Chapter 2 She wanted what she wanted, not afraid of the bad guys racking their brains, but afraid of…

It's not the cunning of bad people that's scary, it's the sudden inspiration of fools.

Zhong Ying lay on the bed, quietly counting the roof beams, with this sentence on her mind.

The next morning, the fever finally subsided completely, and Zhong Ying finally understood.

She traveled back to 1968, to a small mountain village in the north, formerly known as Tonggan Village and now called Tonggan Production Team. The price of her resurrection was to passively accept everything that originally belonged to "Zhong Ying," including the debt of a life.

Zhong Ying was the most special girl in the Tonggan production team. Compared to her mother Deng Xia, a notoriously shrewish woman in the surrounding area, this girl was even more spicier than her mother, a "devilishly spicy little chili pepper".

All the naughty things that boys his age did when they were little, little "Zhong Ying" with her two pigtails would immediately retaliate with a punch and a kick. Anyone who's not happy and wants to fight back? Didn't you see the tall and strong Zhong Cheng standing behind Zhong Ying?

So as the boys grew up and became young men, and with early marriage and childbirth becoming common in the village, they paired up with girls of marriageable age, but "Zhong Ying" still hadn't found a partner.

After all, being kicked when you're seven or eight is one thing, but nobody wants to be kicked by their wife in their twenties, thirties, or even seventies or eighties, and not be able to fight back, since Zhong Cheng behind her has become even stronger. Zhong Cheng has been in the army for several years and hasn't come back yet? There's still Zhong Ying's mother in the production team, a woman in her forties or fifties who is still considered a strong laborer, in the prime of her life.

With a daughter-in-law like that, a brother-in-law like that, and a mother-in-law like that, one would probably have to sleep with their eyes open.

So even though "Zhong Ying" is a pretty girl with a bright and flamboyant smile, they are looking for a wife, not looking for a beating.

Zhong Ying, who was regarded as a scourge, didn't care much about this, and she looked down on those men.

Perhaps because they grew up bickering and disliked each other, the siblings' preferences for partners were completely opposite. Zhong Cheng's wife, Miao Suyun, was a very gentle and considerate person, while "Zhong Ying" preferred intelligent and refined scholars. The young men in the village who she had seen running around naked as children were definitely not her type.

However, as she grew older, in an environment where her peers were getting married one by one and even being teased as "old maids," Zhong Ying inevitably began to worry about who to marry.

Unlike other girls who obeyed their parents' wishes and married, "Zhong Ying" also gained the same right, just as Zhong Cheng himself had chosen Miao Suyun.

The two siblings are only a year apart, but the brother doesn't act like a brother, and the sister doesn't act like a sister. They grew up bickering and fighting, even arguing for years over the ownership of the family watchdog, until finally Old Man Zhong found out and brought home a puppy to settle things. If they can't be "fair-minded" on such a major life event as marriage, "Zhong Ying" will really cause a huge uproar.

Her arrogance and unbridled behavior are naturally due to her fearlessness stemming from her talent.

Zhong Ying has an older brother and a younger brother, but she is the most favored child in the family.

Her brother, Zhong Cheng, is a real rascal.

Tonggan Village is nestled against the mountains and beside the water, built against Yingshan Mountain and cultivated along the Ganlin River. The villagers worship the Mountain Goddess and have a natural awe of Yingshan Mountain. In addition, there are wild animals and snakes that roam the mountains. The adults strictly forbid the children from going up the mountain to play. Despite such constant warnings, Zhong Cheng, when he was eight years old, dared to take his dog in and out of Yingshan Mountain three times. Even when Deng Xia chased him with a broom, he did not learn his lesson.

Zhong Ying's younger brother, Zhong Xin, is six years younger than her. He is an introverted and shy boy, praised by everyone in the production team as an honest child, but also described by Deng Xia as a quiet, unassuming boy who "wouldn't utter a word."

Zhong Ying, who looks and has the most similar personality to Deng Xia, naturally becomes the darling of Deng Xia, the person who actually holds the power in the family, in contrast to Mi Hou and the taciturn one. Spoiled since childhood, she unsurprisingly "grown" a bit crooked.

This girl is spoiled.

In this mountain village where the concept of marriage based on parental wishes is still prevalent, Zhong Ying's behavior of choosing young men on her own is quite outrageous. What's even more outrageous is that she has her eye on two of them.

Originally, there was only one person, but this year, the Tonggan production team, like other production teams, assigned educated youth to work in the countryside. There weren't many, just two men and two women, and they were all the kind of bookish people that Zhong Ying liked. She screened them out and took a liking to Cheng Bin, who was the most refined and handsome among them.

But not long after, to the surprise of all the villagers in the Tonggan production team, the youngest son of Captain Li, who had passed the exam and was studying at a university in the capital, returned to his hometown as an educated youth to build it up!

