Ch 1: The Scumbag’s Daily Wife-Doting Life [QT]

World 1: The Educated Youth Sent Down to the Countryside in the 1970s

Xie Li was about to die.

Sitting in a wheelchair, his pale yet handsome face completely drained of color, he stared blankly at the lush greenery and blooming flowers before him.

A nurse came over to push him. “Let’s head back.”

Xie Li gave a vague response, casting one lingering glance at the greenery behind him before slowly lowering his hand.

He was so unwilling to accept it. He was still young, had never even been in love, came from a wealthy family. Why did he have to leave this world so early…?

[Unwilling to accept it? Want to come with me? If you come with me, you can obtain eternal life.]

An electronic voice echoed through the darkness.

After a brief pause, Xie Li replied, “Sure.”

…

Spring, 1977. Commune Health Clinic.

Xie Li slowly opened his eyes, recalling what that system had told him.

[I am System No. 03, under the Jinjiang Great World. I manage dozens of transmigrators. You may call me Guan San. Your task is to accept the dying wishes of those blessed with great fortune, help them fulfill those wishes, protect the people they wanted to protect, and complete missions to earn points, which can be exchanged for anything you desire.]

[Since the player is male, all of your mission targets will be female. Please display your gentlemanly charm and officially escape singlehood in this world!]

Xie Li felt rather helpless. What was wrong with being single? He was proud of being single! Why did it have to bring it up and keep poking at his wounds?

Still, the jab thoroughly woke him up. Opening his eyes to face his new life, he happened to hear a tentative voice:

“You’re awake?”

Turning his head to the right, he saw a girl of about eighteen standing beside the bed.

She wore a grayish-blue blouse, her long hair braided neatly behind her back. Her face was small and delicate, her clear lively eyes filled with pleasant surprise as she looked at him.

Xie Li was used to treating girls gently and politely. By reflex, he gave her a soft smile and nodded warmly.

“I’m awake. You…” you are?

Before he could finish, the girl interrupted him.

“That’s great!” she exclaimed, patting her chest in relief. She bent closer to check his complexion, and seeing no change, reached up to touch his forehead. Nodding happily, she said, “No fever. Looks like you should be fine now.”

“…” Xie Li’s gaze flickered slightly, but he calmly nodded. “Right, I’m fine.”

He remembered now. This girl was clearly Li Tiantian, the mission target of this world.

Tsk, what a headache.

Sneaking glances at Li Tiantian, Xie Li rubbed his chin and pondered how he was supposed to handle this first mission.

Li Tiantian had no idea what he was thinking. Still delighted, she hurriedly said, “Oh right, since you’re awake, I’ll go get the doctor to take a look at you. Wait here for a moment.” Then she rushed out of the room in a flurry.

Xie Li froze for a second before sitting up in bed and letting out a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness. At least he had some buffer time.

He called out to the system to confirm the mission for this world.

[Main Mission: Change the course of the story and give Li Tiantian a lifetime of happiness. Mission completion reward: 1000 points.]

Since this was Xie Li’s first mission, he was extremely cautious. After confirming the mission, he reviewed the memories transmitted from the original host once more.

The story took place in the late 1970s.

The original host, who had come from a good family background, had been implicated by his elders and sent down to the countryside as an educated youth in Xiaoxipo Brigade. Every day he faced the yellow earth with his back to the sky, never eating enough, never dressing warmly enough, and constantly doing exhausting farm labor. He found the hardship unbearable.

In order to leave that awful place, he deliberately pursued Li Tiantian, the only daughter of brigade leader Li Jianguo, hoping to use her father’s connections to secure an opportunity to return to the city.

Who would have thought that after they married, Li Jianguo would drown while saving someone’s life? Soon afterward, a new brigade leader was selected, and the Li family lost its political standing. The original host’s carefully planned scheme failed before it had even begun.

He blamed Li Tiantian for being useless.

Then, as soon as news of the reinstated college entrance examination arrived, he studied desperately, got into university, secured his chance to return to the city, and immediately abandoned Li Tiantian without a trace.

At the time, the original host still didn’t know that Li Tiantian was already pregnant.

After being admitted to Capital University, he relied on his refined and gentle facade to thrive among his classmates. Coupled with his family’s political rehabilitation, he returned to the elegant life of a wealthy young master and completely forgot about Li Tiantian, whom he regarded as a stain on his life.

Forty years later, as the original host grew older, he suddenly remembered Li Tiantian and sent someone to investigate her circumstances.

Only then did he learn that several months after he left, Li Tiantian had given birth to a daughter for him. In order to raise the child, she took on all kinds of odd jobs, working herself sick. A few months earlier, she had passed away in the hospital.

Before her death, she had murmured the original host’s name over and over.

People tended to soften with age. When the original host heard the news, he was suddenly plunged into memories of the past.

He had done every bad thing imaginable in his life. As his parents and brothers passed away one after another, there was no one left around him he could truly confide in. The women who crowded around him all wanted his money. Only Li Tiantian had genuinely loved him when he had neither power nor status, and she had even borne him his only bloodline.

It was not exactly a complete awakening, but as the saying went, when a man is nearing death, his words become kind. The original host sacrificed part of his fortune and luck, making a wish to give Li Tiantian a lifetime of happiness in repayment for her misplaced devotion.

The mission was not particularly difficult, and as a newcomer, Xie Li had been fortunate enough to receive it.

At this point in the story, it had just reached the time when the original host, after spending two years in the countryside, had begun to stray down the wrong path and decided to pursue Li Tiantian in hopes of returning to the city. He had only just taken the first step.

