Shiyi was jolted awake by hunger.
As far as she could remember, she had never experienced anything like it. So when she woke up, the intense hunger in her stomach announced that something was wrong even before she had time to take in the unfamiliar surroundings. Her heart began to race, and panic set in.
Where was she…?
Shiyi had been lying down. As she struggled to sit up, a rustling sound came from beneath the bed.
There was a musty smell in the air. It might have been coming from the faded, patched quilt beside her, or from the husk-filled pillow wrapped in cloth.
Shiyi raised her head. There was no ceiling overhead—only wooden rafters. Large patches of the whitewashed walls had peeled away, and several bugs were crawling brazenly through the cracks in the corners.
The bed was small, yet there were several quilts piled on it. Clearly, it was not meant for her alone.
Shiyi climbed down from the bed on all fours. Her steps were too large, and she even took a tumble. Every movement felt like she was having to retrain her limbs.
She rushed out the door—or, from an onlooker’s perspective, one might say she crawled out.
She couldn’t help it. She hadn’t adjusted to this new body yet, and she was starving. She even felt that if she didn’t eat something soon, she was going to die of hunger.
Someone seemed to be calling her name, but Shiyi ignored them completely. Her mind was filled with nothing but a desperate longing for food.
She climbed onto a stool, reached for a piece of fragrant, sweet dried sweet potato on the table, and hurriedly stuffed it into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed almost entirely on instinct.
“You little girl!” an irritated voice sounded beside her. “I’m talking to you. Are you deaf? All you care about is stuffing your face! We have guests, so greet them!”
“It’s fine. If the little girl wants to eat, just let her,” another person said.
“Oh dear, what a way to let you see us,” the first woman sighed. “This child is usually very well-behaved.”
What were they babbling about? Shiyi had no time to defend herself. She was too busy eating the dried sweet potato.
After eating a little, the sweetness in her mouth brought her reason back. Only then was she finally able to think and process the torrent of information that had nearly overwhelmed her mind.
She had transmigrated. It was now May 1983, and she had been reborn as a three-year-old girl whose parents had both died. This girl was also named Shiyi.
The original Shiyi’s parents had both been workers at the county’s machinery plant. She had once been the only child of a dual-income family, but an accident had destroyed her happy life.
On the day her parents were on duty, the machinery plant’s boiler exploded. They had died in the flames while trying to save the factory’s property, leaving their daughter nothing but two heavy urns of ashes.
It was only at their burial that the original Shiyi learned her parents’ names from other people: Gu Jianping and Lin Xiaomei.
After her parents died, she had been moved out of the dormitory at the county machinery plant and sent back to the countryside to live with her paternal uncle and aunt.
That was how people in Dongyuan Province referred to an elder paternal uncle and his wife.
More precisely, she was living with her aunt and her female cousin. Her male cousin was attending high school in the county, while her paternal uncle had taken over her father’s position at the machinery plant.
After absorbing the information left behind by the original Shiyi, Shiyi discovered that she also had a system.
She asked the system, “Where did the original Shiyi go?”
The system replied, “Gu Jianping and Lin Xiaomei were both mission-takers. After their accidental deaths, they submitted an application to bring their daughter with them to another world.”
Strictly speaking, this violated regulations. Although the Time Management Bureau had made an exception for them, the family had reunited, which meant someone had to deal with the bug they had left behind.
And so, Shiyi had been sent here.
While frantically chewing dried sweet potato, Shiyi continued questioning the system. “I don’t mind transmigrating, but where’s my cheat?”
“Your father, Gu Lang, is also in this world. I have already sent him your location.”
Wonderful! Her dad was here too. Didn’t that mean she could cling to his coattails?
Gu Lang was a man who would become the richest person in the world no matter where he went.
Put it this way: Shiyi would sooner believe that the sun was square than doubt Gu Lang’s ability to make money.
Overjoyed, Shiyi hurriedly asked, “Where is he? How long will it take him to get here?”
“He’s in the United States. The system’s energy is insufficient, so automatic transmission to headquarters mode has been activated. Miss Shiyi, I’ll be leaving now. Good luck.”
“Hey! Wait! You haven’t told me anything specific about Dad!”
But no matter how Shiyi called out to it in her mind, the system had already left and could no longer hear her.
Shiyi stood rooted to the spot, still chewing the dried sweet potato in her mouth.
What an utterly unreliable system…
There was nothing she could do. For now, she would have to rely on herself.
In modern times, flying over from the United States would probably take only a dozen or so hours. But this was 1983. Commercial flights between China and the United States were extremely infrequent, applying for a flight route for a private plane was not easy, and getting a visa would be another major obstacle…
Shiyi believed that Gu Lang would definitely come looking for her. But if he had also just arrived in this world and was currently as broke as she was, he would first have to save enough money for a plane ticket.
