Transmigrating to 1965

Next up: Raising Kids by Agreement in a Reconstituted Family of the Fifties. Blurb below.

Blurb:

In 1965, Gu Beichuan received a telegram from home. His wife of five years was making the long journey to his military base to divorce him. At the time, he was leading his company in flood-relief efforts along the banks of the Qinchuan River.

In 1965, Jiang Wan transmigrated into a period novel. The original owner of her body was braving the rain to go to the military base and divorce her husband. At the time, her family had fallen on hard times.

According to the original plot, after the original owner left, her husband's nephews would meet with accidents and die one after another. When Jiang Wan arrived, the three little boys were skin and bones, huddled in a corner.

Jiang Wan sighed, gathered the three little boys in her arms, and the four of them plunged into the rain to find Gu Beichuan at the military base.

The floodwaters were raging, and the Qinchuan River blocked Jiang Wan's way. On the riverbank, Gu Beichuan's eyes met those of his wife, whom he hadn't seen in five years. When he saw her plunge into the raging current, his heart turned cold. She would rather throw herself into the river than see him. Once they pulled her out, he would agree to the divorce.

Jiang Wan rescued a local from the Qinchuan River and swam back to the bank. She grabbed the arm of the nearest flood-relief soldier, Gu Beichuan. "Comrade, give me a hand..."

Gu Beichuan was astonished. His young wife didn't recognize him. "The flood is so bad. What are you doing at the military base with the children?"

Jiang Wan thought it over. "We have no food at home, so I'm going to the base to find my husband, Gu Beichuan."

After the flood-relief operation ended, Jiang Wan arrived at the military base. The officer who had helped her rescue someone saluted her. "Comrade Jiang Wan, I'm Gu Beichuan."

Jiang Wan: "...I've lost my memory. As for the divorce, let's talk about it after I remember."

Gu Beichuan: Hm?

The two began sharing a life together...

Raising Kids by Agreement in a Reconstituted Family of the Fifties

Jiang Zhen transmigrated from the apocalypse into the winter of 1949. Arriving in her own body, she mingled with a crowd of refugees. To obtain a legal identity, she took the place of a deceased woman who looked just like her. In return, she took the woman's son and daughter with her. Along the way, she came across troops fighting bandits and helped care for several wounded soldiers.

As soon as she arrived at the Fancheng base, the substituted woman's husband, a live-in son-in-law, sent her divorce papers.

Jiang Zhen promptly divorced him. To stay in Fancheng and support the two children she'd taken in, she plunged straight into the local matchmaking scene.

Gu Liancheng died fighting bandits in the first year after the country's liberation. After his death, his elder brother's two children met terrible fates: one was raised by his fiancee into a murderer, while the other became hopelessly obsessed with romance. One died, and the other went mad.

Gu Liancheng was reborn on the day of the anti-bandit campaign and made it back to his unit alive. At his wedding, his fiancee kicked up a fuss and refused to marry him. Remembering what had happened to his elder brother's children, he promptly called off the wedding. The children needed someone to look after them, so Gu Liancheng was forced to go matchmaking.

He told a prospective match:

"I'll cover all the household expenses and give you thirty yuan a month. You can spend that money however you like."

"Let's not have children for ten years. After that, if you still haven't left, you can manage all my allowances, and we can have as many kids as you want."

"I won't ask for a divorce lightly, but if you mistreat the children, then I'm sorry."

Several women he met through matchmaking cursed him for being shameless. "You may be handsome, but that doesn't give you the right to be shameless. With demands like that, only a crazy woman would agree."

Nearby, Jiang Zhen told her own prospective matches:

"Let's not have children for ten years. Once both our sets of children are adults, if we want kids, I might agree to have one."

"Give me thirty yuan a month as wages. I'll cover half the household expenses, but you'll have to do half the housework."

"Please don't beat me or the children, or I might beat you to death."

Several men at the matchmaking event cursed Jiang Zhen. "You're pretty, but you've brought two burdens with you, and you still dare to make such outrageous demands. What man would agree? He'd have to be out of his mind."

Gu Liancheng heard Jiang Zhen's terms. The moment he got a chance, he hurried over and saluted her. "Comrade Jiang Zhen, would you agree to raising children by contract?"

Jiang Zhen nodded. The two registered their marriage and began raising their children at the military base, amid chaos and a marriage that was practically a single-parent arrangement.

The two could barely manage three words to each other in a day. The women in the family compound felt sorry for them and bet that Captain Gu's second wife wouldn't last six months before running off.

Jiang Zhen thought raising kids under a single-parent agreement was fine. It was much easier than the apocalypse, when she never knew whether she'd have food for the next meal and lived in constant fear.

The two continued their chaotic, silent life of raising children together.

Later...

Jiang Zhen kicked Gu Liancheng off the bed. "Gu Liancheng, you're cheating! What happened to our single-parent marriage by agreement?"

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