Summer, 1966.

Sijiu City. State-run restaurant.

"My ma has had a hard life, her whole life!"

"After we get married, you’ve got to serve my ma like she’s your own. Whatever it is, you think of my ma first!"

Serena Holloway had just fought the zombie king to a draw. Her head was pounding, foggy and heavy. Hadn’t she already died?

She pressed a hand to her aching temple and looked up at the man talking.

The man looked decent enough, neat features and all, but there was something soft and fussy in his brows and eyes. Even his eyebrows were trimmed so carefully they looked almost delicate.

At a glance, he looked a bit refined.

But the way he talked didn’t match that face at all.

A flicker of impatience crossed his eyes.

"Did you even hear a word I said?"

"So that’s what a rich family’s young lady is like. Plenty of airs, but not a bit of proper manners."

Serena Holloway swept her gaze around. On the clean whitewashed wall were five big characters:

Serve the People!

The little blackboard listed the dishes: braised pork, braised fish, stir-fried shredded potato with vinegar...

The smell of hot food hung in the air, real stir-fried food, cooked fresh in a wok, not that messy pre-made stuff.

Serena Holloway swallowed hard.

Her mind was still struggling to catch up.

This definitely was not the apocalypse.

The air was clean. There wasn’t a single zombie in sight.

Could it be...

Had she...

Come to some whole other place?

Reginald Sutton frowned.

What was wrong with this woman?

Didn’t the Holloway family ever feed her?

He looked like a starving ghost, didn’t he?

So what if his family had money? So what if she was some rich young lady?

Her life was still a complete mess.

Still, that worked in his favor. A girl like that would be easier to control later on.

Reginald Sutton softened his tone, faked a bit of concern in his eyes, and forced himself to reach a hand toward Serena Holloway despite the disgust crawling in his chest.

But Serena Holloway had clawed her way through the apocalypse for years. Nobody got close to her that easily. Her arm came up in a flash, and she slapped him hard across the left side of his face.

Smack!

The sound was so sharp the whole state-run restaurant heard it.

Reginald Sutton’s left cheek puffed up like a steamed bun. He clutched his face and stared at Serena Holloway, stunned clean through.

"Ptui!"

Serena Holloway spat right at him.

"The Qing dynasty’s been dead and buried for ages, and now you want to preach filial piety to me? Don’t try that nonsense on me!"

"You say your mother has had a hard life? Was that because some daughter-in-law dropped from the sky to torment her?"

"It’s because you and your father are useless, that’s why she’s worn herself out like that."

"When you get up in the morning, your mother’s the one rushing around cooking and washing clothes. Do you even see it?"

"You stuff yourself full, dump your bowl and chopsticks, and walk off. She’s the one cleaning up the dishes and tidying the house. Have you ever lifted a finger?"

"And now what? You want a wife, so suddenly you remember what filial piety means? And you’ve got the nerve to dump that burden on some poor girl’s head?"

"If you’re really capable, go hire your mother ten, eight servants and let her live easy. That would be real filial piety!"

"Bah! Have some shame!"

The whole state-run restaurant fell dead silent. In those days, words like that hit like a thunderclap.

Quite a few married women felt their hearts jolt when they heard that, their eyes lighting up on the spot.

Deep down, they were dying to cheer for Serena Holloway.

What Serena said was exactly what they themselves never dared to think too hard about, let alone say out loud.

Reginald Sutton clutched his swollen cheek. Half his face had puffed up, a couple of teeth felt loose, and when he spoke, air leaked through his mouth, making his words come out slurred. "You crazy woman. If you won't serve your parents-in-law, then get lost to the frontier and go find Ethan Mercer. Go eat sand with him!"

"Hiss— is my face going to rot or what? It hurts like hell!"

Ethan Mercer?

The frontier?

Serena Holloway went stiff all over. Wasn't this the very novel she had once flipped through during the apocalypse when she had nothing better to do?