Chapter 1
Qiao Wei opened her eyes and realized that this body was very weak.
She had been ill for two or three years and had grown accustomed to the feeling of weakness. At this very moment, she actually felt quite good; she simply lacked strength, but there was no agonizing pain.
To her, being pain-free was like heaven.
She lay quietly on the crude wooden plank bed, absorbing the information in her brain.
Qiao Wei had already died in another world. She had been young and healthy, but was suddenly diagnosed with a terminal illness. After surgery, it metastasized, and her condition deteriorated rapidly.
During those last two years, she was not only weak but also in agony. The once energetic young woman had been reduced to a skeletal shell by the pain.
Yet, even so, she had wanted to live, but unfortunately, she ultimately lost the battle to the illness.
She hadn’t expected that upon opening her eyes again, she would have transmigrated into a period novel, becoming the cannon fodder ex-wife of the male lead, Qiao Weiwei.
In this novel, Qiao Weiwei never actually appeared on screen. The story began with the male lead and the female lead going on a blind date to discuss marriage; once they reached an agreement, they registered their marriage.
In reality, the female lead was a transmigrator who had been reborn. She had known early on that Qiao Weiwei’s husband would become a powerful figure in the future. After being reborn, she did everything in her power to get her family to introduce her, forcing her way into marrying the male lead and becoming the stepmother to Qiao Weiwei’s son.
As a reborn female lead, everything naturally went smoothly for her. Initially, the male lead just wanted to find a woman to take care of his son, but gradually, he was won over by her.
As for the male lead himself, being the protagonist of a novel, he naturally possessed the “male lead halo.” Without a doubt, he thrived in the book. Although he came from a rural background and lacked education, his subsequent life and career path were smooth sailing.
The sweet side stories at the end of the book, detailing their family life, even reached the point of the couple’s grandchild, who was clearly a high-ranking official’s offspring. In other words, as the grandfather, the male lead must have held a high position in the end. This was exactly what the female lead had been aiming for.
The ending was harmonious and happy, with children and grandchildren filling the house—a big, capitalized “Happy Ending.”
As for the original wife, Qiao Weiwei, who never even showed her face in the main text, she was only mentioned once: “She ran off with someone and later died,” and was never brought up again.
Neither her husband nor her son ever mentioned her again; in their eyes, there was only the shining female lead.
Cannon fodder—Qiao Wei understood clearly now that the original wife, Qiao Weiwei, was what is commonly known as cannon fodder.
Unfortunately, she was Qiao Weiwei now.
After receiving Qiao Weiwei’s memories, she finally understood what had happened—Qiao Weiwei had truly run off with someone.
Qiao Weiwei had a first love who had gotten into college and gone to The Capital to study.
Qiao Weiwei had studied until high school when her father passed away; her mother had passed away several years prior. Suddenly, she was left without parents, dependent on no one, and had to drop out of school to take over her father’s job. However, her father had been a skilled worker, and she couldn’t handle the job. The position was taken by someone else, and the factory assigned her a job as a laborer, but she couldn’t manage the work and felt miserable all day long.
Others couldn’t bear to watch and suggested to her: “Why not find a man and get married?”
It just so happened that the Military Unit was organizing a group blind date, and her workplace recommended she attend. The male lead took a liking to her. The male lead was a soldier, which in this era was a profession with good benefits, high social status, and honor, so Qiao Weiwei got married.
After marrying and following him to the army, the organization would arrange jobs for military dependents, but who knew she would be unwilling to work after just two months? Plus, she soon became pregnant, so the matter of work was put on hold.
After giving birth, Qiao Weiwei stayed home to take care of the child and never returned to work.
In her heart, she didn’t really want to work either. Although everyone said being a worker was honorable, she still wanted to study and get into college. But raising a child and doing housework was no easy task; as a first-time mother, she was exhausted every day and had no energy to study or review.
Her dreams were extinguished day by day amidst the child’s crying and the cold war between husband and wife.
When the child was three, her first love returned. He had graduated from college and become a technician at the Diesel Engine Factory in the provincial capital, shining with promise.
The Technician had someone bring a few books to Qiao Weiwei. In these times, some books couldn’t be bought in their local bookstores; they were all brought back by college students from The Capital. Moved, Qiao Weiwei wrote a letter to The Technician.
The Technician replied, and thus, the two of them re-established contact.
With letters going back and forth, their past hazy feelings resurfaced. The Technician’s literary talent was such that even the most serious words he wrote sounded like love letters, coaxing Qiao Weiwei until she was completely lost.
Qiao Weiwei, in a moment of impulsive heat, asked the male lead for a divorce.
The male lead, of course, did not agree. In this day and age, divorce was a shameful affair; one would be gossiped about and have fingers pointed at their back.
Qiao Weiwei was blinded by love; regardless of everything, she entrusted the child to a neighbor and rushed to the provincial capital alone to pursue happiness.
