“Xiaxia, that boy from the Fu family hasn’t come back in three years. He might have died out there long ago. You can’t keep living as a widow with a living husband, can you? Your father and I are making you remarry for your own good.”
At the dinner table, Shen Zhixia stared blankly at the woman in front of her, who was spraying saliva everywhere as she spoke. Her mind was still a little muddled.
What was going on? Had she traveled through time the moment she woke up?
And not only had she traveled into the 1970s-era novel she had been reading right before she went to sleep, she had even become the ill-fated cannon-fodder supporting female character in it.
To be fair, the original Shen Zhixia had been an idiot. Ever since she was little, her parents had constantly suppressed and emotionally manipulated her.
Her father neither loved her nor did her mother care for her, and she had been bullied by her older brother from childhood. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she had been the family’s maid.
After being introduced to and marrying Fu Siyu, a soldier, she was once again deceived by her parents into giving all of her husband’s allowances to her maternal family.
Later, Director Lin of the Revolutionary Committee took a liking to the original Shen Zhixia and promised to give the Shen family a job. With that job, her older brother, who had been sent to the countryside, could return. Only then did her parents ask her to remarry.
But that was also the beginning of the original Shen Zhixia’s nightmare.
The Revolutionary Committee director she married in her second marriage had a tendency toward domestic violence. Before marrying the original Shen Zhixia, he had already beaten two wives to death. After marrying her, he quickly grew tired of her as well and simply sold her off.
After that, the original Shen Zhixia was resold several times. In the end, she froze to death in a ditch beside a river.
What was even more infuriating was that in the novel, she was also the female lead’s foil. The more miserable her life became, the happier the female lead would be.
And it was not just Shen Zhixia herself who was the female lead’s foil—the husband she married was also the male lead’s foil. They would go on missions at the same time, yet while the male lead would earn merits and commendations, Fu Siyu would be punished for all sorts of absurd reasons.
Even more infuriatingly, this female lead was none other than her cousin, Shen Wanqing.
And Shen Wanqing had been reborn. She was utterly favored by the heavens.
Thinking about all this, Shen Zhixia was so angry that she wanted to flip the table.
Why? They were all human beings, all flesh-and-blood characters. Why did she have to be Shen Wanqing’s foil? Just because Shen Wanqing had bigger breasts and ate more than she did?
Before she could flip the table, she heard a sharp slap.
“Are you marrying him or not? Just say so. You’re gloomy all day long, putting on a dead person’s face for everyone to see. You’re not sensible at all—nothing like Wanqing.”
“What’s wrong with Director Lin? You’re a second-time bride who brings bad luck to her husbands. If you don’t marry him, who else do you think you’ll marry?”
Shen Zhixia looked up and saw her scumbag father, Shen Jianguo, glaring at her with his triangular eyes, his face and neck flushed red. His gaze looked as though he wanted to swallow her alive.
Anyone who did not know the truth would have thought they were enemies rather than father and daughter.
This whole family was nothing but a bunch of bloodsuckers. Only the original Shen Zhixia, that useless fool, would be willing to work herself to the bone and serve this family like an ox for the sake of a little nonexistent paternal and maternal love. Even after she died, it was Fu Siyuan who had rushed back from far away to collect her body.
Thinking of the ugly, greedy faces of this family in the novel and the grievances the original Shen Zhixia had suffered, Shen Zhixia curled her lips into a cold smile.
Old grudges and new grievances—she would settle them all today.
She sniffed, pinched her thigh hard, then raised her head. Her eyes were already red, with tears swirling in them.
“Dad, Mom, you don’t have to say anything more. I understand everything. I’ll marry him.” Shen Zhixia tugged up her sleeve and pretended to wipe away a tear before speaking obediently. “Besides, if I marry him, maybe I can even get him to help Dad compete for the position of director at the steel factory.”
The couple’s faces lit up when they heard Shen Zhixia’s words. They were just about to praise her for being sensible when Shen Zhixia suddenly changed direction and spoke timidly.
