Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Truth About the Five Years of Her Life She Lost Ordinary people got so nervous as soon as they heard the word “police” that they couldn’t even think about anything else. The middle-aged woman who had just hit Su Mian was no exception. She stammered, “Y-You were stealing… I… I couldn’t just let you get away with it!” “Was I really going to steal two of your buns?” The woman was about to argue, but Su Mian immediately launched into another tirade. “Your front gate was wide open. If I really wanted to steal something, why wouldn’t I go inside and take something more valuable?” “And who leaves buns sitting out on a stone table in their courtyard? I thought you’d put them there for anyone to take.” “Enough. Let’s call the police! I’m a single mother with two children, and now you’ve beaten me until I’m covered in injuries. I can’t do anything at all. What are the three of us supposed to eat and drink over the next few days?” Given her current circumstances, Su Mian figured she might as well forget about saving face. It wasn’t just her—the two children were famished, too. The middle-aged woman had beaten her this badly. If Su Mian didn’t manage to get something out of it, she’d never be able to let it go. Now that her memories had returned, Su Mian understood her situation all too well. She didn’t have a cent to her name, and the children had been hungry for a day and a night. On top of that, she was covered in injuries. If she went home like this with nothing to eat, the three of them might actually starve to death. Sure enough, people always picked on those they thought were weak. Seeing that the crowd was now on Su Mian’s side—and hearing how firmly she insisted on calling the police—the middle-aged woman immediately went from self-righteous to conciliatory. “Oh, come on, young lady. If you were hungry and wanted a bun, you could’ve just said so. You snuck in and took them, so I thought a thief had broken into my house. How about this? I’ll give you all the buns and steamed buns I made. It was all just a misunderstanding. There’s no need to take it to the police, right?” At that, the onlookers all turned to look at Su Mian. They thought she would insist on some additional compensation, but she simply replied, “All right. Thank you.” She could at least get some food to fill the children’s stomachs for now. After all, she was the one in the wrong to begin with. If she really called the police, they would surely try to mediate. She might end up with nothing at all. A few buns and steamed buns would solve their immediate problem. That mattered more than anything else. The middle-aged woman was actually very reluctant, but she had hit Su Mian while Su Mian hadn’t fought back. And Su Mian’s hair was a mess; she had wounds all over her body and looked seriously beaten up. If the police really got involved, the woman would be in serious trouble. So she did as she’d promised and gave Su Mian all the buns and steamed buns she’d made. There were seven in total. Su Mian carefully cradled the newspaper-wrapped food and hurried away, taking the two children with her. Once they were away from the crowd, she quickly led them into an alley. Then she took the buns from her arms and handed one to each child. “Go ahead and eat,” she said with a smile. She didn’t call the children by their names because she couldn’t bring herself to. The children were fraternal twins, and they hadn’t been given proper names yet, only nicknames. The boy was the older sibling, and his nickname was Gouzi. The girl was the younger one, and her nickname was Zhaodi. What kind of person came up with names like that? The worst part was that, according to her memories, Su Mian herself had casually given them those nicknames, saying they would help the children grow up healthy. Su Mian felt that no matter what, she couldn’t have given her own children names like those. That was why she thought the person who had lived those unfamiliar five years couldn’t have been her. The little girl edged closer to her brother, looking frightened, and didn’t take the bun. The boy, however, wasn’t as afraid of Su Mian. He accepted both buns, then handed the other one to his sister. Only when she saw her brother offering it to her did the little girl take the bun and start eating. Seeing the two children wolfing down their food, Su Mian quickly took out a steamed bun and started eating, too. As she ate, she searched through the memories of the five years she couldn’t remember. Her memories stopped when she was twenty. The things that had happened over the following five years felt as if they had been done by someone else entirely. Su Mian’s memories were jumbled at the moment, but a voice kept surfacing in her mind. It said that once she got home, she should open the wooden box there, and she would understand everything. With that thought, she started eating her steamed bun faster. Seeing her eat so quickly, the children followed suit, taking big bites. Afraid