Chapter One: A Lifetime of Serenity

From the loudspeakers of the supply and marketing cooperative, a resonant song echoed through the air: “Unity is strength, this strength is iron, this strength is steel…”

On both sides of the road stood low, old Republic-era buildings, their walls emblazoned with bright red slogans: “Educated youth, go to the countryside! The vast world holds great promise!”

Xu Qinghuan’s legs churned quickly beneath her; a young man caught up in just a few strides and blocked her path.

“Qinghuan, you’ve misunderstood. There’s nothing between Manman and me—ours is a pure revolutionary friendship!” The youth stood tall at one meter eighty, sporting the fashionable three-seven parted hair that revealed a broad forehead, clad in a white polyester shirt and grass-green military trousers. As he stood before Xu Qinghuan, his head bowed, his eyes brimming with endless regret and deep affection.

“Nothing at all? Revolutionary friendship? Since she returned, when haven’t you two met three or five times a week? She claimed not to know where Yong’an Department Store was and asked you to take her—you went shopping together. She said she’d never seen a movie and didn’t know what a cinema looked like—you went to the movies together. She said she’d always craved the braised pork from the state-run restaurant, just hearing about it as a child made her mouth water—you took her out for braised pork alone.”

Xu Qinghuan looked at the young man with mocking disdain. “Jiang Chengxu, aren’t you afraid someone might report you for improper conduct?”

Three days ago, Xu Qinghuan was still the legendary doctor of the twenty-first century, having flawlessly completed three consecutive surgeries around the clock. Just as the last operation ended, she collapsed beside the operating table.

She saved others, only to lose herself.

Perhaps she’d accumulated too much merit from saving lives, for Xu Qinghuan found herself transported into a novel written by her best friend—a story set in a world uncannily similar to the 1970s, though the great figures differed, a parallel universe.

Now it was July 10, 1974, in Shen City, Hua Country.

In these times, even married couples dared not walk too close together on main roads, yet these two watched a movie with their heads resting on each other's shoulders.

Jiang Chengxu’s expression changed. “Qinghuan, I’m your fiancé, and she’s your cousin. That’s the only reason I treat her differently—I see her as a younger sister, nothing more.”

Xu Qinghuan spotted another figure catching up behind them and instantly lost the urge to speak. She turned to leave, but Jiang Chengxu intercepted her once again.

Xu Manman had already rushed up, her hair braided into two thick plaits, dressed in a white dress and calfskin shoes. Standing beside Jiang Chengxu, they made a striking pair.

She glanced at Jiang Chengxu first before speaking. “Sister, you really misunderstood me and Brother Chengxu. He originally bought tickets to invite you to today’s movie, but you said you wanted to go with your classmates. A movie ticket costs twenty cents—we couldn’t let it go to waste, could we?”

Such a reason was flawless.

In an era when the average worker’s monthly wage was only twenty or thirty yuan, a kilo of rice cost eighteen cents with a ration ticket, and people rarely had enough to eat or wear, forty cents was a fortune.

“So, this is all my fault?” Xu Qinghuan replied.

Jiang Chengxu quickly shook his head. “Qinghuan, don’t be stubborn. We don’t blame you at all. I promise from now on I’ll keep my distance from all female comrades—never again will I go out alone with Xu Manman.”

Now it was simply Manman; then it became Xu Manman.

Xu Manman’s face was wounded and incredulous, tears shimmering in her eyes. “Brother Chengxu, what did I do wrong for you to despise me like this?”

Jiang Chengxu looked at her, a trace of pity in his eyes, but he still turned away.

He’d already watched today’s movie, “The White-Haired Girl,” once before. He found it rather dull and dozed off for a while. In that brief dream, he lived an entire life—when he awoke, it felt incredible.

In the dream, he married Xu Qinghuan, but they never had children. After the reform and opening up, he yearned for a child. By then, he’d achieved success and fame; Xu Qinghuan was a homemaker. Yet he ended up in bed with Xu Manman, who had always entangled herself with him.

His mother discovered them soon after, but before she could chase Xu Manman away, Xu Qinghuan found out and resolutely divorced him.

After the divorce, Xu Qinghuan re-entered society, overcoming countless obstacles to build a substantial business empire.

He did not sever ties with Xu Manman but never married her—instead, he wed Lu Nianying.

The reason he and Xu Qinghuan never had children was that someone had secretly drugged her food.

