Summer of 1983, Huaguo, Qushui Village.
The Lu household was in complete chaos.
The newlywed daughter-in-law of the second branch, Xu Nian’an, and the eldest branch’s girl Lu Xiuxiu had gotten into a fight.
Both of them fell into the river. Lu Xiuxiu knew how to swim and climbed out on her own. Xu Nian’an wasn’t so lucky.
She struggled in the water for ages before someone managed to pull her out.
That very night, she came down with a high fever.
Old Madam Lu shot a sharp, slashing glare at Xu Nian’an, who was lying on the bed, then turned to complain:
“Look at the kind of daughter-in-law you’ve married. Our Xiuxiu is such a sweet, well-behaved girl, and she—”
Before she could finish, a man’s voice cut her off:
“Mom! Enough. We need to find Damao to take a look at Nian’an right now.”
Xu Nian’an frowned. She felt like she was being pinned down by a ghost—no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t open her eyes.
The noise around her wouldn’t stop—arguments at her bedside mixed with the chirping of insects outside.
The sweltering heat pressed down on her as if she were being roasted alive.
What was happening?
Wasn’t she vacationing in the Canary Islands? Why did it feel so hot?
Suddenly, a surge of memories that weren’t hers flooded into her mind.
She slipped back into unconsciousness.
“Sister-in-law…”
Someone seemed to be calling her. Xu Nian’an slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a young girl’s worried face.
Wasn’t that her husband’s little sister from her dream?
Xu Nian’an sat up and looked around.
A stampede of WTFs trampled across her mind.A yellow mud-brick house. A red wedding character pasted on the wall. A calendar.The date: July 1983.
Did she seriously travel through time just from taking a vacation?
She looked down at her hands—no sign of her perfectly manicured nails, just thin, calloused fingers.
Her eyes landed on a mirror on the table. She rushed over.
The face in the mirror looked like her… but wasn’t her.
Behind her, Lu Xiulian was shouting loud enough to wake the dead:
“Sister-in-law!”
She’d watched her sister-in-law wake up, sit up, and then act like she’d been possessed—completely ignoring her and running to the mirror.
Lu Xiulian almost ran to fetch their grandmother to call back her soul. But then Xu Nian’an finally turned around and said:
“I’m fine. I just need a moment.”
Lu Xiulian secretly let out a breath. Thank goodness she wasn’t brain-damaged. The village idiot had fallen into the river and gotten a fever just like this when he was little—and woke up stupid the next day.
Xu Nian’an’s behavior had scared her half to death.
Trying to lighten the mood, she pointed to the congee and pickles on the table:
“Sister-in-law, I made your breakfast. Remember to eat.”
Then, with a frown, she added:
“Grandma’s so unreasonable. I wanted to boil an egg for you, but she said people with fevers can’t eat eggs.”
Xu Nian’an looked at the sad, tasteless congee and pickles, then called out just as Lu Xiulian turned to leave:
“If I can’t eat an egg because I have a fever… then I can eat chicken, right? Go kill one for me.”
Lu Xiulian’s eyes lit up. She blinked happily.
“Okay! I’ll go right now!”
She bolted out like a gust of wind. Seconds later, the sound of chickens screaming echoed outside.
Xu Nian’an lay back down. This body really was weak—just getting up and walking a few steps had made her dizzy.
The original owner had grown up in comfort—her father was a retired soldier now working as the deputy director of a city machinery factory, her mother an accountant at a garment factory, and two older brothers spoiled her like a princess.
She even had a college degree—the most educated person in the family.
After graduation, she refused the job assigned by her school and went home instead, planning to take it easy at her father’s factory.
Then she met Lu Chengyu.
The Xu family had once done the Lu family a great favor, and ever since, the Lus delivered produce to them every year. When the soldier Lu Chengyu returned home that year and delivered the goods, his handsome looks caught Xu Nian’an’s eye—and she demanded to marry him.
Lu Chengyu’s father, Lu Zhiqiang, was overjoyed. He and Xu’s father, Xu Guoliang, were lifelong friends, and the idea of their college-educated daughter becoming his daughter-in-law thrilled him.
He urged Lu Chengyu to file the marriage paperwork immediately. He even vowed that Xu Nian’an would live in the Lu house exactly as she had in her parents’ home—no chores whatsoever.
But fate was cruel. On their wedding day, Lu Chengyu received an emergency call from his unit and had to rush back to the army.
The Lu family felt even more indebted to Xu Nian’an after that.
She had a bad temper and threw tantrums sometimes, yet her mother-in-law pampered her constantly—slipping her money for snacks and clothes.
Secretly, of course—because the Lu family hadn’t split households yet, and all the finances were controlled by the domineering Old Madam Lu.
In most families, the eldest son and eldest grandson were the treasures.But in the Lu family, it was the youngest son and youngest grandson.
The eldest branch—Lu Chengyu’s parents—did all the work but the second branch enjoyed all the benefits.
Yesterday’s fight had started because Xu Nian’an felt hot and went to cool off by the creek. Second branch’s daughter, Lu Xiuxiu, saw the jade pendant on her neck and wanted it.
It was a family heirloom from her maternal grandmother, given to her on her wedding day.
Xu Nian’an refused to sell it. Not only that, she mocked Lu Xiuxiu for never having seen anything good before.
One thing led to another, and they both ended up in the water.
Thinking of this, Xu Nian’an touched the pendant, a bold idea forming in her mind.
She pricked her finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the jade.
The blood was absorbed instantly. A thin mist filled the room.
Enter, she thought.
In the blink of an eye—she was in another space.
A little thatched hut, a spring, endless black soil, a creek, and fog beyond the boundary.
She downed a handful of spring water—her dizziness vanished and her finger healed.
Then a golden message appeared in the air:
[Auto-Planting]Insert seeds. Time passes 1:100 compared to the outside world.
Xu Nian’an gasped.This place was amazing.
Time to go back—someone might come in. She willed herself out.
Back in her room, she sipped her now-cool congee, thinking:
Maybe she could stay here. The economy was about to boom. Her new family was kind. Her husband was handsome and rarely home. He even secretly left her 500 yuan before returning to his unit.
If she earned money in the future while her husband was away… what a life.
But first—the family had to split.She didn’t want to live with a bunch of schemers.
She hadn’t even finished her congee when Old Madam Lu’s shrill voice exploded outside:
“Greedy little witch! Killing my chicken! What cursed fate did our Lu family have to marry someone like your mother and raise a brood of useless good-for-nothings?!”