She watched helplessly as the stone shot straight toward her older brother’s head.
Instinctively, the little girl shifted behind him, trying to use her tiny body to block the flying stone.
But instead of hitting Shi Jingye, the stone struck the little girl directly in the stomach.
The impact instantly made her lose her strength from the pain. At that exact moment, Shi Jingye shifted directions to dodge, leaving no one behind her to block the fall.
The little girl tumbled straight out of the tree.
Her head smashed against the ground, blood pouring everywhere, causing the children below to scream in panic.
Wait—
What was that floating out of the little girl’s body?
No, that wasn’t even the important part.
Shi Meiqing, who had been observing everything like a bystander, suddenly turned toward the small courtyard.
There she saw the little boy smiling—a malicious, triumphant smile spread across his face.
He did it on purpose.
That was Shi Meiqing’s first thought.
Then questions crashed into her one after another.
Why?
Shi Jingye seemed like a well-behaved kid. How could he possibly have offended that boy?
And even if he had, how much hatred could children really have between them? Had that boy never thought about how dangerous it was to shoot stones at someone in a tree?
And that smile…
The more she looked at it, the more wrong it felt.
Was that really the kind of smile a child should have?
It felt almost… psychotic.
And when the little girl fell from the tree just now, Shi Meiqing could’ve sworn she saw a transparent shadow drift out of the child’s body.
She couldn’t have imagined it, right?
Holy crap.
Had she transmigrated into some kind of horror world?!
Please no!
It wasn’t that she believed in ghosts and spirits—but that didn’t mean she wasn’t scared of them!
Seriously, couldn’t they have just sent her straight to reincarnation? Maybe then she could’ve met her grandparents again.
Wait.
That malicious little boy just now—
Didn’t he have a dark purple heart-shaped birthmark near his temple?
Why did that birthmark feel so familiar?
She desperately searched through her memories. It felt extremely familiar, but she couldn’t remember why.
Had she seen it somewhere before?
Or heard someone mention it?
Scratching her head mentally, she still couldn’t figure it out. Mainly because she’d only just arrived in this new place—her mind was too unsettled to think clearly.
She tried to raise her head to check her current situation.
The moment she looked up, a face appeared right in front of hers.
“AAAH!”
Shi Meiqing jolted awake with a scream, her eyes wide with terror. Her chest rose and fell rapidly from fright.
What the hell was that?!
Was it a ghost?!
But her sudden movement immediately triggered a burst of agonizing pain in her head.
She frowned instantly, lowering her head as a groan escaped her lips.
“It hurts…”
A pair of large hands pressed gently onto her shoulders.
The fear hadn’t faded from Shi Meiqing’s eyes yet when she met a pair of eyes filled with concern and heartache.
She sucked in a breath.
Now she recognized him.
This was the original owner’s father—a doting old father who spoiled his daughter dearly.
It was also the kind of fatherly love Shi Meiqing herself had never experienced.
She never expected much from family affection, but that didn’t mean she believed true familial love didn’t exist.
The original owner had been a very happy child.
Even after becoming mentally slow from the injury, her parents and relatives had continued to care for her wholeheartedly.
Looking into those loving eyes, Shi Meiqing unconsciously called out softly:
“Dad?”
“Yes, yes, don’t be scared. Dad’s here. You absolutely can’t move around—the bandages on your head were just wrapped.”
Shi Shengli’s heart practically melted at that single word from his daughter.
Look at his poor child.
Another head suddenly appeared above her.
This should be the original owner’s older brother, Shi Jingye.
Honestly, just hearing the name made him sound like a future model worker.
“Little Sister, do you still recognize Big Brother?”
That was the very first thing Shi Jingye asked.
The reason he asked was because ten years ago, when he was eight and his sister was five, she had hit her head and woken up unable to recognize the family.
They had been terrified.
If Shi Meiqing weren’t trying to stay in character, she would’ve rolled her eyes on the spot.
She’d been attacked, not turned stupid.
How could she not recognize people?
Still, none of that showed on her face.
In a weak voice, she called out:
“Big Brother.”
Shi Jingye let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Dad, my little sister didn’t become stupid!”
Both Shi Meiqing and Shi Shengli twitched at the corners of their mouths.
Whose dumb son was this?
Shi Shengli quickly waved his eldest son away.
“Don’t just stand there. Hurry and get the doctor to check your sister.”
“Okay, I’m going right now.”
Shi Shengli stared into his daughter’s eyes.
They were still the same eyes—
But the spirit inside them was different.
His heart pounded wildly.
Could it be…?
Could the miracle he had hoped for really have happened?
Right.
First he needed to ask what happened today. His daughter was such an honest and timid child—there was no way she would go out causing trouble.
Who could be cruel enough to hurt such a harmless girl?
Before Shi Shengli could speak, voices sounded from the doorway.
Turning around, he saw Doctor Chen, whose hair had already turned mostly gray.
Shi Shengli hurried to his feet.
“Doctor Chen, hello. My daughter’s awake. Please take a look at her.”
Doctor Chen nodded.
Truthfully, he barely remembered this family anymore. It was only today, while reviewing the scans, that the woman from the family mentioned something that reminded him.
That had all happened ten years ago.
Back then, the little girl had been tiny and frail. When she was brought in, she had practically had more breaths going out than coming in.
They’d barely managed to save her life.
But after waking up, her mind had no longer worked properly.
Later, scans at the provincial hospital revealed a small blood clot in her brain pressing on her nerves.
Surgery might have fixed it, but the success rate was very low.
With the medical conditions at the time, they didn’t even have a fifty-percent chance.
Fortunately, this family treated the child very well.
Just by looking at how healthy and cared for she appeared now, it was obvious they had never despised their mentally slow daughter.
Doctor Chen first shone a flashlight into Shi Meiqing’s eyes.
Then he checked her wound and asked several questions.
When he looked up again, he saw Shi Shengli staring at him with nervous hope written all over his face.
Doctor Chen smiled reassuringly.
“The child is fine now. She just lost too much blood. After going home, make sure she eats nutritious food to recover.”
“I already told your family that the blood clot in her brain is showing signs of dispersing. You know that, right?”
When Shi Shengli nodded, Doctor Chen continued:
“So far, this appears to be a good sign. You can tell from the child’s eyes that the clot is likely starting to absorb.”
“If nothing unexpected happens, she should recover to how she was before her first injury.”
He paused slightly before adding:
“There’s one more thing. If I’m not mistaken, today’s wound was caused by a blunt object striking her head forcefully.”
“That makes this incident extremely dangerous.”