In the early spring of 1972, in the tablet workshop of the Jiangcheng Pharmaceutical Factory, several female workers sat around a workbench covered with medicines and packaging bags, sealing the products. Taking a moment of leisure amidst their busy work, they began chatting about their domestic affairs.
Sitting in the corner, Lin Yingxian skillfully packaged the tablets without joining the conversation. Even though she wasn’t listening intently, the snippets of gossip and trivia from the workers drifted into her ears automatically.
Having worked in the tablet workshop for over a year, Lin Yingxian hadn’t met many of the workers’ family members or relatives, yet their deeds were as familiar to her as household names. They were, in a sense, familiar strangers.
Lin Yingxian, who had been playing the role of a silent listener, was suddenly addressed. “Little Lin, was that older cousin of yours who attempted suicide saved?”
Lin Yingxian looked up to see the questioner, Zhong Hong, looking concerned, but the gossipy glint in her eyes was impossible to hide.
Upon hearing Zhong Hong’s words, everyone else turned to look at Lin Yingxian, eagerly awaiting her answer. Thanks to the mysterious law of six degrees of separation, they didn’t even need to ask Lin Yingxian to know she had an older cousin who had attempted suicide and had been rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Mentioning this cousin, a look of sadness and worry appeared on Lin Yingxian’s face. “She was saved, but she hasn’t woken up yet.”
Seeing how distressed Lin Yingxian seemed over her cousin, the others stopped prying. Zhong Hong wanted to continue gossiping, but the worker beside her shot her a look and tugged at her sleeve. Only then did Zhong Hong drop it and start chatting with the group about other topics.
Lin Yingxian breathed a secret sigh of relief. She didn’t actually have much affection for that cousin; she had only put on a show of deep sorrow because she didn’t want to become the center of gossip.
A little over a year ago, Lin Yingxian had transmigrated into a book about a baby-swapping incident.
In the story, a woman was so traumatized by her husband’s death that she suffered a difficult birth, leaving her with almost no possibility of getting pregnant again. Not wanting her only child to suffer with her, she begged her sister, who worked as a nurse in the hospital, to help her swap the babies so her daughter could grow up in a better household. Lin Yingxian’s aunt, Aunt Yan, was a doctor at the hospital where this nurse worked. Aunt Yan happened to be in labor at the time and was targeted by the nurse.
Aunt Yan’s biological child, Li Qing, left Jiangcheng with the woman and grew up in a blended family, enduring endless bullying. The woman’s biological daughter, Yan Yingshu, remained in Jiangcheng and became the pampered “delicate daughter” raised in the palm of Aunt Yan’s hand.
Before she died, the nurse told Li Qing the truth. She had been tormented by the act for a long time, her conscience never at peace; she felt she shouldn’t have harmed an innocent family and child out of a moment of weakness and selfishness, causing Li Qing to suffer so much.
However, the original Li Qing had already died after falling into a river. Her soul was completely gone, replaced by the Li Qing who had transmigrated there. The original Li Qing would never know who her biological parents were, and she would never enjoy the paternal and maternal love that should have been hers.
After the transmigrated Li Qing learned the truth, she went to find her biological parents. Aunt Yan was already inclined to believe her when she saw how much Li Qing resembled her, whereas Yan Yingshu didn’t look like anyone in the family. Li Qing convinced the Yan family to go to the hospital to get the truth from the nurse. Only after the nurse confessed the truth to them did she fulfill her final wish and pass away without regrets.
Once the truth was uncovered and it was confirmed that Li Qing was Aunt Yan’s biological daughter, the Yan family brought Li Qing home.
Yan Yingshu couldn’t accept the truth and slit her wrists in her room. Aunt Yan discovered her in time, and Yan Yingshu was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.
In the novel, Lin Yingxian was merely a background character, someone who didn’t even have a name.
