Chapter 1: She Is Li Taohua

“Slap!” The crisp sound of a slap seemed to pierce her eardrums, and her face immediately burned with pain.

“Wake up, it’s not that serious.”

A cold, sharp voice pierced her ears. The bitter cold now acted like a stimulant, and Li Tian’er suddenly snapped awake.

Seeing her daughter-in-law’s eyes open, Fan Lihua let out a sigh of relief. The whole family had been poisoned by gas, and Li Tian’er was the last to be discovered. She had been so afraid she might have died—otherwise, how could she explain it to her daughter-in-law’s family?

Fan Lihua stepped forward, grabbed Li Taohua, and dragged her inside the house.

The fire in the stove was already out. The walls seemed to have frozen solid, the room chillingly cold as if she were in an icehouse. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably.

Fan Lihua helped Li Taohua onto the kang (a heated brick bed), grabbed a quilt, and covered her. Muttering to herself, she went out and closed the door.

Outside, the sound of chopping wood echoed. After a while, the kang beneath her warmed up, and warmth spread through her body. Her limbs no longer felt stiff.

Li Tian’er stretched out her hand from under the quilt. Her fingers were long and slender, the bones well-proportioned, but her knuckles were covered with rough calluses.

These were the hands of a hard worker!

Fetching water, cooking, raising chickens, feeding pigs, serving her mother-in-law and the rest of the family—such a heavy workload. How had Li Taohua managed to endure it all? She touched her own body; it was lean and trim without an ounce of fat.

“Taohua, it’s about time to get up and prepare lunch. The water barrel is empty; go fetch two buckets of water.”

Her mother-in-law’s command brooked no argument.

“Hurry up, don’t dawdle.”

The door opened, letting in a faint scent of smoke and cooking. Li Taohua crawled out from under the quilt, slipped on her shoes, and stood up.

Wearing a cotton jacket and scarf, she stepped outside, still feeling as if she might freeze solid. The two aluminum water buckets hanging on her carrying pole caught the eye, swaying back and forth as she walked through the snow.

“Taohua’s going to fetch water!”

***

“Mm.”

Watching the young daughter-in-law pass by, her hands clad in fluffy red gloves, Li Tian’er clutched her arms inside her jacket sleeves.

She had to accept the system’s arrangement, accept Li Taohua’s fate. At least for now, there was no time to change anything. Nearly twenty-four hours had passed since becoming Li Taohua, yet she still couldn’t adjust to this body. After sleeping soundly last night, she had nearly died from gas poisoning this morning.

This place, known as Little Crow Village, was a godforsaken spot, living in poverty in an era of material scarcity. Even with a rich resource base, money was hard to come by.

The well’s platform was high, and her legs, clad in cotton pants, struggled to step up. Finally reaching the edge, her foot slipped, and she fell backward with a whoosh. The two water buckets clanged loudly on the groundI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.