Chapter 3: Becoming the Cannon Fodder in the Book

She had arrived in the 1970s, but why was she lying in a hospital bed?

Wu Xiuxiu was puzzled. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her head, as if it were splitting open. Along with the pain came a flood of unfamiliar memories.

Wu Xiuxiu, a lover of period novels, knew these were the memories of the original owner. Obtaining these memories, she realized she had transmigrated to 1972.

The original owner shared her name, Wu Xiuxiu. She was 17 years old, had recently graduated high school, and was the youngest daughter of Wu Fangguo and his wife, Ding Hongjuan, employees of the fertilizer factory.

Wu Fangguo and Ding Hongjuan had a son and a daughter. Their son, Wu Zhipeng, was eight years older than the original owner. After Wu Fangguo passed away four years ago, Wu Zhipeng took over his father’s job at the fertilizer factory and later married Dong Xiaoye, the niece of a colleague.

In 1972, the nation was singing the praises of educated youth going to the countryside to build a new socialist society. The government issued a policy requiring families with more than two children to send one child to the countryside.

The Wu family had two children, so naturally, one of them had to go. Wu Zhipeng was already married and had a job, so it wouldn’t be him. The only option was for the original owner to go.

By this time, it had been over a decade since the first educated youth had been sent to the countryside. Everyone knew how difficult it was. Once you went, it was hard to return to the city. Female educated youth were often bullied in the countryside, even subjected to rape and exploitation by rural thugs.

Therefore, the original owner refused to go to the countryside. However, the policy was unbreakable. There were only two ways to avoid it: marriage or a job, neither of which the original owner had.

The original owner was a good girl, always obedient to her parents. She studied hard in school and hadn’t dated anyone, so finding a husband was out of the question.

As for work, it was even harder to find a job than in modern times. More than half of the high school graduates from the previous year were still unemployed, let alone someone who had just graduated.

Ding Hongjuan didn’t have a job for her to take over, so the original owner couldn’t escape going to the countryside. But she really didn’t want to go.

The neighborhood committee was pressing them, urging families with eligible educated youth to register for the program. The original owner came up with a plan: she would deliberately get soaked in a rainstorm and get sick.

She thought that if she got seriously ill, she could avoid going to the countryside.

However, she succeeded in getting sick, developing a high fever. Her temperature reached 41 degrees Celsius and refused to come down. She actually burned herself to death, which led to my transmigration.

Well, after learning how she died, I didn’t know how to react.

While I could understand why she did it, I still felt like criticizing her…

Her actions, sacrificing herself to avoid going to the countryside, were simply unacceptable. So stupid, so foolish…

“So foolish!”

I remembered the crying that had woken me up earlier, also calling the original owner foolish. The voice was unfamiliar yet somehow familiar, like Ding Hongjuan, the original owner’s mother.

“Creak…”

Suddenly, the door opened. I immediately looked towards the door and saw two women dressed in the style of the 1970s walking in.

One was a middle-aged woman with tear-stained cheeks, her face full of worry. The other was a young woman with no tears but a worried expression.

They were Ding Hongjuan, the original owner’s mother, and Dong Xiaoye, her sister-in-law.

“Mom, Sister-in-law!” I called out, realizing my voice was hoarse and weak.

“Xiuxiu, you’re awake!” Seeing me open my eyes and call out to her and her daughter-in-law, Ding Hongjuan rushed to my bedside.

“It’s great, you finally woke up. You were unconscious, burning with fever, for so long. I was so worried you wouldn’t wake up, that you would just… leave.”

Ding Hongjuan came to her daughter, reached out to touch her daughter, and cried, tears falling again.

“Mom, I’m sorry for worrying you!” I apologized.

Although I wasn’t the original owner, I was now in her body, so I should apologize for her.

“Your forehead is completely cool now, it seems the fever has broken. It’s truly a blessing… Oooo…

You silly girl, why did you come up with such a plan to avoid going to the countryside? Do you know how close you were to losing your life, to dying… Wuwu…”

Ding Hongjuan touched my forehead, her expression relieved, but she continued to scold me, her tears flowing even more freely.

