Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Yuanyuan, breakfast’s ready! Get up already!”
The adult man’s fists were heavy, and his voice was even louder, jolting Yang Yuan from her drowsy sleep.
“I knooow…”
She dragged out the words lazily, rolled over, and promptly went back to sleep.
The man knew exactly what that tone meant. Used to it by now, he simply placed her untouched breakfast back into the pot and covered it. After quickly cleaning the kitchen, he closed the door behind him and left for work.
Who knew how much longer she slept?
When Yang Yuan finally stretched and woke up, she instinctively reached one arm out from under the blanket—
Only to yank it back inside immediately.
Shivering, she pulled the quilt tighter around herself and couldn’t help cursing.
Damn it. This place is freezing.
Her eyes drifted to the crude gray brick wall beside the bed, and disgust welled up inside her once again.
What terrible sins did I commit in my last life to end up transmigrating to the 1970s?
There was barely enough food to eat or water to drink, let alone central heating. She had slept the entire night, yet the bed was still ice cold.
It was torture.
She had been here for a month.
At first, she’d thought she’d simply transmigrated into the past. But the moment she heard the name Song Can, she froze.
This wasn’t just the 1970s.
It was the world of a period novel.
The heroine, Song Can, had lived a pitiful life. Her mother died when she was young, leaving her to struggle under the thumb of her stepmother while raising her younger brother.
After years of hardship—and thanks to both her own abilities and a little protagonist’s luck—she finally earned a coveted position at a state-owned textile dyeing factory.
Only for her stepmother to demand that she hand the job over to her stepsister.
Afraid Song Can would refuse, the stepmother secretly signed her up to be sent to the countryside as an educated youth.
But Song Can wasn’t someone who accepted defeat.
Rather than letting her stepmother benefit, she sold the job herself, talked her biological father out of his savings, stirred the entire family into chaos, and then left for the countryside on her own terms.
There, she met a down-on-his-luck educated youth from Beijing.
The two fell in love, endured several difficult years together, were both admitted to university after the college entrance exams resumed, returned to the city, attended Peking University, cleared her boyfriend’s family’s political charges, bought a traditional courtyard house, had twins, and ultimately became the ultimate winners in life.
Resting her chin on one hand, Yang Yuan sighed.
When she’d read the novel, she’d been completely engrossed. It had been satisfying from beginning to end.
But now that she’d transmigrated into it…
It was a different story.
Because her current identity was none other than the heroine’s ill-intentioned fake best friend.
The original Yang Yuan only appeared twice in the novel.
The first time was years later, just before Song Can left for university. While visiting her hometown, Song Can unexpectedly met her first love and learned that, before she had gone to the countryside, he’d written her a letter and entrusted Yang Yuan to deliver it.
Out of jealousy, Yang Yuan had burned the letter instead.
The second appearance came near the end of the novel.
Song Can heard through neighborhood gossip that Yang Yuan had always dreamed of marrying into a wealthy family. Instead, she’d married the wrong man, lived miserably, and after discovering her husband was having an affair and wanted a divorce, she flew into a rage and hacked him to death.
Yang Yuan let out a relieved breath.
“So… I’m basically just a minor background character?”
“That’s good. There’s still time to change my fate.”
Getting out of bed, she found the breakfast her Fourth Brother had left for her.
A bowl of rice gruel so thin that she could practically see her reflection in it had already gone cold.
One coarse mixed-grain steamed bun.
And half a bowl of leafy vegetables that were almost impossible to identify.
She grimaced.
To put it bluntly, back in her previous life, even the family dog ate better than this.
Unfortunately, there was no helping it.
It was only shortly after the Spring Festival of 1970. The country had only recently emerged from years of famine. Every household lived like this.
And the Yang family was already considered relatively well-off—a dual-income urban family.
If this were the countryside…
Life would be even worse.
Pouting slightly, she poured away the watery broth, leaving only the rice grains at the bottom of the bowl before adding some hot water.
Then she picked up the bowl of vegetables, planning to reheat it over the honeycomb coal stove in the living room.
No matter how reluctant she felt, she still had to eat.
Food was fuel.
The moment Yang Yuan stepped out of the crude little kitchen, loud shouting drifted over from the courtyard to the south.
That was the Song family’s home.
The Yang family lived in a north-facing house, while the Song family’s house faced east. Their courtyards shared a single wall.
Listening carefully, Yang Yuan recognized the shrill voice of Song Can’s stepmother.
“…stole the household registration book… so bold… knitting factory…”
Another sharp female voice interrupted repeatedly.
“What right do you have to decide my future?”
“Why don’t you send Ma Yingying to the countryside instead?!”
Yang Yuan nodded to herself.
So the plot has officially begun.
Last night, Song Can’s stepmother had learned that Song Can had secured a factory job.
