Bai Xue regained consciousness and found herself in her own department store again.
The supermarket was as orderly as before, with no signs of a gas explosion. She glanced over to the vegetable section, where all the fresh vegetables looked as fresh as if they had just been picked.
In the grain and oil section, there were bins of rice and flour piled high like small mountains: rice, sorghum rice, millet, oat rice, white flour, cornmeal, buckwheat flour, and yellow cornmeal, among others.
Beside them were bins of beans: soybeans, mung beans, red beans, black beans, cowpeas, and various other beans.
Against the wall were bags of rice and flour, each weighing twenty pounds, fifty pounds, and a hundred pounds.
Then there were various oils: soybean oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, packaged in cans of two pounds, five pounds, and ten pounds, with larger barrels of fifty pounds each.
The fresh produce section displayed various meats—pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, and fish—along with lean meat, pork belly, fat, lard, chicken legs, wings, breast, and innards, with similar divisions for beef and lamb. Each meat type was stored in separate cold storage cabinets, displayed neatly.
Next to those were condiments: soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, MSG, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and a variety of salts. Bai Xue skimmed them one by one. Some she had never even heard of, let alone knew how to use, but there was no doubt that the selection was complete.
She looked towards every corner of the supermarket, where even the most flammable sections like clothing, bedding, sheets, shoes, and socks were intact, with no signs of a fire. The only difference was that the area outside the supermarket was blurred, she couldn't see other stores, and she couldn't leave. Her consciousness could only move freely within her own supermarket.
Instinctively, Bai Xue reached out to touch the vegetables, and unlike a spiritual body that would pass through objects, she could actually pick them up.
As she pondered her confusion, many memories that didn't belong to her flooded into her mind in fragments—some clear, some blurred, some joyful, some painful.
It turns out she had really crossed into another life.
She was reborn into the body of the family's eldest daughter, Bai Ruxue.
The original soul was fifteen years old, the eldest daughter of the family, with a name just one character different from hers. Beneath her were twelve-year-old twin sisters, Bai Ruyun and Bai Ruxia, and ten-year-old twin brothers, Bai Rushan and Bai Ruchuan. If she guessed correctly, another pair of brothers or sisters had been born just last night.
This family indeed had many children, as did every family.
She was quite familiar with that era because her dad often talked to her about his childhood. Her dad was born in 1963, just in time for this era of material scarcity and lack of food and clothing. He often talked about the hardships and struggles of his childhood.
The original soul's father was the eldest son of the Bai Family, who had been separated to live independently, but the original soul's grandmother was biased. The original soul had two uncles and three aunts, all of whom had already married and moved to other villages. Both the original soul's father and second uncle had been given their own families to manage; the grandmother favored the third uncle and often scavenged from the other two sons' homes to give to her youngest son. This led to the scene where Bai Xue's mother, Wang Cuihua, couldn't give birth because of hunger and lack of strength when Bai Xue first woke up.
After accepting the original soul's memories, Bai Xue no longer had any strength left; her consciousness was expelled from the supermarket space.
When she woke up again, daylight had long broken, or rather, let's say—it was a bit of a misnomer since the room was still quite dark.
"Big Sister, Big Sister, you're awake?" Before Bai Xue could respond, she saw a skinny little girl leaning over her head and looking down at her. The girl seemed to be about ten years old, with bright eyes that darted around and a small mouth that pouted slightly. There were tears rolling in her eyes. Ignoring her overly thin cheeks, she was still quite a pretty girl—her second younger sister Bai Ruyun, one of the twin sisters.
"Big Sister, you scared me to death, boohoo…" The little girl had been keeping watch over Bai Xue, and as soon as she saw her awake, she burst into tears.
Her crying drew everyone else into the room. Several little kids came running, jostling to climb onto the heated brick bed. Bai Xue watched as
"Big Sister, are you really awake? Do you still hurt anywhere?" Bai Ruxia, her third sister, climbed up and knelt by Bai Xue's side.
