Judge
In the center of the mourning hall, fresh flowers surrounded a brand-new Martyr’s Ash Box.
On the box was a name: [Zhao Lingcheng 1938~1976]
A woman with yellowed hair and a haggard face trembled as she opened the lid and placed a Photo inside.
It was a black-and-white Photo, showing a little girl of about five or six.
Her big eyes curved like crescent moons, and her upturned lips were dimpled with a deep smile.
The Photo slipped quietly down, and on the back was a line of childish writing: Daddy, I’ll wait for you in heaven!
1st Anniversary Celebration
The woman suppressed her sobs: “This was taken after Niuniu met her father, look how happy she is.”
“Niuniu said, even though she only spent three days with her father, he was the one she loved most. I’m sorry, Lingcheng, I really couldn’t find Niuniu’s remains, so let her Photo accompany you in your eternal rest.”
Chen Mianmian stayed up all night reading, but ended up filled with anger.
In the period novel “Fragrant Sixties,” there was an outstanding supporting male character that she could never get over—
Zhao Lingcheng.
He was originally a Special Forces Soldier rooted in the desert, researching Military Engineering.
But because he accidentally saved the female supporting character from drowning, she clung to him and forced a marriage.
At first, Zhao Lingcheng felt their feelings weren’t deep enough and there was no need to rush into living together, but the female supporting character drugged him and forced him into bed.
Zhao Lingcheng wanted to live a good life, but the female supporting character turned around and climbed the social ladder, demanding a divorce.
Niuniu was the child she had no choice but to give birth to after several failed attempts at taking Abortifacient Medicine—
Zhao Lingcheng’s own flesh and blood.
To marry into a higher family, she abandoned Niuniu at her mother’s home, leaving her there for six or seven years.
Since childhood, not only did Niuniu never have a full meal, she also had to constantly do chores at such a young age.
She also had to endure beatings from her uncle and aunt, scorn from her grandmother, living a life shrouded in darkness.
Until one day, the female supporting character suddenly had a pang of conscience and said she would take Niuniu to find her father.
At this point, Chen Mianmian finally breathed a sigh of relief, yawned, and kept reading.
But immediately, her anger flared up again.
“I was so muddle-headed. When I went back to my mother’s house, I always saw Niuniu covered in bruises. They said she was just clumsy and fell, and I foolishly believed them. Now I realize, just how much she suffered.”
“Niuniu was a genius. She never went to school but taught herself to write, and could recite thousands of digits of pi.”
“I have sinned. I shouldn’t have listened to their instigations and used Niuniu as a bargaining chip to force you to remarry me. She couldn’t bear to see you struggle, so she quietly took her own life, dying where no one could find her. My daughter, my Niuniu…”
Chen Mianmian thought the female supporting character had truly repented and was returning Niuniu to her father out of conscience.
But she was wrong, so very wrong!
The female supporting character had been manipulated by her brother and sister-in-law, knowing that Zhao Lingcheng was now a high-ranking Leader.
She wanted to use Niuniu as leverage to remarry Zhao Lingcheng and use his power for her own family’s benefit.
Looking at his thin but clever and adorable daughter, Zhao Lingcheng was moved.
He immediately took out all his savings and valuables, just to win custody of his daughter.
But the female supporting character made outrageous demands that Zhao Lingcheng couldn’t meet.
While he was caught in a dilemma and the female supporting character was making a scene, little Niuniu stood up and fought back.
It was a stormy night, thunder and lightning flashing.
Niuniu wrote her farewell to her father on the Photo, promising to meet him in heaven, then disappeared alone into the endless, vast Gobi Desert.
After searching the Gobi Desert for his daughter to no avail, Zhao Lingcheng died on a mission.
But the female supporting character’s family didn’t get their retribution; her brother and sister-in-law even became local small-time Leaders.
The whole family became local Brahmins.
At this point, Chen Mianmian furiously typed: So good people die young, while the villains live forever?
And then: Why doesn’t the female supporting character die, and her family too—shouldn’t they all be executed?
After angrily writing a thousand-word review, she threw down her phone and finally managed to fall asleep.
But in her dreams, she saw the villains who abused Niuniu.
It was a place called the State Guesthouse.
As if dreaming, Chen Mianmian walked into a guest room.
There was a large earthen kang bed in the room, with a Flower Quilt folded on top.
A Mirror hung on the wall, and on the Mirror was a Slogan: Do your best, build the Great Northwest.
A woman stood in front of the Mirror, opening her floral padded jacket, staring intently at her high, rounded belly.
Her eyebrows and eyes looked almost identical to Chen Mianmian’s own.
Chen Mianmian didn’t understand what was happening, but somehow she knew—that was the female supporting character.
Looking at her bulging belly, she must be pregnant with little Niuniu!
As Chen Mianmian hesitated, she saw the female supporting character suddenly raise her hand and punch her swollen abdomen several times.
Chen Mianmian immediately felt a sharp pain in her belly, and, furious, raised her hand to slap her.
This foolish woman—she would suffer massive bleeding from the abortion, barely surviving.
Was it worth harming and ruining her own body like this?
But when she slapped, her hand landed on the Mirror.
Looking closely again, she saw herself, clothes open and hair disheveled—she was the female supporting character.
So she’d transmigrated into the book, and become the female supporting character?
Her belly hurt badly.
Chen Mianmian quickly bent over, taking deep breaths.
Gradually, the pain subsided. Just as she relaxed, a knock sounded on the door outside.
She asked warily: “Who is it?”
A cheerful male voice answered: “Second Sister, it’s me, Jinhui.”
