"Huff huff——"
"Twenty... twenty-five... thirty." Yi Roujing counted intermittently in her mind. When she reached thirty, she lay down, drenched in sweat, breathing heavily. She sighed at the weakness of this body. If it were her own body, she could have done thirty push-ups without slowing down. Now, it took a full fifteen minutes.
"Dang——dang dang!"
"Dang——dang dang!"
Yi Roujing looked towards the window. A faint light filtered through the blue coarse cloth curtain, and her ears picked up the surrounding sounds. Sure enough, the person in the next room was starting to stir.
"Get up and work the fields, time to work the fields——"
This fresh way of being woken up, Yi Roujing had already experienced for five days. Yes, she was no longer the original Yi Roujing.
She had clearly been sleeping in a dormitory room before, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself in such a strange place. A brown rattan bed, white walls, all the furnishings in the room had a nostalgic feel. When she finally saw the calendar on the wall, March 8, 1975, the whole of her felt bad.
She, Yi Roujing, was a 21st-century Huada Medical University graduate student, a modern youth raised under the red flag and nurtured by science, could hardly believe she encountered such an illogical event as time travel.
For the first two days upon arrival, she tried to sleep, hoping she could go back. But reality hit her hard; she was still here, and had gained a lot of memory from this body.
Due to fever and weakness, plus two days without eating or drinking, her stomach was nearly stuck to her back. Faced with reality, she got out of bed, but what greeted her was ridicule along with watery wild vegetable porridge and coarse grains.
She was really awake; she was no longer the old Yi Roujing.
But this Yi Roujing was truly troublesome.
At nineteen years old, a member of the Xintang Production Team, but three months ago, she had married Ding Ancheng from the Dingping Production Team, and this marriage was something she had coerced by threatening Ding Ancheng's reputation.
The original owner was really a brainless person; Yi Roujing could only feel this single sentiment from the bottom of her heart after having all of the original owner's memories.
She was fooled by so-called friends, dressed in colorful finery and shamelessly flaunted herself in front of Ding Ancheng, after all, the only thing the original owner had to offer was her beauty. Yet she couldn't attract him but rather drew in many ruffians.
She was harassed by the ruffians, met Ding Ancheng while running away, and was rescued by him. Then, the original owner bit the hand that fed her...
Told the family that rushed over that Ding Ancheng harassed her...
Ding Ancheng, who was he? A renowned math teacher at the County First Middle School in Huaixi County, at twenty-three, was liked by many young women, yet he had refused them all. Unmarried at this age but had to marry Yi Roujing due to the hero rescuing the beauty incident.
After the marriage, Ding Ancheng returned to teach in the county town. For three full months, he hadn't returned home once, leaving behind Yi Roujing, this new bride, to get by in her in-laws' house.
The very good peony flower of a family had been plucked by a shameless girl; it was imaginable how difficult the original owner's life was in her in-laws' home.
This difficulty wasn't silent oppression, nor pitiable as a young wife, but a heated confrontation and shouting matches.
Yi Roujing, the name was misleading, as the original owner was like a firecracker that ignites easily. Anything said unpleasant to her was rebutted on the spot, with anything possible coming out of her mouth, making the in-laws almost want to lay a hand on her.
After such tumult, over two months later, on March 7, Yi Roujing could no longer stay at her in-laws' and said she wanted to find Ding Ancheng in the county town, but was pushed into the river halfway. Fortunately, she was saved by a passing lady and brought back to her in-laws' house.
When she awoke the next day, she became the current Yi Roujing.
But others did not know that.
Falling into the river in early spring, she started having a fever. Due to the original owner's unlikable nature, no one came to see her, and she endured it herself. Two days of sleep without improvement forced her to get up to drink water and eat, and with a weakened body, she had to thicken her skin to ladle hot water for physical cooling. After three days passed, the fever finally didn't recur, and she slowly recovered.
Having rested for so many days, it was time to face reality.
Yi Roujing rested in bed for a while before getting up, put on a blue coarse cloth shirt and pants of the same color, with a white sweater over them, then opened the room door and went out.
"Hmph, a plague that lasts a thousand years, really has a tenacious life." A young woman with a thick plait, wearing a white shirt, black pants, and a yellow cardigan sweater, glared at Yi Roujing as she emerged from her room, speaking with ill will.
Yi Roujing glanced at her then looked away. This was Ding Ancheng's sister, Ding Anmin, who was the same age as herself. Honestly, this girl was good-looking, with an oval face, peach blossom eyes, a sharply rising nose, and red, luscious lips, with fair skin. She would be perfect if she were a bit more amiable.
"Well, ignoring me, see if I won't..."
"Anmin, that's enough." A young man in a military green outfit carried a basin to the courtyard to empty water, "It's rare for a few quiet days, don't stir up trouble on purpose."
This was Ding Anmin's biological twin brother, only an hour older than her, Ding Anguo. He bore a four-parts resemblance to Ding Anmin, stood about one meter seventy-eight, but was much darker, which lent his gentle face a hint of vigor.
Yi Roujing entered the kitchen ahead of them. Her father-in-law Ding Weihuo and mother-in-law Li Hongying were already there. Upon seeing her enter, Li Hongying slightly frowned, while Ding Weihuo just glanced at her before looking away.
Ah, truly unwelcome here.
"Sit and eat well then go to work." Ding Weihuo picked up his chopsticks and started eating.
"Hmph, some people just eat without working, don't know where they get such gall." Ding Anmin rolled her eyes and said with a sneer.
"I'm going to work today." Yi Roujing swallowed the porridge in her mouth and said calmly.
As soon as she spoke, the sound in the kitchen suddenly quieted, and even the eating sounds stopped.
"Is the sun rising from the west today?" Ding Anmin said exaggeratedly, breaking the silence in the room.
You should know that since Yi Roujing married into the family, she hadn't worked a day, mainly because even at her parents' home, she hadn't worked. Her entire person seemed to glow in a pale light.
Not to mention working, the Yi Family raised their daughter like a lady, not even allowing her to touch household chores, resulting in her being unable to do any work now.
"What to do at work?" Yi Roujing shamelessly inquired.
Ding Anmin took a deep breath, rolled her eyes but held back the urge to curse. Since this older sister-in-law entered the family, Ding Anmin felt she was on par with the shrews in the team, barely speaking appropriately today, she too restrained herself.
"What can you do?" Ding Anmin wasn't asking Yi Roujing, but was directly stating a fact, though her tone wasn't very harsh, just full of disdain.