“Hey!”
“Are you okay?”
“…”
A timid boy’s voice sounded in Zhou Yu’s ear.
The boy’s voice was quite unfamiliar. Zhou Yu felt a bit confused. She furrowed her brow, forcing herself to endure the physical discomfort. After a few light flutters of her eyelids, she slowly opened her eyes.
But the scene that met her eyes only deepened her confusion.
‘Where is this? Am I dreaming?’
After carefully taking in her surroundings, Zhou Yu’s mind began to race.
What had happened?
And why had she appeared in this very strange, unusually shabby little room?
Zhou Yu clearly remembered that before she lost consciousness, she had been crossing the street.
After the light turned green, Zhou Yu walked onto the crosswalk. She had just reached the middle of the road when, somehow, she was suddenly hit by a speeding car and sent flying through the air!
At that moment, Zhou Yu only felt pain throughout her body, and then she lost consciousness.
Now, even if she hadn’t been killed instantly, she should have woken up in a hospital. How could she be in this strange place?
“Don’t tell me she’s fried her brain?” the boy muttered to himself when he saw that Zhou Yu was awake but hadn’t responded.
Hearing this puzzled voice again, Zhou Yu finally noticed the little boy standing by her bed.
He was thin and small, looking about four or five years old.
Zhou Yu was about to ask the boy where they were, but in the next instant, a violent, searing pain exploded in her head.
“Ahhh…”
The pain was so intense that Zhou Yu couldn’t help crying out. She clutched her head with both hands, trying to alleviate some of the agony, but it was nearly useless.
The excruciating pain threatened to make her pass out.
But just before Zhou Yu lost consciousness, a flood of memories that did not belong to her came rushing into her mind.
These were memories of a woman from the 1980s.
Gradually, Zhou Yu realized that the memories flashing rapidly through her mind were very similar to the plot of the period novel she had read just a few days ago!
Zhou Yu had originally been an ordinary, gifted medical university student.
A few days ago, when she opened her phone’s browser to look up some information, a recommendation had suddenly popped up, refusing to be closed no matter what she did. With no other choice, Zhou Yu had clicked the link, discovering it led to a period novel.
At first, she had skimmed a few lines and was about to close it. But just as she was about to shut the link, Zhou Yu noticed that a supporting character in the story shared her name.
Curious, Zhou Yu raised an eyebrow. Breaking from her usual habits, she stayed up late to finish the novel.
……
“How are you feeling?”
“Are you okay?”
Seeing that Zhou Yu seemed to be in great discomfort, the boy asked, his voice tinged with urgency.
After a long while, Zhou Yu’s headache gradually subsided. She heard the boy’s slightly anxious voice again. Turning her head slightly to look at the little boy by her bed, she furrowed her brow, feeling somewhat puzzled.
Could it be that she had transmigrated into the novel she read a few days ago?
The original host in the book, who shared Zhou Yu’s name and surname, was the stepmother of the story’s greatest villain, Lu Cheng. And the original host’s ultimate fate was to be drained of blood and tortured to death by the villain, Lu Cheng!
At this thought, Zhou Yu couldn’t help but shudder.
Had she transmigrated into the novel as the villain’s stepmother who shared her name? And the little boy before her… was he the greatest villain in that period novel?
To confirm whether she really had transmigrated into the book, Zhou Yu called out the villain’s name: “Lu Cheng?”
“Yes.” Although Lu Cheng had no idea why his stepmother had suddenly called his name, considering she was sick, he answered softly.
Hearing the boy’s affirmative response, Zhou Yu’s heart sank to rock bottom.
She didn’t want to believe it, but she had no choice. The physical discomfort she was feeling right now made her acutely aware that this was a real world.
Perhaps it was a distortion of time and space, or perhaps this was the world after death?
But that didn’t matter. In the first instant she realized she had transmigrated into the book, Zhou Yu had felt some panic, but now her emotions had gradually calmed down.
Take things as they come. The most important thing right now is to first nurse the original host’s body back to health, then make other plans.
She had no idea what stage the book’s plot had reached. But judging by Lu Cheng’s age of four or five, the main storyline likely hadn’t begun yet, had it?
Zhou Yu remembered that in the book, the original host hadn’t treated Lu Cheng well. In fact, one could say she had been rather harsh. Anything good in the house, the original host kept for herself first. Her attitude toward Lu Cheng was simply to feed him just enough so he wouldn’t starve.
Everything had been barely tolerable. But who would have thought that only a few years after marrying into the family, word would come from the brigade that Lu Bin had died while on a mission!
The thing was, the original host had married Lu Bin, a widower with a child, a few years ago because she harbored a dream of becoming an official’s wife.
But Lu Bin had died during a mission, which had directly shattered her dream of being an official’s wife!
After receiving news of Lu Bin’s death, the original host had taken his substantial pension and fled by train overnight with her lover, Zhao Shan.
As for what would become of Lu Bin’s child, Lu Cheng, the original host couldn’t have cared less. She hadn’t even said goodbye, nor left a single fen[1]Chinese currency: 1 mao = 10 fen. 10 mao = 1 yuan. Fen and mao are commonly used units in daily transactions in 1980s China. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2492342_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2492342_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); for Lu Cheng.
