This was the first time Yan Xiaoyu had ever entered He Qiuhua’s room. He sat on a worn little wooden stool, surveying his surroundings.

The Yan household comprised nine rooms: five newly built brick-and-tile structures from the year before last, and four thatched huts. The eldest son’s family occupied the brick-and-tile quarters—all except the married-out Yan Yongfang—and had acquired numerous new furnishings. The original family lived entirely in the thatched huts; the three rooms combined barely held a handful of decent pieces of furniture.

Yan Xiaoyu’s room lay behind the kitchen, crammed with the Yan family’s odds and ends. His bed was a makeshift contraption cobbled together from a bench and wooden planks, utterly crude. He Qiuhua and Yan Xingmao’s quarters were slightly larger than Yan Xiaoyu’s, but hardly much better. They looked well-worn, the thatch on the roof patchy and mottled, a mix of old and new.

Despite this stark disparity in living conditions, Yan Xingmao and his wife voiced no complaints whatsoever. They willingly toiled as oxen and horses for the eldest branch of the family, a situation that baffled Yan Xiaoyu beyond comprehension.

As Yan Xiaoyu surveyed the room, He Qiuhua studied him intently. After a long moment, she cautiously spoke up.

“Xiaoyu, are you… still holding a grudge against Xiaobao?”

Yan Xiaoyu huffed indignantly. “Why shouldn’t I be angry?”

Mentioning it only made him more furious.

Yan Xiaobao knew full well that the original body feared water, yet he deliberately frightened him. After the original body fell in, Xiaobao showed no remorse whatsoever. Instead, he gloated as he watched the original body struggle in the water. Later, when brought over by his parents to apologize, he wore an expression of utter indifference.

When Yan Xiaoyu had arrived in this body, he too had been in the water. He empathized deeply with the original body’s terror and despair. If not for He Qiuhua and Yan Xiaoyue stopping him that day, he would have given Yan Xiaobao a proper lesson.

Now, He Qiuhua glanced at Yan Xiaoyu’s expression and whispered, “Xiao… Xiaobao’s temper is… a bit rotten. He’ll… he’ll improve as he gets older.”

“Improve? Improve nothing! He’ll never change!” Yan Xiaoyu’s eyebrows shot up, and he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

As the saying goes, ‘Three years old shows the child, seven years old shows the adult.’ Yan Xiaobao was already twelve and still behaved like this—he was doomed for life! The original siblings had endured years of bullying, yet He Qiuhua and Yan Xingmao naively believed Yan Xiaobao was merely young and ignorant. Yan Xiaoyu truly pitied their misfortune and resented their lack of resolve.

In the original body’s memories, villagers were deeply superstitious about ghosts and spirits. Yan Xiaobao was the Yan family’s precious treasure. If they truly believed Yan Xiaoyu was possessed by a spirit, how could the Yans possibly let their beloved child risk his life by confronting a ghost? Today’s events were driven by Yan Xiaobao’s desire for revenge. As for Yan Xingsheng and his wife, their motives weren’t hard to guess—likely seeing their “little slave” disobeying them, they simply wanted to crush his spirit.

“You’ll see. They won’t rest!”

His voice grew louder, startling He Qiuhua and deepening her unease.

Clutching the hem of her skirt, she stammered hesitantly, “Xiao… Xiaoyu, these past few days, you… You’ve been like a different person. And… and you keep jumping into the river?”

The inevitable had finally arrived.

Nothing Yan Xiaoyu had done these past days resembled the actions of his original self. He knew He Qiuhua would notice something was amiss and had been waiting for her to ask. A few days ago, he had still considered keeping it hidden. But today’s incident with the Yan Xingsheng family had given him a different idea.

His original family had been spineless for decades. Expecting them to suddenly become assertive and demand a division of property was unrealistic. He needed to use some strong medicine.

Yan Xiaoyu remained silent, and He Qiuhua visibly panicked: “Is… is it because of that day? That day when you were startled? When you were young, you also fell into the water once, and your temperament changed drastically. This must be the same, right?”