they might choke, Su Mian hurriedly said, “Slow down. There’s no rush.” The children glanced at each other, then obediently slowed down. Still, both of them kept sneaking cautious looks at Su Mian, as if she were some kind of monster. Su Mian didn’t try to talk to them again. The truth was, she didn’t know how to face her children right now. After all, in her memories, she had treated them terribly—beating and scolding them at every turn. She had been especially cruel to her daughter, to the point of loathing her. It wasn’t because she favored boys over girls. It was because her daughter had stopped speaking when she was two. Su Mian had considered her a burden and had wanted to abandon her for a long time. If she hadn’t been unable to find a suitable opportunity, she would have left her daughter behind long ago. That was why Su Mian wondered whether something strange had happened to her, whether she had been possessed. She had always considered herself a kind person. She couldn’t imagine herself abusing her own children. She vaguely remembered that a mysterious wooden box was hidden at home, and that she had carried it with her wherever she went during those five years. Su Mian had a feeling the wooden box would give her the answers she was looking for. “Mom, are we going home?” the little boy asked, interrupting her thoughts. Su Mian came back to herself and quickly stood up. “Let’s go. We’re going home.” The three of them walked home in silence. The children were already afraid of Su Mian, while she wanted to get home first, figure out what had happened, and then decide how to handle what came next. Before long, they stopped in a slum district. Most of the people who lived here were desperately poor, like Su Mian. The conditions were so bad that “dirty and run-down” didn’t even begin to describe them. Su Mian led the children deeper into the narrow alleyways. Then she stopped in front of a dilapidated wooden shack. The front door wasn’t even locked. It opened as soon as she pushed it. There was nothing in the house worth stealing, since they had nothing to begin with. The truth was that, because she had been short on money, Su Mian had even traded away the lock on the front door. As soon as the door opened, a foul, musty smell swept over them. Su Mian didn’t even have time to look for the wooden box she had been so eager to find. Instead, she first searched for a filthy black rag, got some water, and started cleaning. The one thing she could be grateful for was that she was in Xiangcheng, whose capital city already had running water throughout. She didn’t have to go out and fetch any. As she cleaned, Su Mian remembered to tell the children, “If you’re hungry, eat the buns and steamed buns on the table. Mommy needs to clean the house.” The children didn’t dare answer. They went over to a corner where a mat had been laid out, then curled up together there. Su Mian froze when she saw what they were doing. Her face turned deathly pale. Her memories were still jumbled, and she had forgotten that the children had always been made to sleep on the floor, in a tiny corner. I’m awful! Su Mian felt her nose sting, and it was as if all the strength had drained from her body. She felt utterly helpless. Now she was sure none of this had been done by her. But then what had happened? The question brought her back to where she’d started. She couldn’t bring herself to keep cleaning, so she went straight to the corner of the wardrobe and rummaged through a pile of filthy, disheveled clothes until she found the wooden box. The wooden box looked filthy, but it wasn’t easy to open. However, her memories told her how. She turned the little numbered wheels on the bottom of the box, and it opened. Inside was a letter. Beneath the letter was a book. Su Mian felt her hands start to tremble, but she opened the letter anyway. She needed answers. The letter was simple, yet blunt. In just a few hundred words, it summed up the five years of her life. 【Hello, Su Mian. By the time you read this letter, I will have left this world. I am an employee responsible for maintaining the order of worlds, employee number 996. First, I want to apologize. I occupied your body for five whole years. To keep this world in balance and prevent it from collapsing, I had no choice but to use your body to help the male and female leads complete the story. I hope you understand. Now that the world’s order has been restored and it can run independently, we will no longer interfere in anything here. You can take control of your life again. To make it up to you, I’ve given you a spatial ability and hidden it inside your body. You know how to use it. Finally, I left the memories of those five years in your mind. But to help you sort them out as soon as possible, I’ve left you the original novel of this world. Anyone other than you who touches the novel will disappear on the spot.】 Su Mian didn’t even have time to think about whether it was true. She immediately took the original novel from the wooden box.