The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

Grandma Su felt a tightness in her chest whenever she thought about the 500 yuan dowry, fearing that her granddaughter would be looked down upon by her in-laws.

"Grandma, don't be reluctant to eat it. I'll buy you more later."

As Bao Ya spoke, she stuffed another pastry into the old lady's mouth, and then gave another one to her aunt.

"You need to be more frugal with your money and not spend it extravagantly."

"I'm very frugal; I know how to manage my money."

Bao Ya said nonchalantly, "Money is earned, not saved. It's a pity that there are so few ways to make money these days; I'll have to go back and think about it carefully."

Around 3 p.m., Bao Ya and Jiang Yuan started walking back.

Looking at the two burlap sacks on the back of the bicycle, Bao Ya was a little dumbfounded. There were too many things, so she could only sit on the large bar in front.

At the village entrance, they ran into Qi Jianjun and Lin Chuxue again. Qi Jianjun even stopped them and gave Bao Ya a handful of candy, saying it was wedding candy.

When Bao Ya met Lin Chuxue's gaze again, she felt that something was off.

Lin Chuxue was a child brought by her uncle's second aunt. She was usually timid and hesitant when she met people, but today she was like a completely different person.

Back at the meat processing plant's residential compound, people stared curiously at the two burlap sacks on the back seat of the car. Grandma Zhou, who lived across the street, wanted to come in for a look, but Bao Ya ruthlessly shut her out.

The items on the back seat were unloaded. Bao Ya put the cotton and cloth in the west room, and Jiang Yuan took another burlap sack to the kitchen.

The sack was full of food: millet, peanuts, red beans, soybeans, and a bunch of vegetables that had just been picked from the garden.

Bao Ya took a cabbage from the pile of vegetables and gave it to Grandma Liu next door.

That evening, after washing up, Bao Ya sat on the bed, resting her chin on her hand, and several names popped into her mind: Lin Chuxue, Qi Jianjun, Lin Bao Ya, Fang Mingda...

Hearing these familiar names, Bao Ya's head seemed to explode. These were characters from a novel she had once read, "The Little Darling of the 1960s," which tells the story of a modern white-collar worker who transmigrates into the body of a rural girl in the 1960s, marries a soldier, and the couple overcomes various setbacks to eventually work together to reach the pinnacle of life.

The female protagonist in the book moved to Nanshan Brigade with her mother after her remarriage. She was abused by her stepfather's family from a young age. When she grew up, her stepmother wanted to sell her for a dowry. In order not to marry into the mountains, she plotted to marry Qi Jianjun, the most promising young man in the village.

Qi Jianjun, who rose to the rank of company commander in the army, returned home to visit his family. He originally intended to propose to the girl he liked, but he was tricked and ended up marrying the female lead instead. Feeling unhappy, he returned to his army after the marriage.

Before the female lead could even celebrate becoming a military wife, the male lead was gone.

The Qi family members are all awful. In order to improve their lives, Lin Chuxue went to do business on the black market, and used Lin Baoya, who had married into the city, as a cover, often leaving things at her house.

Once, she was accidentally followed by a red armband member to Lin Baoya's house, where they confiscated her belongings.

Based on Lin Baoya's confession, the police found the female protagonist for questioning. Knowing the seriousness of the matter, Lin Chuxue vehemently denied everything. Because of her status as a military wife, the police placed all the pressure on Lin Baoya.

To protect Lin Baoya, her husband Jiang Yuan took full responsibility for the crime and was sent to a farm for reform through labor. Not long after, he died in an accident on the farm.

Knowing she had caused trouble, Lin Chuxue ran to the army and demanded to join them, claiming that the Qi family had mistreated her.

Later, Lin Baoya remarried to Fang Mingda, who had lost his wife, and also joined the army. He went on to cause the female lead endless trouble, like a madman, relentlessly pursuing her.

Of course, besides Lin Baoya, there are also various villainous female supporting characters in the book who keep jumping around and courting death, but they are all slapped in the face one by one under the effect of the heroine's halo.

During this time, the female protagonist also found her biological father, who was a high-ranking official. Out of guilt, he made various compensations to the female protagonist and used his position to send Fang Mingda to a more distant and difficult place, thus getting rid of the madwoman Lin Baoya.