Who would have known that she would arrive just in time for the wedding of The Technician and the factory director’s daughter? When The Technician saw her, his eyes darted away. It turned out he was merely conceited and romantic, wanting to engage in a platonic romance without ever intending to be serious with Qiao Weiwei. He had originally thought that since Qiao Weiwei was a married woman, it would be safe. He never expected Qiao Weiwei to get so worked up and actually come looking for him.
Qiao Weiwei didn’t make a scene; she even ate a piece of wedding candy at the ceremony. Holding the sweet candy, she turned and left. Upon returning, she lay down and didn’t have a drop of water for a day and a night, while also running a high fever.
If this continued, her life would be in danger.
No wonder at the beginning of the novel, the male lead became a single parent raising a child and had to find a stepmother for him.
As the memories ended here, Qiao Wei sighed.
She had fought desperately to live but lost to illness, yet Qiao Weiwei did not cherish her life at all.
When she first transmigrated, the information about the cannon fodder female supporting character’s life was stuffed into Qiao Wei’s brain like force-feeding a duck, and her brain felt as painful as if hundreds of needles had been stuck into it. Qiao Wei could only remain motionless.
These pieces of information carried a lot of emotions: resentment, dissatisfaction, regret, and anger. Most were negative emotions, but the only somewhat different emotion was guilt.
This guilt was not for the male lead, but for the child she shared with him. She had no feelings for the male lead; the only warmth she had left before dying, the only thing she couldn’t let go of, was her son.
In reality, Qiao Wei, who had read the original text, knew that the son of Qiao Weiwei and the male lead eventually lived quite well in the eyes of others under the care of the stepmother (the female lead).
Although the female lead in this novel had no other golden fingers besides being reborn, she had been a housewife all her life in her previous life, so she was capable of all kinds of housework; one could even say housework was her specialty.
The male lead was an officer, belonging to a high-income group, and the family lived very well. The original owner Qiao Weiwei’s son ate well and dressed well; although he didn’t like to talk and was very quiet, he later got into college and had outstanding grades.
Everyone praised the female lead for being a good stepmother.
When others occasionally mentioned the cannon fodder female supporting character Qiao Weiwei, they would all curl their lips and say, “She didn’t know how lucky she was.”
Some would even curse her as a “gluttonous and lazy fool,” and there were even the male lead’s relatives who would curse her right in front of the male lead and his son. After cursing the female supporting character, they would say, “Be sure to be filial to your (step)mother in the future.”
Whenever this happened, the female supporting character’s son would remain silent and say nothing.
Neither the male lead nor his son ever actively mentioned her again, not even once. At least it never appeared in the text; as for the parts the author didn’t write about, Qiao Wei didn’t know if the male lead and his son had thought of her or mentioned her.
In short, the female supporting character Qiao Weiwei was definitely cannon fodder.
Qiao Wei closed her eyes and accepted this emotion from Qiao Weiwei.
A long time later, when the chaotic information in her brain finally stopped, Qiao Wei opened her eyes. From now on, she was Qiao Weiwei.
Someone’s wife, someone’s mother.
Actually, Qiao Weiwei hadn’t even graduated from high school before she started working, and she got married less than a year after starting work. Now, the child was only four years old, and she was only twenty-two. She was even younger than Qiao Wei’s real age.
For Qiao Wei, gaining a new life, a younger body—nothing could be luckier than this.
The urgent task at hand was to find someone to save herself. This body was running a high fever; because of some magical power, she hadn’t died, but she was extremely weak.
Qiao Wei tried to struggle up, but fell off the bed. Fortunately, this “bed” wasn’t a proper bed; it was made of bricks stacked underneath with a board—she didn’t know if it was a tabletop or a door panel—placed on top to serve as a bed. The overall height was very low, so the fall didn’t hurt.
Qiao Wei sat weakly on the floor, catching her breath for a while.
This was a very narrow room with no proper windows. The lighting was poor, it was dilapidated and ruined, and there was only a crude bed and a broken wooden table.
Qiao Weiwei had run away from home and come to this provincial capital. Upon arriving, she went straight to the Diesel Engine Factory but didn’t see The Technician. She didn’t have a letter of introduction, so she couldn’t stay at a guesthouse. She asked people on the street near the Diesel Engine Factory where she could stay. It just so happened that she met an old woman who said she had a spare room in her house with a bed.
Qiao Weiwei followed her there. It turned out the so-called “room” was a privately built space in a corner of a cluster of houses, only big enough to turn around in. There was indeed a “bed” inside, but it didn’t even have a proper window.
But Qiao Weiwei was unfamiliar with the provincial capital and couldn’t stay at a guesthouse. Plus, she had things on her mind, so she made do. She agreed with the old woman on three mao a day, paying for each day she stayed, and the woman would provide one meal for her; thus, Qiao Weiwei lived here.
