"Autumn, the two of us are finally going to have someone to lean on!"

Autumn Wriothesley was up on a tree branch, busy scraping and sorting snake skin. Hearing that, she didn’t even bother lifting her eyelids.

"Mom, didn’t I already tell you? Give me a little more time to save up, and we can move into the city ourselves. Those crooked, no-good men you’ve been looking at—how could you even stomach them?"

"This time it’s different. It’s Commander Theodore!"

Agnes Shelton tugged awkwardly at her daughter’s sleeve. "He said he wants to marry me properly, get the papers and all that. He also said he’d take the two of us to live in the military compound in the city."

"What?" Autumn’s hand jerked, and she nearly flung the strip of snake skin straight into her mother’s face. "Mom, you haven’t gone crazy over wanting a man, have you? Didn’t Theodore Calloway go back to the city ages ago?"

Just to make life a little easier, it wasn’t like Agnes had never thought about finding someone to rely on again.

But every man who came sniffing around was either after her looks or up to no good. A few of the nastier ones had even turned their filthy thoughts toward her daughter.

Some of them had the nerve to tell her outright to throw away her daughter, that "burden."

How was she supposed to swallow words like that?

Those useless men who still dared to covet the two of them had been taught a lesson by Agnes more than once.

After enough time passed, Agnes Shelton’s name got around.

Not only was she known across every nearby village as a fiery, hard-to-handle woman, people had also started calling her loose behind her back.

Even so, deep down she still hoped that marrying a decent man could turn their lives around.

She had carried Theodore Calloway down the mountain after finding him injured while digging for wild greens.

He’d lain in her house for several days before waking up. The gossip in the village had been vicious, but Agnes ignored every bit of it and only focused on nursing him back.

Later she found out he was actually a regiment commander in the military district.

Agnes quickly reported it to the commune, and Theodore was taken to the hospital to recover. After that, she never saw him again.

She had thought the whole matter was over and done with. Who would’ve guessed he would really come back—and even bring up marriage, saying he wanted to register with her for real?

Even now, Agnes Shelton still felt like she was dreaming.

"Oh, you silly girl, what kind of talk is that? Calling him by name just like that? From now on, you should call him Dad."

Agnes said it with a shy little smile.

"Mom, Mom, slow down first. Get your head straight before you start talking like that."

Autumn slid down from the tree in one quick motion, dusted off her hands, and started reasoning with her.

"Uncle Theodore is a regiment commander in the military district. He’s tall, straight-backed, and not bad-looking either. And sure, I’m not saying you’re not good enough, but our family and his? The gap’s just too big. So why would he suddenly pick you?

Something about this feels off. We need to be careful. What if he’s faking his identity and trying to trick the two of us into going with him?"

The more Autumn thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. In her mind, she could already picture a miserable end where they were both cheated and dragged away. Otherwise, there was just no way to explain why Theodore Calloway was so set on marrying her mother. Just because she’d saved his life once?

That reason simply didn’t hold up.

"Bah, bah, bah! What nonsense are you thinking up now, you little brat? How could your Uncle Theodore be a bad man? He’s sincere, truly sincere. He even asked the commune leader to come to the house and propose on his behalf. How could that be fake? The good days for us are finally here!"

Agnes grabbed her daughter’s hand happily and had already begun planning for the future. "Once we move into the city, you’ll be able to go to school. And with Uncle Theodore backing you up, finding a husband later will be much easier too..."

"Mom, stop worrying only about me. You ought to think about yourself too."

Autumn held her mother’s rough, callused hands, and her heart softened with warmth.

What worried her was that her mother was dazzled by Theodore’s status, agreeing in a rush without even figuring out what kind of family he really had, only to walk into a life of hardship and humiliation.

"Isn’t this already good enough for me? Just like that, I’d become a regiment commander’s wife. I wouldn’t have dared dream of it. And you’ve met your Uncle Theodore too—he’s a proper man, steady and dependable..."

As Agnes spoke, a blush slowly spread across both cheeks.

She hadn’t expected Theodore Calloway to really come back either, much less ask to register their marriage and make it official. If this wasn’t a daydream, what was?

"What about his family, then?"

Autumn pressed.

The joy on Agnes’s face dimmed a little. Her eyes flickered. "He has two sons... the older one... well... this..."

Autumn’s heart skipped hard. She grabbed Agnes by the arm at once. "Mom, don’t hem and haw. What’s wrong with the older one?"

Agnes steeled herself. "The older one... something happened to him. Right now... right now he can’t get out of bed."

