Chapter 1

In June 1958, the sun was blazing.

At 5:30 PM, in Yunshui County.

The steel mill had just finished its shift. As the factory gates opened, a flood of workers, all wearing dark blue overalls and pushing their bicycles, streamed out, heading home. Before long, the area around the crowded courtyard next to the steel mill was bustling with activity.

The residents of the courtyard returned home one after another. Some took quick showers, others started cooking, and the sounds of rice being washed and water splashing filled the air. The entire alley was scented with the aroma of lard and sugar cakes.

Today was payday at the steel mill, and the wives in the courtyard were all smiling. In a few households, it was rare to see meat on the cutting board as they prepared dinner.

The men, bare-chested, gathered at the alley entrance to chat, while the women, taking advantage of the time while lighting the coal stoves, nibbled on a few shared roasted pumpkin seeds, their faces animated as they gossiped about the courtyard.

“Hey, it’s been a few days now, hasn’t it? Why hasn’t the daughter-in-law of the Gu family next door come out yet?”

“Why would she come out? She’s a newlywed bride, after all. It’s only been a few days, and it’s natural for a young girl to feel shy.”

“She’s already married, so why still act like a young maiden? No matter how pretty a bride is when she first arrives in this crowded courtyard, in a few years, she’ll be worn down into a haggard old woman just like the rest of us.”

“Don’t say that. The daughter-in-law of the Gu family is really quite a beauty. That face, that figure—she’s as lovely as a budding spring flower.”

This comment came from Aunt Da Fu, a resident of the courtyard. Beside her, a sharp-faced woman with a thick braid scoffed, spitting on the ground, her tone dripping with sarcasm, “What good is beauty? Her family is practically gone, and she’s the only one left. If it weren’t for her uncle’s family, she wouldn’t have ended up in our courtyard!”

The sharp-faced woman’s words clearly hinted at something, sparking the curiosity of the surrounding women.

“Shengcai’s wife, what do you mean by that?”

“Oh, you don’t know?”

“Know what? Wasn’t this marriage of the Gu family’s arranged long ago?”

“Yes, I heard it was arranged by Old Man Mancang before the liberation.”

The sharp-faced woman, hearing this, smirked mysteriously, her thick lips curling, “It’s true that the marriage was arranged by the elders, but the bride has been swapped.”

“What? Is that true?”

“You shouldn’t spread rumors without proof.”

Faced with doubt, Shengcai’s wife immediately got defensive, raising her hand as if to swear an oath, “I’m not making this up! Originally, the girl who was supposed to marry into the Gu family was named Lin Hongna. But something happened—she fell into the river while washing clothes, and when she woke up, she started making a fuss, refusing to marry. She even threatened to hang herself several times, scaring her parents half to death. With no other option, the Lin family head decided to swap her out with their niece.”

“Sigh, how could an uncle be so heartless? Did the girl even agree to it?”

“What choice did she have? Her parents are gone, her only brother is a soldier stationed in Xinjiang, and she’s just a girl by herself. Isn’t she like meat on a chopping block, waiting to be handled? This has been the talk of Linjia Village for a while now. And that Lin Hongna, she’s always had high ambitions, looking down on farm boys and our crowded courtyard. She’s determined to marry up!”

“That girl…tsk tsk.”

Shengcai’s wife spoke with confidence, saying that her husband had heard the whole story while working with a construction team in Linjia Village recently.

The women around her sighed, feeling both sympathetic and curious. They couldn’t help but wonder about the Gu family, a household of five. Apart from the honest and straightforward Gu Mancang, the remaining four were known to be a tough bunch, especially the head of the family, Zhang Cuilan. She worked at the state-owned pig farm, where she was notorious for her skill with a butcher’s knife.

She had earned the nickname “Third Lady Zhang,” known as the undefeated fighter of the courtyard!

Zhang Cuilan probably knows about this. Things are bound to blow up.

The old Gu family is likely going to be in for some excitement!

Of course, there are also those observant sisters-in-law who ponder that with Zhang Cuilan’s shrewd nature, she probably already knows the ins and outs of the situation.

Otherwise, there would have been a commotion on the wedding day.

As everyone speculated, when dinner time approached, the children began to wail about their hunger, prompting the mothers to hurriedly slap their thighs and send everyone back home.

