Chapter 1

[Alternate-Era Novel]

Summer, 1976.
Xiangyang Village. Cornfield.

A sudden splitting headache made Su Wanwan’s mind go blank. A man’s voice rang beside her ear.

“Wanwan, we’re in the cornfield, no one will find us here.” Ma Zhiming fumbled impatiently with his buttons, one foot trampling down the corn stalks. “Once we get this done, I’ll go to your house tomorrow to propose marriage.”

For a moment, Su Wanwan was dazed. She looked around in confusion—the surroundings were pitch dark.
Only by the faint moonlight did she realize she was surrounded by towering corn stalks.

Her head throbbed painfully. She pinched the flesh of her arm hard, trying to keep herself awake.

Ahead, the man had already flattened a patch of the cornfield and spread his clothes across it.
A burning heat coursed through her body, and in an instant she understood.

His intentions were obvious.
He wanted to take her here.

There was no time to wonder what was happening. She had to get away.

Staggering, she turned to leave.

When Ma Zhiming looked back and saw her walking away, his expression changed. That wouldn’t do. He had gone to great lengths to coax her here, even slipping something into her soda to make sure tonight wouldn’t fail.

Thinking she was simply afraid, he quickly caught up and grabbed her arm gently.
“Wanwan, don’t be scared. Don’t you want to marry me?”

Su Wanwan panicked. She jerked free and kicked him hard, shouting angrily:
“Get lost!”

“Ugh—” Ma Zhiming groaned, caught off guard as her kick landed on his vital spot. He dropped to a half-crouch, his voice trembling:
“Wan… Wanwan, you kicked me…”

Not wasting a second, Su Wanwan turned and ran. She had to escape before he recovered, or she wouldn’t stand a chance against him.

Pushing through stalk after stalk of corn, she suddenly broke into a stretch of dense forest. Without hesitation, she rushed inside.

Survival came first.

But the drug was taking hold. Her limbs felt weak, her steps unsteady. She stumbled behind a large tree, slid to the ground, and leaned heavily against its trunk.

Then came a violent stab of pain in her head—
and a flood of memories that weren’t hers surged into her mind.

She had transmigrated.
Into a novel she had once read.
A half-finished novel, at that.

She was now Su Wanwan, a supporting female character doomed to be a stepping stone.
A cannon-fodder woman tricked by the male lead, Ma Zhiming—her whole family destroyed because of him and the heroine.

The plot unfurled rapidly in her mind:

Ma Zhiming was an educated youth sent to the countryside, unable to bear hardship, barely earning enough work points to survive. If he wanted to return to the city, he needed a spot from the brigade leader. And the perfect target was the original Su Wanwan—the brigade leader’s daughter, with the best family background in the village, and beautiful to boot.

He planned to trick her into being his “wife” without a certificate—free food, a housekeeper, and her father’s influence. Once he got the quota to return to the city, he would abandon her for a cultured city woman. That way, no one would laugh at him for marrying a country bumpkin.

On the surface, he looked gentle and scholarly, always carrying a pen in his pocket and dressing neatly. In just half a month, he had wooed the naïve Su Wanwan with sweet words, secretly meeting her after work and accepting her food, money, and ration tickets.

Tonight, his plan was to take advantage of her completely—drugging her soda and luring her into the cornfield.
Step by step, everything would follow the novel’s original script.

And the so-called heroine, Liu Caixia, another educated youth, was no better. She used Su Wanwan’s second brother for favors, then betrayed him with Ma Zhiming. Together they framed the brother, sending him to a labor farm where he eventually died.

Later, Ma Zhiming, afraid Su Wanwan’s parents would retaliate, had them falsely accused and sent away, never to recover. He openly lived with Liu Caixia, who humiliated Su Wanwan until her tragic death.
Her parents, devastated by losing both children, passed away in grief.
Her eldest brother, a soldier, returned home only to discover the ruin of his family. He avenged them, killing Ma Zhiming and Liu Caixia, but was sentenced to death.

The entire family, all reduced to cannon fodder.

Meanwhile, her own life before transmigrating flashed before her.
She had just started her first day at her crush’s company—Xie Beishen, the man she’d admired since university. Freshly graduated, she had boldly joined his company just to get close to him.
But on her first day, she overheard colleagues whispering that Xie Beishen had died the night before. Shocked, she fainted—and woke up here.

And now, her body burned unbearably hot.

“If only my space is still with me…” she thought desperately. Among her supplies, she had injections.

As soon as she thought of it, a syringe appeared in her hand.
Relief surged through her. The space must have come with her.

She tried to enter it with her mind—but failed. Again, and again. She couldn’t enter.
But the item in her hand proved it was still connected somehow.

There was no time to wonder. Her body was already drenched in sweat, her vision hazy. Trembling, she uncapped the syringe and injected herself in the arm.

“Please, work quickly…” she prayed, gritting her teeth against the overpowering drug.

The relief was partial—the heat subsided, but not completely. Her body still trembled with need.

She couldn’t go home—Ma Zhiming might be waiting.

Her guess was right. He was indeed lurking on her route back, unwilling to let anyone else “profit” from her.

In her inherited memory, she recalled a mountain pool nearby. Its waters were said to be warm in winter and cool in summer, strangely miraculous.

Forcing herself up, she staggered toward the pool. The night was pitch black, the forest eerily silent. She had never dared to walk alone in the dark, but now she had no choice, guided only by moonlight.

Her legs gave way, and she fell, scraping her palms. The pain cleared her mind just enough to push on.

Finally, she neared the pool. If she could just soak in the water, maybe she could endure this torment. At least she could swim.

What she didn’t know—
was that every night, Xie Beishen bathed in this very pool of crystal-clear water.