Cheng Su sat hugging her knees, staring blankly at the red room, letting the memories of her predecessor erode her.
Qi Taiguo, now twenty-eight years old, had significant military accomplishments and was already a company commander in the Qing City Army Command, highly valued by his superiors, with a future that shone bright.
In contrast, Cheng Su was the daughter of farmers. The Cheng family ancestors were capitalists, but their fortunes had declined generations ago. Yet she still fancied herself as someone descended from wealth. She failed to realize how far they had fallen; in this 1980s era, she was a true village girl, a pure bumpkin.
Yes, the 1980s!
Cheng Su, having died saving someone in her past life, was dragged down from a building and her soul transmigrated into someone with the same name and surname. That is, the Cheng Su who was about to jump from a building was now twenty years old!
Cheng Su covered her face and wailed. Was this what they meant when they said good people didn't live long?
Out of all the rare occurrences, she had to encounter this one. Was it a coincidence or a cruel jest by the heavens?
Returning to the body's original owner, she was quite a character: proud and arrogant, barely shy of being aggressive and domineering. How could such a person marry Qi Taiguo, a man with such a promising future?
It was also Qi Taiguo's shame. When he was young, he broke his leg working in the fields with his father and had no money for treatment. Cheng Liushan, Cheng Su's father, had earned a large sum of money for capturing bandits before the liberation and thus lent a significant amount to the Qi family, saving Qi Taiguo's leg. The condition for this loan was a marriage arrangement between their children.
At that time, the Qi family was in dire straits, Mother Qi was in poor health, and Cheng Su, the family's daughter, was also well-born. On a whim, Father Qi agreed to the marriage, not realizing it would be a lifelong regret. The Cheng family's fortunes kept declining year by year, and Cheng Su's personality twisted as she grew, believing they had bought Qi Taiguo with money, which only fueled her possessiveness.
Over the years, even though Qi Taiguo was seldom home due to military service, every time he returned, if any woman got close to him, Cheng Su would cause an uproar, leading to her reputation for being fierce and jealous, or in other words, not someone to trifle with.
Yet, the Qi family, due to Qi Taiguo's military status, couldn't call off the marriage, lest they fall from grace. Father Qi, both caring for his reputation and an honest man, never thought of breaking off the engagement.
And today was the good day they were to be married.
It was also a day Qi Taiguo could no longer delay, as Cheng Su's side pressed on, and his aging father, after an illness, feared he might not live to see his son marry. Naturally, he hoped to see his son married and with children, free from that regret.
So, under immense pressure, Qi Taiguo reluctantly took marriage leave to return to his hometown. He married Cheng Su, held the wedding banquet, and officially became husband and wife.
Unexpectedly, on the night of their wedding, Commander Qi was pushed off the bed midway through consummating the marriage. If word got out, it would surely be the talk of the town, laughing stock material.
Qi Taiguo finished his cigarette and didn't go back into the room. Instead, he sat under the stone in front of the house, gazing up at the night sky, listening to Cheng Su's intermittent screams from inside. He shook his head and sighed, filled with sorrow and anxiety for his future days.
This woman was fickle and unreadable; not exactly a charming person.
And for the next several decades, was he to just endure it?
Qi Taiguo pursed his lips, his expression darkening. He lit another cigarette, contemplating his future life in great detail.