"Wang Xianbing, it's me or her! Her or me! You choose!" a woman cried out, her voice choked with sorrow.
The surrounding women quacked like a flock of ducks, trying to persuade her. "Sister-in-law Wang, this is his parents' fault. How can you blame him for it?"
"You and him, that's true love. Him and Xiao Zhu, that was arranged by his parents. It's not a happy union, and they never even got a marriage certificate. You two are the real, legitimate couple…"
"Your husband has a good heart and a strong sense of responsibility. Xiao Zhu is a victim too. I'll have my mother-in-law introduce her to someone and marry her off. Then everything will be fine, won't it?"
"Exactly! And from what I've seen, that little sister Xiao Zhu has no intention of being faithful to one man. Isn't she always fawning over your next-door neighbor, Mr. Chu?"
"Xianbing, just say something to your wife!"
Wang Xianbing stammered, "Lin Jin, I… I only care about you…"
Those words sent the whole room into peals of laughter. "See? He's such an honest man. You pushed him so far he even said something like that! How embarrassing!"
"I'll hurry and get my mother-in-law to come over and arrange a match. Once she's gone, you two can live happily ever after. What more could there be to it?"
"For now, just lock your valuables in your room. Just get through this rough patch…"
Zhu Yun stared blankly at the ceiling, which seemed cool and white. 'Where am I? And what are these creatures around me?'
Fragments of memories and a short, flimsy plotline flooded her mind. She felt absolutely awful.
'Those bastards at the Space-Time Administration Bureau! You can't just bully people like this! She'd just been taking a nap, and now she's been made the fall guy, stuck with a mission everyone else avoided and exiled to this miserable era.'
'But what could she do about it?'
'Might as well make the best of it since I'm already here.' That was the creed of every employee at the Time-Space Bureau.
'At worst, she just wouldn't sleep so soundly the next time she was up for a mission!'
Fortunately, her memory was extraordinary, and she quickly sorted through everything.
It was the 1950s. The entire country was thriving. For now, the general situation wasn't too bad.
But for the original owner of this body, things had been far from friendly.
Wang Xianbing came from a humble, rural background, but he was a good student with good luck. In 1951, he was admitted to Kyoto Agricultural University and received a considerable monthly stipend.
Back in the village, Old Mrs. Wang was overjoyed and showed him off to everyone she met. This made some people jealous, and they started saying that Wang Xianbing was destined for greatness and would surely never return. They speculated he would marry a city girl, and then they'd see how many years the old couple could enjoy his good fortune!
The old couple thought it over and became genuinely afraid that a future daughter-in-law would control their son and stop him from sending money home.
They were decisive. They sent a telegram to their son's university claiming his mother was critically ill. Then, they turned around and found a beautiful young village belle—the original owner of this body—and held a wedding ceremony, witnessed by the villagers, where she simply had to hold a chicken to represent the absent groom!
When Wang Xianbing rushed home on leave, he discovered a new little wife in his house—a girl who was nothing but a pretty face, as thin as a rake!
Faced with his parents' tearful pleas, he bit the bullet and tacitly accepted the marriage.
His young wife was like an unripe fruit, still green on the branch. His heart was full of resentment, so he slept on a cold bench, never touching her in the slightest.
After a few days of chopping firewood, carrying water, and showing filial piety to his parents, Wang Xianbing was summoned back by his professor. He never returned after that.
Later, he was assigned to a machinery factory, put on a blue worker's uniform, and fell for a star performer from the song and dance troupe. Once again, he acted first and reported later, getting a marriage certificate with her.
Only then did Wang Xianbing write home to explain the situation. In his letter, he revealed that his new wife's family was well-off, and her parents both had jobs.
Furthermore, the wife back home was still young and, being "original goods," could easily marry someone else.
As compensation, he would provide a generous dowry for her!
The letter was like a bomb dropped on the Old Wang Family. Everyone panicked. The new daughter-in-law had an impressive background; what could they do but accept her?
This left the original owner of the body in an awkward position.
Old Mrs. Wang was not a kind person—a classic case of a long-suffering daughter-in-law who becomes a tyrannical mother-in-law.
She had chosen the original owner for her pretty face, thinking it would be enough to tie down her son.
But her son stayed for only a few days, and the daughter-in-law didn't even pop out a fart, let alone a baby. Then he left and never came back. She was less useful than a sow, which at least fattens up and produces piglets, making it a good investment.
And so, the original owner's life became incredibly difficult. She rose earlier than a rooster, slept later than a dog, ate worse than a pig, and worked harder than an ox. She was worn down until she was like a piece of jerky left to dry under the eaves.
The original owner had clung to the hope of her husband's promising future, foolishly gritting her teeth and enduring it for several years.
Now she had been abandoned, and the entire village was laughing at her.
Whenever the village children saw her, they would surround her, clapping and singing humiliating rhymes.
But Old Mrs. Wang was a real piece of work. She thought that since her son was so capable, it was perfectly normal for him to have three wives and four concubines. She kept the original owner in the house, never mentioned divorce, and even expected her to continue serving the old couple out of filial piety on her son's behalf.
The original owner even swallowed this indignity. She had no choice. A woman's reputation was paramount, and besides the Old Wang Family, no one would have her.
And so, when the new wife became pregnant, Old Mrs. Wang, who was intimidated by the thought of coming to the city herself, made the bizarre decision to send the original owner to serve her, claiming she was a younger female cousin from the countryside.
Wang Xianbing and the docile original owner wouldn't say anything, but Lin Jin was disgusted by the situation. Fearing the two would start making eyes at each other right under her nose while she was pregnant, she tearfully complained to her gossipy best friend.
In less than a day, everyone in the factory's family residential compound knew.
Arranged marriages and "divorced but not separated" situations were not uncommon in the compound; people could count about ten such families on their fingers. The general consensus was that it was better to part on good terms and seek happiness elsewhere than to be trapped in an unhappy union for life.
In the popular opinion, the man was not at fault at all. In fact, he was seen as responsible and dependable for supporting his ex-wife.
Someone in the factory compound started a rumor that Zhu Yun was scheming and vain, often using the family's money and ration coupons to buy clothes and snacks, and that she couldn't walk straight whenever she saw Mr. Chu from across the hall…
The original owner, a girl who had worked so hard and endured so much, was now saddled with this huge scapegoat's burden. She finally couldn't take the anger anymore and threw herself into the pond next to the factory.
But the pond was only half a meter deep. The original owner didn't die, and her floundering struggles once again became the butt of everyone's jokes.
Seething with anger and suffering from a high fever, the original owner's body was taken over by a new soul!
The woman known as Sister Yun was so angry her chest heaved. 'She'd never seen such a frustrating situation.'