Chapter 01

In 1980, at the Hongxing Electronics Factory residential compound.

It was still bitterly cold outside in early spring, but inside the tube-shaped apartment building, life was bustling with activity. Housewives who had risen early were preparing breakfast in the narrow corridor. The stoves burned bright red, hot oil sizzled loudly, and from time to time, thick steam rose from the pots, stinging the eyes.

Shu Yuan had woken up late. She lay on the crude wooden bed with her eyes wide open, staring at the dull, lifeless ceiling. At the tip of her nose was the mixed scent of various foods drifting in through the crack under the door. The unfamiliar sensations made her feel as if she had fallen into a nightmare.

Had she committed some grave sin to end up in a place like this?

Where was her two-hundred-square-meter luxury apartment in the city center?

Li Hongxia dropped a small handful of noodles into the pot. Next to her, Aunt Liu, who was also cooking at her doorstep, called out, “Shu Yuan’s going on a blind date today, right? She’s not young anymore. So what if she used to be the belle of the electronics factory? Young girls are popping up one after another, each one fresher than the last. What’s she still being picky for? She should just settle.”

Hearing that nosy tone, Li Hongxia turned her head to glance at the deep wrinkles etched into the other woman’s face from forcing a smile. She replied unhurriedly, “The country is promoting late marriage and late childbirth. Our family is responding to the national call.”

Mind your own business.

Aunt Liu curled her lip and was about to say more, but Li Hongxia had already covered the pot with its lid and turned back into her home.

The thirty-square-meter two-bedroom apartment had a layout typical of the time. As soon as one entered, there was a small square living room of about seven or eight square meters. Further inside were two bedrooms side by side. There was no kitchen or bathroom. The faint morning light filtering through the window illuminated the worn furnishings that had been in use for two or three decades, making them look all the more austere.

Li Hongxia shut the door tightly. After walking a few steps in, she called out to Shu Yuan, “The sun’s already shining on your backside and you’re still sleeping? You’re going on a blind date today. Don’t be late.”

Shu Yuan was still trying to figure out her situation. Countless fragments of information tangled together in her mind like a ball of yarn gone wild. She hadn’t yet found the end of the thread when Li Hongxia suddenly interrupted her. She quickly sat up, grabbed her blouse from the head of the bed and started putting it on while saying in a negotiating tone, “My head hurts a little. How about I skip the blind date today?”

Li Hongxia’s brow furrowed tightly. Shu Yuan had been back from the northeast for over a year, waiting for the electronics factory to recruit new workers. During that time, she had worked two months as a temp in the canteen but quit because she found it dirty and tiring, refusing to go back. Since then, she had been unemployed and idle at home.

As for blind dates, she had always flatly refused. Now she was already twenty-five, neither working nor getting married, just freeloading at home, which gave Li Hongxia constant headaches.

This time, arranging a blind date for her had taken a great deal of coaxing and pleading. Only after wearing out her tongue had Shu Yuan reluctantly agreed to give it a try.

With a loud swish, Li Hongxia yanked open the curtains. Her tone was firm. “You must go. The man’s conditions are good. He’s the same age as you and a formal worker at the machinery factory. If you marry him, you can become a family worker. If you do well, you can get a permanent position. Besides, he has only sisters, no brothers, so there’s no need to worry about sister-in-law drama.”

Shu Yuan was lowering her head, adjusting her pants. The cotton trousers had side openings and needed to be tied with a belt to stay up. She responded casually, “Older and younger sisters can be even harder to deal with.”

Li Hongxia’s face tightened. She picked up a feather duster and strode quickly to the bedside, raising it as if to strike. “You must go. Your widowed mother isn’t capable. Finding you a match like this is already no easy task. You have to seize the opportunity.”

Looking at the feather duster hovering above her head, Shu Yuan knew better than to suffer a loss in front of her. She quickly gave in. “I’ll go, I’ll go, alright? I’ll go.”

Li Hongxia walked over to the table, dusting as she moved, and switched to a tone of bitter disappointment. “You’d better give up that idea of being someone’s stepmother. And don’t let anyone else know you’re thinking that way. If word gets out through the factory gossips, you’ll bring shame on the family. Who would still be willing to introduce anyone to you?”

Shu Yuan rubbed her forehead, her mouth forming a round shape in disbelief. Be someone’s stepmother? Why on earth would she want to be a stepmother? Had she been kicked in the head by a donkey?

Hearing the sharp sizzling sound coming from the hallway, Shu Yuan quickly changed the subject. “Mom, is it boiling over?”

Li Hongxia put down the feather duster and rushed out. At last, Shu Yuan’s ears were at peace. Her gaze swept around the room. The first thing she saw was the calendar on the wall. It was March now, and the day after tomorrow would be the Spring Equinox. Then she spotted the round mirror on the table and quickly picked it up to examine her appearance.

