Written entirely in Northeastern dialect.
In her previous life, Zheng Zhennan had a miserable time.
Her family had been the first household in Jiang Song Machinery Factory to become well-off, but they had far too many meddlesome relatives: the eldest aunt was a firebrand, the second aunt made a racket, and the third aunt stirred up trouble. Her uncle was a lecherous, pretentious intellectual who never lifted a finger, while her grandmother played favorites and funneled everything she could to her eldest son's family.
Her father got nothing out of it. Once he finally saw how rotten those people were, he gave up and spent his days gambling and getting drunk.
Her mother was a doormat who always put her brother first, and supporting two households left her riddled with illness.
Zheng Zhennan was forced to find work before finishing middle school. At last she got married, and just as it seemed their life together might finally take off, those bizarre relatives came crawling back like parasites she couldn't shake off.
In the end, they drove Zheng Zhennan and her husband to divorce. Their only child was like a fire poker, closer to the stepmother than to her.
-
After being reborn, Zheng Zhennan found herself back in the winter of 1985, on the day of her grandfather's funeral.
All around her were faces practically begging to be slapped. Her three aunts were grilling her grandmother about where the old man's pay slips had gone. Her uncle sat primly, letting his mother fight on his behalf and grab the inheritance, while her own foolishly dutiful parents...
They were hanging their heads and hovering beside Grandma, meekly handing over money whenever she asked...
One look at her mother's posture told Zheng Zhennan what she was about to do. She scrambled out of bed and snatched the stack of ten-yuan bills away. "Throwing money around at the funeral? Who died, my dad?"
Everyone froze.
-
After the funeral, everyone noticed that the girl from the Zheng family seemed like a completely different person.
When her grandmother came begging on behalf of her uncle, she grabbed a shovel. "You have money to go dancing and partying, but your own life is a mess, and you're still fooling around with someone else's wife? Why not give your eldest son your coffin money?"
Grandma: ...
Her eldest aunt thought school was a waste of money and went to nag her father.
Zheng Zhennan slapped her in the face with a Chinese textbook. "The book says, 'Knowledge changes your destiny, and studying lets you serve your country.' If you stop me from studying, you're stopping me from serving my country. Be careful, or I'll report you to your workplace."
Her eldest aunt fled, livid and scrambling.
-
Lucky enough to be reborn, Zheng Zhennan only wanted to look after her family's bathhouse and live a quiet life. Who knew the bathhouse would end up going public and ringing the opening bell?
She found the weak spots of those bizarre relatives and got them all under her thumb. From then on, each one of them was extraordinarily "filial" toward her.
As for the husband she had loved in her previous life but never got to be with, making up for one regret was enough. Besides, there was no way she was having that useless son again.
Years later, Zheng Zhennan would finally become a wealthy woman, with both money and freedom.
But... what was this clingy, devoted puppy of a man beside her, who just wouldn't let himself be shaken off?
Reading guide:
Most of the dialogue is in Northeastern dialect. If that bothers you, read with caution.
Theme: Choices matter more than ability.
