The Pretty, Fussy Girl of the 1980s

[Complete. Next story: The Great Beauty of the Art Troupe [The 1970s]]

Jiang Mo, a spoiled young woman, transmigrates into a book and becomes the stepsister's foil in a period novel. The two women's lives diverge when it comes to marriage.

Her stepsister is the female lead of the novel. She steals the original owner's engagement and marries into a military compound. From then on, luck is on her side, her life flourishes, and she lives happily ever after.

The original owner, meanwhile, marries a rough man from the neighboring village. He will eventually make a fortune and earn piles of money.

But the original owner resents him for caring only about making money and not about his family. He is neither as gentle and attentive as her brother-in-law nor as witty and charming. Eventually, unable to bear the loneliness, she cheats and gets caught. Her husband leaves her, she is separated from her child, and she ends up destitute.

Jiang Mo: ...A husband who never comes home but transfers 100,000 yuan to me on time every month? That kind of deal exists?! I'll never get divorced, not even if I'm beaten to death!

The rough man is very tolerant. As long as she doesn't cheat, he's fine!

So Jiang Mo carries on, contentedly being her spoiled little self.

"The chicken was mean to me when I fed it just now! You don't even feel sorry for me!"

The man awkwardly tries to comfort Jiang Mo, then slaughters the chicken and makes soup.

"You brought home one fewer flower today than yesterday. Don't you love me anymore?"

The man is too clumsy with words to explain, so he stays out all night and comes back with several baskets of wild camellias.

The villagers gossip that this man didn't just marry a wife, he brought home an ancestor to worship! Their life together won't last, and they'll get divorced sooner or later.

Who could have guessed that the couple's life would get better and better? They leave the mountains behind, move into a Western-style house, and even become the richest people in the province!

The man pampers and protects Jiang Mo, year after year. The villagers wait until their eyes are red and sore, but never see the day the couple gets divorced!

[An alternate setting, very alternate! All logic serves the plot!]

Next story: The Great Beauty of the Art Troupe [The 1970s]. Blurb:

[The central premise is unchanged, with the female lead's profession added]

[Delicate art troupe beauty x tough, no-nonsense regimental commander]

[Starts on the 19th. The central premise is unchanged, with the female lead's profession added. The blurb has been revised.]

[Delicate, fussy art troupe beauty x tough, cold, fierce regimental commander]

Shi Man had a dream.

In the dream, she married Deputy Regimental Commander Ling, whom she'd met on a blind date a few days earlier. He was handsome, but cold, domineering, and strong-willed. His future prospects were bright, but he was also cold, fierce, and overbearing.

As for her... After they married, she nitpicked everything he did. Whenever something came up, she was fussy and demanding, always suspicious. After more than a decade of arguments and drama, they finally divorced. She was no more sensible in her career, either: she fell from being the art troupe's star to getting fired, and spent her later years in misery.

Impossible!

Shi Man woke with a start and looked at the jar of fashionable sweets the matchmaker had brought. Deputy Regimental Commander Ling had sent them, just like in her dream.

She absolutely would not live that kind of life.

Shi Man was the art troupe's star, with suitors lined up all the way to the family quarters. Plenty of well-mannered, considerate officials' sons came from good backgrounds. Why put herself through that kind of hardship?

She immediately turned down the matchmaker and told her parents to find her a suitable husband. Just make sure it's not Deputy Regimental Commander Ling.

-

Ling Zhen was reborn, and he knew how fussy Shi Man could be. He was angry, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was the cold, aloof type who kept women at a distance, old-fashioned and conservative, and he only wanted to marry her. He had never noticed any other woman.

Since he had come back early this time, he would take care of all the troublesome matters ahead of time. Then there would be less for her to fuss over.

He came home from work, only to hear the matchmaker clap her hands and say, "Oh, Deputy Regimental Commander Ling, I could tell you weren't interested, so it's off!"

Ling Zhen: "?"

-

Everyone knew Shi Man was the art troupe's star. She had so many admirers in the military, and so many gifts had been sent to her family's home that they were running out of room.

And that young, stern-faced regimental commander, Ling Zhen, pursued her more fiercely than anyone. Every day after drills, he hurried over to watch her perform without even taking off his uniform. He sat in the front row, never missing a show, guarding his territory like a hawk.

His brothers all tried to talk him out of it. "The art troupe's star is proud and doesn't like you. So what? Plenty of girls like you. You're not getting any younger. Pick one and get married already."

Ling Zhen shot them a cold look and kicked one of them. "Get lost!"

Is she your wife?

Those bastards' eyes lit up whenever they saw Shi Man. They'd secretly slipped the matchmaker all kinds of gifts. Did they think he didn't know?

Theme: No matter how bad life gets, keep your heart set on something better