“Kissy-kissy, huggy-huggy, have a baby, hehe, have a baby~”
Ruan Zheng was awakened by a stream of foul, nonsensical babble.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a wretched man with drool running down his chin, shouting about having babies as he lunged toward her!
What kind of horror story was this?!
Before she could process anything else, she braced her arms, pivoted, and delivered a swift kick that sent the man flying half a meter away.
The sudden exertion made her head spin. She reached up to steady herself and paused.
With that single touch, she found her hand covered in blood.
Ruan Zheng was shocked.
Meanwhile, the man, having lost his balance and landed hard on his rear, let out a loud wail and began to sob.
Confused, Ruan Zheng looked up. She saw him crying while kicking his legs and flailing his arms—the quintessential image of an elderly simpleton throwing a tantrum.
A terrifying thought exploded in her mind.
Holy mother of…
She hadn’t been kidnapped by anti-fans, taken into the mountains, and sold to a simpleton as a wife, had she?
But why didn’t she have any memory of it?
Ruan Zheng shook her head, but since she truly couldn’t recall anything, she decided her priority was to get out of this hellhole.
She struggled to push herself up from the cold floor. Just as she moved to leave, a wave of vertigo hit her. Stumbling a few steps, she leaned against the wall and sank back down to the ground.
At that moment, a flood of memories that didn’t belong to her surged into her mind, turning the dull ache in her head into an excruciating throb.
However, it also allowed her to piece together her current situation.
She had undergone Book Transmigration. She was now inside a period novel, occupying the body of a female cannon fodder who shared her name.
The original Ruan Zheng was the daughter of a military division commander, but she had been swapped at birth and had spent eighteen years suffering in the countryside.
After finally being brought back to the city, she was schemed against and forced to marry Zheng Xiujie, the disabled fiancé whom the fake daughter didn’t want.
After the marriage, she was treated with nothing but cold eyes. Because Zheng Xiujie was still pining for the fake daughter, he refused to consummate the marriage.
Consequently, her mother-in-law had kidnapped her and brought her back to the village, intending to “borrow the seed” of her own mentally disabled brother to provide Zheng Xiujie with an heir.
The original host was a woman of fierce integrity. Upon learning of her mother-in-law’s scheme, she had slammed her head against the wall, ending her life.
The modern Ruan Zheng had transmigrated in at that exact moment.
After assessing her physical condition and looking down at her callous-covered hands, Ruan Zheng accepted the reality of her transmigration in a single second.
Ignoring Wang Jinbao, who was still throwing a fit, she began searching for a weapon.
Starting life on such a disastrous note meant that every second of hesitation was a betrayal of her own survival.
She wanted to kill Wang Jinbao and Wang Jinhua, and then commit suicide to see if she could return to the real world.
Before she could find a tool, a commotion came from outside the door.
It was likely Wang Jinhua, who had been standing guard outside. Hearing the noise, she was coming in to check on the situation.
Ruan Zheng knew she wasn’t in any condition to fight two people at once. She closed her eyes and pretended to be dead, waiting for the right moment to deliver a lethal strike and take them both out.
When Wang Jinhua entered and saw her brother crying, she first stuffed a handful of candy into his mouth to quiet him before checking on Ruan Zheng.
Wang Jinhua didn’t waste time; she immediately placed a finger under Ruan Zheng’s nose.
Ruan Zheng instantly held her breath.
Feeling no breath, Wang Jinhua let out a gasp and collapsed onto the floor, fear finally setting in.
“A life’s been lost… what am I going to do?”
“And even though this wench was useless, she is Old Song’s daughter after all. Now that she’s dead, there’s no way to explain this…”
She muttered a few more words and quickly made a decision. Grabbing her brother, she scrambled out of the thatched hut.
Wang Jinbao could still be heard shouting about having babies on the way out, but a sharp slap from Wang Jinhua silenced him.
Only after the sounds had completely faded did Ruan Zheng push herself up.
Killing someone and burying the body.
That was Wang Jinhua’s decision.
Once she had settled Wang Jinbao, she would definitely return to dispose of the corpse. Then, just as the original plot dictated, she would spread rumors that Ruan Zheng had run away with another man, labeling her a wanton woman and a “broken shoe.”
In the original story, the host was already dead at this point, so she naturally couldn’t defend herself.
But Ruan Zheng would not take the fall.
Not only would she not take the fall, but she would also demand an eye for an eye.
