Chapter 1
1.
"Yueyue, come here, come and call... call Uncle." The woman said with a mix of nervousness and anticipation.
"..."
"It's alright, the child is still young. Yueyue—may I call you that? Here are some toys. I didn't know what you liked, so I bought a little of everything. Take a look and see which one you like?"
"..."
Men and women surrounded her, talking a lot, but she remained silent the whole time. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she pushed them away and ran back to her room.
“…He’s still young,” the man said.
"Hmm..." The woman lowered her head, her expression unreadable.
...
"Yueyue, you're back?" The woman with wrinkles around her eyes greeted her. "Are you hungry?"
“I’m not hungry,” she shook her head and looked at the man beside her.
"Yueyue is back, so I'll be going now," the man said with a smile, pointing to the fruit and snacks he had brought. "If you're hungry, you can have a bite. I'll have your mom make some noodles later."
The man's familiar words made her eyelashes flutter, but she still didn't speak. The woman smiled habitually and said, "What would you like to eat, Yueyue? How about a poached egg?"
She instinctively wanted to shake her head, but stopped herself, nodded slightly, and simply said, "I'm going to take a shower first."
After saying that, she went back to her room. She didn't hear what the man and woman behind her said. A moment after she closed her door, the front door opened and closed. She peeked through the door a little and saw that the man had left.
The woman stood alone in the living room, her face forlorn. She couldn't bear to look at her like that and wanted to push open the door to say something, but years of habit prevented her from taking that step. She just watched the woman's back for a long time before finally closing the door.
...
“It’s the anniversary of my grandparents’ death again,” she said softly, watching the woman wipe the portrait.
“Yes,” the woman said wistfully, looking at the kind smile of the person in the painting, “...I was such an unfilial daughter.”
She didn't speak, and the two of them quietly felt the atmosphere. No one spoke, and that fragmented time seemed like a dream. Now, thinking back on it, it all felt hazy.
She suddenly wanted to talk about that man, but at that moment the woman turned her head and smiled, "Let's take a few days off and go sweep their graves together."
The woman emphasized the word "together," her eyes still holding a hint of expectation.
She nodded, and the woman's eyes lit up. She then told her to go to sleep first, as she had to go to work tomorrow.
She went back to her room and thought about it for a long time. She decided to wait until the anniversary of her death to tell her that thing. Would she be happy then?
Thinking about the woman's reaction at that time, she fell into a deep sleep.
...
"Guan Yue, are you still busy?" Her colleague looked at her in surprise.
"Um, I have something to do in a few days," she mumbled, buried in the pile of papers.
"Okay, then we'll be going now," the colleague waved, the only light still on in the huge office was the one above her head.
She still had some backlogged reports to write, and she wanted to finish them as soon as possible so that her supervisor wouldn't have to bother her during her leave.
"It's already this late," she looked up and saw that the clock had passed nine o'clock.
She hurriedly packed her things and ran out to catch the last bus home. Oh no, the green light at this intersection was already flashing. Not wanting to waste time waiting for the red light, she sped forward.
"Squeak—Bang!!"
"ah!"
A sharp pain swept through her body, and she collapsed to the ground in shock. Bright red liquid gushed onto the floor. In her dazed state, she seemed to see the woman's face... no... she still had things to say to her, things she hadn't said...
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"Hmm..."
Guan Yue turned over uncomfortably, feeling that she was lying on the hard floor instead of her bed...
etc.
The floor...wasn't she in a car accident?!
Guan Yue suddenly woke up and found that she did not feel any pain. She breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could relax, she was shocked by the scene in front of her and gasped.
It was already dark, but she could still clearly see what was in front of her.
A bare, old bed, without a mosquito net or mattress, with only an old, unwashed straw mat beneath it, still rough to the touch from the prickly roots of the grass. A jumble of odds and ends is piled up in the corner of the bed. A window without glass has scraps of paper left on its wooden frame. The clear light of the full moon shines in, illuminating the floor. In the shadows of the corner, there is an old dressing table, its mirror still gleaming with a bronze patina.
Where is she...?
Guan Yue stood there stunned for several seconds before slowly getting up from the wooden frame that could only be called a bed. She stood in front of the dressing table, trying to see her own face clearly—she could see the tattered ancient costume she was wearing, but she couldn't see it clearly at all. She walked barefoot around the room until she reached a door that looked like a large door and pushed it open.
The clear moonlight shone down from above, illuminating a reality she could never have imagined.
The place she could see was not the place where she had lived for more than 20 years, nor even any modern city she had ever seen.
Scenes that only exist on television and in movies, and only in books and the ancient world of the past, are a time and space completely outside her understanding.
