In the Seventies, I Swapped Marriages and Married a Fool

Xu Yuxiang was born in a remote mountain village. Her parents were honest people, but all their lives they had been bullied and controlled by her domineering grandmother. Her biased grandmother wanted the bride-price and planned to marry her off to a man with four children, to be their stepmother. Xu Yuxiang refused. The man had recently been discharged from the army. He was handsome, with thick brows and bright eyes, and served as deputy secretary of the commune. His family wanted for nothing. But a few days earlier, Xu Yuxiang had had a dream. It was long, as if she had lived an entire lifetime. In the dream, she obeyed her grandmother and married the man. She spent her life slaving away in his household, washing clothes, cooking, and caring for him and his four children. She raised them as if they were her own, never had a child herself, and grew into a worn-out old woman. But those four children had no gratitude at all. They opposed her at every turn and tormented her mercilessly. The man was not as generous and mild-mannered as he seemed, either. He would drink, then hit and curse her. He was a downright wife-beater. In her dream, when she was forty-five, the man and his children tormented her to death. Her death was horrific. She woke up trembling all over and refused to marry him, no matter what. When her grandmother saw that she would not be swayed, she gave her two choices: marry that wife-beater and become his children's stepmother, or switch marriages with her cousin and marry a village fool named Dongsheng instead. Xu Yuxiang agreed to switch without hesitation. Better to marry a fool than a wife-beater. She could run her own household and still make a good life for herself. Xu Hongmei was reborn. In her previous life, she had married Dongsheng, the village fool, and lived a miserable life. She had to do and bear everything at home and outside it. Dongsheng was foolish and had a bizarre temper, utterly useless. The villagers mocked her for most of her life. Unable to stand it any longer, she ran away with a man, only for him to treat her just as badly. He sold her to a red-light district and made her earn money to support him. Her life became worse than death... Dongsheng was two years older than Xu Hongmei. He had been quite normal as a child, but when he was eight, a landslide struck the village. While Dongsheng was playing with a group of children, he saw huge rocks tumbling down the mountain. He was hit in the head by one while saving Xu Hongmei, and from then on, he became a fool. He spent his days in a daze and did plenty of foolish things. He was also tall and strong, and often swung a sickle around, attacking people. The villagers were all afraid of him. When Dongsheng's mother saw that her son had become a fool while saving Xu Yumei, she went to the Xu household and cried and made a scene for days. She forced the Xu family to agree to the marriage between their families, to take place once Xu Hongmei turned eighteen. After being reborn, Xu Hongmei refused to marry the fool again. She persuaded her grandmother to snatch Xu Yuxiang's good match so she could take Xu Yuxiang's place and enjoy a comfortable life, becoming a good stepmother. Who could have known that Xu Yumei's life would keep getting better, while she grew into a worn-out old woman, tormented by her four stepchildren? The good man she had imagined was also a bully who abused her. Her rebirth and the good life she had dreamed of were nothing but a joke. The blurb screenshot was posted on Weibo on July 24, 2025. Weibo ID: Zhen Li Bu Shi Jiu Li Theme: Women standing on their own