In 1978, Serena Blackwood had already been stuck in this world for seven years.

Seven years married to the regiment commander from Forty‑Nine City—well, he wasn’t just a commander anymore. Theodore Morrison had climbed all the way up to military district chief.

People in Yangshu Village liked to praise her to her face, saying she’d hit the jackpot. But behind her back, they snickered that she was a pitiful woman nobody wanted—husband gone, son taken, love nowhere in sight.

Still, those seven years of not having to serve a man or chase after a kid, just living on her own terms, weren’t all that bad.

Then one careless fall shattered that peace. When she woke up, she remembered everything about the life she was supposed to have.

Her son, Julian Morrison—the baby Theodore had taken away the moment he was born—would grow up into some twisted, unpredictable lunatic in the capital’s inner circle. Worse yet, he’d drag his own father—her husband—down from power and dump him in a mental hospital.

Honestly, none of that had much to do with her.

But her dear son, after butting heads with the daughter of Theodore’s precious first love, would pin every bit of hatred on her instead.

And at just forty years old, she’d have her limbs smashed and be tossed into the mountains as wolf food.

After waking up with her body still intact, Serena shook for three whole days.

She was twenty‑five now. Which meant in fifteen years, she’d be fed to wolves?

No way. Sitting still was basically waiting to die.

She couldn’t afford to provoke that father‑son pair, fine—but she could sure get far away from them.

While both of them still had someone else on their minds, she made up her mind: tomorrow, she’d head to Forty‑Nine City’s military district and divorce them both out of her life.

…

Seeing Serena stuffing clothes into a suitcase, the educated youth Margaret Avery couldn’t help asking, “You heading out somewhere?”

“Yeah,” Serena said, not looking up. “Going to see my boy—and his father.”

For seven years, Serena Blackwood had never breathed a word about her husband or her son to anyone.

Back then, in Yangshu Village, who didn’t know what happened to her?

Margaret Avery just stared at her for a long beat.

"...So you finally figured it out?"

Serena hauled her suitcase straight into the village committee office. The moment she said she was heading to the Forty-Ninth City Military District to find Theodore Morrison and ask for a divorce, the village secretary didn’t even pause for a single second. It was like he was terrified that hesitating might somehow wrong Theodore.

When he handed her the introduction letter, his whole face relaxed, like a load had finally been lifted off him.

"Comrade Serena, seven years… you finally came around?"

"I told you long ago, you and Commander Morrison were never meant for each other…"

Serena didn’t reply. She tucked the letter away, grabbed her suitcase, and headed straight for the train station.

Everyone in the village remembered what happened seven years ago.

At that time, a unit from the Forty-Ninth City Military District was stationed near their village for exercises.

All the soldiers were placed in the villagers’ homes for meals and lodging.

Theodore Morrison was the regiment commander then. He and the unit’s military doctor, Christine York, were still deep in a hot-and-heavy romance. Both families had already met, and they were just about to pick a wedding date.

Who could’ve guessed that Serena, the second daughter of the prominent Blackwood family from the Forty-Ninth City—recently sent down to the countryside—would drug Theodore with something meant for livestock breeding and end up rolling around with him in the sorghum field by the village entrance for an entire night?

The next morning, the whole village and the military leaders caught them red‑handed.

Instead of feeling ashamed, Serena’s parents raised a huge fuss, insisting on blowing the whole thing up.

But the Morrison family was a respected name in the Forty-Ninth City too. For the sake of Theodore’s future, they swallowed the humiliation and forced him to marry the shameless capitalist miss from the Blackwood family.

Christine York had stood right at the edge of that sorghum field. She saw Theodore and Serena scrambling to pull their clothes back on. She stormed up and slapped both of them hard across the face before turning to run, crying as she fled.

Theodore Morrison, playing the wounded victim, shot Serena Blackwood a fierce glare before running off after the woman he truly cared about.

And once he took off, Serena never saw him again.

The whole mess stirred up half the county back then, and the Blackwood couple refused to let such a golden opportunity slip by. Clutching onto the scandal, they pushed the Morrison family elders to pull strings until that “capitalist” label on them finally vanished.

Once the label was gone, everyone in the Blackwood family except Serena moved back to Sijiu City, each landing themselves a respectable job as if life had suddenly opened all the right doors.

When the dust settled, Theodore went right back to chasing Christine York.

He and Serena didn’t even have the shadow of a wedding. The marriage certificate was something the Morrison elders quietly arranged through connections.

But once the paperwork was done, Theodore’s chest burned with anger. To him, being forced to marry a woman like her—someone he felt shameless and beneath him—was a humiliation he couldn’t stomach.

He threw down his words to the Blackwood parents: “I’ll get rid of that label for you, but Serena stays in Yangshu Village for the rest of her life.”

The Blackwoods wept on the surface, muttering that it was “for their daughter’s future,” yet inside they were practically dancing.

Theodore wanted nothing to do with Serena—the woman he blamed for tearing him from Christine.

That morning when he woke up and glared at her, it hit him just how shocking she looked. The so‑called young miss from a capitalist family looked even rougher than the village wives: dark, skinny, all angles like a piece of firewood. Just looking at her made him uncomfortable.

And to think he, Theodore Morrison—a man who prided himself on his dignity—had once rolled around with her in a sorghum field.

To him, it was an unbearable disgrace.

So Serena stayed behind in Yangshu Village as a sent‑down youth.

A month later, she realized she was pregnant.

She carried the baby alone for ten long months, then gave birth to a boy.

On the third day after the child was born, Mrs. Morrison arrived at the village clinic and took the baby away.

From that moment on, Serena became the woman everyone in the village pitied—the one who loved but was never loved back, abandoned by her husband’s family.

And that pity lasted seven whole years.

Serena Blackwood didn’t bother giving any of that a second thought.

Because she wasn’t the original Serena at all.

She was someone who had slipped over from the twenty‑first century, sharing the same name and face, a world‑famous designer dropped into another woman’s life.

The original Serena had already died the night Theodore Morrison dragged her into that sorghum field and forced himself on her.

Not to mention her, even the original Serena hadn’t known Theodore before that night.

So there was never any real feeling between them.

As for the original girl’s parents — Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood — they were an even bigger joke.

That Serena had been lost by the household staff when she was a child. Before she turned eighteen, she’d been stuck in some poor mountain village as someone’s future bride, living days so hard they scraped bone.

Only at eighteen was she dragged back to the Blackwood home.

But the Blackwoods already had a daughter, Sylvia Blackwood, raised for over ten years just like their own blood.

They couldn’t bear to send Sylvia away, so they claimed Serena was the second daughter who’d gone missing years ago.

Serena had barely spent half a month back home before the Blackwoods were labeled capitalists and thrown into public struggle sessions.

Right after that, Serena was sent off with her family to Yangshu Village.

And after she and Theodore spent that one night rolling around in the sorghum field, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood — along with half the village — pointed fingers and insisted Serena had drugged him.

After she crossed over, she’d seen it too in the original girl’s memories: the stuff used for breeding livestock really had been bought by her at the vet’s place.

She couldn’t explain it, and honestly, she wasn’t interested in trying.

And over these seven years, she hadn’t been without her perks.

No husband to care for, no kid to raise, living her life as she pleased.

With Theodore as her so‑called husband in name, those greasy village men didn’t even dare think about pestering her.

If things could’ve stayed that way forever, she might’ve let it be. But now that she’d seen what her future looked like?

Yeah, no way she was sitting around waiting for that.

…

After riding the train for a full day and night, Serena pulled her small suitcase behind her and stepped out of the station at Sijiucheng.