Chapter 474: Side Story 1

The first rays of the morning sun shone on the barren and dry land.

In the dark room, a thin and frail-looking figure was trying hard to stand up. She raised her withered hands and covered the skinny boy, who was fast asleep, with a tattered blanket.

She tiptoed out the door and walked to the kitchen.

Looking at the few grains of rice in the rice jar, Xiaoguo was in a dilemma. After spending all the money she had left on her mother-in-law’s funeral, she was now truly at her wits’ end.

She divided the rice into three portions and placed one portion into the pot. Although it was a small amount, it was enough for a meal.

Sitting on the stool, Xiaoguo lit the fire and looked at the raging flames. Her heart was filled with sorrow.

Her eyes glanced towards the only brick by the stove that was a different color. She hesitated for a moment, but eventually, she withdrew her hand.

That was the last tael of silver in the house. She couldn’t touch it. That was her savings for Zhuang Zhuang. She didn’t know how long she could last. It would be best if she could survive the famine. If not…

Xiaoguo wiped her tears. What should she do with Zhuang Zhuang…?

Xiaoguo felt a sudden pain in her head. She propped herself up on the stove to stop herself from falling.

Lately, this has been happening quite frequently. Coupled with the nightmares that had been plaguing her at night, it was making her headache worse.

In her dreams, she lived with her parents in a strange place. It was completely different from this place. They were dressed differently, the skyscrapers were brightly lit at night, the women had colorful hair, the men all had short hair, and there were vehicles with four wheels…

It was a strange and bizarre world that was dazzling and bewildering.

There were only her parents and her in her dreams, but there was no brother.

The family of three led a blissful life and she grew up peacefully.

However, things changed quite abruptly. After a sudden and eerie storm, some strange people appeared on the streets and began to attack and bite anyone they saw. Before long, the entire street was covered in blood, and the continuous sound of miserable screams sent chills down the spines of those who heard them.

Some of the strange people had half their heads missing. Some had no arms or legs, and had their intestines hanging out from their abdomen. In short, they looked really strange. It didn’t take long for those who had been bitten by them to turn into creatures like them. It was as if they had lost their minds. Later on, they learned that these creatures were called zombies.

Fortunately, somebody dressed in green saved her and brought her to a place where everyone was dressed in green.

As for her parents, they were bitten to death by zombies. In her dreams, she lived a mechanical and lifeless existence like the zombies, with no will to live. She even looked forward to death every day.

At the thought of this, Xiaoguo smiled to herself. In her dream, she was no different from her current self. Both of them were living a life worse than death. However, she was in a better state than in her dream. At least with Zhuang Zhuang by her side, she was motivated to stay alive for his sake.

“Mother…”

After Zhuang Zhuang woke up, he came out to look for his mother. He knew that his mother would be cooking in the kitchen at this time.

Xiaoguo retracted her thoughts and smiled at the little boy. “Zhuang Zhuang has woken up…”

• •

Life still didn’t get better. The nightmares came every night as expected. She knew everything about what Xiaoguo had done in that world. As time passed, they didn’t feel like dreams anymore.

In order to verify her thoughts, Xiaoguo went to visit the prophet in the village. At this moment, the prophet was lying in bed calmly waiting for her death.

When she saw Xiaoguo arrive, she didn’t seem surprised. Instead, she knew the purpose of her visit.

On the way home, Xiaoguo kept thinking about the last words the prophet had said to her. “There is a predetermined fate in this life and in the afterlife…”

In this life? In the afterlife?

Ever since this thought was planted in her mind, she was no longer afraid of dreaming. In fact, she looked forward to her dreams every day.

In her dreams, she could cook very well. She was very capable and knowledgeable. She could do many things that she never knew she could do.

Looking at herself who was losing her vitality day by day in her dream, she really wanted to encourage her to live on!

The disaster gradually improved as the heavens blessed them with ten days of heavy rain, and the rivers started to flow again. Tender grass sprouted from the earth, and trees started to bud.

Just when she thought she could survive the disaster, she suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the ground before she had the chance to feel joy. Before closing her eyes, she saw Zhuang Zhuang crying helplessly.