“Mom, don’t cry. If you keep crying, your eyes will swell up. Xiuxiu is awake now, her fever has broken!”

Dong Xiaoye came to the bedside to comfort her mother-in-law, then turned to her sister-in-law.

She also scolded her: “Xiuxiu, why didn’t you discuss it with everyone before you went out and got soaked in the rain and got a high fever! Do you know how high your temperature was?

41 degrees! It scared us to death!

The doctor even told us to prepare ourselves. With such a high fever, refusing to come down, you could have died from it…

Thank goodness you’re a lucky girl, your fever broke, and you woke up.”

“I’m sorry!” I could only apologize again, sighing inwardly as I realized that the two women in front of me didn’t know that the original owner had actually burned to death, and the one who had woken up now was someone else.

“Xiaoye, go quickly and tell the doctor that Xiuxiu’s fever has broken and she’s awake. Ask him to come and check on her.” Ding Hongjuan wiped away her tears and instructed her daughter-in-law.

“Okay.” Dong Xiaoye immediately agreed and ran out of the ward to find the doctor.

Two minutes later, Dong Xiaoye returned with a doctor with graying hair.

After examining me, the doctor declared that I was fine. He said that I was just weak from the fever and needed to rest for two days before I would recover. He told me to get plenty of rest.

Ding Hongjuan was finally relieved. After sending the doctor away, she returned to my bedside and looked at me with love, asking, “Xiuxiu, would you like to drink some water? Mom will pour you a glass. Your voice is so hoarse, your throat must be dry, do you want some water?”

Hearing this, I realized my throat was indeed very dry and uncomfortable. I wanted water and quickly nodded.

Ding Hongjuan immediately poured water, gently supporting my head with her hand and feeding me water.

“Thank you, Mom.” After drinking several sips of water, my throat felt less dry, so I stopped and thanked my mother.

Ding Hongjuan placed the remaining half cup of water on the table and helped her daughter’s head lie back on the pillow.

“You little rascal, don’t ever do something so foolish again! If you hadn’t survived, you would have made your mother die of worry.”

“Mom, don’t worry, I will never do anything like that again.” Wu Xiuxiu nodded obediently.

She would absolutely not do something like that again. It was just going to the countryside, which was better than burning herself to 41 degrees and dying.

She was from a rural background, and had been doing farm work since she was little. She had done all sorts of heavy farm work, so she was not afraid of going to the countryside to do farm work.

“Xiuxiu, if you don’t want to go to the countryside, we can think of other ways. There are other ways to avoid going to the countryside. You absolutely cannot do something so foolish that could cost you your life.” Dong Xiaoye said.

Hearing this, Ding Hongjuan immediately turned her head to look at her daughter-in-law, “Other ways? Xiaoye, have you thought of a way for Xiuxiu to avoid going to the countryside?”

Her voice, like her expression, was a little excited.

Seeing Dong Xiaoye nod, a flash of curiosity and expectation appeared in Wu Xiuxiu’s eyes. She was very curious and excited to know what other ways she could avoid going to the countryside.

“Xiaoye, tell us quickly what the way is.” Ding Hongjuan urged her daughter-in-law with some anxiety.

“There are only two ways to avoid going to the countryside. One is to find a job, which we can’t do. None of us have the ability to find Xiuxiu a job immediately…

The other way is to find a man for Xiuxiu to marry. This is something we can do.” Dong Xiaoye said.

“It’s easy to say, but where can we find a good man to marry Xiuxiu in such a short time?”

Ding Hongjuan shook her head and sighed, the excitement and joy on her face quickly disappeared, leaving only worry.

“Marriage is a matter of Xiuxiu’s happiness for the rest of her life, we can’t just find anyone. If she marries the wrong person, or a bad person, it’s as miserable as going to the countryside, or even worse!”

Wu Xiuxiu agreed with Ding Hongjuan’s words and nodded vigorously.

“The idea of letting Xiuxiu get married to avoid going to the countryside, I thought about it before, but I was afraid of finding a bad man for Xiuxiu, ruining her life…

Besides, we don’t know many people, and among the people we know, we haven’t heard of any young men looking for a partner to get married.”

Ding Hongjuan said, sighing heavily. “Sigh… It’s hard!” Her face was full of worry.