The reason Xie Li had awakened in the clinic was also because the original host had tried to play the hero and save the beauty. When wild boars came charging down the mountain, he rushed forward to rescue Li Tiantian in hopes of winning her heart. In the end, he failed to save her and instead got rammed by another small boar, falling and smashing his head on the ground.

A panicked Li Tiantian, together with her father Li Jianguo, had rushed the original host to the clinic.

But Li Jianguo, being the brigade leader, had many responsibilities to attend to and soon returned to handle brigade affairs. Right now, only Li Tiantian remained to look after him.

This had also been an important scene in the original timeline where feelings first developed between the original host and Li Tiantian. Entering the story at this exact point greatly reduced the difficulty of the mission.

But…

“I still don’t know what to do.” Looking entirely unconcerned, Xie Li hinted, “System, you know as well as I do that I’m single too.”

Xie Li’s personal qualifications were excellent. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Yet it was precisely because he was too perfect, with his gentle temperament and warm smile that made people feel like basking in a spring breeze, that he became the dream man in many girls’ hearts. The girls admired him from afar and hardly dared approach him casually. As a result, despite being twenty years old, he had never had a girlfriend.

If he had never dated before, how was he supposed to know how to pursue Li Tiantian?

Especially in a world set in the 1970s, where food and clothing were scarce. For a pampered young master like Xie Li, whether he could even survive here was still an open question.

The system seemed to understand his implication and suddenly spoke up:

[Player, since you are a newcomer, you may draw a beginner’s gift pack. Would you like to draw?]

Xie Li’s eyes lit up slightly. Smiling, he said, “I want to draw!”

It was best to settle matters of luck quickly.

The moment he spoke, a roulette wheel appeared in his mind. It was divided into five colors: white, green, blue, purple, and orange. The later the color, the smaller its section on the wheel. Tiny words crowded the spaces, seemingly representing the rewards for each color tier. The orange section occupied only two or three percent of the wheel.

Xie Li said nothing. Calmly focusing, he carefully observed the wheel’s spinning speed. After a while, he made his calculation in silence. The instant the pointer swept past a certain point, he decisively shouted:

“Stop.”

Before his voice had even fully fallen, the pointer ceased its rapid spinning. It slowed, continued forward another half-circle from inertia, and finally stopped on the orange section.

He had won.

And judging by the color, it seemed to be the grand prize.

Even Xie Li froze for a moment before lifting his head to ask the system, “What’s the reward?”

The system also sounded somewhat disbelieving. After pausing briefly, it replied:

[Congratulations to Employee No. 233 for obtaining the orange-tier reward: Bishui Space.]

Like a Portable Space?

Before Xie Li could question it further, he suddenly sensed that something had appeared in his mind out of nowhere.

He wanted to inspect it carefully, but then heard approaching footsteps outside, along with Li Tiantian’s voice speaking to someone. Hesitating for a moment, he pushed aside his curiosity and focused instead on dealing with Li Tiantian.

…

“Doctor, please check whether he still needs to stay hospitalized now that he’s awake.”

Li Tiantian pushed open the door and entered with the doctor, pointing toward Xie Li for him to examine.

She had grown up cherished at home and had never really handled matters on her own before. It was her first time independently asking someone for help, and embarrassment flushed her cheeks pink. Her voice was so soft it was nearly inaudible. The young male doctor followed her into the room and could not help stealing several curious glances at her.

“Ahem!”

Xie Li coughed lightly, interrupting him.

The doctor snapped back to his senses. Seeing the warning look in Xie Li’s eyes, he quickly understood and could not help laughing helplessly before stepping forward to examine the wound.

“Since there’s no fever and the wound hasn’t reopened, as long as he’s awake, he can be discharged. Still, it’s best to rest for a while and avoid overexertion for now.” After the examination, the doctor spoke casually. Then, after some thought, he added, “If you still feel uneasy, you can also take him to the county hospital for a checkup. The clinic doesn’t have testing equipment at the moment, so it would be safer that way.”

“There’s no need to go through so much trouble. We’ll just discharge directly.”

Before Li Tiantian could respond, Xie Li had already thrown off the blanket, put on his shoes, and stood up.

In the original story, the host had not suffered any lasting problems from the injury, so Xie Li felt completely assured about his condition and insisted on leaving.

Li Tiantian refused stubbornly.

“Maybe we should still go get a proper examination…”

Xie Li froze for a moment before revealing a helpless smile.

“Do you know how long it takes to walk to the county town?”

Li Tiantian looked blankly from the doctor to Xie Li.

“Four hours. Why?”

“Four hours…” Crossing his arms and leaning casually against the wall, Xie Li tilted his head to look at her. “Although I’d really like for you to accompany me out, if we rush to the county town and then hurry back at this hour, it’ll already be dark by the time we return.”

“Th-that…”

Faced with the young man’s warm smile that felt like a spring breeze, Li Tiantian’s heart skipped a beat. Her face reddened uncontrollably as she muttered shyly and irritably:

“Then forget it. We’ll head back first. Just remember to go to the county town yourself tomorrow for a checkup!”

She did not dare look at him again and hurriedly turned to leave, afraid their eyes would meet once more.

Too strange.

Why was her heart beating so fast?

“…too shameless!” Li Tiantian muttered under her breath.

In this era, saying something as bold and straightforward as wanting to go out together with her, while staring at a girl with that kind of gaze, really was rather shameless.

Hearing this, Xie Li could neither laugh nor cry. After paying the medical fees and collecting the gauze and ointment, he strode after her.

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