Therefore, "Zhong Ying" has set her sights on two people.

It was quiet inside and outside the house. Last night, her mother, Deng Xia, had told Zhong Ying that everyone else in the family had gone to work early in the morning. Zhong Ying's work points would be done by Zhong Cheng, who had returned home, so she could just rest at home.

That's why Zhong Ying was still lying in bed even though it was already broad daylight. She kept her eyes open and continued to think blankly. It has to be said that this girl was thinking about getting married, but her way of thinking was more like looking for a job.

Cheng Bin is like a small startup company. Zhong Ying marrying him is like becoming a partner. The advantages are obvious: she values ​​Cheng Bin as a person, he is her type, and he is very free (without her parents-in-law around).

However, the disadvantages are also obvious. The company only has two bosses and no employees. Everything depends on themselves. They even need to ask "Zhong Ying's" family for help to "finance" when necessary (the educated youth only brought their own luggage when they went to the countryside and lived in the same educated youth settlement. If they wanted to get married, they needed "Zhong Ying's" family to subsidize the construction of houses, etc.), and they also need to help out from time to time (it seems that these educated youth who have only been in the countryside for a short time have not yet adapted to the work rhythm of farming).

If she marries Li Linshi, who was shortlisted later, it would be like entering a well-established family business. His father, Li Ming, is the team leader of the Tonggan production team (equivalent to the village chief). Li Ming and Liu Hongyan have three sons and one daughter, and their youngest son, Li Linshi, is the most successful among them.

Previously, he was a "college student who went out to study," but now he is a "college student who returned to his hometown." Li Linshi studied agricultural mechanization, and the other people in the Tonggan production team regarded him as the next production team leader, believing that he would definitely be able to take over his father Li Ming's job and continue to lead everyone to do a good job in production in the future.

Young and promising, with a bright future, and still single.

Zhong Ying barely hesitated for a minute before happily eliminating Cheng Bin. She even smugly thought that perhaps after marrying Li Lin, she could get his current job as a scorekeeper.

After all, a man should let his wife do the easier work; that's called loving his wife. Just like her father, Zhong Chunsheng, he would do his full work points every day, doing hard work like plowing the fields, while letting his mother, Deng Xia, do lighter physical work like weeding and thinning seedlings.

Zhong Ying had already made the job of scorekeeper her a certainty, and even had her younger brother Zhong Xin, who had studied at Liuzhang Commune Middle School, tutor her in arithmetic.

As for whether the two young men wanted to marry her or not, they didn't react at all to her flirtatious glances, and "Zhong Ying" didn't care.

She was truly spoiled, like an ignorant child, believing only in one thing—"If she wants it, she gets it."

After hearing that a female educated youth in the Liwangou production team downstream of the Ganlin River had accidentally fallen into the river and was rescued by another male educated youth, and that the two had married and created a beautiful story, "Zhong Ying" had a "bright idea" and decided to copy it, and when she won over Li Lin, she joined (married into) the Li Group.

Deng Xia was one of the elders who watched Li Linshi grow up, and she liked the child very much when he was young. It's frustrating to compare yourself to others. Li Linshi and Zhong Cheng are the same age, but her own son spends all his time walking his dog and wanting to go on adventures on Ying Mountain next to the village, while Li Linshi goes to school at the village school. Why isn't such a good child her son? Deng Xia has sighed in her heart countless times.

Hearing that her daughter had taken a liking to him, Deng Xia naturally couldn't be more supportive. She had watched her daughter grow up, so she knew him inside and out, which was much better than those educated youth from other places.

Saving someone from drowning was indeed a direct and quick way to get close to Li Linshi in the still conservative 1960s, Zhong Ying thought, and then silently changed the two overly straightforward words to "marry".

If things had gone according to plan, this would have been a story of a wicked woman winning over a beautiful but unattainable man, but an unexpected event occurred.

She never intended to, but still caused the death of a promising young man, and this somewhat greedy girl paid the price for her actions with her own life.

Zhong Ying's feelings were indescribably complicated; the huge mess the original owner had made was now her responsibility.

They were all spoiled. Other brats only throw tantrums in shopping malls and ask for things, and at most they'll be laughed at by these recorded embarrassing stories when they grow up. But Zhong Ying was practically a monkey, a Monkey King, who really messed up the whole world.

Zhong Ying closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and comforted herself with the "year-end summary" she used every year, only changing a few words.

"Although I transmigrated, I didn't wake up already married, and I didn't have a child I couldn't put back in," Zhong Ying murmured in a barely audible voice. She felt her heart gradually calm down and even breathed a sigh of relief. "The start wasn't too bad, and I've been given a second chance at life, and I'm six years younger. That's great, the future is promising."

