Chapter 34: The Evil Stepmother of the 1970s 1 New Story Started “Mom I…

Chapter 34: The Vicious Stepmother of the Seventies

Xu Zhiyan experienced her first spontaneous time travel. One moment she closed her eyes, and the next, she found herself in a different place, feeling incredibly intrigued!

This time, she was sitting on a bamboo chair, listening to the radio. The room was small and old-fashioned, just like what she had seen in period dramas. Indeed, after receiving the memories, she discovered that this world was set in the seventies, specifically the summer of 1977.

The original host was the vicious stepmother in this world, serving as a foil to her kind-hearted cousin, Xu Xiuyun, who lived next door.

The original host’s grandparents were still alive, and they had three sons. They favored the eldest and doted on the youngest, somewhat neglecting the middle son, who was the father of the original host. Moreover, the eldest son had a son and a daughter, while the youngest had two sons. The middle son, the father of the original host, only had one daughter.

The grandparents, who favored boys over girls, treated the original host's parents even more poorly. Her parents were good-natured people, working hard and eating little, often losing arguments. In the Xu family, they were considered the lowest rank, which shaped the original host into a strong-willed and resentful person, jealous of her pampered cousin.

From a young age, the original host would secretly steal eggs from her younger cousins, dirty her cousin's new clothes, and when caught by her parents, she would curse them for being weak and useless. Once, she even made her mother faint with anger, making her feel like she had given birth to a debt collector.

In fact, her parents always saved money and food for her, but the original host was never satisfied. She believed she must fight and compete to claim all the good things in the family. Her parents, not knowing how to handle her, worked even harder and asked for more eggs from the family for her.

As the original host grew older, she began stealing money hidden by her grandmother and framing her cousin. Her cousin, with a kind heart, looked at her with the eyes of an adult watching a child, feeling both helpless and tolerant. Sometimes, she would even take the blame to protect her.

However, the original host felt no gratitude, thinking her cousin was fake and mentally unstable. Everyone liked her cousin, and even before she turned eighteen, many suitors came to propose marriage. As for her? The wrongdoings she committed at home spread, tarnishing her reputation, and no one wanted to marry her.

The original host was furious. When she saw her cousin engaged to a battalion commander, she decided she couldn’t be outdone. During another battalion commander, Fang Lihai’s visit home, she pretended to fall into the river and let him save her, then clung to him.

Fang Lihai refused to marry her, saying he had saved many people during his military service and couldn’t possibly marry all of them; it would be chaos. But the original host wouldn’t back down. She privately threatened him, saying if he didn’t agree, she would report him to the army for inappropriate behavior while saving her.

Fang Lihai, his face turning livid with anger, had no choice but to agree. His elder brother and sister-in-law had met with an accident in the mountains, leaving behind two young nephews, and his parents were frail. The family relied entirely on his salary. If he were accused of misconduct, it would ruin everything. However, he took the opportunity to propose that the two nephews be registered under his name.

This way, any benefits or treatments he received from the military could be enjoyed by the two nephews. Even if he died, the two nephews could receive compensation rightfully, preventing the original host from taking everything.

Reluctantly, the original host agreed, but she also pressured Fang Lihai to buy a tricycle and a radio, and they held a grand wedding feast. The Fang family had to deplete their savings to marry her, and the smiles on their faces during the wedding were forced, leading to much gossip among the villagers.

Coincidentally, right after the original host got married, her cousin's fiancé died suddenly from an illness. This made the villagers turn against the cousin, labeling her as a "jinxed bride," someone who brings misfortune to her husband. The Xu Family had no choice but to marry her off to a widower.

The man was an orphan—clever, smooth-tongued, and resourceful. Though he often slacked off when working, he always landed on his feet. Some villagers secretly suspected he was running black market deals, but with no solid evidence and his way of silencing people, no one dared to say anything.

His name was Song Dongbo. He had been married before and had a three-year-old daughter. His wife fell ill and passed away after a year of treatment. With his daughter needing care, Song Dongbo heard about Xu Xiuyun’s situation and sent a matchmaker to propose, vowing to cherish her.

Song Dongbo was famously devoted to his wife, and being tall and handsome, the Xu Family agreed after some discussion. Coincidentally, Song Dongbo lived right next to Battalion Commander Fang’s family, separated only by a wall. The two cousins ended up living side by side again.

The original host was overjoyed, feeling she had finally outshone her cousin. The comparison was obvious—she had married far better. Even if Fang Lihai disliked her and returned to the military base right after the wedding, so what? He was a battalion commander, an officer, much better than Song Dongbo.

Fang Lihai earned seventy yuan a month, sending sixty back home, so she lived comfortably. In contrast, Xu Xiuyun struggled. Perhaps Song Dongbo had lost money in some shady dealings—they rarely had meat to eat, and new clothes were few and far between. Though Song Dongbo doted on his wife, he had to work during the day, leaving Xu Xiuyun to shoulder all the household work, cook, clean the yard, and care for the child.

Originally, Xu Xiuyun thought marrying an orphan meant no conflicts with in-laws, but in reality, she had no help at all. Even when she was sick with a fever and cough, she had to get up and cook for her three-year-old stepdaughter.

The original host reveled in this. She did no work herself—her mother-in-law cooked, and her two nephews, aged eight and five, did the laundry and swept the floor. She spent her days eating well, listening to the radio, and reading comic books.

