"Clang!"
"Clang! Clang! Clang..." As the sky began to lighten, Chuxia was startled awake by consecutive bursts of noise. Irritated, she rubbed her tousled hair and buried her head under the covers.
Last night, late after midnight, she had vaguely heard Shuanshuan crying. Liu Meiqing was just like that; if she couldn't sleep well, she was determined not to let anyone else sleep well either. And by "anyone else," she meant her, Lin Chuxia—everyone else in the house got up earlier than Liu Meiqing.
"Creak!" The door opened, and Zhao Yulan entered with a smile, pulled her daughter's head from under the covers, and tucked the blanket tightly around her before whispering, "Mom has put a sweet potato for you to warm by the stove. Fish it out and eat it at mid-morning."
"Mm," Chuxia responded, lifting her head to glance at the old wall clock. It wasn't even six o'clock yet, but the noise was so loud that she would have struggled to block it out even with ten layers of blankets. Therefore, she said, "Mom, close the door. I'm getting up."
"Lie down a bit longer. Your dad hasn't come back from collecting manure yet," Zhao Yulan pressed her daughter down, "Or would you like me to find some cotton to plug your ears?"
"No need, I'm not sleepy anymore." As she claimed not to be sleepy, she yawned again and then laughed embarrassedly, "Mom, I'm really not sleepy."
"This child..." Zhao Yulan said with amusement, pinching her daughter's cheek, but she couldn't help her eyes welling up with tears—partly from joy at her daughter's sudden sensibleness, partly from heartache at her pale little face.
If only she could nourish her daughter, make her hair black and shiny, her cheeks rosy... But then again, that may not be a blessing...
Seeing Zhao Yulan gazing at her with mixed emotions of happiness and sorrow, Chuxia quickly sat up. "Mom, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Chuxia, those women in the village who say you are not pretty are just sour in their hearts. Don't take it to heart. Chuxia, you'll definitely find a good husband's family," Zhao Yulan said out of the blue.
A smile formed at the corners of Chuxia's lips. "Mom, I know."
In this era, due to economic scarcity, people preferred sturdy girls with broad brows and big eyes, who could work vigorously, as brides. She, on the other hand... though beautiful, just didn't quite fit the demands of the times.
Actually, Lin Chuxia had always been puzzled about it. Zhao Yulan was at best considered delicate, Lin Baohe wasn't remarkably handsome either—so how did they produce such an outstanding daughter?
Fine, black crescent eyebrows, big watery phoenix eyes, thin double eyelids, a straight little nose, and red, luscious lips... The first time she looked in the mirror, she was truly captivated by her own stunning beauty. However... if she had the choice, she would rather be her unassuming self from the other time and space.
Zhao Yulan eyed her daughter's complexion with cautious scrutiny. "Chuxia, mom is not just consoling you. You are truly beautiful," she said.
"Mom, I believe you!" Chuxia emphasized, laughing inwardly, knowing that the original owner of this body had often complained to her parents about her looks, and they, in turn, had worried endlessly behind her back—concerned she'd have trouble finding a suitable husband's family.
Little did they know that having such a figure was the envy of many girls—of course, that was her, Lin Chuxia's, own opinion.
Maybe the original owner of this body had confirmed the adage "beauty is a curse"? Otherwise, how could her soul have scattered at such a young age, allowing her to take over her body? Or had the body's original owner taken over her own? Perhaps one morning, she might wake up and find they had switched back? ...Stop thinking about it! Stop thinking about it! Lin Chuxia shook her head vigorously, forcing her thoughts back to the present.
Half a year had passed, and she often entertained such fantasies, but alas, she was still stuck in the late 1970s rather than the developed 2010s. It was time to accept reality.
"Chuxia, what's wrong?" Zhao Yulan grasped her daughter's arms, full of concern. "Are you feeling unwell again? Tell mom, and I'll go get some medicine from Doctor Liu."
Lin Chuxia quickly put on a smile. "Mom, I'm not that fragile. I just felt a bit out of it. Shaking my head a bit, I'm much clearer now."
Zhao Yulan breathed a sigh of relief but couldn't help but let out another long sigh. "Your dad and I are no good, you are our only child, and we haven't even been able to ensure you a healthy body..."
"Mom, I'm hungry," Lin Chuxia interrupted Zhao Yulan quickly. Otherwise, her mother would certainly dwell on this matter, repenting for a long time. After all, she had heard these kinds of confessions quite often in the past half a year.
"Then get dressed, and mom will prepare the meal." Zhao Yulan thought to herself as her daughter, who normally showed little interest in food, was actually saying she was hungry. She hurried off to the main room.
Perhaps because Chuxia was their only daughter, Zhao Yulan and Lin Baohe doted on their child in ways that were not typical for parents of their era.
As a result, the original Lin Chuxia was raised in a way that was hardly typical for a girl of her time: she couldn't sew, was incapable of hard labor, was picky about food, and loved to sleep in...
At any rate, in this era, all these things were considered faults. But these "faults" had actually helped the current Lin Chuxia. Otherwise, if she had been suddenly thrown into this era out of the blue, she probably would have gone looking for her original self to share her life experiences by now! ＞﹏＜
Breakfast consisted of cornmeal buns, corn gruel, a dish of incredibly salty pickled radish strips, and some dried green onions. Just as the meal was served, Lin Baohe returned, and upon seeing Chuxia, freshly washed and seated at the table, his facial expression immediately softened.
For over half a year, Chuxia hadn't joined them for breakfast, usually still asleep when they ate. It seemed she was truly becoming more mature.
With a change of heart, the coarse cornmeal cakes that were hard to swallow suddenly tasted much better, and Lin Chuxia ate two cakes and drank a bowl of corn gruel in one go. Setting down the bowl and catching her parents' joyful gazes, she suddenly realized she had eaten too much for breakfast!
Lin Chuxia wanted to kick herself. What a pig-headed move – how could she forget what era this was? She thought that finishing all the food her parents handed her was the best way to repay them — repay my foot! If her parents had no more food to eat, what was there to repay?
The key point was that Lin Baohe and Zhao Yulan both had to go work in the production team to earn work points. How would they have the strength to work without a full stomach? — Although they might not have had full stomachs regularly, they did eat. But today, she had eaten two-thirds of the breakfast ration by herself...
Suddenly remembering the sweet potatoes her mother had heated for her under the pot, Lin Chuxia hurriedly got off the kang (bed-stove) to put on her shoes. Zhao Yulan grabbed her, "Chuxia, what are you doing?"
"Mom..." Lin Chuxia's face turned as red as a ripe August plum. "I... I'm going to dig out the sweet potatoes. You and dad can snack on them a bit."
Zhao Yulan smiled and pressed Chuxia to sit on the edge of the bed. "Leave the sweet potatoes for you to eat later. Chuxia, if you can eat well, you'll grow strong, and only then will your dad and I be at ease." She looked towards Lin Baohe. "Your dad, haven't we still got those dried sweet potatoes we've yet to claim?"
Lin Baohe startled, then quickly nodded. "Hmm!"
"Chuxia, your dad and I are going to work. We'll pick up the dried sweet potatoes to munch on. Wait for mom to come back and cook for you later. As for the hemp cakes, don't cut them, wait for mom to come back and do it..."
Knowing full well that Zhao Yulan was deceiving her, Lin Chuxia still smiled and nodded. "Mom, I'll wait for you and dad to come back."