Chapter 1: A Lifetime of Pure Joy

A loud song drifted from the supply and marketing cooperative's loudspeaker: "Unity is strength, this strength is iron, this strength is steel..."

On both sides of the road were low-rise buildings from the Republican era, their walls plastered with large red slogans: "Educated youth, go to the countryside! The vast world offers great opportunities!"

Xu Qinghuan's legs were moving fast, but the young man behind her caught up in a few strides, blocking her path.

"Qinghuan, you've misunderstood. There is nothing between Manman and me; it is a very pure revolutionary friendship!"

The young man stood one meter eighty tall, sporting a trendy 3/7 side-parted hairstyle that revealed a broad forehead. He wore a white Dacron shirt and grass-green military trousers. Standing before Xu Qinghuan, he lowered his head, his eyes filled with endless regret and deep affection.

"Nothing? Revolutionary friendship? Since she came back, how many weeks has it been that you two haven't met three or five times?

She didn't know where Yong'an Department Store was, so she asked you to take her, and you went shopping together; she said she had never seen a movie and didn't know what a cinema looked like, so you went to see a movie together;

She said she wanted to eat braised pork from the state-run restaurant because she had heard about it as a child and was salivating from craving it, so you took her out for braised pork alone."

Xu Qinghuan looked at the young man mockingly. "Jiang Chengxu, aren't you afraid someone will report you for having an illicit affair!"

Three days ago, Xu Qinghuan was still the Great Divine Doctor Xu of the twenty-first century, who had just completed three surgeries back-to-back for twenty-four hours straight. Just as the surgeries were finished, she collapsed from the operating table.

She saved others, but ended herself.

Perhaps because she had saved too many people and accumulated boundless merit, Xu Qinghuan had transmigrated into a "period novel" written by her best friend—a parallel world that was ninety-nine percent similar to the 1970s setting, with only the great figures being slightly different.

It was now July 10, 1974, in Shen City, China.

In this era, even legal husband and wife wouldn't dare stand too close to each other on the street, yet these two were actually resting their heads on each other's shoulders while watching a movie.

Jiang Chengxu's expression changed. "Qinghuan, I am your fiancé, and she is your cousin. That's why I treat her a bit specially; I only view her as a sister."

Seeing the person chasing up behind her, Xu Qinghuan instantly lost the desire to speak. She turned to leave, but Jiang Chengxu blocked her again.

Xu Manman had already rushed up to her front. With two large braided pigtails, a white *blouse* dress, and small calfskin shoes, the two of them looked quite well-matched standing together.

Xu Manman glanced at Jiang Chengxu first before speaking.

"Sister, you really misunderstood me and Brother Chengxu. Regarding today's movie, Brother Chengxu originally intended to treat you. He even bought the tickets, but then you said you wanted to go with your classmates. A movie ticket is twenty cents; he couldn't just let it go to waste, could he?"

What an airtight excuse.

In this era, where a worker's monthly salary was only twenty or thirty yuan, and a jin of rice cost eighteen cents with a food stamp, and most people couldn't eat their fill or stay warm, forty cents was a massive sum of money.

"So, you're saying I'm the one in the wrong!"

Jiang Chengxu shook his head hurriedly. "Qinghuan, don't be so stubborn. We don't mean to blame you. I promise that in the future, I will maintain distance from all female comrades and will never go out alone with Xu Manman again."

First it was "Manman," and now it had become "Xu Manman."

Xu Manman looked wounded and incredulous, tears welling in her eyes. "Brother Chengxu, what did I do wrong that you would despise me like this?"

Jiang Chengxu glanced at her, a hint of heartache in his eyes, yet he still turned his head away.

He had seen today's movie, *The White-Haired Girl*, once before. When he watched it, he found it somewhat boring and dozed off for a while. It was like a fleeting dream; when he woke up, he found it almost unbelievable.

In the dream, he and Xu Qinghuan had married, but they never had children. Later, during the Reform and Opening-up, he wanted a child. By then, he had achieved fame and fortune. Xu Qinghuan was a full-time housewife, so he ended up in bed with Xu Manman, who had been pestering him constantly.

Soon, his mother discovered them. Before his mother could drive Xu Manman away, Xu Qinghuan found out and resolutely divorced him.

After the divorce, Xu Qinghuan re-entered society. She fought through thorns and obstacles, eventually building a significant commercial empire.

Although he hadn't broken things off with Xu Manman, he hadn't married her either; instead, he married Lu Ningying.

The reason he and Xu Qinghuan had no children after years of marriage was that someone had drugged her food.