With no parents and not a penny to his name, little Lu Cheng, though barely six years old, had scrimped and saved. But there had never been much food in the house to begin with. After all the grain and sweet potatoes were gone, the boy had nearly starved to death several times.
This was likely a major reason why Lu Cheng had come to hate the original host.
……
“Do you want some porridge?”
When Lu Cheng saw that Zhou Yu had called his name but then said nothing else, he furrowed his brow in confusion and asked softly.
Hearing this, Zhou Yu turned her head to look at Lu Cheng. Before she could speak, she heard the boy quietly explain, “I didn’t steal any rice. I only made porridge because you were sick.”
Zhou Yu was puzzled by this, but then she remembered from the book that the original host had never allowed Lu Cheng into the kitchen. Of course, this wasn’t because she cared about the boy and didn’t want him doing chores, but because she was afraid he might steal food.
After a long moment, when Lu Cheng saw that Zhou Yu still hadn’t responded, he thought she was angry again. He was about to explain himself once more when he heard Zhou Yu’s voice.
“Yes, please pour me a bowl.” Zhou Yu rubbed her stomach, realizing she was indeed a little hungry.
Zhou Yu then remembered that Lu Cheng had probably been keeping watch by her bedside for quite some time, so she continued, “Have a bowl yourself too.”
Admittedly, Lu Cheng would later become the biggest villain in that period novel, ruthless and cruel in his methods.
But looking at this tiny, somewhat adorably clueless little kid in front of her, Zhou Yu found it hard to connect him with the fearsome, ultimate villain of the book.
Hearing Zhou Yu’s words, Lu Cheng immediately furrowed his brow. He carefully tried to discern whether her statement “have a bowl of porridge too” was genuine.
In Lu Cheng’s memory, whenever his stepmother Zhou Yu had said things like this in the past, as long as he dared agree, he would definitely get a beating.
He knew that the rice and flour in the house were almost never for him. Normally, his three meals a day consisted of sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes cost only two fen per jin[2]Jin (斤): A traditional Chinese unit of weight. 1 jin = 500 grams = 0.5 kilograms (approximately 1.1 pounds). jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2492342_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2492342_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, while rice costs one to two mao per jin.
This time, when his stepmother said this, Lu Cheng felt that something was different.
To avoid getting beaten again, Lu Cheng almost said he didn’t need any. He still couldn’t quite believe that his stepmother had suddenly become so kind-hearted today as to willingly give him rice porridge. But just as he was about to refuse, his stomach let out a loud growl.
Lu Cheng touched his belly, a little embarrassed. Then he thought of the dry, hard sweet potatoes on the kitchen floor. He pressed his lips together and said nothing more. He turned and left the room, heading to the kitchen to bring back two bowls of porridge.
“Do you want me to bring it to you by the bed?”
After placing the two bowls of porridge on the table in the room, Lu Cheng remembered that his stepmother wasn’t feeling well today, so he asked.
“No need.” Zhou Yu quickly stopped him.
Before transmigrating into the book, Zhou Yu had been very clean in her daily life, even a bit of a germaphobe. So the thought of eating while lying in bed was very hard for her to accept.
Bearing through her physical discomfort, Zhou Yu pushed herself up by the edge of the bed, put on her shoes, and walked to the table to sit down. This series of actions seemed easy to accomplish, but in reality, it took every ounce of strength Zhou Yu had.
The original host’s body was truly very weak right now.
As she drank her porridge, Zhou Yu continued to recall the plot of the period novel she had read before.
In the book, after Zhou Yu left, Lu Cheng nearly starved to death. Fortunately, kind-hearted villagers came to his aid. Then, as public opinion grew, Lu Cheng’s grandparents, unable to bear the gossip, reluctantly took him in to raise him.
But living at his grandparents’ house wasn’t a good thing either.
Not only did Lu Cheng receive no decent treatment, but he also nearly got sold to human traffickers by his own grandparents!
Fortunately, a neighbor saw the traffickers when they came to take Lu Cheng away, and the boy narrowly escaped that fate.
The turning point in Lu Cheng’s life came when he was about twelve or thirteen.
A man who looked exactly like Lu Bin appeared, claiming to be Lu Bin himself, and took Lu Cheng back to the capital. From then on, Lu Cheng’s life changed dramatically.
Perhaps because of the abuse he suffered in childhood, Lu Cheng’s personality became extremely extreme. Add to that the fact that after returning to the capital, someone always cleaned up whatever messes Lu Cheng made, and he ultimately embarked on the path of becoming a villain.
……
Zhou Yu massaged her aching temples and finally finished sorting through the original story’s plot.
Looking at little Lu Cheng not far away, Zhou Yu felt that she should try her best to change Lu Cheng’s personality. Otherwise, not only would Lu Cheng become a villain and be destroyed by the book’s male and female leads, but her own life would also be in danger.
Zhou Yu couldn’t forget that in the book, the original host who shared her name was drained of all the blood in her body by Lu Cheng and died as a result.
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