1975.
In Beicheng, the weather had already begun warming by early March. A clump of wild grass grew outside the grain station family compound. A gust of wind swept past, and together with the voices drifting from the small house, the tender blades of grass trembled as if frightened.
“I thought she was just throwing a hunger strike tantrum. Who would’ve guessed she’d actually dare drink pesticide? If I hadn’t gone in to bring her food, her body would probably already be cold!”
“All this over a worker-peasant-soldier university spot? Was it really worth making such a fuss?”
“Now that the real younger daughter has been brought back, Jiang Li occupied her life for nineteen years and enjoyed all those good days. If she had even a shred of gratitude, she should voluntarily give up the spot!”
“Shh. If you ask me, it’s not just the university slot. Didn’t Jiang Li’s boyfriend break up with her too?”
Lying on the bed, Jiang Li shook her head. She had been awake for a while already, but her mind was still muddled.
Yesterday, she had been in the operating room rescuing a critically ill cardiac patient. After wheeling the patient out, she had merely closed her eyes for a moment—and arrived in this era.
That’s right. She had transmigrated into a novel.
And not just any novel, but one she had barely read a few chapters of.
A friend had recommended it to her, saying there was a supporting female character with the exact same name as hers. The friend had even joked that she should memorize the whole book in preparation for transmigration.
Who could’ve known it would turn into a prophecy?
Now Jiang Li only regretted dropping the novel after a few chapters. Had she known she’d transmigrate, she would’ve memorized every single line.
This was a 1970s-era novel. The heroine, Jiang Xiaoxiao, was the real daughter whose life had been swapped at birth. Because of a hospital mix-up, Jiang Xiaoxiao suffered through nineteen years of hardship on a poor island before finally being reunited with the Jiang family. She later attended a worker-peasant-soldier medical college, became a doctor, completely changed her fate, and lived a happy life.
Of course—
If Jiang Li herself weren’t the vicious fake daughter in the story, the worker-peasant-soldier college spot wouldn’t have belonged to her in the first place.
Then she would definitely have applauded this underdog success story.
Thinking about how her job and college spot had been forcibly taken away, Jiang Li couldn’t help mourning for the original owner of this body.
One had to know: every year, worker-peasant-soldier university spots were fought over fiercely by every workplace unit. Out of several thousand employees in the Grain Administration Bureau, only three slots were allocated.
Standing out among thousands of people was easier said than done.
To secure that spot, the original Jiang Li had always volunteered for the hardest and dirtiest work. For two consecutive years, she had been named an outstanding worker.
This year, when the university slots were distributed, she finally received word that one of them would be hers!
The original owner had been overjoyed upon hearing the news.
Who would’ve thought that the moment she got home, her entire world would collapse?
Jiang Xiaoxiao had finally returned to the Jiang family after untold hardships. She was sobbing on her adoptive mother’s shoulder, recounting the suffering she had endured all these years.
Their biological daughter had suffered for nineteen years outside, while the Jiang family had instead pampered another woman’s child.
The more Jiang Li’s parents thought about it, the angrier they became. Not only did they force Jiang Li to hand over her job, but they also manipulated things so the hard-earned university slot went to Jiang Xiaoxiao instead.
In an instant, the original owner lost both her job and her opportunity for advancement. Then she learned she wasn’t even their biological daughter. Desperate to reclaim the spot, she began a hunger strike.
The result?
For three straight days, her parents never once stepped into her room. They merely instructed her older brother and sister-in-law to deliver meals.
The original Jiang Li was stubborn too. She really endured three days without eating. Seeing that her parents were determined to give the slot to Jiang Xiaoxiao, she gritted her teeth and drank some pesticide she had hidden in the room.
Fortunately, her sister-in-law discovered her while bringing food and rushed her to the clinic for emergency stomach pumping.
After that, Jiang Li transmigrated into the body.
Jiang Li checked her pulse and confirmed she was fine before the creak of a door interrupted her.
The small wooden door opened, and a woman in a red cotton jacket poked her head in. Seeing Jiang Li awake, she finally relaxed. Supporting her eight-month-pregnant belly, she turned back with poorly concealed sarcasm in her eyes and called out:
“Mom, little sister’s awake.”
Then Ye Suqin walked inside and sat beside the bed, staring at Jiang Li’s fair, slender hand resting atop the cotton quilt. The more she looked, the more resentful she became.
Her mother-in-law had always been frail, and the Jiang family only had two children. Jiang Li and Jiang Qingfeng were six years apart, and Jiang Li had been doted on since childhood.
