“Lazy, slippery, deceitful, unable to tell right from wrong, and a master of crying, causing scenes, and threatening suicide—you’ve become infamous throughout Ming City.”
“All the eligible young men hear they’re supposed to go on a blind date with you, and they actually pay the matchmaker not to arrange the meeting.”
“But if you don’t get married, next month’s list of people being sent to the countryside will be finalized. With how lazy and useless you are, if you really go there, won’t you starve to death?”
“Listen to your mother and stop being stubborn! Eat this braised pork knuckle, put on the Bragi dress I prepared for you, and go be that little brat’s stepmother!”
“Sure, your personality is terrible, but you’re beautiful! Big chest, slim waist, round hips, and a pair of long, fair legs. Won’t that old man be completely enchanted by you?”
“Once you’ve got him wrapped around your finger, you can deal with that little brat however you want, as long as you don’t kill him! Isn’t that life better than being sent to the countryside?”
Su Qinghe slowly opened her eyes.
The wall in front of her was still covered with old newspapers, and the voice in her ears was still that of her mother, earnestly trying to persuade her to become someone’s stepmother.
When she had first arrived here, Su Qinghe thought she was dreaming.
But now she was sure it wasn’t a dream.
She had truly transmigrated.
While her eyes had been closed just moments ago, she had already received the original owner’s memories.
It was now 1968.
The peak of the “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside” movement.
The original owner had just graduated from high school. There was no college for her to attend, and factory jobs were limited. Her family had neither influence nor connections and couldn’t arrange employment for her.
If they wanted her to remain in the city, the only option was to find her a husband.
Unfortunately, the original owner not only came from a poor family, but also had a terrible reputation.
She was undeniably beautiful and had a stunning figure, but beauty couldn’t fill an empty stomach. No one was willing to go on a blind date with her.
Her mother, Zhang Xiulan, had been forced to lower her standards again and again.
At first, she wanted a handsome, unmarried young man with a stable job.
Then her requirements kept dropping until they became—
Male.
That’s right.
As long as he was a man who could marry her and keep her in the city, he would do.
Today wasn’t even about a blind date.
It was about getting married.
The groom was thirty years old, a retired soldier, never married, and the director of a flour factory.
On paper, his qualifications were excellent.
But he had adopted a son who was now eight years old—an age when children were especially troublesome.
According to rumors, this adopted son was every bit as notorious as the original owner.
He stole chickens and dogs, lied constantly, beat up male classmates, insulted female classmates, and even defecated and urinated in front of neighbors’ houses.
Every time his father tried to date someone, the boy would sabotage it.
After five years of this, he had turned a golden bachelor of twenty-five into a thirty-year-old old bachelor.
The man had made his position clear:
As long as a woman could accept his son, he was willing to marry her.
To keep her daughter in the city, Zhang Xiulan had already arranged everything. Today they were supposed to register their marriage.
The man had agreed.
But the original owner hadn’t.
Her reputation was terrible, her personality was awful, and she had no useful skills.
Yet her standards were sky-high.
She wanted a handsome, tall, younger man from a wealthy family, but without parents. He needed a good job and a high salary, but couldn’t be too busy.
As for marrying a thirty-year-old man and becoming stepmother to a little troublemaker?
She’d rather die.
To avoid the marriage, she had started a hunger strike two days ago.
This morning, she had finally succeeded in starving herself to death.
And then Su Qinghe had arrived.
Staring at the newspaper-covered walls, Su Qinghe felt like crying.
She might have been an orphan in her previous life, but she had finally graduated from university and was about to start supporting herself.
How had she ended up transmigrating?
Not only to 1968, but into the body of someone with such a horrible reputation.
Should she go to the countryside?
Or become a stepmother to a troublesome child?
That was the question.
Seeing her daughter stir, Zhang Xiulan decided to add one final push.
“Besides this, I don’t have the ability to find you another husband. If you really refuse, then the countryside is your only option.”
“There are plenty of young women from around here who’ve already gone. I heard one died from illness out there, and three others got married to local villagers—”
“I’ll marry him!”
Su Qinghe abruptly sat up, her eyes shining.
She didn’t know much about this period of history, but she had heard enough.
More importantly, she had once read a novel about female educated youths sent to the countryside.
Some died.
Some got married.
Some lost their minds.
None of those outcomes appealed to Su Qinghe.
She might have grown up in an orphanage, but while the food and accommodations weren’t great, nobody had ever made her do farm work.
She couldn’t carry heavy loads or do hard labor, and this body was all curves and softness.
If she really got sent to the countryside, she might not even know how she died.
Going to the countryside was absolutely out of the question.
Being a stepmother sounded much better.
The moment she heard Su Qinghe agree, Zhang Xiulan beamed with joy.
“Good, good, good! I’m so glad you’ve come to your senses! Hurry up and get dressed. I’ll go heat up the pork knuckle!”
Without waiting for a reply, Zhang Xiulan hurried out and closed the door behind her.
That finally gave Su Qinghe a chance to look around.
The room was a tiny partitioned space, only about five or six square meters.
A bed, a small desk, and a cabinet already filled it to capacity.
The room was quite clean. Zhang Xiulan swept it every day.
But it was messy, with clothes scattered everywhere.
That was the original owner’s doing.
Most lazy people wouldn’t bother picking up a fallen oil bottle.
The original owner was lazier than that.
She never even saw fallen oil bottles because they were in the kitchen, while she spent most of her day lying in bed.
Lowering her gaze, Su Qinghe spotted a Bragi dress beside the bed.
Khaki-colored, with a Peter Pan collar and a matching belt.
Honestly, it was quite pretty.
No wonder it had remained fashionable for so many years.
She slipped into the dress, fastened the belt, put on a pair of white mid-calf socks, and finished the outfit with black leather shoes.
The overall look was charmingly vintage and pastoral.
The original owner’s hair was naturally dark, long, and slightly curly.
She braided it into two loose pigtails that hung over her shoulders, while her naturally wispy bangs framed her face like fashionable French curtain bangs.
Her skin was fair and flawless.
Large double-lidded eyes.
A high nose bridge.
Rosy lips.
She looked like a living porcelain doll.
The more Su Qinghe looked, the more satisfied she became.
Not because she was beautiful.
But because this face looked exactly like her own from her previous life.
The face was the same, but the body was even better.
Curvy in all the right places.
A true angel’s face with a devil’s figure.
Su Qinghe admired herself in the mirror for quite a while before finally opening the door and stepping outside.
The moment she did, the rich aroma of braised pork knuckle rushed into her nose.
At the same time, her stomach began to growl loudly.