Chapter 1

After two hectic weeks, Lin Tian finally finished everything for opening her chain restaurant. She decided to give herself a break and get a good sleep.
After a long rest, Lin Tian woke up with a foggy head and a dry throat; she felt thirsty.
She tried to get up to pour herself some water, but sitting up, she realized this was not her room.
Suddenly, Lin Tian was fully awake, her sleepiness gone. She looked around: the bed was a simple wooden plank bed, and the walls were made of earth. The room contained only a worn wooden table and a trunk that looked dated. On the table sat a hot water pot, and nearby were enamel cups with slogans like “Serve the People” or the red double happiness symbol.
Lin Tian’s head ached. There was no way she could have been moved unnoticed from a modern house with a fingerprint lock to this place.
She looked down and saw a pair of blue cloth shoes by the bed. Quickly, she put them on and went to check the mirror. In the reflection were willow-leaf eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, a high nose, and a small mouth, identical to her own face. Only the complexion looked poor and yellowish, and the body appeared thinner.
She then looked at her hands. They were covered in calluses, on both hands, unlike her real hands, which only had calluses on the left. Lin Tian was certain this was not her own body. Drawing from her vast experience reading novels, she came to an astonishing conclusion: she had transmigrated.
Lin Tian sat on the edge of the bed, confused and dazed.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
A woman with a local accent called from outside: “Er-ya, you’re still asleep? Come open the door for your mother!”
For some reason, probably because of the body she was inhabiting, Lin Tian understood her.
It seemed this woman was her mother in this body. Lin Tian quickly got up; perhaps she could learn everything she wanted from this “inherited” mother.
She walked across the dirt courtyard and opened the door.
Standing there was a plainly dressed but still graceful woman. The moment she saw Lin Tian, she launched into a rapid-fire scolding:
“I’ve come to advise you so many times already. It’s been almost three months, and that Chu Ci hasn’t sent a single letter, no call, nothing! You’re such a fool for still believing he’d come back for you. I told you then that a man shouldn’t be too far from you. There have been plenty of educated youth going to university and abandoning their wives in the past three months, but you didn’t listen. You insisted on supporting him to get into that so-called university. Now look, he ran off, and what about the child in your belly?”
Despite the overwhelming information, Lin Tian understood: she was married, and she was pregnant. Oh my god, she thought, the jump in time was huge.
And the name Chu Ci sounded familiar.
Lin Tian’s mind raced as her original body’s mother entered.
Sitting at the dining table in the outer room, her mother continued:
“Er-ya, have you considered remarrying? I’ve found a good match in the neighboring village: Wang Youcai. He’s over thirty but never married, and he doesn’t mind the child in your belly. He said he would treat the child as his own. The bride price is a hundred yuan; for a second marriage, that’s not bad.”
Lin Tian was struck by familiarity; every scene, every word felt eerily recognizable. Her head suddenly throbbed, and she fainted.
Zhang Lamei, seeing her daughter collapse, stopped speaking in shock. Fortunately, it was dirt ground, so the fall wasn’t harmful, and the child in her womb was fine.
Pointing at the second-marriage bride price, Zhang Lamei dutifully carried her back to bed. Indeed, she had given birth to two daughters, each beautiful. The eldest married a county cook; the younger, thanks to her schemes, married a visiting educated youth. Unfortunately, the younger one was unreliable and let him escape.
Soon, Lin Tian woke up. With her faint, the original body’s lost memories returned. She finally understood where that inexplicable sense of familiarity came from.
Could it be any other way? She had transmigrated into a book she had read before, a male-oriented novel called “Getting Rich in the 1990s”. And in the story, Lin Tian was the early-death wife of the male supporting character’s “white moonlight.”
The “white moonlight” male supporting character was named Chu Ci. He was born into a military family, but his father died on the battlefield when Chu Ci was fifteen. Fortunately, his grandparents were still alive, along with his second uncle and aunt.
However, at that time, the family ran into trouble, his grandfather was attacked because of his grandmother’s background. So, when Chu Ci was seventeen, he moved with his mother when she remarried.
His stepfather had a son and a daughter, and after graduating high school, Chu Ci was sent to the countryside.
He hadn’t planned to marry while in the countryside, but Zhang Lamei schemed against him, deliberately causing Lin Tian to fall into the water when he passed by. Chu Ci saved her, and that’s how they ended up married.
A year after their marriage, the college entrance exams were reinstated. Chu Ci and Lin Tian discussed going to university; Lin Tian never had strong opinions, so she naturally didn’t oppose him. Before leaving for college, Chu Ci promised her that he would come to take her to the capital city after one month.
Unfortunately, the original Lin Tian waited and waited, for three months, but Chu Ci had not contacted her even once.
