Chapter 1

Lu Miao never thought something as crazy as getting transmigrated into a novel would happen to her.

And to make it worse, she ended up in the tough 1980s era, in the body of a tragic, unlucky side character.

That side character had actually lived a happy life in the original timeline—she married a regular guy from a neighboring village and, thanks to the opportunities during the reform and opening-up era, they became part of the first generation of entrepreneurs and lived pretty well.

But the side character’s cousin? She was the main heroine of the book. In her past life, she married a guy from the city who looked good on paper but turned out to be a disaster—nosy in-laws, cold husband, the works. That marriage, which many once envied, ended in divorce.

It was only after the divorce that the cousin realized the glamorous city life meant nothing. What truly mattered was having someone to grow old with, someone who genuinely cared for her.

And guess what? She noticed her cousin's husband was actually pretty great. And since the cousin wasn’t married yet, she swooped in and stole him before anyone could blink.

Lu Miao: ??? Excuse me, are all the good men in the world dead or what? Why go after your own cousin’s fiancé?

She just couldn’t wrap her head around it. There were countless ways to avoid repeating her past mistakes, but the female lead chose the one that made no sense: snatching her cousin’s man.

And all because she felt the cousin wasn’t hardworking enough to deserve such a good life. She believed that if she had married him, he would’ve done even better in life—without being dragged down by a "useless" wife.

What baffled Lu Miao even more was how the cousin supposedly became depressed just because she didn’t get to marry the male lead.

Before marriage, no one knew who would become successful. By society’s standards, the “villain” dude had way better qualifications than the male lead, like a hundred times better.

Her cousin had only met the male lead a few times, and just because he had that typical "main character aura," she was already head over heels?

Classic cliché: every female character falls in love with the male lead, no questions asked.

If it had just been another poorly written, morally-off novel, Lu Miao would’ve exited the page after reading the summary.

But here's the twist—the tragic side character in the story had the same name, even the same nickname, as her.

Lu Miao forced herself to read a bit more. When she saw that this same-name character died heartbroken because she didn’t get to marry the male lead, she snapped. She wrote a furious long comment—roasted the main character, the author, even the readers for enjoying that nonsense. She was so mad, she even dreamed about arguing with other readers.

Next thing she knew, she woke up inside this damn world.

And she was now that unlucky cousin who died a pathetic death after losing her man.

—

The plastic curtain lifted, and a teenage boy around 14 or 15 stepped in. He was dressed in a rough blue shirt, face tanned from the sun, loud and full of energy. “Everyone in the village knows—anyone connected to my uncle’s family turns into bad luck. If He Mingchuan was actually a good guy, he wouldn’t have been handed over to my sister.”

That was Lu Miao’s little brother, Lu Congge, born in 1966.

Before him, all the kids in the family had names given by their feng shui master great-grandpa.

But by the time he was born, the old man had already passed, and it was a politically sensitive time.

Other kids nearly ended up with names like “Red Star” or “Red Guard” due to the anti-superstition trend.

He had been chatting with their mom outside and rushed in when he saw his big sis wake up. “Mom! Big sis is awake!”

Qiao Yanxiang, their mom, dropped the willow she was working with and asked anxiously, “Still feeling sick?”

Lu Miao groaned and clutched her head. Maybe it was the shock of receiving all those foreign memories—or maybe it was everything happening at once—but her head was killing her.

Lu Congge got nervous. “Still hurting? I’ll go get you some painkillers!”

Their mom stopped him. “Wang Dabao said—only one a day, don’t overdo it.”

Lu Miao touched her head and felt a rough bandage. Ah, so the pain wasn’t just mental—she really had a head injury.

“There are so many men in the world. Why’d Lu Lu have to go after Li Qinglin, knowing  you that about to get engaged to him?” Her brother was furious that her fiancé got stolen, obviously upset.

“Keep your voice down!” Qiao Yanxiang warned. “The next courtyard can hear everything!”

The two Lu brothers lived in neighboring wings. If they got too loud, the neighbors would definitely hear.

Of course, telling him to lower his voice only made him louder. “It is a fact. I’m saying it, I don’t care who hears it!”

“If someone’s bold enough to steal her sister’s engagement, they better be ready to be gossiped about.”

Qiao Yanxiang was stressed to the max. So many things had gone wrong lately. Her daughter’s engagement was officially canceled, she’d hit her head, and now rumors were flying that she did it on purpose because she couldn’t accept losing her fiancé.

