Chapter 1: Nightmare

Chapter 1: Nightmare

June, 1968, An City.

In the hospital ward, a delicately featured girl, Nuan'nuan, struggled to open her eyes. Upon closer inspection, one could see that she looked sickly.

"Ugh~"

"Nuan'nuan, Nuan'nuan, my Nuan'nuan! You're finally awake!" The woman rushed over, her voice filled with excitement.

"Ma~" Nuan'nuan called out, her voice like a kitten's meow, so weak it was almost inaudible.

"Ma's here, don't be afraid! Ma's here." The woman carefully propped Nuan'nuan's head up a little higher.

……

Half an hour had passed since Lin Qing woke up, lying in the hospital ward, staring at the ceiling in a daze, recalling what had happened before.

She remembered having a fever. This illness was worse than any before, feeling like she was going to die. Fortunately, after two days of lying down, she pulled through.

She was still in a daze, unable to believe that what she had dreamed before was actually real.

It all started a week ago when her mother wanted to introduce her to a potential suitor.

The day before, Lin Qing had a terrifying dream. In the dream, she lived in a book. She saw her mother introduce her to a man, a widower with two children, a fourth-level fitter at a machinery factory.

She didn’t find this strange; her health had never been good, and someone with children seemed suitable for her condition.

What was truly horrifying was that her niece, born the same year as her, wanted to compete with her for this man. And, most crucially, she succeeded.

Moreover, she saw this niece deliberately show off the man in front of her to make her, the sickly aunt, face reality and not compete for him. In the end, "she" was successfully angered to death.

This dream had successfully scared her awake. Lin Qing figured the nightmare was due to her mother's recent talk about setting her up with someone. Yes, it must be so; everything in the dream was fake.

After muttering to herself for a while, she drifted back to sleep.

The next day at lunch, Lin Qing heard her mom mention the matter of introducing her to a potential suitor again.

Lin Qing: This is all just a coincidence, right? It must be.

At this point, she still hadn’t connected it to the nightmare from yesterday.

However, after her mother finished introducing the man's situation, suddenly, her niece, who was the same age as her, slammed her hands on the table and stood up.

Lin Qing was startled, a shiver running down her spine, her face turning paler little by little.

Lin Qing's mother immediately turned cold. "Lin Shu, what's the meaning of you slamming the table?"

Lin Qing felt an inexplicable sense of dread, watching Lin Shu, wanting to hear what she had to say.

Under the gaze of everyone at the table, Lin Shu said angrily, "Grandma, I disagree."

Lin Qing's mother sneered. "You disagree? What does it have to do with you? I'm introducing a partner for your aunt, what does it have to do with you?"

"How does it not concern me? The Jiang Yang you mentioned, I like him too. Why are you introducing him to my aunt?"

Her mother, Zhang Mei, pulled Lin Shu. "What nonsense are you saying? It's your grandma introducing him to your aunt, not to you."

"Hmph, what are the two of you talking about?"

"Mother-in-law! Our Lin Shu is the same age as her sister-in-law. Don’t just focus on finding a great match for her and forget about our Lin Shu!" Zhang Mei was quite fond of the conditions of the man that Lin Qing had mentioned.

However, the only downside of this man was that he was a widower with two children, so she hoped her mother-in-law could introduce someone with similar conditions, but unmarried, for her Lin Shu.

"I don't want anyone else; I only want Jiang Yang." Lin Shu thought her mother was going to introduce someone else, and she didn’t want that. She stared directly at Lin Qing and demanded, "Aunt, can't you find another man? Why do you have to take my man?"

Lin Qing was startled by her accusation.

"Lin Qing started coughing uncontrollably."

"Nuan'nuan, Nuan'nuan," Lin’s mother was also startled by this sudden incident and quickly went to pat her back, while Lin’s father quickly fetched a glass of water.

Both Lin Shu and her mother were frightened by this sudden change. If something happened to their aunt, it wouldn’t be good.

Lin Qing finally managed to suppress her cough, and only then did Lin’s father and Lin’s mother feel relieved.

Finally, there was time to address the culprit. "Lin Shu, do you think you're trying to fly to the sky? Huh?"

Lin Shu's lips trembled slightly. She looked at her frail aunt, who appeared very delicate and weak. Every time something went wrong with her aunt, all the good things at home were given to her. Why? Why was it so unfair?

Gritting her teeth, she said, "Am I wrong? Why is my aunt taking my man? Is it just because she’s sick?"

Her words directly hit a sore spot for Lin’s father and Lin’s mother. When Lin’s mother was pregnant with Lin Qing, she didn’t even know she was pregnant at first. Since her daughter-in-law was also pregnant, she focused on taking care of her daughter-in-law and ended up exhausting herself. It wasn’t until she went to the hospital for a check-up that she realized she was pregnant too.

At that time, they had considered aborting the child, but since the baby was already quite developed, they couldn’t bear to terminate the pregnancy. Unfortunately, due to the earlier exhaustion, Lin’s mother had to stay in bed for the remainder of her pregnancy. Even so, the baby didn’t stay in her womb for the full term and was born prematurely at seven months, even earlier than her daughter-in-law’s child. This filled them with endless guilt.

So, Lin Shu's accusation directly hit Lin’s father and Lin’s mother's sore spot. Why was their precious Nuan'nuan so frail? It was because of taking care of her daughter-in-law and because of being pregnant with this granddaughter.

How dare this mother and daughter question their favoritism?

Ha! How ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!

Seeing her parents’ already graying hair, Lin Qing couldn’t bear to see them embroiled in these family disputes and spoke up. "Lin Shu, are you sure you really like him?"

"If I like him, will you let me have him?" Lin Shu looked at Lin Qing, demanding an answer.

Lin’s mother was about to speak, but Lin Qing pulled her back. "Are you sure you really want him?"

"I'm sure, Aunt. I really like him, please let me have him!" Lin Shu, sensing that things might work out, became excited and said immediately.

"Alright, if you want him, you can have him. Just don't regret it in the future, okay!" Lin Qing said with a smile.

"I definitely won't regret it, thank you, Aunt!" Lin Shu sat down, satisfied.

However, while Lin Shu was satisfied, her mother Zhang Mei was not. Jiang Yang's conditions were indeed good, but his being a widower with children made him more suitable for her sister-in-law. Zhang Mei wanted her mother-in-law to introduce someone equally good but unmarried for her daughter.

Lin’s mother looked at her determined daughter and then at her granddaughter, who had stopped making a scene. She finally sighed helplessly.