Another year of beautiful spring, the busy season of rice transplanting and farming.
Early in the morning, the villagers of Chunxi Village woke up one after another to cook, preparing to head to the fields to earn work points. Smoke curled from every chimney. In a new house at the eastern end of the village, the door pushed open, and a figure hurried into the kitchen.
She washed her face and hands; the spring water was biting cold, turning her fingers red. She rubbed them together for warmth, not paying much mind, and began washing rice to boil porridge. While the water heated, she picked a handful of greens from the backyard, blanched them, and seasoned them with a bit of lard and salt—a simple, fresh side dish. She then fetched some pickled vegetables from the cellar. Breakfast was ready in under twenty minutes.
Inside, she woke a little girl. "Yingzi, time to get up and eat."
"Mommy?" Yingzi rubbed her eyes. She climbed out of bed, fumbled for her shoes, and hopped down to grab her mother’s hand. As for the man still sleeping in the bed, Yingzi thought about calling him, but seeing her mother’s face, she wisely kept quiet.
After they left, Ji Xiu opened his eyes. He had been awake, but he was waiting to sort out the original owner's memories before revealing himself.
In this world, Ji Xiu had inhabited the body of a scumbag.
It was the spring of 1977. The original owner was the youngest child of a family in Chunxi Village, spoiled since birth. He grew up to be a notorious idler—not exactly evil, but useless. He spent his days idling with "brothers" and doing nothing of substance.
When he was twenty-two, a group of educated youth arrived in the village. Among them was Li Shiyue, a beautiful, refined girl from a family of intellectuals. The original owner fell for her at first sight. Driven by his parents' encouragement, he pursued her with honeyed words and small favors until she, terrified and lonely in the countryside, finally agreed to marry him.
They had a daughter, Ji Yingzi. But soon, the original owner’s laziness returned. He refused to work, demanding his parents support them. When his parents eventually stopped the handouts after four years, the burden fell entirely on Li Shiyue.
The breaking point in the original timeline came in October 1977, when the national college entrance exam was reinstated. Li Shiyue wanted to study, but the original owner, fearing she would leave him, burned her books and blocked her from taking the exam. They fought constantly, neglecting their daughter.
One day, while they were arguing, little Yingzi tried to cook porridge to please her mother. She slipped from a stool and fell into the boiling pot. The tragedy left her horribly disfigured.
The guilt turned the couple into "courteous strangers." To pay for Yingzi's endless medical bills, the original owner joined a gang in the 1980s. He ended up taking the fall for a crime he didn't commit in exchange for money for Yingzi’s surgery, only to be executed during a national "strike hard" campaign.
Li Shiyue died young from overwork and illness. Their daughter, Yingzi, grew up amidst the village's malice, her face ruined and her heart cold. She eventually became a notorious drug lord—the main antagonist of this world. In the end, she killed the protagonists and died in the wreckage of a car crash.
Ji Xiu sat up. He had to stop Yingzi from ever setting foot on that dark path.
He walked into the main room. The mother and daughter were eating quietly.
"Papa," Yingzi whispered, blinking at him. Ji Xiu felt a surge of warmth; a daughter really was a sweet little jacket. He winked back at her, making her giggle.
Li Shiyue let out a loud cough, signaling her ongoing "cold war" with him over his refusal to work. Ji Xiu, maintaining his scumbag persona for now, washed up and grabbed a bowl of porridge.
He realized the house was nearly out of grain. The original owner’s refusal to earn work points meant they were on the brink of starvation. If he didn't act, the scumbag legacy would destroy them.
"Is the rice almost gone?" Ji Xiu asked.
Li Shiyue bit her lip. "I told you days ago..."
"Fine, fine. I'll go borrow some from my brother later," Ji Xiu said, acting annoyed.
"How long will borrowed rice last? You won't work, we have no work points from last year, and the autumn harvest is months away," she replied, her voice filled with despair.
Ji Xiu sighed, playing the role of the defensive husband. "I can't manifest grain out of thin air! Fine! I'll go to work with you today. Is that enough?"
Li Shiyue looked up, her eyes wide with shock. "Really?"
"When have I ever lied to you?" Ji Xiu waved his hand impatiently.
…
Before they left, Ji Xiu insisted on dropping Yingzi off at his elder brother’s house. In the original timeline, his laziness was "justified" by staying home to "look after the child," but in reality, he just didn't want to sweat. This time, he wouldn't leave the child alone near a stove.
At the Ji family house, Ji Xiu’s sister-in-law was stunned. "The sun is rising from the west? You're actually going to work?"
"What choice do I have?" Ji Xiu said, maintaining his thick-skinned attitude. "Shiyue can't earn enough to feed us, and my parents won't help. I have to go to the fields myself."
His sister-in-law rolled her eyes. "You're twenty-eight and still asking for help? Go on, get to work. Don't be an eyesore."
Ji Xiu rubbed his nose and followed his surprised wife toward the fields.
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