Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Zhao Aidi grows up in a family that devalues girls. Her five older sisters were sold, and she is kept only because her family hopes she will earn money for her brothers.
• She is allowed to attend school after a village official explains that good grades can bring scholarships. Aidi excels academically, but her family sees her achievement chiefly as a future source of income.
• After her mother beats her for failing to provide money comparable to a successful neighbor, Aidi decides that getting into a prestigious university in a major city will help her find a wealthy husband.
• At university, she resents her richer roommates—Wenren Luoshui, Yunjian, and another student—and secretly uses their belongings. When they object, she considers them selfish.
• Aidi dates a yellow-haired young man but soon regards him as inadequate. After becoming pregnant, she tries to make her roommates care for her and later provokes her boyfriend by exaggerating their treatment of her.
• Her plan backfires: Yunjian and the others move off campus, Aidi’s relationships with them and the wider student body deteriorate, and she breaks up with her boyfriend.
• Aidi abandons academic ambitions in favor of finding a wealthy partner. Though several wealthy men see her only as a temporary affair, she accepts their money because it earns her parents’ approval.

Character development

Aidi’s intelligence and academic talent never translate into independence or empathy. Raised to view women as commodities and money as the route to security, she adopts her family’s values, first seeking a rich husband for her brother and later pursuing wealth for herself. Her envy, entitlement, and habit of exploiting others increasingly isolate her.

Significant themes

• Gender discrimination: Aidi’s childhood shows how girls are treated as burdens and resources for male relatives.
• Poverty and transactional thinking: Her family measures education, relationships, and even marriage by their financial returns.
• Internalized values: Aidi repeats the same demeaning outlook imposed on her, rather than challenging it.
• Privilege, resentment, and responsibility: She interprets her roommates’ boundaries as stinginess and uses hardship to justify taking advantage of them.
• The cost of pursuing wealth: Her search for financial security brings money and parental praise, but not lasting affection or belonging.

Character interactions

• Aidi’s mother and grandmother insult and exploit her; her brothers benefit from her labor and do nothing to protect her.
• Taozi’s apparent success inspires Aidi’s ambition, while Aidi’s mother uses it to shame and beat her.
• Aidi clashes repeatedly with her roommates, especially Yunjian and Wenren Luoshui, over her use of their belongings and demands for care.
• She manipulates her boyfriend into confronting the roommates, but the plan instead helps drive them away from campus and further damages her own reputation.
• Her parents praise her for sending money, reinforcing her belief that financial support matters more than whether her relationships are genuine.

Key plot points and events

• After Zhao Aidi attacks Yunjian, Sui Yun and Wenren Luoshui stop her. Zhao accidentally drives her own hairpin between her brows and dies. The county magistrate shows little grief, and her body is discarded in a mass grave.
• Zhao’s lingering resentment makes a bargain with an ancient graveyard ghost, sacrificing her soul in exchange for revenge.
• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian are suddenly knocked unconscious and awaken in what appears to be a 1950s–60s village household, where Wang Ermazi is arguing with his mother and brothers.
• Old Madam Wang wants one of Ermazi’s daughters married off to Er Laizi to raise money for her eldest grandson’s marriage. Ermazi refuses, knowing Er Laizi is dangerous, and threatens to split the household.
• When his eldest brother, Wang Aidang, keeps criticizing him, Ermazi threatens him with a kitchen knife. Luoshui and Yunjian recover from their injuries with healing pills.
• Luoshui’s and Yunjian’s thoughts are somehow audible to everyone. Luoshui exposes a shocking family secret: Wang Aidang’s son was fathered by Old Madam Wang, not by Aidang and his wife. The revelation leaves the family and gathered villagers stunned.

Character developments

• Wenren Luoshui remains composed and resourceful, helping Yunjian recover and revealing hidden truths.
• Yunjian is injured but quickly regains her strength; her candid reactions add humor to the unfolding scandal.
• Wang Ermazi emerges as a protective father willing to defy his family to keep his daughters safe.
• Old Madam Wang is shown as selfish and controlling, prioritizing her grandson’s marriage over her granddaughters’ welfare.
• Wang Aidang appears domineering but is easily frightened when Ermazi challenges him; the revelation also exposes his secret relationship with his mother.
• Zhao Aidi’s death sets up a supernatural threat through her revenge bargain.

Significant themes

• Family power and exploitation: The girls are treated as bargaining chips to benefit a male heir.
• Protection and resistance: Ermazi refuses to sacrifice his daughters, even at the cost of family conflict.
• Secrets and public shame: The women’s audible thoughts expose a hidden taboo and transform a private scandal into public spectacle.
• Revenge and supernatural consequences: Zhao Aidi’s posthumous pact hints that her resentment will affect events to come.

Character interactions

• Sui Yun and Luoshui intervene to stop Zhao Aidi, while Luoshui later supports the injured Yunjian.
• Ermazi clashes with his mother and brothers over the proposed marriage, defending his daughters against their pressure.
• The family argument becomes far more volatile when Luoshui and Yunjian’s thoughts reveal Aidang’s parentage secret, drawing the onlookers into the confrontation.

Key plot points and events

• Wenren Luoshui reveals that Old Madam Wang had an affair with her eldest son, Wang Aidang. When both women became pregnant, Old Madam arranged for Aidang and his wife to raise her own baby, while Aidang’s wife’s baby was abandoned in the mountains.
• Eldest Aunt Wang attacks Aidang in fury. Old Man Wang knocks Old Madam down and condemns her betrayal.
• Wang Cuicui, celebrated as the village’s “lucky child,” tries to defend her grandmother by claiming such infidelity is common. Wenren rebukes her and exposes the darker truth behind Cuicui’s blessings: she steals other people’s good fortune, and misfortune then befalls their families.
• Sister-in-law Ma learns that her son’s severe scalding may have been the price of the pheasant she found after receiving Cuicui’s blessing. She beats Cuicui, then throws her into the latrine after hearing that a beating or filth can restore stolen luck.
• Old Man Wang approves a divorce for his eldest son and daughter-in-law. Disgusted by her husband, Eldest Aunt agrees, and the family prepares to go into town to formalize it.

