Lin Ying knew that the most important thing at this moment was to remain calm. She couldn’t give anything away; she needed a reasonable explanation for Su Beibei.
“About going to the countryside,” Lin Ying began, her tone inquiring and soft. “I don’t know what your plans are, but I’m planning to get married. Yesterday, when I went to see Aunt Wang [the neighborhood matchmaker], my mom thought I looked a bit plain, so she had me dress up. Do I look okay?”
Su Beibei didn’t sense anything wrong. She nodded, her expression relaxing. “I haven’t decided what to do yet, but you do look good. It’s a very stylish look.”
After that, Lin Ying hurried home. That brief conversation confirmed a major theory: the “transmigrated” version of Su Beibei from the original novel probably hadn’t arrived yet. The current Su Beibei, who had been Lin Ying’s neighbor since childhood, was still the original soul. That was why she had noticed the small inconsistencies in Lin Ying’s behavior immediately.
In the original book, the transmigrated Su Beibei made the decision to marry and escape her family almost the moment she arrived. Since the current Su Beibei was still debating whether or not to go to the countryside, it meant the “heroine” swap hadn’t happened. Lin Ying felt it was best to keep her distance for now; it wouldn’t be good if she were recognized as an “imposter” later.
While eating breakfast, Lin Ying wondered why her own family hadn’t noticed her change, while Su Beibei had. Walking to school, she realized the answer: her family had watched the change happen step-by-step under their noses. Her mother, Su Yulan, was the one who insisted on the makeover. It was like a child growing taller—parents rarely notice the daily inch, but a relative who hasn’t seen them in a while notices instantly.
Realizing this, Lin Ying decided to maintain her original persona as much as possible. Any changes would have to be gradual. She adjusted her hair, letting down half of her pinned bangs and lowering her ponytail to make it less eye-catching. It was still a change, but no longer so drastic that it would invite suspicion from the other students.
Following her memories, Lin Ying found the school. It was far less grand than the schools of later generations. Instead of multi-story buildings, it was a simple, single-story structure. A sign at the gate read “Arrive on Time,” and next to it, the classic slogan: “Study Hard and Make Progress Every Day.”
Inside the classroom, the atmosphere was humble. The blackboard was a literal wooden board painted black, covered in tiny white cracks—nothing like the smooth green screens of the future. The desks were a deep maroon. Lin Ying remembered sitting in the fifth row by the window. As she walked to her seat, several students greeted her, and she gave them a quiet nod in return.
Her deskmate was named Wang Caixia, a quiet girl with two braids that were perfectly meticulously combed. Seeing Lin Ying arrive, Wang Caixia moved her chair to make room, but she couldn’t help but comment, “Your hair is so messy. You’d look much better with a neat braid.”
Lin Ying hadn’t expected to be criticized for her hair. During the apocalypse, she had shaved her head to stay practical. Before that, in her university days, she had always preferred a “messy-chic” look. Looking at Wang Caixia’s braids—which didn’t have a single hair out of place—she understood the girl’s high standards.
“I was in a rush this morning,” Lin Ying replied simply, sliding into her seat. Wang Caixia didn’t push further, and the two sat in a comfortable, if casual, silence.
But the atmosphere changed when Lü Xiaoju arrived in the fourth row. In the book, Lü Xiaoju and Lin Ying were close friends, perhaps because they were both meant to be the “miserable control group” compared to the heroine. Unlike Lin Ying, Lü Xiaoju had to walk a different route to school because she had to drop off her younger brother first.
“Did you do the homework Teacher Wang assigned? Let me borrow it!” Lü Xiaoju whispered as soon as she arrived.
Lin Ying pulled a notebook from her [cloth book-satchel, a common schoolbag for students in the 70s] and handed it over.
“I knew you’d have it done!” Lü Xiaoju said excitedly. “My mom made meatballs today; I’ll share one with you at lunch.”
“Okay,” Lin Ying agreed. Lü Xiaoju’s family was much better off than the Lins, and she was a natural chatterbox. For the rest of the morning, Lin Ying listened as her friend talked about everything from the teacher’s tea cup to the latest gossip about who was wearing a new shirt. It was a stark contrast to the silence of the apocalypse; Lin Ying found the constant talking quite charming.
