Chapter 3

“You, you…” Li Chunhua was so angry her face turned pale. “This is food! Wasting food will bring divine retribution upon you.”

Jiang Ci gritted her teeth. “If there’s divine retribution, it should strike down bloodsuckers like you first. Spending my money, eating till you’re all fat and well-fed, and still criticizing me here.”

Li Chunhua slapped her thigh. “Get out of my house!”

Jiang Ci said, “Dream on. You take advantage of me and expect me to leave? Spit out everything you’ve eaten and drunk first.”

Zhou Aimei, seeing the mother and daughter arguing, slipped away quietly after exchanging a look with Li Xiaoling. Zhou Yaozu, on the other hand, came back holding a pig’s trotter. “Mom, rinse it off and it’s still edible.”

Li Chunhua said, “It’s all dirty now, just throw it away quickly.”

Jiang Ci snatched the pig trotter from Zhou Yaozu and threw it out again. “I wouldn’t even feed this to a dog.”

Zhou Yaozu was so angry he burst into tears. “My pig’s trotter! My pig’s trotter!” He rushed over to fight Jiang Ci.

Jiang Ci picked up a feather duster and started beating him. “Since your parents don’t discipline you, I will.”

The room was instantly filled with Zhou Yaozu’s wailing. Li Chunhua, seeing her son being beaten, rushed to join the fight—but how could she be a match for Jiang Ci, who was skilled in every area and had even trained in Taekwondo? Jiang Ci twisted Li Chunhua’s arm behind her back, hit her twice with the feather duster, and kicked her to the ground.

Jiang Fei also wanted to rush in, but Jiang Ci pointed at her and said, “Come closer if you want your face ruined.”

Jiang Fei, now afraid after seeing what happened, didn’t dare approach and instead went to check on Li Chunhua lying on the ground.

Jiang Ci gave a cold snort, tossed the feather duster aside, and turned back to her room. She didn’t want to stay in this hellhole another second. She found a bundle and started packing her clothes. She also cleaned out the Jiang family’s drawer of all their coins and ration tickets, taking every bit of oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar from the kitchen. Whatever she couldn’t carry, she stored in her personal space.

In no time, Jiang Ci had almost completely cleared out the Jiang household.

Carrying her child, she threw out a warning as she left, “We’ll settle this account slowly!”

Bang! The door slammed shut.

After she left, Jiang Fei finally dared to check the inside room. What she saw shocked her—everything was a mess, and even the wardrobe and bed were gone. “Mom, mom, all our furniture is gone!”

Li Chunhua frowned and said, “What nonsense are you talking about? Help me up.”

“It’s true. The bed I sleep on is gone.” Jiang Fei helped her up and looked into the inner room.

The bed and wardrobe were indeed missing. Despite the pain in her arm, she rushed to the corridor to check the kitchen. Not only were the oil, salt, and condiments gone, even the coal stove had disappeared. But Jiang Ci had left with just a single bundle?

It was all gone—everything. Li Chunhua was so shocked she fainted on the spot.

In the original novel, the original heroine’s husband had been injured and sent to work as a military representative at a steel factory in the Third Front. Once he recovered, he returned to civilian life, and his family was housed in the factory’s family compound.

Jiang Ci, relying on the original owner’s memories, took a bus home. When she opened the door, a musty smell of dust hit her—the house hadn’t been lived in for a long time and was covered in a thick layer of dust. It was a two-bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, and bathroom—fully furnished and laid out like a modern apartment. It was far better than the communal building the Jiang family lived in.

She opened the windows to air it out, laid a clean sheet on the bed, and placed the baby down.

Then she began to clean the house thoroughly with hot water.

The original author had been quite lazy, as the original heroine’s husband was only briefly mentioned at the end, not even given a name—just referred to as Comrade Gu. There was no description of his appearance at all.

If he turned out to be ugly, Jiang Ci would definitely divorce him. After all, she was a face-con.

After thoroughly cleaning the house, she found no photo of the couple together. Luckily, she found their marriage certificate. Although there was no photo, it confirmed her husband’s name—Gu Jinghuai.

Then she checked the cabinet she brought from her space: 6 yuan, 2 jiao, and 3 fen; ten jin of grain coupons; three jin of meat coupons; and several envelopes. The letters were from Gu Jinghuai, but the envelopes were empty. Apart from clothes, there was nothing else in the cabinet.

Gu Jinghuai sent money at the end of each month, and since it was the beginning of the month, the current supplies were just enough to last Jiang Ci until then.

But was that really all the money the Jiang family had? That didn’t make sense. Except for Jiang Yaozu, everyone earned a salary, and they had been living off the original owner—there should’ve been a lot saved up. One day, she would definitely go back and search their place thoroughly.

It was now 1974, a time of material shortages and cultural tension. The planned economy meant you needed coupons for everything, and food and clothing were limited. College entrance exams were suspended. Even though she was being supported for now, Jiang Ci didn’t plan to just sit around and wait. She had been a medical Ph.D. in the modern world—she would shine no matter the era.

Now that she’d fallen out with the Jiang family, they’d definitely cause trouble. And she had a three-month-old baby, so it wasn’t easy to do anything. She needed to write letters to Gu Jinghuai and the original owner’s parents.

There was ink and brushes at home but no envelopes or stamps. Plus, she was hungry. Writing letters could wait.

She rummaged through the kitchen supplies she’d taken from the Jiang family: there was rice, flour, oil, a bunch of vegetables, twenty eggs, and two jin of meat.

Cooking for herself, she kept it simple—just made rice and stir-fried chives with eggs.

After the meal, she felt much better.

She went to check on her daughter—what a quiet and well-behaved baby. She was lying exactly as she had been left.

Jiang Ci played with her for a while, then, feeling sweaty, decided to take a bath. Before that, she scattered some nails by the door for safety. Then she closed the doors and windows, pulled the curtains, and finally went to bathe.

Steam filled the room. Jiang Ci’s porcelain-like skin looked soft and pink. But the two large mounds on her chest had really grown beyond her expectations—probably an E cup by now. And without proper bras in this era, they just hung there, swaying and hurting with every big movement.

She’d heard about overseas Chinese stores that sold imported fashion goods. Maybe she could check if they sold bras.

As she was thinking about this, a loud knock came from the door.

“Jiang Ci, get out here! Come out!” It was a man’s voice.

Clearly, Li Chunhua had complained to Jiang Weimin, and they were here to cause trouble. But Jiang Ci was in the middle of her bath and had no intention of opening the door.

The knocking grew louder and more urgent—then suddenly, a man screamed.

“Ah! Who the hell scattered nails at the door? You people are shameless!”

Inside, Jiang Ci listened and thought, Serves you right.

But clearly, that group wasn’t going to leave easily. Jiang Ci dried off, changed into clean clothes, and decided it was time to deal with this Jiang Weimin herself.