The Stepmother Who Raises Cute Children and the Crazy Bigshot Who Spoils Her Endlessly (70s)

Gu Qinghuan, a successful food streamer in modern times, dies saving a child from a truck and arrives in the Underworld Palace. Her merit points skyrocket to 999,999 because the child’s family donates nine hundred million in her name. Lord Yama offers her a choice between waiting fifty years for a top-tier reincarnation or taking a free time-travel package to live out another life immediately. She accepts the package, receiving a Spiritual Spring Space containing a luxury villa and a vending machine that sells goods at 1970s prices. She is transported into the body of a woman with the same name in a rural village during the Cultural Revolution.

The original Gu Qinghuan was the daughter of a persecuted intellectual family. Her father betrayed his own family to climb the social ladder, and her stepmother, Liu Guifang, bullied her relentlessly. When the original Gu Qinghuan’s mother broke her arm after being pushed off a cliff, the family lacked money for medical treatment. Desperate, the original owner sold herself to the Xu family for one hundred yuan to pay the hospital bills. She was married to Xu Huai’an, the Branch Secretary’s second son, who was known as the Madman due to his violent episodes and mental instability. The original Gu Qinghuan died from exhaustion and starvation shortly after collapsing on her way back from caring for her grandfather.

Upon waking, Gu Qinghuan discovers she is trapped in the dilapidated Old Residence with the Madman and his two young children, Da Bao and Bei Bei. She learns from the novel she transmigrated into, "The Delicate Wife of the 1970s," that these children are destined to become villains who are eventually killed by the protagonists. The female lead of that story, Lin Xiaomeng, possesses a Fortune Space that drains the luck of others, leading to the tragic ends of many characters, including the original Gu Qinghuan’s family. Determined to survive and change their fate, Gu Qinghuan uses her space to provide food for the starving children, earning their tentative trust.

Gu Qinghuan decides to stay in the village rather than return to the educated youth compound, where she would face constant intrigue and lack privacy for her space. She negotiates with Branch Secretary Xu Mingshan to move the family into the empty house of Wang Laocai, a former landlord whose family was persecuted to death. Although the villagers fear the house due to its bad feng shui, Xu Mingshan agrees to let them live there to avoid scandal. Gu Qinghuan also visits her mother in the hospital, providing nutritious food and money, and strengthens the bond with her maternal grandmother, Chen Shuying.

Conflict arises when Gu Qinghuan confronts Liu Guifang about promised grain supplies. Using the gossip of village women as leverage, she forces Liu Guifang to provide three hundred pounds of grain. Xu Huaizhi, the eldest son and the novel’s male lead, intervenes to support his sister-in-law, though he remains skeptical of her abilities. Gu Qinghuan begins to rebuild her life, purchasing necessary household items and planning to use her vending machine to secure a stable food supply. She aims to raise the two children differently, shielding them from the fate prescribed by the novel while navigating the political and social complexities of the era.

The story follows Gu Qinghuan as she balances her modern knowledge with the harsh realities of 1970s rural China. She utilizes her spiritual space to heal her body and provide for her new family, slowly gaining respect in the village. Her actions begin to diverge from the original plot, potentially altering the destinies of the Madman, the children, and even the protagonists of the novel. As she establishes her independence, she faces ongoing challenges from her cruel mother-in-law and the unpredictable nature of the Madman, all while preparing for the eventual return of the novel’s original female lead.