Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Winter, January 1977.

The faint winter light spilled over the small courtyard of the Jiang family, nestled in the hutong and showing its age.

The quiet courtyard bustled to life as the sun rose.

"Clang!"

A faded enamel washbasin fell to the ground, making a loud clatter.

"Oh no! Ningning, I didn’t mean to bump into you. Don’t be mad at me." Jiang Liling wrung her hands innocently—though the smile on her face gave her away, it would have been hard for anyone to believe she was truly innocent.

"I know you didn’t mean it. Don’t worry, I won’t blame you."

Standing opposite Jiang Liling, Jiang Ningning understood and forgave her.

"By the way, when are you planning to go back to the brigade? I’ll be sure to see you off at the train station when you return."

Jiang Ningning deliberately needled Jiang Liling.

At these words, Jiang Liling’s gaze toward Jiang Ningning turned icy. After a long pause, she shot back, "Go back to the brigade? You’ll be disappointed."

With that, she turned away to fetch water for washing, having no interest in continuing with Jiang Ningning.

Jiang Ningning looked puzzled at Jiang Liling’s response.

In a room across from the two, Jiang Yiwei—her hair in braids, a bandage on her forehead, her almond-shaped eyes bright with mischief, delicate and fair-skinned—peered furtively out the window at the commotion between Jiang Ningning and Jiang Liling. Were she not so thin, hiding the baby fat in her cheeks, she would have looked even more youthful.

She only let the sun-bleached curtains fall when she’d seen enough.

Propping her chin in her hand, she faced the scratched mirror.

Her face cycled through a whole parade of expressions.

She scanned the room one last time and heaved a sigh.

"Ah!"

"Just my luck."

"Everyone else gets to be the heroine when they transmigrate—why am I stuck as some tragic side character?"

Yup. Jiang Yiwei had pulled the ultimate isekai move.

Worse, she’d landed in a niche ’70s novel with *two* heroines—and she wasn’t either of them.

The book, *Glamour Girls of the Seventies*, told the story of Jiang Liling and Jiang Ningning, who were at odds with each other yet rode the winds of reform to achieve success in their careers and lived happily ever after with their loved ones.

Except—plot twist!—Jiang Liling was a reborn heroine, and Jiang Ningning? A transmigrator.

Jiang Ningning had jumped into the story six months early, thanks to her spoilers knowing the plot in advance.

However, in the original book's world, Jiang Liling was the protagonist, while Jiang Ningning was merely a side character.

Thanks to her spoilers, Jiang Ningning knew she was about to be sent to the countryside. Unwilling to go, she pulled strings to dump her countryside assignment on Jiang Liling instead. But after getting shipped off, Jiang Liling woke up reborn and discovered Jiang Ningning's deception—learning that her miserable past life had all been Jiang Ningning's doing. That’s when the grudge started.

And that’s why these two were forever at each other’s throats.

The reason they'd been at odds their whole lives.

Perhaps it was because of the main character privilege, leading to a happy ending.

As for the original Jiang Yiwei, she was their timid, cowardly, and incompetent background-character cousin and the unlucky female supporting character.

Given the original character's personality and her limited appearances in the novel, she could basically be considered a wallflower character. However, both of her almost-fiancés turned out to be the male leads. Just as things were getting serious with her, they fell for Jiang Liling and Jiang Ningning instead, breaking it off with her to pursue the female leads.

This made her already insecure and weak personality even more full of self-doubt.

She was also egged on by her supposed best friend, Chen Songzhi, to marry Chen Songzhi's brother, Chen Songbai.

The reason Chen Songzhi pushed her to marry her brother was because he was lazy, had a bad temper, was unattractive, and jobless—no decent family would marry their daughter to someone like Chen Songbai.

Already devastated and humiliated by her failed relationships, the original character, under Chen Songzhi's persuasion, went and agreed to marry Chen Songbai.

Jiang Yiwei remembered that in the novel, when Jiang Ningning went back home to visit her mother, she mentioned the original character—how she'd worked herself to death.

In Jiang Yiwei's eyes, the original character was a tragically unlucky girl.

She hadn’t done anything wrong, yet she was given such an ending.

And because the original character shared her name, Jiang Yiwei had felt genuinely creeped out when she first learned about this fate.

Now, to her dismay, she had become that very character.

Good grief, why must she suffer like this?

Jiang Yiwei slapped her forehead in frustration, accidentally hitting her wound.

"Ouch! That hurts." Her pretty face scrunched up in pain.

Speaking of the wound, it was related to Jiang Liling and Jiang Ningning.

Those two were basically the original girl's personal curse.

After Jiang Liling got her second chance, her personality completely changed.

Taking advantage of the New Year holiday granted by her work unit, Jiang Liling returned to the city.

Within just one day of being back, she started going at it with Jiang Ningning. The original character, poor girl, tried to mediate but was shoved aside during their scuffle, hitting her head and knocked unconscious. When she woke up, Jiang Yiwei had woken up in her body.

It was unclear whether the original character had died.

Regardless of the reason, Jiang Liling and Jiang Ningning were 100% to blame.

Thinking about the original character's crummy ending...

Both were isekai protagonists, so why did Jiang Ningning get to be the heroine while she ended up as the unlucky supporting character and wallflower character?

So unfair.

