Transmigrated Into a Widow and Still Have to Struggle Through a Famine Escape

Xia Wanyue, a retired special operations agent with hidden injuries from her past missions, spends her days in solitude gardening and reading novels in her countryside villa. While reading a web novel titled Picked Up a Man to Live With, she becomes enraged by the portrayal of a weak, bullied female character who shares her name. As she criticizes the character's passivity, a meteor strikes her villa, killing her and transporting her consciousness into the body of the novel's cannon fodder. She awakens in the body of Moonniang, a pregnant woman in the Daiguo dynasty who has just witnessed her husband, Li Ke, die from bear attacks in the mountains. Overcome with grief, Moonniang goes into premature labor and dies giving birth to a son. Xia Wanyue revives in the same bed, shocking the midwives and relatives present.

She quickly absorbs the memories of the original host, learning that she is now a widow with three young children: Li Ning, Li Sanya, and a newborn son. The Li family is large and dysfunctional, ruled by the stingy and cruel Old Madam Wang, who favors her youngest son and daughter-in-law while systematically abusing the second branch. Li Ke died because he went hunting to provide nourishment for his pregnant wife, only to be killed by a bear. Upon waking, Xia Wanyue discovers she has brought her modern villa and its fully stocked basement into this new world as a portable space. She uses this advantage to care for her children, feeding them proper meals and cleaning them, which contrasts sharply with the starvation and neglect they previously endured.

The conflict escalates when Old Madam Wang demands Xia Wanyue cook breakfast despite the latter having just given birth. Finding her children locked in a woodshed without food, Xia Wanyue's anger boils over. When the matriarch and other family members confront her in the courtyard, accusing her of stealing grain, Xia Wanyue fights back. Using her combat skills, she incapacitates Old Man Li, Li Shi, and Little Li-shi, leaving the entire household unable to harm her. The villagers, fearing supernatural retribution for attacking a widow so soon after her husband's death, hesitate to intervene. The village chief arrives and mediates the dispute.

Xia Wanyue demands separation from the Li family, insisting on taking her three children with her. When Li Xin, the favored youngest son, attempts to write a formal divorce letter to ruin her reputation, she throws a stone to injure his knee, destroying his chances of passing the civil exams. This act forces the Li family to agree to a separation deed instead. The village chief and neighboring aunties provide her with a dilapidated thatched hut on the east end of the village, which she rents for a nominal fee. After moving in and repairing the house with help from kind neighbors, Xia Wanyue heads into the mountains to gather resources for the impending famine.

While hunting, she encounters a mysterious man in luxurious clothing lying in a pool of blood with an arrow in his back. Remembering novel tropes about not picking up strangers, she initially tries to leave him. However, she is attacked by a black bear in a nearby cave and kills it in self-defense. After resting and cooking in her space, she returns to the man, only for him to wake up and attack her with a hidden sleeve arrow. She kills him in the ensuing struggle and loots his body, finding silver, a letter, and a token. Unbeknownst to her, masked assassins arrive shortly after, claiming the body belongs to the Sixth Prince and vowing to find whoever took his belongings. Xia Wanyue collapses from her injuries but is healed by the white mist in her space, emerging with improved health and scars gone. The story ends with her facing the unknown dangers of the political conspiracy she has inadvertently entangled herself in, while preparing to survive the coming famine with her children.