Chapter 3: Truly Reborn

When Father first became paralyzed, he couldn't accept the blow at all. He would lash out at the four women—his wife and three daughters—at the slightest provocation, spewing all sorts of ugly words that left everyone feeling physically and mentally exhausted.

She and Zhang Yongfeng had only married last year. The two of them had become classmates after the high school split into liberal arts and science tracks, but they had no real interaction; she could even say that before that, she hadn't even known Zhang Yongfeng’s name.

After she dropped out of school to return home and take care of her father, he had followed suit, dropping out and chasing after her without a second thought, which had shocked her entire family.

For the past two years, he had cared for Father Hua without a single complaint, holding the family together. Mother Hua had seen his sincerity and eventually agreed to their union.

Because the family had no money, they had only applied for a homestead, but they hadn't been able to build a house yet. Once Father Hua’s condition improved and the family no longer needed so many hands, Zhang Yongfeng went to work at a nearby brick factory. It was incredibly grueling work, yet he never uttered a word of complaint.

Hua Chunli felt deeply for him, but there was nothing she could do. The family was too poor, buried in debt, and with her father needing care and the fields needing to be farmed, she had no way to go out and earn money.

Therefore, Hua Chunli was naturally in favor of Hua Xiali staying home for a few more years.

In the evening, Mother Hua went to Hua Xiali’s room to wake her for dinner, but seeing that she was still sleeping soundly, she let her be.

After everyone had turned in, the entire Hua household fell into silence. Even the chickens, ducks, and pigs kept in the backyard didn't make a sound.

When Hua Xiali opened her eyes again and saw the familiar room through the dim moonlight, she was still in shock. This time, she knew it wasn't a final flash of consciousness before death, but that she had returned to 1990, back to the year she was nineteen.

The immense joy made it impossible for Hua Xiali to control her excitement; she laughed and cried with happiness. But fearing she would wake the others, she reached out and clamped her hand tightly over her mouth, refusing to let out even the slightest sound.

In her previous life, when Hua Xiali worked as a nanny, one of her employers was a young female writer who earned nearly ten or twenty thousand yuan a month in royalties.

It was because of her that Hua Xiali started reading web novels. The protagonists in those stories always had "golden fingers" when they transmigrated or were reborn. Now that she had been reborn, she wondered if fate would favor her and grant her a golden finger as well.

While her mind was wandering, Hua Xiali felt a burning pain at her wrist, as if something had scorched it. She quickly raised her wrist to check.

There was only a bracelet made of grass beads she had strung herself; there was nothing unusual about it.

When her hand touched the bracelet, the scenery before her eyes changed instantly. Thick fog swirled around her, a vast expanse of white where nothing could be seen. Hua Xiali was startled, nearly frightened out of her wits.

Then she thought, she had already died once, so what was there to be afraid of?

Even if there were ghosts, they would be the loved ones others dreamed of seeing. Besides, what was there to fear about ghosts? The truly terrifying things were people, especially men like Wang Liang.

Curious and anxious, Hua Xiali walked forward slowly until she saw a courtyard enclosed by bamboo, with a pool of spring water in the center.

Hua Xiali hadn't had a drop of water all day and was incredibly thirsty. She walked over, knelt by the spring, and cupped the water in her hands to drink.

The water tasted like well water, but with a faint, refreshing sweetness that well water lacked.

After drinking, Hua Xiali continued to pace around the courtyard, feeling very confused. She wondered if this was the kind of "space" described in that author's novels.

But an empty courtyard and a pool of water seemed useless to her!

The ground in the courtyard wasn't soil, so she couldn't farm.

The spring water didn't have any special effects; it couldn't improve her beauty or strengthen her body.

She just didn't know if the courtyard could store items. She would have to wait until dawn to bring something in and test it. If it could store things without them spoiling, then it wouldn't be entirely useless.

The courtyard wasn't large, and there was nothing else there. The world outside was just white fog where nothing could be seen. Bored, Hua Xiali wanted to leave, but she didn't know how. However, the moment the thought of leaving crossed her mind, she found herself back on her bed.

Looking down, the grass bead bracelet on her wrist had vanished. Her wrist was bare. Hua Xiali was stunned for a moment.

Then, a long-buried memory surfaced in her mind. In her previous life, before she got engaged to Wang Liang, her childhood friend Hua Qingmei had asked for this grass bead bracelet. Less than two years later, Hua Qingmei’s family moved away—every man, woman, and child. Even decades later, when the area was demolished for redevelopment, they never returned to claim their compensation.

Rumors in the village said that Hua Qingmei’s family had made a fortune, that a million or two was like pocket change to them, and they didn't want to bother coming back for such a small amount, so they donated the money to the village.

Because of this, their family gained a great reputation and good standing.

Villagers often compared Hua Xiali and Hua Qingmei, saying that for girls, studying was useless—what mattered was who married better.

So what if Hua Xiali had been top of her class every year in school? She still couldn't compare to Hua Qingmei, who hadn't even finished middle school.

Recalling this, Hua Xiali touched her empty wrist and curled her lips in a cold sneer. Could it be that Hua Qingmei’s family had become wealthy because she had discovered the golden finger hidden inside the grass bead bracelet?

Had Hua Qingmei snatched her opportunity and then moved the whole family away for fear of being discovered?

Hua Xiali, having just obtained the golden finger, didn't fully understand it yet. After practicing back and forth several times, she realized she didn't need to enter the space physically; she could use her consciousness to draw out the spring water and fill her tea mug. Once she had mastered it, Hua Xiali felt completely satisfied.

Afterward, Hua Xiali sat on the bed, sipping the water while thinking about the future.

It was April 1990. The spring planting had just finished, so things weren't too busy for the moment, but there were only two months left until this year's college entrance exam.

If she started earning money now to pay for her eldest sister's tuition, no matter how many ways she found to make money, it would be too late.

As for why she wanted her eldest sister to take the college entrance exam, there were two reasons.

The first was that her eldest sister wanted to go to university. During the years she had dropped out, she had often studied in secret. It could be said that she hadn't forgotten a single bit of her high school knowledge, and Hua Xiali didn't want her sister to be filled with regrets like in her previous life.

The second reason was that in her previous life, the first child of her eldest sister and brother-in-law had been born with cerebral palsy. The child's existence had dragged their small family down; her brother-in-law had been worked to death before he was forty, and her sister had become a mere shadow of herself. The daughter they had later was burdened with the responsibility of caring for her brother with cerebral palsy from the moment she was born.