Chapter 1: She Just Had a Dream, Not a… Book Transmigration?

Xi Youyou had been sleeping soundly, but as she slept, she began to dream.

In the dream, she had become a young woman from decades ago.

In the year 1975, she had failed the military medical school entrance exam and was facing the prospect of being sent down to the countryside. 

In order to escape this fate, she decided to target her older brother’s comrade. She went directly to the black market, bought something, and used it to teach her brother’s comrade a harsh lesson, then forced him to marry her.

At the time, the man had been a highly sought-after company commander in the military. Because she made a big scene, even involving the military unit, she claimed the man had slept with her and insisted that he take responsibility.

The man, who had been in a critical period for promotion, was affected by the incident.

He went from being the top candidate for deputy battalion commander to being removed from the list altogether.

However, because she became pregnant, the man still took responsibility and married her. But after marriage, he left her in their hometown, completely ignoring her, letting her live with her parents.

Two years later, the man was finally promoted to deputy battalion commander and was eligible to apply for housing in the military family compound, allowing his wife to live with him. But he remained silent.

She, growing anxious, began to stir up trouble, writing letters to the military expressing her desire to join him, but received no response.

At home, she made a huge fuss, throwing the household into chaos. Toward the end of 1980, during one of her tantrums, the man’s mother was hit by a car and killed while going out to buy food for her. Enraged, the man’s father wrote a letter to him, telling him to divorce her.

Because of her emotional instability, frequent physical and verbal abuse of their children, and lack of income, custody of the children went to the husband after the divorce. She was left with nothing. Refusing to accept this outcome, she reported the man, claiming he had taken her virginity back then and that she had kept quiet, pretending it was an accidental affair.

As a result, the man was suspended from duty.

But not long after, someone investigated and found out that she had gone to the black market herself to orchestrate everything. It was proven that the man was innocent and that she had made a false accusation. In the end, she was the one who had to go to prison.

Once, the man had a mission near his hometown. After completing it, he took the chance to visit his family and even brought along a female military doctor to treat his parents. She noticed the man and the female doctor were close and assumed they had an improper relationship. She targeted the woman, but the female doctor calmly and effectively dealt with every provocation.

While she was in prison, that female military doctor unexpectedly came to visit her. She thought the woman had come to flaunt her success, to boast that she had taken her place, and she furiously cursed at her, calling her a cheap slut. But the woman calmly told her that she and the man weren’t in that kind of relationship—she was actually the man’s long-lost biological sister. No wonder she had always felt a certain kind of kindred connection when interacting with him.

Later, because she still couldn’t control her temper in prison and got into a fight with another inmate, she ended up dying.

Xi Youyou suddenly jolted awake, breaking into a cold sweat from fear.

At that moment, the room was still dim. Dawn hadn’t yet broken. She took deep breaths, her expression dazed. Then, all of a sudden, it hit her—this dream she had just experienced seemed to be from a short period novel she had just read before falling asleep.

The novel was about a hundred thousand words long and featured a female lead who achieved a double harvest in both career and love.

The story was sweet and pampering, without any tragic drama. The female lead succeeded in both her professional life and romantic life. The book didn’t have many odd or exaggerated characters—only one. The only weirdo was the wife of the female lead’s older brother, who had tried to make things difficult for the protagonist several times.

While reading, Xi Youyou noticed that the female lead shared the same name as her. Although it made her feel slightly uncomfortable, she had already read 300,000 words and was close to finishing the story, so she didn’t abandon the book and pushed through to the end.

She never expected that after finishing the story, she would dream from the perspective of that female supporting villain. It almost scared her to death!

Thank goodness, thank goodness—it was just a dream. She hadn’t actually transmigra—

…book?

Wait a second. Something about her room’s setup… had something changed? Something didn’t feel right???

Her original room had a huge floor-to-ceiling window.

The curtains had been chosen in a fresh shade of green, and the rest of the decor had matched that same soft, refreshing style.

Her best friend had once come over and teased her, asking if she was trying to turn her room into a forest.

She’d even joked that it looked like a room for a child who hadn’t grown up yet.

She didn’t care—she just liked a room full of green. Every day when she pulled open the curtains and could see the distant river view, that was the life she had always dreamed of.

Living alone was something she had pursued for a long time.

But now, the condition of the room was hard to describe.

She was lying on a rickety bed. The surrounding walls were patched with newspaper, and beneath it she could vaguely make out a mixture of straw and mud.

In the corner sat a red kettle decorated with peony flowers, along with an enamel basin. Nearby was a table that looked like it might collapse at any moment. On top of it sat an enamel mug with several bold characters on it:

“Serve the People.”

There were also illustrations of Green Army Figurines and a Red Flag on it.

Not to mention the “curtain” at the side—it couldn’t even be called a curtain. It was just a piece of cloth casually hung up.

Xi Youyou blinked.

Just a moment ago, she had thought it was all just a dream. She had figured it was because she had read that novel right before bed last night that her thoughts had seeped into her dreams.

But now, it seemed… something wasn’t quite right.

She reached out and pinched herself hard on the arm. The sharp pain shot through her instantly, buzzing all the way to her skull.

Only then did she truly realize—

She really had transmigrated into a book…

Damn it!

As soon as she realized this, Xi Youyou couldn’t help but curse. But then, the dream she had last night came rushing back to her mind again—the memories of that female supporting villain played out vividly.

Since she had entered the perspective of the female supporting villain, and given that she now found herself in this unfamiliar environment, didn’t that clearly prove she had transmigrated into the body of that female supporting villain named Xi Youyou, who shared her exact name?

She was so mad she could’ve screamed obscenities.

If she had known that reading a novel would cause her to transmigrate into it, she would’ve chosen a story where the main character had the same name as hers but was beautiful, kind, and pure-hearted!

But now she had ended up as the female supporting villain?

No matter how she thought about it, her face couldn’t help but scrunch up in frustration!

A flood of memories flashed through her mind. Then, she turned to look at the calendar pinned to the wall.

It was the year 1980.

According to the timeline, that meant the original owner had already schemed against the male lead from the novel for five years by now. The pair of dragon and phoenix twins born from that incident were already over four years old.

And she had transmigrated at this point in time?

If she remembered correctly—

In the original plot, six months from now, the original owner would instruct the male lead’s mother—who was also the mother-in-law of this body—to go out and buy something for her to eat.

Then, the mother-in-law would be hit by a car and die.

Before that, no matter how outrageously the original owner behaved, the in-laws had still tolerated her. After all, there were two children in the picture. Even if they didn’t like her, they kept the peace for the children’s sake.

But that incident would become the true breaking point.

Once the male lead’s mother died, his father would immediately write a letter to the military unit, informing his son of everything, and that’s what would ultimately lead to the divorce.

Afterward, came the infamous part where the original owner, unwilling to accept the divorce, reported Jiang Cimo, accusing him of defiling her years ago, which led to his suspension.

“…”

The more she thought about this messy, tangled storyline, the more her head ached. What was she supposed to do now?

By the logic of most book-transmigration stories, once she had entered the book, it was probably nearly impossible to get back…..