1960, May.
Xiangyang Village.
"Your man doesn’t want you anymore. Sell the kids and get remarried!"
"We’re doing this for your own good. The husband we found doesn’t even mind you being a divorcee."
The moment Vivian Wallace opened her eyes, she heard this shameless nonsense.
She knew she had crossed over—into the exact plot of the period drama novel she had just finished reading and reviewing.
Thinking of what the original character had gone through, anger surged in her chest. Without hesitation, she flipped the table and shouted, "I’m not selling my kids, and I’m not getting remarried!"
"What kind of messed-up 'for your own good' is that? Why don’t you sell yourselves off to some fool for money?"
Her words left the Wallace family stunned.
This fool actually dared to talk back today?
Their faces quickly twisted into ugly expressions as they began yelling.
"A married daughter is like spilled water. We don’t even have enough food right now, and you still want to freeload at your parents' place? How shameless!"
"Your man hasn’t sent a dime in six months. Take your son and daughter and get out! Don’t think about mooching off us any longer!"
"Property’s always been for the sons and daughters-in-law. This is me and Brian’s house now. You’re married off, and even your in-laws won’t take care of you and your kids. Coming back here to snatch our food—don’t you feel embarrassed? We sure do! Get out already!" "Ear-splitting shouts were coming closer and closer."
Vivian Wallace didn’t waste a moment. She raised her hand and slapped them hard across their faces.
Smack! The crisp sound of her slap left them all dumbfounded.
“Vivian, have you gone mad? Are you trying to start a revolt?”
Caroline Davis was flabbergasted that the usually obedient and hardworking girl had suddenly exploded—let alone dared to lay a hand on them.
Just as Caroline moved to retaliate, Vivian struck again, landing another sharp slap that sent the old woman sprawling to the floor. The fall had Caroline wincing, and she quickly switched tactics from aggression to playing the victim, crying and wailing dramatically.
“Oh heavens, what did I do to deserve this? Raised a thankless brat who would dare hit her own mother! My life is so miserable…”
As Caroline sobbed noisily, she shot a look at Robert Wallace. He understood the cue right away; it was his turn to step in.
“I’ll kill you, you ungrateful girl!” Robert yelled, raising his fist as he charged toward Vivian.
But she sidestepped with speed and precision, dodging his attack with ease and countering with a swift kick that sent him sprawling onto his back.
“Ugh, what kind of trash are you? You think you deserve to be called my parents?”
“You’re nothing but thieves who steal children. Karma will catch up with you sooner or later!”
Coming from someone who had read the entire novel, Vivian fully knew just how vile the pair truly were.They switched the original character's child with their own daughter and treated her terribly, using her like a laborer.
It’s the 1960s now, a time of famine, with food being incredibly scarce.
To lighten their burden, they actually pressured her to sell her kids and remarry.
In the book, the original character was tricked into marrying someone else, but she never consummated the marriage.
On her wedding night, she found out her new husband was mentally challenged. She tried to escape but was chased down and beaten to death by his family.
She died without ever learning that her military husband, Matthew Reid, had climbed the ranks to become a powerful Commander.
In the original plot, Matthew wasn’t aware she’d had twins—a boy and a girl. They’d only been together once, under the influence of drugs and without any real feelings, and she even blackmailed him for money afterward.
Matthew had no idea Vivian Wallace was being abused by her family, especially since she and Caroline Davis had conned him twice, which made him despise them even more.
On the day she remarried, Matthew happened to return home for leave and planned to take her to live with him on base.
But he arrived to find her betraying him by getting married again. Furious, he left immediately without making a scene.
He didn’t pursue legal action for her infidelity—figuring that a naive rural woman didn’t deserve to face trial—and walked away to avoid tarnishing his own family’s reputation. Later on, he never remarried. Before dying of illness in the 1980s, he left a will, giving part of his property to Vivian Wallace.
He wanted his ex-wife to live a better life, but the Wallace family misappropriated the money.
The twins sold by her adoptive parents didn’t last long either.
One died of illness, the other starved to death at their foster family’s house.
Even in their final moments, they kept hoping their soldier dad would come and save them.
Reading this part, Vivian Wallace was so angry that she gave the author a terrible review.
She ranted that the author created a character seriously lacking basic intelligence.
