The original novel revolved around the male lead, Lu Zheng, and the female lead, Chen Zhiyi.
Lu Zheng and Chen Zhiyi were childhood sweethearts whose families had arranged their betrothal when they were small. But when the wave of political purges swept the country, the Lu family offended the wrong people and was framed as capitalists. The entire family was sent down to the countryside to undergo “re-education through labor.”
It was during this period in the countryside that Lu Zheng met Su Mian, the village chief’s daughter.
Su Mian was the youngest child and only daughter in the Su family, doted on by her parents and four older brothers since birth. So when she fell for Lu Zheng—a handsome young city boy branded as a capitalist—her family couldn’t bear to stand in her way, even though they knew his family’s bad political standing could bring trouble.
Lu Zheng, meanwhile, was unwilling to give up the help Su Mian’s family provided his own, yet equally unable to let go of Chen Zhiyi, his childhood sweetheart back in the city. So he kept Su Mian hanging on a string.
Within six months, someone cleared the Lu family’s names, and they were granted permission to return to the city. By then, however, the villagers and educated youth all took it for granted that Lu Zheng and Su Mian were a couple. Fearing a scandal at such a critical moment, the Lu family was forced to propose to the Sus, offering to take Su Mian back to the city with them.
Unexpectedly, Su Mian’s father voiced fierce opposition to the match.
Su Mian couldn’t understand why her father was so against it when the Lu family was so well-off. In her anger, she said horrible things, broke off ties with her family, and threw everything away to follow Lu Zheng to the city.
Lu Zheng did feel a slight affection for her at first. During his darkest days, Su Mian had been like a beam of sunshine, helping him unconditionally and treating him with absolute devotion. But once he returned to the city and saw Chen Zhiyi again, Su Mian instantly became irrelevant. The irresistible power of a man’s first love was not to be underestimated.
Su Mian had already burned her bridges back home and couldn’t bear the thought of returning to face the village gossip. Having arrived in the city alone and penniless, she clung desperately to Lu Zheng, convinced they had to get married.
When Chen Zhiyi stood in her way, Su Mian assumed the classic role of the villainous rival. She resorted to every dirty trick in the book: framing her rival, drugging people, spreading rumors, and manufacturing misunderstandings.
Lu Zheng, who had initially harbored a bit of gratitude toward Su Mian, grew completely disgusted with her after this endless stream of scheming. She became nothing more than a narrative device to drive the main couple together.
Finally, Su Mian decided to gamble everything. She went to the black market to buy aphrodisiacs and knock-out drugs, hoping to trap him into marriage by getting pregnant.
She did end up pregnant, which triggered the biggest misunderstanding of the book between the main leads. The twist? The child inside Su Mian’s belly didn’t even belong to the male lead!
After enduring endless trials and tribulations, the main couple finally cleared up the misunderstanding and reunited. Su Mian, meanwhile, was kicked out of the Lu house with two newborn babies.
With no money to her name, she was forced to raise the children in the slums. And as if to ensure the villain got her full karmic retribution, the story took an utterly ridiculous turn: Su Mian suddenly turned fat, dark, and ugly. She couldn’t even find a fallback man to marry, and the children lived hand-to-mouth, constantly starving.
Reading this, Su Mian trembled with rage.
Everything lined up. Every single detail matched.
The soul-transmigrator who had taken over her body was simply living out her life according to the plot of this book.
What kind of grudge did the author have against her? It was sickening! Had she dug up the author’s ancestral graves in a past life? Why couldn’t they have just written her off as dead? That way it would have been over and done with, and she wouldn’t have had to wake up just to deal with this shattered wreck of a life.
And leaving her a pocket dimension? What the hell was she supposed to do with a useless dimension?
The moment the thought crossed her mind, Su Mian’s consciousness was suddenly pulled into a storage room about fifty square meters in size. Beside it lay a single plot of rich black soil.
As far as the eye could see, everything was completely empty. Not a single item inside. What good was this supposed to do her?!
Su Mian was so furious she felt entirely drained. If not for the two children, she would have been tempted to throw herself into a river and end it all.
Right then, a voice called out to her.
Su Mian quickly snapped her consciousness back to reality, only to see the two children standing in front of her, bursting into loud, frantic wails.
“Mom… please don’t die…” the little boy sobbed.
Su Mian had suddenly gone still as a statue, completely unresponsive no matter how they called out, scaring them half to death.
The little girl stood beside him, silently crying. She didn’t dare come near Su Mian, fully aware that her mother disliked her.
Taking in the scene before her, Su Mian felt a sudden pang in her nose, and heavy tears spilled down her cheeks.
It was too cruel. Too absurd. This whole world was sickening!
If sacrificing one person was necessary to preserve the world’s order, fine—but what had these two innocent children done wrong? Look at how they had lived for the past four years!
“I’m sorry… Mom is so sorry…” Su Mian pulled both children tightly into her arms. These were her children, her poor, sweet children…
The little girl trembled violently. This… this felt like the first time her mother had ever hugged her like this. It was so warm. Could Mom hug her like this more often?
But she couldn’t speak, nor did she know how to express her thoughts. She simply reached out a small hand, wanting to wipe away Su Mian’s tears. Then, remembering that her mother hated being touched by her, panic seized her, and she tried to pull her hand back.
Before she could, Su Mian caught the tiny hand and gently pressed it against her own tear-stained cheek.
“I promise you both, from now on, I’m going to be a good mother. I’ll take good care of you and give you a good life, okay?”
“Okay,” her son hiccuped. “As long as you don’t hit me and little sister, we’ll be really good and go beg for food for you, Mom.”
His words pierced Su Mian’s heart like a knife. She felt like she was going crazy. Which deity had she offended to bring such misery upon herself and her children?
“I won’t hit you. I’ll never hit you again. I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
Emotional breakdown or not, life had to go on.
Her own life might be in ruins, but her children were going to have a bright future.
Su Mian held the two children and cried for a long while. Once her emotions were finally spent, she began to think about how to move forward.
“Starting today, I’m changing your nicknames,” Su Mian said suddenly.
Hearing this, both children looked up at her nervously.
“You’re the older brother, so you’ll be Dabao. And your little sister will be Erbao. How does that sound?”
The two children stared up at her in confusion at first, but soon their faces lit up with pure joy and excitement.
“Mom, really?”
“Really.”
“Mom… will you forget you said this when you wake up tomorrow?”
Su Mian felt a wave of helplessness, but she understood why the children were so slow to trust her. How could a mother who used to beat and curse them earn their trust overnight?
“No, you’ll see when you wake up tomorrow. I won’t change back.”
She had taken back control of her life, and this time, she was going to live for herself and her children.
“Dabao, Erbao, I need to clean the house first. It’s covered in mold, and living in a place like this for too long will make you sick,” Su Mian told them.
Dabao, ever quick on his feet, piped up right away, “Okay! Mom, we’ll help you!”
Su Mian glanced at her daughter, noticing the flicker of fear that instantly filled Erbao’s eyes the moment their gazes met.
Su Mian sighed softly to herself. Showing them she cared would take time. If she changed too drastically before earning their trust, it would only frighten them more.
“Alright then. You two can help me clean up.”
Getting the place clean came first; everything else could wait.
Things would work themselves out eventually. Su Mian refused to believe she couldn’t make a life for them.