“A good-for-nothing lazy ghost! Pretending to be dead after a few hits, huh? A family that embarrasses themselves alive and shows eyes when dead…” The harsh reprimanding from a lady resonated in a farmer’s yard, making the eyelids of a girl, lying inside a straw hut, flutter for a bit.
"You’re awake, sister." A girl with a yellow hue complexion, sprinkled with freckles, her hair a shade of lifeless yellow, tangled and unkempt, her eyes, red and swollen, looked at her.
“Ah? Who the devil are you?” Yunyun was frightened and sat upright immediately, something was wrong. What was she pressing on? Why did it feel like she was sitting on a pile of hay? She clearly had a car accident while showing off in her mother's BMW sedan and why were there people yelling foul language?
"Yunyun, I know you are upset because our parents stopped you from going to school. But you shouldn't have quarreled with grandma. Dad had to punish you because he had no choice. Sob Sob..." This yellow-faced freckled-face girl, actually grabbed her hand and was whining pitifully.
"Hold on, what are you talking about?" Yunyun was anxious, she already had an undergraduate degree, what exactly was going on? She looked around her surroundings, wishing she hadn’t done so. Upon seeing her surroundings, her body turned cold.
What kind of room was this? The thatched roof was clearly visible; the mud-brick walls on all sides; she was lying on a bed made of wooden planks. It was more appropriate to call it a wooden board padded with straw rather than a bed, covered in colorless old sheets.
"Oh my God, did I travel through time?" Yunyun wailed.
"Sis, what's wrong with you, don't scare me, please." That freckled yellow-faced girl immediately reached out to touch Yunyun's forehead and said anxiously, her eyes filled with genuine concern.
“Alright, I accept it, you are my sister, what’s your name?” Yunyun helplessly looked at the girl next to her and asked.
"Yunyun, your temperature is normal. I am your real sister. You're Li Yunyun, and I'm Li Qingqing. You must be hungry. I'll go get you some food." The girl once again reached out to touch Yunyun's forehead, but Yunyun turned her head to avoid, the girl left the room, and Yunyun saw that this girl claimed to be her sister has a limp when she walks.
"Lazy girl, lying down like a corpse, not bothering to work." Before she had even seen her limping sister completely disappear, abrasive screams began assaulting her ears.
"Granny, let my sister rest a little longer; she just woke up." Li Qingqing's voice was somewhat lackluster.
"Don’t you have rice straw to pick in the field? Want to be beaten?" As the voices outside grew louder, Yunyun knew that the woman they referred to as ‘Granny’ was about to enter.
True enough, while Yunyun was thinking of a countermeasure, a husky middle-aged woman with a less jaundiced face, cursing abrasively, entered.
As Yunyun raised her head, she met a pair of fierce eyes, eliciting a rush of memory not belonging to Yunyun, surged into her mind. God, this body was indeed terrified of this ‘Granny’. Seeing that gaze, she immediately began to tremble uncontrollably. Yunyun tried hard to sift through the recollections, oh God, when she was a child, she witnessed her Granny and a village cranky old man doing unspeakable things in a haystack; the boy from the east village moved to the city and saw her as a little sister, her heart was broken; then she had an argument with her parents and Granny; then, the body's original soul was beaten and angered to death, her own consciousness had drifted onto this body after her car accident.
"So, the country tales sketched by Mr. Mo Yan are real?" Yun Yun couldn't help but break out.
"What's that nonsense? Do you think playing dead will excuse you from work, huh?" Grandmother moved her rotund body towards Yun Yun while scolding and casually picked up a broom.
"What are you blabbering about? With your big bum and round waist, why aren't you working?" Yun Yun retorted, acting upon her instinct instead of what her current body would have responded.
"You short-lived spirit, dare you curse me?" Grandmother raised the broom in an attempt to hit her.
"Enough! Show some respect to elders. I don't have the patience for insolence." Shouting loudly, Yun Yun turned her head sideward to dodge the broom. A grey shadow appeared by her side, glanced at Yun Yun, and sighed in the air.
"You can proceed in peace. I promise to live well on your behalf. If there are any unfilled desires, entrust them to me in a dream." Yun Yun reassured the air around her, acknowledging that she had traveled into this body. It seemed only fair to inform the previous tenant of her intentions.
"What nonsense are you speaking, you jinx?" Grandmother looked perplexed upon noticing Yun Yun's peculiar behavior.
"Grandfather is watching your misdeeds from the sidelines, prepared to teach you a lesson." Yun Yun suddenly grinned, sticking out her tongue at Grandmother in a scare attempt. Unconsciously, Grandmother glanced at the space aside, trembling with unease but noticed nothing unusual.
"Grandmother, I will go pick vegetables and prepare dinner." Li Qingqing noticed Grandmother's attempt to hit Yun Yun again and immediately came over to protect her, with an uneven gait. Touched, Yun Yun couldn't help but feel emotional. To think, she was awfully arrogant in the 21st Century, yet here she is, being protected by a limping freckled girl. Blood is indeed thicker than water. Was it untrue for her and Grandmother?
"Grandmother, I'll go gather grains with my sister right away." Yun Yun quickly changed her demeanor, not wanting to lose an argument without any advantages. It's crucial to clarify her timeline and location first.
"You two good-for-nothing burden, even the neighborhood's second pooch has started earning work points. You lazy, short-lived spirits, get moving at once!" Grandmother threw the broom aside after some rants.
"Sister, let's go." Li Qingqing rushed towards Yun Yun, supporting her. Yun Yun felt a bit dizzy and studied her hand. What she saw almost frightened her. Is this my hand? Thin as a stick, dirt embedded under the chilling black nails. Clear red imprints decorated the arm too, proof of a recent beating.
"Return only after gathering two baskets of grains. Don't come back to waste rations otherwise." Grandmother shouted from behind.
"I understand." Li Qingqing responded quietly, picked up a basket, slung another onto Yun Yun's arm and limped out with Yun Yun tightly by her side.