Warning: The female lead is no saint, the male lead is genuinely unhinged, the romance is ridiculously sweet, and the revenge is so satisfying it’ll make your scalp tingle!
“Stop pretending to be dead! You’re switching brides today whether you like it or not! Your sister is delicate and frail, while Gu Ci is a merciless devil who kills without blinking. If your sister marries him, you’ll be pushing her straight into a living hell! You’re tough and sturdy. So what if he beats you up a couple of times?”
The shrill voice grated against Jiang Ning’s brain like a rusty saw, back and forth.
Jiang Ning opened her eyes.
Before her was a mud wall plastered with old newspapers, blackened roof beams, and a middle-aged woman with prominent cheekbones, spittle flying from her mouth as she ranted. Li Cuihua stood with her hands on her hips, glaring fiercely at the person on the earthen bed with her narrow, upturned eyes.
Beside her sat a young woman in a red dress made of Dacron. She was crying so pitifully that tears streamed down her face like pear blossoms in the rain. Her fingers twisted a new handkerchief, making her look like a newlywed who had suffered some terrible injustice.
Jiang Ning sat up.
She rolled her neck, and her cervical vertebrae cracked sharply.
One second ago, she had been in a psychiatric hospital, helping a group of severely ill patients blow up the restroom. The next, she had landed here.
Memories flooded her mind. The 1970s. A rural village in the Northwest. A bride swap.
So that was the story.
The original owner was also named Jiang Ning. She was an adopted daughter of the Jiang family, treated like a child bride. She ate little and worked endlessly. The young woman crying beside her was Jiang Wan, the biological daughter of the family.
The Jiang household had been in an uproar for the past few days.
Originally, Jiang Wan had been promised to Commander Gu, who was stationed nearby, while Jiang Ning was supposed to marry a young male intellectual named Zhao from the educated youth settlement. But last night, Jiang Wan had suddenly gone berserk, declaring that she would rather die than marry Commander Gu. She insisted on switching places with Jiang Ning.
The reason was that she had heard Commander Gu had suffered a brain injury on the battlefield, developed a violent disorder, and might beat his wife.
“Jiang Ning, don’t blame your mother for playing favorites.” Seeing that she had woken up without saying anything, Li Cuihua assumed she was too frightened to speak. Her tone softened slightly, though it still carried an unmistakable air of command. “The Gu family offered a generous bride price—two hundred yuan! If you marry into their family, that money can go toward buying your younger brother a wife. Besides, what’s so good about that educated youth Zhao? He can’t even carry a heavy load, and I’ve heard his family has a criminal record. What kind of life could you possibly have with him?”
Jiang Wan sniffled beside her.
“Little sister, I’m only thinking of your own good. Commander Gu may have a terrible temper, but his military allowance is high! I’m frail and can’t withstand hardship. You’re strong, so even if he goes crazy, you’ll be able to run faster.”
Jiang Ning looked at the mother and daughter.
If the original Jiang Ning were still here, she would probably have been crying and begging for mercy by now, or reluctantly agreeing out of gratitude for being raised by the family.
But the person inside this body now was a lunatic.
A lunatic with a diagnosis of severe violent tendencies, a “mad doctor” whose reputation had once terrified the modern medical community.
“Are you finished?”
Jiang Ning’s voice was hoarse.
She didn’t look at Li Cuihua or Jiang Wan. Instead, her gaze settled on the Eight Immortals table in the main room.
A bowl of red-sugar water with poached eggs sat on it. Three large, perfectly rounded eggs floated in the thick, dark reddish syrup. They had been prepared to nourish Jiang Wan, the bride-to-be, before her wedding.
In all her years living in this house, the original Jiang Ning had never even tasted an eggshell.
Jiang Ning threw off the worn quilt, climbed out of bed, and slipped her feet into a pair of cloth shoes with holes at the toes. She walked straight to the table.
“What are you doing?” Li Cuihua asked in bewilderment.
Jiang Ning picked up the bowl, tilted her head back, and gulped.
She swallowed all three poached eggs without even chewing. The warm, sugary liquid slid down her throat, finally easing the gnawing, acidic hunger that had nearly driven her mad.
Clack!
She slammed the empty bowl onto the table.
Li Cuihua and Jiang Wan were both stunned.
