Chapter 1: 1970s: Reborn as the Doomed Burdened Child (1)

Autumn, 1970

Liuhe County

Liuhe Dam

A light rain fell from the sky as people hurried along the road, rushing home.

When Jiang Qingqing opened her eyes, the icy river water was already flooding over her head. A choking sensation surged toward her.

What made it worse was the hand tightly wrapped around her waist — not the least bit decent — tugging at her clothes in a disorderly manner.

A man’s voice laughed smugly:

“Hahaha! Lucky me, I picked up a wife for free!”

Liu Ergou’s right hand held her tightly at the waist, his foul mouth moving closer.

He had once heard from a buddy that when you come across someone drowning, the first thing you should do is kiss them — “stamp your claim” — ruin their reputation first. That way, you’ll get your money’s worth.

With a forceful stroke, Liu Ergou swam a bit toward shore, dragging the dazed Jiang Qingqing with him.

He had already kissed her, groped her, and even torn her clothes open. As long as he got her to land, there was no way this “wife” would get away.

Feeling the smoothness of her bare skin, Liu Ergou was consumed with lust, impatient to take her straight to the bridal chamber.

Jiang Qingqing coughed a few times, opened her eyes, and looked at the ugly thing in front of her with a slightly cold expression. Holding her breath, she grabbed Liu Ergou’s wrist with her right hand and pulled hard.

With a cracking sound, Liu Ergou screamed miserably as Jiang Qingqing dragged him down under the river.

After several struggles, the water choking Liu Ergou’s lungs caused him to thrash continuously underwater.

“Comrade… I’m the one who saved your life, how can you treat me like this?”

Under the moonlight, Jiang Qingqing’s face darkened as she stared at the man before her, her gaze sharp as a knife.

“Who are you?”

“Let go… let go… it hurts, it hurts… My name is Liu Ergou. I saw someone fall into the river just now, so I jumped in to save you.”

Jiang Qingqing didn’t believe him at all. She slightly tightened her grip with her right hand, choking Liu Ergou’s neck and pushing him down again.

After just a few seconds, Liu Ergou swallowed a few more mouthfuls of river water.

“Save… me… cough… save me…”

Jiang Qingqing floated on the water’s surface, her eyes cold and indifferent.

With force, she pushed Liu Ergou’s head under the water, then pulled him up again.

“Tell me, who sent you?”

Liu Ergou was terrified and confused. This woman had seemed lifeless just moments ago, and now suddenly so fierce—could she be possessed by a water ghost?

“A ghost… there’s a ghost…”

A cold smile appeared on Jiang Qingqing’s face. In what era would a toad like this dare to take advantage of her? Even if she hadn’t found a suitable match, she wouldn’t lower her standards to match with such trash.

The angrier Jiang Qingqing got, the harder she pushed him underwater, repeatedly pulling him up and pushing him down.

It didn’t take long before Liu Ergou was completely exhausted from the struggle.

“I’ll ask you one more time—who sent you?”

Liu Ergou’s eyes were filled with fear. “It was Zhang Xiaofang who told me someone was trying to take their life by the river. I really was trying to help…”

Looking at Jiang Qingqing’s grim face, Liu Ergou shivered. Whether it was the river water or something else, he felt cold to the bone.

“I swear… Zhang Xiaofang told me to come try my luck by the river. I just wanted to find a wife…”

Jiang Qingqing curled her lips into a cold smile and loosened her grip. “Zhang Xiaofang… I’ll remember that.”

A strong undercurrent surged beneath the surface and swept Liu Ergou away.

Liu Ergou screamed, “Ah—help me—!”

Jiang Qingqing floated calmly in the water, watching as the man before her sank beneath the surface, dragged away by the river’s current.

Only then did she turn and start swimming toward the shore with all her strength.

Just at this moment, someone on the far side of the riverbank jumped in and swam quickly toward her, grabbing her hand and pulling her forward through the water.

Jiang Qingqing’s whole body tensed up, feeling a bit guilty. Had this person just now seen what happened?

The original owner of this body had poor physical condition, and now that she was nervous, her right leg cramped up. Her strength gave out, and a swirling current dragged her far away.

The man holding her hand was also pulled into the river.

Jiang Qingqing’s vision went dark—and she lost consciousness.

Liao Zhengguo was wearing a military-green public security uniform and riding his bicycle home from work. When he looked toward the river from the road, he saw someone in the middle of the river.