The name and age matched. Her face, if not exactly the same, was at least ninety percent similar: delicate brows, a well-shaped nose, red lips, and moist, peach-blossom eyes. Thick, waist-length black hair hung loosely behind her head in a messy tangle.

She was certain she had transmigrated into a period novel, becoming a minor cannon-fodder character barely mentioned in the book.

Compared to the male lead’s coming-of-age story, the entanglement between the antagonist, Xiao Man, and his father was far more heartbreaking.

Xiao Man’s parents had met and fallen in love in the countryside. After an unexpected pregnancy, the mother gave birth and left Xiao Man to be fostered by a rural family. During that time, the couple parted ways. The mother became obsessed with a writer, and after returning to the city, married him and became a stepmother to his child.

At that point, she had completely abandoned Xiao Man and never looked back.

Three years later, the writer rose to fame. His ex-wife returned to the country, and he and his son immediately cast Xiao Man’s mother aside, running back to the ex-wife. Xiao Man’s mother died in grievance. Before her death, she finally told Xiao Man’s father that Xiao Man was his child.

Xiao Man was sold off, passed from household to household, even forced into a child husband arrangement. He became crippled, endured endless beatings and abuse, and his heart grew twisted and dark. He and his father fell into a tragic game of cat and mouse, with the father searching for most of his life without ever finding him.

Years later, both father and son had achieved great success. The father had become a renowned cardiac surgeon, a professor, and one of the youngest academicians of the Academy of Engineering, admired and respected by all.

The son became a writer, screenwriter, and director. A film he adapted based on his own life story became a massive box office hit, catapulting him to fame. However, the public soon realized that the father who had abandoned his child in the film was none other than the famous Dr. Chen. Overnight, Dr. Chen’s reputation was in tatters.

Shu Yuan was that mother of Xiao Man. Fortunately, she had died early. Otherwise, she too would have become one of the son’s targets of condemnation.

As she recalled the plot of the book, Shu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh.

But her train of thought was quickly interrupted. While she was brushing her hair, she could hear Li Hongxia muttering as she carried the overcooked noodles into the room, set them on the table, laid out bowls and chopsticks, and brought over the pickled vegetables. By the time Shu Yuan finished brushing her hair, everything was ready and it was time to eat.

Shu He came in carrying a bottle of soy sauce. As soon as she pushed the door open, Li Hongxia started complaining about how slowly she walked. She poured a little soy sauce into the basin and began scooping the rice.

“None of you three are easy to deal with. If I’d known it would be this exhausting, I wouldn’t have had a single one of you. Everything costs money. I make just over fifty yuan a month. I can’t afford to raise the two of you anymore.” As she spoke, Li Hongxia shot a direct glare at Shu Yuan.

Fortunately, she worked as the factory’s accountant. The electronics factory was doing well and provided a stable income.

Shu Yuan accepted the scolding with full awareness, lowering her voice and saying softly, “I won’t keep freeloading. I’ll go look for a job.”

After breakfast, Li Hongxia went to work, Shu He went to school, and Shu Yuan headed out to the matchmaker’s house for her blind date.

Seeing Shu Yuan casually throw on the same jacket she had worn over her sweater the day before, Li Hongxia quickly pulled out a wool coat from the wardrobe and carefully handed it to her to change into.

Shu Yuan obediently put on the black wool coat, which was both well-made and of fine quality. To avoid another round of nagging, she darted out the door. As soon as she stepped out of the tube-shaped building, the chill in the air hit her face, clearing her mind a bit more.

Heading north for three stops and turning into the second alley, this area was a densely packed neighborhood of single-story houses. One of them belonged to Aunt Xie.

Aunt Xie had excellent organizational skills. As soon as Shu Yuan stepped into the courtyard, she saw that Aunt Xie had arranged for several young men and women to meet on blind dates. The entrance to her home was particularly lively.

Shu Yuan felt reassured. It was always better with a crowd. She just wanted to blend into the background and had no desire to be the center of attention.

The other young men and women had all come alone, but Technician Zhang’s mother insisted on tagging along. As soon as she saw Shu Yuan, Aunt Xie eagerly grabbed her hand and introduced her, “This is Shu Yuan. Just look at how pretty she is. She’s never been in a relationship before, just came back from the countryside. It was the rural assignment that delayed her.”

Shu Yuan thought to herself, not to mention dating—she had even had a child.

Her gaze dropped to her own abdomen. Pregnant at nineteen, gave birth at twenty. Perhaps because she was still young, her figure hadn’t changed much.

The fact that she had given birth was kept under the tightest secrecy. Aside from her eldest sister Shu Ping and the midwife, no one else knew—not even Li Hongxia or Shu He.

The child’s biological father, Chen Zai, knew about the pregnancy but didn’t know the child was his.

