Chapter Two: The Old Lady’s Rebirth in 1978

Zhang Chunxue suddenly opened her eyes wide!

She... wasn’t dead? Had she been saved?

Instinctively, she moved her eyes to survey her surroundings and immediately froze.

This wasn’t a hospital. The pristine white walls were gone, replaced by weathered, yellowed mud walls with patches of peeling plaster.

Above her head wasn’t a stark ceiling or fluorescent lights, but familiar blackened wooden beams carrying the scent of everyday life, with a dusty bamboo winnowing basket hanging from one of them.

Beneath her was no rigid hospital bed, but a wooden plank bed covered with a coarse cloth sheet, creaking softly with every slight movement due to its age.

The air was heavy with a smell—a mixture of the earthy warmth of a traditional heated bed and the faint smoke of firewood.

Such a familiar scene! This seemed to be... her former home?

Struggling, Zhang Chunxue sat up. To her astonishment, her once emaciated body, too weak to lift even a finger, was now brimming with strength!

She looked down at her hands—though rough and calloused, they were not the skeletal, spotted claws she had known before death.

Trembling, she touched her face; the skin, while not smooth, was taut and firm, lacking the sagging looseness she had before.

What was happening?

Wasn’t she supposed to be in the hospital, dying of organ failure?

Suddenly, she turned her head toward the corner of the room, where a slightly curled perpetual calendar hung.

The date was clear as day—

October 3rd, 1978!

Zhang Chunxue was struck as if by lightning, her whole body stiffening.

1978? She... had gone back more than forty years? So now she was only... forty-four years old?

A wave of immense, indescribable joy flooded her.

She had been reborn!

But soon, Zhang Chunxue calmed down and recalled a pressing matter she had worried about before dying.

It was that very year! Those very days!

She had trusted the matchmaking woman’s smooth talk and, to save money for her sons, accepted a dowry of one hundred yuan from the notorious gambler Wang Laowu in the neighboring village, hastily marrying off her eighteen-year-old daughter, Zhong Xiaoxiao.

And what happened?

Not long after marrying, Xiaoxiao was brutally beaten to death by that vile man!

But now! Fortunately, Xiaoxiao was still unmarried! Her daughter was still alive and well!

Heaven had truly granted her a second chance.

This time, she would not be foolish again. She would ensure Zhong Xiaoxiao went to school! With her talents, getting into university would be no problem!

And as for those three ungrateful sons, she would no longer indulge them!

What had she gained by serving them like beasts of burden, pouring out her heart and soul?

Nothing but lying on a sickbed, waiting to die, not even willing to be fed a single drop of water!

This time, she would make them regret it.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Chunxue suppressed the turmoil in her heart.

She threw back the patched coarse quilt covering her, got out of bed, and felt the cold earth beneath her feet. A chill crept up from her soles, but the tangible sensation only sharpened her clarity.

She adjusted her old patched clothes and headed outside.

Before reaching the main room’s doorway, loud quarrels erupted from within.

“The father’s gone. I’m the head of this family now! The pillar of strength!” came the voice of the eldest son, Zhong Chengfa. “That hundred yuan dowry from Xiaoxiao should be mine! I’ll take it to the city, find a proper job!”

“Right! Chengfa’s right!” came a sharp female voice, the eldest daughter-in-law Li Hongjuan. “We’ve been scraping by in this dirt hole forever. With a job, the whole family benefits!”

“Why should it be yours?” Zhong Chengren, the second son, immediately snapped back, clearly dissatisfied. “You’ve had all the good things in the family since we were kids! Now it’s my turn!”

“Your father, you better watch your words…” Zhong Chengren’s wife, Zhou Mingli, clutching a baby timidly pleaded.

The four-month-old girl in her arms seemed frightened by the noise, softly whimpering.

“This money... isn’t good to take if Xiaoxiao has to marry someone like Wang Laowu...” Zhou Mingli’s voice trembled with genuine concern for her little sister-in-law’s future.

Zhong Chengren glared and retorted sharply, “This was Mom’s decision! What do you women know? If you have a problem, go tell her yourself!”

Zhou Mingli was silenced, lowering her head as she sighed quietly, tears welling in her eyes.

“Stop fighting!” chimed in the youngest son, Zhong Chengyi. “Big brother, second brother, you’re both married with kids! I’m the only bachelor here! This money should be for me to get married! Or am I going to stay single forever?”

Zhang Chunxue stood just outside the doorway, half-hidden behind the doorframe.

She quietly watched the three brothers, flushed with anger, shouting at each other, and the eldest daughter-in-law, munching sunflower seeds and fanning the flames.

Familiar yet strange faces, now so ugly, so greedy.

The true nature of these ungrateful wolves had long been revealed!

What had blinded her last time? What had clouded her mind?

Was it because they weren’t scheming against her personally, so she had allowed it?

Or was it... that even she, like them, never truly regarded Xiaoxiao as her own daughter, but only as a tool to be sold, a means to pave the way for her sons?

Because she, as a mother, had never cared for Xiaoxiao, the brothers naturally saw their sister as worthless, something to be traded at will.

Thinking this, Zhang Chunxue felt her heart gripped cruelly by an invisible hand, pain making it hard to breathe.

The youngest son, Zhong Chengyi, sharp-eyed, was the first to spot her outside.

His face lit up immediately, breaking into an ingratiating smile.

“Mom!” He nearly ran over, his voice syrupy and sweet. “You’re awake? Listen, about that hundred yuan...”

He lowered his voice, adopting a coaxing tone. “Mom, you love me the most! This money should definitely be used for me to get married, right?”

Hearing this, Zhong Chengfa and Zhong Chengren stopped their quarrel and quickly joined in.

“Mom! Give it to me! I’m the eldest! I need to find work in the city!” Zhong Chengfa declared confidently.

“Mom! Why him? He’s always had all the benefits! Give it to me! I need money too!” Zhong Chengren shouted aggressively, cutting in.

Eldest daughter-in-law Li Hongjuan also stopped munching seeds, her sharp eyes darting to Zhang Chunxue, waiting for her to speak so she could scheme how to get the money into her own hands.

Zhang Chunxue cast a cold glance over the three of them. “Want money? In your dreams! Not a single one of you will get anything!”