Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Just Want to Be a Salted Fish Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Just Want to Be a Salted Fish Last year, the original owner of this body graduated from high school, and if college entrance exams were an option, with her academic performance, she definitely could have gotten into a prestigious university.
In other words, the original owner really had a knack for studying.
Well, thereâs one thing Kang Li has to admit, people like the original owner can be described as being good at scoring high but lacking in practical abilities!
However, now that Kang Li has taken her place, everything is no longer an issue, including the original ownerâs fate as set out in the story.
âWhatâs there to study for?â
Cai Xiufen came out of her daze and shook her head, âYou could easily stay at home and not do a thing, why must you suffer in North City and work like a nanny for others?â
By her side, Kang Guoweiâs brothers and Kang Liâs sisters-in-law and nephews all nodded in agreement, fully endorsing what the old lady (mother-in-law, grandma) had said.
Kang Li saw this and knew that her mother-in-law and these family members all meant well for her, but after all, she wasnât the original owner, and even if she could mimic the original ownerâs temperament almost perfectly,
it would be hard to guarantee that she wouldnât give herself away at some point. With that in mind, leaving Aoli Village and keeping a distance from her family members wouldnât be a bad thing.
Having lived there for a year and a half, it would be understandable if she undergoes some changes in her personality.
After all, first, she was jilted, and then later she went to live in North City with a new family, so it would be natural for different aspects of her behavior and speech to emerge.
Moreover, Kang Li didnât mind imitating the original ownerâs temperament and way of speaking, but as time went on, living as though wearing a mask was exhausting for Kang Li.
So, going to North City was a pretty good idea.
âMom, your words are a bit harsh! What do you mean by âwork like a nanny for othersâ?â
Captain Kang frowned, staring directly at Cai Xiufen: âComrade Luo is making great contributions to the country, and Li Bao is his wife, who helps take care of the household so he has no worries at home,
this also equates to making contributions to the country, which is nothing like being a nanny. You are the womenâs director of our team, canât you be a bit more ideologically aware?â
Upon hearing this, Cai Xiufen felt guilty, but thinking about the life her daughter would have to endure, her guilt instantly evaporated, and she glared at Captain Kang, saying:
âOne thing is one thing, why donât I have ideological awareness? All I know right now is that Iâm a mother, and I canât just watch my daughter suffer!â
âEnough, I donât want to listen to you making a fuss anymore. Right now, Li Bao and Comrade Luoâs marriage certificate has already been issued, and the matter is set in stone, itâs irreversible.â
Captain Kang said decisively, and upon hearing this, Cai Xiufenâs face turned quite unsightly: âI will never acknowledge this marriage!â
âMom, you are usually so reasonable, how have you become like this now? Could it be that you want our daughter to stay single for life?â
This woman was simply beyond reason!
âHow wonderful is our Li Bao, why would she end up single? You just wait and see, I am definitely going to find our Li Bao a better match than that bastard from the Zhou Family, and then they can regret it all they want!â
Cai Xiufen looked utterly convinced, leaving Captain Kang at a loss for words. He was silent for a long time before saying, âArenât you aware of Li Baoâs health condition?
Even if we could find someone within the surrounding villages who wouldnât mind Li Baoâs difficulty with childbirth, when Li Bao gets old and has no children of her own to rely on, what about her affairs after passing? But if Li Bao lives with Comrade Luo,
those three kids at Comrade Luoâs home are still young. If our Li Bao goes there and raises them with care, she can certainly raise them as if they were her own. In that case, whatâs the difference from having her own children?
âBesides, once Li Bao got to North City with Comrade Luoâs salary passbook and the various coupons and certificates issued, with money and coupons, what canât be bought? Since she could buy food and clothes, and had three little ones to keep her company, I think Li Baoâs life must be far from bad!â
In fact, Kang Li had become very interested in Captain Kangâs proposed marriage candidate, through the fleeting glimpses of that bookâs content in her mind.
Not to mention, Captain Kang even gave the original owner a black-and-white full-body photo yesterday, and the man in the photo, both in appearance and aura, met Kang Liâs standard of aesthetics.
What was most critical was that Kang Li felt that the three major societal pressures that had plagued her in her previous lifeâmatchmaking, getting married, and having childrenâwere all achieved in one go this lifetime.
Even though this âall in one goâ situation, according to the original ownerâs fate in the story, included her twin stepchildren turning five and getting lost in a department store while shopping,
followed by the eldest stepson, who was twelve at the time, chasing after the original owner who was looking for the twins, pushing her out of the way just in time to be run over by an approaching truck,
The eldest stepson was crushed under the wheels, and the original owner, unable to bear the shock, hugged her stepsonâs body, vomited blood, fainted, and never woke up again.
Upon hearing the news of his wife and childâs tragic accidents, Luo Yanqing, not long after completing his research project, collapsed in the lab.
According to a casual conversation towards the end of the story, the twins that went missing early on
were actually abducted by human traffickersâone was sold to a family in the mountains with an intellectually disabled son for a child bride, while the other was sold to a farming family that had been childless for years, to be their son.
Unfortunately, when the girl reached sixteen and learned she had been sold, she ran away in the night, fell into a ravine and died.
The girlâs twin brother, initially living a fairly good life with his adoptive parents, faced a change of fortune the next year when his adoptive mother became pregnant and gave birth to twins, followed by another son two years later.
Unquestionably, as the purchased adopted son, the girlâs twin brother faced nothing but beatings and scoldings in his adoptive parentsâ home.
Denied education, he was sent to the city to work at a construction site with the adults from the village at the age of sixteen. Less than a year into the job, he fell from the fifth floor of the scaffolding while saving a coworker and died on the spot.
To be honest, after learning about the fate of the original owner, her husband Luo Yanqing, and their three stepchildren, Kang Li felt like cursing out loud.
Just because they were unimportant supporting characters, meant to highlight the main plot and provide contrast for the protagonists, did the original owner, her husband, and their children deserve to be sacrificed?
Beyond that, in the year the twins vanished, the original ownerâs parents had tried to alleviate their daughterâs guilt by helping search for the two little ones.
In the process, the original ownerâs third brother lost a leg, going on to suffer lifelong disability; her little brother went missing, without a trace for many years.
After consecutive accidents involving both sons, and then the death of their only daughter, both Captain Kang and his wife, one having suffered a stroke and the other blinded by tears, passed away within a few short years.
As cannon fodder, the original owner faced a similar fate for her loved ones, and even acquired a bad reputationâdeemed unkind, unloving, unfilial, she was seen as a blight.
Whenever people in the compound had time on their hands and gossiped, they invariably compared the original owner with the female protagonist, filled with disdain and contempt for the former.
Hah! Cannon fodder!
Although, the original owner could be considered an outstanding character among cannon fodder in romance stories, Kang Li knew that from the moment she became the original owner, the destiny that belonged to the original owner had already started to change.
The reason she still chose to complete the marriage with that man named Luo Yanqing was partly because of the instant fulfillment of her past lifeâs three major goals, and partly because she did not want to trouble her family this time, nor did she want her real father to break his word.
It must be emphasized, she genuinely only wanted to live a simple, unambitious life!