At the eastern end of the courtyard, the Gu family.

As the evening heat dissipated, the aroma of cooking wafted through the alley.

The cicadas on the sycamore tree in the backyard continued their noisy calls, buzzing on and on.

Under the sycamore tree, in a row of north-south houses with front porches and back rooms, one room had its window open. Inside, Lin Yao furrowed her brows, having been woken up by the raucous cicada noise that disturbed her peace.

In this scorching heat, why wasn’t the air conditioner blowing any cool air?

Lin Yao yawned, rubbed her sore eyes, and felt sticky all over, her face drenched in sweat. Habitually, she touched her forehead, accidentally hitting the wound there, causing tears to spring up from the pain.

As she rubbed her head, she was just about to get out of bed to turn on the air conditioner for some relief.

But as soon as she got out of bed, Lin Yao was stunned.

What greeted her was a wooden bed draped with a coarse mosquito net, and on the wooden table against the wall sat a red-painted peony thermos. Beside it were an old wardrobe and a cupboard, with the freshly painted white walls adorned with large red characters for celebration.

The pillowcase had red characters for celebration, the bed sheet was festive, and there was a thin quilt depicting mandarin ducks playing in the water spread out.

At this moment, the quilt was in disarray, looking like a dog’s nest—she had just crawled out from under it.

Lin Yao: ?!

What’s going on? Did she sleepwalk?

Wait, the calendar on the wall… 1958?

Just as Lin Yao was in a daze, the door to the room was flung open, and a middle-aged woman with dark, rough skin and a round face, about forty or fifty years old, bustled in.

Zhang Cuilan had just come home from work. Upon seeing Lin Yao awake, she exclaimed joyfully, “Child, you’re finally awake! Oh my, you’ve been asleep for several days! It’s good that you’re awake. That means everything is fine! You must be hungry, right? Auntie will go make you some steamed egg custard. Just wait a moment!”

Zhang Cuilan slapped her thigh happily and then rushed out like a gust of wind.

Lin Yao, left behind, was even more bewildered.

As soon as Zhang Cuilan left, a ten-year-old boy suddenly appeared at the door.

The boy had a dark, sun-kissed face, a shaved head, and bright, big eyes that were quite clever. Seizing the moment when no one was around, the bald boy bounced over.

“Sister-in-law, you’re awake!”

Lin Yao: Who are you calling sister-in-law?!

Before she could react, the little boy grinned widely, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and patted his own bald head. “Sister-in-law, you don’t remember me? I’m Dongzi! I went with my elder brother to Linjia Village, and you even gave me some candy… What? Who is my elder brother? My elder brother is Gu Shi’an, he’s twenty-eight this year, twenty-nine in Chinese age! He’s back in the army. When you came here as a substitute bride, you bumped your head against the pillar, and it was my elder brother who carried you… Ouch, that hurt, it hurt…”

Before the bald boy could finish, Zhang Cuilan, who had come rushing back, pinched his ear, “Gu Shidong, you little brat, what are you doing? Your sister-in-law just woke up, and you’re here making a racket! Looking for a beating? You’re just bouncing around after school. Are you a dog? Get out of here!”

Gu Shidong yelped in pain, quickly pleading, “Mom, Mom, I’m sorry! Please go easy on me…”

“I was just worried about my sister-in-law! I wanted to help!”

“Help my foot!”

With the sound of the door closing, the mother-son duo’s voices gradually faded away.

Substitute bride? Gu Shi’an?

Sitting on the bed, Lin Yao stared blankly at the festive decorations in the new room.

All she did was take a tumble down the stairs on her birthday, and somehow, she ended up transmigrating?

Yesterday, she was celebrating her birthday with good friends in a villa, and after a night’s sleep, she woke up here for no reason.

Isn’t this absurd?

Fine, she’s transmigrated.

And what a coincidence—she ended up in a cheesy period novel she had read before!

The original book is divided into two parts. In the first part, the female protagonist is Lin Yao, who possesses extraordinary luck, also known as the original owner. Because of her beauty and gentle personality, she not only marries into a good family but also sees her husband thrive in business after the reforms, becoming incredibly wealthy. Lin Yao lives a life of luxury as a wealthy lady, residing in a villa in Hong Kong, with a housekeeper at home and a chauffeur when she goes out, enjoying a life of ease.

