Chapter 1 Find a Partner

July 6, 1973.

The midsummer was filled with waves of heat, and along with the breeze they swept across the blue brick tube buildings in the compound of the Xifeng City Steel Rolling Mill, making people sweat profusely and fan themselves with cattail leaf fans.

This year, it is not only the hot summer days that make people feel irritated and depressed, but also the recent policy of forcing urban youth to go to the countryside. All young men and women over the age of 16 who are unmarried and unemployed must go to the countryside, which worries many parents.

Lin Xiang sat in the living room eating the egg cake she had scavenged, listening to a few aunties outside who were gathered together, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans and talking about the policy of sending children to the countryside. Every word they said was about how they were worried about their children going to the countryside, and how they were going to find them jobs or arrange blind dates. She couldn't help feeling disappointed - look at other parents, and then look at Lin's parents, the gap was really too big.

The cakes and pastries of the 1970s were rare and expensive. Their taste and texture could not compare to the exquisite cakes and breads of later generations, but they were better than nothing. After all, people were short of food and clothing, so it was good to have something sweet to eat.

That’s right, Lin Xiang, who is now sitting in the living room of the Lin family in the steel rolling factory, is a person who has traveled through time.

Lin Xiang in the 21st century is an orphan who grew up in an orphanage and went to school all the way to college. After graduation, he worked diligently for many years, working during the day and working as a food blogger to edit and publish videos to earn some extra money in his spare time. In this way, he saved enough money to buy a house, quit his job in the big city, and returned to Haicheng, which is surrounded by mountains and the sea, to buy a house for his retirement, preparing to live a leisurely and relaxed "retirement" life.

Lin Xiang, who had no home since childhood, loved the sea and had always wanted to have a big house of her own, instead of having to live in a dormitory in an orphanage. The house she bought was a sea view room a few kilometers away from the sea, and she could see the blue sea and sky from afar when she opened the window. However, after she had finished decorating her new house, she died suddenly before she moved in, and she was reborn as a cannon fodder female supporting role in a period novel.

However, she had never read this period novel. She just heard from a friend that there was a cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as herself and was very pitiful. There were not many related plots involved, so she just glanced at the plots related to the original self.

The original person's biological father, Lin Guangming, was a farmhand in a landlord's family. During the land reform in 1952, he actively participated in overthrowing the landlords and started a family. He saved up his family fortune and went to the city to find a job. He became an apprentice in a steel rolling mill, got married and had a daughter. However, the original person's mother died of illness when she was two years old. A year later, Lin Guangming married a stepmother who was also a widow and had a daughter. Later, a younger brother was added to the family.

In such a reorganized family, the original body, her biological father, stepmother, stepsister, and the baby born to them could not become a family. She worked hard at home, but the stepmother was always on guard against her. After all, she was not born from her belly, so there was a difference between close and distant relatives. Since the stepmother started to manage the household, she hid all the good things for her own daughter and son, and raised the original body into a thin and pitiful little girl. But the stepmother was quite good at pretending in front of others, and she fooled Lin Guangming and the neighbors, who didn't notice the problem at all.

It is said that having a stepmother is equivalent to having a stepfather, and this is absolutely true. This year, when Xifeng City issued a policy that forced urban youths over the age of 16 who were unmarried and unemployed to go to the countryside as educated youth, the original person was actually tricked into giving up the job at the steel mill to his younger brother.

The original body graduated from high school. Because of her good grades, she was admitted to a formal position in the steel rolling mill. She had a job and did not need to go to the countryside. However, her biological father and stepmother were reluctant to let the only male in the Lin family, Lin Jianxin, who only had an elementary school education and no job, go to the countryside. This tricked the weak and vulnerable original body into giving up her job to her younger brother and taking on the responsibility of a sister. In this way, the younger brother did not have to go to the countryside, and the original body had to go to the countryside. Because of this situation, the ill-intentioned stepmother planned to marry the original body to the son of the factory director who was idle and often beat women in order to gain benefits.

The original body was schemed to the point of losing her job and marrying a domestic violence man. After the marriage, she was beaten and abused by him whenever she had a disagreement. Her family in her life didn't care either, and she eventually died on the night of her 25th birthday.

After quickly reading the several hundred words of screenshots, Lin Xiang got angry: This is too much of an insult!

Who could have expected that she would travel through time that night.

Still wearing it.

The original body was reluctant to give up his job and go to the countryside, but he didn't dare to say his true thoughts. He was in so much pain that he got a fever and died in an instant. Lin Xiang traveled through time and space like this.

Fortunately, the original person had always been timid, rarely met people, and was sick for a few days, so Lin Xiang was able to get away with it and sort out the confusion temporarily.

She still has the job now, but she didn't have time to give it to her brother because her original employer suddenly fell ill. This is a blessing.

Thinking about his current situation, Lin Xiang originally wanted to stay at the steel rolling mill. After all, he had a precious iron rice bowl and could hold on until the late 1980s and early 1990s before the wave of layoffs.