She immediately decided to make Song Can give it to her own daughter, Ma Yingying.
Fearing Song Can would refuse, she secretly went to the Educated Youth Office early that morning and registered Song Can to be sent to the countryside.
Now that she’d returned home, she’d informed Song Can of both decisions.
Naturally, a fierce argument erupted.
Someone had probably already gone to fetch Song Can’s father from work to settle the dispute.
Then again, this wasn’t the first time.
After years of constant fighting, all the neighbors were used to it.
Completely unhurried, Yang Yuan returned inside to eat.
The Yang family’s house had been allocated after the founding of the People’s Republic.
It originally consisted of two rooms—east and west—with two central rooms serving as the living room.
Later, as more children were born, the family partitioned the living room in half.
One half became the boys’ bedroom.
The other remained the dining room and reception area.
The western room contained wardrobes and a dressing table and belonged to the girls.
Her parents always occupied the eastern room and had even partitioned off a tiny storage space inside it.
During winter, Mother Yang moved the coal stove indoors for warmth.
Afraid of carbon monoxide poisoning, however, she kept it in the living room.
Whenever the family gathered, they huddled around the stove.
When no one was using it, they sealed the air vents to preserve the fire.
Yang Yuan sat on the homemade sofa, dragged the stove closer, opened the draft, and, while listening to the continuing argument next door, toasted her steamed bun over the fire as she ate.
The Yang family had many children.
But at present, only four people still lived at home:
Herself.
Her Fourth Brother.
And her parents.
The original owner’s name had been Yang Yuan (杨元)—pronounced exactly the same as her own name, Yang Yuan (杨媛), though written with different characters.
During the New Year, she’d argued with someone over a few yuan of lucky money, been shoved down the steps, hit the back of her head…
And when she’d opened her eyes again, she’d become the current Yang Yuan.
Talk about bad luck.
Yang Yuan was sixteen years old this year.
Normally she should have been in the second year of high school.
But because of the ongoing political movement, schools had essentially stopped normal classes.
Meanwhile, loud slogans filled the streets:
“Educated youth should go to the mountains and countryside to support national development!”
Officials from the neighborhood committee and the Educated Youth Office had already visited the Yang family several times, notifying Yang Yuan that it was her turn to go to the countryside.
She refused.
Every single time, she pretended to be sick.
But everyone knew that couldn’t continue forever.
The Yang family had been actively searching for work for her while gently trying to persuade her to accept reality.
She remained stubborn.
The original Yang Yuan knew exactly how difficult rural life was.
Her third sister had already been sent to the countryside.
Life there was miserable, and returning to the city seemed like an impossible dream.
She had made up her mind that no matter what happened, she would stay in the city.
Now that the new Yang Yuan occupied this body…
She felt exactly the same way.
Going to the countryside? Not happening.
Come on. Life in the city is already hard enough.
You expect someone who gets winded climbing stairs to swing a hoe in the fields? I’d rather die all over again.
Remembering how she’d hidden in her room yesterday while the Educated Youth Office banged on the front door, pretending nobody was home, Yang Yuan took a deep breath.
She couldn’t keep delaying this forever.
Finishing the last mouthful of watered-down rice, she wiped her mouth, washed the dishes, and began calculating her options.
If she wanted to remain in the city…
She needed a job.
But jobs in this era were incredibly scarce.
Every position belonged to someone.
Parents retired so their children could inherit their posts.
Even money often couldn’t buy a work unit position.
Worse still, information traveled slowly.
When large factories needed workers, openings were usually filled internally through employees’ relatives before any public recruitment ever happened.
Father Yang worked at the steel mill.
Even if there were vacancies there, she couldn’t handle that kind of labor.
Mother Yang cooked in the kindergarten cafeteria attached to the steel mill.
She had little influence.
Even if a good opportunity arose, it would never reach her.
If Yang Yuan simply waited for her family to find a solution…
She’d probably already be exhausted working in the fields before that happened.
Finding employment was now her highest priority.
At a critical moment like this…
She could only rely on herself.
True, she had no remarkable abilities after arriving in this world.
But the heroine did.
After all, Song Can had successfully earned a position at the textile dyeing factory.
Only one courtyard wall separated them.
Wouldn’t it be a waste not to take advantage of being so close?
If Song Can could sell that job to someone else…
Why couldn’t she sell it to her instead?
Yang Yuan wasn’t some selfless saint.
Expecting her to secretly warn Song Can about her stepmother’s schemes, help her protect the job, and prevent her from going to the countryside?
That was never going to happen.
She was nothing more than an ordinary person struggling for her own survival.
When resources were scarce and everyone competed for the same piece of meat…
Naturally, she’d use every legal means available to secure her own interests.
With her plan taking shape, Yang Yuan listened to the sounds of the argument next door, quickly braided her hair, and headed out.