She closed the door of her memories.
Gently, she smoothed the faint bluish mark on her collar.
Then, Liu Zhixia opened the suitcase she had brought with her. Inside were clothes of all kinds—so many that they were almost dazzling.
Wool coats, sweaters, dacron shirts and pants, and more than a dozen “Bragi” dresses…
In this era, most people were satisfied just to have something to wear. Yet the Liu family had bought so many clothes for their daughter at once.
It was clear how much they had doted on the original owner of this body.
These possessions made Liu Zhixia a little unsure. How should she store them all?
Suddenly—
Liu Zhixia’s breathing shook.
“Am I back at the inspection site again?”
At that moment, she was standing on the third floor of the shopping mall where she had previously been doing an inspection.
This was a large fresh food supermarket. The area covered more than five thousand square meters, filled with a wide variety of agricultural products and goods, with very abundant stock.
But Liu Zhixia quickly noticed something different—this place was completely empty. There was no one except her.
Could it be that the supermarket had come through time with her?
To confirm her suspicion, Liu Zhixia took the elevator from the third floor all the way up to the tenth.
The once bustling mall was truly deserted. She was still in the 1970s.
This… was probably the “golden finger” she had seen in time-travel novels!
Thinking of her current situation, she felt that with this kind of cheat ability, her difficulties might actually be resolved.
After all, this shopping mall was the largest she had ever seen in her previous life.
The basement floor was a section for school supplies, children’s clothing, and toys.
First floor: jewelry and accessories.
Second floor: daily-use supermarket.
Third floor: fresh food supermarket.
Fourth floor: bedding store.
Fifth floor: jewelry and brand-name clothing counters.
Sixth floor: watches and other daily necessities.
Seventh floor: restaurants.
Eighth floor: general adult clothing.
Ninth floor: home appliances.
Tenth floor: Liu Zhixia’s private personal space.
After walking through all ten floors, she let out a soft breath, silently thankful that the last inspection she had done was of the supermarket rather than an empty plot of land.
Returning to the somewhat unfamiliar new home, she packed all of the original owner’s belongings into the space. At that moment, she finally felt a sense of stability.
Meanwhile, in the Liu family home inside the Beijing military compound, the couple were completely stunned when they received the letter severing ties that night.
Perhaps anticipating that the Liu couple would not agree, Old Master Zhou specifically passed along a message: the severance was requested by Zhixia herself—“Keep the green hills, and you will not lack firewood.”
Mrs. Liu’s already swollen eyes filled with tears again.
“Old Liu… we’ve harmed Zhixia. The Zhou family is not a good match for her…”
Her voice was full of choking grief.
Old Liu’s eyes were also red.
“Since it’s come to this, then cut ties. We are her only fallback. We can’t all be dragged down together.”
Mrs. Liu sobbed, “My poor daughter… she’s never suffered since childhood. What will she do now?”
Old Liu said gravely, “This is aimed at the Zhou family. Our Liu family does hold some position, but we only have one daughter. Zhixia has just graduated and is rather ordinary—she’s not a threat to those people.
If it weren’t for her marrying into the Zhou family…”
“….”
Liu Zhixia was awakened again by the sound of Zhou Yunting knocking on the door.
“Comrade Liu Zhixia, get ready to depart. I’ve left the clothes by the door.”
Looking at the half-worn dark blue clothes in her hands, Liu Zhixia knew they were about to be sent to the countryside for “reform through labor.”
Since she was already here, she might as well make the best of it. In her previous life, everything Liu Zhixia achieved had been earned through her own hard work. The hardships she had endured were unimaginable.
So she did not find these circumstances particularly difficult to adapt to.
Even farm work was no problem for her—she had plenty of strength.
The three generations of the Zhou family also changed into coarse cotton clothing. It wasn’t that the Zhou family lacked decent clothes; they were simply practical people.
They knew that even if they brought better clothes, they would probably be confiscated anyway. Better to travel light and avoid trouble.
