Splash!
A basin of cold water was thrown straight into Lu Xinran’s face, icy enough to make her bones ache.
She shuddered violently and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a vicious, menacing face.
“Lu Xinran, don’t try any tricks with me. Accept your fate! Obediently marry that disabled soldier in Manling’s place. Maybe then you’ll at least survive!”
“Your parents have already been sent down to the countryside. They’re definitely never coming back!”
“Your grandparents are dead too! There’s no one left to back you up now! You’d better listen and do as you’re told! Otherwise, with your capitalist-class background, you’ll end up being denounced and struggled against! Just like your parents!”
Lu Xinran stared at him in confusion. Hadn’t she been killed in a car accident on her way home from work? How could she possibly—
Sent down to the countryside?
A capitalist’s daughter?
This plot… Why did it sound so familiar?
Suddenly, she felt dizzy.
Then it hit her.
She had transmigrated into the period novel she had been reading recently.
The story was set in the late winter and early spring of 1968.
She was a cannon-fodder female supporting character, only twenty years old.
Her grandparents were capitalists, while her parents had taken her overseas to live. This time, they had returned to China for the New Year, and her parents had decided to stay in the country to serve their homeland.
Who would have thought that they would be reported and subsequently sent down to the countryside?
Her grandparents had already been in poor health. After learning that their son and daughter-in-law had been denounced and sent away, they could not withstand the blow and died one after another.
The vicious man standing before her was her paternal uncle.
His own parents had died when he was eight, and her grandparents had raised him, arranged a marriage for him, and even found him a job at the family’s factory.
Yet instead of being grateful, he had always been jealous of her father and had secretly been siphoning off her family’s assets.
For years, he had also been persuading her parents to return to China. After preparing for two whole years, her parents had finally returned, driven by their patriotism and willing to give up the generous salaries they had received overseas.
They had barely been back for half a month when someone reported them.
From being taken away by the Red Guards to being denounced and sent down to the countryside, less than a month had passed.
Thinking about it now, perhaps this ungrateful bastard had been plotting everything from the very beginning!
In the original novel, they had forced her to marry a military officer in the northwest in place of Lu Manling.
That military officer had originally been engaged to Lu Manling, but she refused to marry him. She only wanted to strip the Lu family of its assets and follow her parents to Xiangshi, where she planned to marry a wealthy Hong Kong businessman and become a rich man’s wife.
Lu Xinran had refused as well. She was worried about her parents, but she could not defeat them. After her resistance failed, she was also sent down to the countryside.
Because she was exceptionally beautiful, some local roughnecks took notice of her after she was sent away. They abducted and violated her, and she eventually went insane and drowned herself in a river.
Her fate had been utterly tragic.
“Mom, look at her. Could she have gone stupid?” Lu Manling clutched her mother’s arm, looking somewhat worried.
“She hasn’t. Don’t worry. She probably just hasn’t recovered from the shock yet.”
“Lu Xinran, you’d better agree immediately. Three days from now, you’ll leave for the northwest and obediently marry that military officer. I don’t have the patience to keep explaining things to you. I’ve already been more than kind to you,” Lu Xinglong said coldly.
Now that Lu Xinran was nothing more than an orphan, her usually amiable paternal uncle did not even bother pretending anymore. He had finally revealed his true nature.
His wife, Zhao Cuilü, also put on a fake smile.
“Xinran, just agree. Your uncle is doing this for your own good. Considering your grandparents and your parents, this really is the best arrangement.”
“He’s a military officer, after all! With your bad family background, no one will dare marry you in the future. You’ll also be denounced and sent down to the countryside. You’ve lived overseas for so many years—how could you possibly endure that kind of hardship? At least this way, you’ll stay alive. You won’t be losing out.”
Lu Xinran finally pulled herself out of her thoughts and nodded.
“I understand…”
Her voice was hoarse as she agreed.
She needed time to calm down and think things through. Given her disastrous situation, she could not afford to confront them head-on!
“Good. I’m glad you’ve thought it through. Get some rest and don’t do anything foolish. We’ll leave you alone for now. Get yourself ready. Three days from now, you’ll be leaving for the northwest,” Zhao Cuilü said indifferently.
The family then walked out of the room.
The door closed behind them, but it remained slightly ajar.
Lu Manling could not wait until they returned to their room. The moment they reached the doorway, she anxiously asked, “Mom, do you think she really agreed? Or is she just pretending to go along with us?”
“Hah. Does she dare pretend? Look at her situation. She has no other choice!” Zhao Cuilü said confidently.
“Anyway, I refuse to marry that so-called scary-faced military officer! I heard he was seriously wounded on a mission a month ago and became disabled! And he can’t even perform anymore. If I marry him, I’ll basically be a widow in name only!” Lu Manling exclaimed, both anxious and furious.
She had seen him once when she returned to their hometown several years ago. He had looked extremely fierce, with sharp brows and eyes that could frighten a child to tears. His temper had to be terrible. He might even beat his wife.
And that military officer was stationed in the far northwest, where the living conditions were notoriously harsh.
The mother and daughter were completely unafraid. They practically said everything right outside her door, their voices loud enough for Lu Xinran to hear every word from the bed.
Lu Xinran looked delicate and refined. Now that her parents had been sent away and her grandparents were dead, she did not even have a single friend in the country.
She was completely alone and helpless.
At this moment, she was like a piece of meat on a chopping board, seemingly left with only one possible path.
“Put your mind at ease. Mom won’t let you go to the northwest and live as a widow!”
“It was all Grandpa’s fault for stubbornly arranging that engagement with him. It makes me furious!” Zhao Cuilü was particularly irritated whenever the subject came up.
If they refused to honor the engagement, that family would report them. She could not afford to provoke them.
That family had three brothers. The eldest was the captain of the production team in their hometown.
And this time, Lu Xinran’s parents had been sent down to the very commune in their hometown.
“Thank you, Mom.”
“I’m going to marry a rich man!” Lu Manling declared proudly.
“Don’t worry. The Lu family’s assets are all ours now! Once we get to Xiangshi, we’ll live the good life!” Zhao Cuilü said, her voice brimming with smug satisfaction.
Lu Xinran knew that the political movement was already gaining momentum and that the reckoning with capitalist families was about to begin. Time was running out.
These people actually wanted to strip her family of their assets and flee to Xiangshi.
What an ungrateful bunch!
Her grandparents had raised him as though he were their own child, yet he had stabbed them in the back.
Her parents being reported and sent down to the countryside was most likely the work of this entire family. They wanted to seize her family’s assets and then escape to Xiangshi to live carefree lives as wealthy capitalists.
Since she had come here, there was absolutely no way she would let this ungrateful family get what they wanted!
They wanted to report someone?
It wasn’t as though she didn’t know how to do the same.
Lu Xinran lowered her eyes and noticed a red cord around her wrist.
She remembered that it had been a gift from the original owner’s grandfather when their family had just returned to China. He had told her that it would keep her safe and had insisted that she always wear it.
Lu Xinran reached out and touched the red cord.
Suddenly, she felt a strange tingling sensation, as though a faint electric current were flowing from her fingertips through every inch of her body.
This red cord…
Lu Xinran suddenly felt dizzy.
The next moment, she opened her eyes—and found herself in an entirely different place.