Chapter 1 : Blind Date

“What’s your name?”  

“Song Shiwei!”  

“How old are you this year?”  

“Twenty!”  

“How many people are there in your family? What do you do for a living?”  

Song Shiwei looked at the man sitting across from her, feeling as if he were interrogating her like a household registration officer. She frowned slightly but answered honestly, “There are five people in my family, my parents and three children. I’m the second child, with an older brother and a younger sister! Right now… I just graduated from high school and don’t have a job yet!”  

When the man heard her say she was unemployed, his expression immediately turned dissatisfied. His small green eyes, already squeezed together, narrowed further, his pimply face twitching.  

“But you know how to cook, right? My mother says that when you marry, you should find a hardworking wife who knows how to take care of others. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a job. I’ll have my mother find you work pasting paper boxes to earn some extra money for the household. Of course, your most important duty is to serve me well!”  

“My mother loves children. We’ll have one every year, let’s aim for as many as possible. Boys just need to learn how to read and write, then they can go out and earn money. Girls don’t even need to go to school they can help with housework. And once they’re old enough to marry, we can use their bride price to get wives for their brothers…”  

Song Shiwei stared at the mama’s boy rambling on, feeling so frustrated she wanted to roll her eyes.   

This was already her ninth blind date. If this one failed too, she really didn’t know what to do!  

Just ten days ago, she had found herself transported into a period novel she had read before bed “Reborn in the 1970s: Married into a Wealthy Family and Gave Birth to Three Babies.” Unfortunately, she had become the most miserable cannon-fodder female character in the story.  

The novel’s heroine, Jiang Xinxin, was reborn with memories of the future. Without hesitation, she dumped her scumbag boyfriend and got together with Ji Yanli, the youngest factory director at the machinery plant!  

And Song Shiwei? She was the pitiful cannon fodder who never won Ji Yanli’s love.  

In the end, she met a tragic demise.  

From the moment she arrived in this world, she had been racking her brain to find a way out!  

But the plot of this novel was too powerful no matter what she did, the storyline kept pulling her back in unexpected ways, as if it wouldn’t rest until it played out completely.  

Finally, she reached a conclusion: she couldn’t just sit and wait for death.  

If she was doomed to be the tragic cannon fodder who couldn’t win Ji Yanli’s love in the story…  

Then what if she got married? Would that mean she could break free from the plot?  

Determined, she threw herself into blind dates.  

But now, looking at the ugly, mama’s boy in front of her who was making endless demands, she felt like crying.   

Maybe she was too desperate, which made people look down on her?  

Isn’t there a saying”People always desire what they can’t get.”  

Those who take the initiative are always undervalued!  

The nine men she had picked so far were either arrogant, misogynistic, physically disabled, or had nightmarish families…  

And this one practically combined all the worst qualities of the previous ones!  

Every sentence started with My mother said…”  

And he wanted her to become a baby-making machine after marriage! Did he think she was a sow?!  

Worst of all, his worldview was disgusting!  

Boys only need to learn to read before going off to work and making money for the family.  

Girls don’t even need to go to school, they just stay home and do housework. And when they’re old enough, they’re married off so their bride price can be used to get wives for their brothers?!  

Gross!!!  

She was utterly disgusted.  

She didn’t want to hear another word from him!  

But the man sitting across from her was completely obliviou to her anger…    

Still speaking, “My mother said that when we get married, all the housework will be yours. As a daughter-in-law, you have to be able to serve others. It was not easy for my mother to give birth to me, and she has a lot of illnesses. You have to take good care of my mother, serve tea and water, wash clothes and cook…”  

He was talking proudly when “Wow!” a glass of water splashed onto his face.  

He was stunned.  

Once he realized what had happened, his face twisted in rage.  

Especially since this was a state-owned restaurant, with so many people coming and going, all eyes were now on him. His entire face turned purple, it was hard to tell whether it was from anger or sheer embarrassment!  

Pointing at Song Shiwei viciously, he demanded, “What do you mean by this?”  

Song Shiwei raised her eyebrows lazily.  

“Nothing much, just a little warning, women are human too! Great men have said that women hold up half the sky! They are not slaves for men like you to order around! Why should a good girl from another family marry into yours only to be treated like a servant, bullied and humiliated by you?”  

“Don’t think I won’t scold you just because you’re ugly! I never curse at people because the ones I scold aren’t even human!”  

Hearing her words, many women in the restaurant turned to look at her, their eyes brimming with excitement.  

Meanwhile, the mama’s boy opposite her was so furious that his lips trembled.  

“You—you’re simply a shrew! Good thing I saw your true colors today! Otherwise, my family would be in big trouble!”  

With that, he grabbed his coat, ready to storm off.  

Song Shiwei smirked, her lips curving upward.  

“Then I should be the one thanking you for not marrying me! I couldn’t afford to marry into your family anyway!”  

Some of the other women in the restaurant, who couldn’t stand it anymore, also chimed in.  

“That’s right! Who would dare marry into a family like yours?”  

“You look down on women? Isn’t your mother a woman? Didn’t you crawl out of a woman’s belly?”  

“What kind of person is this? What bad luck!”   

As murmurs of discussion filled the restaurant, the man’s face turned red. He glared at Song Shiwei one last time before fleeing in shame.  

As he left, the smile on Song Shiwei’s face slowly faded.  

She leaned on the table, looking helpless, tapping her index finger absentmindedly against the surface.  

What should I do? What should I do? Why can’t I find a good one…?  

Just as she was dejectedly packing up her things, preparing to leave the restaurant, two people suddenly walked in one man and one woman, holding hands intimately.  

But when Song Shiwei saw them, her face instantly turned pale.  

Because these two were none other than the male lead, Ji Yanli, and the female lead, Jiang Xinxin, from the novel!  

They had clearly seen her too.  

Ji Yanli’s brows immediately furrowed, while the female lead, Jiang Xinxin, blinked her eyes as they turned slightly red, putting on a pitiful expression.  

Ji Yanli’s heart instantly softened.  

With a dark expression, he strode straight toward Song Shiwei.  

“Song Shiwei, are you crazy? Why are you following me?”  

Song Shiwei: “……”  

Me? Damn it, I followed you? How dare you say that with such confidence?  

“Ji Yanli, why don’t you take out a suppository and clear your brain? I followed you? Which eye of yours saw me following you?”  

After getting scolded, Ji Yanli’s expression became even darker.  

“Song Shiwei, don’t think that changing your attitude will make me like you. Let me tell you, you’re dreaming! After all these years, do you think I still don’t know you? Even if you weren’t following me, you must have already found out that I booked this restaurant and planned to bring Xinxin here, so you deliberately showed up to block us!”  

“Song Shiwei, aren’t you tired? I’ve made it very clear that I don’t like you! Can you please stop pestering me all the time?”