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Early in the spring of the year, Twin Blue Mountain, which had slumbered all winter, gradually awoke.
At the foot of the mountain, the winter jasmine and apricot blooms vied to display their stamens, bursting with life and vigor.
When Lin Tang became conscious, she felt a severe pain on her scalp as if someone was gripping her hair, pulling her out of the ground just like yanking a radish.
In her confusion, she opened her eyes to see a young girl with a distorted face, dragging her by her hair with a look of jealous hatred on her face.
"... Ptui, you vixen, always seducing people!" The person scratched Lin Tang harshly and spoke with a mix of hate and smugness.
Where the fingers had clawed, a nail mark appeared on Lin Tang's fair face.
Wang Zhaodi was so angry she could burst just thinking about how Liu Guohui had given Lin Tang, that foxlike temptress, a couple more glances yesterday.
The foxlike temptress, relying on her face to flirt and seduce everywhere!
As Lin Tang regained her senses, her scalp stung with a burning pain.
Before she fully reacted, her arm was pinched.
A cold light flashed in her eyes and with a raise of her hand, she flipped over the person who was pulling her hair.
The next second—
There was a 'thud...' sound.
Wang Zhaodi fell sprawling, her dry body crashing against the trunk of a nearby tree.
"Ow!"
"Lin Tang, you're asking for death!" she said, supporting herself up by the waist, furiously and hatefully.
Lin Tang ignored Wang Zhaodi, taking a quick glance around her, her face a picture of shock.
Had she... traveled back in time?
Wasn't she just conducting an experiment in the laboratory?!
Father, mother, brothers, sisters-in-law, and Goudan, Choudan...
Have I really returned?
Lin Tang looked at the distant mountainscape, her expression a mix of disbelief and unstoppable joy.
After a long while, she suddenly laughed heartily, murmuring to herself,
"... I'm back, I've finally returned..."
Wang Zhaodi found Lin Tang a bit strange and wanted to move forward to continue reprimanding her, but her waist was so sore from the blow that it hurt terribly when she moved.
So, she temporarily abandoned the idea of continuing to punish Lin Tang, hatingly said,
"Hey, you nerdy twit, I told you to stay away from Liu Guohui, did you hear me?"
Lin Tang didn't bother with her.
"Lin Tang!" Wang Zhaodi gritted her teeth, "Are you stupid or deaf? Did you hear me talking to you?"
Her voice was particularly shrill; it split through the air, causing Lin Tang's ears to buzz.
And, this is Wang Zhaodi?
Wang Zhaodi had just been... pulling her hair, and even pinching her?
Lin Tang's icy gaze fell upon Wang Zhaodi. She took a step forward, raised her hand, and slapped her across the face.
'Slap!'
With a slap, Wang Zhaodi was completely stunned.
"You think you're fit to give me orders?" said Lin Tang with a cold smile on her face, "This slap is a warning to you, stay away from me in the future, or you'll learn how the word 'death' is written!"
After speaking, she rubbed her sore scalp, damn, that was too harsh!
Her scalp felt like it had nearly been ripped off.
Unable to hold back, she swung another slap.
Wang Zhaodi's complexion was very dark, and despite Lin Tang's slaps, no red marks showed on her face.
Wang Zhaodi was dazed by the slaps, then erupted into a string of uncontainable curses.
"Lin Tang, you little bitch, you dare hit me! You believe I won't kill you!" she shouted, rage in her voice, frightening the sleeping birds into flight.
Lin Tang had no time to deal with her just then.
Because she was so hungry her body felt weak, and her head throbbed painfully as memories she hadn't dared touch for over twenty years flooded her mind crazily.
The memories from two worlds entwined, very confusing...
Head splitting with pain, her body staggered.
Wang Zhaodi felt snubbed when Lin Tang didn't even glance her way.
Her chest, flat as a tarred road, heaved with anger.
In a fury, she picked up a stone and, taking advantage of Lin Tang's unpreparedness, smashed it viciously against the back of her head.
The stone was sharp as a dagger, and with that strike, a sticky red patch appeared on the back of Lin Tang's head.
Her hair was dyed red as she fell to the ground.
Regaining her senses, Wang Zhaodi immediately panicked.
Had she, she murdered someone?
In utter disarray, forgetting the pain in her waist, she rushed down the mountain.
-
When Lin Tang awoke again, it was already afternoon.
She lay in a modest adobe room, with wooden beams for the ceiling and dust falling from the earthen walls.
It was so desolate that not even a mouse would visit such a house.
Lin Tang quickly sat up, staring at the familiar yet unfamiliar room, tears streaming down her face.
After more than twenty years, she had truly returned!
She always remembered she was Lin Tang of the Lin Family from Shuangshan Brigade, killed accidentally by the Wang Zhaodi who had bullied her since childhood, before she transmigrated to the 23rd century and became an orphan.
