The great drought of 1960 had left the autumn harvest nearly bare.
Linjia Village Brigade
At the ancestral hall in the center of the village,
the villagers had all gathered to watch the commotion.
“We’ve already divided the family property. The house collapsed—how is that our fault? Don’t even think about moving back in!”
An old woman with slanted, triangular eyes spat her words with flying spittle. “What rotten luck! Why don’t you just go and die already!”
“Old Mrs. Qian, why must you speak so harshly? Even if he’s not your biological son, you’ve raised him all these years. Now both husband and wife are bedridden after being hit by a falling beam. And there are three children to think of! If you, as the grandparents, won’t take responsibility, who will?”
“I don’t care either way! Let them die wherever—it’s none of our business.”
Qian Sancao grabbed her husband, who had been about to say something, and dragged him away. “Let me tell you, don’t you dare get muddled! Do you still want Eldest and Second to take care of you in your old age?”
Old Lin immediately fell silent.
Lin Xiaohe held one little sister in each hand, watching them leave in silence. Then she turned to the villagers who had come to help.
“Thank you, grandpas, grandmas, uncles, and aunties, for coming to help!”
“Such a polite child—no need to thank us!”
“Exactly, exactly. We didn’t do much—just helped move them here.”
“We’ll be heading back now.”
One by one, they shook their heads and sighed. How was this family going to manage from now on? The oldest, Xiaohe, was only six.
Her two younger sisters were four and barely one year old.
And Qian Sancao and Lin Dahe were utterly heartless. Not that anyone expected much from Qian Sancao—she was a stepmother after all—but Lin Dahe was the boy’s own father!
Because Third refused to be adopted into Qian Sancao’s nephew’s family line, he’d been thrown out. They called it “dividing the family property,” but it was no such thing—just a single bag of grain and two pieces of clothing.
Then disaster followed disaster. They’d thought that after a year of hard work, life would finally get a little better. But this year’s autumn harvest had failed, and now the house had collapsed too.
In the middle of the night, the villagers had heard a loud crash and rushed over to check.
When they arrived, they found Third and his wife had shielded the children with their own bodies, taking the full brunt of the falling beam. The three kids were unharmed, except for the oldest, Xiaohe, who had scraped her arm a little.
Xiaohe wiped her tears. This was no time to cry.
They had to survive first!
This year’s drought was too severe. Even the widest river in the village had dried up to barely a puddle.
All the edible wild vegetables had long been dug up by the villagers. All that was left were grass roots—just enough to keep from starving.
She squeezed her second sister’s hand firmly. “Xiaogu, stay home and watch over Little Sister and Mom and Dad. I’ll go dig up some grass roots. We need to ration our grain.”
When they’d been forced to split from the family, they’d only received a small bag of grain—it wouldn’t last long. They’d been surviving on wild vegetables all along, hoping that once the autumn harvest came, things would improve.
But the harvest had failed, and they’d gotten almost nothing.
Xiaogu wiped her tears too, her stomach cramping with hunger. The last time she’d eaten was before bed last night—a bowl of grass-root and rice-bran soup each.
Now dusk was approaching. “Sis, let me come with you.”
“Someone needs to watch Mom, Dad, and Little Sister. You stay here and keep an eye on them. If anyone comes to make trouble, go find Uncle the Brigade Captain.”
Xiaohe grabbed her basket and hoe and headed toward the back mountain.
She passed by the collapsed house and reached up to touch the broken jade pendant hanging around her neck. It had shattered last night, leaving only the small piece still tied to the red string.
“Hiss—”
How strange. How could jade cut her hand?
She brought her hand up to look, but before she could see clearly, her vision went blurry.
When she opened her eyes again, she was somewhere she’d never been before!
This was also a mountain, but nothing like the barren one back home. Here, everywhere she looked, the ground was covered in lush, tender wild vegetables!!
Lin Xiaohe felt both scared and excited as her hands moved quickly, pinching off wild vegetables.
There were so many here! They were everywhere—in just a few moments, her basket was nearly full. She pressed them down firmly and kept stuffing more in.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the basket was packed to the brim—she couldn’t squeeze in another leaf.
How was she supposed to get back?
She tried to retrace in her mind how she’d arrived.
It seemed like she’d touched the jade pendant!
She quickly reached up to touch what was left of the pendant on her neck.
But the touch startled her—the broken piece of jade was gone, leaving only an empty red string.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her hand. There was a pattern on her left palm—it looked like the jade pendant before it had shattered.
She opened her right hand and saw another pattern there—this one shaped like the broken fragment that had remained.
Could these patterns on her palms be the key to this strange place she’d come to?
She clenched her right fist, thinking hard about how to get back.
Nothing happened for a long while.
Then she remembered the stories she’d heard—how doors always required a password to open.
“Go back!”
No response.
“Over!”
The next second, a flash of white light appeared before her eyes.
Lin Xiaohe opened her eyes in surprise—was she back?!
But then her face went pale.
She seemed to be standing on a hillside now. Looking down from this slope, she could see several large trucks roaring past below.
A wide road, streetlights lining both sides, tall buildings further ahead, and people coming and going—all of it filled her with shock and confusion. Where was this?
How was she going to get back?! Her family was waiting for her!
She clenched her hand again, silently repeating in her mind: I want to go back. I want to go back.
Another flash of white light, and she finally appeared in a familiar place. Looking at the half-collapsed house before her, she let out a huge sigh of relief—she was finally back!
Without wasting another moment, she ran home with her basket full of fresh wild vegetables. She had to get something cooked for everyone to eat.
“Sis, come eat!” Xiaogu saw her sister return and waved excitedly.
“Where did the food come from?” They were staying in the ancestral hall now—there wasn’t even a place to cook, let alone any grain, which had all been locked away.
“Er’ya gave it to us. She said she got lucky today and dug up quite a bit of grass roots—she shared a handful with us.”
“And Aunt Wu Xiang brought us some dried wild vegetables.”
“And Granny Zhao gave us a few small sweet potatoes.”
Xiaogu chattered away, her voice full of surprise and delight. “Everyone’s been so kind.”
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes reddened. She committed every kindness to memory. “Go borrow some fire from Aunt Wu Xiang’s place. We’ll cook some wild vegetable soup.”
“Wow, Sis, you dug up so many wild vegetables! How did you find them? There’s almost nothing left on the mountain now.” Xiaogu stared at the vegetables, her eyes filled with longing.
“Go borrow the fire first. I’ll tell you when you get back.” Lin Xiaohe gave her little sister a gentle push. “Hurry back.”
“Okay, I’m going!”
They didn’t even have a proper pot for cooking—just a clay pot that had already been in the ancestral hall.
She carried the pot to the river to get some water. At least this river hadn’t dried up completely, or life would be even more unbearable.
“Sis, I got the fire! Auntie gave us a pair of flint stones.” Xiaogu smiled her simple, honest smile. “We’ll split the sweet potatoes—half for Mom and half for Dad. You can have half, Sis, and me and Sanmei will share the other half.
And we have so many wild vegetables now! We won’t have to worry about food for days.”
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