1970s: The Scumbag Husband Spoils His Comrade's Widow, While I Marry the Tough Battalion Commander

Ruan Yu, an orphan raised by a military veteran, spent her previous life in a miserable marriage to Lin Jianguo, a captain in the Fifth Military Region. She had no romantic connection with her husband, who instead carried on a long-term affair with Fang Hui, a widow and performing arts troupe star. Lin Jianguo had brought home Fang Hui’s infant son, Lin Zihao, claiming the child’s father was a fallen comrade, and Ruan Yu devoted over twenty years to raising him as her own. In her final moments, she discovered the devastating truth: Lin Zihao was actually the biological child of Lin Jianguo and Fang Hui. The boy, grateful only to his biological mother, stabbed her to death to claim a life insurance policy Fang Hui had arranged. As she lay dying, Lin Jianguo coldly revealed he had married her only to repay a debt to her foster father and had never intended to love her.

Upon opening her eyes, Ruan Yu found herself reborn in April 1976, six years into her marriage, when Lin Zihao was merely six years old. Realizing she had been given a second chance, she resolved to break free from her fate. When Lin Zihao threw a bowl at her, accusing her of being a bad mother and demanding Fang Hui, Ruan Yu did not comfort him as she had in her past life. Instead, she coldly agreed and locked him out of the house. She began packing away all of Lin Zihao’s belongings, giving them to her neighbor Wang Li, and prepared to sever ties with the Lin family entirely.

The conflict escalated when Fang Hui and Lin Zihao confronted Ruan Yu at her door, with Fang Hui playing the victim. Ruan Yu demanded three thousand yuan as compensation for six years of child-rearing expenses, threatening to expose their affair if they refused. The situation drew the attention of the performing arts troupe members, led by Jin Wen, who bullied Ruan Yu. During the confrontation, Ruan Yu was pushed into the path of a military jeep. The driver, fearing the passenger inside, rushed her to the hospital. The passenger was Jiang Ye, the deputy regiment commander who had died six years prior in a mission, yet was now alive and returning to the military district. Ruan Yu realized the man she had accidentally kissed was Fang Hui’s supposed deceased fiancé, adding a layer of shock to her new reality.

Ruan Yu used the incident to her advantage, securing one thousand yuan in compensation from Jin Wen and the troupe members to avoid scandal. She also managed to obtain the three thousand yuan passbook from Lin Jianguo, who hoped to buy her silence. Rather than accepting his control, Ruan Yu publicly announced that the money was a settlement for raising his illegitimate son, forcing Lin Jianguo to admit it in front of the military wives to protect his career. She then invited Fang Hui over for dinner, planning to further dismantle their facade. Throughout these events, Ruan Yu plotted to divorce Lin Jianguo, secure her financial independence, and prepare for the upcoming reopening of the college entrance exam, determined to live for herself rather than as a servant to a family that despised her.