Su Yanting
In 1975, after Qingming Festival, several rounds of spring rain had nourished the land until everything was lush and green. Nestled among the surrounding mountains were dozens of households scattered unevenly across the landscape.
It was not the busy farming season. After finishing their morning work, the Su family returned home for lunch.
Country folk were not particular about mealtimes. There was no dining table. The family of seven sat around a large pot in the middle of the room, with rice bowls, serving dishes, wine cups, and everything else placed directly on the floor.
Whenever Su Baozhong ate, he always started with a cup of rice wine.
As he took a small sip, his wife, Chen Xiuyun, picked up a long bamboo tube and blew into the fire beneath the pot. A bright red glow flared, sparks crackled and flew, and the firewood burned even more fiercely.
Five or six pickled chillies floated in the large pot, simmering into a sour and spicy broth. Freshly washed wild greens were tossed in, along with golden-brown dried bamboo shoots and seven or eight thin slices of cured pork. A quick stir with the chopsticks sent the sour broth bubbling and gurgling, making everyone’s mouth water.
Chen Xiuyun lifted the lid from another pot beside her. It was a wide, shallow cooking pot, about as tall as a pair of chopsticks, and it was filled to the brim with steaming white rice.
Although Dawan Production Brigade was tucked away in a remote mountain region, it was blessed with excellent natural conditions. Vast stretches of rice paddies crisscrossed the area. Apart from a few particular years when they had been unable to meet the grain procurement quota, by the 1970s, after turning in the required grain each year, the remaining rice was enough to feed a household all year round.
The Su family’s everyday meals might lack oil and meat, but rice was the one thing they could eat their fill of.
Their rice was processed using the production brigade’s threshing machine, which did not remove the husks particularly cleanly. Yellowish-brown bits of husk still clung to the grains, giving the rice a somewhat coarse texture.
There were seven people in the Su household, so every meal required a huge pot of rice. Each time she cooked, Chen Xiuyun simply estimated how much they would need. Sometimes there was too much and sometimes too little. As soon as the meal started, everyone hurried to scoop themselves a large bowl. Only those who finished their first bowl quickly had the chance to get seconds.
Su Baozhong and Chen Xiuyun had four children.
Their eldest son, Su Peiliang, was twenty years old and married to Xu Qunlan. Their eldest daughter-in-law was currently pregnant.
Their second daughter, Su Yanting, was eighteen.
Their third daughter, Su Yuting, was seventeen.
Their youngest son, Su Peiqing, was twelve.
There were plenty of adults in the Su family, and even the youngest child had already turned twelve and could do nearly as much work as an adult labourer. Their lives were steadily improving. Their eldest son had married, and soon they would even have a grandchild.
Logically speaking, Chen Xiuyun should have been smiling from ear to ear every day.
Unfortunately, the ridiculous marriage fiasco involving Su Yanting last November still weighed heavily on her mind.
For the past six months, the Su household had been thrown into constant turmoil because of it.
Su Yanting had been engaged to Zeng Yunjun.
Zeng Yunjun was a promising young man who had enlisted in the army early, earned military merit, and been promoted to officer rank. He was now a deputy battalion commander. When he returned home on leave last November, the Zeng and Su families decided they should hurry and arrange the wedding.
On the wedding day, Zeng Yunjun arrived at the Su home to collect his bride.
But Su Yanting suddenly threw a tantrum, demanding a radio, a *dacron* dress from Shanghai, Pechoin skincare products, and other things. She declared that if she did not get them, she would refuse to marry him.
Zeng Yunjun was furious.
In a fit of anger, he took Su Yanting’s younger sister, Su Yuting, back home instead and went through the entire wedding ceremony with her.
This left both the Zeng and Su families completely dumbfounded!
The Zeng family had chosen Su Yanting as their daughter-in-law, and the daughter the Su family had intended to marry off was also Su Yanting.
Yet Zeng Yunjun had an obstinate temper. He insisted that since the woman he had gone through the wedding ceremony with was Su Yuting, then Su Yuting was the one he had married.
He no longer wanted Su Yanting.
Now no one could even say for certain which of the two sisters had actually married him.
When Su Yanting discovered that her younger sister had married in her place and stolen her officer husband, she went mad with jealousy. Over the past six months, she had constantly targeted Su Yuting, and the two sisters had become bitter enemies.
Su Yuting accepted the bowl of rice Chen Xiuyun handed her and took two bites.
“Mom, Brother Ajun sent me a letter.”
Chen Xiuyun’s expression instantly darkened.
Of course she knew that Zeng Yunjun had written home.
Every time something like this happened, the two sisters would start fighting again.
At once, everyone in the family turned to look at Su Yanting.
They waited nervously for her to explode.
Yet Su Yanting, who was sitting beside the window, quietly continued eating.
