Jiang Hongmei's "Dream"

By the small grove beside the field ridge.

"Mm... Jianguo..."

Jiang Hongmei wept like a pear blossom in the rain, but the calculation in her eyes was thoroughly concealed by the darkness. Meanwhile, the fool still moving on top of her thought his boundless charm had finally made her see his worth.

"Hongmei, my sweetheart..."

Cheng Hu's old face burned with embarrassment. He hurriedly covered his son's ears, never expecting to encounter something like this—and involving two "acquaintances," no less.

Xiang Haiyan was equally mortified. She quietly asked what they should do. Cheng Hu shook his head, signaling her to tread lightly and leave quickly. He then tucked his son under his arm, led his wife along, and carefully limped home.

Those two were too engrossed, and Cheng Hu's family had been some distance from their "battlefield." With insects chirping and frogs croaking all around the field ridges, they had not noticed anyone passing by.

Otherwise, given Zhao Jianguo's character, who knew what crazy thing he might have done if he had discovered they were eavesdropping.

Not long after the family of three left, another roar erupted from the little grove...

Zhao Jianguo panted heavily. Thoroughly satisfied in both body and mind, he lightly kissed Jiang Hongmei's cherry lips, then held her as they turned over and leaned against the large rock behind them.

Jiang Hongmei nestled in his arms and looked up through the branches overhead at the star-filled night sky. Her face was full of ruthless malice, yet her voice was so gentle it seemed one could squeeze water from it.

"Jianguo, my family in Capital City may not be some prestigious clan, but my father is still the director of XX Department. He has some standing.

Now that you and I have... you must come up with a plan. Otherwise, if he learns that you bullied me, he'll definitely bring people here to cause trouble for your family."

She turned slightly and gazed at the man before her with deep affection in her limpid eyes. Zhao Jianguo understood her meaning perfectly. He lowered his head to meet her gaze and made an excited promise.

"Don't worry. My family will be back in a few days. When they return, I'll tell my father about us and have him arrange our wedding."

He pulled her closer into his embrace and said softly, "Hongmei, you know I've always liked you. But before this, no matter what I did, you refused to spare me a second glance. You only thought about that Gu..."

"Hey! Don't say it."

Jiang Hongmei leaned forward and kissed his lips, then whispered, "I was blind before. I couldn't see how good you were. It was only after something happened to your grandfather and you went to the city with them.

Every day, I waited and waited, but you never came back. Only then did I gradually understand that I had been taking your love for granted. I always thought you would never leave me, so I ignored my own heart. The truth is, I had long since fallen deeply in love with you."

She shyly lowered her head against his chest. "But it's true that I have an engagement with Gu Yu. His parents were kind to my family, and I can't repay kindness with ingratitude..."

As she spoke, she began to cry bitterly. "Jianguo, what should I do? The other day, Gu Yu's aunt sent someone to summon me. She said Gu Yu's father wasn't doing well in the Northwest and wanted Gu Yu to leave behind an heir.

His aunt told me I had to marry Gu Yu as soon as possible and bear him a child. But I... the person I like is you! Boohoo..."

Zhao Jianguo was furious. He had never expected Gu Yu's family to be so shameless, using past favors to force his beloved to bear an heir for the Gu Household. Rage surged through him as he tightly embraced Jiang Hongmei. "Don't cry. I'll think of something."

"What can we do?"

Jiang Hongmei looked up at him through her tears. "Gu Yu's aunt married a high-ranking official. We can't fight them."

Her eyes flickered as she muttered softly, "Unless... unless there's another woman willing to bear him a child. Then I might be able to escape this disaster. Otherwise..."

Her little mouth trembled as she clutched Zhao Jianguo tightly and began crying again. "Jianguo, I don't want to marry him. I only want to be with you. You're the only one I like."

"I know, I know!"

Amid her repeated declarations, Zhao Jianguo gradually lost himself. At the same time, a vicious plan formed in his mind. "Hongmei, don't be afraid. If the Gu Household wants a child, then we'll give them one."

"What do you mean?"

Jiang Hongmei's heart skipped a beat. She quickly asked, "Where are we supposed to find him a child?"

"Find someone to bear one for him!"

Zhao Jianguo affectionately tapped the tip of her nose and whispered, "Gu Yu may have a bad class background, but his looks and bearing are top-notch."

Though Zhao Jianguo did not want to admit it, Gu Yu really was handsome. He was tall, long-legged, and fair-skinned without looking feminine. The man looked like a cold, aloof young nobleman standing high above everyone else. Whenever Zhao Jianguo stood beside him, he felt inferior and enraged.

