Pain, pain, such excruciating pain. Chen Xue was awakened by the torment, her whole head throbbing mercilessly as if thousands of needles were simultaneously pricking her. Her brain felt like a swirl of unbearable chaos, with the pain ebbing and flowing. Countless unfamiliar memories washed over her.

She bit down on her lower lip, withstanding the intense pain for several lengthy minutes before it eventually subsided. Then, a wave of grievance, anger, and sadness swept through her.

"Seriously?! Even a dream shouldn't be this painful. My life is so miserable. Am I destined to labor incessantly?" Chen Xue muttered her complaints and slowly tried to open her eyes. Gods, how long had she slept? It felt as if her eyelids were glued together. Ugh! Although this was a normal physiological response to sleep, it still made her feel slightly nauseous.

Squinting her eyes forcefully, she opened them to find something amiss. The concrete floor painted in red lacquer, the peeling and patchy wall, an antique Chinese cupboard reflecting 1980s’ fashion sense, and beside it, an ancient sewing machine!

"This is not right! I must be still dreaming. Aren't dreams supposed to be black and white? Why do I see a piece of red cloth, and specifically, an old-fashioned velvety red? Where are my pastel-colored dreamy wallpapers? Where’s the full mural Cloudy Grand helped me with? And where is my miniature tea-drinking flower table?",

Chen Xue rambled on, and opened her eyes once again, but nothing changed.

She tried to move her stiff neck and sat up, really taking a look at the room.

This was clearly not the coquettish nest she spent so much effort renovating. After redecorating her apartment, she had posted all the before and after pictures on her official account, getting over two hundred thousand shares and over sixty thousand tips. Many design companies even reached out to her, wanting her to be their guest designer.

But now she was in a cramped two-bedroom apartment that looked like it had been built in the 60s or 70s of the last century. There was a small living room at the entrance, the kitchen to one side, and on the opposite side, two rooms. One of the doors was locked; the other half-opened, revealing a bunk bed and a desk with a classic table lamp with a green shade.

What just happened here? Chen Xue suddenly remembered the influx of disordered memories and inexplicable emotions from earlier. It felt like she'd been struck by lightning. Gods, had she time-traveled?

She tried to dig into her memories. Chen Xue soon realized that there was no such thing as 'the worst' in life, it could always get worse. Time-traveling back to the economically undeveloped 1980s was only beginning, the real downside was the identity of the original host.

Coincidentally, the original host was also named Chen Xue and she grew up in a military compound in Beijing. Although the daughter of a military officer, Chen Xue didn’t inherit the tenacity that soldiers typically had. In fact, her only act of perseverance was misdirected.

This Chen Xue was only eighteen years old. With the restoration of the college entrance examination in the country, she should have had the chance to go to university after graduating from high school. However, due to the lax discipline in schools combined with Chen Xue’s lack of a studious nature, she was spoiled as the only girl in the family with an older brother. When she was supposed to be burning the midnight oil for her senior year exams, she complained about the difficulty of studying and didn’t put in her full effort. To make matters worse, she even had a crush.

Chen Xue's brother, Chen Aihua, seven years her senior, had joined the military. Their father had served as a staff officer in the army for over two decades and had considerable influence. Coupled with Chen Aihua's own hard work, he was promoted to the battalion commander in a few years and was the pride of the Chen family. Because of her brother, Chen Xue often visited the barracks. She was a chubby girl but as the daughter of a top official and sibling to the immediate superior in the unit, she received a good deal of attention anytime she showed up. Despite failing her college entrance exams, she neither continued her studies nor sought a job, instead, she spent most of her time trying to be close to Luo Dayu, a handsome platoon leader in her brother's unit, making excuses to visit the barracks frequently to see him and enjoy the adulation from others.

Despite her focus on Luo Dayu, he failed to return her feelings. Every time she visited the barracks, she paid special attention to her grooming and sought opportunities to get close to Luo Dayu.

However, Luo Dayu, unfortunately, wasn’t attentive towards Chen Xue and had never shown her any warmth. When Chen Xue went to find him, he would only treat her with disdain. She had thought of having her brother command Luo Dayu to accompany her, after all, Luo Dayu is a soldier under her brother's command, and isn’t a soldier's duty to obey orders?

But after much thought, Chen Xue didn't dare to take that risk. Although she was spoiled by her family, she knew the character of her father and brother, as they absolutely would not allow her to abuse power and oppress others. But it was Luo Dayu whom she couldn't let go. Chen Xue couldn't understand it, Luo Dayu was a farmer who became a soldier, while the Chen family had a certain status in the military, not to mention her brother was Luo Dayu's direct superior. As long as Luo Dayu was with her, the Chen family would treat him differently and help him in some ways. The more Luo Dayu ignored her, the more she wanted to have him.

Gradually, this thought became an obsession. However, upon hearing Luo Dayu has a childhood sweetheart back home, Chen Xue’s sanity completely broke away. She was obsessed with wanting to have Luo Dayu, to the point of framing him.

She secretly entered the barracks and found an empty office, sent a junior soldier to call Luo Dayu. When Luo Dayu arrived, she was inside, with half of her clothes off. Luo Dayu was taken by surprise and saw her body, this scene was caught red-handed by her sister, Chen Aihua.

