“Lin Shuyao, are you really planning to go support the Southwest frontier? The altitude over there is extremely high. Quite a few people have gone there and never came back. Don’t do anything foolish!”
“Didn’t Professor Chen just agree to give you a chance… to date him?”
Lin Shuyao slipped the officially stamped document into her cloth bag. Without answering any of their questions, she waved to everyone.
“Comrades, the mountains are high and the rivers are long. If fate allows, we’ll meet again.”
As she stepped out of the gates of the Kyoto Academy of Agricultural Sciences, even the air felt fresher.
The wind carried fallen leaves, brushing lightly across her shoulders. The autumn sun was gentle and just right.
That’s right—Lin Shuyao had transmigrated into a novel.
She had entered a period-era romance novel titled The Cold-Faced Professor’s Sweet Little Wife and become the tragic cannon-fodder female supporting character.
The original owner of this body was also named Lin Shuyao. At twenty-two years old, she was a university graduate from a worker-peasant-soldier university. After graduation, she joined the Kyoto Academy of Agricultural Sciences, making her one of the highly educated talents of her era.
She was intelligent, gifted, and hardworking, quickly establishing herself within the institute.
Because of her excellent qualifications and attractive appearance, she had been introduced to and married the youngest battalion commander in the Kyoto Military District two years earlier.
Had the story followed its original course, she should have enjoyed a wonderful life.
Unfortunately, she met the novel’s male lead—Chen Zhiheng.
Chen Zhiheng was a grain-seed specialist transferred from another region. He was refined, gentle, and eloquent. In the eyes of others, he was a brilliant young talent with limitless potential.
The original Lin Shuyao was obsessed with him, believing he was the best man in the world.
She willingly handed over all her research ideas, experimental data, breeding samples, and everything else she had worked on.
She even took the initiative to credit him for all achievements in front of the institute director and their superiors, claiming she was merely assisting him.
What was even worse was that she deeply regretted getting married.
Once, right in front of her newlywed husband, she said to Chen Zhiheng:
“Ah Heng, I’m not familiar with him at all. I only met him once on the day we registered our marriage. After that, he left on a mission. My parents forced me into it. How could a rough man like Lu Chengjing possibly be worthy of me? You’re the only one in my heart. I’ll divorce him immediately!”
Thus, she lowered her standards again and again, humbling herself until she was nearly beneath the dust.
In the end, all she received was endless exploitation and indifference.
Chen Zhiheng comfortably enjoyed the fruits of her labor and accepted everyone’s praise, yet he never once thanked her.
Whenever someone mentioned Lin Shuyao, he would casually wave his hand and say,
“She only handled some trivial chores. Anyone could have done it.”
Even more ridiculous, he eventually arranged for her to take the blame for someone else’s crime, leading to her miserable death in prison.
The person she protected was none other than Su Man, the female lead of the novel.
In the future, Su Man and Chen Zhiheng would work together in scientific research and become a celebrated power couple admired by all.
Meanwhile, Lin Shuyao—the one who had poured in both her heart and hard work—became nothing more than a background prop in their love story and a stepping stone on their path to success.
Even her family ended up disgraced and ruined.
Shaking her head, Lin Shuyao clasped her hands behind her back and sighed like an old scholar.
“Foolish child, truly foolish.”
She did not feel particularly emotional about it.
She simply thought the fate of a cannon-fodder character was absurdly melodramatic.
“Though, my own life wasn’t exactly fortunate either…”
Lin Shuyao herself had suffered greatly.
After more than twenty years of dedicated study, she had finally earned her doctorate and secured a position in a national key research project.
Then illness struck unexpectedly, and she died.
Now, having the chance to live again—and still work within her field of expertise—was already something worth celebrating.
Even in the impoverished 1970s, she intended to live well.
She had been in this world for some time already. Her decision to cut ties and leave was made out of necessity.
The plot itself was simply too powerful.
