Chapter 1

“Ugh…”

Su Nian slowly woke up, rubbing her aching head, grimacing even before she opened her eyes.

Last night, her best friend was about to say goodbye to her single days, so they all gathered at a private villa for one final wild party. Nights like that always got out of control.

Su Nian vaguely remembered that her friend even invited a few D-list male celebrities from the entertainment industry.

Those looks, those bodies… tsk tsk.

Ordinary people really couldn’t compare to celebrities. Just thinking about how they felt made Su Nian almost drool. One moment of indulgence, and she ended up drinking way too much.

And now, she was paying the price with a brutal hangover.

“What the hell… what kind of retro hotel is this? The decor’s way too realistic.”

What greeted her eyes were mottled, uneven walls and a rickety wooden bunk bed beneath her.

The wooden table nearby was full of stains or maybe just faded from age.

On the wall hung a vintage propaganda poster of a short-haired young woman in a pseudo-military uniform holding a copy of the Chairman’s quotes, surrounded by huge flowers—so bright they outshone her face.

Su Nian’s head buzzed.

Where was she? Had she been trafficked to some remote mountain village?

Just as she tried to sit up to check outside, a sharp, splitting headache hit her.

Then, a rush of memories not her own flooded into her mind.

After a while…

She pieced together everything.

Turns out, she had transmigrated into a novel she had once read—and never finished.

She’d given up on it halfway through because the cannon-fodder character with the same name as her pissed her off.

Now reality slapped her hard—serves her right for not finishing the book.

The novel was called “The Delicate Girl of the Seventies: Pampered by the Army Officer”.

The heroine was her stepsister, Su Yue—a tag-along her stepmother brought into the family.

It was now 1972. She was 18 and had just graduated high school.

Originally, she had a childhood fiancé from a powerful family who had secured her a job at the sugar factory.

In two months, she’d be starting that job—no need to catch the tail end of socialism by going to the countryside.

But fate had other plans.

She caught her fiancé and stepsister in bed together.

At first, they knelt and apologized. But somehow, it escalated into shameless pleading.

Su Yue cried and begged Su Nian to give her the job spot and take her place in the countryside.

Seriously?!

She’s the one being cheated on, and now they want her job and to ship her off to the sticks in Su Yue’s place?

No way in hell.

In the struggle, Su Nian fell and hit her head on the corner of a table—and that’s when she arrived.

“These two seriously have the nerve?! Cheating behind my back and still asking me to give up my job and future for his little mistress? On what planet?!”

Rubbing the bump on the back of her head, Su Nian started calculating how to rewrite her cannon-fodder fate.

“Still not up? Lazy bum! Just because your dad’s not home, you don’t even bother pretending anymore. No wonder Fu Mingjun dumped you.

Look at yourself—what part of you is even remotely likable?”

The shrill voice outside the door must be her stepmother, Yao Xiaojun, just like in the original’s memories.

Apparently, this woman treated the original Su Nian like garbage whenever Su Daqiang wasn’t home.

Su Nian’s eyes turned cold as she got out of bed.

She noticed a wooden lotus bracelet on her wrist, carved from peachwood. The original memories didn’t say where it came from.

But—if she remembered the book right—didn’t Su Yue have a lotus bracelet with a hidden space inside it?

Could it be… this was it?

So she was the cannon-fodder who personally handed the cheat code to the heroine?!

Forget Yao Xiaojun and the rest. First priority: blood activation!

She pricked her finger with an embroidery needle.

The drop of blood fell on the lotus, and in an instant, the bracelet vanished—replaced by a red lotus-shaped birthmark on her wrist.

In the blink of an eye, her surroundings changed.

Now she stood in a bright, sunlit space—though there was no sun to be seen.

To the left: a perfectly square plot of black fertile soil, about ten acres in size. To the right: a glass greenhouse, with empty but neatly arranged shelves.

Next to her was a well bubbling with spring water.

Looking down at her own dull, lifeless skin, she couldn’t help but wonder: had her stepmother been poisoning her this whole time?

Su Nian bent down playfully and said, “Oh mighty spring water, can you turn me into the most beautiful woman in the world?”

No answer, of course—but she had to try! She’d read enough novels to know how this worked.

Just as she reached for a drink—BOOM! A loud knock shattered the silence.

She exited the space just in time for the door to be kicked open, nearly hitting her face.

No privacy, even in her own house? That needed to change, fast.

“What are you staring at? I’m starving! Why didn’t you go cook?

My mom already said, when dad’s not home, all the chores are yours.

You think you’re some rich girl or something?

Your mom ran off years ago. She doesn’t want you anymore.

You eat our food, live in our house—how dare you be so lazy?”

Su Gang barked. He didn’t seem all that bright.

No wonder—his mom, Yao Xiaojun, had married Su Daqiang, who was a distant relative. Seems like it ran in the blood.

Su Nian smiled sweetly.

“Su Gang, don’t you just love braised pork?”

He nodded instinctively—who doesn’t love braised pork? It was his favorite.

She continued, “Had any today?”

His face fell. “No… Mom said we had some yesterday, so we can’t have more today… or else you’d notice.”

Su Nian’s smile deepened.

“Oh, so you guys are hiding things from me? Looks like I need to have a chat with Dad.

Always bullying me, the stepdaughter, while pampering your own kids like little emperors. Yao Xiaojun, you’re really something.”

Saying that, she turned to leave the house.

She was going to make this public.

The original Su Nian had been too “sensible”—afraid of causing trouble because her mother was a capitalist heiress who fled abroad.

She stayed quiet to avoid burdening her father.

And what did that get her? Nothing but betrayal.

Now that she was Su Nian, things would be different.

Let someone else eat that crap—she was done.