If it hadn’t been for Li Qing coming to claim her parents and the relatives finding out that Aunt Yan’s daughter had been swapped as an infant, Lin Yingxian wouldn’t have known she was transmigrating into a book. She had previously felt that her cousins’ names were somewhat familiar, but she hadn’t paid it much mind.
After all, she had read this novel several years ago and didn’t immediately make the connection. It wasn’t until Li Qing appeared that her memories of the book were gradually reawakened.
At that time, the novel was about to be adapted for film and television. Her manager had given her the script to read, as she was set to play the female lead. To understand the character better, she had specifically read the novel. After finishing it, she felt the only connection between the script and the novel was the main plotline and some key scenes; everything else had been modified beyond recognition.
Later, she became embroiled in a public relations scandal. Just before filming began, the female lead was replaced. Even later, the production’s funding was cut halfway through, the investors went bankrupt, and the project was shelved.
Lin Yingxian had been a moderately successful actress in the twenty-first century. She had won some awards and acted in many classic films and TV shows, but she just wasn’t “red”—she wasn’t a superstar. Lin Yingxian’s manager wanted to change that, but Lin Yingxian was quite content with the status quo and enjoyed her life as it was.
Unexpectedly, she woke up to find herself in the resource-scarce 1970s. Her beautiful modern life waved goodbye to her. Influenced by the residual depressive emotions in her new body, she once thought it was a hallucination caused by a mental breakdown and was nearly mistaken for being mentally ill.
How Lin Yingxian wished this was all just a dream, that she could wake up and return to her original world…
When lunchtime arrived, the workers began heading to the cafeteria one after another.
On the way, Lin Yingxian ran into her middle school classmate, Jiang Lixia. Jiang Lixia affectionately took Lin Yingxian’s arm and began chatting with her.
Jiang Lixia worked in the Logistics Department of the pharmaceutical factory. After Lin Yingxian started working at the factory, her interactions with Jiang Lixia increased; previously, they had been nothing more than ordinary classmates.
Over a year ago, when Lin Yingxian applied for a job at the pharmaceutical factory, her actual assignment didn’t match the position she applied for. She was assigned to the herb-frying room as manual labor. Most of the workers in the herb-frying room were men, with only a few women. Lin Yingxian was physically frail and found the work difficult to handle. Yet, she persevered, knowing she absolutely could not leave the pharmaceutical factory.
Jiang Lixia’s appearance gave Lin Yingxian a chance to leave the herb-frying room.
At the time, Jiang Lixia was being sabotaged by an older employee with connections in the Logistics Department, who was secretly uniting others to ostracize her. Lin Yingxian, both directly and indirectly, taught Jiang Lixia how to establish herself in the Logistics Department and improve her interpersonal relationships. As a result, Jiang Lixia gained a firm footing in the department, and her situation improved.
Jiang Lixia eventually discovered by chance that Lin Yingxian’s original position had been taken by someone else, leaving her as manual labor in the herb-frying room. Jiang Lixia reported this to her uncle, Section Chief Wang of the Personnel Department. Consequently, Section Chief Wang noticed that the person who had taken Lin Yingxian’s spot was a relative of the Deputy Section Chief of Personnel, with whom he had a poor relationship. Section Chief Wang used this as leverage to suppress the Deputy Section Chief.
Lin Yingxian only stayed in the herb-frying room for a little over a month before she was transferred to the tablet workshop as a packaging worker. Her work suddenly became much easier, and her salary increased.
In the middle of last year, when an older worker in the workshop retired, Lin Yingxian seized the opportunity to successfully become a permanent employee. Now part of the official establishment, she began to enjoy the benefits of being a formal employee of the pharmaceutical factory. The Jiangcheng Pharmaceutical Factory was a key national state-owned enterprise, supported by a research institute directly under the central government. It was large-scale, and its employees enjoyed excellent pay and comprehensive benefits. A job at the Jiangcheng Pharmaceutical Factory was a “golden rice bowl” in everyone’s eyes. Since becoming a formal employee, Lin Yingxian’s status at home had risen dramatically.