The Abandoned First Wife
Inside Xitong Kongjian, Xiao Juza continued comforting Ning An. “Even if we end up in a Small Worlds where life is hard, we don’t have to be afraid. An’an can do everything, and there are so many supplies in the space. We’ll be able to live well. I heard from people who have been to Niandai Shijie that buying things there is inconvenient. Even if you have money, it won’t necessarily be useful—you need ration coupons too. Without coupons, you can’t even buy meat. But I can go hunting in the mountains and find meat for you.”
The orange cat waved its tiny paws, making solemn promises with an utterly adorable expression.
Ning An couldn’t help laughing. She buried her face in the cat’s soft belly and took a deep breath, looking blissfully intoxicated.
“How could I let our Xiao Juza work so hard? Don’t worry. I can adapt. The two of us can even sneak into the space and cook ourselves something special.”
Xiao Juza was right. Her space contained everything imaginable. From ancient times to the distant future, she had everything needed to live in any era! Not only did she have ready-made supplies, she could manufacture things herself as well. She had stocked up on all kinds of manufacturing equipment!
Anyone who had survived the apocalypse would have some tendency to hoard, right?
In every Small Worlds, she had learned one skill, and mastered each one completely. In ordinary worlds, she had been a musician, doctor, scientist, and programmer. In interstellar worlds, she possessed 3S Jingshenli. Not only had she become a Zhiyao Dashi, she had also developed considerable expertise in Jijia Zhizao. In cultivation worlds, she had learned Fulu, Liandan, and various Shufa. Strangely enough, her cultivation had also come back with her. Ning An instinctively felt that something about this situation was not quite right, but she had never told anyone.
With all these abilities at her disposal, how could she possibly worry about a mission in a Niandai Shijie? Even when she had known nothing and started doing missions directly, she had never been afraid!
Besides, this time she wasn’t going to follow the plot. She was going to make a comeback and fulfill the supporting female character’s wish. She would have far more room to maneuver than when following the original storyline!
Xiao Juza sprawled across Ning An’s legs, flattening into a cat pancake. It was so happy that it didn’t know how to express itself.
An’an was truly wonderful! It really loved An’an—so much that it didn’t even want to do missions anymore. It only wanted to remain in Xitong Kongjian and enjoy a world for two with An’an.
But that wasn’t possible.
Life was hard. The cat sighed!
Ning An noticed its disappointment and asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just can’t bear to part with you. Once we get to the Small Worlds, you won’t belong to me alone anymore.”
Ning An burst out laughing. You weren’t even a “person” to begin with.
“No matter how many people are around me, Xiao Juza will always be my most important companion.”
“Really? That’s wonderful!”
Xiao Juza perked up instantly. “Then shall we start the mission now?”
“Mm. Let’s begin.”
Xiao Juza brought up the Xitong Mianban. The mission list was extremely long, and Ning An randomly selected one.
A huge title instantly filled the entire screen:
A Life Half Bitter, Half Sweet
The male protagonist, Li Changwei, was from the capital and came from a scholarly family. His grandparents and parents were all teachers. He also had a younger sister named Li Changling, four years his junior. In 1966, when the movement began, the Li family’s grandparents and parents were implicated and sent to the countryside to perform labor. Only the siblings, Li Changwei and Li Changling, remained in the city.
That year, Li Changwei was seventeen. Before his parents left, they used the efforts of the entire family to find him a job at a metallurgical factory, so that the siblings could survive in the city. To protect the two children, they even published a notice in the newspaper severing ties with Li Changwei and Li Changling. Naturally, this was only in name, done to shield them from the turmoil outside.
Li Changwei had a childhood sweetheart named Zhang Yujie. Her family background was even better than the Lis’, so their fate was somewhat more tragic: her entire family was sent down, and Zhang Yujie went to the countryside with her younger brother and sister.
Li Changwei and Zhang Yujie were deeply attached. The hardships of reality did not make him abandon their relationship. He worked hard in the city. Every month, after setting aside enough for himself and his sister, he spent seventy percent of the remainder on his grandparents and parents, and thirty percent on the Zhang family.
Li Changwei told no one about spending money on the Zhang family. He believed his own family was broad-minded and wouldn’t begrudge such a small amount, but these were difficult times, and he didn’t dare take the risk. What if his family objected?
And that wasn’t the extent of their hardships. In 1968, the nationwide movement sending educated youth to the countryside began again. That year, Li Changling was fifteen—not yet old enough to be sent down, but she would not be able to avoid it forever. In 1969, sixteen-year-old Li Changling was supposed to go to the countryside. The siblings tried everything to delay it for another year, but by 1970, they could no longer put it off.
Li Changling was terrified and uneasy, while Li Changwei couldn’t bear to see his sister suffer. He gave his job to her and went to the countryside in her place. He didn’t dare tell his sister that she also needed to send supplies to the Zhang family. He merely reminded her not to forget to send things to their grandparents and parents.
“If you have anything left over, send it to me. If you don’t, then forget it.”
Li Changwei understood that his sister’s wages would be lower after taking over his position. He had worked for four years, and his salary had already risen to 30 yuan and 83 fen. Once his sister took over, she had to start from the beginning, and her salary dropped to 20 yuan.
