The harsh winter wind howled outside, as snowflakes thick as goose feathers swirled in the air.
Curled up, Lin Min suddenly opened her eyes. Where was she now?
She'd originally prepared for everything, bracing herself for the impending apocalypse.
Who would have thought that one moment, everything went black, and she found herself here? It was dark and cold.
Had the apocalypse really arrived?
Lin Min pulled out a flashlight, carefully switched it on, illuminating a rundown old house.
The unfamiliar yet familiar surroundings gave her pause. Then it hit her. Wasn't this the house where she lived during her time as an educated youth?
That was forty years ago when she went to the rural areas as part of the educated youth movement.
While washing her hands by the river, she accidentally fell into the water and was rescued by Xu Jianjun, a soldier who was on familial visits. The Xu family then insisted on her marrying Xu Jianjun, who already had a child from a previous marriage.
As a young newcomer, she was overpowered and inevitably ended up becoming a member of the Xu family.
However, who would have thought that Xu Jianjun would receive an urgent call back on their wedding day. Supposedly, he had to leave to report his marriage, but all she received was the news of Xu Jianjun's death.
Following Xu Jianjun's death, the Xu family, claiming she was not legally married to Xu Jianjun, expelled her and kept all the money Xu Jianjun had left behind.
This was the place she temporarily took refuge when she was driven away.
She had traveled back in time, which was unimaginable.
Struggling to remember, she tried sorting out the current year and month...
Memories buried deep within her started piecing themselves together, and suddenly, everything came back to her. It was the winter of '71, on this very night of heavy snowfall, the heartless Xu family had miserably raised Xu Jianjun's children and then dumped them right outside their doorstep.
The next day when they were found, both children were frozen to death. The Xu family even had the audacity to shift the blame onto her. If it wasn't for the village head's fear of escalating the situation, she would have been sent off to a labor camp.
After she confirmed that the date on the calendar was correct, Lin Min dashed out in a panic, not even having the time to put on her one and only military coat.
As she pulled open the fence gate, when she saw the two children, huddled together skeletal from starvation, she rushed over calling, "Zhaodi, Hongcai."
The Xu family was truly heartless, not even giving them proper clothing. Lin Min cursed in frustration, "Xu Shan, god damn you and your ancestors."
"Mom ..." Xu Zhaodi responded in a daze, she seemed to be on her last breath.
Lin Min bent down and looked at her. Even though they weren't her biological children, they had been calling her 'mom' for two years.
Wiping the snowflakes off Zhaodi's face, Lin Min reached out to pick her up.
So light! The Xus really were not human! They lived off the hard-earned money of Zhaodi's biological father, yet tortured the children like this.
Bringing the two children into the house one by one and placing them on the heated brick bed, Lin Min quickly went about cooking.
They had been starved for too long, and Lin Min only dared to make some flour soup. As soon as boiling water was ready, she mixed in flour, stirring it well, and added a sprinkle of salt.
Right as Lin Min was serving the soup, she heard a noise from next door, the sound of something heavy falling.
Setting the bowl down, she addressed the children: "You two start eating, I'm going to check next door."
She remembered that the snow today was quite heavy and had caused many houses in the village to collapse, including the one of that ne'er-do-well next door.
"Mom...", Zhaodi whispered weakly.
"Hurry up and eat, your mother will be back after you finish." Lin Min wrapped the two children in the quilt, put on her military coat, and walked out the door wielding a torch.
She didn't even use the main door, but hopped over the fence and headed next door. In her last life, it took everyone three days to notice that Xu WenChang from next door wasn’t alright. By the time they found him, his body was already rigid.
"Anybody home?" Lin Min asked as she leaned down towards a window.
"Who is it?" Asked a voice from within.
"Are you alright? May I come in?" Lin Min asked while pushing the door open.
Xu JianJun could clearly remember being blasted into the air, so why was it that upon opening his eyes, he heard the voice of his educated-youth wife?
Could it be that he had been sent to the hospital and Lin Min was looking after him?
Xu JianJun tried to sit up, but could feel something heavy pressing on him. Wait, could it be that no one had come to his rescue? If so, why did Lin Min come here?
Lin Min, who had pushed the door open, tiptoed into the room. It was so messy.
"Xu WenChang, are you okay?"
Xu JianJun, whose brain was racing, suddenly paused, Xu WenChang? What did she just call him? Did she cuckold him out of loneliness?
Xu JianJun knew of that name, it belonged to a nobody in their village whose family used to be landlords.
Wait a minute, why would Lin Min call him by that name?
"What did you call me?" asked Xu JianJun, puzzled.
"Xu WenChang, has a brick knocked you silly?" Lin Min asked with annoyance. No wonder he died in the last life- the fool did not know how to call for help!
"Are you stupid? Aren't you the 'Rusticated Youth' wife from the Xu family?" Xu Jianjun deliberately asked.
"I have nothing to do with the Xu family now!" Mentioning the Xu family, Lin Min became angry.
But now was not the time to be angry, "Can you get up?"
"Pull me out." Xu Jianjun also felt that something was wrong.
"I'll lift the pillar, you crawl out yourself." Lin Min said, looking at the log pressing on Xu Wenchang.
"Okay. What time is it now?" Xu Jianjun remembered that it was spring when he was bombed.
"What do you think? You're not awake yet?" Lin Min thought Xu Wenchang was trying to make conversation and casually grabbed a handful of snow, throwing it on Xu Wenchang's face.
"Snow! It's winter?" Xu Jianjun's mind paused for a moment.
Struggling to hold the beam, Lin Min urged: "Hurry up! I can't hold it much longer."
"Okay." Xu Jianjun rolled out at one side.
