My Days as a Village Spirit Medium

Pan Sanjin is a forty-two-year-old shipbuilder in Bajiao Village who has long struggled with infertility alongside his wife, Zhou Aihong. The couple lives a modest life defined by frugality and deep affection for one another, yet they remain childless, a source of quiet sorrow for Pan Sanjin. One sweltering summer afternoon, he suffers a terrifying nightmare in which a pitch-black sky shatters and a bright moon descends toward him. Disturbed, he visits Old Yu the Spirit Medium, a local fortune teller, offering a portion of chicken as payment. Old Yu interprets the dream as a prophecy of pregnancy, claiming the moon symbolizes a child coming to their family. Encouraged by this reading, Pan Sanjin and Zhou Aihong visit a health clinic, only to receive disappointing news that no pregnancy exists. Despite the medical reality, Pan Sanjin’s spirits are soon lifted when he receives a letter from his estranged sister, Zhou Aifeng.

The letter reveals that Zhou Aifeng wishes to give her daughter, Wu Lai Di, to the childless couple. Simultaneously, the narrative shifts to Wu Lai Di, a seven-year-old girl in Phoenix Island who has recently died by drowning. In 2020, an eighteen-year-old woman named Pan Yao falls into a river and is pulled into a supernatural whirlpool, causing her soul to regress into the body of the deceased Wu Lai Di in 1984. Pan Yao retains her adult consciousness but must coexist with the lingering soul of the original girl. She discovers that the Wu family, desperate for a son to comply with strict family planning policies, has locked Lai Di in a dark attic and plans to pass her off as dead before sending her away. Pan Yao witnesses the cruelty of her adoptive mother, Zhou Aifeng, who prioritizes having a male heir over her daughter’s well-being.

When Pan Sanjin and Zhou Aihong arrive at the Wu household, they are horrified to find the child locked in stifling conditions. Pan Sanjin, moved by pity and convinced by his earlier dream, negotiates to take the girl. He pays the Wu family twenty-eight point seven yuan and secures a legal severance document, effectively adopting the child. Pan Yao, now renamed Panpan by her new father, is taken to Bajiao Village. During the journey, she observes the stark differences between her previous life and this new era, noting the presence of trolleybuses and the simpler material conditions. Pan Sanjin and Zhou Aihong treat her with immediate warmth and generosity, offering her food and affection without hesitation. Pan Yao, initially guarded due to her traumatic experiences, begins to accept her new role as their daughter.

Upon settling into the Pan household, Pan Yao experiences a sense of belonging she never knew before. The couple’s love is evident in small gestures, such as sharing the sweetest parts of watermelon and allowing her to ride the trolleybus. However, Pan Yao’s supernatural connection to the spiritual world remains active. She notices that a damaged statue of an immortal riding a rooster at Old Yu’s temple emits a strange light, reminding her of a figurine she cherished in her past life. This connection suggests that her arrival was not merely a coincidence but part of a larger spiritual design. As she adapts to life in Bajiao Village, Pan Yao must navigate her dual identity as both an eighteen-year-old soul and a seven-year-old child, while the Pan family embraces their long-awaited daughter with unwavering devotion.

The story establishes a contrast between the neglectful Wu family, driven by patriarchal desires for a son, and the loving Pan family, who value Panpan solely for who she is. Pan Sanjin’s stinginess, previously portrayed as a comedic flaw, is revealed to be a trait reserved for the outside world, as he proves generous and protective toward his new daughter. Zhou Aihong’s initial skepticism about the pregnancy dream gives way to genuine maternal care. Meanwhile, Pan Yao begins to uncover the mysteries surrounding her transmigration, including the significance of the rooster immortal and the red-marked shadow she encountered in the river. The narrative sets the stage for Pan Yao’s growth in a supportive environment, while hinting at unresolved spiritual threads that may connect her past and present lives.