Acting Extra in a Period Novel

Bai Fu, a woman who lived a privileged but fragile life in Beijing, dies and is reincarnated into the body of a seven-year-old girl named Yang Xiaoni in rural Dayang Village during the 1970s. The original owner of the body was considered a fool due to a congenital intellectual disability, but Bai Fu’s mature soul instantly takes over. She finds herself in a hostile environment under the care of her grandfather, Yang the Cripple, and his vicious second wife, Mrs. Wang. Her parents, refugees who had briefly reunited with her in the city, died in a trucking accident, leaving behind a compensation package that Mrs. Wang covets. The family views Bai Fu as a burden and a waste of resources, believing she is too stupid to be sold and too useless to work. They plan to murder her by abandoning her in the mountains to die of exposure or be eaten by wolves, intending to claim the compensation money for their own son, Yang Aiguo, who seeks a factory job in the city.

On the night before her scheduled abandonment, Bai Fu demonstrates surprising agency. Pretending to be the simpleton she is known to be, she waits until the household sleeps and steals the key to the family’s money cabinet. She retrieves the eight hundred yuan in compensation money and her father’s savings, hiding it inside the lining of her padded jacket. The next morning, she is dressed in heavy winter clothes despite the summer heat and carried up the mountain by her uncle, Yang Aiguo. He ties her to a pile of branches in a remote area and leaves her to die. However, Bai Fu manages to free herself and, realizing she is dying from heat exhaustion, uses her remaining strength to cry out for help. Her cries are heard by two men living in exile on the western side of the mountain: Bai Zhenhua, a former deputy director sent down for political reasons, and his friend Old Xia.

Bai Zhenhua and Old Xia discover the child wearing burial clothes and realize she was intended as a sacrifice. Bai Zhenhua, who had previously lost his own biological granddaughter, Xiaoni, to illness after a brief reunion, feels a deep connection to the desperate child. Bai Fu, aware of her precarious position, claims her name is Bai Fumei and begs to be taken in, offering to work to repay him. Bai Zhenhua agrees to adopt her, and she is brought to his modest courtyard home. There, she meets his blind wife, Zhou Shuxian, and begins to integrate into the household, carefully maintaining her cover as a grateful, simple child while secretly managing her hidden wealth.

Life in the west side of the village is hard but stable. Bai Fu befriends her new neighbor, Fu Hengyang, the grandson of another sent-down intellectual, Fu Zhili. She also encounters Yang Baoni, the female lead of the romance novel she once read in her past life. Bai Fu recognizes Baoni as a character destined for a happy life and chooses to ally with her rather than oppose her, hoping to avoid the tragic fate of the original cannon fodder character. When Baoni falls ill after getting lost in the rain, Bai Fu helps rescue her, further solidifying her bond with Fu Hengyang and the Yang family. Meanwhile, chaos erupts at Yang the Cripple’s house after the theft is discovered. Mrs. Wang collapses in grief and rage, but she refuses to involve the police, fearing that an investigation would reveal her attempt to murder her granddaughter. The village is thrown into disarray as they rush to harvest crops before an impending storm, a storm that Bai Fu knows from the novel’s plot will be critical to the future of the characters around her.

Bai Fu navigates her new life by balancing her intelligence with the limitations of her young body and social status. She uses her knowledge of future events to guide her decisions, such as preventing Fu Hengyang from getting into trouble with Yang Baoni. She also begins to learn practical skills, such as weaving mats from corn husks, to contribute to the household and gain favor. The story follows her efforts to survive in a politically tense and economically scarce environment, while secretly plotting to secure her future and protect those who have shown her kindness. Her relationship with Grandpa Bai deepens as he teaches her the value of integrity, even as she struggles with the moral ambiguity of the money she stole from her abusive relatives.