When Tang Ning opened her eyes, it was not to the sterile whiteness of a hospital, nor the comforting familiarity of her apartment. Instead, she was surrounded by warm blankets, muffled sounds, and a blinding light overhead. She tried to sit up but found her body unresponsive, her limbs too short and too weak to move. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out the face of an elderly man staring down at her with a mix of surprise and amusement. the first thing she noticed was how utterly helpless she felt. She tried to move, but her body was too small, too weak. Her mind, still sharp as ever, tried to process what had happened. Was this the afterlife?
No. She was alive, but... in a different body.
Her vision was blurry, but she could make out a man's voice, low and soothing. He was speaking to her in Chinese, his tone filled with tenderness and warmth.
"My little Ning'er," he murmured, gently cradling her tiny form in his arms. "You are safe now."
Tang Ning wanted to scream, to demand answers, but all that came out was a soft coo. She was in the body of a baby—reborn, it seemed, into a new life. The man holding her was old, his face lined with wrinkles, but his presence was comforting.
"Don't worry, I will take care of you," he said, and in that moment, Tang Ning realized that she was now living with this man—her grandfather.
As the days turned into weeks, Tang Ning slowly pieced together the fragments of her new life. Her name, once again, was Tang Ning. But this was not the life she had left behind. This was a new beginning in a remote village in China, far from the world she once knew. She couldn't help but wonder—where were her parents? Why was she here, living with her grandfather?
©Beersheba