Chapter 1

Spring, 1973—

The villagers of the Hongqi Brigade were busy with spring planting. Only by seizing the time to get the crops in the ground could they hope for a good harvest in the fall.

Inside a dilapidated adobe house, Qiao Xiazhi lay motionless on the bed.

Gurgle~~~

Gurgle~~~

Eventually, it was hunger that woke Qiao Xiazhi. But the moment she opened her eyes, what she saw left her completely dumbfounded.

Wasn’t she supposed to be on a plane?

If she remembered correctly, she had been reborn with powers and a spatial dimension just one month before the apocalypse. She had sold off all her family’s assets and stocked the space full of supplies. With more than half a month to go before the apocalypse hit and her safety shelter still under construction, she had decided to make a “zero-dollar shopping trip” abroad.

She clearly remembered that after finishing her spree overseas, she boarded a plane back home without incident.

So why did she suddenly go from being on a plane to waking up in a broken-down mud-brick house?

Could it be that after being reborn once, she had now transmigrated into another life?

Sure enough, just as Qiao Xiazhi was puzzled, unfamiliar memories began surfacing in her mind.

Starving after her second rebirth, Qiao Xiazhi couldn’t take it anymore and tried to access her spatial dimension to grab some food. She didn’t want to end up starving to death again right after transmigrating.

As soon as she focused her thoughts, a steaming bowl of century egg and lean pork congee appeared in her hands.

Thankfully, the spatial dimension had come along with her. She checked for the presence of her abilities—good, those were still intact too.

With powers and the spatial space still in her possession, Qiao Xiazhi began eating while absorbing the memories of the body’s original owner.

By the time all the memories had settled in her mind, she had finished the entire bowl of congee and was finally about 60% full.

But why did these memories feel so familiar? Not in the sense that she had lived them—but as if…

Suddenly, Qiao Xiazhi slapped her thigh.

“Hiss—” She winced in pain from hitting herself too hard.

These weren’t just any memories—weren’t they from a period novel she had read while waiting to board her flight? At the time, she had even complained about how the female lead shared her name.

She had nearly given up on the book, but since the main character had the same name as her, she decided to push through.

She hadn’t paid attention to the book’s title, though. It had been one of many she had pre-downloaded onto her phone.

Speaking of her phone—she’d stashed it inside her spatial space before boarding the plane.

She quickly pulled it out from the space. Thankfully, it still had battery, and the downloaded novel was accessible.

Qiao Xiazhi skimmed through the rest of the book at lightning speed to finish the remaining chapters.

It had always been a short, tragic romance novel, and she’d nearly finished it at the airport already.

After reading to the end, Qiao Xiazhi was certain—she had transmigrated into the book!

And worse—she was in the body of a hopeless romantic!

In the story, the original owner was the second child of her family. Since childhood, she’d been told by the elders:
“The eldest is spoiled, the youngest is coddled, the middle one is the punching bag.”

So she’d always believed she was the least loved one and began rebelling against her family—failing at everything but overeating.

But in reality, she was the most pampered of them all. No one scolded her even if she refused to work, and whenever there was good food, her entire family—grandparents, parents, elder brother, younger sister—would let her have it all.

Worst of all, the original owner was a grade-A, hardcore romantic.

At sixteen, when a delicate-looking intellectual youth named Zhao Zhiqing arrived at the village, she instantly fell for him—and began her obsessive, doormat-like pursuit.

When the family cooked meat, she made sure to give Zhao Zhiqing a bowl before it was even served.
Made new clothes? One set for Zhao Zhiqing.
New shoes? Zhao Zhiqing needed a pair too.

Everything was about her Zhao Zhiqing. The entire village knew she liked him and that she was determined to marry him the moment she came of age.

At first, the villagers mocked her for being shameless, but over time, they got used to her fawning.

Zhao Zhiqing, flattered by the attention and charmed by her looks, played along, always speaking sweetly and pretending to care.

“Xiazhi, the sun’s too harsh today. Don’t go work in the fields.”
“Xiazhi, it’s pouring. Don’t run around, you’ll slip.”

Before long, everyone thought they were a perfect match—a beautiful couple destined to marry. They assumed she’d follow him back to the city and live a prosperous life.

But that illusion shattered when Zhao Zhiqing returned to the city and the original owner found out he already had a childhood sweetheart there.

That was when her nightmare truly began.

In his second year in the village—when the original owner turned eighteen—Zhao Zhiqing’s childhood sweetheart pulled strings to bring him back to the city.

He didn’t even try to hide it—he wanted her to give up.

But the love-struck fool didn’t understand and wouldn’t let go.

To get into the city and reclaim her “true love,” she went on a hunger strike, battled wits with her family, and demanded to go find Zhao Zhiqing—even if only to end things properly.

This was exactly where Qiao Xiazhi had transmigrated into the story—the third day of the original owner’s hunger strike.

According to the novel, her worried family finally gave in and sent her to the city, accompanied by her older brother, Qiao Daguo.

When they arrived, Zhao Zhiqing suddenly changed his tune and began charming both her and her brother again.

The original owner, still delusional, thought he must have loved her all along. She believed two years of companionship meant more than any childhood sweetheart.

Under his sweet talk, she moved into his house—no engagement, no bride price, no wedding.

He claimed he had just returned to the city and needed to keep a low profile to avoid trouble, promising he’d make it up to her later.

The Qiao family could only sigh and give in.

But on her second day living with Zhao Zhiqing, he drugged her and sold her to human traffickers for 200 yuan.

Worse still, a few days later, he deliberately stirred up trouble at the Qiao household, claiming she’d run off with another man and swindled the family out of 100 yuan in “compensation.”

Her grandmother fainted from the shock and nearly died, only surviving because her grandfather knew some first aid.

What they didn’t know was that the original owner had already been trafficked to a remote mountain village—a godforsaken place where even birds wouldn’t land.

Escaping from there was nearly impossible.

Yet she never gave up. She endured beatings from her buyer’s family while always looking for a chance to escape.

Years passed. She thought she’d die in that hellhole.

But fate turned when another trafficked girl—this one from a powerful family—was discovered, and the entire village was raided. The original owner was finally rescued and reunited with her loving family.

As for Zhao Zhiqing—he was sentenced to three years of torture in a water dungeon before being executed for trafficking women and children.

The original owner, who had suffered so long in silence, passed away the day after learning of Zhao Zhiqing’s execution.

The novel ended there.

“Zhao Zhiqing… screw you!”
Even if this is just a story—even if she can now change the plot and protect herself and her family—Zhao Zhiqing would be first on her blacklist.

Human trafficking? That alone meant she’d make sure he rotted in the water dungeon in this life, too.

The novel only briefly mentioned his crimes: before selling the original owner, Zhao Zhiqing had already trafficked two children. After getting a taste of easy money, he targeted her when she came to the city.

Soon, he even joined a trafficking gang using his family connections.

When the original owner was finally rescued, the gang was taken down entirely—they messed with the wrong person.

Conveniently, the author had uploaded a detailed appendix at the end of the book, listing the full identities, addresses, and victims trafficked by each member.

Qiao Xiazhi immediately pulled out a compact charging printer from her space and printed out a copy of the list.

Though she had a photographic memory, she believed in having a hard copy—what if her phone broke? That list was vital.

Since the author had given her this golden tool, there was no excuse to sit on her hands.

She was here now—might as well do something meaningful before anything else.

She’d take down the whole trafficking ring ahead of time—that would be the first step in wiping out this scum for good.