Lin Ying had starved to death.
Still right before the end, her only thought was about when she could finally have a full meal. No one really knew when the natural disasters began. By the time Lin Ying realized how bad things were, the supermarkets were already empty. Then came the volcanoes, the earthquakes, and the tsunamis, one after another, crashing across the globe.
At first, with help from other countries, life wasn’t impossible. But the disasters never stopped. By the time Lin Ying died, she hadn’t had a proper meal in several years. Even as she passed away, she thought, It’s good to be dead. Finally, I don’t have to suffer. Only the hollow ache in her stomach reminded her of her fate and as she died she just hoped for a full stomach in her next life.
But when she opened her eyes again , Lin Ying found she was alive. Even better, she could see clearly again. It felt strange. She had been nearsighted to begin with, and after she lost her glasses during a disaster, the world had been a blur for her . Years of malnutrition and a lack of vitamins had only made her eyesight worse. She hadn’t seen the world this sharply in a long time.
Lin Ying quickly sat up to look around. The room she was in looked like a scene from an old period drama [a story set in the 1950s-70s], only it wasn’t new. Everything was old and dusty. The room was tiny—likely partitioned off from a larger space—yet a huge four-poster bed was crammed inside, taking up almost the entire area. Lin Ying was sitting on this bed, her head only a few dozen centimeters from the ceiling.
There wasn’t much furniture; besides the bed, there was only one very old wardrobe int he room. The whole space was no more than six square meters whole.
Lin Ying looked at her hands. They were fair but extremely thin—just skin and bones. There was no mirror on the bed, so she climbed down and found one hanging behind the door.
The girl she saw in the mirror had her hair tied in braids and wore a white short-sleeved shirt with blue pants. The outfit was simple, but her beauty was striking. She had almond-shaped eyes, peach-blossom cheeks, and cherry-red lips. She was a natural beauty, though being so thin reduced her charm and with the thick, heavy bangs she wore, her looks were hidden even further.
Her clothes felt rough. Upon closer look, it seemed they were adult clothes that had been altered to fit her, but they were still a bit too big.
Lin Ying decided to look for more information. She guessed she had transmigrated, and not having the original owner’s memories would be a huge problem. She noticed a small folding table against the wall at the foot of the bed. There were some books and notebooks there. She figures if she was a student, her name would be on them.
She climbed back onto the bed and found a Chinese textbook. The name on the cover was also Lin Ying.
As soon as she saw the name, a sharp pain hit her head and memories that weren’t hers flooded in, mixed with the plot of a book. It felt like her brain was being put through a blender. After a few minutes, the pain faded, and she began to sort through the story.
It turned out the original owner was also named Lin Ying. She was the second child of Lin Siqing and Su Yulan. She was eighteen this year and a senior at the nearby No. 3 Middle School. She had started school late and taken time off for illness, which is why she was still a student at eighteen.
It was 1975. Both her parents worked at a textile factory. Usually, that meant a good income, but the family was huge. They had to support three children and four grandparents. Her maternal grandparents, Su Youfu and Wang Guihua, lived right next door. Su Youfu had retired early due to sickness, and his wages were low. To make ends meet, his grandson Lin He had taken over his job at the factory as an apprentice [a ‘Dingti’ arrangement where a child takes a parent’s job to keep it in the family].
Because they were poor, the original Lin Ying had been a thin, quiet child who was bullied at school. But the most surprising thing was the book itself. Lin Ying had transmigrated into a novel called Good Days in the 1970s.
In the book, she was just a neighbor meant to make the female lead, Su Beibei, look better. Su Beibei was a typical delicate, sweet, and the top of her class student. The book always focused on how miserable Lin Ying’s life was compared to Su Beibei’s perfect one.
After sorting things out Lin Ying decided she didn’t want the life of a foil. Since she got a second chance, she wanted to eat well and live fully from now on.
Than there came a shout from outside “Lin Ying, dinner’s ready!”.
She climbed out of bed and went to the common room to sat at the small dining table. It was sunset. The table there was so small that only the children and the maternal grandparents could sit there. Her parents ate in the kitchen.
The “kitchen” of this house was just a stove with a board next to it. It was very basic. Because food was scarce, no one talked during the meal ; they just focused on eating. On the table there was yellowish cornbread mixed with cornmeal, a plate of pickled vegetables, and some stir-fried cabbage. It was mostly boiled since they used very little oil. There was also a pot of porridge that was mostly just soup with a few grains of rice.
