In the '70s The Delicate Crybaby Remarries the Infertile Bigshot and Finds Herself Blessed with Pregnancy
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Summary

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In the autumn of 1975, Xu Zhizhi transmigrates into the body of a seventeen-year-old woman who has just been kidnapped on a hospital rooftop. The original owner of this body was a victim of severe domestic abuse, married to Liu Dawei, a man who concealed his impotence and sexual perversions while subjecting her to physical torture. Upon waking in the hospital ward, Xu Zhizhi finds herself in the midst of a chaotic confrontation between her abusive mother-in-law, Hu Guixiang, and her domineering mother, Wang Fenglan. The head nurse reveals that Xu Zhizhi is still a virgin, exposing Liu Dawei’s inability to consummate the marriage and his history of violent abuse. This revelation shocks the onlookers and shifts the power dynamic, as Xu Zhizhi realizes she is no longer the timid, obedient girl who endured the abuse in silence.

A handsome military officer named Lu Yuchuan, who had rescued her from the kidnapper, is present at the hospital. Lu Yuchuan is a comrade of Xu Zhizhi’s missing uncle, Xu Shenghai, and has been assigned to the Rainbow Factory as security director while secretly investigating a spy ring connected to a national color picture tube project. Xu Zhizhi, recognizing Lu Yuchuan’s authority and integrity, seeks his assistance. She obtains an injury certificate documenting Liu Dawei’s abuse, which she intends to use as leverage to secure a divorce. However, Liu Dawei, desperate to maintain his reputation and hide his condition, refuses to agree to the divorce and attempts to manipulate Xu Zhizhi’s family into forcing her back into the marriage.

Xu Zhizhi returns to her maternal home, the Xu family courtyard, where she faces hostility from her mother, step-grandmother, and sister, Xu Lingling. The Xu family has long exploited Xu Zhizhi, treating her as a servant while favoring Xu Lingling, who is frail but manipulative. Xu Lingling has been siphoning Xu Zhizhi’s wages and using her sister’s labor to maintain her own virtuous image. When Xu Zhizhi announces her intention to divorce and cut ties with her natal family, her relatives react with anger and disbelief. Xu Zhiqiang, her second brother, initially promises to protect her but ultimately sides with the family’s interests, urging her to reconcile with Liu Dawei to avoid scandal.

Refusing to be controlled, Xu Zhizhi proposes to be adopted by her missing uncle, Xu Shenghai, to legally sever her ties with the Xu family and claim her share of his military pension. Lu Yuchuan supports her decision, helping her navigate the bureaucratic processes to finalize the adoption and secure her financial independence. As the adoption is approved, Xu Zhizhi demands the return of her wages, the bride price, and the clothes that were part of her dowry. Liu Dawei, realizing he has lost control, threatens to withhold the divorce papers unless Xu Zhizhi returns to his home to retrieve her belongings, suspecting she may have hidden something or someone.

The story reaches a critical turning point when Xu Zhizhi, accompanied by Lu Yuchuan, confronts the Liu family. Hu Guixiang insults her, prompting Xu Zhizhi to slap her for the first time, marking a definitive break from her past submission. Meanwhile, Lu Yuchuan continues his investigation, suspecting that the kidnapping attempt on Xu Zhizhi may be connected to the enemy operatives he is hunting. The narrative establishes a dual plotline: Xu Zhizhi’s struggle for personal liberation and legal autonomy against a backdrop of familial and marital oppression, and Lu Yuchuan’s covert mission to protect national security interests. Their relationship develops from one of reluctant assistance to mutual respect, as Xu Zhizhi demonstrates resilience and strategic thinking, while Lu Yuchuan provides the authority and protection she needs to survive in a restrictive society.

As the divorce proceedings move forward, Xu Zhizhi faces continued resistance from both the Liu and Xu families, who attempt to sabotage her plans through gossip and emotional manipulation. Xu Lingling spreads rumors that Xu Zhizhi is having an affair with Lu Yuchuan to discredit her, but Xu Zhizhi remains focused on her goal of independence. The story highlights the harsh realities of life in 1970s China, where women had limited legal recourse and social stigma was a powerful tool of control. Xu Zhizhi’s transformation from a victim to an assertive individual who refuses to be silenced sets the stage for her future battles, both in her personal life and in the broader context of the political intrigue surrounding Lu Yuchuan’s mission.