Fully revitalized, Zhong Ying finally got up to face her new life when the sun was high in the sky and the roosters had long since crowed.

As soon as she opened the door, the bright sunlight generously shone on Zhong Ying, as if gilding her with a golden edge. The wisps of hair on her forehead were lifted by the breeze, and she looked up at the sky, feeling a little dazed.

How long has it been since she's seen such a sun? Zhong Ying couldn't think of an answer. She could only recall her daily rush to work on the subway in the early morning, the always-drawn blackout curtains in the office building, and the exhaustion she felt when leaving the company under the stars and moon.

After a long period of working 996, Zhong Ying even felt guilty for sleeping in until she naturally woke up today.

wrong.

Zhong Ying couldn't help but slap herself, not hard, of course; she just wanted to wake herself up from the workplace manipulation she'd been subjected to. Why didn't she deserve to sleep in? She needed to learn from the original owner of this body; the original Zhong Ying had never considered whether she "deserved" or not.

After reflecting on her actions, Zhong Ying came to her senses and saw the little boy who had been playing with a big black dog in the yard ahead looking at her with a terrified expression.

Zhong Ying and Xiao Douding stared at each other, wide-eyed.

After a moment, the little boy seemed to realize what had happened. He immediately gave Zhong Ying a fawning smile and said in his childish voice, "Auntie, you hit yourself, so you can't hit me anymore, okay?"

Zhong Ying: ...

The child in front of us, who looks shorter than a dog, is Zhong Cheng and Miao Suyun's son. He is three years old this year, but he has a name that adds a super seniority to his name: Guoqiang.

Zhong Ying couldn't recall the name of any of the uncles or elders.

But with his surname added, Zhong Ying really couldn't say the name was bad. She felt that every time she called this kid's name, her red value would increase by one and her patriotism value would double.

Zhong Guoqiang was still trying to appease his increasingly ruthless aunt, saying, "Mom has cooked some food in the pot, and there are eggs too! I only ate one, just like Grandma said, and I'm leaving the other one for Aunt."

Although the little bean sprout is small, it has already vaguely grasped its own way of survival.

As the only third-generation and youngest member of the family, he naturally gets all the good food, except for his aunt.

So little Zhong Guoqiang isn't afraid of his unfamiliar father, his mother who spanks him, or his shrewish grandmother. The person Zhong Guoqiang fears most in the whole family is his aunt, Zhong Ying, who will really snatch anything good from him! Now his aunt even slaps herself!

This is terrifying!

Zhong Ying was unaware that her image in the little boy's mind had been twisted into that of a devil. She was secretly pleased, thinking that her son was much more obedient than his father. If it were Zhong Cheng, he would probably hide the egg in some corner and then have his sister chase him all over the yard before he would obediently take it out.

"You're such a good girl, I'll let you play with Brown Sugar a little longer," Zhong Ying said, waving her hand.

Brown Sugar is the name of the big black dog that guards the house; it was the puppy that Old Man Zhong later brought home.

This brings us to the story of Zhong Cheng and Zhong Ying's childhood.

The watchdog that the brother and sister were fighting over was named Xiangchun. Zhong Cheng named it because he loved to eat stir-fried eggs with toon sprouts. This was also the reason why little Zhong Cheng insisted that Xiangchun was his dog. Little Zhong Ying didn't care and insisted that Xiangchun liked her more and was willing to be her dog.

The two siblings argued over "whose dog Xiangchun belonged to" from the winter of 1953 to the summer of 1957, even though the two teenagers were now older siblings. Zhong Chunsheng, not wanting his wife to be bothered by the two older children while caring for their younger son, inquired around and obtained a puppy from a neighboring village. He then divided the children completely: Xiangchun went to Zhong Cheng, and the puppy to Zhong Ying, finally ending the siblings' tug-of-war.

Having reclaimed his beloved Chinese toon, Zhong Cheng naturally had no objections; Zhong Ying also calmed down. Following the name her brother had given to the big yellow dog, she named her little black dog "Brown Sugar." She had only seen this kind of "luxury" that was so red it was almost black once before. It tasted sweet when mixed with water, and she loved it.

Today, all that's left in the house is brown sugar. The toon tree died five years ago and rests peacefully under a toon tree at the foot of Yingshan Mountain.

Zhong Ying walked to the well in the yard, scooped up water from the water tank and splashed it on her face to wash it quickly. She then grabbed a towel from the rope next to her to wipe her face.

A small mirror, with an old-fashioned red plastic trim, hung from a rope that stretched from under the eaves to the branches outside the yard. It was the most fashionable thing of its time, and the family could only afford it after her brother joined the army.