Character developments and interactions

• Eldest Aunt Wang shifts from stunned humiliation to furious rejection of Aidang, making clear she no longer wants to remain married to him.
• Wang Aidang is exposed as complicit in the affair and the abandonment of his own child; his wife attacks him, while his father later authorizes their divorce.
• Old Madam Wang is exposed as the architect of the affair and baby swap. Old Man Wang physically punishes her and refuses to excuse her behavior.
• Wang Cuicui uses her reputation and apparent innocence to influence villagers, but the revelations reveal her “luck” as harmful fortune theft. The villagers turn against her.
• Sister-in-law Ma moves from trusting Cuicui’s blessing to seeking justice for her injured son, inspiring others who suspect they too have paid a price.
• Old Man Wang changes from a silent observer to an enforcer: he strikes his wife, confronts the family scandal, and takes decisive action to end the marriage.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and accountability: The affair, deception, and child abandonment shatter the family and have immediate consequences.
• False luck and hidden costs: Cuicui’s apparent blessings are revealed as exchanges that transfer good fortune from others to her.
• Truth disrupting social trust: Once the villagers hear the hidden explanations, familiar events take on a sinister meaning and communal support quickly turns to anger.
• Justice and restoration: The chapter suggests stolen fortune can be reclaimed, while the family’s wrongdoing is answered through punishment and divorce.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Ermazi still cannot separate his household from the rest of the Wang family, but he takes good grain from his parents’ room to make flatbreads for his daughters.
• After Wang Ermazi leaves, Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian secretly go to the village cowshed, where they find Lang Ling—now a fourteen-year-old boy in this era, though he was in his forties in his original time.
• They give Lang Ling a small storage pouch filled with food and supplies, explain some dangers of his new circumstances, and urge him to study with his current identity’s scholarly grandfather. They hope he can bring this era’s knowledge back to the past.
• Back home, the girls find the system in a physical hamster body, hungry. Wenren Luoshui gives it a steamed bun.
• Wang Aimin and his wife, Chen Fuyu, return home. Chen’s past is revealed: she married Wang Ermazi after escaping her cousin’s attempt to ruin her, and later learned that his reputation as an idler concealed his black-market trading. Their family has little savings because they spent freely and supported the Wang family.
• The girls prepare an unusually lavish dinner with a portable stove. They then produce large quantities of improved vegetables and staple grains. Wang Ermazi is amazed—but worries that creating these supplies may cost his daughters their fortune, as he believes happened with his niece’s blessing.

Character developments

• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian act resourcefully and generously: they help Lang Ling adjust, feed the system, and use their unusual abilities to provide for their family.
• Lang Ling accepts that he must adapt to life as a teenager in an unfamiliar era and is encouraged to take advantage of the education available to him.
• Wang Ermazi shows both practical caution and deep concern for his daughters’ safety, immediately questioning whether their powers harm them.
• Chen Fuyu is shown as resilient and appreciative of the good man beneath Wang Ermazi’s disreputable public image.
• The system is no longer merely a voice: it has a physical body and experiences ordinary hunger.

Significant themes

• Adaptation across time: The displaced characters must learn to survive and make use of a different era’s opportunities.
• Family and protection: The girls support their parents and Lang Ling, while Wang Ermazi prioritizes his daughters’ well-being over material gain.
• Appearances versus reality: Wang Ermazi’s “idler” reputation hides his business dealings and kindness; Chen Fuyu’s account also shows how public rumors can mislead.
• Scarcity and abundance: The family’s modest circumstances contrast sharply with the girls’ ability to produce plentiful food, raising questions about the cost of such power.

Character interactions

• The girls reunite warmly with Lang Ling, equip him for his new life, and plan to meet again.
• Yunjian teases the hungry system about whether electronic devices can feel hunger; Wenren Luoshui responds by feeding it.
• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian welcome their parents home with food and supplies, while Wang Ermazi’s delight quickly turns to worry about the consequences of their abilities.

Plot points and events

• Chen Fuyu learns that Wang Cuicui’s apparent “good fortune” comes with a hidden cost: people who receive her blessing suffer an equivalent misfortune. Relieved that her family never accepted one, she embraces her daughters.
• The Wang family’s troubles deepen. Old Mrs. Wang officially divorces her husband after he threatens to expose her and her eldest son’s affair. The eldest son’s wife returns to her parents’ home, leaving Old Mrs. Wang to move into his quarters.
• At the village entrance, Zhao Guifen hears that her child may have died as the price of the blessing she sought for her sister-in-law. Villagers also report that another sick child improved after his mother attacked Cuicui and threw her into a latrine.
• Horrified and grieving, Zhao Guifen storms into the eldest Wang household, overturns the dinner table, and confronts Cuicui. Cuicui blames the adults for being greedy rather than taking responsibility.
• Zhao Guifen beats Cuicui. Her husband, Wang Aijun, realizes their child’s death may have been the cost of Cuicui’s blessing. He attacks his eldest brother, Wang Aidang. Old Mrs. Wang responds by striking Aijun with a heavy wooden stool, leaving him collapsed.