Her eyes locked on Yan Xiaoyu without blinking. Seeing the redness in He Qiuhua’s eyes, filled not only with anxiety but also palpable hope, he knew she couldn’t accept the original owner’s absence anytime soon.

The sense of injustice he felt for the original owner faded slightly—however pitiful the original owner might have been, at least his mother genuinely cared for him.

“No, it’s different now.” Yan Xiaoyu’s tone softened considerably, yet his words were not what the people in the room wished to hear.

He Qiuhua’s face drained of color. Her body swayed slightly, and she nearly toppled from her chair.

Yan Xiaoyue, who had remained silent until now, could no longer stay seated. Supporting He Qiuhua, she urgently pressed, “How is it different? Xiaoyu, you were just like this—fearless and bold—before you turned five. It was only after falling into the water and being frightened that you became quiet. Now, after falling in again, your temperament has returned to how it was before age five. It’s the same! You are Xiaoyu!”

It had been over three days since Yan Xiaoyu had arrived in this body, and this was the first time he’d heard Yan Xiaoyue speak so much. He’d originally planned to scare the wits out of this body’s family, who seemed incapable of resistance, but now he felt a twinge of reluctance.

“The original Yan Xiaoyu is dead. I’m reborn. That’s why I’m different.”

The first part of the sentence made He Qiuhua weep like rain, but the last two left her utterly bewildered: “Re… reborn? What does that mean?”

“Reborn means dying once and then coming back to life.”

He Qiuhua and Yan Xiaoyue looked even more confused: “How can someone come back to life after dying? Is the one who came back our Xiaoyu?”

Yan Xiaoyu glanced at them and began recounting the story she had carefully crafted.

“After falling into the water that day, my soul left my body. A ghostly official in white robes took me to the underworld, and I nearly never returned. Fortunately, my luck held out. Down there, I met Grandma. She had accumulated virtue and done good deeds in life, and after death, she secured a position in the underworld. She said my time hadn’t come yet, that I shouldn’t have died then. She even pleaded my case before King Yama…”

Though Grandma Yan and Old Master Yan were husband and wife, their natures were worlds apart. Not only did Grandma Yan show no favoritism toward the eldest branch, but she actually felt quite fond of the two children from the second branch. If ghosts truly existed, it made perfect sense that she would have saved Yan Xiaoyu’s life.

Yan Xiaoyu spun his tale with such vivid detail that He Qiuhua and her daughter were utterly dumbfounded. His narrative flowed ever more smoothly until he concluded with solemn conviction: “Ah, Grandma secretly peeked at our fates in the Book of Life and Death. Though I narrowly escaped death this time, my days are numbered. According to what’s written above, I caught a chill after falling into the water. Before I could fully recover, my uncle and the others forced me to work, which left me with an illness. I’ll die of it at eighteen. It’s not just me—my elder sister’s fate is equally grim. She’ll overwork herself during this summer harvest, fall gravely ill, and then be married off by my uncle to a gambling addict in town. There, she’ll not only have to serve his family but also endure beatings, too, ultimately dying in bitter resentment! Father’s fate is even worse. After my sister and I died, he broke his other leg. You two were kicked out by my uncle and forced to beg on the streets, only to be bullied by other beggars…”

Yan Xiaoyu delivered this speech with conviction, meticulously mapping out the deaths of all four family members, each fate more wretched than the last.

After listening, Yan Xiaoyue stared blankly, lost in thought. Hearing this horrifying prophecy for her family, He Qiuhua’s tears, which she had barely managed to hold back, burst forth once more. “My… my poor, unfortunate children!”

After her outpouring, she looked at her son pitifully: “Your grandmother… she’s become an official down there. Could she possibly save us?”

Yan Xiaoyu replied with righteous indignation: “We should find our own way to save ourselves. How can we rely on Grandma for everything?”

“Well… that’s true.”

Recalling his actions from two days prior, Yan Xiaoyu had a sudden thought and added, “I jumped into the river two days ago precisely to discuss this with Grandma. Unfortunately, since I’ve been reborn, the living cannot enter the underworld, so I couldn’t accomplish it. However, Grandma told me what was written in the Book of Life and Death before I returned. That can be considered her showing us a clear path.”

