Chapter 1: Divorce? Whoever Doesn’t Divorce Is a Dog

“Sister, are we getting a divorce?”

“Today, whoever doesn’t divorce is a puppy!”

“……”

Early in the morning, Su Tang, her back and waist aching, rushed into Yu Miaomiao’s room.

Yu Miaomiao was washing bedsheets, her cold face impassive: “I’m a substitute. Before the White Moonlight returns, I can’t leave.”

Su Tang instantly wilted.

The White Moonlight’s return was still two years away!

“So long…” Su Tang despaired, collapsing onto Yu Miaomiao: “Sister, I’m only temporarily not divorcing to keep you company. You have to make me something delicious today. That Mu Jingzhou has worn me out.”

“Shall I make you some sugar cakes?” Yu Miaomiao said, hanging up the bedsheets.

Su Tang perked up immediately: “And add some shredded pork lard, it’ll be so fragrant…”

“As you wish. Go start the fire.”

“Let’s go!”

Su Tang and Yu Miaomiao were best friends from film school, planning to achieve great things together after graduation. However, while researching a new script, they were transported into the script itself, becoming sisters-in-law in the early 1980s.

One a lickspittle, the other a substitute.

In the original story, Su Tang was deeply infatuated with Mu Jingzhou, the third son of the Mu family.

To win Mu Jingzhou’s affection, she constantly visited the Mu family. One day she would send fruits and vegetables, the next she would help with housework… constantly flattering and showing herself off. Recently, she pretended to be bullied by thugs, then deliberately tore her clothes when Mu Jingzhou rescued her.

Mu Jingzhou had no choice but to marry her.

This “beautiful story” would be gossiped about for miles around for a long time.

Yu Miaomiao’s situation was simpler. Because she resembled the White Moonlight, she was married to Mu Jingyun, the second son of the Mu family, as a substitute.

Yu Miaomiao’s parents had always wanted to “sell their daughter” to get their daughter married. When the Mu family came to propose marriage, they shamelessly raised the price, demanding 188 yuan as a bride price! This made her the most expensive bride in Chahe Village.

Gossip number two in the surrounding villages.

In reality, however, their husbands’ hearts already belonged to the White Moonlight: Shen Mingzhu, a young intellectual who had left Chahe Village six months ago.

She was the heroine! They were merely vicious female supporting characters who served to highlight the heroine’s kindness and happiness.

For example: They were jealous and conspired to frame Shen Mingzhu, placing venomous snakes in her room, pushing her off a cliff, and luring her into a wild boar pit… In the most serious incident, Shen Mingzhu was almost raped by thugs.

Typical vicious female supporting character behavior.

This led to both of them being ultimately disliked and hated by the two Mu brothers.

Mu Jingyun, 1.85 meters tall, with naturally fair skin, looked handsome and refined, but was actually extremely possessive and inwardly obsessive.

Shen Mingzhu’s single sentence, “Second sister-in-law bullied me,” caused Mu Jingyun to slap his pregnant wife into an icy river in winter. She suffered a miscarriage and became infertile.

Mu Jingzhou was introverted and usually quiet, but when he was cruel, he was even more outrageous than Mu Jingyun!

Su Tang, pregnant, tumbled down a hillside, almost dying, and only avoided being sent to a mental hospital because Mu Jingzhou intervened for Shen Mingzhu.

However, Mu Jingzhou and Mu Jingyun were also just supporting characters, tools in Shen Mingzhu’s path to growth.

While others only knew how to earn work points, these two handsome and capable brothers secretly started other businesses.

By the time of the full opening up of the economy, they had accumulated several hundred yuan. Later, using this capital, they took advantage of the reform and opening up to multiply their money and become millionaires.

Unfortunately, supporting characters remained supporting characters.

Their purpose was to provide Shen Mingzhu with economic and emotional value. After Shen Mingzhu graduated from university and became a star, they were abandoned.

In the end, Shen Mingzhu married the real male lead—Lu Jianmin, the head of the drama troupe—and lived a happy life with a secure job.

Mu Jingzhou and Mu Jingyun, heartbroken and drunk, one fell into a river and died young, the other went bankrupt and committed suicide by jumping from a building.

Even the proper male supporting characters had tragic endings, so what kind of ending could a lickspittle and a substitute expect?

They, one licking until the end with nothing, sent to a mental hospital by Mu Jingzhou. The other, a substitute whose heart shattered, committing suicide.

With such a marriage, why wait to escape?

But in this era, the atmosphere was conservative, and marriage was seen as a responsibility to family and society. Running away would definitely not be a good outcome—before even leaving the county, they would be caught and brought back.

