It had been three months since Shūxīn arrived here. During that time, she had gradually explored her surroundings and learned the details of the Liúlín Brigade. And then came a shocking realization:
She had entered a novel! Yes, the cliché plot—she had entered a book. In fact, two books! At first, she had thought she had just arrived in a parallel world.
Over the past three months, her family’s care had been genuine: the wise Grandpa, the strict and spirited Grandma, her beloved older siblings, and her parents.
They were real people, not cardboard characters from a story. Shūxīn didn’t care about that—what mattered was that she truly existed.
The protagonists’ lives were largely unrelated to the Liú family. That’s why Shūxīn only realized she had entered a book after three months—the people in her family weren’t major characters in either novel.
They were all cannon fodder, disappearing after a couple of scenes, serving only to push the story forward. Shūxīn herself never appeared in the novels.
Her cousin was a minor wife in a romantic period drama called “Era’s Beloved Wife.”
The male lead was Liú Fú, the second son of the neighboring Liú family. At 18, he went to serve on a distant island, rose steadily, and married a beautiful wife who was already pregnant.
The female lead was the youngest daughter of a wealthy Shanghai family, delicate and sensitive due to the times. To protect her family, she married the male lead, and their love blossomed over time, leading to a happy life.
Her cousin Shūlán was an obstacle in the female lead’s happy life—something that couldn’t be removed, only circumnavigated.
During the Great Famine, Shūlán was taken by the Liú family as a child bride in exchange for food. The Liú family wasn’t cruel and treated her reasonably well. When it came time for consummation, the eldest Liú son died unexpectedly. The family planned for the second son, Liú Fú, to marry her instead.
But Liú Fú wasn’t willing. Before his elder brother’s death, he wanted Shūlán, but his parents refused, saying she was for the eldest son. Once the eldest died, he regarded her as a discarded object.
The Liú family didn’t neglect her; they wanted her to restore her health and bear the Liú family’s eldest grandson. Shūlán grew up well.
Liú Fú hadn’t left the mountain village before. Shūlán’s beauty impressed him, and he liked her. But once his brother died, he scorned her and refused to marry her. He enlisted when the army came recruiting, supposedly to pursue a better life. But before leaving, he took advantage of the chaos to sleep with Shūlán.
Shūlán’s innocence was gone. She had to remain in the Liú household, working tirelessly. The Liú elders initially blamed her, claiming she couldn’t keep a man. Only after she became pregnant a month later did they stop saying hurtful things.
Shūlán remained in her home village, caring for Liú Fú’s parents and sisters, and raising his son with great effort. Meanwhile, Liú Fú prospered elsewhere, married a highborn lady, and ignored his family and Shūlán.
Twenty years later, Liú Fú’s parents passed away. Shūlán, exhausted, also died. Her son went to find his father, who claimed he hadn’t meant it.
Shūxīn internally spat at this excuse: not only did he exploit Shūlán before leaving, he abandoned her for years, didn’t send letters, and left her to suffer. The son became a pawn in the love story between the novel’s protagonists, eventually dying alone in the village, unclaimed. The state had to handle his funeral.
Shūxīn was disgusted. A naval officer who couldn’t even manage his family at home—pretending to care for parents while exploiting someone’s body.
Later, when Shūxīn encountered Liú Fú in the mountains, she trapped him multiple times in a sack. After a few rounds, Liú Fú dared not go to the mountain anymore.
As for her brother, Liú Jiànguó, he was the cannon-fodder male in another novel, “Our Youth in the Countryside.” Compared to her cousin, he was far better off.
In that story, the female lead was a delicate city youth sent to the countryside due to policy. She had multiple admirers, and her brother was insignificant. The male lead, a wealthy capital son, moved to the Liúlín Brigade to escape disaster, charming all the village girls. The female lead also captivated him.
Shūxīn’s brother, being a minor character, only appeared during misunderstandings between the male and female leads, confessing to the female lead and triggering jealousy, ultimately helping the protagonists’ relationship. He was a typical tool character, acting as a catalyst for the leads’ romance.
However, Grandma Liú was sharp. She noticed her grandson’s interest in the delicate city girl and secretly provided for him. When he was rejected, she didn’t scold him but ensured he married a proper wife, preventing him from becoming a cannon-fodder character.
Thanks to Grandma’s intervention, Shūxīn’s brother avoided tragedy.
Comparatively, her cousin had no such guardian. She married into a family where she had to struggle and endure hardships. If Liú Fú hadn’t hidden his plans to enlist and pretended willingness to marry, Shūlán might not have been exploited so easily.
Shūxīn vowed that she would not allow her cousin to suffer the fate written in the novels. She would make full use of her space and abilities, stockpile resources, and ensure that no famine could force her cousin into becoming a child bride.