Zhou Yunting softly asked Liu Zhixia, “How’s your head feeling?”
“It’s nothing serious.”
After many exhausting transfers, the Zhou family finally arrived at the place where they were to undergo reform: Fuchang County in the far northeast. From the county town, a commune tractor carried them to Hongshan Village.
Since newcomers had not arrived for a long time, many villagers came out to watch the commotion.
When they heard these people had come for reform, curiosity immediately spread among them. These had once been high-ranking officials, yet now they would work alongside ordinary villagers—perhaps even harder than them—while earning the fewest work points.
“That young lady is really beautiful. What a pity.”
“That young man looks quite spirited too.”
“This must be a family of four. They all carry themselves so well.”
“…”
The villagers chattered endlessly, but no one noticed the way Zhou Yunting raised his eyes when someone praised the girl’s beauty.
The village production team leader, Xu Kaishan, led them to a run-down thatched hut at the edge of the village and stopped.
“You folks from the Zhou family will stay here from now on.
“This is the grain prepared for you. Tomorrow morning, clean the place up first. In the afternoon, I’ll take you around and explain the work assignments.”
Liu Zhixia smiled at the team leader. “Thank you, Captain Xu. We’ll definitely reform ourselves properly.”
Seeing the sincerity in the eyes of the girl who looked as though she had stepped out of a painting, Xu Kaishan smiled in satisfaction.
“No need to thank me. It’s only right.”
At this point, not only Liu Zhixia, but the three generations of the Zhou family were hungry as well.
But what the team leader had brought them was only a sack of bran husks and around ten jin of cornmeal. There was no oil, let alone seasonings.
Zhou Yunting frowned slightly as he looked at Old Master Zhou, Father Zhou, and Liu Zhixia.
The men of the Zhou family seemed to be naturally incompatible with kitchens. The food they made was barely edible—at least it wouldn’t poison anyone.
Still, they remembered what Liu Zhixia’s father had said when she married into the family:
“She doesn’t know how to do housework!”
For a brief moment, stiffness crossed Zhou Yunting’s sculpted face.
“I’ll try cooking some porridge…”
As a former soldier, his powers of observation were sharp.
The moment he entered the hut, he had noticed a chipped pot inside. It looked barely usable. His cooking skills might be poor, but surely not so bad that he’d starve all four of them to death.
However, just as the man marched forward with the determination of someone heading into battle, he suddenly found Liu Zhixia standing in front of him. A flash of surprise crossed his face.
“I’ll do it. I’ve cooked porridge before.”
Liu Zhixia was not trying to snatch the work away from him. She simply remembered how the novel had described the Zhou family men’s horrifying cooking skills.
For the sake of her stomach, she absolutely could not let Zhou Yunting cook the porridge!
The man originally wanted to refuse, but when he met those bright, watery eyes of hers—eyes that seemed capable of speaking—he found them impossible to look away from.
Somewhat dazed, he handed the cornmeal to Liu Zhixia without another word and turned away. When he came back, he was carrying a bundle of firewood.
The Zhou family’s dinner was simple: cornmeal gruel.
Liu Zhixia did not want to eat this either. Inside her spatial storage, there were countless delicious dishes.
But this was not the right time to take them out.
Though even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without ingredients, Liu Zhixia could at least prepare food properly. To the three generations of the Zhou family, this was already an unexpected blessing.
What they had worried about most upon arriving was starving to death. With so many people and not one person capable of cooking, that truly would have been a disaster. Thankfully, Liu Zhixia knew how to cook.
As Zhou Yunting drank the perfectly normal cornmeal gruel, he looked at Liu Zhixia in surprise.
Old Master Zhou considered things more carefully.
“Zhixia girl, from now on we should probably mix some bran into the porridge too. Otherwise…”
“Grandpa Zhou, you don’t need to worry. You have to believe that heaven never seals off all paths to survival.”