Only after her death did Qiu Lianyi learn that she was the cannon-fodder sister-in-law in a novel set in a bygone era.
The sister-in-law is beautiful, spoiled and imperious from childhood, proud and disrespectful to her elders. She never gives her poor sister-in-law the time of day and makes life difficult for her family, leaving her crying at night. Her elder brother feels sorry for his wife and turns around to lecture his sister, while their parents urge her to let go of her prejudice because they're all family.
But the sister-in-law refuses to listen and keeps causing trouble, throwing the whole family into chaos and unrest. In the end, everyone turns against her, and she spends her life alone.
Meanwhile, the sister-in-law leads the whole family toward prosperity through her frugality and hard work, and they live happily ever after.
That's how the story looks from the hero and heroine's point of view.
But from Qiu Lianyi's perspective, her sister-in-law is clearly the one who keeps meddling in her affairs.
She sees Qiu using face cream on her neck and quietly calls her wasteful. When Qiu adds an egg to her noodles, she laments that it could have been sold for money. When her own family visits, she packs up old clothes she had been saving to make into bags and gives them away. When asked about it, she looks innocent and flustered and says she thought Qiu didn't want them...
Has Qiu Lianyi done anything wrong? She doesn't think so.
Would she have fought back if her sister-in-law hadn't interfered in her way of life?
Luckily, she has the experience of her past life and knows that the whole family will eventually be influenced by her sister-in-law's "hardworking and frugal" lifestyle, while she herself will be shunned and cut off by her family for being "incorrigible."
Qiu, whose heart is colder than someone who's spent ten years cutting fish at a wet market: If I can't afford to provoke her, I can at least stay away!
The 1990s are full of business opportunities. Qiu Lianyi gets herself looking beautiful, armed with ambition and a silver tongue, and heads to Guangzhou.
Much later, the Qiu family builds a three-story house in their hometown and buys an apartment in the county seat. They become the most envied family in the area.
Thinking of the younger sister who left home to find work, the sister-in-law decides to put their differences aside and have her husband call her back. She'll find her a job tending the shop and cleaning, which would be the last kindness she could offer a family member. But then a newspaper lands in their hands.
"The Wedding of the Century! Son of Hong Kong's Richest Man Pursues Girlfriend for Three Years and Finally Wins Her Heart! The Girlfriend Is a Self-Made Billionaire..."
And the woman in the photo, wearing a diamond tiara whose name they can't even pronounce, is none other than the younger sister-in-law they haven't seen in ages...
PS: Also known as After Leaving Home, I Took Off in Another City, The Migrant Worker's Rise to Success, and so on.
PS: This should be a brainless power fantasy. The heroine is beautiful, strong, and not tragic. There are tons of original twists, and the setting is loosely based on reality.
Theme: Work hard and build a good life for yourself
My Former Dynasty's Live-In Son-in-Law Has Arrived
Let Her Be Adored
I Never Meant to Get Rich in the 1970s
The Pretty Supporting Female in a Period Novel
The Delicate Stepsister of the Female Lead in a Period Novel
I Became the Female Lead's Foil in a Period Novel
After Dying Again and Again, I Became the Strongest in the Apocalypse
The 1970s: My Early-Dying Ex-Wife Refuses to Die