Chapter 1: Crossing

"...Stop lying in bed already, you want to eat your fill and not do any work? Where do you find such a good deal? I have endless chores every day, worrying about this and that, and here you are, playing mind games with me. Isn't it enough already..."

Shen Feiyang clenched her teeth, the pain in her head intensifying non-stop, bursting as though it was going to explode. She groaned, wanting to clutch her head with her hands, but she couldn't lift them. Thankfully, after that most severe bout, the headache slowly subsided, and then she heard the noisy voice beside her.

"...I'm telling you, your mother was just no good. So self-absorbed, how could she raise a proper child... A girl your age, good for nothing, eats everything and leaves nothing behind. Your mother spoiled you before, but our family can't afford to spoil you now..."

Shen Feiyang felt someone yank her arm fiercely. Her body, without consciousness, skewed with the force, almost tumbling off the kang. With such strength, if she didn't die, she'd have to open her eyes.

"You've finally woken up, hurry down to the production team. Your uncle asked me to call you. Those old sheep have been penned up and starving. If something happens to them, even selling you wouldn't cover the loss," Shen Fuzhen said, hands on her hips and eyes glaring at her niece with displeasure.

"Second Aunt, I feel terrible, no strength in my body." Shen Feiyang, upon seeing who had come, was very certain she didn't recognize the woman in front of her, but somehow she could call out that the visitor was the Second Aunt…

Shen Fuzhen looked disdainfully at her niece, "Feel terrible? Who doesn't? Just because you feel terrible, you think you can lie on the kang and sleep all day? Great, I should feel terrible every day then, and let your little brother and uncle starve, huh? Not to criticize you, but at your age, what are you thinking, not doing anything all day but waiting for a meal to fall from the sky."

Shen Fuzhen, with a tone full of dismay at her niece's failure to meet expectations, exclaimed, "Tell me, which family has a grown girl who isn't helping out here and there? The capable ones are already working like strong laborers. Look at you, my niece, it just makes my blood boil."

Luckily, the Shen family had long since divided their household and she had married out early; otherwise, if she had to see such an infuriating, lazy bones every day, she would have been driven to her grave.

She turned her head, looking around the room, thinking how such a nice big house had been wasted on this slacker.

Shen Feiyang didn't like the tone of her Second Aunt and, after a moment of silence, finally spoke, "Second Aunt, I have a fever, my body aches all over and I can't get up from the kang."

This was her own diagnosis, based on the symptoms she felt upon waking. Her whole body ached and felt weak, and even under the blankets, she was still cold; she was definitely running a fever.

"You have a fever?" Shen Fuzhen looked more closely.

Indeed, her face looked somewhat sallow, and her lips were dry and peeling. It didn't seem like she was lying. Shen Fuzhen reached out with her rough hands and touched Shen Feiyang's forehead. "It's a bit hot, but okay, the temperature isn't too high."

Shen Feiyang rolled her eyes in silence, 'No kidding, the temperature was so high before, I nearly died from it. If it was still high now, why on earth did I even come here? I might as well have died from the fever.'

"Oh dear, what a hassle. Just look at the body your mother raised you with, a lady's constitution with a maid's fate. Fine, fine, I can't deal with this. I'll go straight to your uncle later. You just keep lying there." Shen Fuzhen spoke irritably, flapping her clothes, ready to head home—her whole family was waiting for a meal, and she had no time to dawdle here.

Shen Feiyang, seeing her about to leave, quickly caught the hem of her clothes.

"Second Aunt, I'm hungry." Shen Feiyang grasped the edge of Shen Fuzhen's clothes tightly.

After finishing the last sip of corn mush in the bowl, Shen Feiyang felt she had finally come alive. However, as she licked the corners of her mouth, even a large bowl of thin porridge (at that time, rural areas in the north were all using large bowls to eat, which were indeed larger compared to today's refined small bowls) left her without any feeling of fullness; it was as though she'd just laid a base. It was probably due to the scant amount of cornmeal in the porridge, one could nearly see one's reflection in it.

That evening, Auntie Shen Er nevertheless walked out the door, and Shen Feiyang couldn't hold her back. While she was lying on the kang bed lamenting whether she would become the first person to starve right after time-traveling, Dapeng, Auntie Shen Er's youngest son, came to their home. He brought Shen Feiyang a bowl of porridge, placed it on the edge of the kang, and ran off as if his butt was on fire, leaving Shen Feiyang no chance to utter a word of thanks.

Ah, Shen Feiyang put the empty bowl with a chipped rim back on the edge of the kang and slowly lay down again, taking a long, deep breath. During the brief time it took to prop herself up and drink the porridge, she felt as exhausted as if she'd done a great deal of work—her bones ached, her muscles hurt, and she even broke out in a cold sweat. Shen Feiyang knew that these were symptoms of a fever, and she was still running a temperature.

Lying on her back on the kang, she felt chills over her body, so she hurriedly pulled the slipped-off quilt over herself, wrapping herself up tightly.

Indeed, Comrade Shen Feiyang had gloriously traveled through time.

She had gone from a woman in her fifties to inhabiting the body of an orphaned girl who was now only fifteen years old.

This had turned her—a bona fide person from the '80s, who had lived over half a lifetime, and was practically halfway into the grave—into a rejuvenated youth.

Cough cough, she wasn't against becoming a little younger, but couldn't she have been reborn into a good family? Even if that was too much to ask for, couldn't she have been sent back to her own youth? Why did she, a person from the '80s, have to end up in the body of someone from the '50s? The generational differences were too great, she might not be able to adapt well.

This child's name was Shen Yunfang, born in '58. The year was now '72, meaning she was fifteen years old. She lived in a small northern mountain village called Gaijiatun. Currently, she was alone in her family; her father was a soldier who sacrificed his life on the battlefield when Yunfang was very young. Her mother had brought her up through years of hardship, but finally joined her husband due to an illness a year ago, leaving young Yunfang to fend for herself.

Of course, Yunfang's parents didn't just appear out of a rock; they had parents and siblings as well.

Yunfang's grandparents had passed away long ago, but she had two uncles and three aunts. The eldest aunt and the third aunt had married off into other villages, but the eldest uncle, second uncle, and second aunt all lived in the same village as her. Due to the hardships of the era, each family had their own difficulties, with many mouths to feed and no ability to take care of her.

As for Yunfang's maternal uncle and their side of the family, one shouldn't even bother hoping for help from them—they were all selfish and opportunistic. Over the years, while the mother and daughter were alone, they had often come to scavenge; after Yunfang's mother died, the maternal relatives did visit, but they came for the house Yunfang was living in, not for her well-being.

The Shen family, of course, couldn't relent to such demands. Even if Shen Laosi's branch had no direct descendants, the property wouldn't fall to outsiders—the Shen family still existed.

So, after causing a scene in Gaijiatun, Yunfang's maternal family had completely severed ties with her, their niece.

As for the child herself...

Shen Feiyang shook her head; it seemed Yunfang was not the kind of child who inspired affection.

She was reclusive and never liked talking to others, just shutting the door and living her own quiet life with her mother. She wasn't too admirable either—the whole village knew she was a lazy girl, and her mother wasn't strict enough; as her Auntie Er said, Yunfang was no good at anything, leaving nothing behind when she ate.

Ah, the days ahead weren't looking easy for her.