This isn't a wish-fulfillment story, and it isn't about a golden finger or a System. It's an emotional drama, with traces of the experiences of some real women. An emotional drama.
Like most people, Mu Xi has no goals or direction in life.
Her family favors boys over girls. At school, she is bullied a little because she is pretty.
She tells Jiang Xin, a young wife from her village who is carrying a baby. When the young wife sees how pretty she is, she thinks of her own younger brother, Jiang Qing, and tells Mu Xi how wonderful marriage is: someone will cherish her, and her parents-in-law will love her like their own daughter.
After graduating from a technical secondary school, Mu Xi thinks Jiang Qing is good-looking and treats her well. She is young and inexperienced, so she accepts the bride price in a daze. (Years later, Mu Xi returns the bride price to her in-laws and gives them some additional compensation.) They hold a few wedding banquets and consider themselves married. They originally plan to register their marriage once Mu Xi reaches the legal age, while her parents-in-law eagerly hope she'll have a baby soon.
Only after marrying does she see the truth: her husband is unhygienic and often beats her. He comes home and sprawls on the sofa, playing on his phone until midnight, while her mother-in-law often criticizes her in front of her son.
Then Mu Xi visits an older sister figure, Nolan. Nolan has two daughters, and her husband refuses to do anything, while the two children have worn down her health. Her in-laws do nothing to help, apart from complaining that she failed to have a son and is useless. At that moment, Mu Xi sees her own future.
Only then does Mu Xi understand that she has to rely on herself. She goes home, packs her things, and sets off to find work far away.
Mu Xi gets a job at an electronics factory. While earning money, she signs up for courses and studies for associate and bachelor's degrees through self-study exams.
What follows is her tangled romance with Zhao Yang and Lin Yuchuan.
