“Ugh—!”
Why is my head so dizzy?
Sui Xin clutched her head as she groggily sat up from the kang bed.
Looking around, she saw yellow mud walls, a dirt floor, and a tattered thatched roof.
A rat crawled out from the ragged quilt by her feet and strutted past.
Her pupils shrank. Where is this place?
Has the underworld become this poor? There are even rats?
Creaaak—!
The door opened. Sui Xin looked up to see a woman wrapped tightly from head to toe walking in.
When she saw Sui Xin awake, Wei Hong was startled at first.
But she quickly calmed down, untied the scarf around her head, and sneered.
“Oh? Our little darling is awake? What’s wrong—confused about where you are?”
Sui Xin’s heart skipped a beat. Judging by this woman’s clothes and speech, this definitely wasn’t the underworld. So where had she been taken?
Didn’t she die of stomach cancer?
How was she alive again?
Looking at her surroundings, it felt like she’d been dragged into some remote, impoverished mountain village.
Northern Myanmar? Organ trafficking?
In an instant, countless possibilities flashed through her mind.
She frowned at the unfamiliar woman, quietly testing her limbs, saying nothing.
“Tch! You’re about to be sold off, and you’re still putting on that delicate young lady act—who are you trying to fool?
Sui Xin, don’t blame me for being heartless. Who told you to be the treasure of your family since childhood—well-fed, well-dressed, even sent to school?”
As she spoke, Wei Hong lunged forward, grabbing Sui Xin’s long braid and yanking hard while pinching the tender flesh on her body.
“I’m jealous of you! I hate you! Who do you think you are, blocking my path?
Only by getting rid of you can I take your technical school spot, go study, marry a good man, and escape this miserable, poverty-stricken life… ugh—!”
Before she could finish, the world spun. A small hand clamped tightly around her throat, cutting off her breath.
Just as she tried to struggle, Sui Xin—now straddling her—curved two fingers and struck hard at her shoulder’s pressure point.
Wei Hong’s body immediately went numb on one side, losing all strength.
Sui Xin’s eyes were blood-red, her expression ruthless. She tightened her grip, choking Wei Hong until her face turned from red to purple, her eyes rolling back.
“Speak! Who are you? What are you trying to do to me?”
Only when Wei Hong was on the verge of death did Sui Xin loosen her grip slightly and demand an answer.
Gasping and coughing, Wei Hong croaked hoarsely,
“I’m Wei Hong… your cousin! Don’t you recognize me? I just brought you out to stroll around the county. I didn’t mean anything—what I said just now was a joke…”
“A joke? Not funny. Tell me honestly—where is this?”
Sui Xin tightened her hand again.
“This is Muyang Village! Muyang Village…”
Muyang Village… Wei Hong…
Why do those names sound so familiar?
A sudden thought struck her—had she transmigrated into a novel?
She examined her hands—thin, frail, just skin and bones. Definitely not the healthy arms of her 35-year-old self.
She asked again, “What country is this? What year?”
Terrified, Wei Hong trembled. She couldn’t understand why her once delicate, fragile cousin—who could be blown over by a gust of wind—had suddenly become like a different person.
Cold, ruthless, terrifying.
Just one glance was enough to make her shiver in fear.
“This… this is China… 1985…”
Yes.
That confirmed it.
She had transmigrated into a novel set in the 1980s.
The original owner of this body was also named Sui Xin—a delicate, weak girl.
Spoiled by her family, she grew up naive and timid. She was tricked by the novel’s vicious supporting character—her cousin Wei Hong—into going to the county.
Then she was sold.
Sold by Wei Hong and her unreliable, gambling-and-whoring father to a crippled, one-eyed hunter deep in the mountains.
Within three months, she was tortured to death.
Meanwhile, Wei Hong took her place at Liaocheng Medical Technical School. Within two months, she hooked up with a factory worker from the steel plant and flaunted it back in the village, bragging she’d soon become a city resident.
