Chapter 1: Rebirth of a Passerby in a Period Novel

"……" Wen Xi woke up with a splitting headache, unable to help but let out a painful murmur.

The entire content of a book had just drilled into her brain. She had been forced to finish reading everything before she realized that she was merely an insignificant passerby in a period novel.

When her own elder sister took advantage of the fact that no family members were home, she signed Wen Xi up to go to the countryside. After two years of hard labor in the rural areas, her eldest sister conspired with her brother-in-law to trick her into returning home to marry an old man, where she would serve as a stepmother raising children and tending to a difficult mother-in-law.

After enduring more than ten years of pain and despair, the man died in a car accident while driving for work. The workplace provided a sum of compensation money, but at that moment, her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and stepchildren tried to drive her away, unwilling to let her participate in the compensation. During the dispute, they worked together to push her down the stairs, causing her to fall to her death.

She had died just like that.

She wasn't even thirty years old when she died!

Thinking about how she was just an inconsequential passerby, an existence created by the author merely to pad the plot and word count, a mocking curve rose at the corner of Wen Xi's mouth. So what if she was a period novel passerby?

She would definitely be able to change her fate through her own efforts.

Even if she couldn't be as powerful as the male and female protagonists, she could certainly change her destiny and live the life she wanted.

"Xiao Xi, you're finally awake. Everyone was worried sick about you."

A cool hand touched Wen Xi's forehead. Accompanied by a somewhat familiar voice, Wen Xi snapped her eyes open and immediately saw her best friend, Shen Jiaojiao, who lived in the same alleyway.

"Jiaojiao, what happened to me?" Wen Xi asked in confusion.

"You had a persistent high fever for two whole days. You were delirious from the heat. We tried every fever-reducing method but nothing worked. Luckily, you've woken up." Shen Jiaojiao reached out to support Wen Xi's body and took the hot water handed over by Jiang Yue. "Xiao Xi, since you're awake, there shouldn't be any major issues. Drink some hot water to soothe your throat."

"Thank you." Wen Xi's body was currently extremely weak, so she could only follow Shen Jiaojiao's arrangements.

After Wen Xi finished the entire cup of hot water, Shen Jiaojiao returned the cup to Jiang Yue. "Jiang Yue, thank you."

"Don't be so polite. We're all going to the same place to work in the countryside. We should look out for each other in the future and stay united so we don't get bullied," Jiang Yue said with a smile.

Supporting Wen Xi, Shen Jiaojiao said, "Xiao Xi, lean on me and get some good rest."

Wen Xi truly had no strength to say much, so she obediently leaned into Shen Jiaojiao's embrace. The realistic sensation confirmed for her that she had been reborn.

Reborn into December of '74, at the moment her eldest sister arranged for her to go to the countryside behind the family's back.

Thinking of their tragic endings in the book, tears began to well up in Wen Xi's eyes. Since she had been reborn, she would certainly not let Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue follow the same path; she had to lead them to change their fates.

And this time, she would absolutely never let those insignificant people use her marriage to seek profit. Who she married or didn't marry—she would decide for herself!

Once Wen Xi's body felt a bit better, she climbed up from Shen Jiaojiao's embrace. Her clothes were quite thin, and as soon as she sat up, she felt gusts of cold wind blowing, so she hurriedly pulled her clothes closer.

Going to the Northeast to work in the countryside only required working for half the year, with the remaining six months spent hunkering down for the winter. However, going to the central or southern regions meant working through all four seasons. The place her eldest sister had signed her up for was the central plains region—Huizhou Province—which was also a place where one had to work year-round, though the workload in winter was relatively lighter.

Wen Xi turned her head to look out the window, and what met her eyes was a scene of vast, white snow. Occasionally, some residential houses could be seen; if it weren't for the wisps of blue smoke rising from the rooftops, one really wouldn't be able to tell they were houses!

Because the entire world was a sheet of white.

At this moment, Jiang Yue asked, "Shen Jiaojiao, do you want hot water?"

"Yes, yes." Shen Jiaojiao immediately brought out her lunch box. "Jiang Yue, thank you!"

Jiang Yue quickly fetched the hot water and poured half of it into Shen Jiaojiao's lunch box. Shen Jiaojiao hurriedly took out a steamed corn bun (wowo tou) and soaked it in the hot water. Once it became soft, she said to Wen Xi, "Xiao Xi, come over and eat a little to replenish your strength. You haven't eaten anything for days; you can't go on like this. You had a fever earlier so you couldn't eat eggs, so I didn't soak any eggs for you. You can eat eggs once you've recovered."

"Okay." Wen Xi took the spoon Shen Jiaojiao handed her and began to eat bite by bite.

After Wen Xi finished eating, the stomach pains she had been feeling from hunger finally eased significantly. Shen Jiaojiao went to fetch hot water to soak a corn bun, and after eating, she leaned back in her seat to rest.

Nighttime.

Most of the people in the carriage were already asleep. Due to the cold, several people were huddled together for warmth. Wen Xi, Shen Jiaojiao, and Jiang Yue also squeezed together to stay relatively warm.

The sounds of deep breathing from the sleeping passengers rose and fell, sounding particularly clear in the darkness, but Wen Xi could not fall asleep for a long time. She stared at the pitch-black night outside the window, her emotions very complex.

Suddenly, an emotionless voice echoed in her mind, "Ding! Sign-in System has been successfully bound. Please sign in to receive the Newcomer Grand Gift Pack!"

Wen Xi was startled and hurriedly turned her head to look around. Seeing that everyone was fast asleep and no one had noticed her movements or heard the voice, she widened her eyes and asked in confusion, "Sign-in System? What is this?"

Could this be a "golden finger" like the transmigrated female protagonist in the book?

The female protagonist's golden finger was a super large farm where she could plant or harvest all crops just by moving her fingers, which was extremely convenient. She didn't know what this Sign-in System of hers was.

The system was also somewhat bewildered and didn't know how to answer Wen Xi's question. After a moment, it responded, "The Sign-in System is simply a way to signify that you have arrived. For this system, you only need to use your consciousness to tap lightly to indicate you have been here."

Wen Xi realized instantly. "I understand. Then, are there any benefits to signing in?"

"The first sign-in provides a Newcomer Grand Gift Pack. Subsequent daily sign-ins will randomly drop small gift packs. A grand gift pack will drop once a month, and random grand gift packs will drop during holidays," the system responded.

Wen Xi was greatly shocked. She hadn't expected such a good thing to exist in this world!

She nodded repeatedly. "I want to sign in to receive the Newcomer Grand Gift Pack."

Subsequently, a rectangular screen about the size of a textbook appeared before her, emitting a faint, firefly-like fluorescence. In the upper right corner were the words 'Sign in to receive Newcomer Grand Gift Pack.' Confused, she poked it with her consciousness.

"Ding! Sign-in successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Newcomer Grand Gift Pack."

Wen Xi did not see any so-called Newcomer Grand Gift Pack and was very puzzled. After waiting for a few seconds, she finally saw a red dot appear above the words 'My Warehouse' in the bottom right corner.

(End of Chapter)