A little while later, Su Beibei arrived. Unlike the other students, Su Beibei was isolated. She was beautiful and smart, which should have made her popular, but she was the victim of school bullying. A girl named Zhang Lili—the daughter of a powerful Textile Factory Deputy Director—disliked her intensely. Because Hu Weidong, a boy Zhang Lili liked, had a crush on Su Beibei, so the “vixen” label was pinned on the innocent girl by her .
Since most of the students’ parents worked at the factory, no one dared to befriend someone Zhang Lili hated. Su Beibei walked silently to the very back row near the door—a terrible spot where it was hard to see the board. Lin Ying watched her, feeling a pang of sympathy. This is just classic school bullying, she thought. In the book, Lin Ying never stood up for her out of fear, and no one even knew they were neighbors.
As class started, Lin Ying found herself listening attentively, curious about the education of this era. By lunchtime, it was too far to walk home, so everyone took their [aluminum lunchboxes, the standard tin containers used for steaming meals in the school cafeteria] to be heated up.
When the lunchboxes were ready, Lin Ying opened hers to find a large, yellowish steamed bun and some pickled vegetables. It was humble, but filling. Lü Xiaoju, however, had fragrant white rice and braised meatballs in a bright red sauce.
“My mom fried these yesterday. They smell amazing—try one!” Lü Xiaoju said, placing two meatballs in Lin Ying’s lid.
The meat was juicy and savory, a flavor Lin Ying hadn’t tasted in years. She ate nearly half her bun with just one bite of the meatball. To be polite, she shared her own pickled radishes and cabbage. “Try these,” Lin Ying said. “The crunch helps cut through the richness of the meat.”
As they washed their lunchboxes afterward, Lü Xiaoju continued her non-stop commentary on life. Lin Ying realized that her friend didn’t actually need a response; she just needed an audience. Lü Xiaoju was simple-minded and kind—a girl who truly didn’t deserve the tragic fate the book had in store for her.
In the original plot, Lü Xiaoju is sent to the countryside, where she is abused and forced into a marriage that breaks her spirit. Looking at her friend’s happy face, Lin Ying decided that even if it was just to repay her for those meatballs, she would help her change her fate.
Finally, the conversation turned to the looming graduation. Lü Xiaoju mentioned a girl from another class who was dropping out to get married.
“What are you thinking?” Lin Ying asked. “Will you get married or go to the countryside?”
Lü Xiaoju shrugged nonchalantly. “My grandma is always nagging that I can’t do anything right and that a mother-in-law will hate me. I don’t want to get married so early. I think… I want to go to the countryside.”
Lin Ying thought about it and realized it was true. In this era, most people believed that after marriage, a woman’s life was defined by having children, managing household chores, and doing endless odd jobs.
Lü Xiaoju’s family was well-off; you could tell just by the high-quality lunch she brought every day. Naturally, a girl like her didn’t want to rush into the drudgery of marriage. To her, going to the countryside seemed like a way to at least delay that fate for a few years.
If she had been sent to a decent area, Lü Xiaoju might have lived quite well with her family’s financial support. Unfortunately, to highlight the “correctness” of the original heroine’s decisions, the book had sent Lü Xiaoju to a wretched, impoverished place. There, her bad luck attracted the attention of truly bad people.
“I heard our group is going to a really remote place,” Lin Ying advised softly. “Why don’t you reconsider?”
Lü Xiaoju replied nonchalantly, “Compared to Beicheng [the city], isn’t every place remote? Aren’t all rural areas the same? My grandfather lives in the countryside; I’ve been there before. The conditions are poor, sure, but I’d rather go there than get married.”
Since their lunchboxes weren’t oily, they were easy to wash. Lin Ying quickly rinsed hers clean and turned back to her friend.
“But your grandfather lives in the outskirts of Beicheng, right? Other provinces are different. The place we’re going to this time will take three or four days by train. I’m telling you, it’s very poor there. You’ll be a stranger in an unfamiliar land; what if something happens?”
“Three or four days?” Lü Xiaoju’s eyes widened. “Wouldn’t that be exhausting? Last time I sat on a train for a whole day and night, I felt terrible. I had to rest for ages afterward.”
Lü Xiaoju was only a high school student. Although she had made her decision, she hadn’t thought about the gritty details. She just wanted to avoid a wedding. She hadn’t considered the actual problems waiting for her at the end of that train tracks.
Seeing that her words were working, Lin Ying added fuel to the fire. “Think about it. Going to the countryside means working the fields to earn work points [the system where labor was traded for food and grain shares]. Without work points, there is no food. Now you can eat braised meatballs, but when you get there? Forget meatballs—even plain rice will be a luxury you won’t see often.”
