Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Yangcheng Port, 1972.

The sky was adorned with a line of thick inkiness, spreading outward in all directions, as a huge shadow loomed over the earth. From time to time, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

In the distant sea, a torrential downpour was underway. Near the port, the sky was overcast, though no rain fell. The sea breeze whipped up waves that crashed against the shore, sending stacks of cardboard boxes and bamboo baskets rolling in front of residential buildings.

"Fat pig! Big fat pig! Dead pig woman! You ate the candy she gave you, now you're a pig woman too!" A boy, around seven or eight years old, clutched a blue Big White Rabbit candy wrapper in his hand. His eyes were wide, with more white than black, his cheeks puffed up, and his thick lips spewed venomous words.

Next to him, a little girl of six or seven shrank back in fear. A young woman stepped in front of her, handing her three more Big White Rabbit milk candies.

The woman wore a coral-colored shirt and deep blue overalls with a cross-back design. By her legs stood a bulging brown leather suitcase, with a giant blue backpack on top of it. The zipper was barely holding it together, stuffed to the brim, making it appear extremely bloated.

Qin Yao, in this current body, was eighteen years old, standing at 1.65 meters tall and weighing a hefty 140 jin (about 140 pounds). Her figure was voluptuous, but she wasn't quite fat enough to be called a fat pig. It was just that the "pigs" of this time were too skinny in comparison.

Her facial features were excellent, with fair skin, beautiful eyebrows and eyes, and a sharp chin on her melon-seed face, a typical hourglass figure with curves in all the right places. Even with the extra weight, she was still a rather pretty chubby beauty.

Qin Yao had transmigrated into a novel.

Before transmigrating, Qin Yao had graduated with a master's degree and became an editor at a publishing house. Her classmate and close friend worked as an editor at a web novel site. Two days ago, her friend sent her a novel and said, "Qin Yao, there's a side character in here with the exact same name as you."

Qin Yao flipped through it briefly. The story was mostly about Bai Qiuling, the female lead, who was reborn and clung tightly to her husband's thick thighs, following him to a military island for a mundane life of raising children. The Qin Yao in the novel wasn't a significant character. Qin Yao's best friend, Chen Baozhen, was the key contrasting female side character in the early parts of the book.

Chen Baozhen and Bai Qiuling were neighbors, moving into the compound around the same time. They were often compared. Bai Qiuling was a perfect wife, both a capable homemaker and a loving partner, getting along well with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Chen Baozhen, on the other hand, was delicate and had a bad temper. Her married life was chaotic, and she faced a series of nightmares with an extreme best friend, extreme sister-in-law, and extreme mother-in-law, eventually ending in a bitter divorce, a stark contrast to the female lead, Bai Qiuling.

Qin Yao was Chen Baozhen's "extreme best friend."

Chen Baozhen came from a good family, with both parents being cadres. Qin Yao, on the other hand, was an ordinary girl from a large courtyard family. She was the youngest daughter with four older brothers. The nine of them were crammed into a 20-30 square meter courtyard house. With several brothers needing space to marry and have children, there was no room to spare. Although her third brother had gone to the countryside as an educated youth, and Qin Yao didn't need to go, her second sister-in-law had other plans. Using rumors, she scared Qin Yao into thinking she would be sent to the countryside. Naturally, Qin Yao didn't want to go and started looking for a husband.

As long as she got married, she wouldn't have to go to the countryside.

She was pretty, but she was also fat. Those who liked her type found her beautiful, while those who didn't called her a fat pig woman, which contributed to her complex of being both confident and insecure.

Chen Baozhen was delicate and often spoke without thinking. With Qin Yao, her extreme best friend who also spoke without filtering, they became notorious, their reputations spreading far and wide.

Qin Yao, at least, was pretty. She managed to get into a relationship with an older regiment leader. But just when she thought she had it all, the man she had been chasing all her life transferred to the Navy Military Hospital as an army doctor. Qin Yao was stringing the regiment leader along while obsessing over her dream man, only to crash and burn spectacularly, ending up a top joke and being forced to pack up and leave for Bei City in disgrace.