Even so, Lin Ying’s mouth watered. After the life in apocalypse, this was a luxury. The cornbread although hard to swallow, but she finished it quickly. Finally, when her stomach was full. That she began to thank heavens in her mind that she didn’t have to face natural disasters anymore.
After dinner, her mother, Su Yulan, take her to her room and start saying.
“I don’t want you to go to the countryside either,”Su Yulan looked at her , “but the committee has been here three or four times. It’s an order. Your brother stayed in the city because he took your grandpa’s job, but your sister is too young. You’re the only one of age. You will graduate in June. After that, you’ll have no choice.”
Su Yulan first thought to make her daughter get married to avoid the labor. But she couldn’t understand why Lin Ying was hesitating. It had been two months of arguing about this matter .
Lin Ying remembered the book’s plot. She, Su Beibei, and another girl named Lü Xiaoju were all supposed to go to the same place.
In the book, Lü Xiaoju is sent to a remote, wicked mountain village. She is mistreated and assaulted by a local thug, and eventually forced into a terrible marriage. She suffers for years, losing her health and her happiness, until her family finally rescues her after the laws change.
So going to the countryside was impossible. Lin Ying had to get married. But should she choose Shao Mingyuan, the man from the book?
Alarm bells rang in Lin Ying’s mind. Shao Mingyuan…
The book says that after the original owner married Shao Mingyuan, her life was anything but good. Shao Mingyuan was a workaholic, consumed by his medical duties and rarely ever home. It left the original Lin Ying constantly alone, trapped in a silence she didn’t know how to fill.
Because the original girl had been bullied her whole life, she had developed a difficult, prickly personality. She had a sharp tongue and few friends. After the marriage, she didn’t even have a job to go to; she just stayed in the tenement courtyard all day. Naturally, the neighbors had plenty of opinions about her. They constantly compared her to the perfect female lead, Su Beibei, which only made her feel more inferior and insecure.
Shao Mingyuan was rarely there, so he didn’t pay much attention to her. Yet, he was the only person she could truly rely on. She became suffocating, clinging to him for every little thing—even following him to the hospital. This behavior only annoyed Shao Mingyuan more. Even his family disliked her, feeling that a man of his stature was ashamed to be married to such an awkward woman.
In the book, the original Lin Ying grew so envious of Su Beibei’s family—who quit their jobs to start a successful business—that she caused Shao Mingyuan to lose his hospital post. Then, she stole his hard-earned savings to start a business that failed miserably, leaving them under a mountain of debt. Shao Mingyuan finally divorced her after this. She went into hiding to escape creditors, but they found her, beat her, and she died alone from infected wounds.
Compared to Su Beibei, who could turn any bad hand into a winning one, the original owner took a life that wasn’t even that bad and made it miserable until the day she died.
However, as Lin Ying carefully thought over the plot, she felt that for her, Shao Mingyuan might actually be a perfect choice.
First, his habit of never coming home was a “flaw” for the original girl, but for a transmigrator from the apocalypse, it was an excellent advantage! He was never there to bother her, yet he still provided living expenses every month without fail. What a comfortable life! she thought.
Second, compared to other men whose characters she didn’t know yet, Shao Mingyuan had one huge advantage: he was a good person. It was because he was fundamentally decent that the original owner was able to cling to him for so long; any other man would have divorced her years earlier.
With those two points alone, Lin Ying felt she could accept this marriage.
The book mentioned that they got married through a blind date. If it was a blind date, there were likely other candidates besides him. Lin Ying decided she would look around a bit more—maybe there was someone even better?
As she was planning her next move, she heard her mother, Su Yulan, calling out: “If you’re willing, I’ll go find your Aunt Wang tomorrow. If you’re still undecided, hurry up and think. But for now, get in here and wash the dishes, or there won’t be any room left at the sink!”
As Su Yulan spoke, she began piling the dishes into a pot. In this tenement building, there were only two communal water rooms on the first floor. It was peak dinnertime; if they went late, they would be standing in line forever.
Lin Ying picked up the pot, grabbed a loofah [a natural vegetable scrubber] from the windowsill, and went to wash up the dishes. She got there early enough that no one else was around. She looked at the pot and realized there wasn’t much work to do. At this time, food was so lean and oil was so scarce that a quick rinse was all the dishes needed.
When she got back, Su Yulan was sweeping the floor. Her father, Lin Siqing, had already headed back to the factory for some overtime. Her maternal grandfather had retired to his room, and her grandmother had gone out to gossip with friends. Her younger sister, Lin Qiu, was busy doing homework at the dinner table.
Lin Ying opened her mouth to speak, but Su Yulan beat her to it: “If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t just stand there in the way.”