In her previous life, Sui Xin had been a prodigy in pharmaceutical sciences, completing a combined bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD program.
Her parents and older sister died in a car accident when she was ten.
She grew up abused in her uncle’s household, relying on her academic excellence and repeated school recommendations just to make it to university.
After graduation, she reclaimed her family’s pharmaceutical company with decisive force.
But under years of abuse and relentless overwork between lab and company, she developed stomach cancer—terminal by the time it was discovered.
After donating all her assets and research to the country, she waited alone at home to die.
Out of boredom, she had read many web novels—just for fun, never remembering much.
She only remembered this particular novel because there was a cannon-fodder character who shared her name.
Back then, she lost interest after seeing how differently that Sui Xin lived—and how miserable her ending was.
She didn’t even remember what happened later between Wei Hong and the main characters.
Now that she understood everything, Sui Xin had no intention of wasting time with Wei Hong.
She struck her Baihui acupoint with a single punch.
Wei Hong screamed and collapsed unconscious.
From outside came a deep male voice:
“What’s going on? Why did your daughter go in? She didn’t do anything to the wife I bought, did she?”
Another sharp male voice replied,
“It’s fine! What can a little girl do? She’ll be out soon.”
“No, I’m going in to check.”
“Wait, wait—I’ll go first!”
The original body was already weak, drugged, and now exhausted from everything Sui Xin had done.
Hearing the voices outside, Sui Xin quickly got off the bed and hid behind the door—but her body swayed uncontrollably.
No… she had to find a way to save herself.
If both men came in, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
She picked up a stone from behind the door and imitated Wei Hong’s voice:
“Dad, come in for a moment.”
Wei Kui didn’t think much of it and pushed the door open.
Sui Xin used all her strength to smash the stone against the back of his head.
Caught off guard, Wei Kui clutched his bleeding head, turned to look at her, and before he could speak—collapsed.
Outside, the hunter Wu San stumbled back in shock.
“Who’s there? What are you trying to do?”
Panting heavily behind the door, Sui Xin forced herself to calm down.
“Why do you want to buy a wife?”
Wu San blinked his one good eye. “To have children, of course.”
“Then you’d better take my cousin Wei Hong instead. She’s three years older—twenty-one, fully developed, wide hips, good for childbirth.
I’m weak and sickly. I might die any day. Taking me would be a loss.”
Wu San hesitated. “But I already made a deal with Wei Kui to buy you. What if he comes after me?”
Sui Xin sneered. “He’s unconscious. How would he know? Besides, he gambles and frequents prostitutes—he’ll get himself killed sooner or later. He won’t care about chasing you over a girl.
As for me—I’m dying anyway. I refuse to marry into the mountains and suffer. If you touch me, we’ll die together.”
Wu San thought it over. The girl he was buying did look scrawny and frail.
But the woman on the bed…
Full chest, round hips.
His resolve wavered instantly.
Afraid Wei Kui might wake up, he limped inside, wrapped Wei Hong in a blanket, hoisted her onto his shoulder, and hurried off.
Only after watching them disappear into the forest behind the mountain did Sui Xin finally breathe out.
The blood-stained stone slipped from her hand and rolled to the ground.
Supporting herself against the wall, she steadied her dizziness, then searched Wei Kui’s pockets.
She took the 3,000 yuan meant to buy her.
Without sparing her so-called relative—a man who was technically her uncle by marriage—even a glance, she left quickly.
She had been gone for half a day. If she didn’t return soon, her family would panic.
After struggling to reach the main road, she boarded a bus back to the county.
The moment she got on, she collapsed into a seat.
This body… was far too weak.
After nearly two more hours of travel, she finally arrived at Taishan County.
Exhausted, she dragged herself off the bus.
After just a few steps, a tall, thin figure suddenly pulled her into an embrace.
“Sweetheart! I finally found you—I was worried sick!”