With this leverage, Chen Xue officially started her dangerous game, with constant crying, making scenes, and threatening suicide. The central theme of her actions was that she had been seen naked, she didn't want to live anymore unless Luo Dayu married her, else, she would never get married, as her life had been ruined by Luo Dayu.

The problem was that Chen Xue's strategy was hardly a strategy, it was too obvious. After questioning the soldier who had summoned Luo Dayu, Chen Aihua understood that her sister was deliberately framing him, with the aim of marrying him. If the Chen family could see this clearly, Luo Dayu could naturally do the same.

However, after all, the Chen family was sympathetic to their daughter, and it was quite conservative during that era. Being seen naked indeed had a huge impact on a girl. Even if only a few family members knew about this now, it might have negative consequences in the future. Chen Xue was adamant about marrying Luo Dayu and her parents finally relented and tried to persuade Luo Dayu. Eventually, the two really did get married.

Although Luo Dayu knew he had been manipulated by Chen Xue, the affair was, after all, a loss for the girl. And since the Chen family was part of the military, making a big scene out of this would mean the end of his career as a company commander. Thus, he agreed to marry her, telegraphed news of the wedding to his home, and formalized the wedding application. With the help of Chen's family, they held a simple wedding ceremony, inviting friends to dinner, and got married.

However, getting married wasn’t the end of the story.

Because her parents knew they were unkind to Luo Dayu, after marriage, they promoted Luo Dayu, from company to battalion level. So it could be said that Luo Dayu did enjoy some benefits from marrying Chen Xue. However, as he was young and less experienced, he was transferred to a more remote location. Having just married Luo Dayu, Chen Xue naturally applied to accompany her husband to the new barracks.

Originally, Luo Dayu felt not only detached from Chen Xue but also somewhat repulsed, feeling resentment due to the forced marriage. He's not one who acts upon occasions; even though he is grateful for the help from Chen's father, it does not transfer to his feelings towards Chen Xue. Chen Xue, with her heart full of joy and expectations, hoped that Luo Dayu would stop ignoring her now that they're married, didn't she? She didn't expect Luo Dayu would personally ignore her in their own home.

Chen Xue had been a pampered girl at home, never having to do any housework. Now that she was married, of course, she couldn't continue on like this. Chen Xue, however, was incapable of doing household chores and was quite lazy. Now in the military compound with no parental support, her home was in a terrible mess. Luo Dayu intended to bring some take-outs from the canteen to entertain his comrades. He knew Chen Xue couldn't cook, so he decided to get the food from the canteen and have a proper drink with his comrades.

But he didn't expect that Chen Xue hadn't cleaned the house, which was not just messy but dirty. The sweltering southern summer made the overnight trash bins full of small bugs.

At that moment, Luo Dayu's face darkened. He was forced to marry this woman, who was now messing up the house, not tidying up the rooms. Why get married? Why follow the army? It's better for her to go back and live the life of a pampered lady.

In the end, their guests left, and the couple had a big argument. Especially when Chen Xue, not watching her words during the argument, said this in front of Luo Dayu's comrades, "If it wasn't for marrying me, would you have quickly become a battalion commander?"

Luo Dayu stormed out at that time, as for those comrades-in-arms, of course, they also followed Luo Dayu and left, not knowing if they found another place to drink. As for Chen Xue, she stayed at home, crying all night in the cold room. The next day when she went to the cafeteria to get food, she overheard others gossiping about her being lazy and gluttonous, not tidying up at home, arguing with her husband. Chen Xue walked, feeling the derogatory stares following her all the way, even entered the hallway, she heard people mocking her for being as fat as a pig, saying her room looked like a pig sty.

Stumblingly, she made it home, Luo Dayu was still not back, Chen Xue had a hurried lunch and continued to ponder and cry on the couch, feeling her life was so hard. She went to great lengths to marry a husband but ended up not winning his heart at all. She cried herself to sleep on the couch, then woke up transformed into the present Chen Xue.

This was the life of the scorned Chen Xue.

After going through the original body's memories, Chen Xue was left speechless. You, after all, a high school graduate, which was quite high education level in this era, could have worked harder to get into university, then you would definitely be a golden phoenix. Plus things like your family background, and as for the body shape, couldn't you try harder to improve it afterward. And even if on the plump side, couldn't you still live a colorful and cute life?

But instead, you chose this path. Military marriage, a forced one at that, where the other party had been manipulated into it without consent. Men have pride, especially those in the army. The prevailing mindset at the time expected women to do the housework. In this household, if things aren't tidied up properly, the husband's face is lost in front of his comrades-in-arms. And publically saying that her husband's promotion depended on her family sours his reputation. Even if Luo Dayu holds some kind of official position, he will be shamed forever.

Chen Xue was simply exasperated. A military marriage is such a troublesome matter. Not that she didn't like military men, they defend the homeland, take part in disaster rescue missions, deserving to be called the loveliest of people. But she was rather against the idea of marriage, and now she had not only married but also a military marriage that couldn't be easily annulled. It was the woman she replaced who desperately wanted to marry Luo Dayu, not her.

Her ideal life was to live by the seaside, where it was warm in spring and flowers bloomed, frequently embarking on spontaneous trips. But now, what had she become? Married to a man from whom she couldn't easily divorce?