Chapter 2 Compensation

Their generation had lived through those turbulent years, when even mentioning feudal superstition would invite disaster, so a sense of fear still lingered in their hearts.

Even though it was already the 1980s.

Ge Liutao thought of what Chiang Xiao had just said and felt a chill in her limbs.

"Little just woke up and said something that scared me to death."

"What did Little say? Did she tell you who pushed her into the creek?" Chiang Songhai frowned heavily, "We can't let this matter go."

Chiang Xiao had always been frail; that someone could be so cruel to push her into the creek was unthinkable.

In this weather, the mountain water was still bone-chillingly cold. After Chiang Xiao was rescued, she developed a high fever, which had lasted for two days now.

Chiang Songhai had been waiting for her to regain consciousness and reveal who had pushed her into the creek, ready to go to that person's house and settle the score. He was convinced that his child wouldn't be so careless, still out playing at dusk, especially since Little had always been afraid of water and wouldn't get close to the creek.

"No! She wasn't fully awake, just mumbling something," Ge Liutao repeated what Chiang Xiao had said, stammering with fear.

But at least Chiang Songhai heard it clearly.

He frowned as well.

No wonder his wife was scared; indeed, the words spoken were very eerie. However, one shouldn't become paranoid over a single sentence.

"It's just a nightmare she had; don't talk nonsense," he said.

Ge Liutao wanted to say something else, she opened her mouth, but upon seeing her husband's gaunt face and his worried brows, she ultimately didn't say anything more.

She sighed and said, "I'll go brew another bowl of medicine for her."

When Chiang Xiao awoke again, it was already dusk.

She smelled the fragrance of food and her stomach growled loudly.

It was this very real hunger that made her unable to continue treating all of this as just a dream.

She was lying in an old-fashioned canopy bed, with four pillars at the corners supporting four beams, and railings on three sides adorned with paintings symbolizing wealth and good fortune. Above her, the bed curtains, which were not let down, were hooked up on either side with two golden iron hooks.

Turning her head to look outside the bed, there were the concrete walls, the concrete floor, the tiled roof, the raw tree trunks that made up the horizontal beams, and the dusty bare light bulb hanging down from one of the beams...

A large calendar poster was stuck on the wall, featuring a beautiful stage actress in a red dance costume, cradling a pipa in her arms, exuding a strong sense of nostalgia.

Chiang Xiao caught sight of the numbers beneath the poster.

1980.

Chiang Xiao felt her whole body break out in goosebumps.

She couldn't help but pinch her own face sharply.

"Ouch!"

The pain made her scrunch up her face.

She looked at her slender hand, unable to believe she had returned to being thirteen years old.

Returned to her home in Siyang Village.

Chiang Xiao covered her eyes with her hands as tears once again overflowed.

That's when she heard voices coming from outside.

"Aunt Tao, hasn't that girl Chiang Xiao gotten up yet? Tsk tsk, she really lives like a pampered young lady! I'll call her up!"

The voice of her grandmother quickly followed: "Guiying, don't go in there; our Little is still running a fever!"

It seemed as though she had been held back, as the voice of the visitor became annoyed.

"Running a fever, what fever? I'm just asking a question! How did Da Ni's clothes get torn? I need to get to the bottom of this! It was no easy task to obtain that dacron fabric, and I spent several nights by candlelight sewing that new dress! Da Ni said it was Chiang Xiao who tore it, you owe us compensation!"