Jiang Yiwei seethed.

But soon, she let it go.

Sure, she had transmigrated into the original character, but her personality was completely different. Plus, she knew the novel's plot and the era's trajectory. No matter what, the worst-case scenario wouldn’t be the same as the original character's—she wouldn’t marry Chen Songbai and work herself to death.

Thinking this way, Jiang Yiwei felt much more at ease.

"Jiang Yiwei, Mom says to come eat."

An annoyed voice came from outside the door. Jiang Yiwei dragged herself up lazily and replied, "Oh! Coming."

She shuffled out of her bedroom and into the living room, where several people were already seated at the dining table—her second sister, younger brother, sister-in-law, and niece.

Jiang Yiwei scanned the room and plonked herself in her usual spot.

As soon as she sat down, Zhang Cuifen, her mother, dished out some leafy porridge into her bowl and slid her a golden pancake.

Jiang Yiwei tore off a piece and stuffed it into her mouth. It was a corn pancake—barely edible.

No surprise it needed to be paired with the leafy porridge; otherwise, it would be too dry.

Though it was January 1977, restrictions had loosened up some, and since both Zhang Cuifen and her father had steady jobs, the family’s meals had improved slightly.

At that moment, Huang Manjun, her sister-in-law, piped up, "Mom, I'm taking Xiaohua to work."

"Alright, watch your step," Zhang Cuifen reminded her.

Huang Manjun nodded, scooped up three-year-old Xiaohua, and left.

Huang Manjun worked at a state-owned pharmaceutical factory, which had a free daycare center, so she took Xiaohua with her to work. While Huang Manjun worked, Xiaohua stayed in the daycare.

When she'd polished off her portion of porridge and pancake, Jiang Yiwei still felt a bit hungry. Seeing there was some leftover leafy porridge in the pot, she helped herself to more.

"Jiang Yiwei, what are you doing?" Jiang Yuexin barked.

Jiang Yiwei glanced at her, made quick work of the porridge in her bowl, then dropped the bowl before replying, "Eating, obviously."

Just as she was about to leave, Zhang Cuifen hooked her.

"Yi Wei, you're on dish duty after we finish eating."

If it were the original host, she would have obediently agreed.

But this was Jiang Yiwei.

Her eyes rolled, and she immediately grabbed her head. "Mom, my head still feels dizzy. I need to lie down so I don’t faint."

After all, she had a head injury now—whether she felt dizzy or not was up to her.

"Jiang Yiwei, enough! Every time we ask you to do something, you play the headache card."

Jiang Yuexin smashed her bowl down with a loud clatter.

Ever since Jiang Yiwei got injured, she had been playing the headache card to avoid chores, which had long irritated Jiang Yuexin.

Jiang Yiwei faked a pitiful look. "Second Sister, if you don’t believe me, why don’t you crack your skull open too? Then you’ll know if I’m telling the truth."

"Jiang Yiwei, how dare you say something like that? Is that any way to talk?"

Jiang Yuexin let her have it.

"Isn't this all because you don't trust me, Second Sister?"

Jiang Yiwei mentally rolled her eyes. Didn't she doubt her? If she wanted to know whether her words were true or false, bashing her own head in would be the best proof. Of course, Jiang Yiwei knew Jiang Yuexin would never be that stupid.

"Second Sister, Third Sister's forehead is bleeding. Besides, you're completely fine, aren't you? You’re not even injured."

The youngest brother, Jiang Weilin, spoke up despite himself.

Because Jiang Weilin couldn’t stand Jiang Yuexin bullying Jiang Yiwei.

If it weren’t for the fact that laughing now would be inappropriate, Jiang Yiwei would’ve laughed out loud at Jiang Weilin’s words.

Jiang Yiwei was delighted, but Jiang Yuexin’s face fell.

"Stop arguing."

Zhang Cuifen massaged her temples as she looked at Jiang Yuexin and Jiang Yiwei. In her heart, Zhang Cuifen still believed Jiang Yiwei’s words because she knew Jiang Yiwei wouldn’t lie.

So, she instinctively trusted Jiang Yiwei.

After all, she didn’t know that the Jiang Yiwei standing before her now was a different person inside.

"Yiwei, go get some rest. If you're still feeling bad anywhere, tell me."

In the end, Jiang Yiwei was her own daughter. Even if she showed favoritism, Zhang Cuifen still worried about Jiang Yiwei’s health.

Jiang Yiwei managed a weak smile. "Mm! Mom, I’ll go rest in my room now."

She made a beeline for her room.

Even after closing the door, she could still hear Jiang Yuexin ranting. With Zhang Cuifen being who she was, since Jiang Yiwei couldn’t do the chores, and Zhang Cuifen had work to do, the task naturally fell to Jiang Yuexin.

Jiang Yiwei stretched with a lazy sigh and lay back on the bed, thinking about the Jiang family’s situation.

This small courtyard was home to three generations of the family.

Granny Hu, Hu Yun, was the original host’s grandmother. Granny Hu had given birth to three sons and three daughters in her lifetime, but only five children survived.

The original host’s father, Jiang Sanjie, was Granny Hu’s fifth child.

Not long after Jiang Sanjie and Zhang Cuifen got married, they divided their property.

Though they divided their property, the three brothers still lived in the same courtyard.