Chapter 1: Becoming the Male Lead’s Cannon Fodder Original Wife

“What kind of person are you? A starving ghost reincarnated? Even snatching a two-year-old’s cloud cake.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Wu，I’m sorry…”

Pain!

A tearing pain in my head!

Su Luoluo opened her eyes to a strange mud-brick house.

Many cobwebs hung from the wooden beams. The room contained a bed, a dilapidated wardrobe, a rice jar in the corner (cleaner than her face!), and a south-facing window with a broken pane patched with waste newspaper.

A chipped enamel basin sat on the floor.

The floor wasn’t tiled, not even cemented; it was just dirt.

Wasn’t she studying a rare ancient medical book and learning an extremely difficult needlework technique? How did she get here?

Su Luoluo sat up abruptly. “Hiss!” The movement was too much, pulling at the wound on her head, causing a sharp pain.

She touched her head; it was wrapped in a cloth.

Her eyes welled up with pain. Turning her head, she saw a cloth bag at the foot of the bed. This… this is… absconding with funds?

At this moment, memories not her own flooded her mind.

From the names in these memories, Su Luoluo realized she had transmigrated into a book!

A period drama she’d read to pass the time. The setting was the 1980s. The reborn female lead, knowing the male lead would become a military commander, dumped her previous scumbag husband and chose the male lead, who had a past marriage. The book focused on their sweet post-marriage military life.

She was the male lead’s original wife—ugly and infamous. The book didn’t describe her much; mostly, the female lead mentioned her jealously, prompting the male lead to comfort and express his love to her.

She was essentially a spice in their relationship.

Not only was she cannon fodder, but to give the female lead a happy married life—no mother-in-law conflicts, no bizarre relatives—the male lead’s entire rural family was cannon fodder.

In the book, the male lead and the original owner got their marriage certificate and returned to the army. He never came back, and half a year later, news arrived that he died on a mission; the monthly allowance never arrived again, nor did the death benefits.

Rural people relied on farming; being able to eat was already good enough. The male lead’s allowance was almost the family’s main source of income.

Without that allowance, the family fell into dire straits, unable to eat or dress warmly.

The original owner endured for two and a half years, then, incited by others, absconded with all the family’s money, leaving the poor family even worse off.

Her paralyzed mother-in-law couldn’t get medicine and died soon after.

Her husband’s older brother, trying to support the family, took on hard labor, working in a mine. A few months later, the mine collapsed, and he died inside.

Her younger brother-in-law dropped out of school to work and was scammed by friends, joining a gang. During a fight, he was hacked to pieces.

Her three-year-old niece was abducted by human traffickers. Her weak sister-in-law, having lost her husband and daughter, couldn’t bear the blow, went insane, fell into a river, and drowned.

Death, madness, disappearance—it was truly tragic.

The original owner, who ran away with the money, didn’t have a good ending either. She fell victim to human traffickers and was sold to the remote Wanshan Mountains. Although the original owner was ugly, the single men in the mountains only wanted children, treating her as a breeding machine, regardless of her appearance.

The original owner, like livestock, was chained, locked in a dark storage room, with different men entering her room every night. She died of postpartum hemorrhage.

As Su Luoluo recalled the plot, a rustling sound came from the doorway.

She turned her head.

A small head peeked in.

The little girl was only two or three years old, dirty-faced, with messy hair, and little flesh on her face, making her eyes appear larger.

Seeing Su Luoluo looking at her, her eyes widened. With a cry of “Ah!”, she was startled and quickly withdrew her head.

However, her small hand remained on the doorframe.

Su Luoluo got out of bed, about to call the little girl in.

Another small head peeked out. The boy looked about six years old, his gaze like a wolf cub’s—alert, cautious, and inquisitive.

Seeing that Su Luoluo wasn’t as ferocious as usual, telling them to scram,

The three little heads tentatively entered the room.

They only dared to walk along the walls.

All three were very thin, their clothes patched and ill-fitting, revealing large sections of their wrists and ankles. Their clothes were dirty, obscuring their original colors. They were barefoot.

The older boy had some injuries on his face and glared fiercely at Su Luoluo. Despite his fierce expression, his tense body showed his unease.

The younger boy clutched his clothes tightly, head down, timid, not daring to look at Su Luoluo.

The youngest girl, dazed, had a dirty, tender face and even dirtier clothes, her hair like a bird’s nest. She was sucking her finger, timidly peeking at Su Luoluo.

This…

These were the male lead’s three children!

The older boy was six, named Xiao Lei; the younger boy was five, named Xiao Fan; and the youngest girl was three, named Niuniu.

When the original owner married in, the male lead already had three children and declared he wouldn’t have any more. In this era, rural people believed in having many children, especially women, believing sons ensured their position in the family and future support.

The original owner was selfish and shrewish, believing the male lead didn’t want more children because of the three children, venting her anger on the three innocent children, beating and scolding them.

When Fang Shuling, their grandmother, was healthy, she secretly took care of the three children, preventing them from being so miserable.

After Fang Shuling suffered a stroke a year ago, the three children truly became abused stepchildren, deprived of food, frequently beaten, constantly made to work, and forced to sleep outside under the eaves at night.

Recalling the original owner’s actions, Su Luoluo felt a chill. She was inhuman.

“Ma… woo… I… I’m hungry…”

Niuniu was too hungry. Seeing Su Luoluo wasn’t as fierce as before, she boldly spoke.

However, she was too scared, and started crying as soon as she spoke.

The other two children were scared pale, shielding Niuniu behind them.

They anticipated the beating to come.

The three children hadn’t eaten since last night. Xiao Lei and Xiao Fan could endure, but three-year-old Niuniu couldn’t.

“…” Su Luoluo, who had never even kissed a man, became the mother of three children.

Hearing the child ask for food, she instinctively reached into her pocket, pulled out something, and handed it over.

Niuniu, too hungry, her eyes lit up. Ignoring her fear, she ran over, quickly snatched the pastry from Su Luoluo, and wolfed it down, as if afraid Su Luoluo would take it back.

Su Luoluo looked at the cloud cake and was stunned. It was… the one the original owner had snatched from a two-year-old.

Snatching food from a two-year-old—a monster! How shameless.

“Poisoned, don’t eat it.”

Xiao Lei slapped the cake out of Niuniu’s hand.

The cloud cake fell to the ground.

Poisoned?

Su Luoluo was stunned.