Character developments

• Chen Fuyu feels both relief and guilt at having avoided Cuicui’s blessings, and draws her daughters close.
• Zhao Guifen shifts from praising Cuicui to furious grief once she learns the possible cost of the blessing.
• Wang Aijun turns against the eldest brother’s household after understanding the connection between the blessing and his child’s death.
• Wang Cuicui remains defensive and shifts blame to those who asked for blessings.
• Old Mrs. Wang shows that her loyalty remains strongest toward her eldest son, even at the expense of her third son.

Significant themes

• Hidden costs of good fortune: The blessings bring benefits to some while transferring harm to others.
• Greed and responsibility: Cuicui argues that those who sought blessings were greedy, while the villagers debate who bears responsibility for the consequences.
• Family loyalty and favoritism: Old Mrs. Wang’s preference for her eldest son fuels conflict among her children.
• Rumor and revelation: Village gossip exposes the pattern behind the blessings and rapidly transforms the family’s relationships.

Character interactions

• Chen Fuyu reassures her family and comforts her daughters.
• Villagers tell Zhao Guifen what they have learned, prompting her confrontation with Cuicui.
• Zhao Guifen and Aijun turn on Cuicui and the eldest brother’s household over their child’s death.
• Old Mrs. Wang intervenes violently to protect her eldest son, escalating the family feud.

Key plot points and events

• The Wang family’s troubles escalate: Old Madam Wang kills her youngest son, Wang Third, with a stool while trying to stop him beating her eldest son.
• Wang Third is taken to hospital, but surgery fails. His father, Old Wang, reports Old Madam Wang and Wang Aidang to the police for murder. They are arrested while staying at her family home.
• Old Wang refuses to accept the eldest grandson left behind and divides the household. Zhao Guifen, after arranging Wang Aijun’s funeral, moves into the school dormitory.
• Wang Ermazi’s family moves out and buys a well-built house formerly owned by a capable Capital City educated youth. Their daughters, Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian, choose to sleep in the smaller rooms, moving their father to tears.
• The chapter ends by shifting to Emperor Lang Ling, who returns exhausted to the Cowshed only to hear a commotion outside.

Character developments and interactions

• Old Wang shifts from leaving household matters to the women to taking decisive action: he reports the murder, separates the household, and rejects the eldest grandson.
• Old Madam Wang goes from family matriarch to murder suspect, behaving unnervingly calmly after the killing before angrily blaming Zhao Guifen when arrested.
• Zhao Guifen is overwhelmed by the violence and seeks the brigade leader’s help; afterward, she leaves the Wang household.
• Wang Ermazi benefits from the household split and secures a new home for his family.
• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian show consideration for their parents by choosing the sitting room and storeroom rather than the bedroom.
• The brigade leader helps manage the crisis, transport Wang Third, and oversee the sale of the educated youth’s house.

Significant themes

• Family breakdown and accountability: Old Wang’s report and household division expose the consequences of violence and long-standing dysfunction.
• Community scrutiny: Villagers witness the arrests and become involved in the fallout, while the brigade leader mediates practical disputes.
• Resilience and kindness: The daughters’ modest choices contrast with the surrounding turmoil and deeply move their father.
• Hardship and inequality: The educated youth’s comfortable house and Lang Ling’s exhausting life in the Cowshed highlight disparities in rural conditions.

Key plot points and events

• Lang Ling and his grandfather, Lang You, are living in a cowshed after being sent to the countryside. Lang You has just returned from a humiliating public parade in shackles.
• Liu Yiyuan barges in, accuses the young Lang Ling of stealing his sister’s underwear, slaps him, ties him to a post, and repeatedly whips him.
• Lang You begs Liu Yiyuan to stop, then shields his grandson with his own body.
• Lang Ling calmly demands evidence and points out that villagers can confirm where he was that day. His logical questions expose how flimsy the accusation is.
• Two mysterious commentators, Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian, reveal that Liu Jiaxi invented the theft. She and Liu Yiyuan’s wife are lovers, and Liu Jiaxi was teasing her brother with a fake, onion-induced crying fit.
• As the commentators describe Liu Jiaxi’s delight at Lang Ling’s beating, Liu Yiyuan begins to recognize her gloating and disdain. He lowers the whip and confronts her, asking her to answer Lang Ling’s questions. Liu Jiaxi refuses to respond.

Character developments

• Lang Ling remains composed and defiant despite being beaten, showing courage and sharp reasoning.
• Lang You is distressed by his inability to protect his grandson, but ultimately places himself between Lang Ling and the attacker.
• Liu Yiyuan shifts from self-righteous aggression to suspicion and humiliation as he realizes he may have been deceived and mocked by his sister.
• Liu Jiaxi is revealed as manipulative and contemptuous of her brother, enjoying the harm caused by her false accusation.
• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian provide the hidden context through their commentary, driving Liu Yiyuan toward the truth.

Significant themes

• Power and injustice: Liu Yiyuan uses physical force against a vulnerable child without evidence.
• Resilience and dignity: Lang Ling refuses to cower, even under violence.
• Truth versus assumption: A baseless accusation is accepted as fact until Lang Ling demands proof.
• Betrayal and blindness: Liu Yiyuan’s unquestioning affection for his sister has kept him from seeing her deception and contempt.

Character interactions

• Lang You pleads with Liu Yiyuan and physically protects Lang Ling; Lang Ling then challenges Liu Yiyuan’s accusation with calm questions.
• Liu Yiyuan initially ignores both of them, but the commentators’ revelations turn his attention toward Liu Jiaxi.
• Liu Jiaxi offers no defense, while Liu Yiyuan—newly aware of her gloating—presses her to explain herself.