But first, she had to stay alive.
According to the plot, Wang Jinhua would return in about half an hour to handle the body. In thirty minutes, Ruan Zheng wouldn’t be able to escape the village. Staying here to ambush Wang Jinhua and then going to kill Wang Jinbao wasn’t realistic either.
After some thought, Ruan Zheng decided to hide. She would wait until everyone thought she had fled and started searching outside the village; then, she would leave quietly.
Stepping out of the hut, Ruan Zheng looked for a place to hide.
The village was adjacent to the mountains. Without much thought, she headed into the woods and found a tree to climb.
But misfortunes never come singly.
Just as Ruan Zheng climbed up, a vibrant green snake lunged toward her.
She dodged instinctively, but the movement was too sudden. Her foot slipped, and she fell headfirst toward the ground.
The intense sensation of weightlessness made her want to scream.
Even in this crisis, she remembered to tuck her head and protect herself as much as possible.
There was no other choice. This body had just died once from a head injury and was still dizzy; another hit would likely send her straight to the afterlife.
Three seconds passed.
The expected sensation of her head splitting open against the ground didn’t come. Instead, she felt like she had slammed into a person.
Ruan Zheng opened her eyes and found herself sprawled in an undignified heap across two masculine arms.
Her mind went blank for a moment. Then, she wiggled off his arms like dismounting from parallel bars and thanked him.
“Thank you, comrade. If it weren’t for you, I would have knocked my teeth out.”
Her chest ached from the impact, and she took a sharp, hidden breath.
When her eyes met the man’s face, she took another small breath.
What a beautiful man.
How beautiful?
If this man used that face to run a scam and swindled her out of three thousand yuan, she probably wouldn’t even call the police.
Of course, any more than that would be a problem. Her money didn’t grow on trees. If it exceeded three thousand, she’d find a way to extort thirty thousand back from him, just so he’d know that poor people’s money wasn’t that easy to steal.
“You’re welcome,” the handsome man said. His voice was steady and resonant, very pleasant to the ear.
“It’s only right. Logically, since you helped me, I should treat you to a meal. But today is inconvenient; I have some urgent matters to attend to. How about tomorrow? If it’s convenient for you, come find me at the military compound. My name is Song Zheng. Just tell the sentry my name, and he’ll notify me.”
Ruan Zheng smiled again and, without waiting for his reply, waved goodbye.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the little green snake pinned firmly to the tree trunk by a Swiss Army knife. She walked even faster.
I’m not joking. In the middle of nowhere, with such a disparity in strength, if something happened—even if she was buried—no one would ever know.
Better to slip away now.
If she ran into Wang Jinhua on the way, she could at least use her wits. Against this guy, she’d just be crushed.
Hurrying down the mountain, Ruan Zheng avoided people as much as possible and headed toward the county town.
After walking for half an hour without spotting Wang Jinhua, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
However, she had reached her limit.
Her vision was darkening in waves, and her legs felt like they were made of lead. If she kept going, she would likely collapse on the side of the road.
If that happened, her life would no longer be in her own hands.
She sat by the road to rest for a while.
Ruan Zheng got up and entered a nearby house. When she emerged again, she was lying in the back of an ox cart.
The cart slowly carried her toward the county town, then from the county to the city, traveling from morning until dusk.
During the journey, the driver handed her a piece of flatbread.
The bread was dry and hard, but to regain her strength, Ruan Zheng forced herself to swallow it.
Upon arriving in Huai City, Ruan Zheng went straight to the Women’s Federation and gathered a few people to accompany her to the Zheng family home in the military compound.
Before even entering the door, she heard Zheng Xiujie speaking loudly and pompously.
“My health is poor, so I won’t drag A-Yao down. But I will absolutely never touch Ruan Zheng. My heart and body belong to A-Yao; I will never betray her in this lifetime.”
“Then won’t Ruan Zheng… have to live like a widow?”
“That’s too cruel to Ruan Zheng. No matter how you look at it, she suffered in the countryside for eighteen years in Song Yao’s place, and now…”
Zheng Xiujie said disapprovingly, “Her suffering wasn’t caused by A-Yao. A-Yao was just an infant when they were swapped; A-Yao is a victim too. It’s just Ruan Zheng’s bad luck. But as long as she doesn’t fight with A-Yao, I will ensure she is well-fed and clothed for the rest of her life.”