Cheng Shufen, Cheng Yu, Da Ya, Er Ya: ???
Cheng Shufen was completely baffled but also extremely nervous. Since the early spring, her daily routine consisted mainly of helping Qian Juhua collect pig manure, tending a small patch of sweet potatoes, hiding indoors whenever she had free time to avoid people, teaching the three girls to read, and occasionally taking Cheng Yu to the back hill to give her pointers.
Because of the hailstorm in early spring, the commune had been in chaos, and no one had the time to pull her in for a public denunciation.
Cheng Shufen was quite content with this lifestyle—she even felt it was better than her days in the capital.
So when a strange woman suddenly barged in crying, Cheng Shufen was so tense she didn’t know what to do with her hands.
At that moment, it was Cheng Yu who reacted the fastest. She immediately slid the pot of meat soup, along with the meat, over to Da Ya. Da Ya was also scared, but she mustered the courage to pull the pot close to herself.
Cheng Yu asked sharply, “Who are you?”
Everyone in the room—young and old—was staring at Wang Lingling.
Wang Lingling was stunned. She had never expected to walk into such a scene.
She had imagined arriving to see a bedridden, immobile Cheng Shufen and a tear-streaked, grief-stricken Cheng Yu.
But what she saw now made her feel like a complete joke.
Cheng Shufen was thin, yes, but only slightly pale—she didn’t have the look of someone at death’s door.
Cheng Yu’s cheeks were full and healthy. She didn’t look like she was starving to death at all.
And those two younger girls next to them looked familiar—yet Wang Lingling couldn’t quite place them.
Cheng Yu frowned, thinking back to what Wang Lingling had just said when she came in.
“What are you here for?”
Cheng Yu’s alertness stirred a different emotion in Wang Lingling.
Wang Lingling muttered, “How… how are you all still okay?”
This wasn’t right!
Everything was out of order!
Cheng Yu was enraged the moment she heard that—what the hell was wrong with this woman?
Before she could explode, Qian Juhua entered the house.
Qian Juhua had her youngest daughter strapped to her back in a sling and was carrying a bowl of soup. She called out, “Come on, someone open the door for me.”
She and Cheng Shufen had grown close lately. Both were women in tough situations—marginalized, struggling—and raising pigs together had made them fast friends. Cheng Yu sometimes helped take care of her daughter, so the two families often shared what little good they had and ate together.
Er Ya looked around and, not understanding everything but sensing something, ran over to help open the door for Qian Juhua.
The moment Qian Juhua walked in, she locked eyes with Wang Lingling.
Qian Juhua blurted out, “Oh my god!”
Seeing a stranger in the house, her first instinct was to hide what she was carrying.
Wang Lingling, on the other hand, looked utterly shocked. “You’re not dead?!”
She finally remembered why those two younger girls had looked so familiar.
They were Tian Dazhu’s daughters!
Now that she thought of Tian Dazhu—Wang Lingling didn’t have a close relationship with that family, but something major had happened to them in her past life, so she had a particularly deep impression of those two girls.
In her previous life, Qian Juhua gave birth to her youngest daughter in winter. For some unknown reason, she had gone into labor early—she should’ve given birth in spring. She labored at home for a whole day and night, but the child never came, and in the end, both mother and baby died.
Why did Wang Lingling remember this incident so clearly?
Because of the two daughters Qian Juhua left behind—Tian Da Ya and Tian Er Ya.
After Qian Juhua’s death, the girls were left in Tian Dazhu’s care. But Tian Dazhu had no backbone, and the children ended up under the thumb of his mother and younger siblings. They were not given food or proper care and were forced to do labor.
Later, Da Ya worked for the family for several years, only to be married off by Tian Dazhu’s mother to a cripple.
Er Ya, however, grew prettier as she aged. Tian Dazhu’s mother saw her as a way to make money and tried to sell her to some remote mountain village, targeting households where several brothers had to share one wife.
Er Ya was smarter than Da Ya. She ran away before it could happen—and before leaving, she even poisoned Tian Dazhu’s whole family with rat poison.
But the poison was fake, and no one died.
Still, the incident left a deep scar. Tian Dazhu’s mother was furious and cursed her granddaughters as worthless money-wasters every time she saw anyone. Tian Er Zhu, Tian Dazhu’s brother, even cut ties with him completely—the two brothers never spoke again.
Wang Lingling snapped out of her memories and looked again at Qian Juhua, who was speaking in a loud and clear voice—how could she look like someone who had died from a difficult childbirth?
A wave of panic surged in Wang Lingling. It had been fine when she wasn’t back in her maternal home, but now that she was, she realized that everything she remembered was completely different!
Cheng Shufen hadn’t died, and neither had Qian Juhua—this shouldn’t be happening!
Qian Juhua was already furious. She had recognized Wang Lingling and was just about to comment on how haggard she looked, but Wang Lingling had marched up and asked whether she was dead…
“Did you eat crap or something? Can’t you speak properly?!”
Qian Juhua threw down her soup bowl and came at Wang Lingling with a slap.