Key plot points and events

• Liu Jiaxi pretends to sympathize with her brother, Liu Yiyuan, after he beats Lang Ling, but her careless remark that the beating won’t harm relations between their brigades enrages him. He turns on her and beats her severely.
• The Eagle Brigade leader arrives and stops the fight. Lang Ling explains that Liu Jiaxi accused him of stealing but could not say what or when. Lang You frees his grandson, and the leaders agree the dispute should be discussed between the brigades.
• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian later bring Lang Ling and his ailing grandfather food, supplies, and medicine.
• A week later, news spreads that Liu Yiyuan caught his wife and Liu Jiaxi together in bed. He divorces his wife and separates his household from his sister’s; the village divides their belongings.
• Meanwhile, Wenren Luoshui’s goods help Wang Ermazi expand his black-market trade. Her talismans disguise him, protect him, and prevent pursuers from tracking him.
• Wenren’s system announces that it accepted a mission for her through another system. She refuses before hearing what it is, reaffirming her dislike of missions.

Character developments and interactions

• Liu Yiyuan’s devotion to his sister collapses after her shameless behavior; he first beats her, then later cuts ties with her after discovering her affair with his wife.
• Liu Jiaxi’s attempt to manipulate the situation backfires, leaving her injured and estranged from her brother.
• Lang Ling remains blunt even while hurt, while Lang You focuses on protecting his grandson and seeking a fair resolution.
• Wenren and Yunjian show compassion by supporting Lang Ling and Lang You. Wenren also uses her talismans to protect Wang Ermazi’s business.
• Wenren’s system is frustrated by her refusal to take on extra work.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and broken loyalty: Liu Jiaxi’s conduct destroys the bond she once relied on with Liu Yiyuan.
• Consequences and accountability: Her actions bring both immediate punishment and lasting family separation.
• Compassion amid hardship: Wenren and Yunjian quietly help Lang Ling and his grandfather.
• Self-interest and independence: Wenren prioritizes her own wishes, rejecting missions and managing her resources on her terms.

Key plot points

• The Salty Fish System offers Wenren Luoshui a chance to return to the Li Kingdom if she completes roughly five to ten missions. She must rescue kind, meritorious people trapped in small worlds and manipulated by exploitative storylines.
• Her first assignment concerns Shi Lili, a privileged and well-loved only child who volunteers to work in the countryside after high school.
• At the Eagle Brigade, Shi Lili falls for An Weimin, a thirty-year-old soldier and widower with five young sons. She wins his mother’s approval by taking on the household work and childcare, despite neglecting her assigned labor and receiving repeated warnings from brigade leaders.
• An Weimin marries Shi Lili, then returns to the army the next day, leaving her to raise his children. Over the years, she helps him advance his career by using her family’s connections.
• After Shi Lili raises all five boys successfully—helping them enter university and study abroad—An Weimin presents her with divorce papers just as she expects to enjoy the life she worked for.

Character developments

• Wenren Luoshui eagerly accepts the mission once she learns it could take her and her companions back to the Li Kingdom. She recognizes Shi Lili’s story as a contrived, exploitative romance.
• Shi Lili changes from a pampered young woman into a tireless caregiver, sacrificing her work, comfort, and time for An Weimin and his family.
• An Weimin benefits from Shi Lili’s devotion and family support, yet credits his advancement to his own ability and ultimately turns against her.
• An Mother avoids responsibility for her grandchildren and seeks a new wife for her son to take over their care.

Themes

• The exploitation of kind, self-sacrificing people for others’ benefit.
• Romantic devotion used to justify unequal labor and personal sacrifice.
• The contrast between genuine merit and success enabled by another person’s hidden support.
• The danger of treating women as unpaid caregivers rather than as people with their own lives and ambitions.

Character interactions

• The system explains the rescue mission to Wenren Luoshui, who feeds it nuts as it briefs her.
• Shi Lili’s parents respect her choice to leave for the countryside, while remaining willing to help her return if needed.
• Shi Lili works to please An Weimin and An Mother, caring for the children and household while An Weimin keeps her at a distance before marriage.
• Brigade leaders repeatedly try to redirect Shi Lili toward her assigned work, but she ignores their advice.
• An Weimin relies on Shi Lili’s labor and connections, while she interprets his dissatisfaction and ambitions as reasons to help him.

Chapter summary

Plot and events

Shi Lili’s life is repeatedly warped by the story’s influence, driving her to accept blame and sacrifice herself for An Weimin. After building a successful business and supporting his rise, she divorces him at his demand, gives him her entire fortune, and even publicly denies that he mistreated her. An Weimin remarries almost immediately, while Lili’s niece—who exposes his greed in a newspaper—faces social and academic disgrace. When the niece is stabbed, the attacker is identified as An Weimin’s youngest son, who is arrested. Lili nevertheless tries to make her cousin’s family drop the charges, enraging them and causing a permanent family estrangement. An Weimin and his father-in-law are later imprisoned, and their assets seized. His four remaining sons return seeking money from Lili; when she cannot provide it, they torture and kill her. They are caught while attempting to flee, and confess to the crime.

Character developments and interactions

• Shi Lili remains devoted to An Weimin despite his exploitation, repeatedly defending him at the expense of herself and her family. Her parents finally cut ties with her, hoping she will recognize his cruelty, but never see her again.
• An Weimin shows escalating selfishness: he takes Lili’s wealth, controls her choices, pressures her to lie publicly, and later demands that she secure his son’s release.
• Lili’s niece begins as a brave, promising journalism student, but is ostracized after Lili’s public denial. She survives the stabbing and reports it to the police.
• Lili’s cousin and his family pursue justice for the niece, but Lili’s defense of An Weimin’s son destroys their relationship with her.
• The An brothers reveal their greed and violence when they abduct and kill Lili, then are arrested after a taxi driver alerts the police.