In this household, Jiang Ning always ate after everyone else. When the family had meat, she gnawed on bones. When everyone finished their meals, she was lucky to get some leftover soup. Since when had she dared to eat alone at the table? And three eggs, no less!
“You ungrateful little brat! You’ve forgotten your place!” Li Cuihua snapped out of her shock, grabbed the broom behind the door, and charged at her. “Those eggs weren’t for you! They were for your sister to eat before leaving for her wedding! I’ll beat you to death, you greedy, worthless money pit!”
The broom whistled through the air.
Jiang Ning didn’t dodge.
She stood still, her left hand tucked into the pocket of her patched trousers. Just as the broom was about to strike her head, she raised her right hand and caught the handle firmly.
Li Cuihua felt as though her broom had been clamped in an iron vice. She couldn’t pull it free or force it down.
She stared at Jiang Ning in horror.
This adopted daughter, who had always been timid and trembled whenever she raised her voice, was now tilting her head as she looked at Li Cuihua. Her dark eyes held no emotion, no fear—only a hint of something else.
Excitement?
“Beating people?” Jiang Ning chuckled. “I like that, too.”
The next second, she twisted her wrist.
Li Cuihua stumbled forward under the force of her movement. Before she could regain her balance, Jiang Ning had snatched the broom from her hands.
Crack!
The broom handle struck the table leg. The solid wooden leg split with a sharp snap.
Wood chips flew everywhere.
Li Cuihua fell flat on her buttocks, her mouth hanging open as she struggled to make a sound.
Jiang Wan’s crying stopped abruptly. She shrank into the corner of the bed, trembling.
“Jiang Ning… have you gone mad?”
“Yep. Completely mad.” Jiang Ning tossed the broom aside and dusted off her hands. “Didn’t you say Gu Ci was a lunatic? A lunatic marrying another lunatic. We’re a perfect match. I’ll take the marriage.”
Li Cuihua hadn’t recovered from her fright when she heard those words. Her eyes lit up again.
“You agree?”
Jiang Ning pulled out a long bench and sat down, tapping her fingers idly against the tabletop.
“I agree. But I have one question.”
She turned to look at Jiang Wan, her gaze like two surgical blades peeling back the skin to expose what lay beneath.
“Big sister, just last month you were bragging to me that Commander Gu was a war hero and marrying him would make you a commander’s wife. How did he turn into the King of Hell overnight?”
Jiang Wan’s eyes darted nervously. She didn’t dare meet Jiang Ning’s gaze.
“I… I was naive back then. Yesterday, Auntie Wang next door told me that Commander Gu’s previous fiancée had run away because she was frightened of him. They even heard screams coming from his room at night…”
A lie.
Jiang Ning watched Jiang Wan’s hands.
Her fingers were unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, her knuckles turning white. Her breathing had also become twice as fast as before.
Classic signs of guilt.
Then there was the sudden demand to switch brides, abandoning a high-paying military officer to marry a poor educated youth with a questionable family background.
There was only one explanation.
Having read countless novels, Jiang Ning had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
Her sister had probably been reborn.
In her previous life, Jiang Wan had married Gu Ci and suffered terribly at the hands of that unhinged man. Alternatively, Gu Ci might have met an unfortunate end later on. Meanwhile, the educated youth Zhao, whom the original Jiang Ning had married, had probably gone on to become a successful man.
So this time, Jiang Wan wanted to get ahead of the game and rewrite her fate.
Interesting.
Jiang Ning loved watching people who thought they were clever walk straight into their own traps.
“Fine. Since my dear sister is so eager to suffer, I’ll go enjoy the good life instead.” Jiang Ning stood up and surveyed the house. “Where’s my dowry?”
The moment Li Cuihua heard her asking for a dowry, she scrambled to her feet and slapped her thighs dramatically.
“What dowry? Do you think raising you all these years was free? The entire bride price from the Gu family stays here. We’re using it to build a house for your younger brother! You’re going over there empty-handed. Don’t even think about taking a single thread!”
“Oh.”
Jiang Ning nodded and walked toward the corner of the room.
A brand-new sewing machine stood there, along with two large wooden chests painted red. The Jiang family had spent nearly everything they owned, along with the bride price from the Gu family, to purchase them.
“So you’re not giving them to me?”
Jiang Ning casually picked up the broom she had discarded earlier, decided it wasn’t sturdy enough, then turned and grabbed a thick iron poker used for tending the fire in the kitchen.
