Chapter 1 [Edited]

Knock knock knock… The sound of knocking echoed, followed by the voice of a middle-aged woman. “Comrade Lu, hurry and wake up. Huaihuai is crying and has been looking for you. Come quickly and soothe him.”

Lu Nong struggled to open her eyes, feeling disoriented for a moment. The nanny’s urging voice and the baby’s loud crying seemed to spiral together, flooding her ears.

Her head buzzed.

Lu Nong’s gaze sluggishly swept across the room—waxed wooden floors, vintage furniture, an elegant European-style wooden vanity… Even by modern standards, the décor was timeless, exuding a refined and elegant retro style.

Yet, no matter how stylish it appeared, it couldn’t change the fact that this was the 1960s.

Yes, Lu Nong had transmigrated into a book, becoming a character with the same name, age, and identity as hers—for three days now.

Three days ago, she was still the glamorous daughter of a wealthy family, with money, looks, and a line of suitors. But after one night’s sleep, she had transformed into a married woman with a child.

Not only married—but remarried.

And her new husband? The father of the male lead in a period novel.

Yes, just like that, Lu Nong became the stepmother of the male protagonist.

At only twenty-two years old, she had already experienced her first marriage, childbirth, her husband’s death, and now, remarriage—with a stepson.

To make matters worse, the stepmother in the book was frail and sickly. After her remarriage, she lived in sorrow and passed away a few years later.

If there’s a term for ineffective transmigration, this would be it.

For the past three days, Lu Nong had been muddled, hoping each morning that when she opened her eyes, she would be back in her grand mansion.

Sadly, reality was cruel. It seemed there was no going back.

Lu Nong sighed. Since she couldn’t return, she decided to live well.

Right now, the most important thing was to change her fate of dying young, aiming to live until she was ninety-nine, all the way to 2040, and become the trendiest grandma across the worlds!

With this lofty goal in mind, Lu Nong figured she could squeeze in another ten minutes of sleep. Come on, rich girls don’t wake up early.

Taking a deep breath, she got out of bed, opened the door, took the child from the nanny, and patted the little one’s back. She softly began singing an English lullaby she often heard in her childhood.

Halfway through, the crying stopped. By the time Lu Nong reached the bed, it had only taken a minute and a half.

After laying the child down, she whispered to little Gu Huai, “Baby, let’s sleep a little longer with mommy, okay?”

Without waiting for a response, Lu Nong lay down herself, hugged the soft, tender little baby, closed her eyes, and instantly fell asleep.

Outside the door, the nanny stood speechless. “…”

“Comrade Lu, breakfast is ready. You should get up and eat. Even if you’re not hungry, the baby is. We’re a military family, there’s no such thing as sleeping in. Now that you’ve married in, you should follow suit. You don’t want others laughing at you. It’s best to join me in cooking and tidying the house in the mornings…”

The nanny called out loudly to Lu Nong inside the room, rudely ordering her around. Anyone who overheard would think that she was the mistress and Lu Nong was the nanny.

It was clear that she didn’t regard Lu Nong seriously at all.

Lu Nong had been married into the Pei family for just two and a half days, yet in this short time, Aunt Sun, who had worked in the family for over ten years, established rules for Lu Nong and constantly belittled her with her words.

There was an unspoken air of superiority, as if she looked down on Lu Nong with confidence that seemed to come from nowhere.

A couple of days ago, Lu Nong had hoped to return to the modern world and ignored her. This only encouraged Aunt Sun to see her as someone who could be bullied. Today, Aunt Sun had audaciously turned the tables, demanding that Lu Nong help her with her work.

Lu Nong had never been one to suffer in silence. She grabbed a book from the bedside table and threw it at the door with a loud “bang.”

Finally, the world fell silent.

Little Gu Huai, who had been on the bed, was drawn to the noise and sat up with his bright black eyes. “Mama, play!” 

He thought Lu Nong was playing with him.

With that, Lu Nong lost the last remnants of her drowsiness. She picked up a small toy from the bedside to entertain Gu Huai.

Then, she took off her nightgown and changed into a knee-length white French dress. With her hair lazily tied up, she didn’t even spare a glance at the scowling Aunt Sun and walked straight out of the bedroom into the bathroom on the second floor.

The bathroom also had a retro Republican style, and Lu Nong guessed that this little red house was probably a remnant from before the liberation, allocated to the Pei family afterward.

The woman in the mirror looked ethereal, her gaze as gentle as water. Her beauty was striking, even if her complexion was pale, it did not overshadow her remarkable charm.

Just a glance from her brought forth the essence of poetry and romance—light as the wind, blooming like flowers, pure as snow, and cool as the moon.

She had the same face as Lu Nong, but the moisture in her eyes changed her aura dramatically.

Sometimes being too good-looking is not necessarily a good thing, and this holds true in any era.

The original owner came from an ordinary family. At the age of sixteen, she was admitted to a military hospital as a nurse. It was unknown when she caught the eye of a leader, who repeatedly asked the hospital director to act as a matchmaker for him.

However, that leader was decades older than the original owner, and he was already married. Under the guise of feudal arranged marriages, he divorced his wife without leaving home, letting her take care of his parents in the countryside while he sought a younger wife in the city.

He even boasted to the original owner that marrying him was a task assigned to her by the organization.

The original owner was young but not foolish, so she naturally refused.

Yet in this era, social circumstances were not something one’s personal will could change. Furthermore, that leader had connections, and the original owner’s second uncle, who worked in the logistics department of the hospital, also came to persuade the original owner to agree.

The implication of his words is that whether the second uncle’s job can be kept depends on the decision of the original owner.

Just when the original owner was at a dead end, her first husband appeared.

