As Wang Ying poured the broth, she couldn’t help but praise her own cleverness in her heart.
It didn’t matter if she couldn’t cook — using braised broth to stew things would never go wrong.
She just needed to visit the state-owned restaurant from time to time to refill her supply of broth!
Wang Ying, oh Wang Ying, you really are a genius!
Feeling quite pleased with herself, Wang Ying filled the lunchbox to the brim with the flavorful broth. Her taste buds had proved reliable — just one bite of that bun yesterday, and she could already tell: the chef here, while maybe not quite top-tier by her past-life standards, was more than capable of running a solid mid-to-upper-level restaurant.
The broth had a rich reddish-brown hue — clearly aged and seasoned from long-term use. Even if she didn’t stew anything in it, it would still go perfectly with plain rice or steamed buns.
The server watched in stunned silence as Wang Ying finished cleaning up. The plates and bowls she left behind were spotless. The server dazedly gathered the dishes and said to a colleague washing vegetables in the back kitchen, “I really saw something new today…”
Who would’ve thought someone came specifically for the broth?
Xu Shuang overheard the chatter in the back kitchen and looked out the window.
A thin figure stood at the entrance of the restaurant, carrying a lunchbox wrapped in cloth…
Wang Ying, holding her precious broth-filled lunchbox, didn’t hurry home.
Instead, she wandered around the key locations in town. Xipo Town wasn’t far from the county seat, but folks from the surrounding communes didn’t go into town much.
And it made sense — there was only one bus a day. If you missed it, you had to find your own way. On top of that, going to the county required a letter of introduction approved by your brigade, with a valid reason. You had to keep it on you in case of random checks by patrol teams.
All this hassle meant people preferred to handle their business in town whenever possible.
Being the closest town to the county seat, Xipo Town had the best roads, so most of what you could find in the county was also available here.
The supply and marketing cooperative, the health clinic, the livestock station, the school, the thermos factory…
As Wang Ying wandered, she also contemplated her future.
Eventually, she found herself at the gate of the town’s high school and paused.
The original Wang Ying had graduated three months ago and hadn’t really been back since. Going through her memories, there wasn’t much fondness for her high school life.
She’d been bullied a lot at home and didn’t talk much in school. On top of that, she was always wearing tattered clothes, which made her feel inferior among her peers. All in all, there was nothing she missed about high school.
Just as she was about to leave, a sudden commotion erupted inside the school. Then, a large group of students came rushing out in a frenzy.
“Down with the stinking intellectuals!”
“Down with demons and monsters!”
“Down with sluts!”
…
A group of half-grown students stormed out, shouting slogans, some of the leaders even wearing armbands.
Wang Ying frowned deeply. Nanshao County was remote — it took half a day to get to the city, and a whole day by train to reach the provincial capital. It was thousands of miles away from the capital. Because it was such a small place, people assumed that the chaos happening elsewhere would never reach them.
At least, back when the original Wang Ying was in school, there had been none of this. But now, just two or three months later, the tide had already reached their little town.
Feeling heavy-hearted, Wang Ying left the school and returned to the brigade just as the sun was setting.
Wang Lingling had been fuming all day. She’d waited since morning for Wang Ying to cut pigweed and feed the pigs, but the girl never showed. By afternoon, fed up, Wang Lingling just threw together some random grass and called it a day.
“San’ya! Where have you been?”
Wang Lingling’s tone was pure accusation.
Wang Ying placed her lunchbox in the kitchen and completely ignored her.
She’d entertained her yesterday because of the promised meat buns. But today? No food, no conversation!
Wang Lingling felt like she was dealing with a turtle — there was just no way to bite into her. How could someone be so shamelessly unbothered?
Try to win her over, and she won’t even offer a kind word. Try to bully her, and she won’t respond.
Wang Lingling forced herself to calm down and couldn’t help but place the blame on Li Chunjuan.
Even though she didn’t know why Wang Ying seemed different from her past self, it was definitely Li Chunjuan’s fault.
Wang Lingling was beginning to feel like this might become a problem. Wang Ying clearly had a falling-out with their family after what happened yesterday. Could she still pair her with Xu Shuang?
The mornings were getting colder. When Wang Ying got up and washed her face, she could see her breath. Winter was coming, and the agricultural off-season had begun. People in the brigade would often gather in the sun to stay warm.
As for the Wang family, after the falling-out, Wang Yongshun and his wife seemed to have calmed down. They stopped trying to take advantage of Wang Ying. Wang Yongshun, in particular, had made a bad impression on the whole brigade after the last incident. Recently, he didn’t just stop bullying Wang Ying — he even started fetching water for her, saving her the trouble.
Li Chunjuan, however, would glare daggers at Wang Ying every few days. Even when Wang Ying saw it, she didn’t flinch. It was like she wanted to kill her with her eyes. As if doing so would bring back her broken windows and missing water tank.
Wang Ying now spent her days eating, sleeping, and focusing on recovering her strength, treating her uncle’s family like air.
