Zhou Yunting’s cold voice rang out:“Grandpa, you can’t eat bran husks…”
Zhou, the army commander, also lowered his voice in agreement:“Father, Zhixia is right. As the saying goes, there’s always a way out when you reach the mountain.For now, let’s just make corn porridge.”
Old Master Zhou felt a bitterness in his mouth and closed his eyes.
Even sleeping arrangements at night had become a problem.
The thatched hut stretched out in a single glance—primitive and worn.Wind leaked in from all sides.
It was only about thirteen square meters. For four people, it was already extremely cramped.
What’s more, men and women had to be separated. But in such an exposed room, how could they possibly live properly?
Zhou Yunting quickly noticed the awkward situation. Without a word, he went outside.
He gathered straw, then tied it together bit by bit with hemp rope, fashioning a makeshift curtain.
The four of them worked together to lay down straw mats on the ground, covering them with a bedsheet full of holes.
With the straw curtain dividing the space, the old man and the two men slept on one side, while Liu Zhixia slept on the other.
Rough and simple—but at least it was a place to stay.
Liu Zhixia couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
Just yesterday, they were still a prestigious, powerful family in Beijing. Now they were barely surviving.
Lying quietly on the straw mat, even with her eyes closed, she could still see the guilty expressions of the Zhou family’s three men.
She silently recited her inner martial arts cultivation technique and, before she knew it, drifted into sleep.
Zhou Yunting listened to the shallow breathing from the other side. A faint restlessness stirred in his heart.
Was he really going to do what he had originally planned?
Zhou’s father gently patted his son’s shoulder, lowering his voice:
“Yunting, do you have something on your mind?”
Zhou Yunting thought of that bright and refreshing girl, like wind and moonlight. A faint bitterness rose in his chest.
Even though he had already made up his mind, at this moment, he could no longer say it out loud.
His voice carried a heaviness that was hard to detect:
“I want to give her freedom…”
“She’s a lily grown in a greenhouse. She can’t withstand too much wind and frost.It would suit her better to live in the sun. If…”
An old voice suddenly cut in:
“That child is not a lily. She’s a rose—one with thorns…”
The voice quickly faded away.
If the father and son hadn’t both heard it, they would have thought it was just an illusion.
Perhaps because she had just traveled through time and was exhausted from the day’s events, Liu Zhixia slept quite well.
When she woke again, she touched the hard, damp straw beneath her and finally felt the reality of her transmigration.
She got up to cook porridge resignedly. Even someone like her—who had grown up through hardship—still found it difficult to adapt to this kind of life.
It seemed she needed to quickly find a way to openly eat something decent, or her body really wouldn’t hold up.
Breakfast ended in silence.
Zhou Yunting naturally took on the task of washing dishes.
His hands, once used to holding a gun, now held chipped bowls as he rinsed them again and again.
From the corner of her eye, Liu Zhixia couldn’t help glancing at the tall, elegant figure standing by the door.
His refined and noble appearance was completely out of place in this environment.
Like a deity who had stepped down from the heavens—though stained with dust, he still seemed untouchable.
She stared a little too long.
A cold gaze swept over her, and she awkwardly touched her nose.
She didn’t notice the faint upward curve of the man’s lips.
The Zhou family did not go out to work that day. As for cleaning the house—there was barely anything to clean in such a bare place.
More importantly, they had no supplies. What needed cleaning had already been sorted out the night before.
Their most urgent concern now was survival and food.
After greeting them, Liu Zhixia quickly left the thatched hut.
It was working hours in the village, and apart from the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, most people were out.
But her appearance was far too eye-catching.
Curvy figure, fair skin like jade, delicate face untouched by makeup yet still glowing faintly pink.
Her eyes were like flowing water, bright and luminous, her beauty impossible to hide even in coarse cloth clothing.
People kept stopping to stare.
“So beautiful… really too pretty. What a pity.”
“I heard she’s a new bride, sent down here together with her family.”
“Yes, better keep our distance.”
“….”
But Liu Zhixia seemed not to hear any of it. She simply turned back and smiled.
That smile was radiant, like starlight bursting open.
The onlookers froze again, momentarily dazed.
By the time they came back to their senses, she was already gone.
She circled the small mountain village, quickly getting a general understanding of the layout.
Her steps looked slow, but in reality she moved astonishingly fast.
She was using lightness skill.
Just moments ago, she felt like she was some kind of exhibit in a zoo.
So she instinctively rushed to leave the area—and without realizing it, activated her qinggong.
Only then did she discover: her lightness skill had not declined at all. It was as strong as in her previous life.
In her past life, her strength had been comparable to the leaders of hidden martial families.
Now, excitement surged in her heart.
A thought ignited again.
If her lightness skill had fully returned… did that mean her internal energy had come with her too?
When she first arrived, she had sensed only a little over half of her previous inner strength—and she had already been satisfied.
But now, she felt a rare tension.
She tried circulating her inner energy—and clearly felt the vast, surging power of her past life returning.
If not for her awareness of being in the village, she might have leapt into the air and performed several flips.
Suppressing her excitement with great effort, she moved like the wind into the endless mountains outside the village.
At the forest entrance, two girls felt a gust of wind pass by. For a moment, they thought they saw a shadow—but then shook their heads, thinking it was just their imagination.
With a light step, she landed firmly.
A pair of quails suddenly startled into flight.
Without warning, she leapt onto the highest treetop.
Her ears twitched slightly.
A conversation drifted closer.
“Comrade Wu, it was just two quails. No one is there.”
“Looks like I was overly cautious. But this concerns the Zhou family—we must be careful.”
“I’ve already contacted the person in charge. The three members of the Zhou family will never leave this village.
In this place, they’re just tigers without teeth—nothing to fear.
The real issue is the Liu family…”
Liu Zhixia’s brows lifted slightly.
These two are plotting against the Zhou and Liu families. Who are they?
She quietly shifted her position and memorized their appearances, planning to ask Zhou Yunting if he recognized them later.
She remembered from the novel: if Zhou Yunting hadn’t been injured, he might have had a chance to return within a year or so of being sent down.
But later, he suffered a spinal injury and was bedridden on a kang. Only after three years—when the Zhou family was rehabilitated—did he return.
And at this time in the story, the male and female leads were also arriving in the countryside.