“Xiao Qing, off work already? Payday today, and I didn’t see you bringing back food from the state-owned restaurant?”

Aunt Yu, sitting at the entrance of the alley, gently waved her palm-leaf fan and asked with a smile.

Chen Qing forced an awkward smile: “There are still leftovers at home.”

“Oh ho, learning to save money now, how rare.” Aunt Yu watched her hurry away, then turned to chat with her old friends enjoying the cool air.

“That Chen Qing is really something else. The two children used to be fair and chubby, but now they’ve been raised sallow and thin! I live next door to their courtyard, and every day I can hear Chen Qing hitting the children!”

“What a sin. Their father died early, and their mother passed away unexpectedly. Besides Chen Qing, there’s no one else to take care of them.”

“Didn’t the children’s father have a younger brother?”

“Did he? Who knows? It’s been so many years, and he’s never shown up. But I recently heard something.”

“What? What is it? Tell us quickly!”

“Chen Qing is going on a blind date and plans to kick the two children out!”

“What?!”

That one sentence set the scene ablaze, with the uncles and aunts discussing fervently.

Meanwhile, Chen Qing rushed home, grabbed the water pitcher, poured a cup of cold water, and gulped it down before sitting on a long bench to catch her breath.

She was just a design grunt, working overtime day and night to meet client demands, and then—bam!—she’d died just like that!

Chen Qing was practically going insane.

She was an orphan who had worked her way into a first-tier university, paid off her student loans after graduation, and even saved up 170,000 yuan in her bank account. Heaven knows what she’d been through, only to suddenly transmigrate to the 1970s!

Transmigrating was one thing, but the original host had been arrogant and domineering.

She’d offended classmates, offended superiors, offended… the biggest villain in the entire book!

That’s right—as soon as Chen Qing transmigrated, she inherited the original host’s memories and quickly realized she was in the period novel “Marriage in the Era: The Little Soft One Wins Big,” which she’d listened to on the subway with her Bluetooth earphones.

In this book, the reason the great villain became twisted was due to a tragic childhood.

His parents died early, leaving him and his younger sister in the care of their aunt. The aunt was arrogant and domineering, bullying them every day. The two children never had enough to eat or wear, and when his younger sister developed a high fever, the aunt dumped them at an orphanage and left. The sister foamed at the mouth and passed away after a convulsion, gone forever.

Meanwhile, his aunt married into a wealthy family and lived a comfortable life!

The female lead was the daughter brought by her future husband, whom the aunt doted on meticulously.

The highly intelligent great villain bided his time from childhood. Once he grew up, his first move was to send the original host to prison, where she was quickly executed by firing squad!

Later, he fought back and forth with the male and female leads, ultimately losing to them only because they threatened him with He Yuting’s ashes, landing him behind bars.

The thought of being imprisoned and shot in the head sent a shiver down Chen Qing’s spine.

Clatter…

The sound of shattered porcelain rang out, and a child stumbled forward, a trace of blood immediately seeping from her chin.

Chen Qing turned toward the source of the sound and saw a thin, small girl looking up in terror, tears streaming from her large, bright eyes: “Auntie… I… I didn’t mean to break the bowl.”

Tears kept falling, but her cries were soft. Once, the original host had hit the children so loudly that the neighbors complained, and the neighborhood committee came to sternly criticize her. In response, the original host had harshly punished the two children, forbidding them from crying loudly.

Before Chen Qing could process what was happening, she stepped forward to help He Yuting up.

But the back of her hand suddenly stung—He Yuxiang had slapped it away and gently helped his sister up instead.

The six-year-old boy tightly shielded his sister behind him, fists clenched, his deep eyes fixed fiercely on her: “You’re not allowed to hit my sister!”

He was a boy, and more importantly, an older brother. His mother had told him to protect his sister well—even if this woman beat him to death, he couldn’t let his sister suffer.

Chen Qing straightened up and looked down at the little villain before her, who wore an expression of grim determination.

It was hard to connect this child with the gloomy, ruthless He Yuxiang of the future.

The original host had subjected the children to constant abuse, never letting them eat their fill or dress warmly. They had long built up strong defenses against her. For Chen Qing, who had spent many years living alone, suddenly having to care for two children felt overwhelming.

She turned and went back inside.

She needed time to process.

To figure out what to do next.

He Yuxiang was momentarily stunned. He didn’t know what had gotten into his aunt today—she hadn’t grabbed him by the collar or slapped him. But he had no time to dwell on it. His sister was bleeding, and he needed to find some woundwort to stop the bleeding.

“Don’t cry,” he whispered. “Big brother will go find some herbs to stop the bleeding. I’ll be back soon. Go inside and hide so that bad woman can’t hit you, okay?”

He Yuting nodded, her eyes red, feeling immensely guilty for causing more trouble for her brother.

But just as He Yuxiang was about to lift the door latch to leave, Chen Qing called out to him: “Go to the state-owned restaurant and buy a portion of stir-fried pork for me. Here’s the meat coupon and money.”

He Yuxiang was so angry he didn’t want to acknowledge her.

Chen Qing added calmly, “I’ll apply medicine to your sister’s wound. It’ll help her heal faster.”

He Yuxiang whipped his head around and saw the bottle of medicine in her hand. He stared at Chen Qing suspiciously.

Chen Qing frowned slightly. “Take advantage of the fact that I’m in a good mood because it’s payday. Hurry up and go!”

Her tone turned cold. He Yuxiang glanced at his sister, then at her, before snatching the money and meat coupon indignantly. He grabbed an aluminum lunchbox from the wooden cupboard in the kitchen and dashed out the door.

He had to hurry back—what if his sister was badly beaten while he was away?

Chen Qing first washed a cotton swab, then returned to the long bench in the main room and sat down.

In the courtyard, He Yuting was quickly cleaning up the broken pieces. For a four-year-old, she was frighteningly mature.

Chen Qing called out, “He Yuting.”

He Yuting looked up at her aunt, tears welling in her eyes.

She looked dazed.

And scared.

Chen Qing waved her over. “Come here.”

Her voice was calm, but to He Yuting, it sounded like a thunderclap. The tears that had been clinging to her eyelids fell instantly, and she pouted as she slowly shuffled forward.

When she stood in front of her aunt, she closed her eyes, but her eyelashes trembled violently.

Chen Qing sighed softly and dipped the cotton swab into the medicine before gently applying it to He Yuting’s wound.

Cotton swabs were reused back then, so they were a bit discolored. Given the circumstances, there was nothing she could do about it.

As the medicine touched her broken skin, He Yuting’s small body shuddered. But then she opened her eyes in shock.

Her aunt was really applying medicine to her!

Noticing the child’s disbelief, Chen Qing didn’t explain. She simply continued applying the medicine gently.

As an orphan who had been adopted and later abandoned by her foster parents when they had their own child, Chen Qing was more wary of sudden kindness than most.

The two children, who had suffered under the original host for months, were especially guarded against her. Sudden kindness would only seem suspicious.

Chen Qing decided to take things one step at a time.

There would be plenty of time to show them she meant no harm.