“What are you doing?!” Li Cuihua shrieked.
“If I can’t take them with me, then nobody gets to use them.”
Jiang Ning swung the iron poker down hard on the gleaming sewing machine.
CRASH!
The machine’s head caved in, and its parts flew in every direction.
“My sewing machine!” Li Cuihua screamed, rushing toward her. But Jiang Ning pointed the iron poker at her nose, forcing her to stop dead in her tracks.
Jiang Ning remained expressionless as she swung again.
The red-painted chests shattered.
The new quilts prepared for Jiang Wan were ripped open, scattering cotton stuffing across the floor.
The thermos on the table exploded with a loud bang, sending hot water streaming across the room.
In less than two minutes, the once-festive house had become a complete wreck.
Li Cuihua collapsed to the floor, crying so hard she could barely breathe. Jiang Wan huddled on the bed, all color drained from her face. She stared at Jiang Ning as though she were looking at a ghost.
“Much better.”
Jiang Ning tossed aside the bent iron poker and straightened her disheveled hair.
She walked over to Li Cuihua and crouched down.
Li Cuihua scrambled backward, trembling from head to toe.
“Mom,” Jiang Ning called softly.
Her gentle voice somehow made the hair on Li Cuihua’s arms stand on end.
“The bride price was two hundred yuan. Hand it over. If you’re even one yuan short, I’ll break your son’s legs. After all, Commander Gu is a lunatic, too. They say lunatics get away with murder, so what’s breaking a leg?”
“You… you ungrateful beast…” Li Cuihua cursed through her trembling lips.
“Are you giving it to me?”
Jiang Ning picked up a shard of broken porcelain and toyed with it in her hand.
The sharp edge sliced her fingertip, drawing a bead of blood. She casually wiped it away.
Li Cuihua was thoroughly terrified.
This girl was possessed! She really might kill someone!
“I’ll give it to you… I’ll give it to you!”
Li Cuihua scrambled into the inner room. After a long while, she returned with a handkerchief bundle, her hands shaking uncontrollably.
Jiang Ning took it and counted the money in front of her.
Two hundred yuan, every last bill accounted for, along with several industrial coupons and fabric ration tickets.
“Thanks.”
Jiang Ning stuffed the money into her pocket and glanced at the clock on the wall.
The wedding party would arrive soon.
She turned to leave, but stopped at the doorway and glanced back at Jiang Wan.
Her sister was still frozen in the same terrified position.
“Big sister,” Jiang Ning said, the corner of her mouth curling into a smile that made Jiang Wan’s scalp crawl, “I wish you and Educated Youth Zhao a happy marriage and a house full of children. Once you make it big, don’t forget to give your little sister a helping hand.”
With that, she kicked open the rickety wooden door and strode outside.
The sunlight in the courtyard was blinding.
Jiang Ning narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath.
The air smelled of damp earth, chicken droppings, and freedom.
Once she left this place and boarded the train to the Northwest, she would be far beyond the reach of anyone here.
As for the supposedly wife-beating lunatic, Commander Gu?
Jiang Ning patted the money in her pocket, then touched the small surgical knife she carried for self-defense. She had just found it among the junk—a rusty razor blade, but it would have to do.
If he dared lay a hand on her, she would show him exactly which bones in the human body were the most fragile and which nerves caused the most exquisite pain.
Just then, the sputtering sound of a tractor came from the courtyard entrance.
The wedding party had arrived.
There was no sedan chair, no festive music, and no procession. Instead, a small tractor with a red quilt spread across its trailer rolled into view. A young soldier in uniform sat behind the wheel, looking as though the whole world had personally offended him.
The neighbors poked their heads out to watch, whispering and pointing.
“Oh, that Jiang family is absolutely heartless! They’re really marrying their daughter off to that living devil.”
“I heard they swapped brides! That clever Jiang Wan refused to go, so they sent Jiang Ning in her place.”
“Poor girl. She’s had such a miserable life. She probably won’t survive three years over there.”
Jiang Ning ignored the gossip.
She walked straight to the tractor and tossed her only piece of luggage—a shabby cloth bundle—into the trailer.
The young soldier driving it was Zhang, Gu Ci’s personal guard. He stared at the girl before him. She was slender, wearing patched clothes, yet her eyes were unusually bright.
He was momentarily stunned.
