A Couple Transmigrated Into the 1970s: Reclaiming Their Golden Finger and Rewriting Fate

Li Wenxiu and Gu Shiye, a modern couple who were internet celebrity entrepreneurs, transmigrate into the bodies of the third daughter-in-law and third son in a 1970s rural Chinese family. They find themselves in the world of a novel titled "The Rough 1970s Man and His Lucky Koi Wife," where the Gu family is structured around the favoritism shown to the fourth son, Gu Shicheng, and his twin sister, Gu Shiyu. In the original plot, the three elder brothers and their wives serve as blood bags, exhausting themselves to support the younger siblings until they meet tragic ends. Upon realizing their new reality, Li Wenxiu and Gu Shiye quickly recognize the danger they are in. The family matriarch, Mother Gu, immediately demands that the three elder households contribute to the exorbitant eight-hundred-yuan bride price for Gu Shicheng’s marriage to Lin Baozhu, a city teacher. Instead of submitting to the family’s oppressive demands as the original characters would have, the transmigrated couple refuses to pay, arguing that the family fund belongs to all contributors and should not be drained for the favored son.

The refusal triggers a family crisis. Gu Shiye boldly proposes splitting the household, a move that shocks the entire family but galvanizes the eldest and second branches, who have also long suffered under the parents' bias. The confrontation forces the truth into the open: the family’s wealth was built on the labor of the three elder sons, while the younger siblings received preferential treatment and resources. Faced with the united front of the three elder households, the parents are forced to back down temporarily. However, the conflict escalates when Gu Shicheng, desperate to marry Lin Baozhu, threatens to split the family himself unless his parents find a way to pay the bride price. This ultimatum forces the parents to agree to a formal household division. The split is finalized with the family assets divided equally, though the parents retain the eldest branch to care for them in old age, a arrangement that is immediately contested by the eldest daughter-in-law, Wang Lihua.

Following the split, Li Wenxiu and Gu Shiye discover a significant advantage: they have inherited a magical spatial golden finger hidden within a jade token inside a chest of drawers. Unlike the original story, where this token is stolen by the female lead, the couple successfully activates the space. It contains a brick house, fertile land, a spiritual spring with healing properties, and a daily sign-in system that provides food and treasures. The spiritual water rapidly improves their health and Li Wenxiu’s condition, especially after she discovers she is pregnant. Meanwhile, Gu Shiye uses his knowledge of the plot to sabotage Lin Baozhu’s brother, Lin Dabao, by spreading rumors of a massive bride price, which leads the gambling-addicted brother into a trap by local hooligans. Lin Dabao accumulates a thousand-yuan debt, forcing the Lin family to rush the marriage to secure the bride price money.

The wedding proceeds despite the family split, with Gu Shicheng and Lin Baozhu marrying for six hundred yuan, which is borrowed from the eldest branch. On their wedding night, Lin Baozhu experiences a dream revealing that she is a character in a novel and that she is the destined female lead. She realizes that the plot has deviated from the original script and becomes anxious about losing her "lucky koi" status and the jade token that grants her access to a similar spatial ability. The next morning, she attempts to assert her dominance as the new daughter-in-law but is met with resistance from Wang Lihua and the newly awakened Gu Shiyu. Lin Baozhu pretends to submit to make breakfast, secretly plotting to retrieve the jade token from Mother Gu. However, Li Wenxiu and Gu Shiye are aware of her potential awakening and the token’s true origin. They decide to remain vigilant, using their spatial resources to build a better life for themselves while navigating the complex and hostile dynamics of their former in-laws.

As the story progresses, the power dynamics within the Gu family continue to shift. The original female lead, Lin Baozhu, struggles to maintain her perceived destiny as the favored daughter-in-law, only to find that the other women in the family are no longer the submissive cannon fodder characters from the novel. Wang Lihua openly challenges Mother Gu’s authority, and Gu Shiyu faces pressure to drop out of school to get married. Li Wenxiu and Gu Shiye, now independent with their own resources and growing family, begin to distance themselves from the toxic family structure. They plan to use the rewards from their spatial sign-ins to build a new home and secure their future, leaving the original protagonists to face the consequences of their own selfishness and the unraveling of the plot they once relied upon.