"You wretch, I told you to take good care of your sister! Is this how you take care of her? Oh, my beloved NianZi..."

Jiang NianZi woke up with a splitting headache and heard a torrent of cries.

"Mother, sister has awakened." The young man, previously cursed and jabbed at, noticed that Jiang NianZi blinked and his red eyes immediately widened in joy. He swiftly moved to the bedside.

Upon hearing this, Ding HongMei hurriedly sat on the bed, holding Jiang NianZi. "NianZi, my darling, how are you feeling, ah?"

Staring around in confusion, Jiang NianZi took in her surroundings.

The roof, made of connected timber beams, was encased in pitch-black planks. The walls all around were white, likely made of clay, showing signs of wear with various patches stained.

The young man sitting before her bed had a worried look, with a complexion tanned and a body clothed in patched-up attire.

Where exactly was she?

Suddenly, Jiang NianZi recalled the voice she heard before she drifted to sleep.

The voice that said, "Go back, go back to where you belong…"

"Where is this…" she asked without even realizing.

"NianZi, you finally woke up." Before she could finish, the young man squatting by her bedside started to sob loudly. "If you didn't wake up, mother would have beat me to death."

Ding HongMei slapped her son's back. "Crying, always crying. You're lucky Nianzi is all right. If anything had happened to her, I would have made your life miserable."

Looking over, Jiang NianZi saw the young man who was smacked remained silent, only scratching his head and giving a “hehe” chuckle, appearing simple and foolish.

Without understanding the situation, Jiang Nianzi did not dare to speak rashly.

Ding Hongmei felt the pain for her daughter. Her daughter had been frail and frequently ill since she was a child, and now she had fallen into the water. Seeing her sickly state, she quickly said, "Zizi, you rest for a while. Mom will make you an egg."

She helped Jiang Nianzi lie down on the bed, then smacked her son: "You rascal, come and help with the fire."

"Okay."

The man, his eyes red, gently touched Jiang Nianzi's hair: "Be a good girl, Zizi. Big brother will make a fire and boil an egg for you. You just take a good rest."

The voice of Ding Hongmei came from outside, "Jiang Cheng, hurry up, no dilly-dallying."

"Ah, I'm coming."

Only when everyone was gone, Jiang Nianzi had the peace to sort out her current situation.

Just now, that woman was calling the man Jiang Cheng, right?

And they were calling her Nianzi…

Looking at the homes that were full of the trappings of a bygone era, Jiang Nianzi covered her face. As expected, she had somehow transported into a novel.

A novel that she had been reading before she blacked out.

It was a male-centric story, where the original character, named Jiang Nianzi, was the protagonist's early deceased first love.

She was a classic frail beauty, often sick.

Not long after the male lead, Shen Cheng, fell in love with her, she unexpectedly passed away.

Because they shared the same name, Jiang Nianzi had a sense of identification with the character, but had stopped reading before the plot advanced any further.

But she remembers, in the book, the original main character had a mother who favored daughters over sons named Ding Hongmei, a pair of sister-complex brother and sister, and a little brother. The older brother was named Jiang Cheng. Their father had passed away too early and she indeed didn't see any man resembling a person of her father's age.

Thinking of this, Jiang Nianzhi immediately got out of bed and grabbed the mirror from the shelf to take a look.

Upon seeing her identical face reflected in the mirror, Jiang Nianzhi let out a sigh of relief.

However, the very next moment, her eyebrows furrowed in shock.

This—

A frail beauty?

The woman in the mirror was a lot frailer than her original self, and also much darker.

She lifted her arm and glanced at it, there were no muscles visible at all, her thinness resembled a plucked chicken.

She didn't even have time to complain when Jiang Nianzhi abruptly coughed a few times. Her body swayed and a feeling of vertigo hit her.

It was good that she was by the bedside.

Quickly holding onto the bed head for support, Jiang Nianzhi gasped for air.

Had she actually become a frail beauty?

This was too weak!

Before she had gone into the novel, Jiang Nianzhi was a fully-fledged world fighting champion.

Suddenly being transported to the 80s and becoming so fragile, it was a pill too bitter to swallow for Jiang Nianzhi at the moment.

