Rain hammered the river’s surface, pitter-patter, like the heavens had been holding in a long-suppressed anger and finally let it all out at once.
“Damn this weather!”
Wen Qiqi wrapped herself tightly in her patchwork raincoat, stepping carefully through the muddy riverbank.
The old fishing net in her hands sank heavily as she cast it again, hoping to catch something. The fish in this river were clever, and in weather like this, they were nowhere to be seen.
Men sheltering from the rain on the slope nearby, hiding under crooked trees, saw her pitiful figure and laughed. “Wen Fatty! Don’t waste your effort. In this weather, even the King of Fish has gone home to his wife. What do you think you’re doing?”
In these times, food was scarce. Fortunately, their village had a river, so they could catch a few fish or shrimp to get by.
On rainy days, if luck was on their side, they might even catch river crabs or clams.
These men, like Wen Qiqi, were all just hoping for a stroke of luck.
“Exactly! Didn’t your deadbeat husband leave you anything to fall back on? Running some business? Or did you run off with some other woman? Hahaha!”
Wen Fatty, a year ago, had been abandoned at the village entrance along with two children under the age of three.
Rumor had it that her husband had died, and her family didn’t want her to stay home eating for free with two kids, so they left her there.
Widows attracted gossip, and anyone who saw her wanted to tease her a little.
Wen Qiqi straightened up abruptly, spat, and shouted back fiercely, “Shut your damn mouth! My husband was a real man! Keep talking trash and I’ll tear your mouths apart!”
Her loud, bold voice silenced the men’s laughter somewhat.
She tried casting the net a few more times, but still caught nothing.
The sky darkened completely, and the rain showed no sign of stopping.
She wiped the rain from her face and headed home, defeated.
Two hungry mouths were waiting for her.
Wen Qiqi had traveled from the 21st century into this book called “The Cold-Hearted Commander’s Soft and Cute Wife.”
Looking at her 200-plus pound frame, it was clear she was not the protagonist—just a minimal background character.
A total non-entity.
The original character, also named Wen Qiqi, had a similarly miserable life.
21st-century Wen Qiqi had been abandoned in an orphanage as a baby, clawed her way up to become a female tycoon, and then suddenly died—never even meeting her parents.
The 1970s Wen Qiqi, however, had parents—unfortunately, her father was a despicable man who had affairs and illegitimate children for over a decade, driving her biological mother to her death. After her mother passed, her terrible father hurriedly took them in.
Her stepmother and illegitimate daughter poisoned Wen Qiqi, causing her to become an overweight girl.
Before dying, her mother had arranged a marriage for her with a widowed officer who already had children.
The officer was often on missions, and his family sent the children over.
While others gave a bride a dowry, her family sent two kids.
Before she could become a commander’s wife, she became a stepmother to two toddlers, only to hear the officer had died on a mission.
Her father immediately kicked the three of them out.
A helpless heiress without survival skills, left to starve.
Two months later, the supposedly “dead” officer returned, took the children, had Wen Qiqi buried, and married the book’s heroine, Sun Tingting.
Wen Qiqi internally cursed the author countless times.
Her father and stepmother, the clueless mother, had all used her to raise the children for over a year and then tossed her aside.
Where’s the justice in that?!
Wen Qiqi didn’t care about the story—she had her own plans.
According to the book, two months later, the original character’s family would be sent down and their property confiscated.
Wen Qiqi planned to get to the Wen family first, reclaim the money, donate what should go to the state, take what she could, and then lead the children to find the officer.
The stepmother had tricked the original Wen Qiqi into giving a jade pendant, a family heirloom containing a magical space and healing spring, which the heroine later used to get rich and rise to the top.
What kind of garbage author treats background characters like blood-sucking leeches?
Since she, Wen Qiqi, had transmigrated into the book, she would not follow the original script.
The heroine could have the spotlight—but that didn’t mean she had to die.
Screw that!
“Mommy!”
“Mommy!”
From a distance, the two little ones ran out from the small courtyard where they were staying.
Wen Qiqi smiled, squatted down, and spread her arms to scoop the two children into her embrace.
They were twins—a boy named Guan Ping’an and a girl named Guan An’an—adorable in every way.
Their biological mother had passed when they were about one year old. They didn’t understand death, so when sent to Wen Qiqi, they thought “Mommy” had returned from far away.
The children gave her all their love and affection, filling the void in her heart that she had never experienced in her previous life.
“Mommy, you were fishing, why are you all wet?” Ping’an asked with wide eyes, curious.
“Uh…” Wen Qiqi touched her nose. “It’s… it’s dark now… the fish all went home to mommy…”
Silence fell immediately.
An’an looked up at Wen Qiqi, eyes brimming with tears.
“No fish-fish…” she murmured, biting her lip as large tears rolled down her pretty face.
She knew even fish had to go home—but she was hungry.
Wen Qiqi’s heart ached as she picked up An’an. “Don’t cry, An’an. Mommy will take you to eat some meat!”
“Wen Qiqi?!”
Seeing her holding her daughter and leading her son to the door, her stepmother Wang Meiyu was shocked.
Wang Meiyu, over forty but still attractive, couldn’t compare to Wen Qiqi’s late mother in elegance, but she had a coquettish charm—the kind of woman Wen Jinkang loved to cheat with.
Before Wen Qiqi could speak, Wang Meiyu slammed the door shut.
The small two-story villa belonged to Wen Qiqi’s mother’s family, the Wei family.
Shamelessly, Wang Meiyu had locked Wen Qiqi out.
Ping’an tugged at Wen Qiqi’s sleeve. “Mommy, let’s go back.”
He was hungry too, but didn’t want Mommy to be wronged.
“Go back? No, Mommy hasn’t gotten you some meat yet.” Wen Qiqi braced herself and prepared to act.