But today she called off her sick leave and went back to work at the steel mill, and she was really shocked. Her original job was as a female worker in the workshop, in a high-temperature environment, working ten hours a day. In today's scorching sun, without any cooling or heatstroke prevention measures, this can be listed as one of the top ten tortures.

Lin Xiang had worked hard in her previous life and was finally ready to save up her savings and return to the small county town to enjoy a leisurely life. Now she is asked to work hard in a harsh workshop, which makes her want to cry without tears.

However, the workshop job she disliked was very popular at this time. With it, she could avoid going to the countryside. It was also because of this job that her biological father and stepmother were concerned about it and urged her to give up the job as soon as possible.

The original body was honest and gullible, but Lin Xiang was not so stupid...

"Lin Xiang! You actually stole my cake!" Just as Lin Xiang was daydreaming in space, thinking about the future, a loud roar suddenly came to her ears.

The person who came was none other than Lin Jianxin, the baby son born to the original father and stepmother after their remarriage.

The Lin family members all look good. Although Lin Jianxin is not very handsome, he has regular features. He inherited his father's square face and big facial features. However, he is very narrow-minded and is not a good person. He was unwilling to even give his own sister a piece of egg cake.

The original stepmother Qiu Aiying seemed to care about her stepdaughter Lin Xiang, but in fact she hid all the good things from Lin Xiang and secretly gave them to her two biological children. Over time, Lin Jianxin came to believe that Lin Xiang could not eat or wear good food, as those things were all his.

Lin Xiang ignored the annoying Lin Jianxin and slowly put the last bite of cake into her mouth, feeling the rare soft and sweet taste of the 1970s. A strong egg aroma spread in her mouth, which was indeed much better than the cabbage and sweet potatoes she ate every day.

"Mom, mom, look at her!" Lin Jianxin is sixteen years old this year, which is exactly the age for compulsory going to the countryside, but he is still a mama's boy who likes to complain whenever something goes wrong.

A middle-aged woman walked in from behind him, and glanced at him with her triangular drooping eyes. Seeing that her stepdaughter had stolen the cake, her face suddenly darkened: "Xiangxiang, where did you get it from..."

"Mom, didn't you buy it for me?" Lin Xiangchong smiled sweetly at her stepmother and said calmly, "I was sick a few days ago. You must have bought the egg cake for me, a patient."

"I..." Qiu Aiying was choked by her stepdaughter's words and couldn't say anything for a while. After all, she had always pretended to be a loving stepmother. Besides, at this critical moment, a piece of egg cake was not important. She had other important things to do at the moment. "Yes, Mom thought of you because you were sick, so you have to take good care of your body."

"Mom, that cake is for me!" Lin Jianxin was used to being domineering at home since he was a child, and he knew that Lin Xiang was the easiest to bully, so he found it difficult to adapt to this.

"Okay." Qiu Aiying leaned close to her son and whispered, "I'll make you some braised pork tomorrow. You can go out and play first."

Hearing that there was braised pork to eat, Lin Jianxin's eyes lit up instantly. He no longer cared about a piece of egg cake and jumped out to look for his friends in the yard.

The step-sister Lin Chuchu who had just followed into the room was not as easy to coax as Lin Jianxin. She couldn't stand seeing Lin Xiang eating egg cake. How could such an expensive cake be eaten by Lin Xiang? She immediately glared at Lin Xiang arrogantly and was about to ridicule her, but suddenly stopped, her eyes widened a little, and she said excitedly, "You...how did you become so beautiful? Mom, look at her!"

Lin Xiang looks 80% similar to her original self, but her original self lived in the 1970s and had little food and clothing. Even though her biological father was a third-level worker in the factory with a monthly salary of 66 yuan, her original self did not enjoy any of it and only ate meat once a year at most. As a result, the original self, a 19-year-old beautiful girl who should have been in her prime, suffered from malnutrition. Moreover, due to her lack of self-confidence and long-term oppression, she looked somewhat decadent and gloomy.

Even so, the people in the steel rolling factory also recognized that she was a beauty, which was enough to show how beautiful she was.

The 21st century Lin Xiang came in with a face and figure that had been carefully maintained. Her oval face was as white as jade, her willow-leaf eyebrows were curved like the moon, and her pair of lively and clear almond eyes were full of water, as if they could speak. Her delicate and small nose tip stood up straight like a pearl on the top of a mountain, and her cherry lips were even more charming when they opened and closed. Even the small section of her arm exposed by the cuffs of her coarse linen shirt was white and tender.

Lin Xiang was careless today and forgot to cover up. She imitated her original self and didn't dare to look up at people. Lin Chuchu, who was always jealous of her stepsister, immediately discovered her.

Lin Chuchu looks like Qiu Aiying, and is a little beauty, but her skin is naturally darker and her facial features are fairly regular. She looks good in front of other people, but not in front of her original self and Lin Xiang who came here.

