Taoyang County's Town centre was noisy that morning.
Vendors shouted about fresh buns and bean curd, donkey carts rattled by, and the single post-office phone booth already had a line snaking out the door.
Zhou min, Lin Qingya's second sister-in-law, stood at queue clutching a crumbled note with a phone number written on it. She had never been to the city before, but rumour said a single phone call could reach anyone in Xiping if you paid enough coins.
When her turn came, she pushed her headscarf back, slapped two yuan on the counter and barked, "Operator, get me Yanguan Primary School, the office!"
Her voice was louder than the static on the line.
"Hello? I'm looking for Teacher Hu Xiaomei!"
Several people in line exchanged glances. Two yuan a minute was no small thing; every second cost a breakfast worth of eggs.
The voice that answered was faint through the crackling wire. "This is Hu Xiaomei. Who's speaking?"
Zhou Min straightened her back as if someone could see her through the receiver.
"I'm calling from Taoyang. About that little favor. You promised us two thousand before. We're not satisfied. We want another two thousand, or I'll come shouting outside your school gates!"
There was silence on the other end. Then the voice stiffened. "Has Qingya...remarried?"
Zhou Min smirked. "Of course she has! Married to a policeman this time. My husband saw you and that coal boss tangled in bed, remember? Don't act innocent. If you don't pay, I'll tell everyone that the famous Teacher Hu is just another man's mistress-"
Click.
The line went dead.
Zhou Min kept yelling "Hello? Hello?" Until the clerk yanked the phone cord from her hand. She stomped out muttering, "Two yuan gone just like that, enough to buy three jin of egg cakes! Crooked city woman."
From across the street, Lin Qingya had watched and heard everything. She no longer needed proof. The "mistress" her ex-husband had taken was Hu Xiaomei. The same neighbour who used to share sewing needles and gossip over tea at her house.
In her past life, that very woman had later married her ex-husband after Qingya's divorce, claiming it happened after the split. She even had the nerve to come begging for help years later when he was imprisoned for tax fraud since she had remarried a rich man.
Qingya remembered turning her away without a word.
Now, standing there reborn and watching history repeat, a bitter smile crept across her lips. "So it really was you all along ."
She turned, bought a paper bag of fresh egg cakes from the bakery stall, and began her walk home.
The cakes were warm, their sweet milk scent mixing with dust and sunlight. She took a small bite. The crust flaked and the inside soft like she remembered.
She had barely stepped onto the county road when the hum of a motor filed the air.
A motorcycle sped toward her, leaving a trail of dust. The rider wore a white shirt, sleeves rolled, eyes bright under the sun.
Lu Qingya stopped short.
Yun Han.
In her past life, this man had become her second husband. The one who later built half the city's real-estate empire.
She walked faster, not glancing back.
Behind her, the motorcycle engine faded.
In her previous life, Yun Han had always introduced her as a plain rural wife who managed the household well. It sounded like praise but it erase her completely.
...
By the time she reached Lin Family Village, the afternoon sun had turned everything gold.
At the gate, Lin Chen came running in his pin-trimmed shirt and city shoes that Han Yuzhe had sent. He leaped into her arms.
"Mom! You didn't leave me!"
Qingya laughed, hugging him tight. "Of course not. Here, look-your favourite egg cakes."
The boy's eyes lit up. "Better than spicy sticks!" He declared between mouthfuls.
Watching him eat, Qingya's throat tightened. In her last life, when she had foolishly left him behind for "convenience," he had clutched a stale cake like a treasure, waiting for her to return. That single image had haunted her for decades.
That afternoon, In the millet fields.
The millet fields shimmered like waves. Zhou Qiaolan, sickle in hand, called out cheerfully, "Qingya! You're about to marry into the city; stop tiring yourself out. Go rest, put some cream on that face. City people like plae brides!"
Her husband, Lin Degang, laughed. "She's right. You've worked hard enough."
But Qingya only smiled faintly and swung her sickle. "Brother, when you built your house, I helped you pay for it. Second Britger never built one, right? Has he ever complained about that?"
Degang's face darkened. "He shouldn't. You helped me out if kindness, not obligation. If he resent it, that's his own problem."
Zhou Qiaolan stopped cutting millet, remembering the good bangle and the new shoes she had seen on Zhou Min and her son. Her eyes hardened. "Qingya, is it about the money you said you saw in her chest the other day?"
Qingya nodded slowly. "Two thousand yuan. And I overheard her today calling someone named Hu Xiaomei, demanding more hush money. Looks like they all worked with my ex-husband."
The sickle in Zhou Qiaolan's hand glinted under the sun. "So they took money from that scoundrel while we broke our backs helping them? Let's see if she still has the nerve to shout in my yard."
She strode off toward the second house, rage propelling her faster than the wind.
The crash of wood splitting echoed through the courtyard.
Zhou Qiaolan had smashed open her sister-in-law's locked clothe cabinet. Inside were neat stacks of ten-yuan-bills more than either of them had ever seen.
Among the bundles was a folded paper, a note of receipt with the amount 1,700 yuan scrawled across it.
Lin Degang arrived just as Zhou Min screamed. "You have no right-!"
He didn't listen. His eyes landed on rge trembling figure of their second brother, Lin Dejun, who had supposedly been bedridden for weeks. The man's face turned white as flour.
"So you were never sick," Degang growled.
Dejun backed toward the wall. "I-I can explain-"
"Explain how you took money to betray your own sister?" Degang shouted, raising a sickle. "Because of your lies, she divorced with nothing, and we worked your fields like fools!"
Zhou Min lunged to pull her husband away, but Zhou Qiaolan shoved her aside. The courtyard exploded into chaos. Neighbours rushing in.