“Down with the local tyrants and evil gentry in the past the poor bowed their heads, today we stand tall and proud~”
Music from an old film rang out, jolting Yu Nian’an awake from her dream. Staring at the pitch-black, crumbling ceiling above her, for a split second she thought she was still dreaming within a dream.
But the tune didn’t stop. Instead, it carried an eerie sense of tearing through time.
She hurriedly sat up, her vision gradually coming into focus.
On the wall by the bed were several big-character posters. Yu Nian’an squinted to make out what they said, then suddenly pinched her own thigh hard.
Pain!
This wasn’t a dream!
She jumped out of bed, not even bothering to put on her shoes, shoved the door open, and looked outside.
A courtyard enclosed by wooden fencing. Two water jars set beneath the eaves. Even the front gate was broken halfway.
As for the room she was in it was the only one in the yard besides the kitchen.
Looking at everything before her, Yu Nian’an kept closing and reopening her eyes. In the end, she finally accepted it.
She had transmigrated.
Who could tell her why simply ranting about a badly written, unfinished novel before going to bed had resulted in her waking up like this?
Yu Nian’an was so furious she nearly lost her mind. She slammed her fist into the yellow mud wall beside her but misfortune never comes alone. With a soft pat, the already-loose clumps of mud began falling off in sheets.
She hurriedly pulled her hand back. After confirming again and again that the wall wasn’t about to collapse, she walked over to the steps, found a spot to sit down, and began thinking about her situation.
Her mind was completely blank. She couldn’t remember anything at all. Aside from the sound coming from the loudspeaker broadcast, there was nothing else in her ears.
So no system, no golden finger, not even any memories? Just an utterly unlucky soul?
Even a catastrophic opening couldn’t be worse than this. Unable to hold back, Yu Nian’an raised her hand and made a very unfriendly gesture toward the heavens.
The very next second, just as she drew her fingers back, a thunderclap boomed across the sky.
Yu Nian’an collapsed in response.
When she woke again, she clutched her head, which felt on the verge of exploding, and several names suddenly spilled from her lips.
Lin Zhi. Ye Xiao…
She knew where she had transmigrated to right into the novel she’d been ranting about before going to sleep.
Lin Zhi and Ye Xiao were the male and female leads, a pair of educated youths soon to be sent down to the countryside.
As for herself, she was nothing more than a bit-part character who appeared only three times at the beginning of the story existing solely to provide the female lead with a “reasonable” place to live later, when the educated-youth compound was introduced.
That place was this very courtyard she was living in now.
Her parents had died in an accident, leaving her an orphan. Coincidentally or perhaps not she shared the same name, and at present was stuck in the stage of being sweet-talked by a scumbag. She was about to lose both her body and her heart, be gossiped about by the villagers, and eventually be driven by the rumors to jump into the river and die.
After her death, the scumbag would obtain the deed to the property. When he learned that the female lead was looking for an empty house, he would sell this place to her.
From a plot perspective, everything unfolded smoothly and naturally. But now that she had transmigrated and become Yu Nian’an, things could no longer follow the original track.
This Lin Zhi would have to find somewhere else to live.
With that thought, Yu Nian’an pushed herself up from the ground, casually brushed the dust from her pants, and turned back into the house.
The ten-square-meter room was visible at a glance: a kang bed, two wardrobes set beside it, and by the window a wooden table missing one leg. Other than these, there was nothing.
So bare that even a thief passing by wouldn’t know where to start.
Yu Nian’an felt like crying but resigned herself to fate. She walked over and opened the storage compartment in the kang, beginning to rummage through it.
She remembered that the original owner’s parents had died while helping the production team repair the river embankment. Worried that the incident might affect their chances of being rated as an advanced unit, the team had paid money to hush it up.
She remembered that the original owner’s parents had died while helping the production brigade repair the river embankment. Worried that the incident would affect their chances of being rated as an advanced unit, the brigade had paid money to keep it quiet.
The compensation amounted to a full one hundred and eighty yuan a considerable sum.
Now that she was here, this money was the capital she needed to survive.
Yu Nian’an rummaged through the wardrobe again and again. Finally, in the lining of a thick quilt, she found the money but the amount was wrong.
Only seventy yuan remained.
The original owner was introverted and had few friends. There was no need to think further the only one who could have taken the money was the scumbag mentioned in the story.
By now, Yu Nian’an had gained some of the original owner’s memories.
Yu Dingguo the youngest son of her uncle’s family. Decent-looking, slick-tongued, spending his days chasing chickens and teasing dogs. He had often flirted with the original owner before, back when he only thought it amusing that she would blush at a single remark.
But once that compensation money appeared, his intentions changed. He began dropping by for no reason, showing concern, asking after her well-being.
And the original owner how could she withstand such an onslaught? A few sweet words were enough to leave her completely dazzled.
When the timing seemed right, Yu Dingguo used all sorts of excuses to swindle money from her. At first he claimed it was a loan; later, he simply held out his hand and asked for it outright.
It wasn’t that the original owner hadn’t thought of refusing. But Yu Dingguo would bring up the fact that she was a lone orphan with no one to look after her. If she really cut ties with him, then surely more and more people would start coveting that money.
After weighing everything, the original owner chose to give in.
All told, counting the family’s original savings, she had handed over nearly two hundred yuan.
Well then he’d gotten addicted to devouring an entire household!
Yu Nian’an snapped out of the memories. After hiding the remaining money, she reviewed all the information she had so far and sorted out three survival plans:
First: get back all the money she’d lent out that was a sum people in this era might not earn even after several years of hard work.
Second: do not get involved with the male and female leads this was hard-earned wisdom summed up by countless transmigrators.
Third: lie low, grow quietly, wait for the right moment, then buy land and houses.
For now, she would start with the first.
The original owner might have been timid and submissive, but that didn’t mean she had to be. Since she had taken over this identity, there were some things she needed to reclaim.
After locking the door, Yu Nian’an headed to her second uncle’s house, following the memories she had.
This production brigade was dominated by the Yu surname, so it was also called the Yu Family Brigade. It was the height of summer, the hottest time of the year. At this hour, most people in the brigade were resting at home, waiting for the sun to tilt westward before heading out to the fields to earn work points.
Along the way, she hardly ran into anyone.
When she arrived at her uncle’s house, her aunt was hanging laundry in the courtyard. Seeing Yu Nian’an, she looked a little surprised.
“Girl, what brings you here?” the aunt asked, beckoning her over to sit while inquiring about her purpose.
From her tone, Yu Nian’an could tell that this woman probably didn’t know about what Yu Dingguo had done. So she put on a smile. “Auntie, I’m here to look for Brother Dingguo. A few days ago he said he’d help me fix the courtyard gate, but he hasn’t come yet. I was wondering if he might be free today.”
“Oh, so that’s what it’s about. Just wait a moment I’ll go call him for you.”
The aunt set the wooden washbasin down by her feet and went into the room on the west side. Before long, she came back out, leading a tall man with her.
Yu Nian’an lifted her eyes to look at him. Sword-like brows, monolid eyes, wheat-colored skin, a high, straight nose. At first glance, he even had a bit of a rugged, wild-boy vibe. After all, anyone who could charm the original owner couldn’t have been bad-looking.
But that type wasn’t to her taste at all. Seeing him, all she could think about were her two hundred yuan she practically wanted to pounce on him and demand he pay it back immediately.
Only the aunt was still standing right there beside them.