Chapter 1

Once upon a time, there was a mountain. Below the mountain flowed a river. Beside the river sat a village, and in the village lived an old widow who was telling stories to two young girls…

“Did you hear? The eldest daughter of the Liu family jumped into the river!”

“Who jumped into the river?”

“It’s Liu Yu!”

“Oh, that Liu Yu, the one who was fighting with Bai Xueling over Li Qinghua. Let her jump if she wants. It’d be better if she drowned—saves us the trouble of looking at her.”

“Tsk tsk, fighting her cousin over a man. With her chunky build, does she even look in the mirror?”

The returning educated youths, finished with work in the fields, wore schadenfreude-filled expressions as the gossip spread like wildfire throughout the village.

At the eastern edge of the village, in the Liu family home, the supposed protagonist of this drama, Liu Yu, opened her eyes. What greeted her was a makeshift straw-thatched roof, bare wooden beams, and dirt-brick walls with poorly sealed cracks that allowed streaks of sunlight to seep in.

She lay on a wooden bed, covered by a quilt with large floral patterns.

Where was she? Wasn’t she bungee jumping when the safety cord snapped, sending her headfirst into the ground like a blooming pear blossom? Hadn’t she died?

Liu Yu sat up, but what she saw made her nearly pass out.

Her legs. Her huge, thick legs. Heavens! Were these really her legs? These weren’t human legs; these were elephant trunks!

Terrified, Liu Yu trembled as she touched her face. It was soft, jiggly, and impossible to find the bone structure beneath. Worse yet, her hand came away greasy!

“Ahhh!”

Her scream pierced the room, startling an elderly woman with graying hair who burst in, dressed in patched-up homespun clothes. The woman threw herself onto Liu Yu, sobbing uncontrollably.

“My Yu’er! What were you thinking? Was jumping into the river over some man really worth it? You’re Mama’s treasure! If you really like that man, we’ll go propose marriage tomorrow!”

Behind the woman stood a boy of about fourteen or fifteen, who called out, “Sis,” the moment he saw her.

Liu Yu’s head began to throb as a flood of memories poured in.

Liu Yu had indeed died, but her soul had traveled through time.

She had been reborn in the 1970s.

This body’s original owner was also named Liu Yu, a seventeen-year-old village girl. Under normal circumstances, living in an era of widespread hunger where food was more precious than gold, her life should have been tough. But there were always exceptions!

Liu Yu’s father, Liu Jianjia, was the captain of the village production team.

Her mother, Nie Xiaocui, was a famously feisty woman in the village.

Her younger brother, Liu Ye, was an honest boy who always let her have her way.

Young Liu Yu had been a frail, delicate child prone to falls.

If there was anything good to eat, her parents made sure Liu Yu got it first.

Anything nice to wear? Liu Yu got it first.

Any rare treasure? It went to Liu Yu.

This indulgence allowed the original Liu Yu to live a carefree life for seventeen years, growing to a staggering 210 pounds—heavier than the village’s prized hogs—and reaching an impressive height of 1.7 meters.

With her towering frame and robust build, she stood more imposing than the young men in the village, earning her the nickname “Lady King Kong.”

Moreover, under her feisty mother’s influence and her father’s overindulgence, the original Liu Yu had developed an arrogant and domineering personality. She was, without question, the most disliked girl in the village—so despised that even the dogs avoided her.

No, correction: no one even considered her a girl.

She was too fat, too tall, and, frankly, too unpleasant. While being fair, chubby, and sweet was often a compliment—especially in this era of scarcity—Liu Yu was in a league of her own: dark, plump, and bulky. Oh, and dim-witted.

The original Liu Yu had fallen for someone.

In the words of the gossiping villagers, she was like a fat toad trying to eat swan meat. But instead of savoring the swan, she ended up with a mouthful of feathers.