She discovered that whenever she approached Chen Zhiheng, she would lose control and do foolish things.
No matter how she tried to change events, the story always corrected itself, pushing her toward the path of certain death.
As for heading to the Southwest, it was her only viable choice.
The job at the Kyoto Academy of Agricultural Sciences might have been enviable to others, but to her, it was a death trap.
Transferring positions remotely was extremely difficult.
If she insisted on a transfer, the only available destination was the Southwest frontier.
Because her husband in name—Lu Chengjing—was there.
The Southwest Grain Seed Experimental Station had only recently been established and happened to have vacancies. It was the only place she could realistically apply to.
The current year was 1977, one of the most difficult periods in China’s history.
The Southwest sat on a harsh plateau. Compared to a capital city like Kyoto, conditions were far inferior in every aspect.
Choosing to go there required tremendous courage.
Still, it was better than dying.
As for Lu Chengjing, he was also a cannon-fodder character with very little presence in the novel.
Two years ago, he had given up his post in the Kyoto Military District and headed to the Southwest frontier.
That was shortly after Lin Shuyao uttered those humiliating words.
Whether he left because of military orders or because he wanted to get away from her, she didn’t know.
What she did know was that she planned to meet him and have a proper conversation.
At the very least, she needed his signature to finalize her transfer.
If that didn’t work…
They could always divorce.
“Dad, Mom, I’m back!”
“Yaoyao, you’re home? Did your transfer approval really come through?”
“You bet it did.”
The moment she entered the house, Lin Shuyao slapped the official document onto the table and raised her eyebrows proudly.
When her parents learned that she intended to give up her secure government job and head to the Southwest, neither of them approved.
Still, they didn’t stop her.
“Maybe it’s for the best. Your husband has been out there alone all this time. I’ve heard things are chaotic near the China-Myanmar border. Soldiers are risking their lives every day…”
Father Lin had a gentle temperament. He forced himself to accept reality and eventually managed to do so.
Mother Lin, however, was another story.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
She raised her hand and smacked Lin Shuyao on the back.
“This is all because you’re such a disappointment! Running after that pretty-boy all day long without any shame. You practically forced your husband to that remote countryside! Now look at you. You’re throwing away such a good job and following him there to suffer!”
“Hey, hey, hey!”
Lin Shuyao twisted away and dodged.
“Mom, watch what you’re saying! You’re the director of the Women’s Federation in our district. Where’s your political awareness? Am I going there to suffer? I’m answering the nation’s call and contributing my strength to the country and the people!”
“Contributing your strength? More like contributing your empty head! Good-looking but useless!”
Lin Shuyao immediately hid behind her father and grinned.
“Mom, don’t underestimate me. Other people might fail, but I guarantee I won’t!”
“The hell you won’t! With all the excellent conditions at the Kyoto Academy, you still haven’t accomplished anything. And now you’re talking about the Southwest?”
Lin Shuyao raised one finger and wagged it.
“What if I told you I haven’t achieved anything because I’ve been keeping a low profile? Would you believe me?”
Mother Lin was so irritated she nearly smacked her again.
Father Lin hurriedly stepped in to stop her.
“Alright, Zhiling, calm down. The child is grown up now. Don’t hurt her.”
“Look at all her bad habits! You father and son spoiled her rotten!”
“Enough. The Southwest is the poorest plateau region in the country. Developing superior grain varieties is an urgent task. If Yaoyao doesn’t go, someone else’s child will have to. Since things have come to this, all we can do is support her and believe in her.”
Lin Shuyao quickly nodded in agreement.
After all, she was a crop science PhD from the twenty-first century.
Before her death, her specialization had been high-altitude crop genetics, breeding, and cultivation.
Perhaps she hadn’t reached the pinnacle of achievement, but compared to the agricultural standards of the current era, she was operating on an entirely different level.
So there was very little exaggeration in what she had said.
She truly wanted—and truly could—shine in the field she knew best.