“Help!”
“Jianguo, Chen Jianguo, save me!”
As Lin Sui fell off the cliff, she frantically reached out with both hands, desperately trying to grab hold of something. In her panic, she saw Chen Jianguo’s retreating figure as he hurriedly ran away.
Her body plunged downward, slowing slightly when she struck some tree branches before finally crashing to the ground.
“Hiss!”
Lin Sui sucked in a sharp breath from the pain. When she looked up at the cliff, which was more than ten meters high, and then at the large locust tree beside her, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness. That big locust tree saved me.”
Lin Sui muttered to herself, but suddenly felt a sharp pain. She raised her hand and touched the wound. The moment she saw the blood, her face turned deathly pale. Pressing desperately against the injury, she began shouting, “Jianguo! Chen Jianguo, save me!”
Lin Sui tilted her head back and called out, but there was no sign of Chen Jianguo above. She wondered if he had gone to get help.
She looked around. Deep mountain ravines stretched in every direction, and she had no idea where any of them led. What if she got lost in the mountains?
In her eagerness to leave, Lin Sui failed to notice that her blood had smeared onto the trunk of the large locust tree. The next moment, a flash of white light suddenly swept across her vision.
“Ow!”
Lin Sui opened her eyes, only to close them again immediately.
She must have hit her head so hard that she was seeing things.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a long alley lined with red brick walls. She was so astonished that she even forgot about the injury on her hand. Step by step, she made her way toward the exit.
The delicious aroma of steamed meat buns wafted toward her.
Growl!
Lin Sui felt her stomach rumble. When she walked farther out, she was so shocked that she froze in place.
Where was she?
Was this some kind of heavenly paradise?
At a pork shop, enormous slabs of pork were displayed across the counter. And nobody had snatched them away?
The vegetable stall beside it was even more astonishingly well stocked.
Eggplants? Cucumbers? Tomatoes?
Edamame, green beans…
Weren’t these vegetables long out of season?
It was already winter. How could such beautiful vegetables still be growing?
Beep! Beep!
A car sped past with a roar.
The sound of its horn startled Lin Sui. She hurriedly stumbled backward and eventually fell to the ground.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed? Don’t you watch where you’re going?”
The driver shouted at Lin Sui before driving away without another glance.
“You’re the one who nearly hit someone, and you still have the nerve to blame her!”
A plump, middle aged woman hurried over, helped Lin Sui to her feet, and exclaimed in alarm, “Oh dear! Your hand is injured!”
“That driver committed a hit and run! No, I’m reporting this to the police station!”
The plump woman spoke angrily, but Lin Sui quickly shook her head.
“This injury wasn’t caused by the car.”
She had fallen off a cliff and been scratched by tree branches and rocks!
“Really?”
The plump woman looked at Lin Sui’s blue floral padded jacket, then at her black cotton trousers and thin cloth shoes. When she looked up at Lin Sui’s face, which was so thin that a strong breeze seemed capable of blowing her over, she noticed her hair was tied into two long braids.
Grrrr…
Lin Sui’s stomach growled again. She immediately covered it with her hand and looked at the plump woman in embarrassment.
“Here, have some buns. They’re freshly steamed.”
The plump woman immediately handed Lin Sui two meat buns. Looking at the girl’s appearance, she couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. What kind of heartless family would treat a girl so poorly? It was already 2026, yet some people still treated their daughters like this.
Even her own mother would turn her nose up at a blue floral padded jacket like that.
“I don’t have any money.”
Lin Sui shook her head, her eyes darting around nervously. Everything here was completely unfamiliar to her.
“I don’t want your money. Your auntie is treating you.”
The plump woman led Lin Sui to a seat and even brought her a bowl of soy milk.
“Here, have some soy milk too.”
“Thank you, Auntie.”
Lin Sui stared at the white flour meat buns and the bowl of soy milk, her mouth watering uncontrollably. Back home, even steamed buns had to be made by mixing white flour with cornmeal and sorghum flour because it was cheaper.
“Go ahead and eat.”
Seeing how polite Lin Sui was, the plump woman smiled warmly.
“I’ll definitely repay your kindness someday,” Lin Sui promised.
