Chapter 1: Return

Dusk was deepening, and the evening breeze drifted gently, flowing through one mountain hollow after another. Gradually, traces of human life began to rise with the faint smoke curling from homes. Each house was low and scattered sparsely across the landscape.

At the far end of the village lay a stretch of reed-filled riverbank, where only one household stood nearby—a four-room house, with a sizable yard enclosed by a bamboo fence.

In the yard, an elderly woman craned her neck to peer through the small wooden window, but the twilight was too dim, and no lamp was lit inside; she could hardly make out anything.

“Mother, I’ve finished preparing the chicken!” Xie Ning called, carrying a chicken from the back yard.

“Keep your voice down,” Chen Xinwan whispered anxiously, quickly pulling her head back and taking the chicken. “Go see if your sister-in-law has woken up.”

With a worried sigh, she turned and busied herself once more.

On the small wooden window was a faded, curled double happiness character, a sign that this was the room of a young couple.

Xie Ning knocked lightly, then cautiously peeked inside. Seeing her sister-in-law still lying in bed, she withdrew quietly.

Her sister-in-law was especially fastidious about cleanliness, particularly after giving birth to Yinyin. While Xie Ning wasn’t careless herself, living at school made it hard to avoid lice. She usually stayed away from her sister-in-law’s room out of consideration.

Because she hadn’t gone in, Xie Ning didn’t see the pain and torment contorting Gu Zhuo’s face.

[Gu Zhuo, give me your body!]

[I said give me your body. Do you hear me?]

[You’re an illiterate peasant woman—what use are you in this world? You’ve already lost your husband. Must you doom your daughter as well?]

[Do you think you can survive? You’re already dying. If you don’t hand over your body soon, it’ll stiffen into a corpse, and none of us will have anything to gain.]

[But if you give me your body, I’ll save your daughter and change her fate! I come from the future—I know how the next decades will unfold. I’m a university student. Once I become you, I’ll get into college, rise above this mountain village, and everyone will praise Gu Zhuo’s name! Your daughter will become a shining star!]

…

The strange soul’s voice clamored incessantly, but Gu Zhuo felt an unprecedented calm.

She knew the intruder’s name was Gu Min, that she came from the twenty-first century, and that she herself was nothing but a background character in one of those period novels Gu Min had read.

No, not even a character—just cannon fodder, a tool.

If she was still the twenty-two-year-old Gu Zhuo—newly bereaved of Xie Lin, devastated and hopeless—she might indeed have surrendered her body.

First, she’d been a sheltered village girl, easily frightened by supernatural happenings, lacking the courage to question such things.

Second, she truly harbored thoughts of ending her own life.

Third… she had always judged others by her own heart.

If Gu Min promised to save Yinyin and treat her kindly, Gu Zhuo would have believed her.

But Gu Zhuo, who had read that book, knew very well that Gu Min never saved her daughter.

So…

[Don’t even think about it!]

[Ahhh! Gu Zhuo, what are you doing? You illiterate bumpkin, you’ll regret this!]

Gu Zhuo suddenly sat up, gasping for breath, her eyes darting around.

The walls were whitewashed; the floor was hard-packed earth; beside the wooden bed stood a red-lacquered chest of drawers, and a similarly painted wardrobe by the door. At the foot of the bed was an ochre writing desk.

Yes, this was the new house she and Xie Lin had moved into.

She was truly back!

Without another thought, her limbs weak and trembling, Gu Zhuo climbed from the bed, slipped on her cloth shoes, and rushed outside.

“Sister-in-law?”

Xie Ning hurried over at the noise, delighted. “You’re finally awake!”

But Gu Zhuo pushed past her and ran straight out, heading for the reed-filled river.

Chen Xinwan, busy chopping pigweed in the yard, jumped at the sight. “Qixiu?” She turned just as Xie Ning followed in pursuit and caught her daughter. “Was that your sister-in-law who just ran out?”

“Yes!” Xie Ning was drenched in sweat from worry. “Let’s hurry, I saw her face was red-hot—her fever hasn’t broken yet.”

Chen Xinwan slapped her thigh in distress. “Qixiu and Linzi were always so close. With Linzi gone, of course she’d be this upset!”

But Xie Ning ignored her and chased after Gu Zhuo.

The reeds by the Xie family were thick and the river was wide. Gu Zhuo didn’t hesitate—she waded straight in, calling out.

“Yinyin! Yinyin, where are you? Answer Mama!”

“Yinyin, Yinyin, Yinyin…” Her cries grew more desperate, her hope fading with each unanswered call.

In truth, the book had barely mentioned Yinyin’s death—just a fleeting thought in Gu Min’s mind, noting the child had drowned in the reeds.

Had she come too late?

With that awful thought, Gu Zhuo’s calls became ragged and hoarse.

“Sister-in-law, are you looking for Yinyin? She’s playing in the village—don’t worry, I’ll go find her right now, just come back up,” Xie Ning called from the bank, afraid to enter the water since she couldn’t swim.

The commotion soon drew others from the village.

Aunt Liu hurried over and gasped at the sight. “Qixiu, you’re still feverish—what are you doing in the river? Get out at once, or you’ll make yourself sicker, no matter how hot the day is!”

But Gu Zhuo seemed not to hear, still calling her daughter’s name over and over.

“It must be a nightmare. Find Yinyin quickly—unless she sees the child, Qixiu won’t come to her senses,” said Granny Shi, supported by her granddaughter-in-law, as she hurried over.

Everyone scattered to search for the child. For a while, shouts for “Yinyin” echoed through the narrow mountain hollow.

Splash—

A faint sound of water caught Gu Zhuo’s ear. She turned—no one else was in the river.

Could it be Yinyin?

She pushed herself toward the sound.

Seeing her swimming farther into the reeds, the villagers grew anxious.

“Qixiu, don’t go! The water’s deep there—even if you’re a good swimmer, you’re still sick…”

But Gu Zhuo paid them no mind.

Closer, closer—the sound was just ahead!

She parted the reeds and saw the rippling water, where a lock of hair and a red ribbon floated above the surface.

“Yinyin!”

Gu Zhuo dove, seizing the small child and lifting her out of the water.

A few villagers had just arrived and, witnessing the scene, were shocked.

“Yinyin really fell in?”

“How did Qixiu know?”

“Could it have been an ancestral dream or a sign?”

“Mind your words!”

Gu Zhuo, clutching her child, swam for shore. But her illness had left her weak; her strokes grew slower and slower, exhaustion threatening to overtake her before she could reach safety.