“After Swapping Engagements and Marrying the Sterile Commander, My Stepsister Cried Her Eyes Out”

Feng Zhiyi, a top-tier assassin from the twenty-third century, transmigrates into the body of an eighteen-year-old girl in 1980s China after being struck by lightning. The original host died of a broken heart and high fever after her stepmother, Lan Guixiang, and step-siblings forced her to take her stepsister Feng Qiulan’s place in a marriage swap. Qiulan had stolen Zhiyi’s fiancé, Zhao Qinghua, and now the Feng family intended to marry Zhiyi to Lu Lingxiao, a poor soldier, to maintain the alliance. Upon waking in a dilapidated woodshed, Zhiyi discovers she has brought her spatial lotus dimension with her, containing vast supplies, weapons, and a time dilation ratio of one to twenty. Realizing her new family is abusive and greedy, she decides to sever all ties and reclaim what is hers.

Before the wedding, Zhiyi uses her space to steal the hidden gold, silver, and cash stashed by the matriarch, Old Lady Feng, and her step-sister. During the wedding day, when Old Lady Feng refuses to provide a dowry and attempts to strike her, Zhiyi threatens to cancel the marriage, forcing the family to hand over the betrothal gifts. She then publicly declares her intention to cut off all relations with the Feng family, making them sign a severance agreement. Lu Lingxiao arrives in a military jeep, surprising the villagers who expected a poor ox cart, and carries Zhiyi out of the house. Zhiyi leaves the Feng family behind without looking back, entering a new life with her husband.

At the Lu family home, Zhiyi meets her three young stepchildren: Lu Ziheng, Lu Zirui, and the toddler Lu Xiaoning. The children are initially terrified of her, having been told that stepmothers are cruel tigresses who eat children. Zhiyi wins them over with candy and kindness, earning their trust and affection. She learns from the original novel’s plot that Lu Lingxiao is destined to die young in a mission and cannot have biological children, but he will adopt these three orphans who become successful adults. Determined to change his fate, Zhiyi plans to use her modern knowledge and space resources to save him.

Her wedding night is uneventful; Lu Lingxiao, respecting her youth and their lack of prior relationship, chooses to sleep beside her without pressing for intimacy, believing she may regret the forced marriage. Zhiyi misinterprets his restraint as physical incapacity and is disappointed, though she finds his handsome face appealing. The next morning, she meets Lu’s parents, who are warm and accepting. They give her valuable jade pendants and money as wedding gifts. Zhiyi and Lu Lingxiao travel to the city to register their marriage, where she begins to adjust to her new role as a military wife and stepmother, preparing to navigate the challenges of the 1980s while secretly using her spatial abilities to improve their lives and prevent the tragic future foretold in the novel.