Chapter 1 Asking for an Exorbitant Demand
"Mom, with Du Ruoxia's injury, is she deliberately bedridden to avoid going to the countryside?"
"Damn it, she's so cunning. Even if she doesn't want to go, I'll drag her there."
Du Ruoxia vaguely heard a commotion outside. She opened her eyes and saw the calendar on the wall—April 3, 1975.
Could she have traveled through time? Suddenly, a splitting headache struck, and unfamiliar memories flooded her mind.
The original owner was the least popular third daughter of the Du family. Because she was unwilling to go to the countryside, she had a conflict with her family and was pushed by her mother, Xu Qiuhua, into hitting the corner of a table, which killed her.
She was originally the deputy chief physician of the cardiothoracic surgery department at the city's central hospital. After working day and night for three days and three nights due to a multi-vehicle collision, she died suddenly and gloriously, and happened to transmigrate here.
As Du Ruoxia was thinking, Xu Qiuhua pushed the door open and entered, cursing.
“You brat, let me tell you, there’s no room for negotiation about going to the countryside. Even if you die, I’ll still send your body there, so you’d better cooperate.”
"Then you'd better kill me and see if the educated youth office will accept my body or not!"
Du Ruoxia's eyes were cold. The original owner's brother was twenty-one years old and her sister was nineteen years old, yet they pushed the original owner, a seventeen-year-old girl, to go to the countryside.
"You think I can't handle you, huh!" Xu Qiuhua looked around, picked up a broom, and wanted to teach Du Ruoxia a lesson.
She was no longer the timid little girl she once was. She turned her bandaged head towards Xu Qiuhua and said, "Get ready! Hit my wound! I'll get a medical certificate soon; the educated youth office won't accept a disabled person like me."
Xu Qiuhua was stunned. Her eldest son definitely couldn't be sent to the countryside. Her eldest daughter was dating the son of the deputy director of the machinery factory, which was a good marriage, so she couldn't go to the countryside either. Her youngest son had never suffered since he was a child, so he couldn't go either. After thinking it over, only Du Ruoxia was the most suitable to go to the countryside.
It seemed that a hard approach wasn't working, so she had to try a softer one. She immediately put down the broom and put on a smile:
"Ruoxia, the rural assignment I arranged for you is our hometown, Yuxi Village. With your uncle and aunt there to help you, you definitely won't be bullied. I'm doing my best to give you the best."
"Do I care about your kindness?" Du Ruoxia's expression was extremely indifferent.
She wasn't actually against going to the countryside; she was just disgusted by the Du family's behavior.
Seeing that Du Ruoxia was ungrateful, Xu Qiuhua switched back to her sarcastic and mean-spirited attitude, "Du Ruoxia, don't be ungrateful. It's already good enough that we didn't send you to the desert to work in the countryside."
"Oh! Am I supposed to be grateful? Look at this family, I'm so thin, just skin and bones, and look sallow. I can't tell you how I can be content."
Xu Qiuhua felt that boys naturally eat more, so what was wrong with her dividing Du Ruoxia's portion between her two sons? She didn't see anything wrong with it.
"Ruoxia, if I could, I definitely wouldn't want you to suffer, but going to the countryside is a policy, not something I can decide. Going to the countryside is the most honorable thing, and you have to have a spirit of dedication." Xu Qiuhua put on her hypocritical face again and said insincerely.
Well, what a master of manipulation! Xu Qiuhua felt no remorse whatsoever, instead taking all of the original owner's sacrifices for granted.
Now that going to the countryside was a done deal, Du Ruoxia didn't want to dwell on the topic anymore.
"Your whole family is no good, so why should I be expected to have a spirit of sacrifice?"
If she hadn't transmigrated, "Du Ruoxia" would be a cold corpse, while the original owner was a wronged spirit killed by her own mother. Just thinking about it made her want to send the Du family to the eighteenth level of hell to vent her anger.
"Du Ruoxia, you..."
Just as Xu Qiuhua was about to unleash a torrent of abuse, Du Ruoxia interrupted her—
"My head injury can't be faked. As soon as I get the certificate, I'll go to the educated youth office. Who will be the person sent to the countryside then?"
Du Weidong, Du Ruochun, and Du Weixi were peeking at the battle inside from the doorway when they panicked. Du Ruoxia was no longer someone who could be easily manipulated as before, and they were genuinely afraid that she would drag them down with her!
The three of them looked at Xu Qiuhua with pleading eyes.
Xu Qiuhua said with a forced smile, "Ruoxia, we're all family, why make things so ugly?"
"Now you're saying we're family? I'm not buying it. You can't force me to go to the countryside."
What do you want?
"I remember that signing up for rural service would get you a 300 yuan resettlement allowance, right? It had to be handed over to me in full."
Du Ruoxia extended her hand, waiting for their actions.
Xu Qiuhua was naturally reluctant to take out the money she had put in her pocket, but the children were anxious and urged their mother, "Mom, just give it to her!"
Xu Qiuhua thought about her two sons' future and reluctantly handed the money to Du Ruoxia, muttering, "What a nemesis, she's so cunning."
Du Ruoxia counted the money; it was exactly three hundred yuan. Then she said, "Also, buy me a watch, a radio, and a flashlight. In addition, give me five hundred yuan for living expenses, and fifty jin of grain and meat coupons."
No one expected Du Ruoxia to make such an outrageous demand. Xu Qiuhua was instantly furious, "Are you dreaming?! You're trying to scheme against your own mother?"
"You don't want to? Fine, then I'll make a scene. The whole family will have to sleep in the cowshed with me. I remember Dad is at a crucial stage in his promotion to team leader. What do you think about me making a scene and letting Dad's boss see what our Fengrong family is like?"
Xu Qiuhua was so angry that her chest heaved. The couple had given away all their savings of half a lifetime. How could their daughter suddenly be like a different person!
Du Ruoxia took the money and returned to her room, happily counting it until her hands were sore. The original owner was too weak; kindness is often taken advantage of. When faced with trouble, one must fight back. It's like a serf rising up and singing a song of liberation—how exhilarating!
If the original owner had been braver, perhaps he wouldn't have died so young.
After dealing with the Du family, Du Ruoxia was in a great mood and wanted to go for a walk, only to see a large crowd gathered at the construction site in front of her.
"Is there a doctor? Someone's chest has been pierced!"
Upon hearing such a sound, almost instinctively, Du Ruoxia ran down quickly and pushed through the crowd of onlookers.
"Get out of the way, I'm a doctor!"
The onlookers looked at the little girl in front of them. She looked to be about ten years old, thin and small. Was she a doctor?
Three or five workers wearing safety helmets surrounded the patient, Yang Songbai, the political commissar of the 375th Regiment and the chief person in charge of the Xingchen Grand Theater project.
The rope suddenly snapped, and he fell from a height of ten meters, landing on a pile of abandoned iron railings. This resulted in multiple external injuries to Yang Songbai's upper body. An iron railing pierced his chest, smashing half of his chest cavity into a bloody mess. Broken debris also caused multiple stab wounds to his chest, leaving him covered in bruises.
A coworker standing nearby asked anxiously, "How is Director Yang?"
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