He Qiuhua gripped his hand in excitement. “Wh-what path? Xiaoyu, you-you figured out a way?”

“Yes.” Yan Xiaoyu nodded earnestly. “The solution I came up with is—to split the family!”

He Qiuhua stared in disbelief. Yan Xiaoyu pried her hands apart, locked eyes with her, and poured in the truth.

“Once we split the household, Uncle and the others won’t be able to dump all the chores on us. That way, I won’t develop chronic health issues, Sister won’t work herself sick, and she won’t be forced to marry a gambler. Neither of us will die. With both of us helping to share the workload, Father won’t break his leg. You won’t be kicked out and reduced to begging on the streets… Only this way can our family change our fate!”

Yan Xiaoyu urged He Qiuhua to divide the household with all her might, but the woman still hesitated: “Your grandfather is still alive. How… how can we divide the household? If we do, without your eldest uncle’s support, your father’s livelihood might be lost. What then? What will we eat? What will we drink? Most of the family fields were acquired by your eldest uncle—they won’t be divided among us. And what about you and your elder sister? Once you marry, without a maternal uncle to protect you, you’ll surely be mistreated. Your cousin is Xiucai… with him around…”

Her words came out halting and incoherent, but her stance against division was clear. Yan Xiaoyu had anticipated this and finally understood the root of her concerns.

He Qiuhua endured her lot in the Yan household for two reasons: first, half the family’s fields had been acquired by Yan Xingsheng, and her husband’s livelihood depended on his assistance—she felt indebted to the eldest branch;

Second, she feared that when she and her husband grew old and useless, her children—Yan Xiaoyue, and her brother—would have no maternal family to support them and would be bullied by their in-laws. She counted on Yan Yonghe as a pillar of support to stand up for them.

Once the root cause was clear, the problem became easier to solve. Yan Xiaoyu countered each point in turn.

“It’s true that those fields were acquired by our eldest uncle, but he only acquired them. All these years, he hasn’t lifted a finger. Don’t you think we deserve credit for managing his fields? How much silver would he have spent hiring laborers? That silver would have been enough to feed us, wouldn’t it? And if it weren’t for you and Father taking on all the household chores, would he have had time to work outside, earning silver to buy those fields? So we don’t owe him anything.”

“As for my sister and me, don’t even entertain that hope. All these years, Yan Xiaobao has bullied us every other day, and Yan Yonghe hasn’t been blind—when has he ever stood up for us? Besides, with Uncle planning to marry my sister off to that gambling addict’s family, how could they possibly look out for us?”

“As for life after the family split, Mother, you needn’t worry. One day in the mortal world equals a year in the underworld. After I fell into the water and was unconscious for half a day, I spent half a year in the underworld. During those six months, Grandma had duties to attend to and couldn’t stay with me. So she found several chefs awaiting reincarnation to teach me cooking. Those chefs, having received Grandma’s bounty, taught me with great dedication. Now I have a skill to rely on. Even if our family doesn’t get much land, as long as we work diligently, we’ll surely be able to support ourselves!”

Learning culinary skills from ghosts below? He Qiuhua felt something was off about this story, but Yan Xiaoyu spoke so cryptically that her words left her dizzy. Though she hadn’t made up her mind immediately, she was indeed swayed.

“You… you must let me think it over. I also need to discuss it with your father.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Yan Xiaoyue, who had remained silent, piped up with a timid expression: “Isn’t it ‘one day in heaven equals a year on earth’? Isn’t time different in the Underworld and the Celestial Palace?”

“Ahem…” Yan Xiaoyu’s expression stiffened. She finally cleared her throat and declared with righteous conviction, “Heaven and the underworld are worlds apart, so of course time flows differently. Following the natural order from top to bottom, time moves slowest in heaven and fastest in the underworld.”

Yan Xiaoyue pondered, “Then how can you prove what you say is true?”

“That’s simple.” Yan Xiaoyu smiled confidently. “If what I say is true, then these next two days, my uncle and the others will find ways to force me to work, forcing you and Mother to take on all the summer harvest chores. You’ll see for yourselves.”