Chapter 1: Past Life and Present

Li Xuewu frowned, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

From time to time, the sound of bugle calls, drill shouts, and artillery fire would echo in his ears.

He tilted his head and glanced at the calendar on the wall.

November 15, 1965, Friday.

If he remembered correctly, he should tear off another page.

That is, November 16, 1965, Saturday.

He was still not used to the lack of mobile phone reminders for the date and time, and his right hand groped around the pillow in vain.

Although it was only November, Beijing had already seen two snowfalls and it was very cold.

He had heard from the elderly that this era was colder than the future.

Li Xuewu listened to the cold wind whistling through the window cracks, making a "woo-woo" sound, and cherished the little bit of warmth in his quilt.

It wasn't that Li Xuewu didn't want to get up; it was truly that he had been kidnapped by the cotton quilt.

Li Xuewu looked at the dark sky outside the window, unable to tell what time it was.

Since getting off the train, he didn't know how long he had slept, and now the kang was still swaying just like the train.

Li Xuewu knew he had gotten used to the rhythm of the train and needed a day or two to adjust.

Li Xuewu was no longer as bewildered as when he had first transmigrated; memories were like raindrops on the eaves, dripping into his mind bit by bit, slowly recalling the past of this body.

He had been in this world for over two months since transmigrating, and this was his first morning home after being discharged from the military; most of the two months since he arrived had been spent in a hospital bed.

The original owner of this body was also named Li Xuewu, nineteen years old this year, who joined the army in '62 and served in a certain place in the Southwest.

Li Xuewu knew himself that the original Li Xuewu had died back then.

He only left a scar on his face.

He was a transmigrator, an old slacker who had drifted through state-owned enterprises in middle age, playing at everything but mastering nothing.

Fortunately, the memory of this body was partially integrated, and some of it was told to him by his comrades-in-arms.

Li Xuewu realized that he seemed to have arrived in that plot he both hated and yearned for.

Considering that Li Xuewu's condition was not suitable for continued service, the military sought Li Xuewu's opinion and arranged a small award ceremony and a demobilization and retirement ceremony.

Li Xuewu retired and went home, carrying his luggage and his household registration information, and found his home in Beijing.

Because it was already night when he arrived home, they didn't talk much, and he just ate a mouthful of rice porridge and lay down to sleep.

The original body lived in a large compound near Nanluoguxiang in Beijing, with three rooms totaling over sixty square meters, housing Li Xuewu's family of nine.

Li Xuewu scanned the room; it was originally a side room in a courtyard house, partitioned into three rooms. The north room had two kangs on the east and west sides. The east side was occupied by Li's father, Li's mother, and his younger sister. The west kang was occupied by Li Xuewu's grandmother, his third younger brother, and Li's mother's father, Grandpa Liu. Li Xuewu's sudden return had squeezed his grandmother onto the east kang.

The middle room served as a living room, dining room, and kitchen. The south room was originally the room for Li Xuewen and Li Xuewu, but now it was occupied by his eldest brother Li Xuewen and his wife.

Last night, when Li's mother first saw her second son suddenly return home, she was very long-winded.

Li Xuewu's father, Li Shun, kept a cold face and said, "Unpromising, rest early, and go arrange work tomorrow."

Li Xuewu also roughly understood his current family.

Li Fu Shun, 40 years old this year, was a doctor at the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He entered the hospital in '54 when he contributed his medical prescriptions, and supported a large family with a salary of 79.5 yuan at the fourth-grade 12th level.

Li's mother, Liu Yin, had no job and stayed at home to manage household chores and serve the elderly.

From Li's mother's mouth, he learned that many things had happened this year, and Li's mother also nagged about why Li Xuewu didn't tell the family when something happened in the military.

In the middle of this year, the eldest son of the Li family stayed at the school to teach after graduation, working as a physics instructor, and had already started receiving a salary. At the same time, he married his classmate Zhao Yafang, who also stayed at the school to teach and was a mathematics instructor.

Mentioning the eldest brother Xuewen and his wife, Li's mother's proud and joyful expression was beyond words.

Li's father also held his head slightly high.

The third younger brother Li Xuewu also performed exceptionally well this year, getting into medical school, which gave Li's father a lot of face. The stubborn Li's father showed a gratified expression for the first time.

Because among the three sons, the eldest was addicted to academics and had no interest in medicine, the second was a troublemaker who hurt countless people and couldn't save anyone, and the third, although also mischievous, was promising and got into medical school, which meant the family's medical tradition had a successor.

Younger sister Li Xue was in her second year of high school this year and was also a top student in her class, with excellent grades, making Li's mother incredibly proud.

No wonder Li's mother was proud; in this day and age, whose family could afford to support four students, two of whom were already university-educated, and one who was a prospective university student?

Even the least promising second son was a high school graduate.

Not to mention that the eldest daughter-in-law who entered the family this year was also a university student, and the couple were both university teachers. People who met them would praise Li's mother for being capable.

It had restored quite a bit of the family reputation that Li Xuewu had ruined back then.

In July of this year, a letter came from their hometown saying that his mother had passed away due to illness. Li's mother took the family home to mourn, and seeing her old father lonely and helpless, she could only shed tears.

Li Shun had not cared about family affairs since he got married, pushing everything to Liu Yin, who raised four children and served her old mother, managing the family in an orderly manner.

Li Shun didn't know where his salary went or if there was a surplus, but even if it wasn't enough, his wife never complained.

The father-in-law was to be brought to the city home.

When Grandpa Liu saw Li Shun speak, he refused to go no matter what. How could he go to his son-in-law's house to spend his old age? It would make his daughter look too bad.

It wasn't until he saw Li Shun's firm attitude, and Xuewen and Xuecai carried him out of the house, that he finally agreed to follow his daughter and son-in-law to the city.

Grandpa Liu was a carpenter in the village. For this move, Li Shun brought back a large cart of carpenter's tools.

Grandpa Liu planned in his heart that as long as he could move his legs, he would not add any burden to his daughter and son-in-law.

This Li family of several people lived in the side room of the front courtyard of the courtyard house.

Due to Li Xuewu's special situation of needing to demobilize and retire due to injury, and being a combat hero, the military wrote to the local authorities that he should be properly resettled, and the neighborhood office coordinated with the Armed Forces Department to arrange for Li Xuewu to work in a factory.

Li Xuewu raised his hand to touch the scar on his face and looked at the room he was in again by the dim light.

The ceiling was covered with yellowed old newspapers, the walls had spotted gray marks, and the window glass was also in small pieces, grayish.

Between the two kangs was a row of cabinets, on which were a small table clock, a mirror, and several bottles and jars. They shouldn't be traditional Chinese medicine; Li's father's medicinal materials and books were all in the south room.

The south room only had one kang on the east side, and the west side had several cabinets against the wall and a desk.

The middle room had a stove near the south room, so the kang in Xuewen's room was heated when cooking, and the two kangs in the north room were both heated by door stoves.

"Fairy Wood Legend"

In the middle of the main room was an Eight Immortals table, against the wall was a row of cabinets, and in the corner was a sewing machine.

Li Xuewu really couldn't sleep anymore; his third younger brother Xuecai was snoring wrapped in a quilt.

Li Xuewu called Grandpa Liu "Grandpa," and the family called him "Big Grandpa."

Big Grandpa was a light sleeper; he should be awake by now. He coughed twice and got up to put on his clothes.

Li Xuewu looked at the brightening window, finally overcame the restraint of the quilt, got up, put on his cotton clothes, and followed Big Grandpa off the kang. ===== CHAPTER 2 =====