It was only then that Zhong Ying saw her current appearance in the mirror. She looked a lot like her, or rather, she looked a lot like her when she was a junior in college, when she was only twenty-one years old. She had a round, oval face, still with the collagen of her youthful days, bright and charming eyes, and a lively and playful demeanor with a touch of the original owner's "delicate" air.

But most importantly, Zhong Ying couldn't help but lean closer to the mirror, wanting to see more clearly, and then couldn't help but whisper in admiration, "Your complexion is so good!"

Her face wasn't particularly fair, and there was a noticeable purplish-blue mark on her forehead, but her natural skin tone had a rosy glow, and her lips were naturally red. It wasn't like Zhong Ying had developed a strong "workplace smell" after working intensively at a large company for two years after graduating with her master's degree.

Before she time-traveled, Zhong Ying was diagnosed with jaundice during a physical examination due to decreased liver function and abnormal bilirubin metabolism caused by long-term overtime work. At that time, her skin was already sallow, and she even joked with her friends that she had become a "little yellow person".

"Woof woof woof—"

The big black dog, which had been lying on the ground, suddenly stood up and barked fiercely at the door.

"Huh, is anyone outside?" Zhong Guoqiang tilted his head in surprise.

Zhong Ying stopped admiring her own radiant beauty and turned to look at the other person.

In the early morning, at this time, all the men, women, and children in the production team who could be considered laborers were busy in the fields for the "Three Summer Harvests." Even Zhong Ying's younger brother, Zhong Xin, a boy of about half a size, was working in the fields as part of the labor force. Now, besides Zhong Ying, the only adults left in the village were children like Zhong Guoqiang. But which family doesn't keep such young children at home? Especially since the drowning incident had just happened, they couldn't let them play outside in groups of two or three.

But Hongtang continued barking wildly at the courtyard gate, even barking its canine teeth menacingly.

"Who's outside?" Zhong Ying asked loudly.

But after waiting for a long time, there was still no response from outside.

There was only the incessant barking of dogs.

Zhong Ying felt a strange chill run down her spine.

Although, according to the original owner's memories, the people in Tonggan Production Team were simple and honest, and although most of them had their own shortcomings, there were no truly vicious people, and nothing horrific had happened over the years.

But Zhong Ying was still trying to adapt to the new environment, and her modern vigilance remained. She didn't open the door directly to see who was in the village outside, but instead looked out through the gap in the middle of the gate.

There was clearly no one on the dirt road outside the gate.

Either there's really no one there.

Either the other person is hiding in her blind spot, for example... that person is standing right next to the door, which is why she can't see them.

The moment this thought crossed her mind, the hairs on Zhong Ying's arms stood on end. The originally refreshing breeze seemed to carry a chilling coldness, making her spine tingle.

The social news I had seen in the past quickly surfaced from the depths of my memory.

Calm down, Zhong Ying tried to tell herself. Although she and her three-year-old child were the only ones at home, and everyone else was farming in the fields, and they were in a situation where they had no one to turn to, the situation was not as bad as it seemed.

She could take Xiao Guoqiang and hide in the house until her family came home from work. Even if the other party really broke through the gate and came in, Zhong Ying could find some tools and "fight back" with Hongtang.

However, the first thing to do is to find out what kind of opponent the other party is. Don't be scared out of your wits by the unknown. Maybe he's just a hunchbacked, lecherous old man. She can scare people away by opening the door and letting the dogs out. As the female in the Zhong family, Hongtang is just as fierce as her mother and herself.

Zhong Ying beckoned to Zhong Guoqiang with her finger.

“Let’s go to the top of that wall. I’ll hold you, and you can quietly peek out to see who’s outside the door,” Zhong Ying said, her voice unconsciously lowering.

Zhong Guoqiang was puzzled, but immediately nodded. A three-year-old child cannot perceive danger; he only feels a sense of adventure and excitement.

The little rascal wasn't particularly heavy, and Zhong Ying, standing under another courtyard wall, easily lifted him up by pinching him under the armpits.

Following his aunt's instructions, Zhong Guoqiang cautiously poked his head out.

A moment later.

"There's nobody here." The child's voice was innocent, filled with undisguised confusion and doubt.

Zhong Ying's heartbeat, which had been racing, gradually returned to its original rhythm. She breathed a sigh of relief. Oh well, she had scared herself.

“Nobody’s here.” Zhong Ying turned to soothe the still-barking black dog. “Alright, Brown Sugar, stop barking. There’s nobody outside…”

No one saw that on the ground not far from the wooden door, a patch of damp, dark soil was gradually tanned by the approaching sunlight into an earthy yellow that matched the surrounding area, silently and without a trace.

A note from the author:

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Although it involves some supernatural elements, it won't be too scary; I'm a cowardly little mouse.

Various settings only represent the world view within the story; in reality, most people firmly believe in atheism.