Sparks flew from Chen Mianmian’s eyes, anger surging to her head.
Chen Jinhui—the female supporting character’s precious younger brother.
He was also the one in the novel who abused Niuniu the most, beating her constantly.
Don’t be fooled by his tall stature and gentle appearance, or his very respectable job.
As an uncle, not only did he not care for Niuniu, he was cruel, beating and abusing her until she died.
This was a 1960s inn, with no inner lock on the door, just a wooden stick propping it shut.
Chen Mianmian had just moved the stick aside when a tall man in a wool coat walked in.
Seeing her belly exposed, he looked concerned: “That bastard child still hasn’t been beaten out?”
He hung his coat on the wall and added,
“Make me a cup of milk powder, I’m thirsty, want some milk powder.”
Chen Mianmian hid the stick behind her: “What are you here for?”
Chen Jinhui still looked concerned: “Ever since Zhao Lingcheng brought you back to the family, neighbors have gossiped and shamed you so much you don’t dare go home, staying at the Guesthouse. Why am I here? Of course, to help Second Sister find a man better than Zhao Lingcheng.”
Chen Mianmian paused, feeling the sharp tip of a nail at the end of the stick—a perfect weapon for home defense or murder.
Weighing the stick in her hand, she asked again,
“Who’s better than Zhao Lingcheng?”
Chen Jinhui thought his sister was acting odd, but patiently explained: “Wei Section Chief, of course, he’s already agreed to marry you.”
Chen Mianmian patted her belly: “But the child I’m carrying is Zhao Lingcheng’s.”
The female supporting character had been divorced for about half a year, but only realized she was pregnant four months in.
By then, she was already discussing marriage with Wei Section Chief from the Iron Pipe Bureau.
She wanted to remarry, but her belly grew bigger by the day.
Distressed, she punched her stomach in an attempt to abort.
Chen Jinhui spoke gently: “Aren’t I here to help you?”
Then, mysteriously, he said: “My wife pulled some strings to find an Old Chinese Doctor, got some Abortifacient Medicine. Just drink it, painless and easy, and the bastard child will come out on its own.”
But that Abortifacient Medicine not only couldn’t induce abortion, it would cause a difficult labor and massive bleeding, nearly killing the female supporting character.
The child that would be born, crying and kicking, would be Niuniu.
The stick in her hand was itching for action, but Chen Mianmian still held back and said,
“The country strictly forbids abortions. Doing it privately could cost lives. What I should do now is contact Zhao Lingcheng and discuss giving birth to the child.”
Chen Jinhui spread his hands: “Sis, I’ve sent more than a dozen telegrams to Zhao Lingcheng about the child, telling him to come take you back to the unit, but he never replied. That proves he doesn’t want you, or the child.”
Chen Mianmian sneered.
If she hadn’t read the original book, she might have believed it.
Chen Jinhui did send telegrams to Zhao Lingcheng, but not about her pregnancy—he used her name to ask for money, so of course Zhao Lingcheng didn’t respond.
The female supporting character had also considered getting back with her ex-husband for the child’s sake, and foolishly waited for a reply.
Who knew, the brother she loved and trusted most had been lying to both sides all along.
Chen Jinhui kept trying to persuade her: “It’s just one dose of medicine. Think about Wei Section Chief—he promised to promote me, and all my brothers-in-law’s Iron Rice Bowls depend on him. As soon as you marry him, we’ll all get in. Let’s just take the medicine and abort.”
The high-branch Wei Section Chief was Chen Jinhui’s superior.
Once they became in-laws, he and his wife, plus several brothers-in-law, could all get into the railway system and secure Iron Rice Bowls.
But because of birth complications, the female supporting character would never be able to have children again, and still ended up divorced.
Her whole life was just making wedding clothes for her brother’s family.
Now that Chen Mianmian had become the female supporting character, of course she’d choose to go back to Zhao Lingcheng and safely give birth to little Niuniu.
As for the man in front of her—the one who caused Niuniu’s death—she only wanted to give him a good beating today.
Stretching lazily, Chen Jinhui smiled and asked,
“So, should I bring you the medicine?”
When Chen Mianmian didn’t answer, he gently coaxed,
“Sis, our whole family’s Iron Rice Bowl depends on you.”
Before he finished speaking, Chen Mianmian had already swung the stick and smashed it down on his head.
With a loud bang, the sharp nail pierced his scalp and blood flowed out.
It was the first time Chen Jinhui had been hit by his second sister—he was stunned.
He shrieked,
“Second Sister!”
And then shouted,
“You—you actually hit me!”
Chen Mianmian’s profession was Lawyer, but she’d learned a bit of swimming, shooting, taekwondo, and fencing.
She wasn’t a professional fighter, but dealing with local thugs was a piece of cake.
Afraid she’d hit him again, Chen Jinhui tried to grab the stick, but Chen Mianmian dodged and hit him in the eye socket.
Chen Jinhui bent over in pain, clutching his face and howling.
Thinking of his deceit and cruelty to women, she beat him a few more times out of anger.
But just then, she suddenly felt a strange movement in her belly.
Chen Mianmian instinctively stopped, holding her abdomen, and Chen Jinhui took the chance to run away.
Why was her belly moving on its own?
Chen Mianmian thought it was just an illusion and wanted to chase after him.
Miraculously, her belly moved again.
Chen Mianmian didn’t really understand, but she had a vague idea—it was the fetus moving.
She patted her belly and said,
“Niuniu, don’t be afraid. I’ve driven away the bad guy. I’ll take you to find your daddy!”