Before Gu Yu had been sent down here, Zhao Jianguo had been the most popular young man in the entire Red Flag Commune. But ever since Gu Yu arrived at Chaoyang Production Brigade, everyone's conversations had shifted to him. Even with his poor class background, he still outshone Zhao Jianguo, who was supposedly born red and raised red.

His tone turned sour. "All we have to do is deliberately spread word that Gu Yu comes from a wealthy family and that the Gu Household wants him to leave behind an heir. Then we'll..."

As Jiang Hongmei listened to his vicious scheme, her thoughts drifted away, returning to five days earlier at the city guesthouse, when someone sent from Capital City had questioned why she had been in the countryside for so long without getting any information about Gu Yu's younger uncle, Gu Jun.

"Sir said that if you still fail to complete the mission within a month, he'll send someone else to take over. By then, someone will also take over your parents' current jobs."

"You... you can't do this!"

Jiang Hongmei was panicked and furious. "My parents have done so much for him. Even if they have no merit, they've still worked hard. And me? I left perfectly good Capital City to run errands for him in this godforsaken countryside. What right does he have to treat us this way?"

"Hmph! Because your parents' jobs and the villa your family lives in were all given by Sir. Of course he has the right to take them back."

The man sneered mockingly. "Don't think that just because your father became the director of XX Department, he has truly risen to the heavens. To Sir, he will always be a servant."

"You!"

Jiang Hongmei was beside herself with rage. What she hated most in her life was people calling her family servants. She immediately lost her mind, raised her hand, and tried to strike him, only for the quick-eyed man to shove her away.

Jiang Hongmei lost her footing and fell straight backward. With a loud bang, the back of her head struck the edge of the bed hard. Agonizing pain hit her in an instant, and her vision went black as she lost consciousness.

The man panicked and rushed forward to check on her. Seeing no external injury but finding that he could not wake her no matter what he did, he feared causing a death and hurriedly carried her to the hospital.

What he did not know was that Jiang Hongmei, while unconscious, was experiencing a bizarre and fantastical dream.

"Doctor, will she be all right?"

"It's still unclear for now. But if... she doesn't wake up, her life may be in danger..."

"Please, you have to save her. She's... my younger sister!"

"Don't worry. We'll do everything we can."

The noise gave Jiang Hongmei a splitting headache. She abruptly opened her eyes and heard startled cries from the doctor and nurse, while the man also called to her in delight, "Little sister, you're finally awake!"

"I'll examine her first."

The doctor and nurse crowded around the bed, checking her pupils and asking questions as they fussed over her for quite some time. At last, they reached a diagnosis. "The patient appears to have no major issues at present, but she still needs to remain hospitalized for observation for another two days.

Head injuries are no trivial matter. Many patients seem fine at first, only to develop various complications later on."

"All right, all right."

The man nodded repeatedly. "We'll do whatever the doctor says."

"Mm."

The doctor responded, instructed him to watch for changes in the patient's condition, then left the ward with the nurse.

Though Jiang Hongmei appeared fine on the surface, a storm was raging in her heart. Between life and death, she had just had a terrifying dream.

In that dream, she and Zhao Jianguo were the male and female leads of a novel. He was loving and considerate, while she repeatedly disappointed him, obsessed only with Gu Yu. It was not until Gu Yu caused Shen Jianan's death and she saw his true face that she finally woke up to reality and threw herself into Zhao Jianguo's arms.

Not long after they married, Zhao Jianguo accidentally saved the little grandson of a garment factory director after the child was abducted. He obtained a respectable job, and two years later, he and Jiang Hongmei were both admitted to university and went to Capital City to study.

After that, with the support of Gu Yu's uncle-in-law, Luo Tianming, they prospered every step of the way. In less than ten years, they even brought him down and swallowed the enormous wealth of both him and the Gu Household, becoming entrepreneurs famous throughout the country.

Jiang Hongmei was extremely excited. So it turned out she had suffered misfortune all this time because she had not been with the male lead. If so, why the hell should she keep entangling herself with Gu Yu? A fallen young master who had lost all support and been betrayed by his own relatives was not worth any more of her effort.

But upon further thought, something seemed wrong. If these events had truly happened, then according to the dream's hints, Zhao Jianguo should have saved that child half a month earlier. Yet at that time, he had clearly been at the city hospital with his family, caring for Old Master Zhao after his operation.

What... what was going on? That dream had felt so real, yet reality had developed differently. Could she have been knocked stupid and imagined it all?

Just as she was puzzled, countless terrifying scenes flashed before her eyes. The main characters were still Zhao Jianguo and herself, but their experiences were utterly different from the earlier dream.

They and their relatives were all ruthlessly trampled beneath the feet of Gu Yu and Shen Jianan. There were also countless people around them pointing at them and hurling abuse. Every vile insult made her furious, yet powerless to resist.

