After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

Zhang He frowned and stepped forward to take a look.

Although the girl's appearance was no longer recognizable.

But with just one glance at the scar on her back, Zhang He was certain that this was indeed the girl Mei he had met that night.

However, this time, it seemed that Miss Mei was more seriously injured than when they last met at the gate of their courtyard.

"He Niang, do you know this girl?"

While helping Miss Mei wipe away the visible bloodstains, Hu Sanniang asked Zhang He.

Zhang He lowered her head and sighed, "I wouldn't say we know each other; at most, we've met once."

Then he recounted how he had saved the girl on that snowy night.

"This girl only left her name; she was willing to answer any other questions, but she seemed to be heading towards town. I don't know how she ended up here..."

Zhang He was also very puzzled.

What impressed her most was the large and small marks on the girl's back that she could never erase for the rest of her life.

"How did we end up here? Did we get lost?"

Hu San Niang asked with great curiosity.

After thinking about it, she felt something was wrong. She knew that the mountain path was the way up, and without Li Quanfu leading the way, they didn't know how they got up here. She was a girl, and even if she got lost, she could have followed the official road. She wouldn't have gotten lost in this desolate mountain wilderness, covered in injuries.

It's plausible to say it was a bite from a wild animal, but this doesn't look like a bite from a wild animal.

This left her completely baffled.

"...I just examined it, and the old wound on this back is different from the new one; it seems to be a burn?"

Li Quanfu pondered for a moment, then shared his thoughts.

He also noticed the numerous wounds and guessed, "The fresh wounds seem to be from being beaten with a stick, and an injured girl appearing here inexplicably couldn't have come by herself..."

In his view, it was as if he had been abandoned here.

He didn't say the second half of the sentence.

Xu Zhuzhu's unclear eyes scanned the girl's wounds, and a thought flashed through her mind: it didn't seem like she was thrown away, but more like she was abandoned.

The idea was too audacious for her to voice.

Whatever the reason, this place now gave her an uneasy feeling, so she urged Zhang He to go home quickly.

"Mother, when can we get home? I miss Father." Xu Zhuzhu stared at Zhang He with innocent and expectant eyes.

Zhang He gently patted her head and said softly, "Okay, let's go back now. You'll see your father soon."

Zhang He didn't know what to say about Hu San Niang and her husband's speculations, since she had no way of knowing what had happened to the girl after she left their home.

While they were struggling with their decision, Ang Xu'an noticed something that the others had overlooked.

The observant Xu An noticed that the girl was tightly clutching a tattered piece of cloth in her other hand.

Zhang He, who was skilled in needlework, could tell at a glance that the fabric was not very good, but it was not cheap either, and it was not available for sale in the clothing shops in Qingshan Town.

This led everyone to conclude that the only possible cause of Miss Mei's injury was human error.

Considering Mei's injuries, Zhang He suggested that they should not delay any longer and quickly pack up and head home.

Now Li Quanfu had to carry Mei-guniang on his back, so the original basket was returned to Zhang He's back, and Xu Zhuzhu naturally ended up on her godmother Hu Sanniang's back.

The path down the mountain was smoother. Hu Sanniang's back was broader than her mother's; she was indeed a bit fatter than her mother.

When Xu Zhuzhu rested her chin on Hu Sanniang's shoulder, she smelled a faint scent of soap wafting from her godmother's hair, a scent that was very comforting.

It gives you a sense of peace and tranquility.

Xu Zhuzhu remembered that her mother used boiled rice water to wash her hair, but she didn't know if her godmother used soapberry.

Sitting on Hu San Niang's back, bouncing back and forth, Xu Zhuzhu, who was up early, squinted her eyes again.

But she wasn't sleepy; unusually, her mind was incredibly clear at that moment.

She tried desperately to open her eyes, but her eyelids were forced to close uncontrollably.

Ultimately, she was engulfed in darkness and chaos, feeling light and weightless, as if she were in a state of being a soul.

When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer on Hu Sanniang's back.

Confused, Xu Zhuzhu turned around and looked around. All around was a vast expanse of white, even under her feet.

Where is this?

Did her soul leave her body again?

As she explored, she walked, she ran, and it seemed as if she were floating in the air...

At that moment, a blinding light pierced through from the front, striking her eyes directly.

Xu Zhuzhu subconsciously raised her hand to block the light. The fleeting time seemed to slow down at this moment. She didn't consciously count how long it had been, but it felt like an extremely long and suffocating process.

It felt like an eternity had passed, yet she could still feel the dazzling light, and its intensity had not diminished but rather grown stronger.

For some reason, a flutter of emotion arose in her heart, which drove away her already wavering rationality.

Knowing full well that opening her eyes at this moment would cause the sharp, blade-like light to blind her without hesitation, she still opened her eyes uncontrollably.

Through the gaps between your fingers, you can see the light source even more clearly, which is right next to you.

At that moment, her thoughts completely slipped out of her control.

Her hand broke free from the constraints of her thoughts and reached out to grasp the spherical object that was radiating light.

The moment her fingers touched the sphere, a wisp of white smoke flowed from her fingertips and was quickly absorbed by the sphere.

In that brief moment, the sphere seemed to have been activated by some kind of magic, and it quickly shrank to the size of her thumb.

Even the light changed from white to pale pink.

The instant she fully grasped it, a brilliant red light burst forth from between her fingers, turning the entire world into a rosy glow...

A scalding heat emanated from her neck, prompting her to look down. To her surprise, the round bead in her hand had automatically hung around her neck.

Seeing this, Xu Zhuzhu was slightly taken aback.

Isn't this her red bead?

A faint, aged laugh drifted through the air, seemingly from within her mind, yet also from all directions.

It is refreshing and clear, with a sense of transcendence and otherworldly quality.

"Old Immortal, is that you?"

Her questioning voice echoed in the empty and desolate world, but received no response.

She was completely confused.

Before she could figure out what was going on, as if she had been forcibly kicked out of this place, the surroundings turned into a foggy, gray environment again...

When she woke up again, they had already successfully made it down the mountain, and not far away, smoke was rising from a thatched hut—that was her home.

That home, which her parents, brother, and she—the four of them—had built up after going through countless hardships.

"My little sister is finally awake. She was snoring away on her godmother's back."

Xu An followed Hu San Niang and, seeing that Xu Zhu Zhu had woken up, teased her.

Xu Zhuzhu rubbed her eyes, not having time to answer her brother's question, and instead pinched the beads around her neck.

A warm sensation came from my hand, though it wasn't as scalding as it had been initially.

Her heart skipped a beat; she felt a surge of excitement.

Upon carefully opening the cloth bag, I saw that the dull beads had regained most of their luster...

Xu Zhuzhu couldn't help but burst into laughter.

The little brat, who had been fast asleep just moments before, woke up and burst into laughter, which inexplicably made Hu San Niang laugh along as well.

"It seems our Zhuzhu had a sweet dream, she's smiling so happily."

Zhang He chimed in, "He's probably dreaming about something delicious again."

Xu Zhuzhu chuckled but did not refute.

……

When Xu Zhuzhu saw her father again, she felt as if a very long time had passed.

Perhaps too many things happened that day, and her small brain couldn't handle it all.