It was an alien world where she was alone, with not a single relative.
Luckily, she had a good head on her shoulders and, with the support of kind-hearted people, she made it into a prestigious school and smoothly entered the Medical Research Institute.
Her last memory was of a laboratory explosion.
Lin Tang took some time to sort out her memories; it seemed she had just lived through a famine.
People were cold and hungry, everything required ration tickets...
It was a time of extreme scarcity of goods.
As soon as Lin Tang had sorted out her memories,
suddenly, a "ding..." echoed in her mind.
The abrupt mechanical sound left her stunned.
Auditory hallucination?
"System integration successful!" The system, seemingly aware of her doubting her life, piped up again.
"System?" Lin Tang blinked.
As a capable individual from the 23rd century, she had seen all sorts of situations.
She had already transmigrated twice; having a system wasn't strange anymore.
Right at that moment, her stomach growled loudly—she couldn't bear the hunger any longer. Lin Tang asked, "System, do you have any food?"
She clutched her stomach, which ached from hunger.
"Insufficient system points, exchange function is abnormal," the voice replied.
Lin Tang wrinkled her nose, "So weak?"
Aren't other people's systems all incredibly powerful?
The system, as if realizing it was being looked down upon, quickly said, "Congratulations to the host for obtaining the newbie gift pack. Would you like to draw your prize now?"
There's a prize draw?
Lin Tang's eyes lit up.
Of course, she had to draw; she must draw, especially if there was food included.
A wheel of fortune appeared before her, and nearly half of its area was occupied by the words "Thank you for your patronage."
The other sectors bore small, clear words like biscuits, toothbrush, thermos bottle, pen... and other items.
In these times, they were all precious commodities.
Lin Tang stared at the word "biscuits" and couldn't help swallowing, her hands trembling slightly.
Before she could utter the word "draw," a ruckus erupted from the courtyard.
"Liu Guohui! Say that again!" Li Xiuli said sternly, her thin face all frost.
Facing her menacing eyes, Liu Guohui felt jittery inside.
But knowing this chance was rare, he suppressed his apprehension, stood his ground, and said, "I'll say it again, I want to cancel my engagement with Lin Tang. Anyway, there's no engagement gift, so it saves trouble."
"Now it's the new era, arranged marriages are remnants of feudalism.
As a youth of this new era, I will not continue to accept this marriage arrangement.
Besides, I'm now half an urban man, and long since not on the same path as your family's Lin Tang.
It would be better for everyone to annul the marriage sooner rather than later..."
He was about to become a regular worker at the Food Factory from a temporary one.
Even if Lin Tang's family had many brothers, and she herself was a high school student, she was no longer a match for him.
It would be better to resolve this marriage issue sooner rather than later.
So he could find an urban bride.
Li Xiuli's chest heaved violently with anger, she clenched her teeth and asked, "You really want to call off the marriage?"
She was furious!
Just thinking about her daughter coming back to the village covered in blood, barely breathing,
And before she had even regained consciousness, Liu Guohui, her prospective son-in-law, came to annul the marriage.
Li Xiuli's lips trembled with rage.
She didn't know if the idea to annul the marriage came from the Liu Family or from that worthless boy.
No matter what, her daughter shouldn't have to suffer this insult for nothing!
Liu Guohui's face changed slightly when he heard the words 'calling off the marriage.'
"What do you mean 'calling off the marriage'? I am a progressive youth following the Organization, and I firmly refuse to bow to arranged marriages.
Is there something wrong with that? There isn't, right!
Auntie Li, don't make it sound so serious, just straightforwardly agree to the annulment!"
Li Xiuli's fist tightened involuntarily.
Before she could speak, the door to Lin Tang's room 'creaked' open.
"Mom, since he wants to call off the marriage, let's just call it off!"
Lin Tang didn't even glance at Liu Guohui, her gaze steady on her mother, as a storm raged within her.
Mom, you don't know how much I've wanted to come home.
Thinking of the nightly dreams of my parents' backs, feeling heartache upon seeing the elderly and bursting into tears, dreading to not dare recall any memory of this place...
There was a time when she even thought that Shuangshan Brigade, Lin Lu, Li Xiuli, Lin Qingshan... all these people were just figments of her imagination, that they didn't actually exist.
Being able to come back, to see Mom again, how wonderful that is!
Liu Guohui's face looked a little uneasy when he saw Lin Tang come out.
His face turned blue with anger upon hearing her words.
He had actually liked Lin Tang.
Because she was so beautiful she didn't seem like a village girl.
If only she hadn't been so clueless, not even willing to hold hands or kiss.
He wouldn't have so resolutely called off the marriage.
"Lin Tang! Who do you think you are to look down on me? I'm about to secure a permanent job, what about you?