Ye Suqin had married into the Jiang family five years ago and handled all the household chores, yet Jiang Li had never once lent a hand.
Even when Ye Suqin dragged her into the kitchen, within ten minutes her mother-in-law would call Jiang Li away again, saying her hands needed to stay soft so she could marry well in the future.
Thinking about it now, Ye Suqin nearly ground her teeth apart.
Jiang Li’s hands were precious, but weren’t her own hands hands too?
Countless nights, she had rubbed clam oil over her dry, cracked fingers beneath the dim kerosene lamp.
But fortunately, the bitter days were finally over.
Jiang Li wasn’t actually the Jiang family’s biological daughter.
Suppressing the delight in her eyes, Ye Suqin grabbed Jiang Li’s hand and said hypocritically:
“Little sister, really now. If the spot’s gone, then it’s gone. After all, you did enjoy nineteen years of good fortune that should’ve belonged to your real younger sister. You basked in our parents’ care and blessings. Could all those years of love really be worth less than one lousy university spot?”
Hearing this, Xu Huili—who had been hurrying over from the living room—abruptly stopped in her tracks. The carefully maintained composure on her face crumbled.
Compared to Jiang Li’s fair and delicate skin, she recalled Jiang Xiaoxiao’s thin, dark appearance when she first arrived, and her heart twisted painfully.
Why had she been sent away to an island of all places?
Xu Huili had long heard how miserable life on the islands was—isolated transportation, blazing sun, endless exhausting labor.
Especially Baisha Island, where Jiang Xiaoxiao grew up. It was a barren wasteland, a godforsaken place.
Clearly Jiang Xiaoxiao was her biological daughter, yet she had never enjoyed a single good day in her life.
The thought ignited anger in Xu Huili’s chest.
“Still not done causing trouble? Our family raised you for nineteen years—how exactly did we wrong you? You insist on making a scene by drinking pesticide. Do you only feel satisfied once the whole neighborhood points fingers at your father and me?”
Her raised hand trembled with fury.
Just as Jiang Li was about to speak, another furious voice interrupted her.
The original owner’s older brother stormed into the room, looking enraged.
Jiang Li frowned.
Sure enough, Jiang Qingfeng immediately started blaming her, showing not the slightest concern that his sister had just returned from death’s door.
“What the hell are you throwing a tantrum for all day? Because of you, I’ve become a laughingstock at the grain bureau!”
He had rushed home from work the moment he heard Jiang Li drank pesticide. Seeing neighbors gathering outside gossiping had already filled him with rage.
After helping Xu Huili sit down, he glared at the troublemaker who had turned the household upside down.
“The one who should’ve suffered on that island was you! Everything you have belongs to Xiaoxiao in the first place! You’ve had such a cushy life that you’ve become spoiled rotten. If you keep threatening death, I’ll send you straight back to the island to live the miserable life Xiaoxiao used to live!”
The roar startled Ye Suqin so badly that even the back of her neck twitched. She hurriedly shielded her pregnant belly, afraid the baby might be frightened.
She cast a resentful glance at Jiang Qingfeng for not considering their unborn child, but swallowed her complaints because Jiang Li was present.
Before this, whenever Jiang Qingfeng mentioned sending Jiang Li back to the island, Jiang Li would cry in terror and secretly beg Ye Suqin to speak up for her.
Watching the once-pampered princess suffer had always brought Ye Suqin immense satisfaction.
Now she waited gleefully for Jiang Li to burst into tears again.
Instead—
A laugh suddenly rang out from the bed.
“Finished talking?”
Jiang Li threw off the blanket, slipped on her slippers, and stretched lazily.
“The technical school and the job—one I earned through exams, the other was assigned to me. If we’re returning things to their rightful owners, shouldn’t Jiang Xiaoxiao return them to me instead?”
The original owner had been too naïve. Feeling guilty for occupying Jiang Xiaoxiao’s place, she had surrendered the job under her family’s persuasion.
What she hadn’t expected was that once the job was gone, the university slot would vanish too.
Jiang Qingfeng snorted coldly.
“Oh, spare me. If our family hadn’t raised you, with those harsh island conditions, do you think you could’ve even attended technical school? If Xiaoxiao had grown up here, forget technical school—she could’ve gone to high school!”
Jiang Li looked at him as if he were an idiot.
“Don’t you know intelligence is hereditary? You couldn’t even get into technical school yourself, and Xiaoxiao came from the same womb as you. What makes you think she could?”
“Actually, you should all be thanking me. If I hadn’t gotten into technical school, the family would’ve had to beg and bribe people for Jiang Xiaoxiao the same way they did for you!”
