1980s An Exotic Beauty Arrived at the Military Family Compound

Rong Mei, a woman who died after twelve years of exhausting entrepreneurship in her previous life, transmigrates into the body of an eighteen-year-old mixed-race girl in rural China in 1985. The original host, Rong Mei, was the daughter of a Chinese father and a Russian mother, inheriting striking Slavic features and mesmerizing heterochromatic eyes. Heartbroken by a betrayal in her first love, she had impulsively agreed to marry Zhou Nanxu, a soldier she had never met, after seeing only his photograph. Upon arriving at the Zhou family home in Ertuozi Village, she finds herself in a hostile environment dominated by her abusive sister-in-law, Luo Xiuxiu, who has oppressed the widowed mother-in-law, Liu Rong, for four years. Rejecting her past life of overwork, Rong Mei adopts a philosophy of lying flat and prioritizing her own comfort. Her first act is to physically beat Luo Xiuxiu when she insults Liu Rong, establishing immediate dominance. Recognizing the toxic family dynamics, Rong Mei orchestrates a separation of the household, dividing assets and moving Liu Rong out to live with her, thereby liberating the older woman from years of servitude.

The narrative shifts focus to the husband, Zhou Nanxu, a disciplined and highly decorated deputy regimental commander in the military. Unaware of his mother’s actions, he receives a telegram containing only a question mark from his new wife, followed by letters revealing that Liu Rong has spent five hundred yuan to buy him a wife and that the family has been separated. Initially skeptical and concerned about the propriety of the arrangement, Zhou Nanxu is promoted to his new rank while grappling with the absurdity of the situation. Meanwhile, Rong Mei, unable to remain idle in the village, decides to travel to the military compound to find him. The journey is arduous, involving crowded trains and long bus rides, but she arrives at the garrison determined to secure her future. She is greeted by Deputy Political Commissar Guo Jiming, who is initially disappointed by her rustic appearance but is stunned when she reveals her true beauty. She is assigned a guest apartment within the compound.

The pivotal turning point occurs when Zhou Nanxu returns home and unexpectedly encounters Rong Mei in the bathroom. Struck by her extraordinary beauty and captivating eyes, he is momentarily disarmed. Their first interaction is awkward yet charged with immediate attraction. Zhou Nanxu informs her that they cannot legally marry because she is only eighteen, below the statutory age, and that they are not yet a legal couple. Instead of being distressed, Rong Mei directly asks him if he is willing to support her financially so she can live a life of leisure without working. This blunt confession of her desire to be a dependent wife catches him off guard. However, captivated by her appearance and demeanor, Zhou Nanxu agrees to her terms. The story concludes with the two beginning their cohabitation, setting the stage for a relationship built on mutual attraction and a unconventional arrangement, while the complexities of their respective families and military life remain to be navigated.