"Your daughter is carrying a bastard, call off the wedding!"
"Return our betrothal gifts quickly!"
"What bastard? Our innocent daughter was married into your Zhao family, and now you're tossing her back?"
"What innocent girl! If she hadn't fainted and been examined by Doctor Zhang, we wouldn't have known she's already two months pregnant!"
"So even if she's pregnant, it's with your Zhao family's child. Are you denying it?"
The clamorous chatter reverberated in Jiang Qiong's ears, sounding like cascading waves, each wave arising higher than the last.
Jiang Qiong forced her eyes open, to find herself lying on a door panel inside a dust-filled room where a crowd was fiercely arguing.
Where is this place?
Jiang Qiong propped her body up with her elbows, the dust on the ground choking her and causing her to cough.
A man turned his head, hopping with his liberation shoes-clad feet, and a pointed at Jiang Qiong saying loudly, "She's awake!"
All fingers, with black crevices under the nails, were suddenly pointing at her, taking aim.
"You shameless woman, who is the father of your child?"
"Return our betrothal gifts immediately, half a pig, and a dairy goat!"
"Even being this fat you're stealing men, ugh, shameless! Our poor Zhao family really has rotten luck."
One after another they called her shameless, leaving Jiang Qiong utterly bewildered.
"What in the world is a semi-mount pig's milk goat?"
Enduring the discomfort of her body, she struggles to get up from the bed, taking in the entire room.
A dilapidated house, a cement floor, and scarce furniture. Even the table in the living room is uneven, propped by a short piece of wood.
Such a house is rare in rural areas nowadays. How did she end up here?
Jiang Qiong's head is still dizzy when a woman, dressed in a faded red shirt, grabs and accuses her, "You just entered the house, and Wen Liang has gone to work in town, you have not even seen him, don't you dare to frame our Wen Liang!"
Jiang Qiong stands foolishly allowing her to rant. Suddenly, she hears a tear, her blue and white floral jacket has been ripped open by the woman.
Meanwhile, a warm surge enters her brain.
Countless fragmented memories piece together in her mind, gradually forming a complete memory.
In her memories, a twenty-year-old maiden, chubby and unattractive with a face full of blemishes. Filthy all day, her hair is unkempt, and her face unwashed, making her repulsive to everyone.
She's up working at three in the morning. All the dirty and hard work falls to her. After completing her tasks in the morning, she would hastily eat something and then head to the field to earn work points.
She would have her lunch in the field, and only at supper time would she be able to crouch at the doorstep, holding a big bowl of cornmeal dumplings, gazing into the vast night as she eats.
The maiden finally got married after much difficulty, only to suddenly fall ill and die within three days of entering the marriage.
And her, herself? As the CEO of Prosperous Food Group, a family business, Jiang Qiong was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, rides in luxurious cars, surrounded by numerous assistants, and able to command respect and power.
But the very Jiang Qiong who just turned thirty, due to excessive drinking, suddenly died...
Rubbing her aching temples, Jiang Qiong reflects on this abruptness of her demise. If she had known that she would die so suddenly, she would have been damned if she drank.
A subsidiary firm under the banner of Prosperity Corp was scheduled to go public and Jiang Qiong just took the post as the CEO.
Now everything has changed, the former Jiang Qiong is dead, and became the present...
Her gaze fixed on the calendar hung on the clay wall, it read, "September 28, 1976."
Ha, her physical body was dead and her soul unexpectedly traveled back to a village woman in her thirties from over thirty years ago.
"Speak up, don't think acting dumb can scare people off, only because you're hardworking, my son Wen Liang would have been blind to marry you! Return the dowry now!"
A thick finger pointed right at Jiang Qiong's nose. She frowned and stared at the individual across from her.
The host body had just married three days ago, the woman jumping up and down with yellow teeth was her mother-in-law.
"We're broke, the daughter that is given in marriage is water thrown out!" Jiang Qiong's mother pushed Jiang Qiong away, "She's already married, why do you need money?"
The two sides began to quarrel again. Jiang Qiong didn't want to get involved in their messy fight, so she stealthily slipped out of the room during the chaos.
Outside the house, there was a small courtyard, so cluttered and messy there wasn't even a place to step foot on. Jiang Qiong found a rotten piece of wood and sat down by the courtyard entrance, tuning into the uproar from inside the house.
Occasionally, neighbors and villagers would pass by the courtyard, some nosy ones stretching their necks for a peek inside.
Upon spotting Jiang Qiong, gossipers covered their mouths, whispering as they walked away, "I told you so, the Jiang family's idiot will be sent back sooner or later!"