Her youngest wasn’t helping. She smacked him lightly on the head. “Calm down! We’re still one family. Don’t let outsiders laugh at us.”

Teenagers are all fire and no filter. He just couldn’t stand seeing his sister wronged.

Qiao wanted to have a heart-to-heart with her daughter but needed the boy gone first. She came up with an excuse. “There’s brown sugar under the cupboard. Go make her some brown sugar sharbat.”

He didn’t suspect anything and ran off with an “Okay!”

“Sanshui,” Qiao said softly, using Lu Miao’s nickname, “tell Mom the truth. Are you still thinking about that Li guy?”

Lu Miao paused for a second. Who’s this Li guy again?

Oh right, the male lead.

That moment of hesitation was all her mom needed to assume the worst. Even though she felt sorry for her daughter, she still needed to cut off her hopes before they got out of control.

“Lu Lu’s already set a date with him. You need to let it go,” Qiao said seriously. “Honestly, the professor’s grandson is way better. You’ll get to live in the city and never have to farm again. If Lu Lu wasn’t such an idiot, this kind of golden opportunity wouldn’t have gone to you in the first place.”

That “villain” guy, He Mingchuan, was the grandson of the professor.

The Lu and He families weren’t on the same level at all. Their connection only came about because of a promise between elders.

During the political chaos, Lu Miao’s grandpa, the village head, was kind to some officials who had been exiled to their village. One of them was Professor He’s grandpa. After he returned home, he remembered the kindness and offered to form a family tie.

If not for that tough time, these two families would’ve never even crossed paths.

Lu Congge came back with the sugar water just in time to hear this, and immediately blew up. “You can’t ruin my sister’s life just to climb the social ladder!”

Qiao nearly fainted from anger. Who’s climbing the ladder!? Like she didn’t love her daughter? It was just a really rare chance.

The truth was, the rest of the family always favored the eldest uncle’s branch. All the good stuff went to them first. Whatever they didn’t want was passed down to Qiao’s family.

Lu Congge stuck to his point. “That’s a government official’s family. Even Lu Lu, who’s obsessed with money, doesn’t want to marry him. What kind of guy could he be then?”

“Maybe she heard something shady. That guy’s in the special forces—what if he lost an arm or leg? Lu Lu probably got scared and rushed into marrying Li Qinglin instead.” He scoffed, “And that Li guy’s not great either! My sister’s way better than Lu Lu!”

Lu Miao thought: this kid’s pretty sharp. But Lu Lu didn’t know anything about injuries or insider info—she had lived through that marriage in her past life. It was bad. That’s why when she was reborn, the first thing she did was steal her cousin’s man.

Lu Lu’s dad was the village chief, her uncle an accountant at the commune, and she herself was a scorekeeper. Compared to the average Lu Miao, her family background was much better.

Once she showed interest in marrying into the Li family, they had no objections. In fact, they were afraid she’d change her mind, so they rushed to lock down the wedding.

Even Lu Miao’s uncle and aunt were shocked. Why toss away a good match and pick a worse one?

Everyone tried to talk her out of it, but Lu Lu was determined. She even arranged the wedding behind her family’s back—and definitely without telling Lu Miao’s parents.

It wasn’t until Lu Lu announced everything that the whole family realized their future son-in-law had jumped ship.

Two days later, Lu Miao accidentally hit her head.

The timing was so suspicious that everyone assumed she was suicidal over losing her fiancé.

But the truth? It was just a simple accident.

Poor girl died, and people still made up rumors that she couldn’t handle heartbreak over her cousin's man.

Who even started spreading that nonsense!?

Her parents and little brother had been super close to her. After she died, all three of them passed away too, each from different accidents caused by grief.

Lu Miao didn’t know what happened to the "other her" in the real world, but now that she’d become “Lu Miao,” she was determined to protect her family from tragedy.

She reached out and ruffled Lu Congge’s hair like she was petting a dog.

Then immediately regretted it—he hadn’t showered in days. She wiped her hand on his sleeve with a disgusted face.

But he didn’t notice at all. He was too busy ranting about how awful Lu Lu was and how obvious it was that she had bad motives.

“If that He guy was really a catch, there’s no way Lu Lu would’ve handed him over to her sister.”

“I bet she saw some letter between Grandpa and Professor He, maybe learned that guy was injured. He’s in special forces—it’s risky! Getting hurt is like everyday thing. She probably found out and freaked out, so she rushed to marry someone else instead. Classic bait-and-switch. They just used our family as a backup plan!”

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