Heaven help him—he had better arrive before she did. Ideally, he would already have made his fortune by now.
Shiyi dearly hoped her father could fly straight to her side so she could lie back and enjoy the benefits of having a powerful backer. But the Time Management Bureau had clearly not intended to give her such an easy life by dumping her here.
She struggled to finish the dried sweet potato and finally had enough strength to look around.
The woman who had spoken earlier was her aunt, Zhou Lan, the wife of her father’s elder brother, Gu Jianguo.
The other woman… Shiyi didn’t know her.
Compared with Zhou Lan, this woman’s clothes were cleaner and made of better-quality fabric. Sitting beside her was a square-faced man holding a boy who was bigger than Shiyi.
When their eyes met, the boy gave Shiyi a foolish grin. Drool trickled from the corner of his mouth, and the woman beside him wiped it away with practiced ease.
Seeing that the two children were looking at each other, the woman looked delighted. “My Tianbao gets happy whenever he sees your little girl. That means the two of them are destined for each other.”
Zhou Lan sounded even more pleased. “Oh, just look at that! This child was born to enjoy a life in the city. It’s simply her destiny.”
The city? Shiyi picked up another piece of dried sweet potato and began eating.
She remembered that her aunt and uncle had mentioned having a relative in the county town who had started a small business and was making money. Since they had only one son, they wanted to adopt a daughter.
Her uncle’s attitude at the time had been rather vague. The original Shiyi had been too young to notice, but through her memories, Shiyi could see clearly that he had silently agreed. He simply didn’t want to say so outright and had no intention of taking responsibility for her.
Looking at this family, the son in their arms, and the “destined for each other” comment the woman had just made, what else could Shiyi fail to understand?
The adoption of a daughter was probably just a pretext. What they really wanted was a child bride.
Shiyi pretended not to understand what they were saying and continued chewing her dried sweet potato as she analyzed the situation in her mind.
Gu Jianping had been the youngest child in the family. Above him was an elder brother—Shiyi’s uncle—and he also had three older sisters, all of whom had married and moved away. As for his parents, Shiyi’s grandparents, they had both already passed away.
This was Forward Village, where the Gu family was one of the largest clans. The village was deeply rooted in clan traditions. Given Shiyi’s circumstances, it was perfectly natural—and entirely justified, in everyone’s eyes—for her uncle and aunt to have custody of her.
Her aunt wanted to send her away as a child bride, claiming she would become the daughter of a distant relative and live a life of luxury in the city. With that respectable cover story, no one would say she was doing anything wrong.
Even if someone perceptive sensed that something was amiss, Shiyi couldn’t gamble on them being willing to stand up for justice. She didn’t even know where she would be by then, while Zhou Lan would still have to face those people in the village every day.
After reviewing all the memories left behind by the original owner of this body, Shiyi already had a plan.
She put down the dried sweet potato and smiled ingratiatingly at the woman.
“Auntie, let me pour you some tea.”
Seeing how obedient she was, the woman’s face blossomed into a smile, and the look she gave Shiyi grew even more satisfied.
Zhou Lan frowned. Ever since Jianping and his wife had died, Shiyi had barely spoken. Whenever she asked the girl to do something, Shiyi would remain sullen and sluggish, reacting as if she were half-asleep. So why was she suddenly offering to pour tea for someone today?
And it was strange that she had rushed over to the table to eat the dried sweet potatoes. Where had she found the nerve to ignore Zhou Lan’s orders over and over again?
But since Shiyi’s hand had already reached for the teapot, Zhou Lan forced a loving expression onto her face and reminded her to be careful—it was hot.
Shiyi sneered inwardly. She wasn’t afraid of getting burned. In fact, the hotter, the better.
She held the cup by its sides to test the temperature. The tea was no longer boiling, but it was still very hot to the touch.
“Auntie, here’s your tea—”
Shiyi handed the tea to the woman across from her, then met the gaze of the man sitting beside her.
Under his watchful eyes, she maintained her obedient expression. At the same time, the corners of her lips curved upward, and she tipped the entire cup of tea over their family of three.
The woman screamed. The child burst into tears. The man hissed in pain from the scalding water, his eyes instantly filling with fury and anger as he glared at Shiyi.
Shiyi simply stared back at him, tilting her head slightly. It was as if she were admiring their sorry state—or telling them plainly, “Yes, I did it on purpose.”
“How could you carry tea like that?”
The woman cursed Shiyi while scrambling to comfort her sobbing son. The enraged man was just about to stand when Shiyi tossed the teacup at his feet. He stepped on it, slipped, and fell hard, striking his head against the floor.
Well, it wasn’t a holiday or festival. There was no need for him to bow so deeply.
Now that she had absorbed the memories, Shiyi was also much more familiar with this body.
She darted behind Zhou Lan and grabbed hold of her trousers.