Significant themes

The chapter emphasizes the destructive force of coercive loyalty and manipulation, showing how Lili’s self-sacrifice enables An Weimin’s abuse and harms those who try to help her. It also explores the pursuit of justice, the costs of speaking out, and the contrast between family bonds and selfishness.

Chapter summary

• Lang Ling continues living in the Cowshed with his grandfather and doing village work, now gathering grass for pigs. The other children have helped him learn which plants are safe.
• Wang Cuicui, newly shunned after villagers learned that people around her suffer misfortune, becomes fixated on Lang Ling’s dense purple qi, which she believes she can take to improve her own standing. She brings him wild-vegetable pancakes as an excuse to approach him. His Peace Amulet grows warm—a warning from Luoshui that danger is near—but Lang Ling ignores Cuicui and walks away.
• Cuicui follows him to the pig-fodder fields, where she steps in cow dung and gets leeches on her face. The children laugh at her, and Lang Ling refuses to help. Another girl challenges Cuicui’s familiar, falsely intimate way of addressing him. Humiliated, Cuicui leaves.
• The Brigade Leader returns with three new educated youths and takes them to the Educated Youth Courtyard, where they will join the remaining residents.
• The chapter also introduces An Weimin, a soldier visiting his family, and recounts how his father died. An Weimin’s mother was jealous of a more successful childhood rival; her distress led her devoted husband to seek work in the city, where he was killed in a traffic accident.

Character developments and interactions

• Lang Ling remains detached from village gossip and Cuicui’s advances. He trusts the amulet’s warning enough to keep his distance and does not get drawn into the children’s confrontation.
• Wang Cuicui is driven by resentment and envy, as well as her desire to acquire Lang Ling’s purple qi. Her attempt to win him over fails, and her misfortune makes her a target of public ridicule.
• The village children show that their former tolerance of Cuicui has turned into resentment and mockery now that they associate her with their families’ troubles.
• An Weimin’s parents are presented as sharply contrasting figures: his mother is self-centered and jealous, while his father is loving and self-sacrificing.

Significant themes

• Consequences and accountability: Cuicui’s past influence on others’ luck now shapes how the village treats her.
• Resentment and social humiliation: Her isolation is intensified by public mockery, while she continues to blame others.
• Selflessness and loss: An Weimin’s father’s devotion to his wife leads him to take risks that end in tragedy.
• Fate and warning: The amulet’s heat signals danger, foreshadowing the supernatural risks surrounding Lang Ling.

Plot points and events

• An Weimin’s overbearing mother makes him the center of her emotional life. Her interference drives away his childhood friends, and later he joins the army. After two years, he gives in to her pleas, returns home, and agrees to marry a distant relative’s niece. His wife is left to serve his demanding mother and dies from complications in childbirth.
• An Weimin returns to the village again at his mother’s request and meets the Brigade Leader. Shi Lili sees him and feels attracted, but a mysterious voice warns her not to marry him, predicting that doing so would damage her family’s relationship with her older male cousin’s family.
• Wang Ermazi’s Peace Amulet grows hot just before Wang Cuicui’s slingshot stone can hit him. Cuicui falls from a tree while trying to attack him and injures her calf.
• Cuicui accuses Ermazi of pushing her, but villagers disbelieve her. Two children saw her hiding in the tree with a slingshot and testify to what happened. The village leaders scold her, and the villagers become even more wary of her.

Character developments and interactions

• An Weimin is portrayed as dutiful but easily swayed by his mother’s emotional pressure. His compliance harms both his friendships and his eventual wife.
• Shi Lili is drawn to An Weimin, but the warning voice makes her question that attraction.
• Wang Ermazi is cautious around Cuicui, avoids her, and defends himself plainly when she accuses him.
• Wang Cuicui tries to manipulate the village by playing the victim and shifting blame, but her story collapses when witnesses speak up.
• The villagers and children support Ermazi because Cuicui’s reputation is already damaged and their own observations contradict her accusation.

Significant themes

• The harm caused by controlling family relationships and misplaced filial obedience.
• The tension between attraction and foreknowledge of future consequences.
• Deception and victim-playing versus community testimony and accountability.
• Supernatural protection and the danger of Cuicui’s luck-stealing ability.

• Key events: Returning from fieldwork, educated youth Shi Lili is targeted by An Mother, who has An Dabao cling to her and call her “Mom” to encourage a match with An Weimin. A mysterious voice—Wenren Luoshui—reveals the grim future awaiting Shi if she marries into the An family: she would be exploited as a housekeeper, support An Weimin’s career, then be discarded. Visions of that future make Shi push Dabao away. An Mother scolds her, but the brigade’s women’s affairs director defends Shi and exposes the family’s neglect of the children. When An Weimin arrives, villagers condemn him for seeking a new wife less than a year after his first wife’s death. The voice reveals his contempt for his late wife and his belief that Shi’s education makes her a more suitable partner; the crowd’s disapproval intensifies, and he leaves with his family.
• Character developments: Shi shifts from feeling compassion for Dabao and warmth toward the An family to rejecting their manipulation after seeing what her future would hold. An Mother is shown as calculating and exploitative, while An Weimin shares her sense of entitlement and regards women largely as means to his ends. The women’s affairs director emerges as a firm defender of vulnerable women, though she recognizes she cannot force them to leave harmful marriages.
• Character interactions: An Mother tries to recruit Dabao to win Shi over; Shi rejects the child’s staged appeal. The director confronts An Mother and shields Shi from blame. Villagers openly challenge both An Mother’s tactics and An Weimin’s eagerness to remarry.
• Themes: The chapter highlights manipulation disguised as kindness, the exploitation of wives and daughters-in-law, gendered expectations and abuse, and the value of community intervention. The supernatural voice and visions expose the hidden motives and likely consequences behind the An family’s flattering approach.

