Font Size:
Chapter 1
“Today is September 16, 1978. Comrade Deng delivered a speech stating: ‘The key issue we now face is still seeking truth from facts, integrating theory with practice, and starting from reality. This is a political issue, an ideological issue, and also a fundamental issue in achieving the Four Modernizations…’”
Fan Hua was drifting into sleep, her mind still filled with the content of the era novel she had been reading before bed — “The Celibate Old Cadre Isn’t Pretending Anymore.”
As she sank deeper into unconsciousness, scenes from the novel kept playing in her mind, and she vaguely heard the voice of a radio broadcaster…
Suddenly, Fan Hua jolted awake from her dream, blinking in confusion at the unfamiliar surroundings around her.
Outside, the radio was still broadcasting the news in a crisp and formal tone, but Fan Hua couldn’t register a single word.
She looked down at the black cloth shoes by her bed, then at the coarse, wrinkled cotton shirt she was wearing — clearly washed countless times — and a pair of patched blue work trousers.
A terrible feeling crept over her.
She immediately slipped on the black shoes and looked around, her eyes finally landing on a small cloth bundle atop a wooden bedside table.
Without hesitation, Fan Hua rushed over and opened it.
Inside were a change of clothes, two ration tickets, one fabric coupon, and a few bills of second-generation Huaguo Renminbi — in denominations of fen and jiao — totaling four yuan and twenty-five cents.
Her face grew serious as she continued rummaging through the bundle, uncovering two dry biscuits, aboiled egg, and a folded piece of paper.
She unfolded the paper, revealing clearly written lines:
It was a household registration document (hukou)!
Fanjia Village’s Fan Lihua… wasn’t that the short-lived cannon fodder supporting character from The Celibate Old Cadre Isn’t Pretending Anymore?
Holding the booklet in her hands, Fan Hua suddenly realized something. Her pupils widened.
She touched the clothes she wore, then reached up to tug the two braids hanging down beside her chest — her heart pounding.
Just a couple days ago, she had cut her hair into a sharp bob like Qin Lan’s, with a clean line along her jaw. When did her hair get so long? And real?!
She glanced again at her worn-down surroundings — a simple single bed, a small desk, a kettle, and an enamel mug with the slogan “Serve the People” on it.
It looked like a cheap inn.
Could it be…
Was she now Fan Lihua, the character whose name differed from hers by just one character?!
Could it be…
Had she really transmigrated into the body of that tragic side character who was tricked into prostitution down south and died of cervical cancer at the age of 26?
How could she accept this?!
She was about to graduate with a master’s degree, and the design company she co-founded with her classmates had just started turning a profit. Her bright future was only beginning!
…
She remembered clearly — in the book, the original Fan Lihua was both lazy and dim-witted. Her parents were greedy, and her two older brothers were troublemakers. Her reputation was terrible. Despite her good looks, no respectable family in nearby villages dared to marry her.
A bad reputation was fixable, Fan Hua thought, but what really bothered her was how utterly miserable Fan Lihua’s fate was…
At 18, Fan Lihua’s parents set a trap, got an affluent city youth named He Siyan drunk with drugged wine, and made him sleep with her. She got pregnant that very night.
The plan had been to catch He Siyan red-handed and force him to take responsibility by marrying Fan Lihua. But He Siyan woke up in the middle of the night, jumped out the window, and disappeared without a trace.
Unable to locate him, Fan Lihua’s parents decided to force her to abort the baby and marry an old man in exchange for a bride price. She managed to escape the village, only to be tricked by a widowed fellowvillager and taken south, where she became a prostitute. A few years later, she died of cervical cancer at 26…
Fan Hua racked her brain trying to remember more about the character’s arc in the novel, hoping to find some useful details.
Unfortunately, Fan Lihua had been just a minor character, briefly mentioned in a few scattered chapters. She was clearly meant to be cannon fodder, existing only to advance the plot.
Fan Hua scratched her head and stopped thinking about it. It was too late — she had definitely transmigrated. And she had no idea how to go back.
Right now, what she urgently needed to know was:
What point in the story was she at?
Had she already slept with He Siyan?
Had the twins been born?
Had she started selling her body?
Had she already gotten cancer…?
Please, please, let her have transmigrated into the body before all that — while she was still a pure, untainted village girl.
Not at the point of no return with terminal cancer!
She really didn’t want to start off this new life preparing to die…
Unless dying was the only way to go back!
Fan Hua took a deep breath, calmed herself, and listened to the radio outside. She decided to go check things out.
Following the hallway, she traced the sound of the broadcast to the lobby of the inn.
The innkeeper, a middle-aged woman, saw her come out and cheerfully asked,
“Comrade, staying another night? If so, please pay the fee.”
Fan Hua was stunned for a second before forcing a dry laugh. “Yes, I’ll stay. Auntie, how much is it per night again?”
“You’ve already been here two nights! How do you still not know the price?” the woman said teasingly. Then she lowered her voice and added,
“Since you don’t have a letter of introduction, you’re charged a bit extra — but it’s just seven mao (0.7 yuan) per night.”
“Oh, okay, okay. I’ll go grab the money in a moment.”
Fan Hua tugged at her clothes nervously and asked, “Auntie, what day is it today?”
“September 16, 1978! What, did a nap muddle your head?” she said with a chuckle.
“N-no… I just forgot, haha. I’ll go grab the money now!”
Fan Hua finally felt a little relieved. September 1978 — she was eighteen.
This was the year her parents set her up with He Siyan.
Thankfully, everything could still be changed.
But had the incident with He Siyan happened yet?
The novel didn’t mention the exact date, and without the original host’s memories, it was hard to tell where she was in the timeline.
Fortunately, she still had a few yuan — enough to stay at the inn for another couple of days. She’d lay low and try to figure out what was going on outside.
Were the educated youths already returning to the city?
Just as Fan Hua turned to retrieve her money, a young woman’s voice called out behind her:
“Lihua! You’re Fan Lihua, aren’t you?!”
Fan Hua turned reflexively to look. It was a woman in her twenties, smiling brightly.
Fan Hua studied her face, full of doubt — this woman knew her?
“Oh my, it really is Lihua! I knew it. A girl this pretty — I’ve only ever seen one like you. Knew I wasn’t mistaken.”
The woman walked up and took Fan Hua’s hand enthusiastically.
Fan Hua gave a mechanical smile and asked politely, “And you are…?”
“I’m Geng Ailing — we’re from the same village! Don’t you remember me? We used to bump into each other all the time washing clothes by the river!”
Fan Hua quickly searched her memory of the novel — and alarm bells screamed in her head.
It was her!!!
The very woman who tricked Fan Lihua into going south to become a prostitute!
In the novel, after Fan Lihua got pregnant, her greedy parents gave up on He Siyan and tried to find another husband. They planned to force her to abort the baby and marry a divorced man in his forties, just for a bride price of 500 yuan.
Though simple-minded, Fan Lihua couldn’t bear to kill her own child and ran away — the boldest thing she ever did.
Then she encountered Geng Ailing, a widowed fellow villager, who persuaded her to head south with her — where both ended up as prostitutes.
Realizing who this woman was, Fan Hua immediately yanked her hand away, her expression turning cold and distant.
“Sister Geng… what are you doing here?”