Bai Jing, a woman who has lived a life of hardship and regret, awakens in her sixteen-year-old body during the early 1980s in rural China. She finds herself in her childhood home, a dilapidated wooden house in Bai Family Village, where her family struggles with extreme poverty. In her previous life, she was tricked by a matchmaker named Feng Ni into marrying into the Wu family, a decision that led to her destruction. The Wu family appeared prosperous on the surface, with a father working as a master butcher, but was actually a toxic environment filled with greed and abuse. Determined to change her fate, Bai Jing vehemently rejects the marriage proposal when Feng Ni visits, shocking her mother, Luo Chunhua, and the matchmaker.
Bai Jing’s family is in dire straits. Her father, a mine guard who earns a decent salary, sends none of his money home, instead giving it to his father and stepmother, who exploit him. Luo Chunhua works tirelessly in the fields to feed her four children: Bai Jing, her younger sisters Bai Ling and Bai Jing, and her younger brother Bai Yong. The family subsists on wild vegetables and meager rations, with the children suffering from malnutrition and parasites. Bai Jing is overwhelmed by the sight of her young, frail siblings and her exhausted mother, vowing to protect them this time around.
Shortly after her rebirth, Bai Jing discovers she has awakened a "Pay-to-Win Intelligence System." The system requires her to deposit valuable items to earn currency, which can then be used to purchase information, locate resources, and buy physical enhancements. Initially, she exchanges her father’s silver bracelet and old coins for system credits. Using the system, she locates injured wild chickens in the mountains and gathers hidden grain stores from rodent nests, significantly improving her family’s diet. She also discovers a hidden treasure chest belonging to a former landlord, acquiring valuable gold and jade items that provide her with substantial wealth.
As Bai Jing’s family begins to eat well, tensions rise with their relatives. Bai Zizhong, the son of her step-grandmother, who has long bullied her, attacks her with a stone. Empowered by a strength-enhancing pill purchased from the system, Bai Jing fights back, kicking and beating him until he flees. Her second uncle, who has always been supportive, intervenes and helps her carry the wild chickens home. However, her step-grandmother arrives with a crowd, demanding an apology and threatening violence. Bai Jing, no longer the submissive girl she was in her previous life, confronts the woman, striking her with a stick and driving her into a muddy pit. The story concludes with Bai Jing standing her ground, ready to defend her family against the harassment of her greedy relatives, while planning to use her system-enabled wealth to secure a better future for her mother and siblings.