The pale light from outside filtered into the room and illuminated half her face.
She had an oval face and fair skin, with rosy cheeks and delicate, vibrant features. She was beautiful as a flower. On top of that, she had a large chest, a slender waist, and shapely hips.
Ever since she was little, everyone who saw her had said that she was a “golden phoenix raised in a mountain nest.”
Otherwise, why would the Zeng family have been willing to pay the astronomical bride price of eight hundred yuan to bring this golden phoenix into their family?
Compared with Su Yanting, her younger sister Su Yuting looked merely delicate and rather plain.
Su Yuting had been carefully watching Su Yanting’s reaction.
She continued, “Brother Ajun wants me to visit him at the army base. He said I’ll be eighteen soon, so I should go meet his comrades. After that, he’ll submit a marriage report to his superiors.”
Their eldest brother, Su Peiliang, said, “Why do you need to submit some report just to get married? Isn’t it enough to hold a banquet and let all the villagers know?”
In the village, when people reached marriageable age, they usually just held a wedding banquet. Some did not even register for a marriage certificate. They might only remember to get one much later.
Su Yuting hesitated before saying, “Brother Ajun is an officer now. He has to be more careful about marriage. He needs to submit a marriage application. He can’t just casually hold a banquet and call it a marriage.”
“The higher-ups have to investigate and approve it before we can really get married.”
As Su Yuting spoke, a flash of mockery passed through her eyes, carrying a faint disdain for the Su family’s ignorance.
Su Yuting was no longer the original Su Yuting.
She had been reborn.
In her previous life, she had been deceived into marriage and abandoned by an educated youth, forcing her to raise her child alone through years of hardship.
Meanwhile, her biological elder sister, Su Yanting, had married the officer Zeng Yunjun and spent her days constantly making trouble. She argued with her mother-in-law, fought with her sister-in-law, and even caused herself to lose two pregnancies because of her endless antics.
Su Yanting had been beautiful since childhood. A whole group of village boys had constantly chased after her and tried to please her, which had spoiled her into becoming demanding and unreasonable.
After marriage, she had refused to settle down. She flirted with other men, behaved improperly, and complained that Zeng Yunjun was too dull and reserved.
Zeng Yunjun, however, was an extremely responsible man.
No matter how much trouble Su Yanting caused, he endured it because she was his wife.
After leaving the army and transferring to civilian work, he became the director of the Public Security Bureau and even arranged a job for Su Yanting’s eldest brother.
Even after Su Yanting could no longer have children, he never considered divorcing her and marrying someone else.
After being reborn, Su Yuting felt that Zeng Yunjun had been far too pitiful, having his entire life ruined by her elder sister.
Originally, she had only wanted to provoke Zeng Yunjun a little so that he would see Su Yanting’s true nature before the wedding.
She had never expected that, in a fit of anger, Zeng Yunjun would actually take her home as his bride.
He had even said that he truly intended to marry her.
…The man who had once been her brother-in-law had unexpectedly become her husband in this lifetime.
It was not as though she had deliberately tried to steal Zeng Yunjun.
If anyone was to blame, it was Su Yanting for making trouble herself!
Chen Xiuyun panicked so badly that her words came out in a jumble.
“He really wants to marry you? This… how can you mess around like this?”
Tears shimmered in Su Yuting’s eyes.
“I don’t want this either. I know he was originally supposed to marry Elder Sister, but in his letter, he said he likes me. He said he cares about me. Once the marriage report is approved, I’ll go join him at the army base.”
The moment Su Yuting finished speaking, every member of the Su family felt a chill run down their spine.
It was like the eerie calm before a violent storm.
They were terrified that after hearing those words, Su Yanting would smash the bowls and chopsticks.
Unexpectedly, however, Su Yanting smiled sweetly.
“Congratulations to Little Sister and my future brother-in-law on your marriage. Mom, you should hurry and spend the bride price the Zeng family gave us. Otherwise, it’ll look ugly if they come demanding it back.”
Everyone was startled by Su Yanting’s words.
Then they suddenly realised something.
The Zeng family had paid an astronomical bride price of eight hundred yuan, along with all sorts of betrothal gifts, because they wanted to grandly marry Su Yanting, the most beautiful woman within miles, into their family.
It was a way of proudly announcing that their son had become an officer and had married a great beauty.
If their daughter-in-law really changed to Su Yuting, Zeng Yunjun’s mother would probably be so furious she would vomit blood.
Su Yuting looked miserably at Chen Xiuyun.
“Mom, we should return whatever ought to be returned. I don’t need that much to get married. Brother Ajun sincerely wants to spend his life with me…”
“As long as he truly treats me well, I’m willing to marry him even without a single betrothal gift.”
Chen Xiuyun’s expression shifted unpredictably.