Jiang Hongmei could not understand why both dreams made her feel as though she had personally lived through them and could not escape. As she racked her brains for an answer, a broken, intermittent voice suddenly appeared in her mind and completely resolved her confusion.

[No, everything you saw was real. You and Zhao Jianguo are the fated male and female leads. I am your cheat system, Plot Lord... buzz... Shen Jianan caused me to buzz... And because Gu Yu received his help, he later accidentally obtained a buzz... and completely broke free of fate's restraints, affecting the luck of you and Zhao Jianguo.

That is why you two have been so unlucky and naturally never encountered the first benefactor of your lives. If you wish to return the plot to the proper path and rise to the peak of life from now on, you must deal with them... buzz... Insufficient energy... Plot Lord can no longer activate the plot system. Please save yourselves, protagonists... buzz...]

Before Jiang Hongmei could even rejoice, the Plot Lord that had just awakened inside her body and immediately died on the spot made her curse aloud in fury.

What she did not know was that Plot Lord had originally bound itself to the wrong host, causing the plot to veer off course and draining more than half its energy.

Originally, it had wanted to persuade Shen Jianan to sacrifice himself and help Jiang Hongmei steer the plot back onto the right path, allowing it to recover its energy in the process. But Shen Jianan was as stubborn as a green bean, refusing both soft and hard tactics.

In the end, Plot Lord had been forced directly into standby mode and could not activate. This gave Shen Jianan and Gu Yu the chance to walk a new path in life.

During that process, it was not only suppressed and rendered unable to control Shen Jianan through the plot, but Gu Yu's acquisition of a cheat also caused its remaining meager energy to dissipate rapidly.

If Jiang Hongmei's fall had not caused such a major fluctuation in the plot, it might never have had the chance to return to her body.

What made Plot Lord even more miserable was that after all this turmoil, its energy had been completely exhausted.

Even if the novel's male and female leads managed to force the plot back onto its original path in the future, it would never return.

In other words, from the moment Plot Lord vanished, the plot of this novel would grow wild, no longer controlled by any person or thing.

Jiang Hongmei could no longer know any of this. She was still delighted by her and Zhao Jianguo's identities as the male and female leads, while also furious at Shen Jianan and Gu Yu for ruining their luck.

She secretly swore that she would find a way to get rid of those two stumbling blocks as soon as possible. Oh! And that bastard Luo Tianming too.

"How are you? Are you all right?"

The voice that suddenly sounded brought Jiang Hongmei back to her senses. She turned to look at the guilty-looking man and curled her lips in a cold smile.

"Since when did I have an older brother? Tell me, if I report what just happened to the police, what do you think will happen?"

The man's expression changed drastically. "Do you know what you're saying? If something happens to me and affects Sir's plans, he won't let you off."

"Heh! You said it yourself. Sir's plans can't be affected."

Jiang Hongmei's face was full of mockery. "If something had happened to me just now, how much of Sir's plan do you think could still be completed?

That shove of yours nearly killed me. If I tell Sir about this, do you think you can withstand his wrath?"

At her reminder, scenes of Luo Tianming dealing with his enemies suddenly flashed through the man's mind. Cold sweat broke out all over him, and his face turned as white as paper. "Speak! What do you want?"

"Heh! You're quite sensible, aren't you?"

Jiang Hongmei sneered. "I don't want much. You only need to cover all of my medical expenses for the next few days.

And give me another five hundred yuan as nutritional compensation. Then I'll bury this matter in my stomach. Otherwise... you know the consequences."

Jiang Hongmei secretly thought that with those five hundred yuan, she could stay comfortably at the production brigade while repairing her relationship with Zhao Jianguo.

Then she could find a way to obtain textbooks and study hard with him for the entrance examinations. Once they returned to Capital City in the future, they could follow the original plot, carry out their plans, and bring down Luo Tianming.

But before that, she had to deal with Gu Yu and Shen Jianan first. However, making a move against Gu Yu now would inevitably attract Gu Lingwei's attention.

Although Gu Lingwei had tacitly accepted what Luo Tianming had done, that did not mean she was willing to watch her own nephew be harmed.

Furthermore, Luo Tianming had always ordered Jiang Hongmei to get information from Gu Yu about Gu Jun's whereabouts and the Gu family wealth he had taken away. If she failed to complete the task and even got Gu Yu killed...

She feared that before she could become rich, Luo Tianming would send someone to kill her first. Therefore, to achieve both aims, the only option was to trap Gu Yu in the countryside forever, then use someone else's hand to completely cripple him.

As for Gu Jun's whereabouts and the Gu family fortune, she naturally had to investigate them actively. But whatever she found, she would not hand it over to Luo Tianming.

