old, seemed to have been born mentally impaired.
It had not been obvious when she was an infant.
But after she turned one, her eyes still wandered aimlessly. No matter how people called her, she showed no reaction, as though she lived in a world entirely her own.
During the busy farming season, she could be left alone in the courtyard without crying or fussing. She would simply stare blankly at the sky for an entire afternoon.
For the past five years, Lin Yan had put aside the imperial examinations and taken his daughter through every medical clinic in the nearby towns.
Every diagnosis was the same:
Congenital foolishness.Impossible to cure.
Lin Yan refused to believe it.
He could not accept that his beautiful, snow-pale daughter would spend her entire life this way.
He never gave up.
Whenever he saw a clinic, he entered it. Whenever he encountered a temple, he prayed there.
Until the once-comfortable family became stretched thin financially.
When all hope seemed lost, Lin Yan encountered an eminent monk in a small temple.
After studying his daughter’s face, the monk said only this:
“Go home. Your daughter possesses great destiny. Humans have three souls and seven spirits. One soul and one spirit of hers have yet to return.”
Lin Yan was a scholar. Six years ago, he would never have believed such absurd words.
But over these five years, he had traveled through countless villages and towns, worshipped at temples deep in the mountains, and heard many strange stories passed among the common folk.
Lin Yan believed the monk.
His daughter was merely incomplete for now.
One day, she would return.
At this moment, Lin Zhiyue silently lay on Lin Yan’s back, watching the pitch-black path ahead as her father stumbled forward step by step.
She did not know how to speak.
There was too little information available, and she still had no idea what situation she was in.
All she could do was desperately search through the limited memories in her mind.
Her mother…
It seemed she had not seen her for several days. Recently, it had always been her father carrying her while traveling.
She did not know where they were going, or why they had left home and that small courtyard behind.
Oh right—
The original owner seemed to have grandparents too. Probably other relatives as well, though their images were vague.
There had always been many people holding her, teasing her, trying to coax her into speaking.
Where had her mother and grandparents gone?
Why were only she and her father left?
Lin Zhiyue continued desperately searching through the memories for useful clues, combing through them again and again.
Suddenly, waves of dizziness struck her.
No way… no way…
Could it be that this brain had gone unused for so long that simply using it caused dizziness?
Could her luck really be this terrible? Had she transmigrated only to remain a fool?
If using her brain for a moment made her dizzy, then what else could she become besides a fool?
Just as Lin Zhiyue felt close to vomiting from the dizziness, the sensation finally began to fade.
Her mind gradually cleared.
And then—
She sensed a space appearing within her consciousness.
Inside the space stood a small thatched hut and a spring of clear water.
Lin Zhiyue froze.
Was this… a transmigration cheat ability?
Back in the modern world, she had often read transmigration novels.
She had been twenty-one years old there, working for just over a year—and reading web novels for nearly as long.
Recently, she had become especially obsessed with transmigration stories.
Using her consciousness, Lin Zhiyue pushed open the hut’s door.
Inside was completely empty.
Confused, she looked around and noticed another door on the eastern wall of the hut.
She tried opening it with her thoughts again, but her consciousness merely passed through it uselessly, as though she could exert no force at all.
She tried several more times unwillingly, but it still would not open.
It felt as though thoughts alone were insufficient.
Lin Zhiyue suspected she needed to use her hands.
For some reason, she had a strong feeling that if she touched it physically, she would be able to push the door open.
The space itself was simple: an empty hut, barren and small enough to see everything at a glance.
There was nothing else to explore.
So Lin Zhiyue withdrew her consciousness from the space.
Outside, Lin Yan was currently crouched in the grass, listening intently.
In the distance, two or three ox carts clattered farther and farther away along the main road.
At some point, he had moved little Lin Zhiyue from his back into his arms, holding her tightly against his chest.
Wrapped securely inside his outer robe, she could feel his arms tense rigidly.
Only after the ox carts had gone far away did his body slowly relax.
Lin Yan leaned against a small dirt mound to rest briefly. Only after every trace of sound disappeared did he slowly stand again.
At this moment, he was exhausted and starving.
But he had no time to care about himself.
It did not matter if he went hungry for another day or two.
His daughter, however, could not starve.
He had to catch up with his father and elder brother as quickly as possible.
Yet the instant he took a step forward after struggling to stand—
His legs suddenly gave out.
Lin Yan collapsed heavily to the ground.
Even so, the arms holding Lin Zhiyue never loosened.
The sudden accident startled Lin Zhiyue badly.
“Dad!”
The word escaped her mouth the moment Lin Yan fell.
Fortunately, the bundle hanging from Lin Yan’s right arm cushioned the fall. Otherwise, his elbow would have slammed directly into the ground.
Lin Yan ignored the slight pain from the fall.
He froze completely.
In disbelief, he lowered his head and pulled open the robe wrapped around his daughter.
With trembling hands, he gently cupped her little face and stared fixedly into her dark eyes.
He was afraid he had misheard.
Gradually, tears welled in Lin Yan’s eyes.
“Zhiyue… daughter… y-you’ve come back?”
His voice was extremely soft.
His hands trembled as he stared without blinking at Lin Zhiyue.
And when her gaze finally focused on his face—
His eyes widened with overwhelming emotion.
He knew.
His Zhiyue had returned.
For six long years, he had finally heard his daughter clearly call him “Dad.”
And for the first time, life shone within her eyes.
There was spirit.
There was a soul.
Lin Yan pulled his daughter tightly into his arms, choking back sobs, his whole body trembling as though afraid she might disappear.
He had waited too long.
Hoped too long.
Finally…
Finally…