Key plot points and events

• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian secretly visit Lang You and his grandson, Lang Ling, at the cowshed, bringing food and medicine. Lang You has been teaching Lang Ling mechanical engineering from his hidden research drawings, and the boy eagerly studies the material.
• The girls prepare to leave when Wang Ermazi arrives with a letter from his mother-in-law, Chen Fuyu’s mother, who had once been Lang You’s student. She asks that Lang You be looked after; Wang Ermazi promises to bring the two residents food weekly.
• Wang Ermazi discovers his daughters are also helping Lang You and Lang Ling. Rather than scolding them for acting without permission, he proudly praises their kindness.
• After the three visitors leave using Invisibility Talismans, Wang Cuicui leads the Brigade Leader and other villagers to the cowshed, claiming she saw Wang Ermazi enter. They find no one except Lang You and Lang Ling.
• The Brigade Leader rebukes Wang Cuicui for repeated false accusations and warns that further trouble could get her reported to the police.

Character developments

• Lang You is touched by his former student’s loyalty, contrasting it with the betrayal he has faced. He remains grateful to the girls and begins cautiously trusting their help.
• Lang Ling is shown as intellectually curious and dedicated, taking advantage of his grandfather’s lessons despite their difficult circumstances.
• Wang Ermazi proves kind-hearted and supportive: he intends to help the cowshed residents and responds to his daughters’ secret visits with pride rather than anger.
• Wang Cuicui grows increasingly vindictive and erratic. Her attempt to expose Wang Ermazi fails, reinforcing the villagers’ distrust of her.
• The Brigade Leader loses patience with Wang Cuicui’s repeated disruptions, though he still acts responsibly toward Lang You and Lang Ling.

Significant themes

• Loyalty versus betrayal: Lang You’s former students represent both selfish betrayal and lasting gratitude.
• Compassion amid hardship: The girls and Wang Ermazi help people ostracized by the community, despite the risks.
• Knowledge and hope: Lang You’s lessons give Lang Ling a path toward learning and a future beyond their confinement.
• False accusations and consequences: Wang Cuicui’s reckless claims damage her credibility and exhaust the people around her.

Character interactions

• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian care for Lang You and Lang Ling through discreet visits, supplies, and medicine.
• Lang You and Lang Ling share a grandfather-grandson bond strengthened by their nightly lessons.
• Wang Ermazi connects his family’s aid to Lang You’s former student, then warmly welcomes his daughters’ generosity.
• Wang Cuicui’s confrontation with Lang You is stopped by the Brigade Leader, who defends the elderly man and reprimands her for wasting the villagers’ time.

Key plot points and events

• An Weimin awakens with memories of a previous life and realizes he has returned to the past. Knowing the Shi family once helped his military career, he decides to pursue Shi Lili during his home leave, hoping to secure her as a wife before he must consider leaving the army.
• He approaches Lili in the fields and insists on helping her, despite her clear refusal. He behaves as though they are already close and claims she likes him.
• The villagers, alerted by the mysterious voice of Wenren Luoshui, notice An Weimin’s harassment. The voice exposes the selfish advantages he hopes to gain by marrying Lili: a caregiver for his mother, a nanny and tutor for his five children, and support for his career.
• Lili warns that she will report him, then slaps him when he continues. The Brigade Leader orders An Weimin to stop or face the police, but An ignores him and presses Lili to come home with him.
• After further taunting from Wenren Luoshui about the exhausting domestic labor awaiting her, Lili slaps An Weimin several more times and demands that the Brigade Leader handle the harassment fairly, threatening to involve the Educated Youth Office.
• An Weimin dismisses her anger as “sulking” and insists she is his wife—leaving the confrontation unresolved.

Character developments

• An Weimin uses his memories of his past life to pursue his own interests, but his entitlement and confidence make him increasingly repellent to the villagers. He assumes Lili will eventually submit and shows no respect for her refusal.
• Shi Lili is firm and outspoken. She rejects An Weimin, defends her reputation, and invokes official channels when he will not stop.
• The Brigade Leader turns against An Weimin, moving from exhaustion with village trouble to actively threatening intervention.
• Wenren Luoshui’s voice continues to expose hidden motives and rally public scrutiny, giving Lili’s predicament a broader audience.

Significant themes

• Consent and harassment: An Weimin treats persistence as courtship, while Lili insists that her refusal must be respected.
• Marriage as exploitation: His pursuit appears driven by the domestic and practical benefits Lili could provide, rather than affection.
• Public accountability: The villagers’ attention and the Brigade Leader’s intervention challenge An’s assumption that he can act without consequences.
• Reputation and gender expectations: The chapter highlights the social risks women face when men make false claims about their relationships.

Character interactions

• An Weimin’s possessive advances clash with Lili’s repeated rejection and physical resistance.
• Wenren Luoshui’s commentary prompts villagers to recognize the harassment and suspect An’s motives.
• The Brigade Leader backs Lili and warns An, while An dismisses both his authority and Lili’s objections.

