Xu Ziyan initiated her first voluntary world traversal. She closed her eyes and opened them, finding herself in a new place. It felt so novel!
This time, she was sitting on a bamboo chair, listening to the radio. The room was small and looked very old, just like the settings seen in period dramas. Sure enough, after receiving the host’s memories, she discovered this world was set in the 1970s, and it was currently the summer of 1977.
The original host of this world was the venomous stepmother, and also served as the control group for her kind-hearted cousin next door, Xu Xiuyun.
The original host’s paternal grandparents were still alive. They had three sons. They valued the eldest, doted on the youngest, and somewhat neglected the middle son—the original host’s father. To make matters worse, the eldest brother’s family had a son and a daughter, the youngest brother’s family had two sons, while the original host’s father only had the original host, a single daughter.
The grandparents, who favored sons over daughters, liked the original host’s parents even less. The original host’s parents had meek, unassuming personalities. They worked the most but ate the least, and couldn’t even win an argument. Within the Xu Family, they were subtly at the bottom. This environment fostered a fiercely competitive and resentful nature in the original host. She deeply resented her family and was jealous of her more favored cousin.
From a young age, the original host secretly stole her younger male cousins’ eggs and dirtied her elder female cousin’s new clothes. When her parents found out and scolded her, she would curse them as useless good-for-nothings. The most serious incident once made her mother faint from anger—it felt like they had given birth to a curse.
In truth, the couple had always scrimped and saved, giving everything they saved to the original host. But the original host was never satisfied. She felt she had to snatch and fight, that she had to monopolize all the good things in the family. The couple weren’t that kind of people and didn’t know how to handle her, so they could only work even harder and ask the family for eggs a few more times to give to the original host.
As the original host grew older, she started stealing money her grandmother had hidden and then framed her cousin for it. Her cousin, kind-hearted, often looked at her with the tolerant eyes one uses on a child, helpless yet forgiving. Sometimes, she would even admit to the mistakes and cover for her.
The original host felt not an ounce of gratitude, only thinking her cousin was a fake and had something wrong with her head. Yet, everyone liked the cousin. Before the cousin even came of age, many people came to see her with the intention of securing a marriage match. And the original host? The wrongdoings she committed at home had spread, ruining her reputation. No one wanted to marry her.
Furious, the original host saw her cousin get engaged to a battalion commander. Unwilling to lose to her cousin, when another battalion commander in the village, Fang Lihai, returned to his hometown on leave, she pretended to fall into a river so he would save her, using that as leverage to cling to him.
Fang Lihai didn’t want to marry her. He stated that as a soldier, he had saved many people; surely they couldn’t all pledge themselves to him in marriage? That would be chaos. But the original host was relentless. She privately threatened him: if he didn’t agree, she would go to his military unit and report that when he rescued her from the water, he was improper, groping her and taking advantage of her.
Fang Lihai’s face turned livid with anger, but he had no choice but to agree. His elder brother and sister-in-law had met with disaster in the mountains, leaving behind two young nephews. His parents were frail and sickly. This family relied entirely on his salary. If he were labeled a pervert, it would be over. However, he seized the chance to propose formally adopting his two nephews under his own name.
This way, if he, as a soldier, received any benefits or allowances in the future, his two nephews would be eligible. Even if he died, the nephews could rightfully claim compensation, preventing it all from being taken by the original host.
Reluctantly and resentfully, the original host agreed. She then threatened Fang Lihai into buying the “Three Rounds and One Sound” (bicycle, sewing machine, wristwatch, and radio) and held a lavish wedding banquet to marry into the Fang family. One could say the Fang family exhausted their savings to marry her. During the wedding, the Fang family’s smiles were strained, leading to plenty of gossip and whispers among the villagers.
Coincidentally, right after the original host married, her cousin’s fiancé died from a sudden illness. The villagers then turned cold towards the cousin, considering her a widow before even entering the groom’s house, an ill-omened husband-killer. The Xu Family had no choice and eventually married the cousin off to a widower.