Novel Items

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Document
A medical document certifying Xu Zhizhi's injuries from domestic violence. Xu Zhizhi sought it as leverage to negotiate a divorce with the Liu family. The doctor and Sister Peng kept it confidential to avoid making a public scene.
Weapon
The knife used by the kidnapper to press against Xu Zhizhi's neck on the hospital rooftop. Lu Yuchuan caught the knife as it fell when the kidnapper was subdued.
Document
A medical referral letter obtained from the brigade office that allowed Father Lin to receive treatment at a major city hospital.
Document
A medical document detailing Xu Zhizhi's injuries from being beaten by Liu Dawei. She had the doctor make an extra copy as backup. She used it as leverage to demand a divorce, hoping to part on good terms.
Document
A letter Qin Mian wrote to Li Luo asking When will you return to the Northwest. Li Luo tossed it aside without reading. He later found it unopened in his book.
Banner
A silk banner with the text 'A Man of Integrity, Always Willing to Help,' delivered to Zhang Shan in the hospital by Qiao Qin's team as a mocking gesture.
Latest Release
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2026-08-11shanghai fantasy c8
2026-08-11shanghai fantasy c7
2026-08-11shanghai fantasy c6
2026-08-11shanghai fantasy c5
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2026-08-11shanghai fantasy c3
2026-08-11shanghai fantasy c2
2026-08-11shanghai fantasy c1