Key plot points and events

• An Weimin publicly claims Shi Lili is destined to be his wife, while his triplets call her “Mom” and demand food and chores from her. The women in the village condemn the family’s shamelessness.
• Shi Lili’s fellow educated youths stand together and threaten to appeal to the Educated Youth Office, refusing to let the incident set a precedent. The Brigade Leader rebukes An Weimin, but An ignores him and grabs Shi Lili’s wrist.
• A chain of accidents intervenes: An Weimin kicks his son, who is carrying a hoe, then steps on it and is struck painfully in the groin. The Brigade Leader sends him for medical care and reports him to the police for harassing Shi Lili.
• An Weimin is discharged from the army and imprisoned for several years. His family is publicly criticized, and the villagers withdraw the help they once gave them. After his release, he remains fixated on Shi Lili but cannot travel to find her.
• An Weimin later suffers chronic, unexplained pain and dies frail and underweight at ninety. Shi Lili, by contrast, has a happy life: she attends Kyoto University, studies abroad, and returns to become a national researcher.
• Wenren Luoshui earns 1,000 merit points and learns she needs about 5,000 to return to the Li Kingdom. Suspicious of the system’s calculation, she jokingly withholds its dinner.

Character developments and interactions

• An Weimin reveals himself as entitled and manipulative, treating Shi Lili as a prize and ignoring both her wishes and the Brigade Leader’s authority. His actions bring legal and social consequences.
• Shi Lili is protected by the solidarity of the other educated youths and ultimately escapes An’s control, building a successful and fulfilling future.
• The Brigade Leader shifts from warning An to enforcing consequences, siding with Shi Lili and the educated youths.
• The villagers move from occasional kindness toward the An Family to collective disapproval and rejection after seeing how they treat women.
• Wenren Luoshui and the system trade playful, antagonistic remarks, adding comic relief after the serious events.

Significant themes

• Solidarity against harassment: the educated youths’ united response makes clear that mistreatment will not be tolerated.
• Consequences and justice: An’s entitlement leads to punishment, social isolation, and a miserable later life, while Shi Lili thrives.
• Women’s autonomy and opportunity: Shi Lili’s education and career contrast sharply with the An Family’s attempts to confine her to domestic service.

Key plot points

• During the winter, Wang Cuicui is neglected by her grandfather, Old Wang, who has taken in a widow from another brigade. Cuicui and the widow dislike each other after Cuicui tries to order her around and is firmly put in her place.
• Cuicui discovers that people outside her own brigade do not know about her ability to steal others’ luck. She begins earning food by claiming she can predict whether unborn babies will be boys or girls—and gains a reputation after five predictions prove correct.
• A furious Aunt Sun arrives with several men and confronts Cuicui. She says Cuicui’s prediction about her daughter has damaged the young woman’s relationship with her boyfriend and brought her serious distress.
• The chapter explains the conflict: at the Old Liu family’s invitation, Cuicui said Aunt Sun’s daughter would have only three sick daughters. The prediction is presented as partly accurate, but Cuicui wrongly blamed the young woman’s fate rather than the Liu family’s inherited health problems.
• The chapter ends with Aunt Sun recounting how her daughter returned from the Liu home in tears; the neighbors who witnessed Cuicui’s pronouncement can confirm what happened.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Cuicui is resourceful enough to find a new source of food, but her confidence in her predictions and lack of care for their consequences provoke a confrontation. She remains isolated and poorly cared for.
• Old Wang makes clear that he has no intention of protecting or supporting Cuicui, directing her accusers straight to her room.
• The step-grandmother is introduced as tough and independent, not someone Cuicui can bully; she provides Old Wang care but offers Cuicui no warmth.
• Aunt Sun fiercely defends her youngest daughter, whom she deeply loves after having seven sons. She confronts Cuicui directly and explains the damage caused by the prediction.
• Aunt Sun’s daughter and Little Liu are caught between their affection for each other and the Liu mother’s demand for a wife who can provide male heirs. Cuicui’s words intensify that conflict.

Significant themes

• Prejudice and gender preference: The Liu family values a woman primarily for her ability to bear sons, while daughters—and especially sick daughters—are treated as a threat.
• The harm of careless claims: Cuicui’s prediction gains authority because of her reputation, yet its consequences fall on a young couple and their families.
• Isolation and survival: Abandoned by her household and shunned locally, Cuicui turns to strangers for food, while other characters’ actions are shaped by grief, family pressures, and social vulnerability.
• Fate versus inherited circumstances: The narrative contrasts Cuicui’s language of destiny with the supposed biological explanation for the Liu family’s repeated losses.

Key plot points and events

• Aunt Sun and her sons confront Wang Cuicui after she slandered Aunt Sun’s daughter, damaging the young woman’s reputation. Aunt Sun grabs Cuicui by the hair and demands justice.
• Cuicui refuses to apologize and boasts that Aunt Sun’s daughter’s difficulty having a son is her own fault. The Sun family prepares to beat her.
• Cuicui begs Aunt Niu to help, invoking an earlier “blessing,” but Aunt Niu rejects her: after accepting Cuicui’s blessing, her son Ergou broke his leg and still limps.
• Villagers recount Cuicui’s past misdeeds, including falsely blaming her second uncle for her own injury and accusing him of visiting people in the cowshed. They also explain that her father is imprisoned, her mother divorced him, and her grandfather dislikes her.
• Cuicui escapes the circle of men and clings to Old Wang, insisting that as her grandfather he must protect her. He refuses, pointing out that their households separated long ago.
• Aunt Sun demands that the Wang family answer for Cuicui’s actions. Widow Qian argues with her, defending Old Wang and criticizing the Suns for failing to inquire about Cuicui before bringing their complaint.
• Cuicui tries to shift the burden onto her second uncle, Wang Ermazi, saying he can pay compensation. She then insults his daughters as “money-losers” and calls herself a “lucky star,” drawing further ridicule from the villagers.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Cuicui remains brazen and self-serving. When threatened, she appeals to whoever might protect or pay for her, but shows no remorse and treats others’ help as something she is owed.
• Aunt Sun is furious and protective of her daughter, determined to make Cuicui’s household answer for the reputational harm.
• Aunt Niu has lost faith in Cuicui after associating her “blessing” with her son’s lasting injury.
• Old Wang refuses Cuicui’s appeal, exposing how little family support she has left.
• Widow Qian steps in to defend Old Wang, while the gathered villagers openly mock Cuicui and recount her history.

