Eating Melons and Watching the Show in a Period Novel

Li Lin couldn’t understand it. She was just an ordinary country girl. Sure, her father had given his life saving someone, which had earned her a job as a sales clerk at the town supply and marketing cooperative. But she had nothing else that set her apart from the other girls in her village. So why had she become a walking trending topic? “Trending topic” was a term she had learned in a long, strange dream while unconscious. Why did every little thing involving men or women somehow end up connected to her, or happen because of her? Still, at least she had woken from her coma with a fiancé. He wasn’t quite her type. Thick eyebrows and a square face were all the rage these days, and although her fiancé wasn’t bad-looking, he somehow looked like a male fox spirit. Still, he was easy on the eyes, so she might as well make do. What else could she do? If she dared break off the engagement, her mother, who was just like Lin Daiyu, would drown her in tears! But her fiancé was no easier to deal with than she was. He had a knack for attracting trouble, too. The weary young couple looked at each other and decided, fine! If we can’t beat them, we can avoid them. We’ll go to college, do research, and serve our country!