In the scorching dog days of 1987, the sun baked the mud-brick walls of Xiangyang Village till they felt hot enough to burn your hand.
Audrey Flemming was squatting under the old locust tree in the yard, using her fingertips to sort through a bamboo tray of bupleurum and honeysuckle. The medicinal scent mixed with the sweet smell of locust blossoms, all of it wrapped up in the hot wind.
Then the sudden puttering of a jeep came from the village entrance, getting closer and closer, startling the sparrows in the tree into a frantic flutter. Right after that came the villagers shouting over one another, loud enough to carry across half the village. “Nathan Ashford’s back! That boy’s really made something of himself—he’s driving a jeep now!”
Audrey’s fingers paused for a beat, but she didn’t look up.
She knew.
On this exact day in her last life, she’d stood under the big locust tree at the village entrance all afternoon, wearing the new cloth shoes she’d saved three months’ worth of fabric coupons to make, waiting for him. What she got in the end was the car door swinging open and a woman in a white shirt jumping out, a shiny rhinestone hair clip pinned at her temple, smiling sweetly as she stood by Nathan Ashford’s side.
Back then, she’d been stupid enough to think the woman was just a colleague from the army, and had warmly ushered her into the house. Looking back now, it was laughable how foolish she’d been.
“Audrey, you’re home?”
The yard gate was pushed open, and Nathan Ashford walked in carrying two neatly packaged tins of malted milk.
He was wearing a crisp military uniform, the shoulder boards bright enough to hurt the eyes. He was a shade darker from the sun, and stood straighter than before too. But when his gaze landed on her, there was only awkwardness and guilt he couldn’t hide—nothing at all of the joy you’d expect after a long separation.
The woman behind him stepped right in after him. Her synthetic shirt was ironed flat and smooth, her black leather shoes polished till they shone, the crease of her trousers sharp as if cut with a blade. She glanced over the mud-brick walls and dirt floor, and her brow twitched almost imperceptibly before she quickly put on a proper smile again.
“So this must be little Audrey? I’ve heard Nathan mention you so often.” Josephine Aldridge spoke as she lifted a hand to smooth her hair by her temple. She removed the plastic rhinestone clip and casually set it on the peeling Eight Immortals table, her tone light, like she was tossing a trinket to a servant girl at home. “We came in a hurry, so I didn’t prepare a proper gift. This clip was bought at the department store in the city. Cost five or six yuan. You can keep it and wear it. In a place like the countryside, you probably don’t see things like this much.”
Audrey slowly straightened up and brushed the bits of dried herbs from her hands.
The same lines. The same charitable, superior tone. Not one word different from what she remembered.
In her last life, she’d been fooled by that very look of “I’m taking pity on you.” She really thought Nathan had suddenly grown a conscience and wanted to bring her to the city for a better life. Only after following him to the army compound did she realize that was where her nightmare began.
Aunt Fu wore her down day after day, treating her like an unpaid servant; Nathan’s male pride was carved straight into his bones, and he couldn’t stand that she knew medicine and was more capable than he was. Every folk remedy and acupuncture method she worked out with her own hands, he handed over to Josephine as if they were hers, letting her bask in glory at the military hospital.
Worst of all, when her long-lost younger brother Ethan Flemming finally came looking for her, Nathan and Josephine kept them from meeting. They tricked the boy, telling him that if he obediently took the trial medicines, he’d get to see his sister.
Years of being used to test drugs had already filled his body with toxins. The child’s body was hollowed out from the inside; he didn’t last even half a year. By the time she got the news and rushed there, all she saw was a mound of fresh earth. In the end, she set their dispensary on fire with her own hands and dragged that dog pair down with her, carrying a belly full of hatred as they died together.
And when she opened her eyes again, she had somehow returned to the very day when it all started.
“Little sister?” Audrey raised a brow and took two steps forward, stopping by the Eight Immortals table. “Who exactly are you calling little sister?”
The smile on Josephine’s face stiffened for a second.
Nathan quickly tried to smooth things over. “Audrey, Josephine is a military doctor at the army hospital. She came back with me this time because...”
“Because you came to tell me you two are having an affair, and you want me to make way for you.” Audrey cut him off, her tone as flat as if she were just commenting that the weather was nice today.
The room went still for a moment. Nathan’s face flushed red, like his thoughts had been laid bare, and there was a trace of anger from embarrassment too. “How can you talk like that? Josephine and I are comrades, perfectly proper. We were just thinking that it’s not easy for a girl like you to stay alone in the village, so we discussed finding you a decent arrangement.”
“What kind of decent arrangement?” Audrey looked right at him, her eyes bright and sharp. “Giving me a Phoenix bicycle as part of my dowry and sending me off to marry just anybody? Or letting me go to the military hospital and work under Doctor Aldridge—pouring tea, washing gauze, running errands—for a few yuan a month?”
Josephine’s expression changed slightly.
Those were the very things she had just been saying to Nathan in the jeep. In her mind, that was already a tremendous favor for some country girl. So how did Audrey sound as if she’d heard every word in advance?
She steadied herself and put on a magnanimous face. “Audrey, I know this is hard for you to accept right away. But you’re only a barefoot doctor. What future can you really have staying in the village? If you follow me, at least you can learn proper medicine. As for the bicycle, Nathan discussed it with me too. We’ll give it to you when you get married. That’s over a hundred yuan. Village girls don’t even dream of that kind of send-off.”
“Over a hundred yuan. What a grand gesture.” Audrey let out a short laugh.
Before the words had fully fallen, she raised her hand.
Smack.
The slap rang out clean and sharp.
It landed square across Josephine’s face, quick, steady, and ruthless. Josephine’s head snapped to the side. The loose strands by her temple fell out of place, and five red finger marks bloomed instantly across half her face.
“You—you dared hit me!” Josephine clutched her cheek and stared at Audrey in disbelief, tears filling her eyes in an instant.
Nathan panicked too and took a big step forward. “Audrey Flemming! Are you out of your mind?!”
By now, plenty of villagers had already gathered outside the courtyard wall to watch the commotion. That slap had been loud and clear, and the crowd exploded at once.
“Oh Lord, what’s gotten into Audrey? She actually hit somebody? That’s a military doctor from the city!”
“Exactly! Nathan even promised to give her a bicycle as dowry money, and she’s still not satisfied?”
“She’s only a barefoot doctor. Being able to go to the city and work as somebody’s helper is already burning incense to heaven. She really doesn’t know what’s good for her!”
“She ought to look in a mirror. Can she even compare to a city woman like that? I’d say it’s normal Nathan changed his mind. If it were me, I’d pick Doctor Aldridge too!”
The noisy comments drifted in through the cracks of the window, one after another, every line taking Josephine’s side, every line saying Audrey Flemming didn’t know how to appreciate a good thing.