Reborn as the Villainous Little Sister-in-Law of a 1970s Military Romance Novel

Shen Hehua is a seventeen-year-old girl living in the Lin City commune of Hei Province in 1972. In her previous life, she realized too late that she was a minor character in a military romance novel, destined to die alongside her family so that the protagonists could achieve happiness. Her third brother, Shen Jiandang, was manipulated by a female educated youth named Wu Laidi and her accomplice, Li Hao, into a scandal that ruined the reputation of his beloved, Zhao Xiaomei. The resulting pressure led to Zhao Xiaomei’s suicide, Shen Jiandang’s descent into alcoholism, and his eventual death at the hands of wild boars. After her own death, Hehua bonded with a failing System named Niu Niu, which erased her hatred and rebirthed her to the day the tragedy began, giving her the chance to alter her family’s fate.

Upon waking, Hehua immediately rushes to the river where Wu Laidi is staging a drowning incident to trap Shen Jiandang. Knowing the woman is a skilled swimmer pretending to be in distress, Hehua jumps into the water herself. She prevents her third brother from entering the river and, once close enough, strikes Wu Laidi unconscious with repeated elbow blows and slaps to vent her past-life resentment. She then drags the woman to shore while her brother subdues Li Hao, who was hiding in the grass as a planned witness. The villagers and the production team leader arrive, and Hehua carefully constructs a narrative that implicates Li Hao in the scheme without directly accusing Wu Laidi of the initial trap.

Li Hao, fearing severe punishment, confesses that Wu Laidi gave him grain to help her trap Shen Jiandang. Wu Laidi, upon waking, attempts to reverse the situation by claiming Li Hao attacked her, but Li Hao points out that his clothes are dry while she was found in the middle of the river, proving she entered the water voluntarily. Cornered, Wu Laidi admits to the plot but reveals that Li Hao also desired Zhao Xiaomei, intending to use Shen Jiandang’s marriage to her as a stepping stone. This confession inadvertently exposes the mutual affection between Shen Jiandang and Zhao Xiaomei, which had previously been hidden. The villagers, delighted by the romantic development, shift their focus from the scandal to the couple’s relationship.

The team leader punishes Wu Laidi and Li Hao with public self-criticisms, manual labor in the pigsty, and three months of monthly condemnation meetings, but spares them from legal prosecution since no physical harm came to the siblings. Hehua receives commendation for saving a life. Back home, she learns that her family is building a new house after separating from their eldest uncle’s household. She considers bringing her grandmother to live with them but is advised by Niu Niu to wait, as her grandmother needs to suffer enough to fully reject her eldest son’s neglect before she can be saved effectively.

Hehua also learns that Niu Niu requires energy from good deeds to stay active and that she must earn merit to exchange for items like a Strength Pill. The next day, while wandering the village, she encounters a group of children bullying a young boy from a politically disgraced family, forcing his head into the water. Hehua intervenes, saving the child and scolding the bullies. This incident occurs earlier than in her previous life due to the changes she has already made, signaling that the timeline is shifting. She resolves to continue protecting her family and preventing the tragedies that befell them, using her knowledge of the future and the System’s guidance to navigate the dangers of the era.