The man was an orphan. He was clever, sweet-talking, and knew how to get things done. Although he liked to slack off and cut corners when working, he had always managed to live quite comfortably. Some villagers secretly guessed he was involved in the Black Market, but no one had caught any evidence, and the man was formidable, so no one dared to say anything.
The man’s name was Song Dongbo. He originally had a wife and a daughter. Later, his wife fell ill, and after a year of treatment that couldn’t save her, she passed away. His daughter was only three and needed someone to care for her. Hearing about Xu Xiuyun’s situation, Song Dongbo found a matchmaker to propose, promising he would treat her well.
Song Dongbo was famously doting on his wife. He was also tall and handsome. So, after some discussion, the Xu family agreed. Coincidentally, Song Dongbo lived right next door to Fang Lihai’s family, separated only by a wall. The two cousins were now living side-by-side.
The original host was overjoyed. She felt she had finally gotten one over her cousin. In this comparison, she had clearly married better. So what if Fang Lihai disliked her and returned to the Military District on their wedding day? A battalion commander was already an officer, much better than Song Dongbo.
Fang Lihai’s monthly salary was seventy yuan. He sent sixty home, so her life was quite comfortable. In contrast, Xu Xiuyun’s life seemed worse. Perhaps Song Dongbo had lost money on some deal; the family rarely ate meat and went long periods without buying new clothes. Song Dongbo doted on his wife, that was true, but he had to go out and work during the day to earn money. Xu Xiuyun had to wash clothes, cook, clean the yard, and take care of the child at home.
She had initially thought being married to an orphan meant no conflicts with a mother-in-law or sisters-in-law. Only after actually living the life did she discover that with no one to help with anything, even when Xu Xiuyun had a fever and cough, she had to get up and cook for the three-year-old daughter.
The original host watched with sheer delight. She herself didn’t do any work. She made her mother-in-law cook and had the two nephews wash clothes and sweep the floor. The two nephews were eight and five years old, just the age to do some chores. The original host spent her days eating, drinking, listening to the radio, and reading comic books.
Her favorite pastime was leaning over the wall to watch Xu Xiuyun work, chatting with her while cracking sunflower seeds and enjoying Xu Xiuyun’s awkwardness.
But it was abundantly clear that she was the venomous supporting female character of this world, while Xu Xiuyun was the undisputed female lead.
That couple was sweet and loving. The three-year-old daughter was also close and affectionate with her stepmother Xu Xiuyun, as if she were her own birth mother. Everyone outside praised Xu Xiuyun as a virtuous wife and loving mother, a rare and good stepmother. And the original host became the obvious control group.
The original host had small quarrels every three days and big fights every five days at home. She showed no filial piety towards her parents-in-law. When unhappy, she would hit the children. From time to time, she would go back to her natal home to “borrow” things. Even just having a meal there, she would stir up trouble, praising one and putting down another, sowing discord, all because she resented everyone in her natal family and didn’t want them to be happy.
She had a sharp tongue, so no one confronted her directly, but behind her back, everyone said she was no good. As a daughter-in-law, she abused her in-laws; as a stepmother, she mistreated her stepsons. Hadn’t they seen how Battalion Commander Fang didn’t like coming home? It was because he looked down on her.
Xu Xiuyun was someone Song Dongbo had sought to marry. She, on the other hand, had forcibly latched onto Fang Lihai.
The original host thought she had beaten her cousin, only to lose out in reputation again. Moreover, half a year later, when the College Entrance Examination was reinstated, her cousin actually got into a university in the Capital City! Song Dongbo took the child and accompanied his wife to the city for university. They rented a place, set up a small stall for business, which grew bigger and bigger, and he became a big boss.
As soon as she graduated, the cousin became the boss’s wife. The couple even appeared in a televised interview. When they occasionally returned to the village for the New Year, they came in a small car, dressed splendidly, with gifts that were high-quality goods the villagers had never seen before. The whole village said she was blessed, had married well, and even brought prosperity to her husband. They called it the reward for her kindness.