The first husband was named Gu Weiguo. He was injured on the battlefield and went to the military hospital for treatment. He happened to be assigned to the original owner’s care. After spending time together day and night, Gu Weiguo fell in love with the original owner.

During one of the leader’s persistent pursuits, Gu Weiguo heroically came to the original owner’s aid and confessed his feelings for her.

Though Gu Weiguo was also more than a decade older than her, at least he was marrying for the first time, was upright, and, most importantly, could protect the original owner.

Before long, they married, and shortly after, the original owner became pregnant and gave birth to their son, Gu Huai.

Two years later, just three months ago, Gu Weiguo’s old illness relapsed while fighting on the front line, and he died before he could be rescued. Before his death, his biggest concern was for his wife and their baby. He entrusted his good brother, Pei Ji’an, to take care of them.

People in this era were very practical. In his will, Gu Weiguo explicitly stated that if Lu Nong was willing and Pei Ji’an had not taken a liking to someone else, it would be best for them to live together.

It must be said that Gu Weiguo had the original owner’s best interests at heart.

He feared that if he died, Lu Nong would be bullied, and among the people he associated with, only Pei Ji’an had the ability to protect Lu Nong for a lifetime.

Unlike Gu Weiguo, who came from humble beginnings and had earned all his military achievements through hard work on the battlefield, Pei’s family had considerable influence in the capital. Pei Ji’an, a talented individual, held the position of chief of staff at the age of thirty-five. No one dared to bully the family members of Pei Ji’an, whether due to his family background or personal capabilities.

Things did not unfold as Gu Weiguo had expected. When the news of his death spread, the leader who had previously coveted the original owner returned, and the original owner’s siblings-in-law tried to introduce her to a widowed factory director. Gu Weiguo’s stepmother came to demand compensation from the original owner…

It was impossible for the original owner not to marry Pei Ji’an, those troublesome relatives could drive her to death.

Perhaps fate was too cruel to the original owner. The day before she married into the Pei family, she disappeared. The one who woke up again was Lu Nong from modern times.

After washing up, Lu Nong returned to the bedroom. Aunt Sun was no longer there. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Gu Huai was left alone sitting on the edge of the bed, almost falling off.

Lu Nong was startled. This was her third day as a mother, and she hadn’t fully adjusted mentally, still behaving a bit carelessly. However, since she had become Gu Huai’s mother, she should take responsibility and couldn’t be so careless. So she silently reminded herself to be more attentive in the future.

Seeing his mother come over, little Gu Huai stretched out his hands, asking for a hug. “Mama, hug!”

Gu Huai resembled his mother, looking more delicate and charming than a girl. Anyone who saw him couldn’t help but feel affection, and Lu Nong was no exception.

She smiled gently and picked up Gu Huai to take him downstairs for breakfast.

As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw a young man sitting at the dining table, having breakfast. Next to him, Aunt Sun was catering to him, appearing amiable and kind. If Lu Nong hadn’t seen her roll her eyes earlier, she would have thought they were two different people.

As for the young man eating at the table, Lu Nong quickly realized he was the male lead, Pei Zheng, and also her stepson.

Out of curiosity about the male lead, she secretly observed him. At sixteen, he had clear and bright features, exuding vitality and confidence, and his military family background gave him a tall and upright stature—clearly a promising young man.

Pei Zheng was extremely sensitive. He noticed the gaze and shot a sharp look in Lu Nong’s direction. When he saw who it was, he was stunned for a moment.

A stunningly beautiful girl in a white dress was holding a child who looked very much like her in her arms. The two, big and small, were looking at him with curiosity.

Who else in this house could hold a child? As reason returned, Pei Zheng gritted his teeth.

He had just returned from spending the summer with his grandparents and only knew that his father had remarried. He didn’t expect his stepmother to be so young. She looked almost his age.

Especially when she was with the child, they didn’t look like a mother and son but more like siblings.

Pei Zheng felt uncomfortable and turned his head away from her.

Lu Nong walked calmly to the dining table, placed Gu Huai in a nearby chair, and pulled out another chair to sit down.

The relationship between a stepmother and her stepson has always been a complicated issue. If you show too much enthusiasm, others might think you have ulterior motives. If you are too cold, they may say you can’t accept your stepson. Lu Nong and Pei Zheng’s relationship was even more awkward since it was rare to see a stepmother in her early twenties with a sixteen-year-old stepson.

However, Miss Lu believed that as long as she wasn’t embarrassed, no one could make her feel uncomfortable.

Aunt Sun rolled her eyes secretly, standing next to Pei Zheng with her head held high, completely ignoring Lu Nong as if she didn’t exist. As for breakfast, Aunt Sun was unfazed, after all, she had only prepared enough for one person, and now Pei Zheng was eating it.

This behavior was a calculated move, banking on the fact that Lu Nong couldn’t afford to lose her temper in front of her stepson on her first day in the Pei family. Otherwise, not only would her stepson think that his stepmother was making things difficult for the close family nanny, but her husband and outsiders would also view her as petty.

Unfortunately, Lu Nong didn’t take the bait. She fixed her gaze on Aunt Sun, her expression unwavering, as if to ask, “Where’s my breakfast?”

Time ticked by, and the atmosphere was unusually quiet. Even Pei Zheng glanced at Lu Nong in confusion, then looked toward Aunt Sun, who was under Lu Nong’s scrutiny.

Aunt Sun: …

Just as Aunt Sun was about to say something, Pei Zheng felt a tug at his pants. He looked down to see a small figure pulling at his trousers, eyes fixed on the egg custard in his hand, saying in a babyish voice, “Guo Guo, hungry.”