All sorts of questions caused Lu Jingqiu some panic, and she shone her flashlight around, her eyes brimming with shock and fear when they landed on a twisted date tree.
This place was the undying nightmare from her previous life.
Back then, Xia Lin came to tell her she was going to marry Gao Shu. Jingqiu couldn't accept the reality and didn't want to give up just like that, so she ran to the mountain and staged a disappearance, hoping to make Gao Shu worry about her.
Regrettably, fate wasn't on her side. After running up the mountain she immediately regretted it because she had walked too far into the deep woods and got lost, circling around without finding a way down. She had no choice but to sit under this twisted tree and wait for them to find her.
In order to be found quickly, she used her flashlight to shine lights into the distance, hoping to give them a signal. Unfortunately, instead of Gao Shu and the others, she attracted a man who came to the village at night to steal trees, and seeing her, a lone and pretty 'educated youth', he harbored evil intentions.
That night, she cried for help in vain, only to be brutally violated.
It was then that she missed her father's telegram and also missed seeing her mother for the last time. Her mother's passing also caused a rift between her and her father.
After the man she had pursued for years married someone else and her honor was tarnished, compounded with her mother's departure, the multiple blows made her become silent and withdrawn. Her mental state even collapsed to the point of missing the college entrance examination that year.
The 'educated youth' peers completed their exams within a year or two, but she, a woman with no background, suffered harassment from the idle men of the village.
Later, it was Gao Shu who brought Father Lu to Ten-miles Village. Only then did they learn about her sufferings over the years and forcefully took her back home. At home, watching Xia Lin and Gao Shu display their love was like adding fuel to the fire, further exacerbating her illness. In the end, her father had no choice but to send her to a sanatorium, hoping for a better future.
But no one knew that Jingqiu had endured the darkest ten years of her life. A decade was enough to drive a sane person mad.
When your family is around, you are in heaven; when they are not, it's hell. There, all doctors and nurses treated her as a fool. If she disobeyed, they would shock her until she complied.
Any slight resistance would lead to abuse and humiliation. She often ate spoiled food, and at one point, got gastritis. She wasn't treated like a human, and within half a year, she had wasted away to skin and bones.
But whenever her family visited, the doctors would say she was refusing to eat, leading to her condition. No matter how she tried to explain, her father and aunt simply wouldn't believe her.
It wasn't until her father's incident that she begged her aunt to help her be discharged. After some time for recovery, she slowly returned to a normal life.
Thank heavens, she was brought back to the place where her nightmare began.
Should she flee? No, she needed to redeem herself.
As Jingqiu thought about what was going to happen next, she suddenly calmed down.
She stood up with her flashlight and looked around, finding a sharp branch to grip in her hand.
Then, she picked up several fist-sized stones and tucked them in her pocket, hiding them in a concealed spot.
She checked her wristwatch with the flashlight—it was already past nine in the evening.
It was about that time.
"There was definitely someone here just now, how come they're gone?"
Jingqiu had hidden herself for barely five minutes when a shadow emerged from behind a tree.
"Are you looking for me?"
"Wow, a woman? Hehe." Before the person could see her clearly, Jingqiu struck him hard on the head with a rock from behind.
"Ah, you wench, where are you from? How dare you hit me." The man staggered a few steps while clutching his head, searching for something to counterattack Jingqiu.
Unfortunately, Jingqiu didn't give him the chance. She plunged the sharpest end of the branch into the man's thigh, causing him to howl in pain: "Ah, you bitch! What have I ever done to you to deserve this?"
"Done to me? Hmph, our grievance is big enough. Tell me, what are you doing here in the dead of night? Don't tell me you're looking to harm some young girl."
"I didn't, I came to cut trees?"
"Stealing trees, huh."
"I didn't steal."
Lu Jingqiu didn't want to listen to his excuses; she poked at him again with her fork, this time nearly hitting his vitals. The man, frightened, shook violently, no longer caring about the pain.
Enduring the pain, he grabbed the branch in Lu Jingqiu's hand and stood up, "Damn it, if I don't deal with you today, I'll be disrespecting my own injuries."
Although Lu Jingqiu was prepared, she couldn't match the strength of a man. As he was about to snatch away her branch, Lu Jingqiu tightened her body and kicked directly between his legs.
The pain made the man howl and he dropped to his knees, clutching his groin.
"Wang Fugui, right? Today I will ruin you, you rotten man, and see how you continue to prey on women afterward."
"You, who are you? How do you know what I'm up to, miss, I was wrong, please spare me."
"Miss, I am the Mountain Goddess sent by the heavens to punish you, Wang Fugui. I know very well the female comrades you've wronged before, and today is your retribution."
"Miss, I won't dare again, I won't dare, please spare me. I've only slept with the widow in our village a few times and done some petty thievery. Today, I came to cut trees to sell to the timber mill for some small change, please spare me, I won't dare to do it again."
Lu Jingqiu didn't believe his nonsense. Thinking of herself in her previous life, her hatred grew stronger. She picked up a rock and was about to smash it down on the man.
Seeing that begging for mercy was useless, the man limped and hobbled up the back mountain. Lu Jingqiu, who had pent up grievances for a lifetime, couldn't possibly let him go.
Armed with branches and stones, she chased after him. Before she could even attack, she heard a faint "swoosh" followed by a long and miserable scream that rolled further and further away.
Lu Jingqiu shone her flashlight down, and it turned out to be a very steep slope; even if he didn't die, it could leave him crippled.
Seeing no movement below after a long while, she knew that man's fate was likely grim. At that moment, Lu Jingqiu's tense heart suddenly collapsed, and she sat down on the ground, not caring about her image, and burst into loud tears.
...
"Jingqiu, how do you feel? Are you still feeling dizzy?"
At that moment, the unconscious Lu Jingqiu suddenly sat up, her eyes closed as she staggered to her feet from the ground.
The weather in mid-June was erratic, decisively orchestrating the busy harvesters. The sunshine was still dazzling, spreading across every corner, making it somewhat hard to breathe. The people of Ten-miles Village worked day and night, rushing the harvest. The village chief said a heavy rain would come every year at this time.
They needed to gather the grain into the storehouse before the rain.
Lu Jingqiu came back very late that night; by the time she got to the Educated Youth Spot, the girls in the dormitory were already asleep.
Her absence hadn't drawn their attention, just like in her previous life.
Even if she returned disheveled in the middle of the night, no one cared.
It was ridiculous that she thought about faking her disappearance to get Gao Shu's attention.
She didn't expect that her dying wish would come true, thinking it must be heaven also feeling pity for her, giving her a chance to start over. After returning that day, she developed a high fever that took three to four days to improve gradually.
During those days, she lived in a state of confusion, alternately excited and panicked while lying in bed.
Excited that she had been reborn, and panicked about what had become of that man.