The original host, however, fared miserably. When the College Entrance Examination was reinstated, Fang Lihai happened to have leave and returned to his hometown. On the way, he encountered a wild boar running amok. Afraid the boar would harm the villagers, Fang Lihai had no choice but to confront it. Unfortunately, he was unlucky; the boar charged and sent him flying. He hit his head on a rock and just like that, died!
The original host learned that Xu Xiuyun had gone up the mountain that day. She immediately rushed over and screamed at Xu Xiuyun, calling her a jinx who had provoked the boar to come down. Xu Xiuyun, of course, vehemently denied it. The original host had no evidence. The village chief locked her up on charges of making a scene without cause.
The original host’s mother-in-law cried until she fainted. Her father-in-law became bedridden. When the original host returned home, her face was dark and sinister, finding fault with everyone. Because Fang Lihai had died while intercepting the boar himself, the compensation she could receive was very little. With the adults sick and the children young, she grew utterly sick of them. She gathered all the money in the house and secretly ran away.
Her parents-in-law were ill. Without money for treatment, they soon died. The two pitiful children left behind had no one to care for them. They ate what charity they could get from neighbors, often going hungry. With no discipline, they grew up ill-behaved. Once, when Xu Xiuyun’s family happened to return to the village for the New Year, the two brothers snatched pastries from Xu Xiuyun’s stepdaughter. While running away, the elder brother fell and broke his leg, and the younger brother fell into an ice hole and died.
People only muttered, ‘Ill-bred brats, serves them right.’ It was Xu Xiuyun who paid to have the elder brother sent to the hospital. Everyone praised her kindness.
The original host didn’t fare well after running away either. While working, she was cheated out of her money and taken advantage of. When she tried to find a suitable man to settle down with, she encountered an abusive husband. After suffering immensely, she ended up as a sanitation worker sweeping the streets, living in a basement. It was from the television that she saw her cousin again.
Her parents also suffered because their daughter’s reputation was too tarnished, and then she disappeared without a trace. Worried, anxious, and subjected to constant gossip, they succumbed to depression and passed away.
After understanding the entire plot, Xu Ziyan just wanted to curse. Just for the sake of a control group, all the bad luck was dumped on their family, right? It was one thing if she alone was bad, but her parents and in-laws were good people. How come no one harmed them, yet they could still end up so tragically?
『But with a plot like this, how do I proceed? How do I turn the tide and save their lives? Why is the world in this book so bizarre? This time, I can’t just lie flat and be a salted fish. If I don’t intervene, Fang Lihai will be gored to death by a boar, my poor in-laws will die in pain from lack of treatment, the eldest son will break his leg, and the younger son will fall into an ice hole. It’s too tragic. I have to save them!』
Fang Father and Fang Mother, each holding a child’s hand, were thinking of coming to talk to Xu Ziyan, to say the children knew they were wrong, so she shouldn’t punish them by making them stand under the blazing sun anymore. Who knew they were about to knock when they heard such words.
What did this mean? A world in a book? They were all going to die? What was all this? Or was Xu Ziyan alone in the room cursing them?
Fang Mother quietly peeked through the window. Xu Ziyan was frowning, pacing back and forth in the room. 『001, tell me, how do I save them? How do I complete the mission? If I save them, the plot of being Xu Xiuyun’s control group will completely collapse. Will the world collapse? I don’t even know how I completed the mission in the last world. This is giving me a headache.』
001: 『Host, don’t be afraid. Have you forgotten your Luck Attribute? You will definitely turn danger into safety and complete the mission smoothly!』
Only then did Xu Ziyan relax her frown and smile. 『That’s right. We’ll take it slow and figure it out. By the time this world ends, we should have figured out the key to completing missions. Then, I’ll be a mature Tasker.』
001: 『And by then, I’ll be a mature system too, hehe!』
Fang Mother’s face changed dramatically with shock. Xu Ziyan hadn’t opened her mouth at all! Where was that voice coming from? And who was that other voice?
Fang Father and the two children were also utterly astonished. They wanted to ask but felt suffocated, completely unable to speak. What was happening?