The pitch-black sky was devoid of any light, a woman frantically running, oblivious even as one of her shoes fell off, the insane barking of a large dog behind her, accompanied by the rustling sound of people in pursuit.
The woman was terrified, the pain in her feet did nothing to distract her as she ran wildly without care, not even watching the path, until she reached a high cliff edge, and the moment she stopped, the people chasing her caught up, a gunshot rang out, "bang," and then her body dropped off the cliff like a rag doll.
"Ah," Li Xianglu awoke from a nightmare, drenched in sweat, immediately followed by a woman's voice tinged with disgust: "What's with the yelling in the middle of the night? Be careful not to wake your third brother."
As she spoke, the woman rustled out of bed and left the room, while a middle-aged man gently asked, "Xiang, what's wrong? Had a nightmare? Don't be afraid, Daddy is here."
Li Xianglu wiped the sweat from her forehead, turned over, and quietly responded before staying silent.
After a while, the woman who had gone to relieve herself returned and lay down again, and the room plunged back into darkness.
Li Xianglu opened her clear black eyes in the pitch-black room, and as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she vaguely looked around the house.
This was a thirty square meter cave dwelling, half of the room was a heated brick bed, on which four people were sleeping, her current dad Li Erfu by the west window, her current mom Ge Sanmei next to him, then her third brother Li Jianqing, and by the wall was herself, Li Xianglu.
Right, she now went by Li Xianglu, a 14-year-old girl from a rural family.
She was originally a 22-year-old girl from a small town in the year 2000, just graduated from university and instead of hurrying to find a job, she had taken a trip first.
It was after this trip that she inexplicably traveled back to China in the year 1973, sigh, her mind was foggy, how did she even get here, did she die and then travel through time?
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember; it was just eternal dreaming, either dreaming of a man with a fuzzy face urging her to climb up, or her being shot dead.
This body wasn't her original one anymore; the original host had died from a high fever, and she became the current Li Xianglu after waking up in this body, this awfully rustic name that supposedly came from a girl in Shanghai.
Alas, how miserable it is!
She was now in the China of 1973 in the countryside, 1973, the middle of China's cruel history; although it had already passed the era of the worst famine, people were still lacking clothes and food.
Not only did eating require food ration stamps, clothing required cloth tickets, going out needed a letter of introduction, engaging in trade was speculative profiteering, and finding a job still required an urban hukou.
As a little rural girl, not to mention not having enough to eat or wear, this family's mother favored boys over girls, and now this body was nearly fourteen years old, yet looked like a nine-year-old girl, having to feed two pigs and twenty chickens and ducks every day.
She sighed and touched the storage ring hidden on her finger, which still had quite a bit of food inside, but when taking it out, she needed to be careful. Even if she were to eat the food from the space inside, at most, it would only last for five years.
No matter what, she had to figure out a way to improve her current situation; otherwise, according to the customs of the time, she would be married off early as per her family's arrangements, then live like a breeding tool. She would rather run away at the thought of such a future, but in those times, household registration was strictly scrutinized, and being mistaken for a spy could lead to trouble; it was safer to stay put for now until she was older.
Yes, Li Xianglu had a storage ring, not too big, not too small, about the size of a football field.
She could only vaguely remember she had this ring, which stored a lot of food and supplies, enough for five years of survival. But why she had such a magical treasure and why she would store so much, these were things she just couldn't remember.
But now was not the time for Li Xianglu to continue with her chaotic thoughts. It was important to take the time to sleep; dawn wasn't far off, she had to cook breakfast soon and if not cooking, she needed to go cut grass for the pigs, there were two large livestock at home to feed.
In a daze, Li Xianglu fell asleep again.
What she didn't know was that not far from her, a feverish young man had also awakened. Cold light flashed in his eyes, eyebrows like freshly painted, and as soon as he awoke to unfamiliar surroundings, he instinctively reached under his pillow, where his pocket watch lay, a slight smile curling upon his lips, but in the next moment, his expression froze. Where was the silver ring attached to the pocket watch?
After searching the bed thoroughly and finding nothing, the young man lay back down, annoyed; he might have lost it while working in the fields. It was too bad; it was a keepsake from his deceased mother, who told him to give it to his future wife.
Future wife? Shen Yuehong? Hah, that was a thing of the past.
===
Drowsily, she heard the body's mother nagging quietly, then concluding with a harsh scolding, "Laziness will be the death of you; get up quickly. What family in the village has such a big girl who doesn't work in the fields? You're lucky enough to stay at home cooking and feeding the livestock, yet you're still too lazy."
Li Xianglu silently crawled out of bed, ignoring her mother Ge Sanmei, turned to the side and began to pull on the worn jacket beside the bed. It was already September, the temperature had dropped in Northern Guanzhong, and the crops of the village had begun to be harvested, mainly wheat, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and soybeans.
And because Li Dafu, the eldest of the Li Family, was the leader of the Li Family Village Production Team, the job for Li Xianglu's current adoptive father was particularly easy; the family was allocated four acres of cornfield, take the corn, tie up the cornstalks, and that was all; beyond that, there was the private plot at home, just over an acre, half corn, half wheat.