"At the beginning, it was Su Taotao herself who insensitively married Zhengtu and has been taken care of for these three years of marriage. Now the child is almost two, she says she can't stand to continue, wanting a divorce and to return to the city--what's this? Abandoning husband and child? If she leaves, what will happen to the child and Zhengtu?"
"Yeah, Second Aunt, your family has been too kind to her, which bred her lawless character. In my presumption, if we punitively deal with her once, she will learn her lesson. Even if it means breaking her leg, she shouldn't be allowed to simply return to the city."
"Right, even if we let her go back to the city, we need to wait for Zhengtu to decide. We can't just let her leave."
A voice in the corner meekly asked: "But what if Zhengtu doesn't return?"
Everyone turned their heads and spat towards the corner, "Spits, spits! Talking nonsense, you are the one who won't return!"
...
Everyone was indignantly discussing, Fu Zhengtu's mother, Zhou Linglan, was holding the sad little grandson in one hand, and wiping tears with the other, choking and said: "What if she tries to jump into the river again? Nothing is more important than life. Our poor family can't keep a golden phoenix, if she wants to leave, let her go."
The older aunt always looked down upon her weak sister-in-law: "We're in this state because of your docile temperament. You let her ride over your head and bully you, aren't you afraid that Zhengtu will blame you when he gets back? Also, what about Chenchen? That woman is his real mother, even animals know to protect their cubs, and yet she doesn't even want Chenchen."
Fu Guoqiang tugged at his mother's sleeve, gesturing her to stop: "Second Aunt, at worst, we tie her up with a rope, and we take turns to keep an eye on her, so she definitely can't escape."
The older aunt slapped her thigh: "That's how we'll do it. If she dares to run again, we will tie her to the beam after breaking her legs; as if there are no people in our Fu family, she has gone too far!"
...
The production team leader, also the old uncle Fu Dongliang, took a puff of his dry pipe, frowning and interrupting the discussion: "Don't worry, she can't escape, I'm holding on to her certificate. She can't buy a train ticket even if she gets to the town. But we can save her once, not ten times. If someone is desperate enough to die, there's more than one way than jumping into the river."
When the team leader finished, everyone looked at each other and fell silent.
A few days ago, a young intellectual from the neighboring team dared to drink poison for a chance to return to the city. They really weren't afraid of death just for the sake of returning to the city.
Zhou Linglan's tears flowed vehemently. After wiping away a handful, she held up her weak grandson and bowed, "Thank you all for today's effort. Please go home first. When Taotao wakes up, I'll have a good talk with her. Although the result is unpredictable, this is our Fu family, and Zhengtu's family's fate. Please go home."
"Auntie..." Aunt was about to say something further.
Fu Guoqiang gently pushed her toward the exit, "Alright, Mom, my second aunt knows what she's doing, let's head home."
Aunt advised, "This time, don't let her swing you around again, if you don't stand up for yourself, no one else can help you..."
In fact, the whole production team was eager for this troublemaker to leave and go back to the city. However, as the old saying goes, it's better to dismantle ten temples than to break a marriage. Moreover, the child was still so young. Although this mother might be ineffectual, it still made a difference.
...
In the transition between sleep and wakefulness, Su Taotao was still thinking about the messy dream she had been having, which felt very realistic.
Upon opening her eyes, the sight that greeted her was the pitch-black tile roof. The several trembling beams even more so highlighted the age of the house; it was beyond just being old and dilapidated, this is dangerously close to being unlivable.
Su Taotao quickly closed her eyes again, hoping that the dream would end soon.
All of a sudden, Su Taotao felt a stabbing pain in her temples. Foreign memories, like scenes from a rewound film, played back in her mind.
In the span of merely ten or so minutes, she seemed to have witnessed the first half of a female intellectual's life. No, it was more accurate to say it was the life of an extremely unfortunate female intellectual.
She had apparently entered a book!
She had ended up in a period piece she had read not long ago. To add insult to injury, she wasn't the lucky lead female character with a golden finger and a cheat space at her disposal. She was stuck in the body of a particularly unfortunate female character!
The melodramatic storyline of this unfortunate female character provoked no desire in Su Taotao, who bears the same name, to comment.
After graduating from high school with no employment, she was forced to move to the countryside. To avoid labor, she schemed to marry Fu Zhanlu, the most handsome young man in the commune.
After marriage, the original character couldn't even handle one day of work and naturally ended up in a state of idleness and indolence, doing nothing but eating and waiting for death. She didn't do any housework, slept daily until well after sunrise, one day she would steal candies from her nephew, the next day she would steal eggs from her younger uncle, the day after she would steal sweet potatoes from others' reserved plots. She even didn't refrain from old hunter's traps, often going to snatch wild chickens and rabbits from them...
The Fu family, once well-regarded throughout the production team, saw their reputation plummet after her marriage to them. Every member of the Qinglian Commune would shake their heads at the mere mention of her. Even dogs despised her.
Her pregnancy only exacerbated the ordeal. Rumor has it that even her underwear was washed by her mother-in-law. After giving birth, she took care of her child only for feeding time. Otherwise, she would toss him to her mother-in-law or her brother-in-law as soon as he started to cry. To keep away from the noise, she would go out and play, while her family treated her like a queen…
Even when living a life that, as seen by commune members, resembled a paradise, she couldn't resist gravitating towards the heroine and stirred trouble up frequently, which resulted in her being punished by the heroine. What a mystery.
The heroine's husband, Fu ZhenTu, did not receive much characterization from the original author. Aside from being described as "the most handsome in the commune," his storyline was interrupted when he disappeared not long after their marriage, due to a secret mission. Fu Zhentu's facial features remained a blur in her memory, and all she could recall was his tall stature, toned abs, lean v-line, and his broad-shoulder triangle-shaped figure...
As for the heroine's attempt to throw herself in the river, it was actually due to a provocative letter from her childhood friend who came back to the city after going to the countryside. No matter how easy the country life was, how handsome her husband was, or how good his figure was, she was living a celibate life. Unable to hold on, she threatened to drown herself in the river, hoping to return to the city, leaving her husband and their son behind.
When she died, that's when Su TaoTao took over.
After understanding the plot, Su TaoTao wished she could bang her head against a mud wall and go back. Although she didn't have any family, she just graduated from university, and her parents left her a fortune. She was beautiful, tall, and there was still so much money in the bank she hadn't spent. Strangely enough, she landed in the materially deprived 1970s. Who could understand the pain of having money in the bank while being in heaven?
"TaoTao? Are you awake?" Zhou LingLan's voice was soft, weak, and a bit flattering. It's no wonder the original owner had her under control.
Su TaoTao blinked but didn't want to wake up.
After Zhou LingLan knew she was awake, she sighed and continued, "TaoTao, your mom has been a widow for over a decade, I know the bitterness in your heart. Didn't we make a promise? You would wait for ZhenTu for three years, if there was still no news from him after three years, whether you want to go back to the city or remarry, I won't stop you. Also, please be considerate of our little ChenChen, who is not even two years old, he can't be without his mother. Can you wait for another half a year?"
Wait for her nominal husband for three years? Su TaoTao didn't expect this.
Wait, ChenChen? Her nominal son?
Su TaoTao suddenly opened her eyes and looked to the side. An elderly and a young child came into her sight, she was taken aback…
