Chapter 3

Chapter 3: They Left Her a Crappy Storage Space! The original novel revolved around its male lead, Lu Zheng, and its female lead, Chen Zhiyi. Lu Zheng and Chen Zhiyi were childhood sweethearts, and their families had arranged their engagement when they were young. But when the wave of people being sent down to the countryside began, the Lu family were framed as capitalists after offending someone. The entire family was sent to the countryside for reform. It was during this time that Lu Zheng met Su Mian, the village chief’s daughter. Su Mian was the youngest child in the Su family, and its only daughter. She had been cherished by her parents and four older brothers since childhood. So when she fell for Lu Zheng, a capitalist young master from the city, the Su family couldn’t bear to stop her from seeing him, even though they knew the Lu family had a bad political background. As for Lu Zheng, he couldn’t bear to give up the help Su Mian brought the Lu family, but he also couldn’t let go of Chen Zhiyi, his childhood sweetheart. So he kept stringing Su Mian along. But after only half a year, someone helped clear the Lu family’s name, and they were soon able to return to the city. By then, however, the villagers and the educated youths all assumed Lu Zheng and Su Mian were a couple. Afraid of something going wrong at such a critical moment, the Lu family had no choice but to visit the Su family and propose marriage, saying they wanted to take Su Mian back to the city with them. Unexpectedly, Father Su strongly opposed the proposal. Su Mian couldn’t understand why her father would object when the Lu family was so well-off. She said many cruel things, fell out with her family, and followed the Lus to the city without a second thought. Lu Zheng probably did have some fondness for Su Mian. After all, when he was at his lowest, she had been like a little sun, always helping him and treating him well without asking for anything in return. But after they returned to the city and he saw Chen Zhiyi again, Su Mian instantly stopped mattering. A first love’s allure really was something else for a man. By then, Su Mian had already fallen out with her family, and she didn’t want to endure the village gossip either. Alone and without anyone to rely on after following the Lu family to the city, she could only cling to Lu Zheng, thinking that the two of them had to get married. But Chen Zhiyi was the biggest obstacle between them, and so the vicious supporting actress’s usual plotline began. Frame-ups, drugging, spreading rumors, creating misunderstandings—she tried one tactic after another. Lu Zheng had originally felt a little grateful toward Su Mian, but after all her schemes, he came to hate her completely. Su Mian’s existence became nothing more than a tool to advance the relationship between the novel’s hero and heroine. In the end, Su Mian decided to risk everything. She went to the black market to buy aphrodisiacs and sleeping pills, hoping to secure her position by having a child. She did get pregnant, and in the process, she also set off the biggest misunderstanding in the entire novel. The ridiculous part was that the child in Su Mian’s belly wasn’t the male lead’s! After enduring eighty-one trials and tribulations, the hero and heroine finally cleared up their misunderstanding and got together. Meanwhile, Su Mian was driven out of the Lu family with two little children in tow. With no money, she had no choice but to raise them in the slums. Perhaps the author wanted to make sure the vicious supporting actress got what she deserved. The most absurd part was that Su Mian suddenly became dark-skinned, fat, and ugly. She couldn’t even find a man willing to take her on, and her two children went hungry day after day. Reading this, Su Mian was so furious that her whole body trembled. It all matched. Every bit of it. The transmigrator who had taken over her body had been using the plot of this novel to control her life. What kind of grudge did the author of this novel have against her? It was disgusting! Had she dug up the author’s ancestors’ graves in her past life or something? Why hadn’t the author just written her to death? Then everything would have been over. She wouldn’t have awakened again only to face this broken life of hers. And they said they’d left her a Storage Space. What good was a lousy Storage Space to her?! The moment she thought that, Su Mian’s consciousness suddenly entered a storage room of about fifty square meters. Beside the storage room was a plot of black earth, about one mu in size. As far as the eye could see, everything was completely empty. What was the point of giving her this Storage Space, seriously?! Su Mian was so angry she didn’t even have the energy to be angry anymore. If she didn’t have two children, she really would have considered jumping into the river. Just then, someone suddenly called out to her. Su Mian hurriedly pulled her consciousness out of the Storage Space, only to see the two children standing in front of her, bursting into tears. “Mom… don’t die…” the little boy sobbed. Su Mian had suddenly gone motionless, and no matter how much they called to her, she hadn’t responded. The two children had been terrified. The little girl was quietly crying beside him, too. She didn’t dare go near Su Mian. She knew her mother didn’t like her. Seeing them like this, Su Mian’s nose stung, and big tears instantly spilled from her eyes. It was so unfair! So absurd! This world was so disgusting! If the world’s order really had to be maintained, then sacrificing her alone would have been bad enough. But what had the two children done wrong? Just look at them. What kind of life had they had for the past four years? “Mom… Mom’s sorry… I’m sorry… I… I wasn’t able to protect you…” Su Mian pulled both children into her arms at once. They were hers, her two poor children… The little girl trembled all over. This… this was the first time Mom had ever hugged her like this. It was so warm. Could Mom hug her like this more often? But she couldn’t speak, and she didn’t know how to express what she wanted. All she could do was silently reach out, trying to wipe Su Mian’s tears. But Mom didn’t like her touching her. At the thought, the little girl panicked. Just as she was about to pull her hand back, Su Mian grabbed it and pressed it against her own cheek. “Mom promises you both: from now on, I’ll be a good person. I’ll raise you well and make sure you have a good life, okay?” “Okay. As long as you don’t hit me and my little sister, we’ll be good and listen to you. We’ll go beg for food for you.” Her son’s words pierced Su Mian’s heart until it was in tatters. She was really going to lose her mind. What kind of deity had she offended for them to treat her and her children this way? “I won’t hit you anymore. I’ll never hit you again. I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” … Her emotions were in shambles, but life still had to go on. Her own life was already a complete mess, but her two children had to have a bright future. Su Mian held the children and cried for a long while. Once she had finally let her emotions out, she began thinking about what to do next. “Starting today, I’m changing your nicknames,” Su Mian said suddenly. The two children both looked up at her, their expressions tense. “You’re the older brother, so you’ll be called Dabao. And your little sister will be Erbao. How does that sound?” The children stared up at her, still a little dazed. Then their faces lit up with excitement. “Mom, really?” “Really.” “Mom, when you wake up after sleeping, will you forget what you said?” Su Mian felt a little helpless, but she could understand why the children didn’t trust her. How could children believe so quickly that a mother who had always beaten and scolded them had become a good mom? “No. When you wake up, you’ll see. I won’t change.” She had taken her life back into her own hands. This time, she would live for herself and her two children. “Dabao, Erbao, Mom has to clean the house first. It’s all moldy, and living in here for too long isn’t good for your health.” Su Mian turned to the two children again. Dabao immediately offered, “Okay, Mom, we’ll help you~” Su Mian glanced at her daughter and saw that the instant Erbao noticed her looking, fear filled her eyes. Su Mian sighed inwardly. She’d have to take things slowly if she wanted to be good to them. Until the children trusted her, changing too much too fast might only make them more afraid. “All right, then help Mom clean the house.” She would get the house cleaned up first. She could deal with everything else later. Things would work out somehow. Su Mian refused to believe she couldn’t survive.