The original host, having already given birth and still hiding the truth while going on blind dates, was merely trying to pressure the writer into marrying her by using this little trick. But Shu Yuan saw it as deception. Guilt gnawed at her, and she began thinking of how to back out of the blind date in a graceful way. Suddenly, the solar term “Spring Equinox” flashed across her mind, and her nerves instantly tensed.

It was on the Spring Equinox that Xiao Man was sold again—this time to human traffickers. During his escape attempt, he fell and injured his leg. With no medical treatment, the injury left him crippled. That moment marked the beginning of his descent into darkness.

His lifelong wish was to find his parents and ask why they had abandoned him—was it because he wasn’t good enough? But when he discovered that his mother had forsaken him to become someone else’s stepmother, the darkness within him deepened. Along with it came a growing hatred for his father.

More scenes from the novel unfolded in Shu Yuan’s mind, and the strings of her heart tightened inch by inch.

Spring Equinox—it was the day after tomorrow. Time was tight. Was there still enough time to rush to the northeast and find Xiao Man?

If Xiao Man was taken away by traffickers, the difficulty would multiply exponentially.

Shu Yuan’s fingernails dug into her palm. The situation was far more urgent than she had realized.

Next to her, Aunt Zhang voiced a doubt she had been holding in. “Her mother gave birth to three daughters in a row. What if she also can’t bear a son? Our family has had only one son per generation for three generations. Our daughter-in-law must give us a big, healthy boy.”

Aunt Xie, enduring her irritation for the sake of that matchmaker’s fee, tried to promote Shu Yuan patiently. “Didn’t her eldest sister have twins? A boy and a girl. If her sister can give birth like that, she can too.”

Aunt Zhang’s tense expression relaxed a bit. She said, “That’s exactly why I’m considering her. If not for her sister giving birth to twins, I wouldn’t be interested at all with her mother birthing three girls in a row. Our boy’s a technician, and there are plenty of girls who want to marry into our family.”

Bits and pieces of the conversation drifted into Shu Yuan’s ears, leaving her utterly speechless.

She forced herself to respond politely, “Auntie, what if it’s a girl?”

Aunt Zhang’s wrinkled face immediately tightened again. She had some unfounded confidence and felt entitled to put a prospective daughter-in-law in her place. “If it’s a girl, then keep having children until it’s a boy. If not, get divorced. Don’t hog the nest if you can’t lay eggs—find someone else who can give our family a son.”

Looking at the woman spewing such nonsense in front of her, Shu Yuan was at a complete loss for words. It made her think that staying single and childless was a wise way to ensure peace in life.

They were just looking for a reproductive tool, and the original host had come here with deceitful intentions too. Neither side had clean motives—so in a way, it was even. Shu Yuan didn’t want to get tangled up with them any further. She turned on her heel and walked straight toward the gate.

She figured her time would be far better spent figuring out how to find Xiao Man as quickly as possible.

Technician Zhang strode out after her, calling out, “Don’t go. We haven’t even had a proper conversation yet.”

Shu Yuan’s good looks had stirred feelings in him. The fact that she didn’t have a job wasn’t a major flaw—she could still barely qualify to marry into their family.

Shu Yuan had already reached the gate. Without stopping, she turned her head slightly and said coldly, “Your family is looking for a childbearing machine to continue the family line. I’m not interested. You’d better find someone else.”

Technician Zhang’s face flushed bright red. He stammered, “I—I just want a son. A lot of men think that way. What—what’s wrong with that?”

Shu Yuan jogged off, shaking him off completely. Back on the street, she took deep breaths of the crisp, cool air. She pushed the entire blind date episode out of her mind and focused all her thoughts on Xiao Man.

Right now, she was Xiao Man’s mother.

Since the original host had given birth to Xiao Man, she should have raised him. She should have brought him to live by her side.

If Xiao Man were to be taken by traffickers, he would end up crippled, suffer endless hardships, and begin a childhood steeped in darkness and misery. He would turn vengeful. But before that transformation, Xiao Man was like a drifting duckweed, lonely and rootless. He still held onto hope, still waited for his mother to come for him, still tried to find her.

Right now, he still had expectations for his mother. To him, the word “mother” was still filled with warmth and longing.

The thought of finding his mother was what helped him endure his time as a child husband.

However, Shu Yuan didn’t like children—especially the rowdy, troublemaking kind.

Before transmigrating into the book, she had still been in school, never even considered love or having children. Her family was well-off, and after graduation she would have worked in the family business. Suddenly having to accept the role of someone’s mother was too much for her.

Besides, this was the original host’s doing. Why should she be the one to fix it?

Shu Yuan’s steps slowed, and without realizing it, she began walking toward the electronics factory. Bicycles flowed along the street like a river, and all kinds of clanging bells, voices, and the whooshing wind poured into her ears.

In just a short span of time, she had made up her mind. She was going to the northeast to find Xiao Man and help him escape the clutches of the traffickers. The matter was urgent. She didn’t have time to dwell on it or get caught up in indecision.