The protagonist, a 22-year-old woman who transmigrated into the body of an 18-year-old girl named Lin Ruotang in 1940 Shanghai. She was originally an ordinary laid-off woman who idled at home after graduation. The original body's owner was a female student whose parents were teachers; her father was killed during Japanese air raids while fleeing famine, and her mother died of illness on their first night in Shanghai. She is the sole survivor of her family. She can write traditional characters, knows Russian, Japanese, and some English. She has an extraordinary nearly photographic memory, which she considers her golden finger. She is literate, determined, and quick-witted.