The second part of the plot is a dramatic turn of events. The protagonist becomes Lin Hongna, the original owner’s cousin, while the original Lin Yao turns into a powerless supporting character who loses her fortune.

After being reborn, Lin Hongna uses her past life’s experiences and cleverness to successfully snatch away the husband of her cousin and helps him become a billionaire, reaching the peak of life.

And she, Lin Yao, has become the character who gets her husband stolen by the female protagonist and is designed to be the substitute bride in the crowded courtyard, living under her heel in poverty until she meets her end.

That’s a summary of the original book.

For a more detailed account, we need to start from the generation of Lin Yao’s grandfather and the original protagonist.

Lin Yao’s grandfather was an orphaned child, sent to tend sheep for a landlord at seven or eight years old. At fifteen, he joined the Red Army.

In the army, he met Gu Shi’an’s grandfather, and the two young men quickly became like brothers.

On one occasion, on the battlefield, in order to save Gu Shi’an’s grandfather, Lin Yao’s grandfather was blown away by artillery shells and ended up with a limp in his right leg.

In gratitude for saving his life, Gu Shi’an’s grandfather, with tears in his eyes, immediately arranged a childhood betrothal between their families, ensuring that the two families would always be united.

However, both families only had sons. Lin Yao’s grandfather had two sons: Lin Daguo and Lin Weiguo.

Gu Shi’an’s grandfather, on the other hand, had only one son, Gu Mancang.

Both families had sons, but they couldn’t intermarry.

As a result, the marriage agreement could only be passed down to the next generation.

On the Lin family side, Lin Daguo’s eldest daughter is Lin Hongna, and Lin Weiguo also has a daughter—Lin Yao.

In the Gu family, from Gu Mancang’s generation onwards, they were prosperous, with two sons and a daughter: the eldest son, Gu Shi’an; the second daughter, Gu Chunmei, and the youngest son, Gu Shidong.

According to the agreement between the two families, Lin Hongna was betrothed to Gu Shi’an since childhood.

To put it mildly, the Gu family’s conditions were much better than those of the Lin family.

The Gu family lived in a large courtyard in the city, while the Lin family farmed in the countryside.

Gu Mancang was a fifth-grade fitter, earning sixty-five yuan a month, and his wife, Zhang Cuilan, worked at a state-owned pig farm where she was awarded advanced worker status year after year. Their daughter, Gu Chunmei, worked as a cashier at a supply and marketing cooperative, and Gu Shi’an joined the army at eighteen, serving as a deputy battalion commander.

With five family members, they had three stable jobs and one military officer.

In the entire Yunshui County, this was considered a good situation.

When Lin Hongna married over, she would have a car and a house, and her husband was in the army, not at home—where could she find such a good life?

However, Lin Hongna looked down on the bustling courtyard and was solely focused on climbing the social ladder to become a wealthy lady.

There was nothing wrong with wanting to be a rich wife, so she took the risk and made things clear to the Gu family.

But the Gu family wouldn’t necessarily react badly.

Yet the reborn Lin Hongna wanted to be a wealthy lady and maintain a good reputation. With a flicker of inspiration, she turned her focus to her cousin—Lin Yao.

After all, Lin Yao was also part of the Lin family.

Lin Yao’s parents had unfortunately perished in a flood the previous year, leaving her and her elder brother, who was far away in Xinjiang, with only their uncle, Lin Daguo, to rely on.

To secure a good marriage for his daughter, Lin Daguo and his wife, Li Aifeng, used both soft and hard tactics to force the original Lin Yao to marry into the Gu family as a substitute bride.

But the original Lin Yao was timid and lacked assertiveness, so she could only agree tearfully.

Who would have thought that on the wedding day, the Gu family discovered this disgraceful substitute marriage? Faced with public accusations, Lin Daguo shamelessly pushed all the blame onto the original Lin Yao. Overcome with shame, anger, and guilt, she couldn’t handle it and ended up colliding with a pillar in the Gu family.

And unfortunate Lin Yao, not watching her step, took a tumble and ended up transmigrating like this.