- #1
In reality, the story's Xu Jinning was actually based on the real her (which was apparently also from a story but that was only mentioned once). The story Xu Jinning was forced to undergo her cannon fodder fate over and over again before finding a way to break free by pulling the not-story Xu Jinning's soul into her body. From there, story Xu Jinning decided to fade away as that was her wish but she did tell the transmigrator to live her life happily for them both.
[collapse]SpoilerXu Jinning's power starts out with her recalling the plot in her mind which is then heard by the person that bit of plot was about. This power allows her to save her family members repeatedly. Later, the ability evolves into allowing people to actually hallucinate a technicolor vision of the plot she recalls. This ability is so powerful that it even perceives the happy ending someone gets after Xu Jinning awakens one of the bad cannon fodder characters.
Her second ability is a mix between being lucky and just being blessed. She pulls out a ticket that allows her family to get an apartment from the factory where her father works, she pulls up basket after basket of fish and everyone who hears her thoughts believes her to be a lucky star. The brigade/town they live in becomes aware of this after watching her fish which quickly becomes their reason for being nice to her family and her. Especially after soup made from fish she caught revived a kid who was about to die.
[collapse]While there is no ML as of chapter 237, we do get a hint at who it might be (I do not recall the chapter number though) when the MC thinks of her past life. Apparently, there was a young man with poor health who lived next door. As he was from a powerful family, he was there to recuperate and quickly began falling for the MC's original life. After her death, he went a little nuts before dying. It's implied he also transmigrates but then we see nothing of him after that.SpoilerHe waited for her to come visit like she always did and when she didn't show up, he realized something was wrong. Eventually, it ends up with him taking her corpse from her father (I WTFed at that but hey, story is gonna story), finding proof that she was killed by her stepsister and then proceeded to make the stepsister's life a living hell before turning her over to the police with the proof. He then spit up blood and died only to awaken in another brigade/town as someone's grandson. Judging by what I've read before, I believe he and his grandfather are two people who were "sent to the farm".
We just have nothing about him after that but I assume he is going to begin showing up soon as chapter 237 has the reforms beginning.
[collapse]The setting is perhaps my favorite part of the story. While it is based in 70s/80s rural China (with it going further, I imagine), the story is actually a combination of different novel worlds that were all written by the same person. The MC discovers this after she encounters cannon fodder characters that aren't from the novel original Xu Jinning was from. Of course, she does reveal their plot points as she remembers it. Only weird part about it is that she regularly comments how everyone thought the author was terrible and morally corrupt but for some reason, she read all their novels.This means we also get to see otherThe swapped woman comes back to the brigade and pushes down the MC in a fit of anger after the MC calls her on her BS. She ends up in prison for a short while before her biological parents come to rescue her but this ends up biting them as it's revealed they swapped the babies on purpose 15 years prior. All three end up losing their positions or prestigious future as well as having their high profile friends cut off ties because baby trafficking is apparently bad.
The male protagonist who was supposed to end up with the swapped woman also did not inherit his grandfather's business. He had come to the mainland to find someone with a rare blood type so that he could kidnap them and make them a literal human blood bag for his grandfather. Had his plan succeeded, he would have been named his grandfather's successor and received 5 years of education at his grandfather's side. Instead, the MC's involvement resulted in him not getting the baby he was going to steal and his grandfather also passing away, resulting in his family fighting over the position of head of the family.
Side note about the above. While not a protagonist, she does lead to the downfall of a doctor at the hospital her eventual-brother-in-law works at. The story plays wonky with the timeline, saying he had been doing it for 10 years but he was also the one who swapped the MC and the other woman as babies at least 15 years prior. Regardless, the guy was telling parents that their babies had died and then selling them. Occasionally, he would also kill the mother. Because the MC informed a cop and her eventual-brother-in-law about him through her inner thoughts, he was caught as well as several members of the trafficking ring.
Another protagonist was a regressor who originally let her youngest son and mother-in-law die before running off with an educated youth in her first life. That life ended poorly for her as she ended up getting sold by the educated youth, spent her life poor before getting sick and dying. She did see her former husband happy with his new wife and was upset that her two remaining sons called the woman mom. Once she regressed, she immediately began plotting how to live with her husband as he would eventually become a General. She saved her son and mother-in-law but had no attachment to them at all. In fact, her mother-in-law immediately became suspicious of the changed attitude and waited to inform her son about the change.
After that, she regularly tried to use what she knew from the first life to better her life (from finding an autistic kid and keeping him locked up to trying to steal the treasures from an ancient tomb). Once she realizes things aren't playing out like she remembers (as the MC was involved in them), she begins to crack. She tries to mu*der a kid because she believes that will help put her story back on track. When her husband returns, he discovers he can't think about her changes without getting a headache after being prompted by his mother. After meeting the MC and hearing her inner thoughts, however, he suddenly breaks free of the cannon fodder role. It is after this that he plots giving her over to the government and finding his wife from the first timeline (as it turns out, she is actually the soul of the girl he married as some wandering spirit possessed her body).
The last protagonist we are introduced to was only thwarted by the MC by accident when she saved someone's wife through her thoughts to the police officer. This protagonist was from a cultivation novel and had gone to find the jade that should have been at the tomb (yes, the same tomb the other one was going to rob) but it had all been taken away by that point. At first, she came across as a potential good character but later it's revealed that she is very much not. She helps another person get revenge so that she can steal their life essence while plotting the need for a blessed/lucky person.
[collapse]The other thing I like about this story is that the "cannon fodder" characters are all following the roles written for them in the original stories but most of them begin questioning their earlier s*upidity once they are awakened. Some are just incredibly grateful for Xu Jinning's help.SpoilerAn example is Xu Jinning's brother who was obsessed with an educated youth. The educated youth was just leading him on, using him for his ability to do a lot of work and the free food he would bring her. Once Xu Jinning revealed that this was just leading him on, and he confirmed it, he tried to understand why he would like the woman as she was nothing like his actual taste in women. Even her appearance, while beautiful, was not like his ideal appearance.
Another would be Xu Yu's mother who was almost scammed out of money and would have died along with her mother-in-law while Xu Yu would become someone's cash cow while being locked away. Instead, she takes her family to Beijing where Xu Yu gets therapy for his autism and her mother-in-law recovers her eyesight. She's so grateful that she gives Xu Jinning some of the money and also becomes a godmother to her.
[collapse]My only problem with this is that Xu Jinning is supposed to be the MC but it doesn't focus on her fully. While it could have been interesting to see how she develops, we mostly have it jumping between her family reacting to her thoughts and everyone else she helps. It's more like Xu Jinning is the Deus ex machina of the story instead of a protagonist. I mean, I'm still enjoying it but I just want to see how an emotionally stunted girl grows instead of how such-and-such got revenge against their parents.