“Then could you give me a few hundred yuan? I need to prepare some dowry. I heard Director Lin has two sons, so I’ll need to buy some things to win them over too.”
After speaking, Shen Zhixia secretly glanced at Shen Jianguo’s gradually darkening expression and hurriedly explained, “I’ll be their stepmother after I marry him. It wouldn’t look right if I didn’t buy the children anything. Those two children are Director Lin’s precious darlings. If they accept me, then getting Director Lin to help with things wouldn’t be…”
She did not finish the sentence, but with Shen Jianguo’s meager wits, he could certainly understand what she meant.
Sure enough, after hesitating for a while, Shen Jianguo said to Li Yuelan, “Go get two hundred yuan for Xiaxia.”
Li Yuelan nodded. Before long, she brought out two hundred yuan and handed it to Shen Zhixia.
As she gave it to her, she did not forget to mutter, “That’s more than half of our family’s savings. We were going to keep it for your brother’s wedding. Once you marry Director Lin, remember to pay it back.”
Shen Zhixia snatched the money and stuffed it into her pocket, answering perfunctorily, “Don’t worry, Mom. As long as I win those two children over, why would I be worried about getting the money back?”
Shen Jianguo and Li Yuelan exchanged a glance. Their eyes revealed the same thought: She really is still that useless fool. Give her a little benefit and she’ll be grateful enough to worship them.
Although Shen Jianguo felt the pain of losing those two hundred yuan, as long as Shen Zhixia married Director Lin, they would receive five hundred yuan in bride price. Their eldest son could return, and perhaps Shen Jianguo could even take the position of director at the steel factory. The money would be well spent!
Besides, all that money had originally been sent home by that fool Shen Zhixia anyway. It did not matter if they gave a little of it back to her.
“Since you’ve agreed, I’ll send someone to give Director Lin our answer later. We should set the date as soon as possible.”
Li Yuelan went so far as to fetch a calendar and flip through it.
“The day after tomorrow is an auspicious day. Why don’t we set the wedding for then? After we finish eating, I’ll accompany Xiaxia to buy things, and you can go find Director Lin.”
Listening to the couple singing the same tune, Shen Zhixia nearly vomited up the food she had swallowed.
Wasn’t the day after tomorrow the date they had already agreed upon long ago? And now they were pretending to check the calendar. What a completely pointless performance—like taking off one’s pants to fart.
In the novel, the original Shen Zhixia had not agreed to the marriage at all in the beginning. Three days later, however, she had still been knocked unconscious and sent over by her black-hearted parents.
By the time she woke up, it had already been too late, so she had simply decided to let things fall apart completely.
After pretending to think for several minutes, Shen Zhixia nodded. “You can arrange everything.”
In any case, she definitely would not marry him three days later. She had already decided that she would find an opportunity to buy a ticket and go to the army base to join Fu Siyu, where she would look for him.
After saying that, she pretended to ask casually, “Oh, right, Mom, I remember that Grandpa gave me a silver bracelet when I was little. You’ve always kept it for me. Could you give it to me to take as part of my dowry? That way, I’ll have some dignity too.”
In the novel, this bracelet was actually a portable space. It contained abundant supplies, spirit spring water that could heal injuries, endless black and red fertile soil for planting, and storage space for supplies as well.
But in the novel, the bracelet had eventually been taken by Shen Wanqing. She had relied on the supplies in the portable space to become wealthy, and even her husband Gu Qing’an’s career had proceeded smoothly as a result.
But now that Shen Zhixia was here, Shen Wanqing could forget about getting any of those things.
Who could have known that the moment she brought it up, Li Yuelan would refuse without even thinking?
“No. That bracelet is being saved to give your brother’s future wife as a meeting gift. Besides, you’re already remarrying. What do you need a bracelet for?”
Shen Zhixia rolled her eyes. Li Yuelan was truly shameless, taking her belongings to curry favor with her future daughter-in-law.
She set down her chopsticks and said with a serious expression, “This is my last request. If you don’t give me the bracelet, then I won’t get married either.”