"Dad, Big Sister is awake!" At her feet was a little boy whose features were similar to the little girl's but he looked even younger—he was the older of her twin brothers, Bai Rushan.
"Big Sister is awake. I'll go get her some hot water to drink…" On the floor was Bai Ruchuan, the second of the twin brothers, who ran outside.
"Xiao Xue is awake? Come on, make some room, let Dad see how your Big Sister is doing!" a man's voice called from outside, and with it entered the original soul's father.
Bai Xue felt a sense of wonder. Since accepting the original soul's memories, she could put names to all the faces, and none of them felt unfamiliar.
"Xiao Xue, can you sit up?" Bai Daliang climbed onto the bed, motioning for the younger siblings to move aside and helping Bai Xue sit up. "Come, have some warm water to warm your stomach. Dad will make you some cornmeal porridge!"
"Dad, I'm much better. I can sit up on my own, no need to help me!" Sitting up on her own after being helped, Bai Xue was relieved that the fall from the slope hadn't injured her bones.
Bai Xue took the enamel cup and downed several swigs of warm water before feeling a bit more at ease in her stomach.
In truth, this family shouldn't be suffering from hunger like this. All five children could work in the production team; the youngest two were already ten. With Bai Daliang and Wang Cuihua also working, seven people could earn work points, and they could earn some money by the end of the year.
It shouldn't be this poor, without even a decent quilt, constantly going hungry. Even when Wang Cuihua was pregnant, she hadn't stayed home and hadn't missed a day's work.
However, Grandma Bai often came over to "harvest the autumn breeze," making it unbearable. If you didn't give, she'd steal; if she couldn't steal, she'd grab; and if that didn't work, she'd act shamelessly, taking everything from the household—grain, quilts, clothes, anything she could get her hands on.
"Xiao Xue, slow down. Dad will get you some cornmeal porridge in a bit!" Bai Daliang's eyes grew red as he watched Bai Xue gulping down water.
Yesterday, he had gone to the old house to ask his mother for grain, but he hadn't been able to get any. It was only his third aunt who brought some back last night, and he hadn't cooked all of it, saving some to make for the children today.
"Dad, you should prioritize Mom and... the babies, I'll be fine!" She had heard about cornmeal porridge but couldn't imagine eating it herself.
Bai Xue glanced at Wang Cuihua on the southern kang, her original soul's mother, with the two newborns, still not knowing their genders.
Nine people were crammed into a room-and-a-half earthen house, with a sleeve partitioned living area, and not much space in between. The couple lived on the southern kang, with her and her siblings on the northern kang. In the house was a large iron pot used for cooking, just by the entrance.
The southern kang had a kang cabinet where the family's belongings were stored. On top, blankets were stacked, though in winter they weren't folded because the room was cold, and they'd huddle in the blankets on the kang.
"Big Sister, Mom had twins—a boy and a girl this time!" Bai Ruyun was always the sharp-eyed one. Seeing her Big Sister didn't know if their mother had had boys or girls, she promptly explained.
"Oh, really? Haha, that's the first I've heard!" Bai Xue replied, touching her nose.
"Your mom has food; what Dad's making is for you to eat. Just wait, Dad will bring it to you!" Bai Daliang said as he walked out.
"Big Sister, eat up! Get better soon, you scared us so much! Don't go up the mountain alone in secret anymore; afterward, Little Chuan and I will find food. We're men!" Bai Rushan, the older twin brother, said, patting his chest.
"Yes, Big Sister, Brother and I will find food. If it weren't for Brother Zhang from the educated youth point, you might have frozen to death out there!" Bai Ruchuan added.
"Good boys!" Bai Xue could only pat her brothers' heads, indicating she understood.
As for Brother Zhang from the educated youth point... she'd repay the lifesaving grace when she had the ability!
Although the original soul had died, her life was saved by him.