Li Changling had a good conscience. She scrimped and saved, spending very little. Of what remained, she sent one portion to their elders and another to her brother. The portion she sent to him was then passed on to the Zhang family.
That wasn’t all. After going to the countryside, Li Changwei experienced firsthand how difficult rural life was. In order to live better there and take better care of both his own family and the Zhang family, he “hid it from his family” and “reluctantly” married in the countryside.
His wife was gentle by nature and did her best to support her husband’s family alongside him. But she never knew that the people she was helping included not only her in-laws, but also her husband’s childhood sweetheart.
When the movement ended, Li Changwei wanted to return to the city and asked his wife for a divorce. People who had started families in the countryside were not eligible to return to the city. The only exception was passing the college entrance examination, but Li Changwei had been away from school for years and failed on his first attempt.
In order to return, he even knelt and begged his wife, promising that once he had settled down in the city, he would come back for her. In the end, he got what he wanted. They divorced, and he returned to the city, leaving his wife and child in the countryside. After that, he never went back.
His wife later went to the capital to look for him, only to discover him walking side by side with another woman. They looked intimate, his smile warm and gentle—the way he looked then was something she had never seen before.
When Li Changwei saw her, his expression was cold. He told her that they belonged to different worlds, that he had married her only out of necessity, and that since they were already divorced, she should stop pestering him.
…
The entire story was written from the perspectives of the male and female protagonists. It described how they were swept along by the tide of the times, overcame countless hardships, and, after wasting half their lives, finally came to understand one another and remain together in happiness.
The book emphasized how resilient, loyal, and righteous the protagonists were. In that difficult era, they protected their families, and no matter how great the difficulties they encountered, they never gave up on each other or on their pursuit of love.
Even though a Li family first wife and the son she bore stood between them, and a Zhang family ex-husband and the daughter she had with him stood between them, they still loved each other deeply.
From the perspectives of the protagonists and their relatives, friends, and families, the two of them could perhaps be considered responsible, dependable “good people.” But from the perspective of those they had betrayed, they were unquestionably a pair of scumbags.
Li Changwei was not the only one. During her time in the countryside, Zhang Yujie also married a local farmer. Her entire family relied on his care, but when the time came for her to return to the city, she cast him aside like unwanted baggage.
Ning An felt physically ill as she read.
In the Small Worlds she had visited before, the male and female protagonists had all been genuinely noble and good people. Even in the original plot, when the supporting female character was surpassed by the heroine and became a stepping stone to the heroine’s fame, the heroine had never kicked her while she was down. In the original storyline, the male protagonist merely didn’t like the supporting female character; he had never resorted to schemes, deceit, or fraud. The supporting female character had simply been unable to let go herself!
Moreover, after Ning An arrived, everything had been harmonious. The heroine had never surpassed her and harbored no jealousy toward her whatsoever, always treating her as an idol. The male protagonist had either been her childhood friend or her classmate, and had treated her with great consideration.
So why, in a Small Worlds that required her to resolve someone’s resentment, were the protagonists so utterly appalling?
Xiao Juza explained, “It’s precisely because the protagonists are so awful that the supporting female character has resentment.”
“You’re right.”
In this Small Worlds, Ning An would become the first wife who had been used and abandoned: Jiang Ning’an.
Though she was a village girl, Jiang Ning’an was top-tier among village girls.
She was an only child. Her father worked at a coal mine in the county town, while her mother farmed at home. Jiang Ning’an herself had graduated from a technical secondary school and worked as an accountant at the town supply and marketing cooperative. She was also beautiful—the prettiest girl for miles around.
A girl like that had nevertheless fallen for Li Changwei, the man from the city. He deceived, exploited, and abandoned her. After returning from the capital, she remained depressed. The son she had raised could not empathize with her and instead blamed her for failing to hold on to his father and for preventing him from becoming a Beijinger.
Jiang Ning’an had nowhere to release her pain. Her work was no longer as prestigious as it had once been. After seeing both her father and mother off, she fell gravely ill and eventually died alone. At that time, her son was in the capital, entangled with the Li family.
Only after Jiang Ning’an died did she learn that she had been a supporting female character in someone else’s story. Her very existence had been meant to help Li Changwei, who was trapped at the lowest point of his life. Once Li Changwei escaped the mire, she was supposed to “retire after accomplishing her mission.”
She was unwilling to accept this, and her resentment soared to the heavens!
Why?
Her soul lingered in the Small Worlds, unwilling to depart. The Small Worlds detected her resentment and struck a deal with her. Ning An would take her place and live out this life properly, preventing her resentment from affecting the stability of the Small Worlds. In return, Jiang Ning’an would hurry off to be reincarnated rather than remain in the Small Worlds and cause chaos.
“What is Jiang Ning’an’s wish?”
“To take good care of her parents. In her previous life, her parents were constantly worried about her and suffered terribly. Otherwise, they might have lived a few more years. Also, she wants to stay away from Li Changwei and not give him the chance to exploit any other girls. Of course, if someone knowingly throws herself at him despite knowing she’ll be deceived and used, then it’s not our problem.”
“Anything else?”
“No. An’an can do whatever she wants with the rest.”
Ning An nodded. “Understood. Let’s go.”
Xiao Juza activated the transmission, and one person and one system instantly entered the Shikong Tongdao.