The commander had instructed him that if the Jiang family refused to send the bride, or if the girl cried and made a scene, he was to turn around and leave immediately.
But this girl…
Why did she seem even more eager to leave than he was?
“Are we going?” Jiang Ning asked.
She planted one hand on the side of the trailer, climbed aboard nimbly, and sat down on the red quilt, looking down at Zhang.
“If we don’t hurry, I’m afraid I’ll lose my patience and go back to burn the house down.”
Zhang: “…”
He swallowed hard and started the engine.
“S-sister-in-law, please hold on tight.”
The tractor sputtered and belched black smoke as it bounced its way out of the village.
Sitting in the trailer, Jiang Ning watched the mud-brick houses grow smaller in the distance. Li Cuihua stood at the doorway, pointing at her and cursing, but didn’t dare chase after her.
Jiang Ning pulled a red-shelled egg from her pocket. She had casually taken it from the table before leaving.
Crack.
She tapped it against the side of the trailer, breaking the shell.
Then she leisurely peeled it, revealing the smooth white egg beneath.
“Gu Ci…”
She stuffed the egg into her mouth and chewed with unnecessary force.
“Whether you’re really crazy or just pretending, we’ll find out who the crazier one is in this lifetime.”
The train was waiting in the county town.
When Jiang Ning boarded, she discovered that this so-called wedding arrangement was ridiculously bare-bones.
There was no groom.
Only two sleeper tickets to the Northwest.
“The commander has some business to attend to on the train. He’s waiting for us there,” Zhang explained awkwardly, clearly making a terrible excuse.
In truth, everyone knew that Gu Ci didn’t want this marriage at all. The arrangement had been forced on him by his grandfather, the old master of the Gu family. It was supposedly intended to bring him good fortune and find someone who could keep an eye on him whenever he lost control.
Jiang Ning couldn’t care less.
She found her assigned berth—the middle bunk.
She had just picked up her luggage and started toward it when an extremely irritable roar came from the lower bunk.
“Get lost! All of you, get the hell away from me!”
The next moment, an enamel mug came flying out and smashed against the metal wall of the train carriage with a deafening clang.
Everyone in the carriage fell silent, too frightened to move.
Jiang Ning looked down.
A man was curled up in the corner of the lower bunk.
He wore a faded military-green undershirt. His muscles were taut like granite, every one of them twitching uncontrollably.
He clutched his head with both hands, digging his fingernails so deeply into his scalp that his knuckles bulged and the veins on the backs of his hands stood out.
Although she couldn’t clearly see his face, the aura radiating from him was unmistakable—violent, gloomy, and filled with a desire to destroy everything around him. It seemed to suffocate the entire cramped space.
Zhang’s face turned deathly pale. He leaned toward Jiang Ning and whispered, “S-sister-in-law… the commander… I think he’s having an episode. Maybe we should move to another carriage…”
Jiang Ning didn’t move.
She stared at the man.
So this was Gu Ci?
The mad dog who, according to the rumors, had driven away three previous fiancées?
She narrowed her eyes.
Instead of retreating, she set down her luggage and walked straight to Gu Ci’s bunk.
“Hey.”
Jiang Ning stretched out her foot and nudged the man’s lower leg.
Zhang sucked in a sharp breath, convinced that the sky was about to fall.
The man abruptly lifted his head.
What kind of eyes were those?
Bloodshot, unfocused, then suddenly sharp, like those of a starving beast that had been trapped in a cage for far too long and was ready to devour anything in its path.
In that instant, a murderous aura surged toward her face, almost tangible.
“Looking to die?” the man rasped, his voice hoarse and laced with menace.
Jiang Ning looked at him without the slightest change in expression. She took the half-peeled egg from her pocket.
“Shut up. You’re giving me a headache.”
She crushed the eggshell in her hand and scattered the fragments onto his bedsheet, her voice even colder than his.
“If you’re going to lose your mind, go do it somewhere else. Don’t disturb my sleep.”
Silence.
The entire train carriage fell deathly quiet.
Zhang covered his eyes with both hands, too terrified to witness the bloody scene he was certain would follow.
Yet the expected explosion of rage never came.
Gu Ci stared at the woman standing before him, this reckless creature who seemed completely unaware of the danger she was in.
For the first time, the eyes that had always been filled with violence and chaos revealed something else.
Shock.