Throughout the process, the male and female protagonists' feelings deepened, and they lived happily ever after. The male protagonist rose through the ranks, while the female protagonist, after the reform and opening up, went into business and became one of the richest women in the area.

After recalling the plot, Lin Qiao could only say "Holy crap!"

She's a complete shrew, what did she do to deserve this? She was completely taken advantage of and even lost her man in the process.

Later, the female lead shamelessly claimed that if it weren't for her, Lin Baoya wouldn't have been able to marry Fang Mingda. A butcher and a regimental-level cadre—even a fool would know who to choose.

Turning her head to look at the Bodhisattva beside her, she found her pleasing to the eye and didn't want to change.

What's wrong with being a regimental-level cadre? Don't you know that men start to decline after thirty? Your man is a total heartthrob in the 21st century, what's wrong with him?

Don't you, a single woman who's been single for most of your past life, have any self-awareness? How many of those women who constantly shout online that they want to find younger men actually succeed?

Thinking back to today, the disgusted look Qi Jianjun gave her, and the change in Lin Chuxue's demeanor. Was the female lead really just afraid when she tricked her?

She wasn't the only girl from the village to marry into the city, and the original owner of this body had no interaction with the female lead in the village, so why was it her?

Bao Ya was racking her brains; this kind of mentally taxing thing wasn't for her. The book said that the incident happened because Bao Ya asked the female lead to leave her things at her house.

As long as you don't have a relationship with the female lead, there will be no trouble.

After washing up, Bao Ya sat cross-legged on the bed, resting her chin on her hand, recalling the plot. Jiang Yuan saw his wife deep in thought and didn't disturb her, simply sitting quietly opposite her, watching her with his chin in his hand.

Watching his wife's ever-changing expressions—one moment frowning, the next pouting, then gritting her teeth—he found it increasingly amusing. What was she thinking? Her expressions were so rich.

When the CPU had been burning up for a while and the battery was running low, Bao Ya finally snapped out of her daze. Suddenly, Jiang Yuan's face appeared before her eyes, startling her.

"Ah~"

She cried out and fell backward. Just as her head was about to hit the bed rail, Jiang Yuan grabbed her.

He pulled her back and patted her head to make sure she hadn't bumped into anything before saying:

"What's wrong? Why are you thinking about something so intently?"

"It's nothing."

Bao Ya thought about it, but she couldn't tell Jiang Yuan yet. If she told him it was a book, would he believe her? But no matter what, staying away from Lin Chuxue was the right thing to do.

Just as he was thinking, he suddenly jumped out of bed, slipped on his shoes, took out the key from around his neck, opened the box, and reached inside.

I felt relieved when I touched the box containing the money; the gold bars and cash were all there. Thank goodness, nothing was lost. But I need to find a safe place to store the gold bars; I don't feel at ease keeping them in the box all the time.

Jiang Yuan was also startled by her reaction. Seeing her series of actions, he guessed that she had gone to check if the gold bars were still there. This blatant attempt to conceal the truth would eventually reveal where she hid her money.

"Think about where you should hide those things. You can't keep an eye on them every day."

Jiang Yuan pulled her back to bed and covered her legs with a blanket. It was getting colder, and she would easily catch a cold if she wore so little.

"I told my dad he'll come over in a couple of days to build a stove in our yard, and he'll also fix up the chicken coop in the back. You and Dad can work on it together, and put the stuff under the chicken coop."

The last sentence was whispered by Bao Ya close to his ear, her breath tickling him.

"Okay, I'll build the base of the chicken coop first, and then make a compartment underneath so we can hide the gold inside."

Hearing that he agreed with her idea, Bao Ya was quite pleased with herself. She was so clever; in the TV dramas she used to watch, the female lead would hide gold bars in the chicken coop, and no one would suspect that there were gold bars in the chicken coop.

Before Bao Ya could be smug for long, Jiang Yuan pulled her into the bed.

"Oh dear, it's still early today."

"It's getting late, I have a 2 AM shift tomorrow."

The slaughterhouse operates on two shifts: one from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. the next day, and the other from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The slaughtering of pigs mainly takes place in the early morning, while the daytime shift cleans up the workshop, holds meetings, and studies policies.

As he spoke, Jiang Yuan turned off the lights.

"Why didn't you say so sooner? I haven't made you a midnight snack yet."

"You don't need to just eat anything; this meal is more important."

After saying that, Jiang Yuan pulled Bao Ya into his arms.