Chapter 1

In the small mountain village, people were working diligently in the fields. Every now and then, loud conversations would carry across the ridges, and children could be heard laughing and chasing one another through the farmland.

Meanwhile, in the main room of a house in the center of the village, a dazed young woman sat on the floor. Not far from her, a little boy knelt on the ground.

The pounding pain in her head made Lin Xi very uncomfortable. She frowned and muttered as she slowly sat up, instinctively raising her hand to rub her aching forehead.

After rubbing her head a few times, she suddenly froze.

“Wait… why does my head hurt? And didn’t I just die?”

As confusion filled her mind, a flood of unfamiliar memories suddenly surged into her brain.

Lin Xi passively absorbed a massive wave of memories that didn’t belong to her, leaving her frozen in place.

Not far away, Gu Yang watched warily as the “bad woman” got back up from the floor. He was a little scared, but with his grandmother and little sister not at home, he was the man of the house. He couldn’t let this woman sneak into grandma’s room to steal money.

Determined, the boy continued kneeling on the ground but kept a sharp eye on Lin Xi. If she dared to go to his grandma’s room, he’d grab her leg and trip her again.

After digesting the memories, Lin Xi felt like her mind was in chaos. She realized she was sitting on hard-packed dirt, uneven and full of little lumps the size of eggs—it was quite uncomfortable to sit on.

Once she roughly understood what had happened, she looked around her surroundings. Blue-tile roof, wooden beams, mud-brick walls, a wooden door…

This familiar old countryside house reminded her of her grandfather’s home when she was a child—those were her happiest memories in over 20 years of life.

She had lived with her grandfather growing up. Life wasn’t luxurious, but she was content. But when she was ten, he passed away, and from then on, she bounced from one relative to another—never truly having a home again.

After scanning the room, she turned her attention to the interior. A table stood in the center with four long benches.

And in front of her, not far away, was a little boy kneeling upright. His back was straight, his posture rigid—but his eyes held something strange.

Such a young child, yet he looked at her with both fear and hostility—disgust, even.

Digging into the memories she’d just received, Lin Xi quickly understood the situation.

This little boy was her “cheap” husband’s nephew, about eight years old. He had a younger sister, only four. Both their parents had died in an accident. Poor kids.

Even worse, they had ended up with the original owner of this body—who was a terrible step-aunt.

According to the memories, these two children suffered constant abuse under the original Lin Xi. The current situation? She had tried to steal money from her mother-in-law’s room but was caught by the boy.

To stop him from interfering, the original Lin Xi threatened to hurt his little sister if he didn’t kneel and stay put. But the moment she tried to move, the boy lunged and grabbed her leg—causing her to lose balance and die from the fall.

Looking at the little guy’s fierce yet frightened eyes, Lin Xi sighed. The original owner really left behind a mess.

She stood up and patted the dust off her clothes. The boy flinched instinctively, wanting to retreat—but hesitated. What if she didn’t hit him and chose to hit his little sister instead?

Gritting his teeth, the child stayed in place. His eyes locked on Lin Xi with a look that screamed, “Go ahead and beat me if you dare.”

He was clearly scared but didn’t back down.

Lin Xi had no energy to explain. She simply said:

“You can get up. My head hurts—I’m going to rest.”

Without waiting for a response, she walked off to her room, leaving behind a stunned little Gu Yang, still kneeling in disbelief.

That evil woman… didn’t scold him? Didn’t hit him? And even told him to get up?

Did he mishear her? Or was she plotting something even more sinister?

After she closed the door to her room, Gu Yang carefully crept over to peek inside, only to see her really ignoring him.

Now he was even more nervous. He wasn’t afraid of being hurt himself, but what if she went after his grandma or little sister?

He clenched his tiny fists. When grandma and his sister came home, he’d make sure to tell them that the bad woman tried to steal money. Grandma had to hide it better. And they had to find Uncle—fast.

Meanwhile, Lin Xi lay on the bed, trying to digest the fact that she had just died—and immediately transmigrated into a book.

The memories she received helped her grasp the situation. She had entered a retro-style romance novel she’d read in the past.

The setting was the 1980s. But since it was a love story, the historical accuracy was loose—there were no ration coupons or textile tickets mentioned.

This was a fictional book world.

Her current body belonged to an adopted daughter of the Lin family—an influential family in Huajing. Unfortunately, this body’s original role was that of a vicious supporting character.

The female lead was the legitimate daughter, Lin Yuhan. The male lead was Shen Muyan, the son of a police commissioner—and originally Lin Xi’s fiancé.

In the novel, the male and female leads were a perfect match—talented, attractive, and deeply in love. But the original Lin Xi also liked Shen Muyan and endlessly pestered him, repeatedly setting traps for Lin Yuhan.

Her schemes made the male lead utterly despise her. Her adoptive parents, who had raised her for years, eventually gave up on her as well and tried to marry her off for a bride price.

But she kept sabotaging every arranged match, constantly making a scene, until no one wanted her. Eventually, her adoptive parents kicked her out.

She had barely left the Lin family when she was kidnapped by human traffickers. Luckily, she escaped mid-route and fell into a ravine, where a rural woman rescued her.

But then came the part that made Lin Xi want to scream: instead of being grateful, the original Lin Xi fell in love at first sight with the woman’s son—just by looking at a photo.

She had nowhere else to go and learned that the family had recently received compensation for the deaths of two relatives in a factory accident. So she insisted on marrying the son.

If that wasn’t betrayal, Lin Xi didn’t know what was.

To make matters worse, she pretended to be sweet and gentle to win the woman, Tian Yufen, over.

The original Lin Xi was indeed beautiful—fair-skinned and delicate like a doll—and she claimed she had been orphaned and kicked out by relatives. To Tian Yufen, it all seemed like fate.

Her son was always away serving in the military, refusing to come home or even consider marriage. So she decided to trick him into returning—because nothing else had worked.