This is the story of a rural English girl in the nineteenth century who grows into an independent modern woman, changing from a love-struck girl desperate to marry into a career-focused woman afraid of marriage. It's also a tale of Pride and Prejudice between a lively, frivolous girl and a serious, rigid gentleman.
Lydia from Pride and Prejudice isn't exactly a villain, but she isn't a positive character either. She's selfish and vain, lazy and flighty, and has a head full of nothing. She loves fawning over officers in red uniforms, but all these flaws pale beside her love-struck foolishness in the latter half of the novel.
In the original, she falls for the scoundrel Wickham and elopes with him, heedless of the risk of losing her life or being forced into prostitution.
In the end, she only marries the scoundrel respectably because her brother-in-law, Darcy, pays for it.
Love-struck, marriage-mad, and childish Lydia is very pleased with the result. She's proud to have married at sixteen, well ahead of her four older sisters.
Randomly bound to Lydia before the story begins, the System confidently declares: We turn out outstanding businesspeople. Surely we can cure a little love-struck foolishness?
Saving capital, speculating, building factories, acquiring mining rights... Under the constant blows dealt by the System and society, Lydia falls in love with making money.
When she becomes London's wealthiest single lady, she looks at the crowd of suitors flocking around her and has an epiphany: Why get married? Men are all terrible.
As long as she has enough money, she'll never lack young, handsome suitors, even when she's eighty.
Mr. Thornton: Perhaps I might have the honor of courting you until you're eighty, becoming the only suitor your age among all those young men.
A headstrong young lady born into the rigid class system of the Southern upper class x a serious, practical man who rose from nothing in a Northern industrial city
Content warning: The beginning is slow-paced, with lots of farming and family matters. If you want to read about the heroine's growth, you can start from Chapter Ten, when she enters the broader historical setting.
[The translation of Pride and Prejudice draws on the versions by Wang Keyi and Sun Zhili (the author has read a bit of a mishmash). I break up Jane and Bingley's pairing, but not Elizabeth and Darcy's. The male lead is Mr. Thornton, the mill owner in North and South, based on the BBC adaptation.]
Theme: The importance of education
I wanted the heroine to fall down, but I didn't want anything to happen to her. Maybe it was my preference for women in this era. I wanted her to fall hard and fall from the balloon, but I didn't want her to be paralyzed.
Kitty and Mary really made me feel bad. Not only did they get their dowry for nothing, but they also took it for granted. Kitty confidently asked Lydia for money, but Mary wanted to drive Lydia away regardless. Although Lydia also has shortcomings, they are really a bit too much.
... Alas, this is really a new round of moneybags being taken advantage of by the family, and there is also an indifferent father, Mr. Bennet, who is not a good father. He is indeed a disappointing father.
Lydia is really the victim of Kitty and Mary. Where did Kitty get the confidence to ask her sister for money so confidently? I don't understand.
It's so good, so good. I finished it in one day. I have a career and a love. It would be great if I could have more post-wedding cookies.
After seeing this, I really don't like the male protagonist's family. The female protagonist is not as beautiful as herself. It's great to be a princess at home. Why should she marry and be picked on by the other party?
It's a beautiful souvenir. I'm particularly emotional about the changes in the situation of women. Sure enough, only those with enough money and power can change the world. The most important thing is personal awareness. Lydia is really great! The writing is somewhat idealistic (it was really difficult to fight for the right to vote at that time, and it took decades). I hope that the equality described by the author is our future 💪
The heroine stood a bit high and had to fall. I just hope she didn't break any bones this time.
The hero still wants to go on a blind date? Although I guessed that it was probably the hero's mother's idea, I still felt a little bit unhappy.
To be honest, this kind of "desperate" love makes me feel a little scared. I don't know how to describe this feeling.