Lu Ningying gave him a son. To outsiders, he had married a woman of equal social standing, had a successful career, a happy family, and even a devoted mistress. Only he knew that he had lived with eternal regret.

Xu Qinghuan was the regret and the pain of his entire life.

In this life, he would never let go of Xu Qinghuan's hand again.

Xu Qinghuan took a deep breath and looked away.

Given her temperament, she should immediately cancel her engagement with Jiang Chengxu right now, but she had no job. According to the current, fervent "Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside" policy, a middle school graduate without a job had to go to the countryside to farm.

Marrying Jiang Chengxu would allow her to stay in the city.

Xu Qinghuan had never been to the countryside, but she knew instinctively that it wasn't as good as the city. She didn't plan to make a decision easily for now; she would wait until she had thought it through. Glancing at the tearful, "pear blossom in the rain" Xu Manman, she said, "I have things to do, I'm leaving!"

Jiang Chengxu hurried to follow. Having lived through a lifetime in a dream, all he wanted at this moment was to pull Xu Qinghuan into his arms and tell her, "Don't leave me."

"Brother Chengxu!"

Xu Manman grabbed his hem. Jiang Chengxu closed his eyes but endured, not shaking her off. He truly could not be too cruel to a woman of the opposite sex who admired him.

"Xu Manman, I am your cousin's fiancé."

"I know, Brother Chengxu. I have no other intentions. My feelings... you should understand them all!" Xu Manman sobbed uncontrollably.

Xu Qinghuan's footsteps faltered slightly, but in the end, she strode forward. Her beautiful lips curved slightly, a trace of mockery lingering at the corners.

No matter how much Jiang Chengxu loved Xu Qinghuan, he would ultimately feel a sense of pity for Xu Manman, because that was the fundamental tone of the book's plot.

If Jiang Chengxu had been unswervingly devoted to Xu Qinghuan until death, her best friend's book wouldn't have reached two million words; it probably would have ended at two hundred.

She had been screwed over by her best friend. When her friend was writing the book, she couldn't come up with a character setting, so she borrowed her name and modeled the character after her appearance. That was likely the reason she had transmigrated.

The character of Xu Qinghuan was neither a vicious supporting female character nor a tragic heroine.

She was the sacrificial lamb for the male lead's pursuit of true love, a pathetic creature who turned grief into motivation, a paranoid person who constantly wanted to slap the male lead in the face with money, and a "lemon spirit" used to highlight the female lead's gentleness and magnanimity.

Only at the very end did she transform into a clear-headed woman who loved her empire more than men.

Just as the male lead and female lead went through a life-and-death tragic romance, became pregnant before marriage, and were finally about to enter the tomb... no, the temple of marriage... Xu Qinghuan, with the help of a hidden powerhouse in the book, achieved her career and built her own commercial empire.

She and the male lead followed two parallel lines of mutual achievement, winning in life together.

Now, Xu Qinghuan didn't feel like she had just transmigrated into a book.

The life she possessed now was equally real, because the joys and sorrows of every person here were so vivid, and her own emotions were just as intense.

Seeing that Jiang Chengxu was about to catch up again, a bus happened to stop. Xu Qinghuan squeezed on, and the conductor, carrying a military-green satchel, collected five cents from her.

Through the bus window, she watched coldly as he chased after her for a good distance along the road.

He ran in front, and Xu Manman chased behind. Xu Manman tripped and fell, and Jiang Chengxu immediately turned and rushed toward Xu Manman.

Xu Qinghuan withdrew her gaze, an uncontrollable wave of bitterness surging in her heart.

She didn't know if it was the residual emotions of the original body or her own.

The bus turned right at the street corner, traveled half a stop further, and arrived at the back door of the Red Star Cinema. Xu Qinghuan got off, and Lin Xialan hurried up to her. "How was it, how was it? I saw Xu Manman chasing after you. Did she go to ruin things between you again?"

She was wearing a green military uniform with two short braided pigtails, looking bright, flamboyant, and very brisk.

In this era, clothes had no bright colors; the mainstream was white, black, gray, and green.

The corners of Xu Qinghuan's mouth twitched. "You're wrong. She didn't come to ruin us; she came to join us."

Wasn't that exactly how it went in the book? After Xu Qinghuan married Jiang Chengxu, they remained childless for many years. Xu Manman climbed into Jiang Chengxu's bed and shamelessly made excuses for herself

"I don't want to ruin your marriage. I just love you and Sister too much. I can't bear to see that after you and Sister pass away, there will be no one to carry on the lineage. Sister and I share the same blood; it is the most appropriate choice for me to bear your child."

(End of Chapter)