The Green Tea's Crushing Victories in the '70s

Tong Xuelu, a sophisticated socialite known for her manipulative charm, dies in a skiing accident and transmigrates into the body of a fictional villainess in a 1970s Chinese novel. In the story, she is the fake heiress of the Tong family, having been raised by high-ranking military officials after being swapped at birth with her biological sister, Tong Zhenzhen. The original plot casts her as a dumb, sharp-tongued cannon fodder destined for humiliation, a forced marriage to an abusive older man, and a tragic death. Upon waking in the coarse, mosquito-netted bedroom of her adoptive home, she is immediately berated by her second sister-in-law, Cai Chunlan, who is eager to expel her now that the biological daughter has returned. Tong Xuelu quickly assesses her situation: the original host’s biological parents have recently died in a car crash, leaving behind three young siblings who will grow up to become industry titans but suffer tragic fates in the original narrative. Deciding to reject the role of victim, Tong Xuelu chooses to leave the Tong family and seize control of her siblings' futures, opting for a path of economic empowerment rather than petty domestic warfare.

Tong Xuelu executes a calculated exit from the Tong household, feigning emotional fragility to win the sympathy of her adoptive brothers and their wives. She accepts a modest amount of cash and clothing before departing for the residential compound of her biological family in Yanqing County. There, she encounters the harsh reality of poverty in the 1970s, living in a cramped, overcrowded courtyard with her three younger siblings: Tong Jiaming, a calculating eleven-year-old; Tong Jiaxin, a fiery seven-year-old; and Tong Mianmian, a quiet three-year-old future superstar. Tong Xuelu immediately begins to win over the children, using her culinary skills to prepare delicious meals that contrast sharply with their meager diet of plain porridge and pickled vegetables. She secures the loyalty of the youngest, Mianmian, through kindness and treats, while recognizing that the older boys require a different approach based on mutual benefit and leverage.

The core conflict arises when Tong Jiaming confronts Tong Xuelu at night, revealing his awareness of her past hostility toward their parents. Tong Xuelu counters by exposing his secret plan to drop out of school and illegally sell their deceased parents' state-assigned job positions to private buyers before their relatives from Beihe province can arrive. She proposes a partnership: she will manage the family's affairs and protect their assets in the city, ensuring the siblings can remain in Jing City and continue their education, in exchange for absolute authority within the household. Tong Jiaming, realizing her strategic value and the impossibility of his own plan given his age, reluctantly agrees. Meanwhile, in the military compound, the biological daughter Tong Zhenzhen feels threatened by Tong Xuelu’s dignified departure and the growing sympathy the adoptive family holds for her. Tong Zhenzhen resolves to make Tong Xuelu’s life miserable, unaware that her rival has already escaped her sphere of influence.

Tong Xuelu’s strategy extends beyond her immediate household. She befriends Fang Jingyuan, the aggressive younger sister of her former fiancé, by offering genuine compliments that disarm the girl’s hostility, thereby neutralizing a potential enemy and securing a connection to a powerful political family. She also establishes a network among the local vendors, particularly a vegetable seller named Liu Hongying, to secure better access to food resources in a rationed economy. A significant turning point occurs when she accidentally collides with Wen Rugui, a handsome and high-ranking researcher at a secret base. Tong Xuelu uses her charm to secure his contact information and retrieves his lost entry pass, planting the seed for a future alliance with a man of considerable status and resources. As she transfers her household registration and begins to reorganize her biological family’s finances, Tong Xuelu sets her sights on acquiring the job positions and compensation money that are currently being held in limbo by the factory and threatened by greedy relatives from the countryside. The narrative establishes her trajectory from a discarded villainess to the matriarch of a rising dynasty, as she systematically dismantles the obstacles threatening her siblings' futures while building a foundation for wealth and power in the turbulent era.