November 2, 1975 - New York Times.
Pearl Johnson stared intently at the newspaper in the hand of her roommate on the left bed, scrutinizing it from every angle and even physically prying her eyes open to see if she could glean any sense from the text. All she could discern was the word "time travel"!
She paused, gazing blankly at the ceiling, her left hand trembling as it pressed against her chest. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted once more.
Her roommate, unfazed by the scene, shook the newspaper and casually called out, "Hey, that boy from Old Well Village, your wife has fainted again!"
Wife!
Pearl Johnson, still conscious, refused to open her eyes, mentally repeating her name, "Pearl Johnson."
The original owner of this body, also named Pearl Johnson, was now someone she wished to call back.
[Dont bother, shes long gone.] The systems voice echoed with a hint of helplessness.
It had arrived three hours ago, binding itself to the Pearl Johnson of this era, and had startled the young woman so much that she had accidentally passed away.
To not impact its performance, the system had to send the original Pearl to another world. The young woman, upon hearing that there was food and clothing there, had left without a second thought.
Just as the system was about to detach from Pearl Johnsons body to find another host, the current Pearl Johnson arrived on the scene.
The system was furious; with a new soul in this body, it could no longer detach, bound to her for life!
If the new host had been a responsible individual, it might have been tolerable, but seeing her cowardly demeanor, the system wished it could reload.
However, reloading was impossible. The system had expended a significant amount of energy sending the previous Pearl to another world and could not afford to be unlinked from a living being, nor could it bear the idea of two successive hosts dying under its watch. For them, a hosts soul leaving the body was considered death.
Thus, it was irrevocably bound to this Pearl Johnson.
In short, her life was its life, her death, its death.
System 0818s data crackled with static, and it couldnt help but curse.
Pearl Johnson lay on the hospital bed, her eyes tightly closed, her eyelashes quivering.
She had been here for about three hours.
Her head had been dizzy and feverish, a result of her receiving memories.
Now, with the memories assimilated, she fully understood her predicament.
The ward door creaked open, and a man in his early twenties, about six feet tall, with a complexion much fairer than the norm, strode in. His appearance suggested he seldom worked the fields.
Upon seeing him, the roommate smiled and said, "Call the doctor to check on your wife again. She woke up, stared at my newspaper, and then fainted. Its not my fault."
Tom Brown nodded, sat by the bedside, and observed for a moment before nudging Pearl Johnson.
There was no need for a doctor; he was familiar with this act. This was how he would act when he didnt want to work.
Tom Brown propped his leg up and said, "Pearl, wake up. The fevers gone, lets go home."
Pearl Johnsons eyes remained shut.
As the saying goes, its better to stay still than to act rashly.
Tom Brown added after a while, "Hurry up, we dont have the money to keep you in the hospital."
Pearl Johnsons eyebrows twitched.
She had learned from her memories that the original host was married into a poor family.
Tom Brown ground his teeth and leaned closer, "If you dont get up, wait for your brothers and sisters-in-law to take you home!"
At these words, Pearl Johnsons eyes opened.
In the memories she had absorbed, the original hosts siblings-in-law were far from kind.
Of course, the siblings-in-law also considered the original host to be the one at fault.
Tom Brown thought to himself that with such patience, she was still playing along; his young wife was indeed a bit silly.
Old Well Village.
Old Well Village was a good place, backed by the Great King Mountain, with lush mountains stretching for thousands of miles. The village also had a river that flowed endlessly, nourishing the flat lands.
The unique geographical environment made the lives of the villagers in Old Well Village somewhat better than those in the surrounding villages, with thicker wallets, of course, except for those who did not engage in production and idled about.
At this moment, in the home of the most notorious troublemaker in Old Well Village, a full-scale family feud was unfolding.
The house, located at the head of the village, consisted of three tidy yellow earth houses next to a large banyan tree.
The matriarch of the house, Jiang Yulan, was holding a stick as thick as her wrist, glaring at the group in front of her with a gaze as sharp as a knife.
She cursed, "You bunch of heartless scum from the Cheng family, you took our 180-dollar bride price and sent us a daughter-in-law whos barely hanging on. Arent you afraid your ancestors will come back and eat you in the middle of the night?"
Next to her, Li Cuifen echoed her mother-in-law, "No wonder people say the Cheng girl is pitiful, with such evil brothers and sisters-in-law, youre worse than the starving wolves on Great King Mountain! Youd rather skin your sister-in-law and drink her blood, and now, on such a fine day, shes still lying in the hospital!"
The yard was surrounded by people, three layers deep, listening with relish to the quarrel between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and joining in with their own comments.
They turned the three couples faces red with shame and anger.
Were they really evil brothers and sisters-in-law?
The three couples were not pushovers either, rolling up their sleeves and starting to argue.
You say we treat our sister-in-law badly, and I say your son is just unlucky.
If your son was lucky, how could his previous two fiancées have ended up one dead and the other eloped?
Wow, that hit Jiang Yulan where it hurt.
For a moment, the courtyard was filled with flying saliva. If not for some holding back, the two sides would have resorted to physical combat.
In November, the autumn was crisp, and the rice in the fields had been harvested, signaling the end of the busy farming season. With nothing much to do, the villagers were drawn to this grand spectacle, attracting people from two villages.
Those gathered to watch the drama were not only from Old Well Village but also from the neighboring Chengjia Village.
Someone, munching on sunflower seeds, asked, "Does the old phoenix from the Cheng family really eat two eggs a day?"
"Hey, and does Cheng Pearl really get two new clothes a year?"
"Has she never helped with washing dishes or working the fields since she was born?"
The people from Chengjia Village nodded in confirmation.
The old phoenix was Pearl Johnson, known for her most famous feat of eating two eggs a day.
As for how the nickname "old phoenix" came about, there was a story behind it.
The third brother of the old phoenix, Cheng Sanming, married a woman named Feng Meihua, who had a fiery temper.
Meihua, after marrying into the Cheng family for less than half a month, had an argument with her mother-in-law. After packing her bags and running back to her natal home, she spread the word that her in-laws housed an old phoenix who did nothing but eat and drink.
The mother-in-law was just waiting for this old phoenix to climb high branches!
Whoosh—
The news swept across the entire Jiangmen Commune in less than a day.
Pearl Johnson was quite beautiful, with a round and pleasing face. Her mother-in-law used to praise her as obedient and filial, and many families wanted to propose marriage.
But once this got out, it was over. The old phoenix was stuck.
Pearls mother-in-law was so angry she ended up in the hospital, and Meihuas mother was so scared by her daughters actions that she nearly fainted.
Meihuas mother said, "My child, Pearl Johnsons good reputation was what would get her married off quickly. Youve done something foolish!"
But it was too late. No matter how much Meihua regretted it, Pearl Johnsons reputation was ruined.
From then on, Pearls mother-in-law and Meihua were at odds, and feeling sorry for their daughter, they doted on her even more.
Previously, there was a grandson who could be on par with their daughter, but later, their daughter became the apple of their eye.
But half a year