In the future, Shen Xueman shared the same name as her cousin. After finishing the novel, she left a long, dissatisfied comment under the author’s final chapter, criticizing the female lead for being too useless—having so many advantages yet living her entire life dependent on a man, becoming a parasite who bore ten children, nothing more than a man’s breeding machine. She said it was an embarrassment to women.
She declared that if she could transmigrate into the book, she would surely ride the wave of the times and become a legendary female capitalist admired by all, forming a perfectly matched, enviable model couple with the male lead Huo Zhoubai, who would rise to the rank of general.
And just because of that dissatisfied long comment, Shen Xueman truly transmigrated into this period novel.
After entering the book, the first thing Shen Xueman did was persuade her uncle’s family not to go to Hong Kong. Then she tricked the original female lead—this very woman—into aborting her child, seizing her position as the protagonist.
Believing Shen Xueman’s lies, she herself died a tragic death and became a wronged ghost.
Meanwhile, Shen Xueman bravely pursued love, stuffing all of her family’s assets into her spatial dimension, handing over a small portion to the state, and earning herself the fine reputation of a “red capitalist.”
As someone from the future, Shen Xueman was multi-talented. She easily tested into the army’s cultural troupe and launched an aggressive pursuit of Huo Zhoubai.
However, after chasing him relentlessly for two years, Huo Zhoubai never accepted her.
When Shen Xueman failed to win his love, she gave rise to the idea of destroying him.
She claimed that since she had transmigrated into the book, whoever she chose would be the male lead.
Thus, Shen Xueman chose Huo Zhoubai’s good friend in the book, Lu Mingchuan. Using the invisibility cover of her space, she imitated Old Master Huo’s handwriting to forge letters and placed them into his safe, accusing him of colluding with enemy agents.
Collusion with enemy agents was a capital crime. Old Master Huo was executed by firing squad, and dozens of members of the Huo family were exiled to remote, impoverished regions for reformation.
Because the false accusation against Old Master Huo was so vile, the entire Huo family was treated as less than human at the place of exile.
The commune arranged for them to do the dirtiest, most exhausting, and most grueling labor, and housed them in drafty cattle sheds with wind leaking in from all sides.
In the freezing Great Northwest, the women and children soon froze or starved to death. The men, treated like beasts of burden, either worked themselves to death or died of illness within just two years. Only Huo Zhoubai endured on with bitter perseverance.
After finally surviving until the end of the great movement, evidence emerged that the handwriting in the letters did not match Old Master Huo’s. The organization posthumously cleared Old Master Huo’s name. When Huo Zhoubai resolved to return to the city to uncover the true culprit behind his grandfather’s framing, he was kidnapped by bandits.
In the end, his tendons were severed, his eyes gouged out, his tongue cut off, and he was tortured alive until he died miserably.
Recalling the tragic scene of Huo Zhoubai’s horrific death in her previous life, Shen Shujiao felt her heart clog with unbearable anguish.
The tragedy of herself and the Huo family in her previous life was all caused by her own stupidity and foolishness.
Hating herself for being so stupid, Shen Shujiao raised her hand and bit down hard on her finger. Blood immediately welled up and dripped drop by drop onto the crescent-shaped jade pendant.
Just as she had seen in her previous life, the blood that fell onto the jade pendant was swiftly absorbed, emitting a dazzling golden glow. Then, she entered a space like a secluded paradise.
There stood a beautifully styled two-story wooden house. Outside flowed a crystal-clear river, spanned by a stone bridge. Along the riverbank grew several peach trees, and beside them stood a lovely pavilion.
Shen Shujiao walked over and saw a spiritual spring well bubbling with rippling water inside the pavilion. Beside the well was a stone table and stone stools for resting and drinking tea, upon which were placed exquisite tea sets and a flower vase with fresh arrangements.
To the right of the pavilion was a steaming hot spring pool. Facing the river was a vast stretch of bare, black earth.
In her previous life, Shen Shujiao’s soul had only seen Shen Xueman flash and disappear into the space; she was unable to follow her inside.
She only knew that Shen Xueman could instantly move external objects into the space and that she liked to come in every day to bathe.
Each time Shen Xueman emerged from the space, her skin would be whiter and more delicate, her entire person radiant with vitality. Though her features were not particularly exquisite, she somehow looked increasingly pleasant and easy on the eyes.
It must have been soaking in this hot spring pool that made her more and more beautiful.
With such a magical new world, no wonder Shen Xueman could live so freely and comfortably during that terrifying period of harsh political crackdowns.
Now, this space belonged to her.
In this life, she would absolutely not allow the tragedies of her previous life to repeat themselves.
Shen Shujiao scooped up a cup of spiritual spring water and gulped it down. Immediately, she felt the exhaustion throughout her body vanish, replaced by an indescribable sense of comfort.
Especially in her lower abdomen, a gentle warmth spread, like a long-withered flower suddenly nourished by a torrential rain, instantly brimming with vitality.
Shen Shujiao gently stroked her flat belly and said in an incomparably tender voice, “Babies, because of Mommy’s foolishness, you weren’t able to be born safely in the last life. In this life, Mommy will definitely protect you well and never let anyone bully you. Do you believe Mommy?”
Shen Shujiao had no memories of her first life. She only knew a little about it from Shen Xueman.
Shen Xueman said that the author of this book favored her greatly, giving her doting parents. She and her military officer husband, Huo Zhoubai, had a marriage of convenience that gradually blossomed into love—a calm, warm romance that grew with time.
She bore Huo Zhoubai seven sons and three daughters—ten children in total. Her first pregnancy was a fortuitous set of quadruplets, three boys and one girl, lucky koi children who brought her good fortune even while still in her womb.
Those lucky quadruplets grew up to surpass their father’s achievements in their respective fields, becoming exceptionally outstanding and dazzling figures.
The six children born afterward were somewhat more ordinary compared to the quadruplets, but even so, they were still exceptional talents among ordinary people.
Her life was calm, warm, and happy. She grew old together with Huo Zhoubai, living to the age of eighty-eight. After watching her breathe her last, Huo Zhoubai collapsed beside her bed and passed away as well. The entire book ended in a blissful finale.
Yet her originally happy life in the book was changed just because Shen Xueman despised her for having too many children and mocked her as a breeding machine, forcing her to endure the agony and miserable death of her previous life.
Why should the tragic deaths of her and the entire Huo family be used merely to elevate the brilliant life of a transmigrated woman?
Why should someone from decades in the future look down from a position of superiority on the women of this era?
This was a time of post-war reconstruction. Countless sons and daughters had sacrificed their lives to create this new society desperately in need of manpower. The state encouraged women to have more children, awarding the title of “Glorious Mother” to those who bore many.
Many women from poor families responded to the national call, giving birth to more than a dozen children. She married a powerful military officer, had an influential in-law family backing her, and she loved children herself. How did having more children become an embarrassment to women? How did it make her a breeding machine?
After steadying her emotions, Shen Shujiao knew that the most urgent matter at hand was to collect all the assets her parents had left her, lest Shen Xueman soon arrive with others to seize her property.
Shen Shujiao exited the space, lifted the bedboard, and revealed a hidden passage entrance beneath.
Below lay the secret chamber where her parents had stored their most important assets.
This chapter has ended. (Please click the next chapter to continue reading!)