She had just reached out to take the food when she noticed her hands were filthy. She had grabbed at tree trunks and dirt during her fall, and then pressed her bloody hand against the wound. Now her hands were covered in grime and blood.
“Oh dear, Auntie didn’t think of that. Come, come! You can wash your hands over here. I’ll put some medicine on your wound afterward.”
The plump woman led Lin Sui to a water tap in the corner.
“You can wash your hands here.”
Lin Sui didn’t move. Confusion filled her eyes. Apart from a red basin filled with bowls, there was nothing in the corner. Where was the water?
“What’s wrong?” the plump woman asked.
Looking puzzled, she turned the tap, and water immediately gushed out with a splash.
Lin Sui’s eyes widened.
“Water! Water is coming out!”
“Of course it is. The tap isn’t broken,” the plump woman replied.
Seeing Lin Sui’s astonished expression, the woman’s heart filled with even more sympathy. What remote mountain village had this girl come from? Had she never even seen a water tap before?
After Lin Sui washed her hands, the plump woman disinfected the wound with povidone iodine and bandaged it. Only then did she say, “Little girl, you’d better go to the hospital and ask whether you need a tetanus shot.”
What was tetanus?
Did they have hospitals here too?
Lin Sui didn’t understand, but she remained silent.
When the plump woman returned with more meat buns and soy milk, Lin Sui thanked her before carefully picking up a bun and taking a bite.
The bun was soft and fluffy, and it went down easily without getting stuck in her throat.
The meat filling was generous and wonderfully juicy, with plenty of oil. It was fragrant, absolutely delicious!
“Burp.”
Even though Lin Sui tried her best to eat slowly, she couldn’t stop herself from taking one bite after another. In all her life, she had never tasted meat buns this delicious!
“Slow down, girl. If you want more, I’ve got plenty.”
The plump woman, who was busy selling buns, glanced back at Lin Sui and reminded her with a smile. Seeing how pitiful the girl looked, she couldn’t help imagining that Lin Sui must have been forced to work every day at home without even being given enough to eat.
“Have some soy milk to wash it down,” the woman added.
Lin Sui took a sip. The soy milk was sweet, with a rich, unmistakable soybean aroma.
After eating her fill, Lin Sui didn’t simply sit around. She immediately began helping the plump woman by clearing away bowls and chopsticks and wiping down the tables. Her movements were quick and practiced, making it obvious that she was accustomed to doing chores.
“Little girl, you don’t need to work. Just sit down and rest.”
The plump woman told her several times, but Lin Sui wouldn’t listen. The woman thought to herself that she would simply let the girl take some extra buns home later.
“Cough, cough, cough.”
A fit of violent coughing came from the room behind the bun shop. Lin Sui instinctively raised her head. Her mother coughed in exactly the same way.
“Mom, did you forget to take your medicine again?”
The plump woman carried some medicine into the room at the back. After her mother took it, the coughing stopped.
Lin Sui watched the woman and asked, “Auntie, do you have any medicine for coughing?”
“Is someone at home coughing?”
Lin Sui nodded.
The plump woman thought to herself that Lin Sui was such a filial child. How could her family bear to treat her so badly?
“Coughs can have different causes, and the medicine depends on what’s causing them. You should go to a pharmacy…”
The plump woman stopped halfway through her sentence when she remembered the clothes the girl was wearing. She clearly didn’t have any money.
After asking Lin Sui about her family member’s symptoms, the woman took out a bottle of cough syrup and handed it to her.
“This is cough medicine. I had too much prescribed for my mother, so you can take this bottle. Give it to her three times a day, one spoonful each time.”
“Auntie, thank you!”
With tears glistening in her eyes, Lin Sui bowed deeply to the plump woman, startling her.
The woman quickly helped her back up.
“Good girl, I haven’t sold all these meat buns yet, so take the rest home with you. And if your family ever bullies you, go to the Women’s Federation!”
“Thank you, Auntie.”
Along with her gratitude, Lin Sui felt confused. Her parents treated her well and had never hit her, so why would she need to go to the Women’s Federation?
As she tucked the buns and bottle of medicine away and walked toward the entrance of the alley, uneasiness filled her heart.
Would she still be able to go home?