The man had no idea of the countless twists and turns in Jiang Hongmei's mind. Nor did he know that in just a few hours of unconsciousness, she had experienced so much. He merely thought she was as greedy and insatiable as her parents.

But whatever the case, she was right. His recklessness had nearly caused Sir's plan to fail. Gu Yu was already highly guarded, and if someone else had to approach him anew, who knew how long it would take to learn Gu Jun's whereabouts?

There had recently been vague news from above that after the third meeting of the ... Bureau, rectification would begin... If the Gu Household seized the opportunity to regain its footing, then all their efforts over the previous years would have been wasted. Sir would skin him alive.

Thinking of this, the man could only swallow this hidden loss. But he did not have that much money, so he bargained with her. In the end, they agreed to lower the nutritional compensation to three hundred and fifty yuan.

Still bitter about it, he gave her the money, reminded her to finish the mission as soon as possible, and decisively left the city hospital.

Jiang Hongmei, meanwhile, obediently stayed in the hospital for two days. After the examinations showed nothing wrong, she took the three hundred-odd yuan, got her hair permed, bought cosmetics and a red dress, and prepared to dress herself up nicely to seduce Zhao Jianguo once he returned to the village.

She had considered visiting him while she was hospitalized, since his family was also at the city hospital.

But Old Master Zhao had just undergone surgery, and neither Zhao Qiancheng nor Qin Fengying liked her. If her appearance agitated the old man, the loss would outweigh the gain.

So, to be safe, she decided to return to the production brigade first. Yet the moment she got back, she heard that Shen Jianan had led the villagers to work hard and become prosperous, winning everyone's respect and affection.

Jiang Hongmei nearly went mad with rage. All that honor should have belonged to her, yet Shen Jianan had stolen it. She wanted nothing more than to tear him into pieces, so she devised a vicious plan to use Zheng Lei and Huang Qimei to set up him and Gu Yu.

But before she could put her plan into action, Shen Jianan secured another major order for the production brigade and caused her to be chased down and cursed at by the villagers and brigade cadres.

That was not all. Later, when the brigade was learning to make hair accessories and backpacks, she said something fair because she was worried everyone would suffer losses.

Not only did no one understand her, but they cursed her so viciously that she was left battered and bruised. They had nearly even pinned the label of enemy agent on her.

To avoid escalating the conflict, she had no choice but to back down and leave the production brigade first. Fortunately, Zhao Jianguo followed her out soon afterward, and Jiang Hongmei knew that he still had feelings for her.

Delighted, she saw that there was no one around. It was dark and windy, and Zhao Qiancheng and his wife were both away from the village. She decided it was the perfect time to repair her relationship with Zhao Jianguo.

She deliberately ran crying toward the little grove by the field ridge. Then, just as he was about to catch up, she conveniently fell onto a clean, large rock, revealing the snow-white skin hidden beneath her red dress...

Combined with her pear-blossom-in-the-rain appearance and her hesitant, longing expression, there was no way a hot-blooded young man like Zhao Jianguo could restrain himself. In the end, the two naturally practiced several sets of radio calisthenics.

Jiang Hongmei also used the opportunity to tell him the excuse she had fabricated, and Zhao Jianguo's reaction was exactly as she had expected.

As expected of the chosen male lead. He thought of exactly the same thing I did. Jiang Hongmei secretly laughed, then looked up at Zhao Jianguo. Her eyes brimmed with love as she softly parted her red lips. "We'll do as you said! I'll listen to you in everything, Jianguo~~"

Her sweet, soft voice made Zhao Jianguo's heart itch, and his little brother immediately sprang to attention. "Mm! Hongmei, one more time..."

Then, in a hoarse voice, he began another round of harmonious life.

By the time Cheng Hu brought his wife and son home, it was already late at night. Before going to sleep, he repeatedly warned Xiang Haiyan and Cheng Guang not to tell anyone about what they had just seen.

But he would not let such a useful piece of leverage go to waste. Zhao Qiancheng had caused his father's death and had someone smash his kneecap. He could not possibly leave such a blood feud unavenged.

Moreover, Zhao Jianguo and Jiang Hongmei had repeatedly made things difficult for his family's benefactors—Shen Jianan and Gu Yu. Their conduct was utterly vile.

So he would not play the good man and conceal the pair's shameful affair. However, he needed to think carefully about how to make use of it.

Unfortunately, before he could come up with a plan, his son, resentful that Zhao Qiancheng had caused his father's limp and his grandfather's death, quietly told Shen Jianan and Gu Yu about Jiang Hongmei and Zhao Jianguo's "wild tryst" when he went to work at the production brigade the next day.