...

—She and her best friend Chen Baozhen were the "clowns" adding flavor to the story.

Now, Qin Yao had become this "clown."

Qin Yao didn't want to be a clown, but she had ended up in the 1970s and needed to survive in this era. She wasn't going back to Bei City, where nine people were crammed into a tiny space. She'd go "crazy."

The current Qin Yao's father was a factory cook, and her mother worked at a food factory. The family didn't lack food, which was why she was so overweight. But there were too many people in the Qin family. Her older brothers were already married and hadn't been allocated new houses yet, so everyone was still crammed together. At night, the sounds of her brothers and their wives were all too clear, and Qin Yao didn't want to live this "cramped" life.

She had two options:

1. Get married.

2. Find a job.

The second option was the best for Qin Yao. She was only eighteen years old and didn't want to get married. If she dragged it out until 1977, she'd be twenty-three and could still take the college entrance exam.

But finding a job was hard right now. There were too many people competing for too few positions. If not for that, there wouldn't be so many sent to the countryside. There were simply no jobs for young people in Bei City.

However, while there were no jobs in Bei City, there might be on the island. She could visit her best friend at the island compound and maybe find a job opportunity there, using it to stay and tough it out for four or five more years before leaving.

Of course, she could also get married, but that was the last resort.

Qin Yao didn't want to settle, and she didn't want to marry an army officer. She didn't believe in emotions, nor in so-called family, friendship, or love. She just wanted to be alone and live her life well.

"Is the candy delicious? Call me a good sister, and I'll give you some dried meat." Qin Yao had a lot of luggage on this trip, all filled with various candies, cookies, and dried meats.

Today, she had come to the port with a boat ticket, but the weather was terrible, and the ship wasn't leaving. Qin Yao was worried—her luggage was too much to carry back and forth, and she couldn't bear to leave any of it behind.

On her way back to the guesthouse, she ran into a cute little girl and gave her two Big White Rabbit milk candies.

A little boy saw this and tried to snatch the candy from the girl. When he failed and only got the wrapper, he asked Qin Yao for more candy. When she refused, he started cursing, calling her a pig woman with foul, dirty words.

The children couldn't distinguish beauty from ugliness and thought Qin Yao, being white and fat, was a big pig woman.

Listening to those words, Qin Yao smiled and ate a Big White Rabbit milk candy herself. She then took out a piece of fragrant pork jerky and fed it to the little girl next to her.

She mocked, "No food for you, poor thing. Go beg for it at home."

The boy swallowed hard, stomped his feet, clenched his fists, and cursed even louder, "Pig woman! Stinking pig woman! Dead fat pig, die—"

His words became dirtier, and he even tried to spit on Qin Yao. She dodged, her temper flaring, ready to teach the brat a lesson.

"Pig—cough cough."

The boy opened his mouth, and something hit it. A bitter taste spread, and he coughed and spat it out—it was a white piece of chalk.

He was about to curse again when another piece of chalk flew into his mouth, silencing him as he tried to spit it out.

Qin Yao was amused and thought, "That was so accurate," before looking back. Not far away stood a young man.

Tall and slim, with handsome features and looking quite young, the man wore a white shirt and gray pants, a sling bag on his shoulder. He stood leisurely, holding a box of chalk in his hand, with a small blackboard by his legs—used by a fruit stall to write prices. The stall owner had packed up due to the strong wind.

"Hey! That's my chalk."

"Excuse me, I'm borrowing this for a moment." The young man, with his hands in his pockets, lazily returned the chalk to the stall owner.

The mischievous child had run off, and Qin Yao patted the little girl's shoulder before walking over to the young man's side and saying, "Thank you."

"No problem."

Only when Qin Yao got closer did she notice that the young man was tall, estimating he was about 1.85 meters. He was lanky, not standing very straight, slightly hunched, with a relaxed posture that matched the beach perfectly.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great, with a sky full of dark clouds. As Qin Yao looked up at him, a beam of light broke through the clouds behind him, illuminating half of his face with a white glow.

Qin Yao instantly exclaimed inwardly.

