Familiar Face

Luckily, Lu Heng had proved himself capable. He had taken on several films and television dramas with respectable box office results and ratings, and with Brother Sun, his manager, and the PR team helping him smooth things over, he had ultimately gained a foothold in the industry.

Unfortunately, less than two years after he joined Star Entertainment, Huaxia Imperial Entertainment, whose power had surged under Wei Linxuan's control, swallowed up Star Entertainment with Wei Group's backing. After all the twists and turns, Lu Heng's management contract returned to his old employer. But Brother Sun, persuaded by friends in the industry, switched to Yingdun instead. He ended up trusting the wrong people, losing not only his job but also falling into drug addiction. In the end...

Thinking of the landslide he had encountered on the way back from the funeral, Lu Heng cautiously raised his hands and touched his cheeks, then the back of his head. Turning around, he looked at the battered desk calendar sitting on the old, peeling table—

May 7, 2000

Sure enough, it was sixteen years ago, when Exchanging Lives had come to Lu Family Village to film the program.

Chapter Two: Familiar Face

What did it feel like to come back from the dead?

Even as the person involved, Lu Heng found it impossible to describe how he felt at that moment.

Urged on by his father, Lu Heng snapped out of it and silently got dressed before going out into the yard to fetch water and wash up. The dry, tight feeling after washing his face with soap and the strange taste of the cheap toothpaste were unfamiliar to him. Yet the crisp, cold air all around him made him suddenly feel invigorated.

It was the scent of reality—the scent of being alive.

His young body had smooth lines honed by years of running through the mountains and hunting. Compared to the stick-thin builds of his peers, Lu Heng's evenly proportioned, long limbs made him resemble a young wild cheetah raised free in the wilderness. The youthful features and healthy complexion reflected in the water made him click his tongue in amazement. Then someone gave his back two hard shoves, and Lu Zhenjun impatiently urged, "Once you're done washing up, hurry and help your mother clean up. What are you dawdling for?"

Lu Heng unconsciously curled his lips into a smile. He reached for the old towel hanging by the washbasin and wiped his face. The rough, stiff fibers finally gave him a faint sense of reality.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Heng casually splashed the dirty water from the basin outside the yard. He returned indoors and folded the bedding spread over the kang, placing it on the kang cabinet. The low earthen house was dimly lit, and the furniture was old and faded, with paint peeling from some of the corners. Yet the mistress of the house had wiped everything spotless. On the windowsill sat an empty glass jar half-filled with water, holding several little daisies picked from the back mountain. Their tender yellow petals added a bright touch to the room.

The neatly folded bedding was stacked on the kang cabinet. The newspapers pasted over the walls featured a photograph of the female singer Meng Rujun, while two pieces of calligraphy written by his grandfather hung on the wall in glass frames. Sitting on the edge of the kang, Lu Heng looked around. It felt as though the memories sealed away by time had been unlocked by the rewinding years, slowly surfacing one by one.

The feeling was incredibly novel.

It was not until Lu Zhenjun shouted impatiently from outside again that Lu Heng seemed to wake from a dream. He jumped off the kang and staggered out of the main room, still dizzy.

The family of four had already gathered beneath the old elm tree in the yard for breakfast. Lu Zhenjun, the head of the household, sat at the head of the table. Shen Yunjuan stood beside it, serving everyone food. Sixteen-year-old Lu Chi, the eldest son of the Lu family, came out of the house carrying a plate of salted shredded radish and another plate of salted duck eggs. Seven-year-old Lu Miao clutched the hem of Lu Heng's clothes and refused to let go.

Ever since she had heard that her brother was leaving her to go into the city, the little girl, who had always been close to Lu Heng, had cried and fussed without end. She had cried for days, and no amount of coaxing had worked. By now, she had cried herself hoarse, and her raspy voice was as pitiful as a kitten's. Lu Heng gathered his sister into his arms, stroked the little braid on her head, and gently coaxed, "Miao Miao, don't cry. When your brother comes back, I'll bring you something tasty."

Lu Heng's words made Lu Zhenjun a little uncomfortable. He emphasized in a muffled voice, "When you get to the city, don't casually accept things from other people. It isn't right."

Shen Yunjuan shot Lu Zhenjun a glare and complained, "Don't you know what our child is like? Stop nagging. We're eating!"

The Lu family had always had a rule against scolding children at the dinner table.

Lu Zhenjun rubbed his head and said nothing. After thinking for a while, he still muttered a few indistinct words. Shen Yunjuan ignored him and tapped the edge of her bowl with her chopsticks. Lu Zhenjun immediately fell silent, lowering his head and slurping his millet porridge.

Breakfast consisted of millet porridge and steamed corn-and-mung-bean-flour buns, golden yellow in color. Four oily salted duck eggs had been cut open and arranged on a plate. Each person also had a white boiled egg soaking in their bowl. The eggs had been laid by their own hens, which ate grain from the family stores. The yolks were bright red and unbelievably fragrant. With one stroke of the chopsticks, the egg was split in two. The white egg white and red yolk soaked in the golden millet porridge, still covered with a thin layer of mush, spreading into lovely colors.

Smiling, Lu Heng placed the egg from his bowl into his little sister Lu Miao's bowl. When she looked over in delighted surprise, he secretly winked at her.

Mother Lu frowned. "Why aren't you eating your egg?"

Lu Heng smiled. "I have to ride in a car later. I'm afraid I'll get carsick if I eat too much."

Mother Lu shook her head with an amused smile and pointed at him. "You spoil her too much."

Lu Heng smiled, then took half a duck egg. He poked at it with the tip of his chopsticks and dug out a piece of yolk no larger than the chopstick tip. The duck egg oil squeezed out and ran all over his hand. Lu Heng instinctively looked for a napkin, only for Father Lu to say, "What are you wiping for? Just lick it off."

Lu Heng paused slightly, then stuck out his tongue and licked his fingers. Perhaps because he had not done something like that in so long, he felt a little embarrassed.

Father Lu looked at Lu Heng's reddened ears and frowned. "Why is this kid acting so strange this morning?"

Lu Heng only smiled without saying anything. He lowered his head and drank three bowls of millet porridge, then ate a salted duck egg. It had been so long since he had eaten such pure, natural food from his hometown that his stomach felt a little full.

The great contributor to the household, the barred hen, wandered around the yard pecking for food. Seemingly sensing Lu Heng's gaze, the big hen clucked twice and strolled toward the table. It rubbed its glossy-feathered wing against Lu Heng's pant leg and shoe, proud and strutting as if it owned the place.