“Auntie, I poured the tea just the way you taught me, to show respect to my future in-laws. Why aren’t they happy?”
At the mention of future in-laws, the man and woman both looked uneasy. In those days, the government did not allow people to keep child brides, and they knew they needed to use the respectable cover of taking in an adopted daughter.
Zhou Lan, however, began to panic. She had never mentioned anything about a child bride. How had Shiyi found out?
Shiyi paid no attention to what was going on in their minds and continued speaking on her own.
“If they don’t like me, how can they take me to the city to eat delicious food and enjoy a good life?”
“Auntie, you said that when I went to the city with them, I’d get to eat meat every day and drink milk. I’d have new clothes every day, too. Anything good to eat or drink would have to go to me first, because their son is an idiot.”
The woman was already furious because Shiyi had splashed tea all over them. Now, hearing the girl demand meat and milk—and insult her son by calling him an idiot—sent her temper through the roof.
“You want to eat meat and drink milk?” she snapped angrily. “Zhou Lan, we wouldn’t dare take in such a pampered niece of yours. What kind of rich family could afford to raise her? And she dares call our Tianbao an idiot? She’s the idiot!”
Zhou Lan hurriedly tried to explain. This family had promised her two hundred yuan as a bride price. She couldn’t let them walk away!
She quickly apologized, insisting that she had never taught Shiyi any of those things and that the girl was merely babbling nonsense. She tried to grab Shiyi and make her explain, but Shiyi climbed onto the table again, seized a handful of peanuts, and started pelting Tianbao in the forehead. Then she picked up the teapot and began spraying water everywhere, attacking everyone in the main room without discrimination.
The man had just managed to get back on his feet when Shiyi scooped up a handful of water and flung it straight into his eyes. He staggered two steps in place, then slipped again on the water covering the floor and crashed down.
Heh. They wanted to go up against her? She had traveled through countless worlds. Her combat experience was extremely impressive, all right?
Tianbao, struck in the head by the peanuts, began crying even louder. The woman was beside herself trying to soothe him, while Zhou Lan, enraged, lunged for Shiyi.
But Shiyi had already wriggled beneath the table.
Even from underneath, her voice carried clearly to everyone above.
“Auntie, why is my future mother-in-law angry? You told me before that when I got to their house, I should put up with things for a while. Their son is an idiot, after all. Once I established myself there, all the money they earned would belong to me. I could hit him whenever I wanted and curse him whenever I wanted.”
“And when they got old, I’d throw them out and bring you all to live in the city with me.”
The moment she finished speaking, the air seemed to fall silent for a second.
Zhou Lan stood there dumbfounded. When had she ever said such things? And yet, she had to admit that the scene Shiyi had painted was genuinely tempting.
Seeing Zhou Lan’s reaction, the woman holding her son and the man struggling to stand again both turned vicious looks on her.
So this was her plan! No wonder she had been so eager to push this marriage through. It wasn’t because she thought her niece was a burden. She wanted to send the girl into their family and strip them of their entire inheritance!
Only then did Zhou Lan realize that Shiyi had framed her. Her face went pale as she hurriedly insisted that it wasn’t her and that she had never said any such thing. But neither adult believed her.
Shiyi was only three years old. Could a child that young lie?
If Zhou Lan hadn’t said those things in front of her, how else could she have come up with them? Zhou Lan’s plan had been thorough indeed. Fortunately, children spoke without restraint and had exposed everything for her!
The main room descended into complete chaos. Shiyi took advantage of the confusion and slipped away.
No—she ran away in the confusion.
Her goal was clear. She had to find her uncle.
Shiyi wasn’t counting on her uncle suddenly developing a sense of responsibility and braving the pressure of the clan to take her in. Besides, in the original owner’s memories, her uncle hadn’t cared much about either her mother or her. He was also a greedy man.
Greed was not a virtue, but in Shiyi’s eyes, that was precisely what she could use to her advantage.
The sun had yet to set over East Eighth Time Zone. In New York, already shrouded in night, Gu Lang jolted awake in bed.
He had received the coordinates sent by the system and learned that Shiyi had also arrived in this world.
Gu Lang had no time to investigate why the Bureau of Temporal Administration had suddenly sent Shiyi here. He was simply grateful that, over the past thirty-odd years, he had accumulated enough resources to put to use now.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, picked up the receiver beside the bed, and dialed a number.
At three in the morning, the White House received a special call.
“Good evening, President Hawke.”
Woken from sleep, Hawke took a deep breath and ground out through clenched teeth, “Mr. Gu, you’d better have a good reason for disturbing my sleep.”
“That’s not important, Hawke,” Gu Lang said calmly. “I’d like to ask you a favor. Contact Huaguo immediately. My private jet is about to take off, and its destination is somewhere within Huaguo.”