Lü Xiaoju’s face fell. She could handle a village, but she couldn’t handle bad food. Every time she visited her grandpa, the meals were just as good as in the city. If the food was bad, she knew she wouldn’t be happy.
Still she had some doubts. “Even with money and coupons [ration coupons required to buy food and goods], it’s not enough? My mom said she’s saved up some coupons for me. It shouldn’t be that bad, right? The food at my grandpa’s house is no different from home.”
“You’re mistaken,” Lin Ying continued. “In those mountain villages, it takes hours just to walk out of the valley. They rely on a monthly market to buy anything, and the county town is a long journey away. Villagers might not go there for months at a time. It’s not convenient like it is here. Even if you have money and coupons, there’s nowhere to spend them! Are you going to take a bus to the town every day?”
Lin Ying pressed her point. “Your grandpa’s house is just outside the northern suburbs. There are two buses a day, so it only takes two hours to reach the city. But rural areas are all different. Besides, when you go back for holidays, your grandparents definitely prepare in advance. If you don’t believe me, ask them. They definitely don’t eat that well on ordinary days.”
Lü Xiaoju went quiet, appearing genuinely stunned by this analysis. But less than two minutes later, she blinked and looked at Lin Ying suspiciously. “Why are you talking so much today? You were always so quiet before. And why are you so decisive? Have you already made up your mind?”
Lin Ying didn’t hide it. “I have. I want to get married. My mom has already started arranging blind dates for me.”
Lü Xiaoju was genuinely surprised. “You’ve already decided?”
Lin Ying smiled. “Well, there’s no time left. My mom keeps urging me, and we graduate in just one month. If we don’t make plans now, are we going to wait for the neighborhood committee to come knocking? I realized this late, but hiding won’t help. I have to plan early.”
Then, Lin Ying suggested a different path. “Actually, I think your parents have prepared a lot for you. With what they’ve saved, maybe you could get a factory job [paying for a ‘temporary’ spot in a factory to avoid being sent away]. Isn’t it better to stay in the city?”
Marriage was Lin Ying’s only path because she had no money and no connections. But Lü Xiaoju’s family was well-off. Maybe there was another way for her.
Lü Xiaoju wasn’t optimistic. “It’s not that easy. There are too many people and not enough spots. Even if you pay a lot to get in, you’re just a temporary worker. What’s the use of that?”
Temporary workers had low wages, no benefits, and were often looked down upon. Lü Xiaoju knew that finding such a job through “connections” would cost a fortune. She had never even considered it. Her mother was easy to talk to, but her grandmother was always nagging about marriage and would definitely object to spending that much money.
“Temporary work is fine,” Lin Ying argued. “If the factory needs more permanent staff, you’ll be the first in line. Besides, the main advantage is not having to go to the countryside. Just being a temporary worker in the city is better than that. Go home and think it over. Ask around. Going to the countryside isn’t as simple as you think. So many people want to come back now but find they can’t.”
“Okay… I’ll go back and ask.”
Because the subject had come up at lunch, Lü Xiaoju remained unusually quiet for the rest of the day. However, she couldn’t help but ask about the blind dates.
“You said you were going on dates. How is it going? Any good ones?”
Lin Ying replied, “It’s not that fast. I consider you a friend, so you’re the first person I’ve told. My mom only went to the matchmaker this weekend, so the earliest I’ll meet anyone is this coming weekend.”
Lü Xiaoju puffed out her chest confidently. “Then you must tell me everything afterward! I’ll analyze the candidates for you.”
Lin Ying laughed. “You’ve never even been in a relationship. How are you going to analyze them for me?”
“Even if I haven’t eaten pork, haven’t I seen pigs run?” Lü Xiaoju joked. “I’ve heard plenty of people talk about dating. Why don’t you believe me? You haven’t dated either, and I’m more ‘experienced’ because I listen to everyone’s stories!”
Seeing her friend was serious, Lin Ying stopped joking. “Okay, I’ll tell you after I meet them.”
“That’s more like it!”
Lin Ying expected the blind dates to be simple affairs. She was looking for someone stable, perhaps a bit boring. She certainly didn’t expect the parade of strange characters she was about to meet.
Indeed, the next few blind dates really opened Lin Ying’s eyes. She felt as though she was witnessing the full, bizarre diversity of human nature.
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