Chapter 1: Jumping into the River

“Back then, it was Su Taotao who shamelessly married Fu Zhengtu. In these three years of marriage, you’ve treated her like a queen, yet now that the child is almost two years old, she says she can’t take it anymore and wants a divorce to return to the city. What kind of behavior is that? Abandoning her husband and child?”

“Yeah, Aunt, you’ve been too good to her, that’s why she’s become so unruly. If it were up to me, a good beating would make her behave, even if we had to break her legs to stop her from leaving.”

“Yes, if she’s going back to the city, it has to be after ZhengTu comes back and makes the decision, she can’t just leave like that.”

In the corner, a voice weakly asked, “What if Zheng Tu never comes back?”

Everyone turned to spit in the corner: “Pah, pah, pah! You’re the one who won’t come back!”

…

The group continued angrily discussing, when Fu Zhengtu’s mother, Zhou Linglan, holding the poor little grandson in one arm and wiping her tears with the other, choked up and said, “What if she goes and jumps into the river? Nothing is more important than life. Our humble home cannot hold onto a golden phoenix. If she wants to leave, let her go.”

The eldest aunt, who always looked down on Zhou Linglan, spoke harshly: “It’s because you’re so soft-hearted that she bullies you. Don’t you worry about Zheng Tu coming back and blaming you? And what about Chenchen? What’s he going to do? Even though he’s not much of a son, he’s still her own flesh and blood. Women from the city really are heartless, even animals protect their young, but she won’t even protect her own child.”

Fu Guoqiang tugged at his mother’s sleeve, signaling her to stop talking. “Second Aunt, we can just tie her up and take turns watching her. She won’t be able to run.”

The eldest aunt slapped her thigh. “That’s settled then. If she runs again, we’ll break her legs and tie her to the beam. Does she think there’s no one in the Fu family? She’s acting like she’s above us all!”

…

The entire production team of the village would rather see this troublemaker leave for the city, but as the saying goes, “Better to tear down ten temples than one marriage,” and with the child still so young, though the mother might as well be absent, it’s still not the same.

Su Taotao, in a half-dreaming state, was still wondering about the strange, vivid dream she had, feeling like it was real.

When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of a pitch-black roof. The rickety beams made the house look ancient, and it wasn’t just dilapidated—it seemed dangerous.

She quickly closed her eyes, hoping the dream would pass.

Suddenly, she felt sharp pains in her temples. Memories that didn’t belong to her surged like scenes in a movie, playing one after another.

In just a few minutes, she seemed to have watched an entire life of a female intellectual from the countryside. No, more precisely, she had seen the unlucky life of a terrible female character.

She had transmigrated into the book!

She had ended up in a 70s-era novel she had recently read, but instead of being the main character with special abilities and a space to conquer the world, she had become an utterly horrible supporting character!

This unfortunate supporting character’s melodramatic storyline was so ridiculous that even the protagonist of the same name, Su Taotao, had no desire to comment.

She had graduated from high school with no job, and was forced to go to the countryside. There, to avoid labor, she tricked the most handsome young man in the entire commune, Fu Zhengtu, and successfully married him.

After marriage, the original character never worked a day, living off him, wasting food, and turning into a parasite. She didn’t even do housework, sleeping in until the sun shone on her backside. Stealing her nephew’s candy, taking her brother-in-law’s eggs, sneaking vegetables from others’ plots, and even stealing from the old hunter’s traps. She was a thief and a parasite.

The once-esteemed Fu family’s reputation plummeted after she married in. The whole village of Qinglian Commune shook their heads at her, and even dogs would scorn her.

After becoming pregnant, it got worse. It is said that even her underwear was washed by her mother-in-law. After giving birth, she never wore a bra or panties even for a single day. It was all for the sake of convenience. Whenever the baby cried or made a fuss, she would throw him to her mother-in-law or younger brother-in-law and run off to play, seeking peace and quiet for herself. The whole family treated her like a queen…

She lived a life that others would envy as “heavenly,” but she still kept running to the female lead’s side to pester her, often getting humiliated by her, and no one could understand what her problem was.

The original owner’s husband, Fu Zhengtu, wasn’t described much by the author. Other than being called the “most handsome man in the commune,” he went missing on a secret mission shortly after marriage. By the time Su Taotao arrived, Fu Zhengtu had never returned, and his features remained vague in her memory. No matter how hard she tried to recall, she could only remember him as tall, with a muscular build and a sleek V-shaped torso…

The reason the original owner attempted to jump into the river was actually because her childhood sweetheart, who had lost contact before she went to the countryside, wrote her a vague letter after returning to the city, trying to stir her emotions. No matter how easy life in the countryside was, or how handsome and fit her husband was, she was living like a widow. Being young, the original owner couldn’t stand it and created a farce, threatening to kill herself to force her way back to the city, leaving her husband and child behind.

She died, and then Su Taotao came here.

After learning the general plot, Su Taotao nearly wished she could bang her head against the wall and return to her original world. She no longer had any family, but her parents left a large inheritance. She had just graduated from university, was young, beautiful, and had long legs. Her bank account still had a lot of money left. How could she have ended up in this poor, resource-deprived, 1970s setting? The pain of having money in the bank but being stuck in a place like this was unimaginable.

“Taotao? Are you awake?” Zhou Linglan’s voice was gentle and soft, with a hint of pleading, no wonder the original owner had her wrapped around her finger.

Su Tao Tao’s eyelids fluttered, but she didn’t want to wake up.

Zhou Linglan knew she was awake and sighed, continuing, “Taotao, I’ve been a widow for over a decade, so I understand the bitterness in your heart. We agreed before, didn’t we? You’ll wait for Zhengtu for three years. If there’s still no news from him after three years, you can go back to the city or remarry. I won’t stop you. Can you pity our Chen Chen? He’s not even two years old and can’t live without his mother. Can you wait for just another six months?”

Wait for a cheap husband for three years? Su Tao Tao didn’t expect this turn of events.

Wait, Chen Chen? Her cheap son?

Su Taotao opened her eyes abruptly and looked over. An old woman and a young child came into view, leaving her stunned…