Gu Xiaoqing mechanically opened her eyes, blinking for quite a while before she understood everything in front of her.
This was not the dirt-walled courtyard of her family house from years ago. In the pen not far away were not the chickens and ducks she had raised for many years.
Even the familiar strings of corn and chili peppers hanging under the eaves were just as they had been back then.
Where was she?
She looked at herself, leaning against a bench by the wall. That bench probably had only three legs and relied entirely on the wall's support to be stable, otherwise, it would have toppled over.
In front of her was a yard piled full of corn cobs. The golden color was almost dizzying. She sat alone in the corner of the wall, holding an iron rod for scraping corn kernels. Others used screwdrivers, not this.
This kind could easily injure your hands.
Gu Xiaoqing couldn't understand how she had returned to this moment.
Everything had been so clear; she had fainted with a head full of blood, beneath her was a pool of blood and the gradual loss of life. The only thing she remembered was that in the murky moments of unconsciousness, a vicious voice was still crazily snarling in her ear: "You lousy woman! You are seeking death! If you don't give me money, I'll beat you to death. You're mine, and the money you earn is mine. If you dare talk back, what's your endgame? I could beat you to death, and no one would dare say anything. Beating one's wife, who dares to interfere."
Then there was the overwhelming pain and suffocating sensation in her chest, which deeply drowned Gu Xiaoqing's consciousness.
When she opened her eyes now, she found herself in her old home's courtyard, a place she hadn't returned to in over ten years. Ever since marrying Fu Guoqiang, she hadn't had a day of peace—raising chickens, ducks, pigs, or working everywhere to earn money because she had a husband who was addicted to gambling.
A husband who, whenever he came home, demanded money with open hands. If she dared utter a word of complaint, she would be beaten fiercely.
Moreover, the former Gu Xiaoqing, like her parents, was timid and weak, too afraid to resist, believing that a husband was her "sky."
Therefore, Gu Xiaoqing never dared to hide any money or visit her parents even though they were only two villages away.
Gu Xiaoqing absolutely couldn't bear the consequences. When Fu Guoqiang yelled that if she dared steal money to send to her parents, he would kill her entire family, Gu Xiaoqing was terrified.
Even if she had more courage, she wouldn't dare do it.
Thinking back, Gu Xiaoqing only felt she was truly stupid.
A lifetime of timid parents, bullied by uncles and aunts, oppressed by the grandmother, and Gu Xiaoqing, along with her sister and brother, suffered because of the family's cowardice.
Her tragic death in her past life was partly her own doing.
When a person couldn't stand up by themselves, how could they expect others to help? A neighborhood elder sister once advised her to divorce: a woman with no children slaving everywhere just to support an idle gambler—what's the point?
But she didn't dare, always fearing Fu Guoqiang's oppressive power. The outcome was being beaten to death.
Wasn't that just what she deserved?
If you don't want to live, how could others help you?
So Gu Xiaoqing looked at the yard full of corn and laughed mockingly, her laughter growing louder and more uncontrolled until it turned into sobbing over her knees, crying bitterly.
The flowing tears, venting her pent-up resentment, overwhelmed Gu Xiaoqing.
This life, this lifetime, she had to stand up, not only for herself but also for her family.
Her family all had hands and feet, were hardworking and honest, honest and straightforward, there was no reason for them to live such a humiliating life as before.
If it weren't for them always feeling inferior, always thinking they should be better to others, always compromising and retreating under the grandmother's constant provocations, their lives wouldn't have been like that.
What mistakes did her family make?
None.
So, to change everything, the first step was self-reliance and independence.
Gu Xiaoqing wiped away her tears. Yes, only then would they not live like before.
She must take care of her parents, sister, and brother well, and live this life well.
Make those who wanted to drink their blood and eat their flesh step aside.
This time, no one could bully them, no one could take advantage of them, no one could make them live miserably.
Gu Xiaoqing forcefully thrust the iron piece into the corn cob, leaving a deep groove, and quickly solved the two cobs in her hands by rubbing them together.
This courtyard full of corn was their family's harvest for the year. The past few days were all sunny, and if it were her parents, sister, and herself, they would have cleaned it up a long time ago.
But her grandmother insisted that the parents collect corn for the second uncle and aunt, saying that the second uncle and aunt had to go to the city to send the tuition to Gu Xiaocheng, saying that Gu Xiaocheng had run out of college living expenses.
But any fool would know that was an excuse. Why not send it at another time, why during the autumn harvest? Besides, a college student's tuition is taken when school starts. At that time, Gu Xiaocheng's tuition was pulled together by the grandmother and second uncle, and aunt personally borrowing twenty yuan from them.
It was promised to be returned at spring sowing, but now it was autumn harvest, and there was no word of repayment.
Over the years, the second uncle and aunt had borrowed quite a bit of money and grain from Gu Xiaoqing's family, never returning any.
It was just her naive parents who didn't care, always saying to help each other as brothers in difficult times.
But they didn't see what kind of house the second uncle had and what house they had.
The second uncle's house was the first new house built in the village: a bright five-room brick house with a sturdy big door, which they didn't have.
They still lived in a mud house, where the roof's thatched traffic leaked both during wind and rain: outside, heavy rain; inside, light rain. The whole family would engage in bucket and basin warfare, with hardly a place to step.
Even after the rain stopped under a clear sky, the house reeked of mildew, with food becoming damp and rotten every year.
Even the grandmother and the second uncle always pinched their noses and looked disdainfully whenever they visited.
It was just her naive parents who didn't think much.
But this time, it was different. She wouldn't let them be bullied anymore.