She had originally thought that The Technician would return to work soon after his leave, but she didn’t expect to find out upon asking that he was on leave to get married. She stumbled to the wedding scene and only gave up after seeing with her own eyes the prince charming of her dreams marrying someone else; she returned and collapsed with a high fever.
By all rights, after a day and a night, this body should have gone cold. It was because Qiao Wei had transmigrated into it that she had “come alive.”
While Qiao Wei was letting her thoughts run wild, she suddenly heard the faint sound of a car engine and tires braking against the ground.
The sound was too clear because this world was too quiet. Here, the rumbling of cars that could be heard anywhere and at any time in later generations was absent. Occasionally, if someone in the alley rode a bicycle and rang the bell, it could be heard so clearly, let alone the sound of these car tires; it had strong penetrating power and could travel very far.
Qiao Wei’s heart stirred, and she slowly stood up, holding onto the bed.
Sure enough, after a while, footsteps entered the courtyard. The footsteps were heavy, as if every step was taken with heavy strength.
There were voices speaking outside; a man’s voice was asking if there was a woman from out of town renting a room here. The old woman flatly denied it, not wanting to admit it.
Although Qiao Wei had received Qiao Weiwei’s memories, those memories were like old black-and-white movies, lined up on a shelf, requiring a trigger to be activated. After all, she was not from this era, and for a moment, she didn’t understand why the old woman wouldn’t admit it.
But her current condition was very bad, and she needed help. She opened her mouth to shout, but found her throat dry and sore, unable to make a sound.
In the courtyard, the man sternly demanded: “Can you, comrade, guarantee that what you are saying is the truth? I asked others, and they all said a young woman was brought home by you.”
“Do you know who she is, yet you dare to take her in?”
“Does she have a letter of introduction? Does she have a work permit? Who allowed you to privately take in someone of unknown identity?”
Oh, so that was it.
Qiao Wei had already guessed the identity of the man in the courtyard outside by now.
Come in quickly, I’m here!
She opened her mouth, but her throat was simply too painful. It was dry and aching, only managing to emit a few hoarse sounds.
Qiao Wei looked at the door; the bed was in the innermost part, and the broken table was slightly closer to the outside. If she wanted to go to the door, she had to walk over, about five or six steps away. As long as she could walk over, she could push the door open and call for help.
Qiao Wei first held onto the bed, then held onto the table, slowly and weakly taking one step, then another step…
In the courtyard, the old woman could no longer deny it, and she was indeed frightened by this man, muttering as she admitted: “It’s just a young girl, not a vagrant, not… she came to the provincial capital to find someone…”
The man asked: “Where is she?”
The old woman pointed to the small shack she had built in the corner, and lied straight out: “I saw her come back yesterday, and I haven’t seen her go out today, so she should be in.”
The man pursed his lips and strode over.
The old woman felt a bit guilty; she actually hadn’t seen Qiao Wei at all. She had gone to visit relatives yesterday and skipped giving Qiao Wei a meal. Qiao Wei hadn’t looked for her, and she wanted to skip today too, but who knew that a man in a military uniform driving a jeep would suddenly come looking for Qiao Wei.
Looking at his demeanor, he seemed like a high-ranking official. She didn’t know who he was.
“Qiao Wei!” The man banged on the door panel. “It’s me!”
In the room, Qiao Wei shouted in her heart: Come in! Come in!
But her throat hurt so much she couldn’t shout, and she was anxious. She took another step forward, leaning on the table to catch her breath.
Fortunately, the man seemed to be holding back a great deal of anger; after knocking a few times and seeing no response, he turned and asked: “Is she there?”
The old woman said nervously: “I think so?”
With a “bang,” the man kicked the door panel open! The hinges of the door fell off.
The old woman shrank back in fear.
Qiao Wei was anxious that the man would leave without hearing a response, when she heard a loud “bang” and the door opened. The sunlight from outside poured in, slanting like a waterfall of light, cutting the small room into light and shadow.
The door frame was low, and the tall man lowered his head as he stepped in, standing still in the waterfall of light, staring at her coldly.
He wore a green military uniform, had broad shoulders, and was tall with long legs. The light hit the side of his face, cutting his features into two halves of light and shadow.
One side was sharply defined with piercing eyes. The other side had a high nose bridge casting a mountain-like shadow.
His lips were tightly pressed together, not knowing if he was brewing or suppressing his emotions. After a moment, he spoke, his voice low: “Qiao Wei…”
“I’m giving you one last chance. You choose.”
“Divorce, or come home with me.”
Just as Qiao Wei had expected, this man was the husband of the original body Qiao Weiwei, the one targeted by the female lead—Yan Lei.
He had always called Qiao Weiwei “Qiao Wei.” What a coincidence!