Lu Nianying bore him a son. To outsiders, he seemed to have married a suitable wife, enjoyed a successful career, a happy family, and a devoted mistress. But only he knew he was never truly content.

Xu Qinghuan was his lifelong regret and pain.

This time, he would never let go of Xu Qinghuan’s hand.

Xu Qinghuan took a deep breath and looked away.

According to her temperament, she should cancel her engagement with Jiang Chengxu right now. But she had no job, and with the sweeping “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside” policy, a secondary school graduate without employment would be sent to the countryside to farm.

Marrying Jiang Chengxu could allow her to stay in the city.

Though she’d never lived in the countryside, she knew it couldn’t compare to city life, so she wasn’t prepared to make any rash decisions. She’d wait and decide when she felt ready. Casting a glance at the tear-streaked Xu Manman, she said, “I have something to do. I’ll be going now!”

Jiang Chengxu hurried after her. Having lived a lifetime in his dream, all he wanted now was to embrace Xu Qinghuan and beg her, “Don’t leave me.”

“Brother Chengxu!” Xu Manman tugged at his sleeve. Jiang Chengxu closed his eyes, struggling not to shake her off. He simply couldn’t bring himself to be cruel to a woman who admired him.

“Xu Manman, I am your cousin’s fiancé.”

“I know, Brother Chengxu. I have no other intentions. My feelings… you should understand.” Xu Manman sobbed uncontrollably.

Xu Qinghuan paused for a moment but finally strode forward, a mocking smile playing at her lips.

No matter how deeply Jiang Chengxu loved Xu Qinghuan, he would always harbor some pity for Xu Manman—such was the tone of the whole novel.

If Jiang Chengxu were unwavering in his love for Xu Qinghuan, her friend’s novel would never have reached two million words—two hundred would have sufficed.

She’d been tricked by her friend, who borrowed her name and likeness for the character, unable to invent a suitable persona otherwise. Perhaps that’s why she was transported here.

(Xu Qinghuan’s character illustration—her friend thought it was decent.)

Xu Qinghuan was neither a malicious supporting role nor a tragic heroine.

She was the sacrifice in the male lead’s pursuit of true love, a pitiful soul who turned grief into motivation, a stubborn woman obsessed with slapping the male lead’s face with money, and the sour contrast to the female lead’s gentle magnanimity.

Only at the end did she transform into someone who loved her country more than any man, clear-headed and awakened.

Just as the male and female leads endured trials of life and death, suffered through a passionate yet tormenting love, faced a pregnancy before marriage, and finally walked toward the grave—no, the altar—of matrimony, Xu Qinghuan, with the help of a hidden powerhouse in the book, achieved her own success and built a business empire.

She and the male lead lived parallel lives, each attaining fulfillment, winning at life.

Now, Xu Qinghuan no longer felt she had transmigrated into a novel.

The life she now possessed was equally real, for the joys and sorrows of everyone here were so vivid, and her own feelings burned just as fiercely.

Seeing Jiang Chengxu about to catch up again, just then a bus pulled up. Xu Qinghuan squeezed aboard, and the ticket seller with a military-green satchel took five cents from her.

Through the window, she watched with cold eyes as he dashed a mile down the road after her.

He ran ahead; Xu Manman chased after him. Xu Manman stumbled and fell, and Jiang Chengxu instantly turned and rushed toward her.

Xu Qinghuan withdrew her gaze, a wave of sourness flooding her heart.

She didn’t know if it was lingering emotion from the original owner or her own.

The bus turned right at the corner, continued half a stop further, and arrived at the back entrance of the Red Star Cinema. Xu Qinghuan got off, and Lin Xialan ran up eagerly. “How was it, how was it? I saw Xu Manman chasing after you—did she try to ruin things between you again?”

She wore a green military uniform, her hair braided into two short plaits, bright and spirited, bold and vigorous.

In this era, clothes rarely bore bright colors—the mainstream was white, black, gray, and green.

Xu Qinghuan tugged the corner of her lips. “You’re wrong. She didn’t come to ruin us—she came to join us.”

That’s exactly how it was in the book: after Xu Qinghuan and Jiang Chengxu married and remained childless for years, Xu Manman climbed into Jiang Chengxu’s bed, shamelessly justifying herself,

“I don’t want to destroy your marriage—I just love you and my sister too much. I can’t bear to see you and my sister pass without an heir. Since my sister and I share the same blood, it’s only right for me to bear your child.”