For the first time, those words struck Jiang Qingfeng and Xu Huili like a bolt of lightning.
Jiang Qingfeng’s face instantly turned green.
He had always been terrible at studying and nearly failed to finish middle school. After graduation, the family had exhausted every connection they had to get him into the Grain Administration Bureau.
The person who helped them had clearly stated that they would only do this once.
Without Jiang Li’s job, Jiang Xiaoxiao could never enter the Grain Bureau, much less obtain the worker-peasant-soldier university recommendation.
Jiang Qingfeng’s chest heaved with rage, but Xu Huili silenced him with a glare before he could curse again.
“That’s enough. Haven’t we made enough of a spectacle already? Everyone calm down.”
Then she turned to Jiang Li.
“As long as you stop making trouble, the Jiang family can still keep you. Jobs are tight right now. In a year or two, once things loosen up, I’ll have your father arrange another position for you.”
These days, the movement sending educated youth to the countryside was causing chaos. Countless parents were trying to buy jobs to keep their children in the city, attracting attention from higher authorities.
Xu Huili had already decided: as long as Jiang Li stopped causing trouble and didn’t make life difficult for Jiang Xiaoxiao, the Jiang family could afford to feed one extra person.
“We’ll talk about it later. I’m hungry right now.”
Jiang Li clutched her growling stomach. This body had consumed nothing but small amounts of water for three days.
She was practically trembling after every sentence.
If her memory was correct, it was currently 1975.
In 1977, China would officially restore the national college entrance examination.
At that time, anyone with genuine academic ability would have the opportunity to take the exam.
As for worker-peasant-soldier university students, their qualifications would gradually lose value due to poor academic standards. Especially the recommendation Jiang Xiaoxiao now possessed—it would later only be recognized as a junior college diploma.
In her previous life, Jiang Li had already clawed her way to success through sheer hard work.
Taking the college entrance exam again would be easy for her.
The Jiang family’s balance had already tipped beyond repair. Staying here would only mean surviving in the cracks.
She might as well pack up and head to the island instead.
But before leaving the Jiang family, there were still some things she intended to reclaim.
Ye Suqin stared in disbelief.
Jiang Li wasn’t throwing another fit?
This was still the same sister-in-law who had desperately demanded justice?
Had drinking pesticide damaged her brain?
A worker-peasant-soldier university spot was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity fought over by thousands of people. And she was just… letting it go?
If it were Ye Suqin, then if she couldn’t have it, she’d make sure Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn’t either!
Xu Huili stood up tiredly.
“Suqin, go heat up the food.”
When Ye Suqin didn’t move, Xu Huili frowned.
“Well? Go.”
Only then did Ye Suqin grudgingly waddle into the kitchen with her large belly.
Jiang Qingfeng swallowed his anger seeing his pregnant wife forced to heat food for the family troublemaker.
The wooden door opened and shut again.
After confirming they had all left, Jiang Li rolled her eyes.
Seriously? They were really making a heavily pregnant woman prepare her meal?
“Forget it. I’ll do it myself.”
Dragging her weak, starving body into the kitchen, Jiang Li felt her stomach churn violently with acid.
After eating, her long-empty stomach finally settled down somewhat.
She carried the bowls to the stove, turned on the tap, and began washing dishes while asking Ye Suqin, who sat nearby picking vegetables:
“Where’s Jiang Xiaoxiao?”
Seeing Jiang Li voluntarily helping out for once, Ye Suqin pretended not to notice.
“Isn’t she about to start university? She went to the department store early this morning to buy paper and pens. I heard she’s getting a schoolbag too. Mom gave her plenty of money.”
She was clearly trying to stab Jiang Li in the heart.
Had the original owner heard this, she would definitely have felt miserable again.
But this Jiang Li merely responded calmly:
“Oh. I was planning to ask her about life on the island.”
The flowing water quickly rinsed the bowl clean.
After shutting off the tap and putting away the dishes, Jiang Li turned and left the kitchen.
Behind her, Ye Suqin muttered suspiciously:
“Island life? Why are you asking about that? Don’t tell me you actually want to go back to the island?”
But Jiang Li had already walked away.
Ye Suqin snorted and tossed cabbage leaves into the basket.
“Keep pretending. A spoiled princess like you surviving on that poor island? As if anyone would believe that!”
Returning to her room, Jiang Li didn’t dwell on Jiang Xiaoxiao shopping for school supplies.
Because she knew—
At this very moment, Jiang Xiaoxiao wasn’t at the department store at all.
She was at Beicheng County Hospital, together with the original owner’s so-called ex-boyfriend.