Lin Ying didn’t want to waste time. “I choose marriage,” she said directly.
Su Yulan stopped sweeping, looking genuinely surprised. She thought her daughter would drag this out for another two weeks at least. Has the sun risen in the west today? she wondered. But she didn’t overthink it; her daughter’s cooperation meant one less burden for the family to carry.
“Okay,” Su Yulan agreed readily. “Wait here. I’m finished with the chores, so I’ll go talk to Aunt Wang and see if she has anyone suitable. You’re coming with me.”
Lin Ying knew that Aunt Wang was a famous matchmaker in the area. While her family wasn’t exactly rich, they were doing better than the Lins. A successful match could bring in ten or twenty yuan in “thank-you” gifts that is equal to half a month’s salary! It was because of this side business that Aunt Wang’s family could afford to eat meat every few days.
Before they left, Su Yulan looked her daughter up and down and frowned. “You can’t go like that. Go change. You can’t meet people in those old rags; it looks terrible.”
Lin Ying looked at herself. She had never been on a blind date before; she had been a college sophomore when the apocalypse hit and hadn’t thought about romance since. But she agreed that first impressions mattered. She rummaged through her wardrobe and found a relatively new white short-sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants.
Before leaving, she looked in the mirror. She needed a bigger change. She unbraided her hair and tied it all back into a high, clean ponytail. She then took a comb and pulled back those thick, heavy bangs, pinning some up and sweeping the rest to the sides to reveal her smooth forehead.
The original owner had a delicate oval face, but because she was so thin, her chin was quite pointed. Those thick bangs had made her look odd, but with her forehead exposed, the focus moved to her watery, almond-shaped eyes. They were beautiful eyes clear and very pleasing to look at.
With her bangs gone, Lin Ying realized the original girl looked remarkably like her. If she put on a bit of weight, the resemblance would be perfect.
While she was changing, Su Yulan was helping Lin Qiu with her math. She didn’t notice the change until Lin Qiu looked up and gasped, “Mom, look at Second Sister! She’s so pretty!”
Su Yulan looked up and was stunned. Was this her daughter? The girl who always walked with her head down, whose face was always hidden?
“Good ,” Su Yulan whispered. “This outfit works. Aunt Wang will definitely be impressed.”
At Aunt Wang’s house, Su Yulan handed over a small bag of melon seeds to her. “Hello, Sister Wang. This is my second daughter. Ying’er, say hello.”
Lin Ying didn’t hesitate like the original girl would have and greeted happily . “Hello, Auntie Wang. My name is Lin Ying.”Aunt Wang stared at her, mesmerized. “This girl is a beauty! I truly never noticed before. Yulan, you’ve raised a wonderful daughter.”
Su Yulan beamed with pride but stayed humble. “Oh, you know how girls are. They blossom as they grow up.”After the short visit, they left. Lin Ying was confused. “Is that all?” They hadn’t even discussed any specific men.
Su Yulan laughed. “Isn’t it obvious? I brought you there dressed so nicely; she’s been a matchmaker for ten years, she knows exactly what it means.”
That evening, Lin Qiu begged Lin Ying to give her a ponytail too. Lin Ying tied the little girl’s hair up, and Lin Qiu spent ten minutes admiring herself until Su Yulan came back from fetching water.
“Wash up and go to bed,” Su Yulan said. “School starts early tomorrow.”
Lin Qiu pouted. “Mom, can I sleep with the ponytail in?”
“No.”
Lin Ying watched, amused, as the little girl sadly took her hair down. Having a sister was a new, nice feeling for her . She stroked Lin Qiu’s soft, yellowish hair. “I’ll fix it for you tomorrow morning again . Now go to sleep.”
The three of them shared one room. Su Yulan and Lin Qiu took the lower bunk, while Lin Ying climbed to the top.
The next morning, Lin Qiu woke her up early, desperate for her ponytail. As Lin Ying washed her teeth in the communal room, she saw a sweet-looking girl walking toward her. It was the original lead, Su Beibei. She had doe-eyes, dimples, and a smile like a gentle breeze.
“Good morning, Lin Ying!” Su Beibei chirped.
“Good morning,” Lin Ying replied.
Su Beibei stopped in her tracks, looking shocked. “You actually answered me! Usually, you just nod. And hey… look at you! Your hair is different. You look so much better today!”
Alarm bells went off in Lin Ying’s head. She had been so distracted by her sister that she had forgotten to act shy and withdrawn. In a courtyard full of gossip, changing her personality too fast was a risk.
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