It looked like a very peaceful village, with a few houses built of mud and wood scattered around. You could hear the chirping of insects coming from her overgrown courtyard and the occasional barking of dogs coming from somewhere outside.
Guan Yue's mind went completely blank. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest, but she had completely lost the courage to take a step forward.
This...this must be a dream...
What Guan Yue could least believe was not the scene before her eyes, but herself.
She stretched out her hand, and the rough calluses and lines on her palm reminded her that this was not her hand. Even though she was an engineering student and had worked in factories on a regular basis, she would never have such a hand. Moreover, this hand was much larger than hers, with pointed fingertips. Her fingers were clearly round and blunt, not nearly as slender.
She trembled as she touched her face and her hair with these hands, but it wasn't her face or her hair at all.
Guan Yue heard a hoarse sound coming from her throat, and almost instinctively, she choked herself. No, this wasn't her voice.
No, no...
Guan Yue backed away, returning to the bed. She lay back down, shivering, closed her eyes, and told herself: This is a dream, this is a dream…
Whether it was because she was too frightened, too tired, or because of the power of suggestion, she actually fell asleep in a daze.
In her dream, she saw herself and a woman riding in a car towards a cemetery in the suburbs. The man followed, in the driver's seat, while the woman sat with her in the back. They had never sat together so harmoniously before. She could feel the woman's warm hand holding hers. She opened her mouth, as if to say something...
"No...don't go!"
Guan Yue woke up abruptly. She opened her eyes almost impatiently, only to see the same things as last night.
She was almost certain that she had arrived in another place... no, another time and space, and not even her own body.
She was nearsighted, but now she could see the patterns on the feathers of the little bird standing on her windowsill, and she could see it cleaning its ruffled feathers with its bright red beak. She lay quietly on the bed, as if she were dead.
Until hunger awakened her again.
...Does even a dream have to be this realistic?
Guan Yue thought to herself, trying to deceive herself.
Will I be able to go back if I starve to death?
Guan Yue listened to the rumbling in her stomach but remained motionless.
She watched the sunlight on the windowsill change repeatedly, her hunger had faded, and she fell asleep again.
Until the morning of the second and third day.
Guan Yue was about to collapse.
Driven by hunger, she went to the kitchen to find something to eat. It was cleaner than the rice bin that rats had ever visited. Looking at the empty rice bin, she thought that even if there was rice, she wouldn't know how to cook it, so she would probably have to eat it raw.
How about we pull up some grass roots and gnaw on them?
Guan Yue stared at the earthy-smelling weeds, but ultimately didn't have the courage to put them in her mouth.
She sat listlessly at her doorstep, watching the pairs of feet walking past outside, her mind filled with fleeting thoughts.
Thinking about too many things, too many different things, until in the end even you don't know what you're thinking anymore.
She saw the door of the house across the street open a few times, heard children's voices, and smelled the aroma of grass, trees, and food. She even thought she might commit burglary, but in the end, she sat on the threshold of the courtyard gate, disheartened, and remained motionless like a statue.
If you die in the sun, you'll probably become a dried-up mummy.
Guan Yue felt someone blocking her sunlight, but she didn't look up. In fact, she didn't even have the strength to turn her head.
"Smack!"
The person slapped her on the shoulder, and Guan Yue felt like she was about to faint.
But before she passed out, the man picked her up.
"What's going on? What have you been doing these past few days?" The person who came in still had a loud voice.
Guan Yue squinted and saw a very robust woman with thick, dark eyebrows, a rounded nose, downturned lips, and two fierce nasolabial folds. It was clear that she seemed somewhat angry.
Is it someone who knows "her"?
Guan Yue opened her mouth slightly, "Hungry..."
"Huh?" There were two more people behind the woman. One of them, dressed in a brighter color, said, "Didn't we agree to meet at the village entrance the day before yesterday? Why didn't you go? We thought you went off somewhere to find a good job without even inviting us. Jinlan was already a little unhappy. We came to find you today, and here you are, all dead?"
“Exactly!” another tall, thin woman said. “Are you going today? I’ll make sure you eat your fill!”
Guan Yue's eyes lit up, her spirits lifted, and she stood firmer. She composed herself and asked, "Are we going to a banquet? Or is someone treating us...?"
"Huh?" Jinlan's eyes widened in surprise.
"What are you talking about?" the two henchmen asked in unison. "Are you really starving to death?"
She was indeed starving, but not to the point of being stupid. She looked at them and asked, "Where shall we go to eat?"
Jinlan, unable to bear it any longer, punched her on the head and roared, "Have you forgotten all our rules? You don't pay for your meals, you have no money, but you can take my life!"
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