In a hurry, he threw down his bicycle and jumped into the water to save the person.

The current was too strong. When he got into the river, he realized it was a woman.

Seeing that she could swim, he thought it would be easy to get her ashore.

But unexpectedly, she fainted.

Panicked, Liao Zhengguo grabbed her tightly.

Suspecting that Jiang Qingqing was trying to kill herself, another strong current rushed over, and he couldn’t care about anything else — he just had to save this woman and bring her ashore first.

He swallowed the questions he originally wanted to ask.

“Comrade, wake up?”

—

Liao Zhengguo looked at the unresponsive woman, holding her waist with one hand and pressing her forehead with the other. Closing his eyes, he was about to give her a breath.

—

After just a few minutes, the smart brain had already accessed the original owner’s memories.

Unconscious.

Smart AI assistant Xiaodu contacted Jiang Qingqing:

“Master, this is the 1970s, 3,000 years ago. The original owner, Jiang Qingqing, shares your name and is about to turn 18 in two days.

This time, after an argument with her mother, she accidentally fell into the river and was heroically saved by a local troublemaker named Liu Ergou from the county town.”

Many people saw that the two had physical contact.

The original owner didn’t want to marry a fool, but her reputation was ruined, so she had no choice but to marry Liu Ergou.

Although she was too young to get a marriage certificate, in this era most marriages were common-law—losing her reputation and sleeping together basically proved they were husband and wife.

They could apply for the official marriage certificate after a couple of years.

The original owner was young and had a mother who psychologically manipulated her since childhood. Liu Ergou scraped together 200 yuan and married her.

She called out to heaven and earth in desperation—she didn’t want to marry the factory director’s fool, but no one stood up for her, so she had to go with Liu Ergou.

Liu Ergou was a man of drinking, gambling, and debauchery. These years, he was kept somewhat in check, but no one stopped him from drinking.

He often drank with his scoundrel friends.

When drunk, he came home and beat the original owner. When she was three months pregnant, Liu Ergou beat her badly, causing a miscarriage that led to her death.

By the time her eldest brother came looking, she had already been dead for years, the grass on her grave had grown tall.

“This is my new job?”

“That’s right, Master. You have already entered the real world. Your body is being maintained in the recovery pod. The smart space is accessible, and I can assist you in completing your tasks.”

—

Star Calendar Year 3300. The number of habitable planets is steadily decreasing.

Most vegetation has been polluted, and a large number of edible plants have gone extinct.

All ethnic groups rely on women’s cultivation spaces to support their families.

The better the talent, the greater the awakened power space, the larger the cultivatable area, and the more people with powers they can support.

All females awaken spatial abilities once they turn 18.

They must then go to the Matching Hall to be paired with a strong ability user. Their partner will cultivate the land within their spatial field and provide resources for the family.

Jiang Qingqing was an orphan and had already gone through partner matching three times—

Yet still, no one was willing to choose her.

That’s because Jiang Qingqing’s space was only about fifty to sixty square meters—so small that it couldn’t even grow crops.

No ability user wanted to bond with someone whose spatial power was essentially disabled.

According to interstellar law, females must be matched with a partner once they turn 18. They are required to plant one full cycle in their spatial fields and be supported by their partners.

For someone like Jiang Qingqing, with a disabled spatial ability, once she turned 18, she was forced to leave the Interstellar Nursery and support herself.

Her only option was to work across various parallel mini-worlds.

Although it was called “working,” it was actually a form of training and survival in various ancient worlds. If lucky, she might be able to repair her spatial ability, and before the age of 30, she would get one more chance to be matched with a partner.

Then she could shed her identity as a disabled ability user and pair with an outstanding male.

In this particular small world, the smart system selected a Jiang Qingqing with a higher soul compatibility.

Jiang Qingqing understood the situation and calmly nodded.

“What’s my current status?”

“Master, our arrival was abrupt, and due to a twist of fate, Liu Ergou ended up drowning. You lost consciousness, and another male comrade is currently rescuing you and bringing you ashore.”

Jiang Qingqing:

“No way! Wake me up right now—I’m not getting married to someone without knowing what kind of person they are! Who knows what kind of guy came to ‘save’ me this time?”

“Don’t worry, Master, I’ll send you back right away.”

—

As soon as Jiang Qingqing opened her eyes, she saw a face looming very close.

Startled, she pushed hard with both hands, causing the man to fall back.

Caught off guard, Liao Zhengguo hit his mouth and split his lip.