Jun Jiuli woke up again to find her bottom a little damp. She was sitting in a cornfield, and when she stood up, she had to look up at the corn forest.
A large woven bag was slung across her back, filled with pig feed.
Transmigrated into a small child, Jun Jiuli resignedly swung her sickle and began to cut pig feed. It was then that she noticed a small snake with brown markings on a corn leaf.
It seemed this was why the original host had been sitting on the ground. Jun Jiuli used her sickle to cut off the corn leaf, tossing the snake into the nearby bamboo forest.
Only after finishing did she allow Shuìwá to begin transmitting the plot.
The host was now in year 2000 in country H. This small world was formed from a brainless "sweet romance" novel.
The original host's name was Zhao Daya, residing in the backward Zhao Family Village in G City. Most people here couldn't find wives, and the crops they grew barely sustained them. Everyone basically raised a pig, selling it at the end of the year, which was the primary source of income for most families.
Due to the preference for sons over daughters, most baby girls in Zhao Family Village were drowned immediately after birth. The gender ratio was completely skewed, leading the villagers to start buying wives from outside.
The original host was her parents' late-life child, twenty-one years younger than her elder brother. The reason she survived was that when her mother was pregnant with her, her father had consulted a fortune teller, and it was only because the prediction was for a boy that she wasn't aborted.
After her birth, they kept her alive with the thought of exchanging her for money in the future to help their grandson get married, or to trade for a bride, thus sparing her life.
She was five years old this year. Her brother, Zhao Dezhu, was twenty-six and still unmarried. This year, the family scraped together ten thousand yuan to buy him a wife, and the wedding banquet was to be held in two days.
In this family, Zhao Daya ate less than a chicken and worked harder than an ox. She followed Zhao Mother into the fields to cut pig feed and feed the pigs. At home, washing dishes and cooking were all her responsibilities. The five-year-old child's hands were already calloused.
She was the recognized punching bag in the family; anyone in a bad mood could beat her. This continued until the arrival of her "sister-in-law," Liu An'an.
Liu An'an was a university student. She had been soft-hearted and helped an old lady after school, only to be dragged into an alley, drugged, put into a van, and eventually sold to Zhao Family Village.
She was the only one who was kind to Zhao Daya. At first, she had resisted fiercely, even attempting to escape several times. In the end, Zhao Dezhu broke her leg, making escape impossible, and she quieted down.
When she had free time, she would teach Zhao Daya to recognize characters and the principles of life. She was the gentlest person Zhao Daya had ever seen, and Zhao Daya truly wished this sister could live happily. Seeing Liu An'an crying by the window every day, she felt immense heartache.
Liu An'an had been married into the Zhao family for five years but had not borne Zhao Dezhu any children. Every time Zhao Dezhu did those disgusting things to her, she would secretly clean herself up. She didn't want to carry the bloodline of a scumbag.
As a result, she often suffered beatings from the Zhao family. Zhao Daya would always plead for her, and they would be beaten together.
Because Zhao Mother had to go to the foot of the mountain to buy piglets, and her health wasn't good, she couldn't carry the piglets for such a long journey. She asked the ten-year-old Zhao Daya to accompany her.
Zhao Daya was very clever. After only one trip, she memorized the path down the mountain. When she returned, she drew the route on a piece of scrap cardboard using burnt charcoal and gave it to Liu An'an.
"Sister Liu, find an opportunity to leave here. You don't belong here, and I hope you can be happy."
Liu An'an hugged her and cried bitterly, saying thank you in a choked voice. She truly saw hope this time.
She had never given up the idea of leaving all these years. Therefore, she knew the shift changes of the people guarding the village entrance, and what their peculiar habits were when on duty.
Her previous failed escape attempts were because she was unfamiliar with the terrain and was caught after not getting far.
The female lead was Zhao Zhen's wife, Zhao Daya's neighbor. Zhao Zhen's parents had died early, and he was raised by his paternal uncles and aunts, so his family's land was naturally occupied by them.
Fortunately, he was strong and made a living by hunting as he grew up. He saved a considerable amount of money and bought himself a beautiful wife, Xue Ruonan.
Zhao Zhen was the most handsome young man in the village and was very considerate of his wife. Therefore, Xue Ruonan was not as hysterical as other abducted girls initially; she even settled into life there calmly.
She was abducted two years later than Liu An'an. Since their houses were close, the two became semi-friends. Xue Ruonan discovered Liu An'an's escape on the night she was leaving.
Xue Ruonan repeatedly promised not to speak of it and said that she was an only child and missed her parents dearly. She wanted to go out with Liu An'an, thinking that as fellow souls adrift, Liu An'an took her along.
Soon, Zhao Zhen discovered Xue Ruonan was missing and knocked on Zhao Daya's door. Zhao Dezhu then realized his wife was also gone, so he led the entire village with flashlights to search.
The two had only escaped halfway when they realized they were about to be caught. Liu An'an angrily asked Xue Ruonan what happened. Didn't she say Zhao Zhen wouldn't notice?
Xue Ruonan said pitifully, "I already told him I was just going out to relieve myself."
Liu An'an was so angry she nearly spat blood. She had secretly run out while Zhao Dezhu was fast asleep. He slept so soundly that nothing could wake him, yet this fool had run out while Zhao Zhen was awake.
Seeing that they were about to be caught, Liu An'an's leg was broken, and she couldn't walk fast. Xue Ruonan snatched her map and ran off alone.
Liu An'an was caught and brought back. This time, she completely lost her freedom to communicate with the outside world. She was locked in the pigsty by Zhao Father and Zhao Mother. Without a chance to clean herself, she soon became pregnant with Zhao Dezhu's child, her eyes vacant like a corpse.
Zhao Daya, who brought her food, was heartbroken. She saved some of her own rations for her daily.
"Sister Liu, please don't give up. Didn't you tell me that as long as one is alive, there is hope? Please, don't be like this, you need to pull yourself together."
However, after being locked up for so long, Liu An'an could no longer speak. If it weren't for Zhao Daya trying her best to squeeze out time to talk to her more, she might have gone completely mad.
Xue Ruonan, protected by the protagonist's halo, hid in the mountains for one night and was not discovered by the villagers. After everyone had retreated, she went down the mountain and encountered a passenger bus. She flagged it down and, by recounting her ordeal, successfully returned home.
Xue Father and Xue Mother had aged prematurely from searching for her all these years. Upon learning of their daughter's tragic experience, they cried and said they would report it to the police and have Zhao Zhen jailed.
However, Xue Ruonan was somewhat reluctant. She felt that Zhao Zhen loved her, and he was simply uneducated and didn't understand that buying and selling women was illegal. Ignorance was no crime, so she refused to reveal Zhao Zhen's whereabouts no matter what.
Seeing their daughter so stubborn, Xue Father and Xue Mother gradually gave up their intentions. They only thought of living a good life as a family from now on, never to encounter such troublesome affairs again.