“This is hilarious! You think someone like you even has the right to say you can marry me? What, because I’ve been married before, you think I’m not pure, so I have to marry you? Take a look in the mirror—you’re nothing but the orphan I picked up. You’re not even worthy of carrying my shoes.”
A woman in a qipao, stunningly beautiful, crossed her arms and mocked the man in front of her mercilessly.
After speaking, she snorted in disdain and turned to walk away.
But in the next second…
Her foot slipped, and she fell into the river.
The woman flailed in the water for a while. Unfortunately, no one was passing by, so no one came to rescue her, and soon she stopped struggling and slowly sank.
“Wuwuwu… my daughter, if you don’t want to follow the army, you don’t have to. Your father and I won’t force you,” came a whimpering voice, disturbing Qiao Meili and making her annoyed.
At the same time, she felt something was off. She was a modern wealthy socialite, with a bank account in the nine figures. She had only gone to the swimming pool, so why was it so noisy?
Did someone drown at the pool?
What do you mean “follow the army or not”…
Thinking this, she struggled to open her eyes.
She saw a rustic old house, an ancient roof, and a thick, round beam across the room. Sitting by the bed was a person in a qipao, holding a handkerchief, sniffling and crying.
Wait!
She had just come for a swim—where on earth had she ended up?
“Eh, Meili, you’re awake!” The person finished wiping their tears and suddenly saw her awake, jumping up in excitement.
Qiao Meili blinked and rubbed her throbbing head. At first, she felt she must be in trouble, but she still couldn’t figure out what was happening.
She blinked again, and in the next second, closed her eyes and ‘fainted’ again.
Seeing her daughter faint again, the person panicked, shouting “Oh no! Oh no!” and rushed outside.
Finally, there was silence.
Qiao Meili lay stiffly on the bed, suspecting she had fallen into a transmigration trend. She had been living comfortably in modern times; her bank account couldn’t even run out, so she had no reason to want to transmigrate.
And yet… this had happened to her.
She didn’t dare open her eyes, hoping it was just a hallucination.
However, delayed memories began flooding her mind, cruelly reminding her that she had truly transmigrated!
And she had become a character in a historical novel—a beautiful but brainless “white moonlight” figure.
In the book, Qiao Meili’s family were wealthy landlords. Her ancestors were rich, but the entire family was clueless. The men played with cats and dogs, the women were all flower vases, and she was the ultimate flower among them—strikingly beautiful.
The male lead in the book, Zhu Hui, was an orphan that Qiao Meili’s family had taken in. Due to a special bond, Zhu Hui secretly liked her.
But the original Qiao Meili did not like him. At age twenty, Grandpa Qiao arranged her marriage to Xiao Heng.
Xiao Heng was a handsome military officer, and the original Qiao Meili, being shallow, was smitten by his looks.
For six months after the wedding, she stayed at her own house, so things were peaceful.
But when the transmigrated Qiao Meili went to follow the army, trouble began.
She was used to being useless at home, but the military base was different. The base was in the mountains with harsh conditions, no one to help with chores, and even if she didn’t work, housework had to be done herself.
Qiao Meili refused to do anything, unwilling to learn, and only ate at the canteen—or waited for Xiao Heng to return.
The house was dirty, clothes unwashed, all waiting for Xiao Heng to finish training.
She did nothing herself and picked on the neighbors in the military housing. She would complain if someone didn’t bathe or if their hair was dirty. When someone brought her food, she said it tasted like pig feed.
After a few months, she became the bane of the entire housing complex.
Living in this environment, Qiao Meili was miserable and resentful of Xiao Heng.
The tension peaked after she gave birth to her son, Zhao Zhao. She couldn’t even take care of herself, let alone a baby.
Once, she went to a state-owned restaurant in town for a fancy meal, leaving Zhao Zhao alone. He fell off the bed, hit his head, and bled heavily.
If Xiao Heng hadn’t returned early, Zhao Zhao might have died.
Xiao Heng, usually calm and patient, scolded Qiao Meili harshly and then sent Zhao Zhao to be raised in his hometown.
Qiao Meili felt wronged and moved back to her own home, staying there for nearly three years.
During this time, Xiao Heng still sent thirty yuan every month for her living expenses, which she accepted but refused to return to the base. She never even looked at her son again.
Xiao Heng, likely deeply disappointed, stopped contacting her.
Only Grandmother Xiao tried to mediate and now sent a telegram, asking when Qiao Meili would join the army.
Of course, according to the original book, the original Qiao Meili never went to the military base. She instead chose to divorce Xiao Heng, because she simply couldn’t endure the hardships of military life.
The marriage was gone, and the Qiao family began to suffer. First, her older brother was caught flirting with a female educated youth, and then all the family’s wealth was confiscated. Without money, the family almost couldn’t survive.
To make matters worse, the orphan Zhu Hui, whom Qiao Meili had picked up, was found by his biological parents in Jing City. He turned out to be a scion of a wealthy Jing City household.
The original Qiao Meili regretted everything. She shamelessly went to find Zhu Hui, saying she was willing to marry him, and caused so much trouble that she angered him, squandering the last bit of goodwill. On her way home, she was kidnapped and sold to a remote mountain region. While trying to escape, she fell off a mountain and died, ending her short and foolish life.
After absorbing all of this backstory, the transmigrated Qiao Meili felt numb.
What “white moonlight” nonsense? She already has a husband and a son…
Footsteps sounded outside, and soon a man in a long gown entered. It was Qiao Wanqing (乔万倾), her father. Though over fifty, slightly plump, he still carried the charming and dashing aura of his youth.
“Daughter, why would you do something foolish like jump into the river? I wasn’t forcing you. If you don’t want to follow the army, fine. But that old lady from the Xiao family is too naggy—calling, sending telegrams, writing letters. It annoyed me. I thought seriously just now: if you truly don’t want to live with Xiao Heng, why not divorce him? Then the Xiao family would have no reason to bother you.”
Qiao Meili looked at her father, like some ancient relic, and recalled the book’s ending for the Qiao family: no money, family broken, and her father, feeling guilty toward his ancestors, hanged himself.
In the end, the only survivors were her brother and sister-in-law’s twin daughters.
It proved the saying true: stay away from crazy male and female leads—whoever gets close will suffer. That “white moonlight” role, whoever wants it can have it; she didn’t care.
Qiao Meili cursed the original author in her heart ten thousand times. Looking at her father, she decided immediately:
“I won’t divorce. Absolutely not.”
The original marriage had been arranged thanks to Grandpa Qiao. The Qiao family had owed a debt of gratitude to the Xiao family, which was why Xiao Heng married the original Qiao Meili. Otherwise, given Xiao Heng’s background—grandson of a veteran, upright, outstanding himself—there was no guarantee a pretty but brainless girl like the original Qiao Meili would even be a match.