Seventies Space: My Arch-Enemy Wants a Military Marriage With Me

Xia Jiaojiao, a survivor of a brutal apocalypse where she wielded space and wood-based powers, finds herself transmigrated into a 1970s-era novel. She inhabits the body of Xun Yueguang, a character known as the male lead’s first wife and ultimate cannon fodder. In the original story, this woman blindly loved the male lead, Xiao Changqing, served his family during their persecution in the countryside, and died tragically after he married the female protagonist. Upon waking, Xia Jiaojiao rejects the system’s directive to win the male lead’s affection, choosing instead to survive on her own terms. She retains her supernatural abilities, including a growth-type space and the power to absorb vitality from plants, which she uses to hunt and sustain herself in this resource-scarce era.

The story begins with Xia Jiaojiao navigating life within her maternal Xia family, the only girl among many boys and cousins. She is deeply cherished by her grandparents, parents, and uncles, a dynamic that contrasts sharply with the original novel’s portrayal of her as a foolish girl who neglected her family for a man. Her primary conflict arises from her sister-in-law, Xie Hua, who resents Xia Jiaojiao’s privileged status. Xie Hua, raised in a patriarchal household where daughters were expected to sacrifice for brothers, believes Xia Jiaojiao’s lack of labor is an injustice. She repeatedly causes friction, demanding that Xia Jiaojiao work in the fields and threatening divorce when her demands are ignored. Xia Jiaojiao refuses to submit, confronting Xie Hua directly and asserting her independence.

A significant turning point occurs when Xia Jiaojiao discovers that Xiao Changqing, the novel’s male lead, has also been reborn. He approaches her, hoping to replicate his past life’s success by leveraging her affection. However, Xia Jiaojiao publicly humiliates him, exposing his advances as inappropriate given his status as a persecuted intellectual. The villagers, hostile toward his class background, beat him and fracture his leg, leaving him crippled. This incident severs any chance of reconciliation and forces Xiao Changqing into a downward spiral, his rebirth failing to improve his circumstances due to Xia Jiaojiao’s interference.

Simultaneously, Xie Hua escalates her schemes, hiring a village scoundrel to assault Xia Jiaojiao in the mountains. Xia Jiaojiao captures the attacker, extracts the truth, and manipulates the situation so that Xie Hua is the one assaulted and exposed. The scandal leads to Xie Hua’s arrest and sentencing to labor reform at a farm. Her family disowns her, revealing their true nature as those who viewed her as a commodity rather than a daughter. The fallout causes the family to split, with Xia Jiaojiao’s eldest brother establishing his own household, further isolating the antagonists.

With her domestic enemies neutralized, Xia Jiaojiao focuses on self-improvement and resource accumulation. She takes on a village registration job, which allows her free time to hunt in the mountains. Using her plant powers, she captures game and discovers a thousand-year-old ginseng, enhancing her cultivation. She also assists her Third Aunt, a skilled seamstress, in starting a side business by bartering clothing alterations for food, thereby supporting her extended family. Throughout these events, Xia Jiaojiao maintains a cold, pragmatic demeanor, rejecting romantic entanglements and prioritizing her survival and the well-being of her blood relatives over the novel’s prescribed plot.

The narrative highlights the stark contrast between the original protagonist’s tragic fate and Xia Jiaojiao’s calculated resistance. While the system attempts to guide her toward the male lead, she ignores it, relying on her combat experience from the apocalypse to dominate her new environment. The story follows her as she builds a secure life, leveraging her abilities to secure food, wealth, and social standing, while systematically dismantling the schemes of those who sought to exploit or harm her. Her journey is one of self-preservation and empowerment, set against the rigid social backdrop of 1970s rural China.