Her favorite pastime was perching on the wall to watch Xu Xiuyun work, chatting with her while shelling sunflower seeds and enjoying her cousin’s struggles.

But clearly, she was the villainess of this world, while Xu Xiuyun was the clear protagonist.

The couple was sweet and loving, and the three-year-old daughter adored her stepmother as if she were her own. Everyone praised Xu Xiuyun as a virtuous wife and mother, a rare kind stepmother. Meanwhile, the original host became the obvious contrast.

She quarreled at home every few days, showed no filial piety to her in-laws, and vented her frustrations by hitting the children. She often went back to her parents’ home to take things, needling everyone at the dinner table, resenting her entire family and wanting to make them miserable.

Quick with cutting remarks, no one confronted her directly, but behind her back, people criticized her—a terrible daughter-in-law who mistreated her in-laws, a cruel stepmother who abused her stepsons. No wonder Battalion Commander Fang rarely came home—he couldn’t stand her.

Xu Xiuyun was sought after by Song Dongbo, while she had latched onto Fang Lihai.

The original host thought she had finally surpassed her cousin, only to lose her reputation again. Half a year later, when the college entrance exams were reinstated, her cousin actually got admitted to a university in the capital! Song Dongbo took their child and accompanied her cousin to the city for university, renting a place and setting up a small stall for business. Their venture grew bigger and bigger, and eventually, he became a successful entrepreneur.

Her cousin became a business owner's wife immediately after graduation, and the couple even appeared in a televised interview. When they occasionally returned to the village for the New Year, they arrived in a car, dressed in fine clothes, bringing fancy gifts nobody in the village had ever seen. The whole village praised her for her good fortune, saying she had married well and brought prosperity to her husband—a reward for her kindness.

But the original host got the short end of the stick. When the college entrance exams were reinstated, Fang Lihai happened to be on leave, returning home to visit. On the way, he encountered a wild boar running loose. Afraid it would harm the villagers, Fang Lihai confronted it, only to be unluckily rammed and thrown, hitting his head on a rock—and died instantly!

The day Fang Lihai died, the original host learned that Xu Xiuyun had gone up the mountain. She immediately stormed over, yelling that Xu Xiuyun was bad luck and had provoked the boar to descend. Of course, Xu Xiuyun denied it, and with no evidence, the original host was locked up by the village chief for making baseless accusations.

Her mother-in-law fainted from grief, and her father-in-law collapsed in bed. When the original host returned home, she wore a permanent scowl, finding fault with everyone. Since Fang Lihai had died while stopping the boar himself, the compensation she received was minimal. With the family sick and the children young, she grew utterly fed up, took all the household savings, and secretly ran away.

Her in-laws, ill and without money for treatment, soon passed away. The two pitiful children left behind had no one to care for them, living hand-to-mouth on neighbors' charity—sometimes eating, sometimes starving, growing up wild and uncouth. Once, when Xu Xiuyun’s family returned to the village for the New Year, the two brothers swiped sweets from Xu Xiuyun’s stepdaughter. While fleeing, the older brother broke his leg, and the younger brother fell into an icy pond and drowned.

Folks just shook their heads, saying 'no manners - serves them right.' It was Xu Xiuyun who paid to have the older brother sent to the hospital, earning praise for her kindness.

As for the original host, her luck didn't improve out in the world either. She was cheated out of money and exploited in dead-end jobs. When she tried to settle down with a decent man, she ended up with an abusive husband, suffering until she finally became a street sweeper, living in a dingy basement. It was from the TV that she saw her cousin again.

Her parents, too, suffered due to their daughter’s terrible reputation and disappearance. Worried and constantly gossiped about, they died of depression.

After learning the entire plot, Xu Ziyan wanted to scream obscenities. Just for the sake of a contrast, all the misfortune was dumped on their family, huh? Even if she was the only bad one, her parents and in-laws were good people—how could they end up so tragically unlucky without anyone even harming them?

"But how do I navigate this plot? How do I turn things around and save their lives? What kind of bizarre world is this in the book? This time, I can’t just coast along like a dead fish. If I don’t act, Fang Lihai will be killed by the boar, my in-laws will die from illness without money for treatment, the older son will break his leg, and the younger one will drown in the ice—it’s too cruel. I have to save them!"

Fang’s parents, each holding one of the children, were about to knock on Xu Ziyan’s door to say the kids had learned their lesson and ask her not to make them stand under the scorching sun anymore. But just as they were about to knock, they heard this monologue.

What did this mean? A world in a book? They were all going to die? What nonsense was this? Or was Xu Ziyan just cursing them alone in her room?

Fang’s mother quietly peeked through the window and saw Xu Ziyan pacing back and forth, frowning. "001, how do I save them? How do I complete the mission? If I save them, the contrast plot with Xu Xiuyun will completely collapse—will the world fall apart? I don’t even know how I completed the mission in the last world. This is giving me a headache."

001: "Host, don’t worry! Have you forgotten your luck stat? You’ll definitely turn danger into safety and complete the mission smoothly!"

Xu Ziyan finally relaxed and smiled. "You’re right. I’ll take it step by step. By the time this world ends, we should have figured out the key to completing missions. Then I’ll be a seasoned task-taker."

001: "And I’ll be a seasoned system! Hehe!"

Fang's mother went white as a sheet. Xu Ziyan hadn’t opened her mouth—where was that voice coming from? And who was the other voice?

Fang’s father and the two children were equally stunned. They wanted to ask but felt suffocated, unable to speak. What was going on?