It was because of this that she was the first to discover that Lin Xiang was different.

When Qiu Aiying heard her daughter say this, she looked at her stepdaughter suspiciously. Normally, she would never look at Lin Xiang directly, but now she looked at her carefully and really noticed the difference.

The facial features and stature are the same, so why do I feel like I've changed?

Lin Xiang in front of her seemed to have turned pale. This stepdaughter was originally pale. It was said that she inherited her biological mother who died early. Qiu Aiying had heard from Lin Guangming's colleagues in the steel rolling mill in her early years that Lin Guangming's wife who died of illness was very beautiful. No wonder the daughter she gave birth to was also beautiful.

But now Lin Xiang seems to be whiter, with light and thin skin, white with a hint of red, and her eyes, mouth and nose seem to be the same as before, but her eyebrows and eyes seem more delicate, especially her almond-shaped eyes, which are watery and seem to be able to charm people.

"You..." Qiu Aiying didn't understand what was going on.

"I was sick a few days ago. I had a fever and was sweating. I also stayed at home and rarely went out. Do you look much better now?" Lin Xiang lowered her head slightly, did not look at the two of them, and found an excuse to get away with it.

Fortunately, no matter how suspicious Qiu Aiying and Lin Chuchu were, they could not have guessed such a bizarre thing as time travel. They just believed that Lin Xiang looked better after she had an illness.

This episode was not important. Qiu Aiying sat down at the table, smiled at Lin Xiang, and prepared to talk about business.

Qiu Aiying looks good. When she was young, she was a lesbian with regular features. She wasted a lot of energy and married Lin Guangming for the second time because of this face. However, after more than ten years, she has cheated a lot because of her position as a housekeeper. She has become a little plump from the thin beauty she was. In addition, her appearance is determined by her heart, and she is quite calculating, so her face has become a little mean.

With evil intentions, this smile has no good intentions.

Lin Xiang remembered the plot mentioned in the book, where Qiu Aiying hid all the good things she bought and was a submissive person. Today, Lin Xiang also tried to look for it, and unexpectedly found an egg cake wrapped in a handkerchief deep in the living room cabinet.

No matter who suffers, you must not make yourself suffer. She suffered too much in her previous life, but in the end, she didn't enjoy anything and died. Now she has come to terms with it. She needs to live well and enjoy what she can first. Lin Xiang was not polite at all. She ate two of the three egg cakes. Now there was one left. She carefully folded the four corners of the handkerchief back and wrapped the soft and golden egg cake. Facing Qiu Aiying's heartbroken and resentful eyes, she said crisply: "Mom, I'm not completely cured yet. I'll save this egg cake for dinner."

Qiu Aiying suppressed her anger. Her family only had half a pound of cake tickets this month, so she bought five egg cakes to secretly share with her daughter and son. But who knew that Lin Xiang would show up halfway!

"Okay, you take it." She gritted her teeth and looked at her husband Lin Guangming coming home from get off work. She didn't want to argue with her stepdaughter for the time being. After all, if the next thing was successful, the money she could get would be enough to buy a large box of egg cakes, and even more than that... "Your father has something to tell you."

Lin Guangming had just got off work and returned home. As a third-level clamper in a steel rolling factory, he had a high status and a high salary. Naturally, he was the absolute authority at home, especially with his square face, thick eyebrows slanted, and dark eyes staring at everyone with a sense of majesty. Combined with his tall and burly figure, he was really imposing.

Thinking that his daughter had been sick and resting at home for the past few days, Lin Guangming frowned and urged her as soon as he entered the house: "When Xiangxiang recovers, hurry up and give your job to your brother. We will arrange a good marriage for you later, and you don't have to go to the countryside."

A good marriage? Lin Xiang thought of the ending in the book where the original author married the son of the factory director, and she really didn't know what was good about it.

It is unrealistic not to get married in this era, especially since she is 19 years old, which is not young anymore. Rather than being schemed against by her scumbag father and stepmother, it is better to hold the initiative in her own hands.

Originally, she had not been in contact with any gay men, nor did she have a crush on anyone. Lin Xiang was thinking about going on blind dates to find a partner for herself! She couldn't just let others control her.

Lin Xiang pondered over it, and suddenly she remembered from the depths of her original memory that it seemed that she had a child marriage!

But now was not the time to think about this. Lin Xiang looked at her father, thinking that he was her biological father after all. She had never dared to resist in the book, so she tried to speak, to see if he still had any conscience: "Dad, can't you buy Jianxin a job? I want to keep my job for myself. I worked so hard to get it."

A loud bang suddenly exploded in the small living room!

Lin Guangming's face was as gloomy as water, and his dark eyes seemed to be filled with boundless anger. He could not bear to hear any disobedient words from his children. He slammed his broad and powerful palms on the square table, and the sound was like a sharp blade hitting the ground: "You want to rebel against the church, right? How dare you disobey? You must give your job to your brother!"

The next second, it seemed as if a slap was about to come down!