Autumn gave a sharp snort. "Ha. So that’s what this is. He’s looking for someone to take care of his son, isn’t he?"

"Autumn!" Agnes clutched her daughter’s hand, her eyes full of earnest pleading. "I’ve thought this through. Even if it means taking care of someone, I’m willing. It’s still better than being trapped in this mountain hollow all my life.

Didn’t you say it yourself just now? With our family’s situation, how could we ever be a match for your Uncle Theodore? This chance to get into the city doesn’t come twice in a lifetime!"

"But what about the rest of his household..."

Autumn still felt uneasy, afraid the real situation was even messier than what had been said.

Before she could finish, Agnes cut in, her eyes reddening. "Whatever it is, we still have to go! Girl, don’t blame your mother for being useless. This is already the best road I can find for you.

Even if—even if someday we really can’t stay there anymore, we’d still already be city people by then. We could find some kind of work, couldn’t we? We’ve got arms and legs. We’re not going to starve to death.

Don’t you love reading? What future could there possibly be in this poor backwater? Only in a big city is there any real hope."

Autumn looked at the blazing hope in her mother’s eyes, and her throat tightened as if something were lodged there.

After crossing into this mountain village of the 1980s, she had found herself in a place poor to the bone and bitter beyond words. There was none of the medical equipment she knew, none of the medicines she was used to, no convenient transport, no communication to speak of. Even filling one’s stomach was a daily struggle.

She might possess superb medical skill, but in a place like this, she couldn’t even find a decent set of needles.

Her lips moved slightly, but in the end she couldn’t bring herself to reject this mother, who was doing everything she could for her daughter.

"Fine, we’ll go. But let me say this first—if that family bullies you, we leave right away. I won’t agree to you suffering and swallowing it for my sake."

Autumn finally said it aloud.

Since she had taken over the original owner’s body, then she ought to treat this hard-fated mother well in her place.

"Listen to you. By then, who ends up at a loss might not be so clear. Think about it. His oldest boy can’t get out of bed, and the younger one’s only five. What trouble can they really stir up?

Once your Uncle Theodore leaves for work, won’t the whole house be under my say-so? Suffer a loss? Not likely."

Agnes spoke with complete confidence.

Autumn couldn’t help laughing.

That was true enough. With her mother’s stubborn, unyielding streak, she probably wouldn’t be the one getting pushed around.

All these years, with the gossip behind her back, the cold looks to her face, and all the ugly things people said, if Agnes Shelton had been any softer, any less fierce, she never would’ve lasted.

Autumn hooked her arm through her mother’s and walked home beside her, still asking questions. "Does his family have any other issues? Did you find everything out clearly?"

"I did. I heard his parents died early, and he ate at his eldest uncle’s table for a few years. After he joined the army, he never went back.

Later he got married and had children, but the children’s mother couldn’t stand running back and forth between places, so she left. He raised the children by himself, acting as both father and mother.

After that he was transferred elsewhere, and he couldn’t keep watch over the children anymore. Just then, the uncle in the village passed away too, so he brought his widowed aunt to the city to help look after them.

That aunt also brought along a divorced niece. He arranged for her to work at the pig farm.

That niece has a daughter about your age, studying nursing at medical college, and a son about the same age as his younger boy, attending primary school."

"So just how many people are living in that house?"

Autumn asked, completely baffled. All those winding family ties made her head ache.

"If you count only his immediate family, there are three—your Uncle Theodore and his two sons. As for the aunt, her niece, and the two children, he said before coming here he’d already had them move out."

Agnes answered.

Autumn nodded. That sounded more reasonable. Otherwise, with that many people crammed under one roof, how were they supposed to live?

"So Uncle Theodore called the commune leader and asked us to take the bus into the city?"

A flush spread over Agnes’s cheeks again, and she suddenly stopped walking.

"Your Uncle Theodore is in our yard right now, waiting. I already packed everything we need to bring. I came out specially to fetch you."

Looking at her mother’s mix of shyness and excitement, Autumn understood most of it right away.

This hadn’t been a discussion at all. Her mother had already made up her mind long before coming to find her.

That said, compared to the lonely old men hanging around the village, Theodore Calloway really was as good a choice as any woman could hope for.

"Then let’s go."

Autumn tightened her grip on her mother’s hand and kept walking toward home with steady steps.

She knew Agnes had already made the best choice she possibly could. So no matter what trouble lay ahead, she would stand by her, support her, and become the strongest backing her mother could have.