You, a mere village girl tilling the land, what right do you have to say such things?"
"Even if you're a high school student, you can't even find a temporary job.
You're just a waste, no matter what, I'm still much better than you."
His eyes carried an obscure sense of triumph, as if assuming Lin Tang was just sour graping.
Lin Tang looked at Liu Guohui, almost nauseated by disgust.
Just because of this man, in her previous life she had been targeted and bullied by Wang Zhaodi from an early age,
Ugh...
Disgusting!
"Fine, you're impressive!" Lin Tang didn't want to argue with the man in front of her anymore, she waved her hand as if shooing away a fly.
"I agree to the annulment, now get lost... uh... leave my house!"
Please, stop embarrassing yourself here.
With this time, wouldn't it be better for her to go and enter a lottery?
Liu Guohui felt choked up inside, finding this very unsatisfying.
In his mind, being so outstanding, his breaking off the engagement with Lin Tang should've led to Lin Tang weeping bitterly; that was the proper reaction.
Definitely not this calm demeanor that stirred not the slightest ripple, and even had a hint of... disdain?
Liu Guohui looked at Lin Tang.
The young girl's face was pale, a white cloth bandaged around her head.
There was a scratch from a fingernail on her powdered white face, which was heartbreakingly visible.
Her hair was disheveled, the braided pigtails undone, appearing slightly curly.
Her eyes were like autumn water, with a misty layer of sleepiness, making one's heart quiver unconsciously when she looked at them.
She was delicate, not like a village girl, but like a spoilt little fairy.
Liu Guohui hesitated for a moment in his heart.
But thinking about the bright future ahead, he steeled his resolve once again.
He was sure he wouldn't regret it!
"Fine, you've agreed as well, our engagement is annulled, and from now on, our marriage arrangements will have nothing to do with each other."
Having said that, Liu Guohui left without looking back.
Li Xiuli let out a sigh when she saw her daughter agree to the breakup, thinking she and the child's father had been blind.
How could they have set such a fiancé for their daughter.
But now that the engagement was broken, it was for the best.
If the two of them had been married, it would have been even more disgusting.
"Daughter, don't be sad, your mom and dad will find you someone better in the future. The stench won't go, but the scent will come; it's nothing..." Li Xiuli consoled her.
In her heart, however, she worried that the breakup wasn't good news, and the village gossips would surely wag their tongues.
Before Lin Tang could speak, a pig-faced Wang Zhaodi popped her head over the wall to the right.
"Giggle giggle, how funny, Lin Tang, you've actually been dumped. It's killing me with laughter."
Her laughter was loud and mocking, heavy with mockery, and completely asking for a beating.
Her face was both red and swollen, her eyes squinting into slits as she sneered.
"Wang Zhaodi, you dare to come and pick a fight!"
After what she'd done to her daughter's head, and now she was here to gloat?
Was this the act of a human being?!
Li Xiuli twisted her eyebrows fiercely and, with a sweep of her sleeve, took a piss pot from the doorway of the latrine.
'Splash'—she flung the stinky water from it right onto Wang Zhaodi.
"Scram! If you don't scram, I'll treat you to another pot of piss."
In the rural households, there wasn't a toilet in every room, and there were no lights in the courtyard, so everyone kept a piss pot handy.
There was a faint yellow layer on top of the pot; it wasn't particularly stinky, but the smell was definitely unpleasant.
Wang Zhaodi was nearly fainted from the stench.
"...Ahh ahh ahh..."
She was so angry that she stamped her feet, slipping on a round bucket she stepped on.
The next second, there was a 'thud' from the next courtyard, followed by a wail.
"Ah! My back."
Li Xiuli spat toward the wall, cursed the girl next door for having a short memory, and hurried to wash her hands.
"Tangtang, go back to your room! Don't worsen the wound on your head, are you hungry? Your mom will bring you some food in a bit."
Lin Tang's head indeed ached a bit, and she agreed before returning to the room.
Before leaving, she cast a faint glance at the courtyard wall, a glint of cold light flashing in her eyes.
If it weren't for that person in her past life, she wouldn't have died, nor would she have lived alone for over twenty years.
As a result, she now found it somewhat difficult to be close to her family...
No sooner had Lin Tang settled back on her bed than the system beeped.
"Host has received a novice gift, would you like to draw it now?"
Lin Tang looked expectant, "Draw!"
As she spoke, she tapped the transparent screen in front of her, full of anticipation.
The wheel spun wildly, and the pointer stopped on a little fan in the corner.
"...Ding... Congratulations to the host for receiving one 'Bone Washing and Marrow Cleansing'..." the system said.
The moment it finished speaking, Lin Tang felt a warm sensation spread to all her limbs.
Her whole body was energized, even the painful spot on the back of her head felt better.
Awesome!
The side effect was that she was even hungrier!!
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