Significant themes

• Consequences of manipulation: Cuicui’s past lies and exploitation have eroded trust, leaving former supporters unwilling to help.
• Family responsibility and self-interest: Cuicui invokes kinship only when she needs protection or money, while others reject responsibility for her actions.
• Reputation and gender expectations: Aunt Sun emphasizes the serious harm Cuicui’s gossip has done to her daughter’s standing.
• Community judgment: The villagers’ collective testimony turns the confrontation into a public reckoning, making clear that Cuicui’s behavior is widely known and condemned.

Key plot points and events

• The Sun family confronts Wang Cuicui for spreading damaging claims about their daughter. They reject money as compensation and demand that Cuicui publicly admit she was wrong.
• Cuicui tries to justify herself by insisting her second uncle is obligated to support her. Her grandfather, Old Wang, kicks her down and makes clear he sides with his remaining son, Wang Ermazi, rather than with Cuicui.
• A mysterious voice reveals that Auntie Sun’s daughter is healthy: the difficulty having a son and the children’s hereditary illnesses are linked to Liu Desheng and the Old Liu family, not to her.
• Relieved by this explanation, the Sun family demands that Cuicui go door to door and confess she is a fraud. Old Wang agrees, since the punishment does not affect him.
• An unseen force compels Cuicui to repeat the confession. The Sun family takes her to the Liu home, where she is made to repeat it before the villagers. A Liu woman attacks her, but Cuicui cannot stop speaking.

Character developments

• Wang Cuicui shifts from defiant and self-serving to helplessly exposed, forced to publicly recant her claims.
• Old Wang shows that his priorities are financial and practical: he sides with Wang Ermazi, who supports him, and readily permits Cuicui’s punishment.
• Auntie Sun moves from anger and uncertainty to relief and resolve after learning her daughter is not at fault. She intends to spread the truth.
• The Sun family acts collectively to defend their sister and demand accountability.
• The Old Liu family responds with denial and violence, refusing to accept that the problem may lie with Liu Desheng.

Significant themes

• Misogyny and blame: Women are blamed for not bearing sons, while men’s fertility is rarely questioned.
• Rumor and accountability: Cuicui’s careless claims harm others, and the chapter demands a public correction.
• Family loyalty and self-interest: Old Wang’s support follows financial benefit rather than kinship.
• Truth and justice: The mysterious revelation counters Cuicui’s false certainty, though justice arrives through supernatural compulsion.

Character interactions

• The Sun family clashes with Cuicui over the harm she caused, while Old Wang’s kick and rejection deepen her humiliation.
• Auntie Sun listens to the mysterious voice, then shares the revelation with her family, strengthening their position.
• The Sun family and Old Wang agree that Cuicui herself—not her relatives—must apologize.
• At the Liu home, villagers witness Cuicui’s forced confession as a Liu woman attacks her, turning the dispute into a public confrontation with the family’s gendered double standard.

Key plot points and events

• In winter, Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian play-fight with icicles, their smaller bodies seeming to bring their behavior closer to their physical ages.
• Chen Fuyu’s niece, Chen Xi, loses her temporary factory job after a connected official’s nephew takes her place. With help from her family, she is assigned to the Eagle Brigade, where she will stay with Chen Fuyu and Wang Ermazi.
• A new script reveals Chen Xi’s future. She falls for fellow educated youth Chu Xuewen, who presents himself as modest and helpless but privately manipulates her into fighting his battles while he appears conciliatory.
• Chen Xi gradually alienates the other educated youths and gives up her ambition to study medicine, following Chu to junior college instead.
• Years later, Chu seeks a management job in Wang Ermazi and Chen Fuyu’s growing business. Wang, distrustful of him, gives the couple assembly-line positions. Chu hides his disappointment while encouraging Chen Xi’s resentment toward her aunt and uncle.
• When pregnant, Chen Xi demands that Chen Fuyu buy her an apartment in Jingcheng as “compensation” for the child. Chen Fuyu refuses, and Chen Xi is escorted out.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xi begins as a gentle, promising young woman, but under Chu’s influence becomes combative, dependent, and estranged from others. She repeatedly rejects Chen Fuyu’s advice and turns against her aunt.
• Chu Xuewen maintains a respectable public image while privately manipulating Chen Xi for support and advantage. He uses her loyalty to pursue educational and career opportunities.
• Chen Fuyu tries to protect and advise her niece without interfering excessively, but sets firm limits when Chen Xi makes unreasonable demands.
• Wang Ermazi recognizes Chu’s character, refuses to give him an undeserved managerial role, and assigns the couple ordinary work instead.
• The script-reading protagonist learns Chen Xi’s future through the system, which announces her as the “second female lead.”

Significant themes

• Manipulation disguised as vulnerability: Chu’s self-deprecation and apparent modesty conceal his ability to steer Chen Xi.
• Love and self-sacrifice: Chen Xi abandons her own goals and judgment for her relationship.
• Family boundaries and entitlement: Chen Fuyu offers support but rejects the idea that kinship obliges her to satisfy every demand.
• Public image versus private motives: Chu’s outwardly mild persona contrasts with his self-serving behavior.