Wang Lingling didn’t dodge in time and took a slap squarely on her face, right over the handprint left by Old Lady Xu.
The more Qian Juhua thought about it, the angrier she got. Her life was going really well now—even the weakness from childbirth was slowly recovering—and yet this woman had the nerve to come and curse her!
Wang Lingling, beaten and humiliated, fled with her hands over her head, not even bothering to pick up her dropped bundle.
Qian Juhua took off her shoes and chased after her while beating her: “Get lost! Go be your stepmother somewhere else, why the hell are you showing up here talking nonsense?! Come back again and I’ll beat you again!”
Qian Juhua didn’t beat people the same way Old Lady Xu did. After all, Old Lady Xu was old and her slaps lacked strength. But Qian Juhua, who had been eating well lately, didn’t hold back—she hit wherever she could.
Wang Lingling was in excruciating pain.
But her heart hurt even more!
Cheng Shufen hadn’t died, so the gold ring was out of the question.
Qian Juhua hadn’t died either, which meant things from her previous life had already changed.
Wang Lingling couldn’t stay there any longer. With her swollen cheek and heart full of fear, she pulled her two children and hurried home.
She needed to go back and think—why was everything different?
Why, after being reborn, had everything changed?
After chasing Wang Lingling away, Qian Juhua spat on the ground and returned to the house.
Cheng Shufen was a bit uneasy: “Who was she? Juhua, you hit her—won’t she come back to cause trouble?”
Qian Juhua was dismissive: “Her? She’s Wang Ying’s cousin—second daughter of Wang Ying’s eldest uncle. She’s not right in the head, don’t worry about it.”
Qian Juhua was now quite fearless: “She married into another brigade long ago. Who knows what kind of crazy fit she had today. If she comes again, just call me. I’ll slap her again.”
Qian Juhua knew Wang Lingling had married an army officer, but so what? She was just a widow with three daughters. If they had the guts, they could come and settle scores with her.
Cheng Shufen sighed, “I’m just afraid it’ll cause trouble for you and Wang Ying…”
Qian Juhua slapped the soup on the table and laughed heartily: “Cause trouble? We didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not afraid of her!”
Although divorcing Tian Dazhu had made her life a lot better, Qian Juhua knew her reputation in the brigade had been completely ruined.
Divorce was always frowned upon in those times—especially since she had given birth to three daughters. Most people already thought poorly of her. But even so, it was supposed to be Tian Dazhu who left her.
Yet she was the one who had initiated the divorce, so people assumed she was unfaithful and not a proper woman.
There were even people waiting for her to fail, assuming that a woman with three daughters couldn’t possibly make it on her own. How could a family survive without a man?
Qian Juhua used to think the same way, but ever since her divorce and moving into the pigpen, the people she interacted with most were no longer those gossiping village women, but rather Cheng Shufen, Cheng Yu, and Wang Ying.
Over time, Qian Juhua’s mindset started to change.
Now, if she were to talk to those old village women again, she’d feel uncomfortable. She wanted to discuss things like pig farming tips, agriculture, how many words her daughters learned today, and the amazing medicinal herbs Cheng Yu mentioned finding in the mountains.
Her life was so much better than before!
But others still looked at her with pity and confusion, as if she was just pretending when she said she was doing well.
Qian Juhua placed the cabbage and dried shrimp soup in the middle of the table and ate it with a cornbread bun dipped in leftover meat broth. She had some money, but not enough to build a house. Her premature youngest daughter and the other two girls were all malnourished, so Qian Juhua gritted her teeth and asked Wang Ying to buy some nutritious food.
The dried shrimp had been purchased by Xu Shuang at Wang Ying’s request, along with some brown sugar.
Every day during meal prep, Qian Juhua would add a little dried shrimp. Wang Ying had said it was good for calcium.
She also added a bit of brown sugar to boil a pot daily, letting all the kids have a bit. It was sweet and could help nourish their bodies.
The cabbage and shrimp soup was sweet and flavorful, and the meat broth made the cornbread taste better. Everyone ate with great satisfaction.
News of Wang Lingling’s return and hasty departure spread quickly through the brigade, causing a stir. But a few days later, a new piece of gossip captured everyone’s attention—this time about the educated youth.
There was no denying it: once the educated youths moved into villagers’ homes, it was gossip upon gossip, a whole field of drama.
The older educated youths were fine—quiet and well-behaved. But the new ones were much more troublesome.
Wu Guihua complained to Wang Ying: “At first I thought I was lucky. The two female educated youths who moved in were gentle and well-mannered, and I thought they could help look after my daughter Xinghua.”
Tian Xinghua was one of the few girls in the brigade still attending school. Wu Guihua sending her daughter to middle school already made her an anomaly in the brigade. But Wu Guihua believed that girls should be educated—more education meant a smoother future, just like Wang Ying.
To be fair, Wu Guihua treated her two sons and one daughter equally. Both sons had studied through junior high. The older one was now doing temp work in town. The younger one, though still farming, often followed the brigade accountant around. The accountant was getting old and seemed to have taken a liking to this smart young man.
