On the hillside, a gentle breeze brought a coolness to the scorching heat. Moon was leaning against a tree, dreaming again of that separation and death, the image burned deep into her mind, clear as day. The corners of her slightly closed eyes left two glistening tears.

In her dream, a raging inferno engulfed everything. The flames jolted Mingyue awake. She lifted her arm, wiping the two tears that escaped from her eyes. The wind whipped her hair, making it stand on end like straw. Below, wisps of smoke rose from the humble huts dotting the hillside.

When she came here, the moon was dreaming of her past life for the first time.

Originally, Mingyue was an orphan from Huaxia Country. She grew up in an orphanage and, through her own efforts, she followed Li Hao, her childhood sweetheart whom she had met at the orphanage, to become a military doctor for a special forces unit in Huaxia Country.

And Li Hao, was the captain of his special forces unit. Their profession, predetermined them to be always ready to sacrifice their lives for their military duty.

Once on a mission to the Warring States period, they encountered a terrorist attack and ultimately perished in Hu's bombing.

The bright moon still remembered how Li Hao, in order to protect her, shielded himself in front of her. In the end, he lay limply in her arms, struggling to say, "Forgive me, Ming Yue... I'm afraid... I'm going to... die with you... here..."

The last moment Li Hao closed his eyes, the single tear at the corner of his eye deeply pierced Ming Yue's heart.

Mingming was usually cold and distant to himself, but every time he encountered a crisis, Li Hao would always stand in front of him. That was the person Mingyue had been following all along.

It's a pity that I never had the courage to tell him while he was alive, that I had always loved him. And it's even more regretful that I never asked him if he felt the same way about me.

It has been a month since I came to this small village. Mingyue only knows that the country she is in is called Dayan, and the village she is in is called Waishan Village. It is said to be located near the border, and beyond the mountains lies the Xianbei country.

As for the others, the bright moon knew nothing, nor did it seek to know anything. It had no chance to inquire, because its current situation was overwhelming, leaving it too busy coping and even too stunned to marvel at its rebirth. It had simply begun facing this baffling new life.

A poverty-stricken home, filled with a large and complex family that was overwhelming for Mingyue. There was also her frail mother and younger brother, who were as thin and pale as herself, often bullied by their relatives. Thankfully, now, even Mingyue had found a place of refuge within this chaotic family.

As for her father, Mingyue learned in broken bits and pieces from her younger brother, who was three years old, that he had died a year ago. Her brother was too young to say how it happened, but Mingyue guessed, given the circumstances, that her father hadn't died from overwork, but from illness.

"Sister, sister, where are you? Mother wants you to come home."

Not far from the mountain, came a child's high-pitched and anxious voice. That voice, Ming had heard many times over this past month, was that of her three-year-old brother, Ming.

"Wait there, I'll be down in a moment."

Min Yue, after saying those words to the mountain below, let out a sigh and, with effort, hoisted the chopped firewood onto her shoulders. The load was heavy, putting extra strain on her already slender frame. She walked down the mountain with difficulty.

After walking for a while, Mingyue saw the little guy in front who kept waving at her. It was exactly Ming.

Seeing his elder sister carrying a load of firewood, Ming let out a sigh of relief. With a childish voice, he pretended to be old and said, "Sister, Mother said not to go deep into the mountains, there are wild beasts inside."

Mingyue glanced at the thin and somewhat pitiful little figure in front of her. She said nothing, just nodded forward, indicating that Ming should go ahead. The two walked down the mountain one after the other.

Mingyue realized that the firewood she was chopping wasn't up to par, but she couldn't sit still. She reported back to her sister about the situation at home, "Sister, I fought with mother again today. I pulled father out of the field and then stopped. Mother's arm is swollen from the beating."

The moon's eyes narrowed, a flash of anger passing through them. With a huff, she asked, "Why hit mother?"

"My nose was twitching, so I finally opened my mouth and said, "It was clearly Auntie who kicked over the pig trough, yet she blamed Mother, calling her a spendthrift. When Mother said she didn't do it, Auntie took a broom and chased after her, hitting her!" By the end, the little voice trembled with both sobs and heartache."

Under the bright moonlight, Mingyue took a deep breath and lifted her firewood-laden shoulder pole. Turning to her younger brother ahead of her, she said, "Hurry up."

As the moon shone brightly, he thought of his foster mother, alone at home with her wounds. His heart filled with worry and unease, so he quickened his pace.

"What kind of misfortune has my family brought upon themselves, attracting a jinx like you? You've driven almost all the pigs in this circle to their deaths! You useless good-for-nothing, sooner or later, your presence will ruin my entire family…"

Even from afar, before arriving at her destination, Yue Ming could hear the string of curses coming from the dilapidated courtyard ahead. This had been happening almost every day for a while now, and Yue Ming was growing tired of it.

Ming heard angry voices coming from the yard and instinctively stopped his steps, hiding behind the bright moon out of fear.

The bright moon remained silent, carrying the firewood into the house. There was nowhere else to go now; she could only choose to stay here. So she had to endure this incessant grumbling.

This dilapidated courtyard was home to the Ming family. There were two rooms on either side of the front yard, with Ming eldest and Ming third each occupying one side.

There is a main house, with two wing rooms on either side. In the middle is the front hall, and beyond it are two more rooms. Originally, the wing rooms on both sides were occupied by Ming Laosi in one room and Ming Laoye and Ming Laotai in another. The two rooms at the back were inhabited by Ming Jia Erfang, which is the family of Mingyue, in one room, and Mingjia's daughter in the other.

After his father, the eldest brother, passed away, his mother and her three children were driven out of the main house. The room they had lived in was taken over by the old fourth son's study, as decided by the grandmother.

The kitchen was a standalone shed in the backyard, next to a wooden shack. The house was narrow, with only a rickety table, two broken stools, a simple earthen kang (a heated bed platform), two worn-out quilts on it, and a dilapidated cabinet. This hut is now Mingyue's.