An Engineer in the Sixties

Sun Lingxi was famous as the “Queen of Quitting.” She always followed the money, so she never stayed at any job for more than a year. When her health started acting up, she decided to go back to her village, retire, and farm. Who cared about this lousy job? But an accident on the way back to the village sent her transmigrating into a novel set in a bygone era, where she became the deadweight daughter her male lead's stepmother had brought along. The frail original was supposed to die on the way to the production corps as an educated youth. Her mother would then resent everyone and start making trouble at home, until the male lead eventually kicked her out. She would spend the rest of her life missing the original girl. It was 1968. The college entrance exam had been canceled two years earlier, and there were still two months before the neighborhood office would send educated youth to the countryside. Let whoever wanted to farm do it. She'd never loved the security of an iron rice bowl more. So she took over the position left by her deceased stepfather and became a regular employee at a machinery plant, one who never complained about hardship or exhaustion. Then she set her sights on the technical department. Through sheer persistence and competition, she became an engineer ahead of the male lead and took the position of department head. Sun Lingxi's attitude was simple: if she couldn't change her work environment, she'd become the person who decided what it was like! [Part Two] When she reached marriageable age, the male lead's grandmother kept urging her to get married. Fed up, she thought of the grandson of the old woman's nemesis, a handsome supporting villain in the story. Jokingly, she said, “I won't marry anyone except Comrade Mu Ze.” As fate would have it, Mu Ze heard her. Mu Ze looked utterly incredulous, but also as if he wasn't surprised. He'd known Sun Lingxi had a crush on him. After all, whenever he talked to her brother, she was always staring at him. Sun Lingxi was just about to explain when Mu Ze ran off. Grandma gave her a complicated look. “Look what you've done. You scared him off.” Sun Lingxi: “...” Later, the handsome supporting villain blushed and said to her, “I'll allow you to like me.” Sun Lingxi thought of the saying, a young man's blush says more than anything. Uh-oh, the handsome-man strategy was aimed right at her. Reader's guide: The heroine is self-interested and theatrical, while the hero is a handsome, lovable fool. There are some nasty characters, and the story focuses on her career. The heroine and the original are the same person. The heroine is not a good person. Both leads are sexually inexperienced. Slice of life. Theme: Stand on your own feet and grow strong.