The Chief's “Silly” Daughter-in-Law Was Faking It All Along!

Ye Zhifang, a woman from the twenty-first century, transmigrates into the body of a twenty-year-old village girl with the mental capacity of an eight-year-old. The original host, the only daughter of the village chief in Northeast China, had been found frozen on a river ice after slipping and hitting her head. Ye Zhifang wakes up in the dead of winter, realizing that without her intervention, the body would have died. She quickly assesses her new reality: her family dotes on her despite her intellectual disability, but her eldest sister-in-law and four-year-old nephew resent her privileged status. The nephew had led her to the ice under the pretense of catching fish, then abandoned her, an act Ye Zhifang interprets as intentional negligence facilitated by her sister-in-law. Determined to survive and reclaim her agency, she decides to maintain the facade of foolishness while secretly planning her future.

The Ye family is a close-knit unit where the village chief father, a high school graduate eldest brother named Zhiyuan, and a manual laborer second brother named Zhiheng all protect their sister. They view her as their lucky star, a belief rooted in a past event where Father Ye rescued a military officer during a flood fifteen years prior. This rescue led to a child betrothal arranged between Ye Zhifang and the officer’s third son, Pei Shaoting, who now serves as a company commander in Beijing. The Pei family sends a registered letter inviting Ye Zhifang to the capital to finalize the marriage. However, the Ye family is deeply concerned about marrying a woman with intellectual disabilities into such a prominent military household. Father Ye decides to break off the engagement and tasks Second Brother Zhiheng with accompanying Ye Zhifang to Beijing to return the betrothal gifts and explain the situation.

Before departing, Ye Zhifang leverages her position to secure financial independence. She interacts with the village children, including her nephew, and convinces them to give her their New Year’s money in exchange for promises of toys and snacks from the capital. She collects nearly two hundred yuan, a significant sum in the 1980s, which she hides in a sewn-in pocket of her clothes. This capital becomes her startup fund for a future business venture. She also receives additional money from her parents and brothers, bringing her total savings to approximately three hundred yuan. Her brothers give her their entire monthly salaries as New Year’s gifts, highlighting the depth of their affection and her unique status in the family.

As the family prepares for the trip, tensions rise with the eldest sister-in-law, who feels marginalized by the attention given to Ye Zhifang. She attempts to scheme against her sister-in-law, hoping to marry her off to a disabled man to remove her from the household, but Father Ye’s decision to cancel the engagement thwarts these plans. Ye Zhifang observes these dynamics with a clear mind, noting the hypocrisy and jealousy around her while playing the role of the naive, spoiled younger sister. She spends her last days in the village enjoying the simple, organic food and the warmth of her family, contrasting it with her previous life of academic stress and loneliness.

The narrative shifts perspective briefly to the Pei family in Beijing, revealing that Pei Shaoting is a dedicated military officer who is unaware of the arranged marriage. His father, now a brigade commander, hopes the union will strengthen family bonds and repay his past debt to Father Ye. The Pei family prepares guest rooms for the visitors, anticipating a formal introduction. Meanwhile, Ye Zhifang’s departure is imminent. She leaves her village with Second Brother, carrying the betrothal contract and the silver lock, ready to confront the Pei family. Her true goal, however, extends beyond merely canceling the engagement; she intends to use her accumulated capital and modern knowledge to build a prosperous life in the city, potentially bringing her family along once she succeeds.

The story establishes a central conflict between Ye Zhifang’s hidden intelligence and her outward appearance of disability. She must navigate the complex social hierarchies of both her rural village and the elite military compound in Beijing. The cancellation of the engagement serves as the inciting incident for her journey into the wider world. As she travels from the frozen Northeast to the capital, she carries not just the weight of her family’s hopes but also the secret ambition to transform her fate. The narrative sets the stage for her integration into urban life, where she plans to leverage her resources and wits to overcome the limitations imposed by her transmigration circumstances.