This must be a dream, it has to be!

After lying down for an entire afternoon and eating two poached eggs, Jiang Nianzi had to face reality.

What could she do if she didn't accept it?

Ding Hongmei and Jiang Cheng went out to work, leaving her five-year-old younger brother to watch over Jiang Nianzi.

Jiang Nianzi and her dark-skinned little brother were engaged in a staring contest.

After her subtle attempts to gather information, Jiang Nianzi learned from the little one that it was currently the 1980s, more specifically, 1981.

She remembered when she was reading this book, even though it was set in a fictitious era, the main scenario wasn't too different from the real 80s.

Initially, she didn't hold any hope, after all, how could a little child this small know anything? It was just a casual inquiry.

Unexpectedly, this little guy really did know, presumably overhearing the adults' occasional comments.

"Sis, do you want some water?" Jiang Doudou asked, his big black eyes shining, in a childish voice.

The child was dressed simply, his clothes patched and the fabric rough.

Jiang Nianzi was lying on her side, with one hand propping up her head.

Even though the little one was standing next to her bed, talking to her, his eyes were unwaveringly staring at the bowl on the cabinet.

The bowl contained the leftover soup from the poached eggs she had eaten.

His big round eyes were nearly looking into the bottom of the bowl.

"Gurgle..."

A loud sound echoed from Jiang Dudu's stomach which startled him so badly, he ended up clutching his belly and looking at Jiang Nianzi with wide eyes.

"Sister, I didn't mean to steal your food," he said, his eyes begging for mercy.

Jiang Nianzi couldn't help but burst into laughter at his expression.

Her gloominess from unexpectedly ending up in a book had been temporarily dispelled thanks to this little interlude.

"You can have it. I'm full," she conceded.

"Really?" Jiang Dudu's round eyes brightened as he looked at Jiang Nianzi hopefully.

Jiang Nianzi's heart softened and she reached out to pat the little boy on his head. "Really. Go ahead and eat."

With Jiang Nianzi's go-ahead, Jiang Dudu showed no more false modesty. He excitedly held onto his bowl and started to drink the soup intently.

He drank so quickly that he made "gulp gulp" sounds with his swallowing, as if he hadn't had a proper meal in centuries.

Looking at his frail body, it did seem like he often didn't get enough to eat.

Jiang Nianzi sighed. She had really ended up in that historical novel she was reading, and all the characters align perfectly.

Having read the prologue of the novel, Jiang Nianzi knew how impoverished this family was.

Despite her initial difficulty in accepting her unexpected crossing into the novel, once she calmed down, she realized that these were some of the rare leisurely moments Jiang Nianzi had in years.

Her grandfather was a traditional Chinese doctor, and her father a martial arts competitor.

From a young age, she bore the hopes of her father and grandfather, ceaselessly striving.

She became the world champion in martial arts, and also a renowned surgeon known as "Ghost Hand".

But she had never truly considered what she wanted to do - her grandfather and father didn't seem to care either.

Only when she saw her best friend being pampered by her family, would she feel a sense of envy deep within her.

She couldn't help but wonder if her fixation was too intense, which led her to transmigrate into the family from her dreams.

Without a doubt, the original host was someone adored by her family.

After understanding all this, Jiang Nianzi's initial rejection slowly transformed into a flicker of anticipation.

Could she really lead the life she desired?

It was only when Ding Hongmei and Jiang Cheng returned in the evening, and they had dinner, that Jiang Nianzi truly experienced the depth of this family's poverty.

Poorer than she could have ever imagined.

Very thin corn porridge was their meal, with no side dishes, just a plate of salted vegetables without oil.

Jiang Doudou and Jiang Cheng, however, ate heartily. Both were wolfing down their food at an incredible speed, as if they hadn't eaten for a long time.

This was the food their family had, but in Jiang Nianzi's bowl, there were still two eggs.

In this era, eggs were a rare commodity.

Just by looking at their food, Jiang Nianzi knew how precious these two eggs were.

Jiang Doudou glanced at the eggs in her bowl several times, swallowing her saliva incessantly.

Note: The female lead is the original host