Chapter 1: Transmigration or Rebirth

Chapter 1: Transmigration or Rebirth

The sun was blazing, the sun working dutifully to emit its heat, as everyone panted listlessly along the ridges of the fields.

"Brigade Leader, I really can't go on. With the sun this big, if we keep working like this, we truly won't be able to take it." This auntie was wearing a dark, dingy top, with a piece of damp, black rag wrapped around her head.

The ridges were currently filled with people sitting down; no one had any energy, most were just sitting listlessly on the ridges.

The Brigade Leader was in a similar state, though he was staring at the parched ground and the seedlings that looked lifeless due to the lack of water.

The unease in his heart had already reached its peak.

As the Brigade Leader and the Village Chief, he managed the entire village's grain, so he knew exactly what the situation in the village was.

There wasn't much grain left in the granary; even if they tightened their belts, he didn't know how long they could hold out.

Recalling the previous harvest, when there was more grain than they could eat, he looked at everyone now, who were all thin and sallow from hunger.

He also knew that without food in their bellies, there was no strength to work.

Coupled with such a scorching sun, even the men in the village couldn't hold out.

Just as the Village Chief was sighing and lamenting, a dark little girl suddenly appeared from out of nowhere.

"This is bad, this is bad! Sister Gu Xue is being bullied! Sister Gu Xue is being bullied by the educated youth!"

The Village Chief was startled by the loud voice for a moment, then reacted, wanting to cover the girl's mouth.

This girl looked scrawny, but she was actually very slippery.

She continued shouting on the ridges, and before long, everyone on the ridges had heard the news.

People love to hear gossip; it is like an instinct imprinted in their very bones.

Everyone, who originally had no spirit, suddenly felt as if a soul had been injected into them.

Suddenly, their waists didn't ache and their legs didn't hurt; everyone looked toward the Brigade Leader.

The dark little girl was in the crowd, looking terrified.

In reality, only she knew how happy she was in her heart.

"Heiya, tell Auntie, what exactly happened?" This auntie was the village's Women's Director; she usually had the most to say and was the woman with the most gossip in the village.

When Heiya heard someone call her by this name, a flash of displeasure crossed her eyes, but when she looked up, she reverted to a pitiful appearance.

"It's like this... I was originally gathering pig grass on the mountain, and when I was coming back, I heard Sister Gu Xue saying something like... 'I don't want it anymore... it's so painful'..."

After saying this, she acted as if she were filled with righteous indignation on Gu Xue's behalf.

Ah!

Immediately, the adults who heard this all took on an understanding expression.

The Village Chief hurriedly pulled Heiya aside, looking solemn: "Heiya, don't talk nonsense. You can't just say things like that. Do you know what this means for a girl who isn't even married yet?"

Heiya shrank back in fear, crying continuously, looking very pitiful.

Although Heiya looked dark and not very good-looking, the people's curiosity about the gossip made them speak up for her.

"Village Chief, we know you have a good relationship with Gu Xue's grandfather, but we don't know if this is true. If it is true, we should go and back Sister Gu Xue up..."

The Women's Director, Auntie Gu, came from the family with the most males in the village.

She was quite capable, having given birth to eight sons and one daughter, giving her a very large say in the village.

Sometimes, her words even carried more weight than the Brigade Leader's.

Looking at everyone, it was clear they were determined to go and see.

"Eh, if you want to go, then go, but you must come back and finish your own work later."

The Brigade Leader thought that by saying this, at least not so many people would go, and if something truly happened, they would at least leave some face for Gu Xue.

However, he underestimated the people's desire to watch the excitement; even after he said this, very few people hesitated.

Everyone headed toward Gu Xue's house together. The Brigade Leader arranged for the remaining people, ensuring things were settled before they could leave.

Gu Xue's grandfather had retired from the military and had a high pension, so his was the only household in the village built with blue bricks and large tiles.

Just as they were approaching the Lu family's place, Gu Xue woke up from the noisy commotion.

Seeing the completely unfamiliar surroundings, she immediately became alert. Sensing that there was a living person nearby, without thinking, she stood up and attempted a fatal blow against the man beside her.

To her surprise, she failed; she only felt her hand being gripped tightly by a hand that felt like an iron vise.

Looking up, she saw a handsome man lying naked on the bed, with some scratch marks on his body; one could tell just by looking what had transpired.

At this moment, Gu Xue suddenly felt a wave of dizziness, and a segment of memory that did not belong to her appeared in her mind.

It turned out this was a "rebirth era novel," and the protagonist was the dark little girl, Heiya, who had always had little presence in the village.

In her previous life, Heiya was married off by her family to a village man and spent her whole life surviving on farming.

Meanwhile, Gu Xue, her elementary school classmate, married a wealthy man and lived a happy life.

Even when Heiya died early due to overwork in her youth, the last thing she saw was Gu Xue appearing on television because she and her husband were so deeply in love.

The final scene seen before death caused Heiya to keep it in her heart ever since she returned.

After a period of psychological preparation, Heiya no longer wanted to live her previous life and decided to make Gu Xue lose the chance to marry that man early.

At first, Heiya didn't know what to do, until she saw a type of red fruit on the mountain behind the village that could make sows go into heat when eaten.

These fruits generally grew deep in the mountains, and picking them required risking one's life to enter the deep wilderness.

In the North, the mountains were basically continuous, stretching on endlessly.

The wild resources on the mountains were very abundant; when they had nothing to do, people from surrounding villages liked to go to the back mountain to dig up some wild vegetables or pick some chestnuts.

It was said that a few years ago, someone even dug up ginseng and sold it for over ten yuan; a family that originally couldn't afford a bride's dowry was suddenly able to marry off two sons.

Thus, everyone knew the resources on the back mountain were very rich.

In recent years, due to policy issues, people basically didn't dare to go hunting on the back mountain, at most only digging up some wild vegetables.

Heiya was originally afraid and didn't dare to go into the deep mountains to pick the red fruit, but she didn't expect to see a rabbit while digging wild vegetables on the mountain one time...

The rabbit was eating these fruits, leaving half a piece on the ground.

Seeing that half a piece of fruit, Heiya's thoughts became uncontrollable.

While Gu Xue's grandfather, Gu Qianshan, was out running errands, she would see the educated youth working on the road and first have Gu Xue drink the water from the red fruit, and then plot for the educated youth to eat the red fruit.

Then, under Heiya's step-by-step guidance, the two of them would have such an incident.

Later, Heiya made the whole village know about what happened between the two, and the two were forced to marry out of helplessness.

Who knew that after the marriage, the educated youth would mysteriously disappear. Everyone thought it was because he couldn't stand the hardships of the countryside and had fled.

The original Gu Xue, unable to bear the gaze of the villagers, lost her will to live and simply hanged herself.

As Gu Xue's grandfather, he could not accept the suicide of his only granddaughter, and combined with old injuries left from his time in the military, he couldn't catch his breath and died of anger.

The funerals for the grandfather and granddaughter were held together.

(End of Chapter)