She argued that even the most foolish woman wouldn’t blindly follow such cruel suggestions from her parents.
Unmoved by the criticism, the author fired back, claiming Vivian simply didn’t know better.
The author went on to explain that during those times, ignorant and uninformed women were common, products of societal conditions.
Without access to education, how could they develop self-awareness?
These patriarchal women didn’t understand that after marriage, their husband’s family was supposed to be their priority. Instead, they poured themselves into serving their natal families, thinking they were being filial while feeling self-righteous.
As a final remark, the author stated that if Vivian had grown up in that era, she probably wouldn’t have been much better—likely no smarter than the original character.
To even further prove the point, the author said the character’s story was based on a real-life account of a foster daughter from their grandparents’ village, and every detail was true to life. Vivian replied again: "Think about it. A guy’s a military officer, and you’re telling me his wife wouldn’t know better to stick around for a good life? No mom, no matter how bad, would sell her kids like they’re goods, right?"
The moment she sent that comment, her world flipped—she ended up right in the story.
Yep, she was now stuck in this era drama as the poor original character!
Luck was on her side, though. She showed up before the remarriage mess had even started; the twins she’d given birth to hadn’t been sold off by her foster parents yet.
Now that Vivian was here, there was no way she’d let Robert and Caroline manipulate her anymore.
Her mission: Protect those innocent kids and flip the original character’s tragic fate on its head!
The instant she called them out as child thieves, Caroline’s crying cut off sharply.
Even Robert, who’d been kicked to the floor, froze right there, too stunned to get up. He gawked at her in shock, looking like his world had been rocked.
Vivian knew the truth behind their act!
This useless girl—where did she dig up that secret?
A younger woman, still recovering from a slap on the face, stared at the couple in disbelief. “Wait, Dad, Mom—Vivian’s not your real daughter?”
“Who on earth is she then? Did you guys adopt her as some sort of arranged bride?”
Her fury meter shot up thinking about Vivian maybe being a leftover bride. She zeroed in on Brian, grabbing his arm hard while spitting venom: “You heartless jerk! Found yourself a bride here, but still married me? What’s your problem—stone for a heart?” "She’s married now, yet you keep her from joining her husband. Are you two using this as an excuse to sneak around?"
Just thinking about it made her so angry her face went pale!
"And those two kids of hers—don't tell me they're actually yours?"
Vivian recognized the well-dressed but average-looking woman immediately: her sister-in-law, Nina Green.
Back then, Vivian’s foster mother, Caroline Davis, teamed up with her to extort wedding money from Matthew Reid so they could get Nina married to Brian Wallace.
Once Nina entered the family, she quickly realized Vivian was easy to bully, so she joined the Wallace clan in treating her like a servant.
Brian protested, "Nina, don't believe her nonsense! She really is my actual sister!"
"No way I’d ever do anything with her. She’s so scrawny and dark-skinned, I can’t even bear to look at her!"
Vivian had worn herself down slaving away at home. After giving birth to twins and having no time to recover, she ended up frail, dark-skinned, and malnourished.
Brian didn’t see her as anything more than the sister who’d been stolen from someone else. Ever since he was a kid, he knew his parents kept her around as nothing but unpaid labor—a mule for the household.
There was no way he’d ever look at that "mule" with any other thoughts in mind.
Caroline, worried Nina might stir up trouble, quickly chimed in, "Nina, don’t listen to Vivian’s ridiculous lies. She’s my real daughter! There’s absolutely no way there’s anything between her and Brian. Those are definitely Matthew Reid’s kids!" She might act calm, but deep down, she was panicking like crazy.
How did this brat figure out her real background?
If word got out about them swapping babies, what would they do?
No way in hell was Caroline admitting the truth about stealing this girl's identity. Her real father was once a war commander, possibly a bigshot now.
Caroline might deny it, but Vivian had plenty of ways to deal with them.
First priority? Getting the kids away from these monsters.
She planned to take the kids on a train and find Matthew.
Once the kids were safe, she'd track down the fake daughter they swapped and expose everything. Robert and Caroline would end up in prison.
But escaping this backwater village with two kids? She needed money.
Vivian shot a cold glare at Robert and Caroline, holding out her hand.
"Hand over all the money my husband sent over the years. If you don’t, I’ll make you regret it."