Then one morning, Wang Yongshun made a special effort to talk to her.
“San’ya, don’t cook today. Come eat with your uncle’s family. It’s your cousin Lingling’s birthday today — it’s a family celebration.”
He spoke very kindly: “Your aunt is a bit rough around the edges, don’t take it to heart. Later I’ll have your cousin go to the Xu family to trade for half a chicken. We’ll have a proper meal tonight.”
Wang Ying looked over at Wang Lingling in surprise. She was standing nearby, head lowered, picking at her fingernails, lost in thought.
“Of course, that sounds great.”
The marinade broth she brought back from the state-run restaurant was truly amazing. These past few days, Wang Ying had been getting by just by cooking vegetables in it, but after several days in a row, even she was getting a little tired of it. Now, with chicken meat being offered on a silver platter, only a fool would refuse!
Wang Yongshun put on a kind and loving expression. “Alright, then I’ll have Lingling go find Aunt Xu in a bit.”
That was the benefit of their family—having a son-in-law who was a chef made everything more convenient. Aunt Xu had two sons: the elder was currently a university student in the provincial capital, and the younger, Xu Shuang, was a chef. Aunt Xu’s living conditions, not only in the brigade but even in the entire commune, were considered above average.
Whenever their family wanted to eat something nice, they’d go to Aunt Xu’s house to “trade.”
Although they called it “trading,” it was really more like taking advantage. Aunt Xu saw their family as future in-laws, so she naturally helped whenever she could.
As soon as Wang Yongshun made his decision, Wang Ying hadn’t even said anything before Wang Lingling started mumbling.
“I don’t want to go.”
Right now, she couldn’t stay far enough away from Xu Shuang. How could she be willing to get involved with the Xu family?
“Let San’ya go!”
Without a second thought, Wang Lingling tried to push the task onto Wang Ying.
Wang Yongshun’s eyebrows shot up, and he was about to lose his temper. “You damn girl! When I tell you to go, you go! Be sensible when you get there and lend a hand! After this birthday, you’re an adult—start acting like one!”
Those words didn’t sit well with Wang Lingling, but she didn’t dare talk back to Wang Yongshun. She could only agree reluctantly.
Wang Yongshun then turned and spoke kindly to Wang Ying a few more times. Seeing that Wang Ying remained indifferent, he cursed her a few times silently. Still, thinking about how it wouldn’t be long before he could get rid of this annoying niece, his mood gradually calmed.
Wang Yongshun headed off to work, and Li Chunjuan was nowhere to be found. Wang Lingling had been tasked with trading for half a chicken, and she was not happy about it.
She kicked the basket at her feet, full of frustration. Why was everything going wrong since she was reborn?
“San’ya, come with me!”
Wang Ying stretched and said lazily, “Not going.”
“You—!”
Wang Ying basked in the sunlight, thinking to herself that she had already planned out her schedule for today. She was going up the mountain.
Wang Lingling stomped off, furious.
Wang Ying found it a bit unbelievable. After spending these last few days together, she’d discovered that Wang Lingling was really quick to anger. She always went through the same cycle—making a demand, being refused, then getting angry—over and over again. Every day, she was either sneakily watching Wang Ying from not far away or giving her strange looks, sometimes cold and calculating, other times practically bursting with joy.
Even someone as normally thick-skinned as Wang Ying was starting to sense something off about this cousin.
It was clear Wang Lingling was after something—always scheming and plotting in the shadows.
Wang Ying stood up and fetched a basket of her own. No matter what scheme Wang Lingling had, she wasn’t going to jump into it just because the original host would have.
Wang Ying followed the original host’s memory and took a small path up the mountain. It was already late autumn, so there weren’t many wild fruits left to pick. However, she did find a wild chestnut tree in an inconspicuous spot. Unfortunately, it had clearly already been discovered by someone else—most of the chestnuts had been picked, leaving only a few clinging to the branches.
Wang Ying gauged the distance, nimbly climbed the tree, and picked the remaining chestnuts, stuffing them into her pocket.
Thanks to the spiritual spring water she’d been drinking every day, her body had recovered quickly with rest and care. The original host’s health was slowly being restored.
Wang Ying swung her arms with satisfaction. Back in the apocalypse, she had been weak, but here, with her body returning to peak condition, she was confident in handling basic physical confrontations. And that, right now, was an important form of protection.
After picking the chestnuts, Wang Ying also found a decaying log in the mountains with some wood ear mushrooms growing on it, which she happily collected.
She went deeper into the mountains. One of Wang Ying’s traits was her excellent sense of direction, so she wasn’t afraid of getting lost, even in the winding mountain terrain.
After walking for a while, she heard a rustling sound. Her already sharp senses kicked in.
Looking not far ahead, Wang Ying’s eyes lit up with excitement.
A plump mountain hare was twitching its nose, happily nibbling on some grass nearby.
I am just a novice translator and Chinese is not my native language. I try my best to translate the chapters as accurate as possible.
If there are any mistakes then kindly comment and remind me. Your support means a lot.