Lin Tian sighed. Of course there was no contact; Chu Ci had already lost his memory in order to save the male protagonist in the original story.
According to the book, the next plot point was that the original Lin Tian suffered a difficult childbirth at seven months and died, resulting in the loss of three lives in one body. Chu Ci finally returned, learned the tragic news, and regained his memory.
He blamed himself but did not take it out on the male protagonist; still, he could not face their family. So he refused every visit from them and ultimately became the unforgettable savior of the male protagonist.
When Lin Tian read this book, like many readers, she both loved and pitied Chu Ci. But thinking that she had now become his ill-fated, early-death wife, she could only curse her luck.
She placed her hand on her belly but felt nothing. So… were there really two children in her womb?
When she moved, Zhang Lamei immediately realized Lin Tian had woken up.
Joyfully, she called out: “Er-ya, you’re finally awake! If anything had happened to you, how could your mother have survived?”
Lin Tian slowly opened her eyes, but in her heart she scoffed: it was probably because her mother didn’t want to lose the one hundred yuan bride price. The Lin family heavily favored sons over daughters. When the original Lin Tian married Chu Ci, her mother demanded a bride price of two hundred yuan, yet the dowry was only five. After the wedding, her mother would frequently complain about poverty, taking what she could from the family without considering her daughter.
Now, not long after, she was trying to remarry her daughter, giving away the twenty-year-old Lin Tian to a man over ten years her senior. The original Lin Tian was timid, but she had insisted on waiting for Chu Ci to return. That’s why she fell and suffered a difficult childbirth at seven months. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, no one knew.
But now, Lin Tian had transmigrated. She was determined to change the plot and avoid a difficult childbirth. She had already decided that in a few days she would sell her belongings and take the train to the capital city to find Chu Ci.
So what if he had lost his memory? He could still recognize his wife and children.
Sitting up, Lin Tian looked at Zhang Lamei and said firmly: “Mother, don’t try to persuade me. Something must have kept my husband occupied. I’ve already thought this through, I have to go find him.”
Zhang Lamei’s eyes widened in disbelief: “Er-ya, are you crazy? What if he doesn’t recognize you? You’d be alone in an unfamiliar place, carrying a child! What would you do then? Besides, it’s such a long journey, what if something happens to you?”
Her concern wasn’t just about the bride price; she genuinely worried about the child. Of course, it was only a little concern. More importantly, if Er-ya left, that hundred-yuan bride price would be gone.
Lin Tian, however, wasn’t intimidated by a few words. She wasn’t the timid original body. Taking a train was nothing for her; staying in the village, on the other hand, was unbearable.
The countryside was small, news of anyone’s misfortune spread quickly.
Moreover, Lin Tian was already envied by others, and after Chu Ci left, gossip about her was rampant.
So, to give birth in a proper hospital and avoid daily nagging, she was determined to leave.
She had no attachment to the son-favoring family. Her parents treasured their son but saw daughters as objects to exchange for benefits. Even if they had some affection for her, it was less than a tenth of what they felt for their son.
Naturally, such a family was best left as far behind as possible.
Lin Tian had grown up in an orphanage in the modern era and was naturally more emotionally detached than most.
Half coaxing, half deceiving, she said: “Mother, can’t you tell which son-in-law is stronger, the one next door or the university student? Once I find my husband, I’ll have him bring Lin Yang to the capital as well. Then Lin Yang will also be a city person, get a job, and marry a city wife. You and my father will finally get to enjoy life, won’t you?”
Zhang Lamei was conflicted. While she felt her daughter wouldn’t lie to her, a son-in-law was never easy to deal with. She asked: “But if Chu Ci doesn’t even take care of you, how could he take care of your brother?”
Lin Tian patted her small belly confidently: “Mother, he doesn’t know I’m carrying a child. As they say, the mother gains respect through the child. Once I find him and tell him I’m pregnant, it’ll be simple. He has a soft heart, you know that, don’t you? Otherwise, he wouldn’t have married me in the first place.”
Hearing this, Zhang Lamei thought it made some sense. She reflected a moment and said: “You might be right. I’ll discuss it with your father when I go back. You rest well and take care of yourself. The child is the treasure of our entire family.”
Lin Tian forced a smile: “Mother, don’t worry. My brother and I will rely on the child to enjoy life in the city.”
Seeing her daughter’s determination, Zhang Lamei gave her a few final admonitions and finally left.
Lin Tian closed the door and finally exhaled. The original body had been weak, which had caused the difficult childbirth.
Now, she felt a bit fatigued. Using her memory, she found the household sugar and brewed a cup of sugar water in one of those very vintage enamel cups.
After resting for a while, it was almost noon. Lin Tian decided to eat something nutritious to replenish herself and her child.