Chapter One: Lin Yuezhi
YUEZHI raised her tiny hands, used the windowsill as support, and stood on tiptoe to catch a glimpse of the outside world.
Her eyes brimmed with curiosity as she scanned her surroundings.
It was a bright sunny day, and the villagers bustled about cheerfully. The aunts laughed together, the children ran and played, and the men hurried down the road. As for where they were rushing, Yuezhi had no idea.
As an alien in this world, she was ignorant of many things. And as a three-year-old baby girl, the knowledge she had about this new place was limited.
The clothes and aura of the people around her differed from her origin. Even the way the villagers interacted was nothing like the customs of her old world. The sense of family, the houses, the everyday lives—everything was different.
Doubtful, she wanted to question the culprit who transferred her soul here. Just what kind of place did I enter? But before doing that, she first had to find out who the culprit even was.
Sigh.
At the very least, they could have given her a manual or scroll to understand this new world. Since she retained her memory, she might as well be allowed to understand her environment. Otherwise, it would have been better to let her lose her memory and truly live as a baby.
Thinking about the humiliation and awkwardness she endured from not being able to control her physical needs while being cradled filled her with a deep sense of shame.
Trying to erase those heartbreaking memories, she focused her gaze outside again.
Deep in the forest, dark fog loomed. It looked as if it wanted to spread out but was too afraid of something. Looking at the bright sun and the dense trees, Yuezhi thought she knew why.
At the same time, she could not understand it.
If the fog was afraid of the sun, then why was the hanging lady ghost not?
She had been observing that lady in white for quite a while now.
The ghost dangled from a tree branch, swaying gently from side to side. Its neck hung crooked, eyes bulged, mouth agape, with blood oozing from the holes of its face.
At first, the ghost stared blankly into the distance, but when Yuezhi locked eyes with it, the lady in white slowly shifted her gaze until it landed on her.
Unperturbed, Yuezhi stared back.
The two of them remained locked in a staring contest for more than a minute before someone suddenly swept her into their arms.
Regretfully, Yuezhi tore her gaze from the ghost to the culprit who ruined her competition.
“Mom,” she called out with resentment, pouting to show her displeasure.
The woman called Mom, Gu Wanru, laughed at her daughter’s aggrieved expression.
“What? Not eating anymore?” Gu Wanru softly pinched her daughter’s nose. “Who was the one who told me to fetch her when the food was ready?”
At the mention of food, Yuezhi immediately tossed her defeat behind her. She threw it so far back she would never remember it again. After all, it was humiliating to lose to a ghost.
“Food, Mom! I want eat!” she said eagerly. Although she could already talk, she still lisped, and sometimes she choked on certain words. Still, she was far more articulate than other children in the village.
She patted her chest in pride, deliberately forgetting she was actually an adult.
Who cares about the soul’s age when the body is young?
Gu Wanru carried her daughter to the dining area. Their family’s house was not much different from other houses in the village. Still, thanks to her husband’s job, theirs was built of brick and slightly larger—enough for the three of them. If Yuezhi grew older, she might even have her own room.
When they arrived, Gu Wanru saw her husband already seated at the table, deep in thought. She ignored him for the moment, sat down, placed Yuezhi on her lap, and began feeding her.
Yuezhi noticed her father’s blank expression. She could sense the disturbance in his emotions and wanted to comfort him but decided against it.
“What? You’re not eating?” Gu Wanru asked softly. Her tone was calm, but both Yuezhi and Lin Weishan knew the weight hidden behind that calmness.
Lin Weishan sighed. He picked up a spoon and began scooping food. “I’m just feeling a bit sad,” he explained. He didn’t want to say more in front of his daughter.
“Feeling sad or not, you still have to eat. Not eating won’t change anything,” Gu Wanru said.
Yuezhi silently agreed. Besides, eating always made one feel better afterward.
Although her parents weren’t talking about the source of her father’s sadness, Yuezhi already knew. Earlier, her mother had taken her to their room, but she could still hear the loud voice of the visitor who had come.
It was her father’s mother, Old Woman Lin.
Yuezhi didn’t know the exact reason for the visit, but soon after, shouting filled the house. Gu Wanru, known for her gentle temperament and elegant bearing, was not someone who tolerated insults. Though she never raised her voice like Old Woman Lin, her words were sharp enough to cut.
Old Woman Lin had always been dissatisfied with Gu Wanru. After Gu Wanru married Lin Weishan, he separated from the main family. Even though the couple continued to provide money and goods for the elders every month, Old Woman Lin still deemed them unfilial.
When Gu Wanru gave birth to a daughter, the old woman began visiting often to stir up trouble, insulting Gu Wanru.
Gu Wanru never cared when she herself was insulted. But once Old Woman Lin started targeting her daughter, she would never back down. That was the reason for their earlier quarrel.
As for Lin Weishan, though he never joined their fights, he also never stopped his wife. His mother had always been muddle-headed, obsessed with having sons over daughters. She had killed all the daughters she gave birth to. In the end, she was left with only three surviving sons.
The government had long since declared that such acts could no longer be tolerated. If not for that, Old Woman Lin might have tried to kill her granddaughters as well. That was why Gu Wanru insisted on splitting from the main family—she refused to let her child grow up under the old woman’s harassment.
“When will she change?” Lin Weishan murmured.
Gu Wanru heard him but sneered inwardly. That old woman will never change. If murder weren’t a crime, she would have killed her long ago, just to rid the world of one more abhorrent soul.