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Let me just say-this chapter structure is absolutely brilliant. The author starts with a seemingly heartwarming scene about Xu Lingling getting a teaching job, then immediately pivots to Wang Laotai plotting theft. That transition is so smooth you almost don't notice the tonal shift until it's too late. One minute we're celebrating, the next we're watching a grandmother manipulate her granddaughter into committing a crime. Then comes the fake emergency! A kid runs to Xu Zhizhi saying 'Feng Jiao Jiao is in trouble!' and she immediately drops everything-runs ten minutes in the rain, sweating, panicked. The reader is right there with her, worried and urgent. And then she gets to Feng Jiao Jiao's house and... everything's fine. The kid was lying. The whole thing was a distraction. I literally gasped out loud. But here's what really impressed me-the author doesn't rush the investigation. Once Xu Zhizhi realizes what happened, she methodically goes through the steps: checks her room, finds the drawer moved, calls Lu Yuchuan, draws a sketch of the suspect, gathers witnesses. Each step builds tension. When Liu Chao finds Wang Pandai about to burn the outline, that's the climax we've been building toward. And the ending? Xu Zhizhi says she won't pursue it 'this time' but then immediately clarifies that theft is a Security Department matter now. She's not being cruel-she's being smart. She knows if she lets this slide, it'll happen again. The pacing of her revelation-letting Wang Pandai think she's off the hook before dropping the coin detail-is chef's kiss.
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Can we talk about how WELL-WRITTEN the dialogue is? Liu Dawei's line — "You can hit or scold me all you want, just don't bring up divorce. It would ruin our relationship" — is absolutely peak manipulative husband energy. He's performing remorse for an audience, and the ward full of people eats it up. The author captures this perfectly: "His words immediately resonated with the others in the ward. In this era, people believed it was better to separate without divorcing." And Xu Zhizhi's voice? It's sharp, direct, and gets sharper as the chapter goes on. "So, just because you apologize, I should forgive you?" — that's not someone who's going to be bullied. The original owner might have been timid, but this new soul? She's got teeth. The family's dialogue is equally revealing. Xu Lingling's "You're already married — how can you be so willful?" sounds so reasonable on the surface that it's terrifying. Wang Fenglan's whisper about money instead of her daughter's injuries says everything about their priorities. But the real dialogue gem has to be Hu Guixiang's meltdown: "Since you married into our family, he's been willing to bring down the stars from the sky for you, yet you still dare mention divorce?!" This woman has absolutely no self-awareness. She thinks her son is some romantic hero while he's literally in the hospital for assaulting his wife. And Lu Yuchuan? His dialogue is sparse but every word counts. "We'll talk about everything else later." That's it. No grand declarations, just steady presence.
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'Under the dim yellow light came a woman's sweet voice.' That line gave me chills. The atmosphere in this book is so carefully built — it's late autumn, there's rain tapping against fallen leaves, and the whole Xu household feels like a pressure cooker. I keep thinking about the honeycomb coal briquettes. It's such a small detail but it tells you everything about this era and this family's economic situation. They're scraping by, reusing bedsheets, arguing over who gets to wear what. The scene where Xu Zhizhi cooks porridge and stir-fries potatoes for Lu Yuchuan while he's washing his bedsheets at dawn — that's pure cinematic. You can see the steam rising from the kitchen, the cold morning air, the dim yellow light. And then there's Lu Yuchuan's room, where he's dealing with his own private shame about his medical condition. The contrast between the noisy, chaotic Xu household and Lu Yuchuan's quiet, almost sterile space is striking. Even the bedsheets become a symbol — dirty from his nightmare, washed by his own hands at dawn. The author doesn't need grand descriptions; the world feels lived-in and real. I can smell the coal smoke and feel the winter chill just from reading these scenes.
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The way the author describes the Xu family courtyard is one of those things that just sticks with you. Seven or eight households crammed into a two-compound courtyard, twenty to thirty people total, barely any room to turn around. The Wang family moved in from the countryside and now they're taking up the best space—the southern-facing rooms with the most sunlight—while the Xu family's own space gets squeezed out. This isn't just background detail, it's a whole social ecosystem laid out in a few sentences. I keep coming back to the image of Grandma Wang splashing wash water at Xu Zhizhi and then chasing her with a broom through the yard while everyone watches. You can practically hear the courtyard residents gossiping, you can feel the heat of it all. And then Lu Yuchuan shows up and suddenly the whole courtyard's attention shifts to him because he's got housing allocated—two empty rooms that everyone's been eyeing. The social dynamics of this place are so vividly rendered. The kitchen scene is another one that really lives in my head. Xu Zhizhi borrowing a fire from Aunt Hu across the way, the honeycomb coal briquette, the simple noodle soup with king oyster mushrooms and chili oil. There's something so specific and grounded about these details—the way she kneads and rests the dough, cuts it into strips as thin as chive leaves, finishes it with cilantro. This isn't a glamorous setting but it feels incredibly alive. You can smell the cooking, feel the cramped quarters, hear the family drama echoing through shared walls. And Sister Peng's perspective when she watches Xu Zhizhi and Lu Yuchuan interact—"In all her years as Women's Federation director, Sister Peng had never seen children so attractive"—this tiny moment tells us so much about the era, about what's considered appropriate, about the institutional world that exists alongside the personal one. The worldbuilding here is doing a lot of heavy lifting without ever feeling like info-dumping.
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Let me just say this: the conflict in these chapters is layered in a way that makes my chest tight. On the surface, it's a woman trying to get a divorce from an abusive husband. That's already high stakes—she's risking social ruin, family rejection, and the wrath of a man who's already proven he'll hit her. But the author keeps adding new dimensions to the conflict so it never feels one-note. First there's the physical conflict—Grandma Wang chasing her with a broom, the memory of beatings from her past life. Then there's the social conflict—gossip about her having "someone outside," the fear that divorce will ruin her sister's marriage prospects. Then there's the institutional conflict—Lu Yuchuan investigating her, the factory housing system that could take her rooms away if she's not allowed to stay. And underneath it all, there's this mystery conflict about the prisoner on the rooftop that neither Xu Zhizhi nor the reader fully understands yet. What makes the stakes feel real is that every character has something to lose. Liu Dawei loses face if his wife divorces him—he's already impotent and prideful, so her leaving is a double blow to his ego. Wang Fenglan loses her free labor and the financial support Xu Zhizhi sends. Xu Zhiqiang loses the ability to protect his sister in the way he knows how—he comes all the way back from the army only to tell her not to divorce. Even Lu Yuchuan has stakes: if she's innocent, he needs to protect her. If she's guilty, he needs to expose her. He can't win either way without something costing him. And the most terrifying part? Xu Zhizhi knows a battle is coming. She shuts her eyes to rest and regain her strength because she knows Liu Dawei is coming tomorrow and she needs to be ready. The author doesn't need explosions or dramatic confrontations to make us feel the tension. The quiet moment of her preparing for war is somehow more intense than any action scene could be.
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Okay, I need to talk about this family dynamic because it genuinely made my blood boil. Liu Dawei is obviously the villain — he's a pervert AND an abuser — but what really got me was how EVERYONE around him enables it. Xu Lingling, the so-called "cherished" sister, is literally standing there saying "just let it go" while Xu Zhizhi is in the hospital with injuries. And Wang Fenglan? She pinches her arm and whispers about money like this is a petty squabble, not attempted murder. The scene where Xu Zhizhi finally breaks down and reveals everything — "I obeyed everything my whole life. My sister said to marry Liu Dawei, so I married him" — that hit me like a truck. The original owner was so thoroughly broken by her family that she didn't even have the language to resist. And now the transmigrated soul is unearthing all that suppressed rage in one explosive moment. But then there's Lu Yuchuan, and oh my god, the contrast. He doesn't try to convince her to stay. He doesn't tell her to calm down. He just... exists as someone safe. When he says "We'll talk about everything else later," it's not pressure — it's patience. That's the kind of man she actually needs. And the rumor mill at the end? Calling her shameless for wanting to divorce? The whole factory compound is gaslighting her into silence. This isn't just a bad marriage — it's an entire system designed to keep her quiet.
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