She only had one thought. “ZhuangZhuang… ZhuangZhuang… Xiaoguo from the other world, come and save our son!!!”

Unable to bear the endless cries in her ears, Xiaoguo opened her tired eyes and slowly looked at the child who was hugging her. The moment she got a good look at him, she woke up in shock.” Where did this little black monkey come from?!”

The boy looked very sad and miserable. He pouted and cried out to her, “Mother…”

Xiaoguo opened her eyes again. She couldn’t tell what year it was. She looked at the vaguely familiar-looking room and blinked. This room seemed quite modern. Had Second Fatty renovated her room again?

“I’m not dead?”

As soon as she heard the voice, she was so frightened that she immediately covered her mouth. “Who… who is speaking?!”

She was the only one in the room. So this voice was most likely coming from her??

“Ah… Ah… Hey… Haha…”

After making a few sounds, she realized that it was indeed her voice. It was so shocking that she almost started screaming.

“Guoguo… Guoguo… It’s time to get up and have breakfast. You have to report to the university later. It’s already past eight o’clock. Didn’t you say that you were going early? If you delay any longer, it’s going to be night time.”

Xiaoguo covered her mouth and looked at the closed door in shock. She would never forget this voice!

“Mom!”

“Hey… what’s wrong?”

Mrs. Qin had just left the room when she walked back again. She listened to the commotion inside with a strange expression. “What’s wrong with this girl today?’

“It’s nothing…” Xiaoguo wiped her tears and pretended to be calm. “I’ll be up soon.”

“Hurry up…”

With that, Mrs. Qin went to the kitchen.

Xiaoguo pinched herself. “It hurts.” She pinched herself again. “It still hurts…”

“Is this inception?’

Since her mother was outside the door just now, this room must be her bedroom. There were even posters of her favorite idols on the wall. The date displayed on her phone was… the first day of college…

She looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was fair, with collagen-filled skin. She still had a well-proportioned youthful figure, agile limbs, 20/20 vision in both eyes, healthy and complete set of teeth, a straight back, and the appearance of an 18-year-old. However, she remembered clearly that she just turned 70 years old…

Has she been reborn? Or has she returned to the modern world with her memories?

In that life, she died without illness or calamity. She breathed her last peacefully in Jiang Danhe’s arms.

At the thought of this, Xiaoguo felt a little suffocated. She pounded on her chest a few times before she felt a little better.

At this moment, Xiaoguo heard her mother calling out to her from behind the door again. Xiaoguo quickly responded. Before she could think about anything else, she quickly washed up and brushed her teeth. Her mother’s nagging skills were much better than hers—if she were to delay until her mother’s third reminder, what she had to face wouldn’t be a verbal warning anymore. Her mother might resort to physical force.

She didn’t dare to go out now in her current state, afraid that her parents would see through her. One had to know that her parents were as observant as robots, not even a single hair out of place could escape their keen eyes.

Although it had been quite a while since she came into contact with modern civilization, she still knew how to use these advanced products.

She washed up, put on her clothes, and took her bag. Her luggage was outside. Her father must have taken it to the trunk.

Coming out of the bedroom, Xiaoguo greedily looked at every renovated floor tile in the house before she headed swiftly to the kitchen. Looking at the familiar and gentle figure, she couldn’t help but hug her mother tightly.

Mrs. Qin exclaimed in surprise. When she saw who it was, she transferred the spoon to her other hand and gave Xiaoguo a smack on her butt. “Why are you still so lazy on the first day of school?”

It was clearly a punishment for her lazing around in bed.

Xiaoguo blushed and took a step back awkwardly, but she did not let go of her mother.

To be honest, just moments ago, she was still a seventy-year-old woman. It felt so strange just thinking about it. Moreover, she was used to patting her sons’ butts. She felt a little embarrassed when she unexpectedly got spanked by her mother.

At this moment, Mr. Qin came in from outside. He smiled dotingly and said, “How old are you? To think that you’re still acting cute in front of your mother. Don’t you find it embarrassing?”

Xiaoguo didn’t turn around.. Her eyes had turned red in that instant so she didn’t dare to lookback…