Volume One, Chapter One: Reborn Back to 1986

In the private ward, Sun Yaqin held her son’s hand. Her voice was faint, as though she had used up her last strength. “Take good care of your...”

The monitor broke into a string of urgent beeps.

She could still hear the cries all around her. “Doctor! Doctor!”

“Yaqin!”

“Mom!”

“Auntie!”

“President Sun!”

An old man in his seventies, suddenly as helpless as a child, clutched Sun Yaqin’s hand and stammered, “Sis... sis...”

She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids would not lift. Her mind was flooded with scenes, one after another, like a lantern turning.

Images appeared before her eyes.

Her second sister leaped from a bridge into an ice hole where others had been fishing in winter. Her third aunt stood nearby with her arms folded into her sleeves, sneering coldly. “If she hadn’t gone around seducing people, why would that little thug have raped her of all people? She should have jumped long ago and spared the Yang family the disgrace.”

Then her eldest brother received a phone call. “What did you say? My wife took all the money? Even sold the house? I’m coming back at once!”

With a deafening crash, two cars collided. The car was full of her eldest brother’s blood, and when he woke again, his intelligence had regressed to that of a three-year-old child.

“Please, stop hitting her! The child will be back any minute! Don’t let the child see this...” Her eldest sister knelt on the ground, begging bitterly, while her brother-in-law kicked her again and again.

Another relentless string of beeps sounded, and this time the scene shifted to her mother’s final moments.

“Mom!” The scream seemed to drain every ounce of strength from her. Sun Yaqin felt tears spill from the corners of her eyes, and she suddenly sat bolt upright.

She was gasping desperately, fine beads of sweat covering her forehead. Before she could even collect herself, a voice she had not heard in a very long time, yet one she knew by heart, sounded beside her.

“Yaqin! Yaqin! Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

“Mom!”

Sun Yaqin looked up in stunned disbelief. She glanced around and saw several half-grown boys sitting around the kang bed. Seeing her wake, they all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Mrs. Yang, now that Yaqin is fine, we’ll head back first.”

The little troublemakers knew they were in the wrong. Before Yang Guilan could even answer, they slipped away as fast as greased lightning.

Sun Yaqin was still dazed. Her head throbbed, and the back of it felt as though it had been struck by something heavy. She rubbed her forehead and looked around again.

Her mother, Yang Guilan, was watching her with deep concern.

The newspaper pasted to the wall with flour paste had yellowed slightly, and its corners had curled.

The cabinet at the end of the kang bed had been stuffed with too many quilts, forcing its doors to gape open, revealing a glimpse of the bright floral cotton bedding inside.

The wooden window frames in the room were painted blue, and frost crystals clung to the glass. The wind howled outside, and the whole room was filled with the scent of pine smoke and coal.

Wasn’t this their old house in Shanglin Village? Had she been reborn?

Fragments of memory floated up in her mind. “Mom! What year is it this year?”

Yang Guilan grew frightened and grabbed her hand. “Yaqin, what’s wrong with you? Did you hit your head? I’ll have your father borrow your Uncle Chen’s tractor and take you to the county hospital.”

“Mom, I’m fine! Just tell me!”

“It’s 1986! No, this won’t do. I’m not at ease. I’ll go find your father right now and have him take you to the hospital.”

Before Yang Guilan could even stand, Sun Yaqin was already scrambling down from the kang bed. She remembered that in her previous life, she had been competing with those boys in the village to see who could climb trees better, and ended up falling from one. Two days later, her second sister jumped into the river and killed herself. That second sister... that was what happened today!

She did not even have time to put on her shoes. Barefoot, she stepped onto the floor, as though she could not feel the piercing cold beneath her feet.

Looking at the calendar hanging on the wall, newly unwrapped not long ago, she saw January 8, 1987. The lunar New Year had not yet passed, so by local custom it was still considered 1986. That was it. Today.

She had no time to think further. Since Heaven had given her a second chance, she would never again let her family walk the same path as before.

She put on her shoes, threw on her coat, and said to Yang Guilan, “Mom, I need to go into the city. I have something urgent with my second sister.”

“It’s almost noon already, and there are no buses left. How are you going to get there? And what urgent matter could there be? The year is about to end, and your second sister will be back in a few days.”

Sun Yaqin had no way to explain it to her mother. “Mom, I really do have something urgent with my second sister. I’m going to Uncle Chen’s place now. If he can drive me to the county seat by tractor, I’ll still make the last bus into the city.”

In her haste, Sun Yaqin did not even put on a hat or scarf before rushing toward the house of her neighbor, Old Fourth Chen.

The bitter wind swept across her face like countless icy needles, making her mind all the clearer.

“Yaqin! Yaqin! Wait for me, child!”

Yang Guilan hurried after her, carrying a hat and scarf and putting them on her head. Then she pressed a handkerchief into Sun Yaqin’s hand. It felt heavy and thick.

“You silly girl, you never let anyone rest easy. Here’s fifty yuan. Keep it safe, and if you feel unwell, go to the hospital right away.”

It had been a long time since Sun Yaqin had felt such maternal care, and her eyes reddened despite herself. But now was not the time to savor the warmth of mother and daughter. She had to reach North Bin City before dark. She could not let her second sister come to harm.

Neighbor Old Fourth Chen was kind and had always been close with the Sun family. When he heard that Sun Yaqin needed to go to the county seat, he did not hesitate. He quickly dressed and drove his tractor to take her there.

Sun Yaqin ran all the way into the passenger station and finally caught the last bus bound for North Bin City.

The roads then were nowhere near as good as they would become in later years, and in snowy Northeast China the packed snow on the ground was treacherously slippery. These small buses often had accidents.

Sitting on the bus with her eyes closed, she recalled the events of her previous life. During a school break, her second sister had come home, only to receive a call from her fourth uncle, Yang Zhigang, who said his restaurant was short-handed and asked her to come help, promising her fifteen yuan a month.

But how could her second sister have known that the little thug had taken a liking to her and, together with Fourth Uncle, had schemed against her?

After the assault, her second sister chose to call the police. In those days, reporting such a thing took enormous courage.

In the end, she could not withstand the gossip and whispers around her. In that bitter winter, she jumped into the river and took her own life. And their own third aunt had been there at the scene. She not only refused to find help, she even stood by watching the spectacle.

After her sister’s death, the investigation revealed the truth. The thug confessed that he had long had his eye on her. After making inquiries, he learned that she was Yang Zhigang’s niece.

He and Yang Zhigang’s family struck a deal: if Yang Zhigang helped him get the girl, they would never have to pay protection money to the restaurant again. So Yang Zhigang came up with the idea of having her second sister work at the restaurant, while the thug lay in ambush in an abandoned factory behind it, waiting for his chance.

In the end, the thug was brought to justice, but Fourth Uncle denied everything he had done. With the help of a few connections, he escaped legal punishment.

Sun Yaqin clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.