Su Yanting felt utterly disgusted.
She cursed inwardly.
Disgusting.
Can this white-lotus heroine hurry up and marry off into the army already? Stop hanging around the Su family every day making passive-aggressive remarks.
You stole your brother-in-law, so just admit you stole your brother-in-law. Yet you still have to act like: “I didn’t mean to do it. Elder Sister, if you want him, I’ll give him back to you, but Brother Ajun just happens to adore me so much. Sob, sob, sob… Elder Sister, why are you hitting me?”
She had even deliberately “accidentally” let Su Yanting see a letter from “Zeng Yunjun,” in which he supposedly said that he did not care about appearances and only loved Su Yuting’s innocent, pure heart.
Because she was kind.
…
Su Yanting: “…”
Fine, I transmigrated into a novel. But why do I also have to put up with this nauseating white lotus? There are no words.
Yes.
Su Yanting was not the original Su Yanting either.
She was Su Yan, a twenty-seven-year-old owner of a small cake shop from the year 2023.
Through her own hard work, she had bought both a house and a car in the provincial capital. She owned a popular internet-famous cake shop with booming business and could be considered a successful woman.
She had transmigrated into a period novel titled The Reborn Pampered Wife of the Seventies.
The heroine, Su Yuting, was reborn and married the man who had been her brother-in-law in her previous life. From there, she followed him to the army, enjoyed a loving marriage, and repeatedly slapped her enemies in the face.
Su Yuting was the heroine.
Su Yanting was her troublesome elder sister—the vicious female supporting character.
After Zeng Yunjun switched brides and married Su Yuting instead, Su Yanting went mad with jealousy. She stupidly caused trouble left and right and tried every possible method to destroy Zeng Yunjun and Su Yuting’s marriage.
Unfortunately, the more trouble she caused, the stronger the male and female leads’ relationship became…
Su Yanting existed purely as a brainless cannon-fodder stepping stone for the development of their romance.
In the end, she met a miserable fate.
She was an important vicious cannon-fodder character with plenty of scenes in the early part of the novel.
Su Yan herself had barely read a few pages of *The Reborn Pampered Wife of the Seventies*.
She had only heard some gossip about it from one of her employees.
Apparently, the original author was the younger sister of a Public Security Bureau director’s wife. Jealous that her biological elder sister had married well, she had written this novel to mock her sister as a big-breasted idiot while fantasising about herself falling in love with her brother-in-law inside a period novel.
So, upon closer examination, the novel’s morals were utterly warped.
Still, it certainly delivered plenty of satisfying face-slapping.
The heroine was a delicate little white lotus who had suffered endlessly in her first life. After being reborn, she took revenge on the scumbag who had wronged her.
In reality, though, she had stolen her own brother-in-law.
Yet the story portrayed it as though none of it were intentional. She was persecuted by her big-breasted, brainless elder sister, until the officer brother-in-law finally saw through the elder sister’s true colours, could no longer endure it, and spent the rest of his life pampering Su Yuting.
And now Su Yan had become Su Yanting.
She had gone from the twenty-seven-year-old owner of an internet-famous cake shop to the gorgeous village beauty of an era when food and clothing were scarce.
The only upside was that she had become several years younger.
In another two years, the college entrance examination would be reinstated, followed by economic reforms. The 1980s would bring opportunities everywhere.
Su Yanting was ambitious and career-minded.
She had absolutely no interest in getting involved in some ridiculous drama about two women fighting over one man, much less marrying a military officer.
The male and female leads can both get lost!
Su Yuting had received Zeng Yunjun’s letter.
The Zeng family had received one as well.
Zeng Yunjun’s mother, Zhou Aimei, hurried to the Su household with her daughter.
Zeng Yunjun had written that he wanted Su Yuting to visit him at the military base so they could prepare the marriage report.
To Zhou Aimei, the news was like being struck by lightning.
When Zeng Yunjun had first said he wanted to marry Su Yuting instead, Zhou Aimei had never taken him seriously.
She had assumed it was merely a warning meant to put Su Yanting in her place.
In reality, the Zeng family’s daughter-in-law would still have to be Su Yanting.
The earlier farce of two sisters turning against one another over the same man had been humiliating for the Su family.
But Zhou Aimei had actually found it rather glorious.
Look!
The man those two sisters were fighting over was *her son*, the military officer!
But if Zeng Yunjun genuinely intended to abandon a great beauty like Su Yanting and marry Su Yuting instead—
Absolutely not.
The Zeng family had spent eight hundred yuan precisely so their son could marry Su Yanting, the most beautiful woman for miles around.
Their son had been promoted to officer, then married a beautiful wife.
What a wonderful story to boast about.
But if the bride were changed to Su Yuting instead…
Zhou Aimei felt as though she might faint.
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