They had to divorce!

And then leave those unlucky brothers openly.

Then, the problem arose—who gets married and divorces two days later?

Not only would they have to return the bride price, but they would also be gossiped about for the rest of their lives, and their acting careers would be ruined.

Their families would also lose face. It was likely that their families would be the first to catch them!

Currently, they couldn’t return the bride price, and their families wouldn’t accept them back.

Most importantly: Yu Miaomiao willingly became a substitute…

“Sigh, Miaomiao, remember, I’m suffering all of this for you!” Su Tang sighed while tending the fire.

Yu Miaomiao used warm water and a scraper to grate brown sugar: “Just bear with it. When Shen Mingzhu returns, without us doing anything, the brothers will take the initiative to ask for a divorce.”

“Right! At that time, we’ll follow your family’s example and demand a divorce settlement of a thousand yuan, buy a small three-bedroom apartment in the city and wait for it to appreciate! In a couple of years, the entertainment industry will enter its development phase, and with our professional skills, becoming big stars will be a matter of minutes…”

“……”

Su Tang enthusiastically outlined their plans, while Yu Miaomiao’s skilled knife work grated the sugar into fine, even powder. Mixed with the pork lard, it looked delicious.

As fragrant as the pie-in-the-sky plans the two friends were making.

The sizzling aroma drifted out of the kitchen, attracting Old Mrs. Mu.

The new daughters-in-law taking the initiative to cook in the kitchen just two days after their marriage made Old Mrs. Mu quite happy.

She wanted to see which diligent daughter-in-law it was and praise her. But when she saw that half a block of brown sugar was gone, and a large spoonful of her enamel basin of pork lard was missing, she immediately flew into a rage.

“Wasteful women, what are you doing?”

“This brown sugar was for your eldest sister-in-law’s confinement, how could you use half of it?”

“My pork lard! Enough for the whole family for half a month, and you used it all in one meal!”

“……”

Yu Miaomiao flipped the cakes, without turning around: “Mother, the brown sugar is my dowry.”

“What’s yours and mine? We haven’t divided the family property yet, it’s all common property.” Old Mrs. Mu scolded, heartbroken, quickly putting away the remaining half block of brown sugar.

Hide it in the cupboard? Not safe.

She took the half-basin of pork lard to her room.

“So stingy. Luckily, our husbands aren’t like her.” Su Tang shook her head.

Mu Jingzhou and Mu Jingyun were both very generous.

Although her marriage was a sham, Mu Jingzhou gave Su’s family 88 yuan as a bride price and six yards of new cloth.

He was also quite good to her, except for his strong sexual desires.

But she also enjoyed it, so it wasn’t a loss.

Yu Miaomiao’s situation was even better. Mu Jingyun did the licking, she only needed to cooperate with a cold demeanor.

For now, they could manage their lives.

“The cakes are ready, let’s eat!”

Yu Miaomiao had only made four sugar cakes, and the two of them finished them at the stove in a short while.

When Old Mrs. Mu returned after hiding her things, only the shiny empty pan remained.

“Where are the cakes?”

“We ate them.”

“!!!”

Old Mrs. Mu stomped her feet in anger: “Two people ate four cakes? Are your stomachs the size of elephants?”

Su Tang and Yu Miaomiao didn’t speak.

Silence was the best rebuttal.

“Forget it, you’re new daughters-in-law, you don’t understand the rules. I’ll teach you now!”

“From now on, you two will take turns cooking with the eldest daughter-in-law, cooking for the whole family. You’re not allowed to sneak a bite before the elders sit down!”

“When you’re not cooking, go to the fields to work and earn work points!”

“……”

After lecturing for a long time, Old Mrs. Mu became even hungrier: “I’m punishing you to cook and wash dishes today!”

“Okay!”

Yu Miaomiao readily agreed.

Anyway, they needed to eat, and they could just make a little extra.

Su Tang was also happy.

Because, everyone in this family cooked terribly, which was basically wasting food.

She liked Miaomiao’s cooking.

Yu Miaomiao could stir-fry crayfish in middle school and had even taught herself baking in high school. Her skills were excellent.

In two years, the reform and opening up would begin, and after they divorced, they could open a bakery. Miaomiao would be in the kitchen, and she would sell at the front, and they would surely be successful.

Once they had money, they would buy more houses and wait for them to appreciate! Achieving financial freedom was just around the corner.

As for men…

With money, wouldn’t they worry about finding someone with eight-pack abs to touch?

The lickspittle would turn over, and she would become a queen!