—A definite "top-tier delicate beauty" look, but the male version.

The young man's brow bone was prominent, and his features were exquisite upon closer inspection. Although he had peach blossom eyes, he didn't come off as flirtatious. The corners of his eyes tilted slightly downward, exuding a sense of purity and innocence. There was a small, inconspicuous beauty mark under his right eye.

His chin was slightly tucked in, giving off a gentle and obedient appearance. The sea breeze by the shore wasn't gentle, wildly lifting his shirt hem and revealing a tanned, well-defined abdominal muscle.

Qin Yao's heart raced. This guy in front of her was tall, slim, and had a great physique—essentially the ideal "younger wolf-dog type" junior.

In the seventies, there were many natural beauties; you could easily pick up a handsome guy on the street.

If the chances of picking up a handsome guy were so high, Qin Yao's initial inclination towards Plan B had shifted, but now she felt that Plan A wasn't impossible either.

"Little brother, what's your name?" Qin Yao couldn't help but try to flirt with him. The young man reminded her of a junior from her freshman year, while she had already graduated with a master's degree.

"Gu Cheng."

"Oh, I'm Qin Yao. You can call me Sister Qin or Sister Yao."

Gu Cheng didn't say anything, just gave Qin Yao a faint glance. He was actually 28 years old, though his official documents listed him as 30. Qin Yao was clearly younger than him, but they were just passing acquaintances, and there was no need to explain anything.

He had gone to Guicheng for counter-espionage training last month and had a meeting in Yangcheng a few days ago. Currently, he was on his way to Qiongzhou Island with a confidential document. Unfortunately, due to the bad weather, all ships were delayed, which he considered a vacation. He didn't want any complications.

The unique appearance of Qin Yao triggered a subtle alertness in Gu Cheng. He had never seen anyone so fair, plump, and beautiful.

"I'm leaving." With that, Gu Cheng turned to go.

"Wait—you have a ticket; are you boarding the ship too? Let me see your ticket." Qin Yao grabbed his arm, quite familiar with him, and checked Gu Cheng's ticket information. Discovering they were on the same ship, Qin Yao was delighted.

"We're on the same ship! Let's travel together."

Having a handsome young man as a companion would make the journey less boring.

Qin Yao enjoyed flirting with handsome guys, though she knew it was all superficial. People of her generation didn't believe in love, especially those who were good-looking. The popular boy in her high school had slept with someone right after turning 18 and had changed girlfriends numerous times.

Handsome men were a scarce resource, and those who were good-looking had plenty of girls chasing after them. Qin Yao, with her stunning beauty, had many wealthy and influential men pursuing her, but she preferred those with attractive faces.

Unfortunately, those with attractive faces tended to cheat. Qin Yao's ex-boyfriend, a literary talent, was both talented and handsome. He pursued her passionately for two years, writing countless love poems. Moved by his efforts, Qin Yao eventually agreed to date him, only for him to cheat on her with her best friend three months into the relationship, just because Qin Yao refused to go to a hotel room with him.

...Plastic love, plastic best friend.

Men liked her only for her looks and figure, and girls who wanted to be her best friend would secretly slander her, calling her a flirt and a hypocrite.

After graduation, Qin Yao realized there were no genuine feelings in society. Love, friendship, and family were all illusions, merely intertwined with interests. Her parents were entirely focused on her younger brother, not because he was exceptional but simply because of his gender.

"Would you like to check the favorability?"

Qin Yao selected "yes." Ever since she transmigrated into this novel, she had a useless cheat ability—a favorability system that allowed her to check someone's real favorability towards her ten times a day.

Checking the favorability required physical contact.

It couldn't be more useless.

What good was knowing the favorability?

"His favorability towards you is 0 (You are passing acquaintances)."

Qin Yao stared at the young man's face. A favorability of 0? Even the little girl earlier had a favorability of 30 towards her.

Tch, men.

Feeling both embarrassed and angry, Qin Yao lowered her voice. "Meeting is a kind of fate, little brother. I have too much luggage. Can you help me take it back to the guesthouse?"

Gu Cheng: "..."