“We don’t know any young men looking for partners to get married, we can’t find a good marriage partner, but someone else knows, someone else can find one!

When I went to the toilet earlier, I actually ran into Liu the Matchmaker, who is very famous in my mother’s generation. Seeing her, I thought we could ask Liu the Matchmaker to help us find a good young man for Xiuxiu to meet,

If one doesn’t work out, there’s always one that will. A suitable man to marry Xiuxiu and make her happy.” Dong Xiaoye said with a smile.

“Matchmakers are specifically for matchmaking. People who want to get married will all go to her. She must know a lot of good young men.”

“This is a good idea!” Ding Hongjuan’s face lit up, the worry on her face disappeared, and she even clapped her hands happily. It was obvious that she liked her daughter-in-law’s idea very much.

“Xiaoye, this idea of yours is really good. Why didn’t I think of asking a matchmaker to arrange a blind date for Xiuxiu before? We can always find a good young man, so that Xiuxiu can get married and live happily ever after.”

“Then I’ll go find Liu the Matchmaker this afternoon and ask her to find a good young man for Xiuxiu to meet.” Dong Xiaoye said.

“Okay, you go this afternoon. Anyway, Xiuxiu is fine now, I can take care of her alone.” Ding Hongjuan nodded.

Wu Xiuxiu looked at Ding Hongjuan and Dong Xiaoye, dumbfounded. No way, they didn’t even ask her opinion, they just decided to find a matchmaker to arrange a blind date for her, so she could get married as soon as possible.

Although she knew they were doing it for her own good, she still couldn’t accept it.

Wu Xiuxiu wanted to stop them, but a plot from a novel suddenly flashed through her mind, making her heart jump and dispel her thoughts of stopping them.

Just now, she didn’t know why, but she suddenly remembered a plot from a period novel she had read half a month ago.

In that novel, there was a cannon fodder with the same name as her, also called Wu Xiuxiu. Coincidentally, the cannon fodder’s mother was also called Ding Hongjuan, and her sister-in-law was also called Dong Xiaoye. The cannon fodder also had an older brother named Wu Zhipeng and a father named Wu Fangguo.

The cannon fodder’s family members had the exact same names as the original owner’s, and the cannon fodder was also forced to go to the countryside.

So many coincidences, it couldn’t be a coincidence. She was probably transmigrated into the novel she had read half a month ago.

She had just accepted the original owner’s memories, her head was hurting badly, and she didn’t remember at the first time that the original owner and the cannon fodder in the novel she had read half a month ago had the same name, and that her family members had the exact same names. She didn’t realize that she had transmigrated into the novel.

Now that her head was no longer hurting and was clear, she finally remembered and realized.

The Wu Xiuxiu in the novel was super miserable, a cannon fodder. After being forced to go to the countryside, she met a vicious female supporting character who went to the countryside with her.

The vicious female supporting character had a crush on the male lead who had gone to the countryside a year earlier, but the male lead was already with the female lead, the village flower. The vicious female supporting character tried to find ways to snatch the male lead away from the female lead.

The vicious female supporting character, in order to make the male lead dislike the female lead and break up with her, colluded with the village bully to put something in the female lead’s water, trying to get her raped by the village bully.

But the female lead had the female lead’s halo, how could she let the vicious female supporting character succeed? So the poisoned water was accidentally drunk by the Wu Xiuxiu in the novel, and it was Wu Xiuxiu who was slept with by the village bully, who was raped by the village bully, and she was also unlucky enough to get pregnant.

The village bully, although he saw that the Wu Xiuxiu in the novel was a beauty, was greedy for her beauty and was willing to take responsibility for Wu Xiuxiu and marry her, but Wu Xiuxiu died in childbirth.

It was really super miserable! She absolutely didn’t want to have the same tragic fate as the Wu Xiuxiu in the novel.

To avoid that fate, she absolutely couldn’t go to the countryside.

To avoid going to the countryside, she could only get married.

It seemed she could only obediently follow her mother and Dong Xiaoye’s arrangement and go on a blind date and get married!

Wu Xiuxiu was extremely helpless and shed two lines of noodle-wide tears in her heart…