Chapter 63 – The Self-Pitying Stepsister in a Historical-Era Novel (Part 11)

On the morning of the factory's day off, before dawn, Wu Yu quietly returned to the Sun household. At that hour, everyone was still asleep, and she used her powers to mute the sound of the door opening.

She took the household registration book and headed to the Youth Relocation Office to sign Sun Lanting up for countryside labor.

To completely cover her tracks, Wu Yu dressed as a man—she wore height-increasing insoles, wrapped a large scarf around her face, and darkened her exposed skin with makeup. She even stuck on a fake Adam's apple and brought a voice changer.

This kind of thing was best done in secrecy—Wu Yu had no intention of leaving behind any evidence.

After all, she saw this as rightful payback and had zero psychological burden about it.

Once everything was done, she changed back into her regular clothes and snuck into the Sun house to return the registration book. She did accidentally run into a neighbor, but with a flick of her power, she erased the woman's memory of the encounter.

Technically, Wu Yu was the one who pulled this off, but she couldn't afford to let anyone suspect her. In this era, a woman's reputation was everything.

Besides, a little sabotage in the shadows worked just as well—as long as the outcome moved in her desired direction, that was all that mattered.

In fact, Wu Yu was a bit regretful and blamed herself for not thinking ahead. She never imagined Sun Lanting would try to marry her way out of the relocation. Nor had she expected that girl to be so ruthless—to even consider getting married just to avoid going to the countryside, despite being only fifteen years old.

This incident prompted Wu Yu to reflect: she mustn't grow complacent again. She needed to be more thorough and consider every angle. Lesson learned.

At that time, Sun Lanting was still at school. She was in her final year of middle school but had failed the entrance exam for high school due to her terrible grades.

In fact, she had already repeated a year. It was only because Yang Mother had made Wu Yu tutor her for an entire year that she'd even passed the entrance exam to junior high in the first place.

Otherwise, with that blockhead brain of hers, she wouldn't have even made it this far.

After taking blow after blow, Sun Lanting was mentally and physically exhausted. She also understood that she didn't measure up to that annoying Wu Yu. Back in primary school, the boys in her class had even said they envied her for having such a pretty "sister."

How could they have the same mother, yet look so different? Just thinking about it made Sun Lanting seethe with resentment. Why did that bitch get all the good stuff?

With no prospects among her classmates, Yang Mother had no choice but to seek a matchmaker.

In this era, early marriages for girls were the norm. No one really paid attention to marriage certificates.

But when Yang Mother and Sun Lanting visited the matchmaker, the woman looked them up and down, and politely declined.

Sun Lanting was simply too young and looked too scrawny—clearly not someone who'd be good at bearing children.

Matchmaker Li didn't dare touch this deal. Sun Lanting screamed "problem case" from a mile away, and the matchmaker had no intention of ruining her own reputation.

Besides, with many families urgently arranging marriages to avoid the upcoming rural assignment wave, Li had more promising business to tend to. She wasn't about to waste time on a sure failure.

After being rejected repeatedly, Sun Lanting's pride took a major hit. But time was running out—she had to find someone to marry soon.

So, she dropped her standards and went looking for another matchmaker.

Matchmaker Wang, hearing what Sun Lanting wanted, narrowed her eyes and smiled warmly, wrinkles bunching on her face. "Girl, you're not messing with me, are you?"

Sun Lanting immediately waved her hands. "Of course not! I'm completely serious. Would I have come with my family if I weren't?"

Yang Mother added, "Sister Wang, let's not beat around the bush. We're looking for a groom with decent family conditions. Everything else is negotiable."

At the word "sister", Matchmaker Wang's face twitched. Sister? How rude—did she look that old? She was only forty-five, after all!

But since the girl's own mother had spoken so openly, Matchmaker Wang didn't refuse. She did have a few "high-quality bachelors" on hand… though most of them were flawed—disabled, divorced, or with… unusual preferences.

But Wang wasn't the type to care about ethics. As far as she was concerned, once she got her matchmaker's fee, the rest of their lives were none of her business.

That's why her reputation in the matchmaking scene wasn't great. Unfortunately, Yang Mother and Sun Lanting were too desperate to check her background.

And so, with both sides hiding their true intentions, Wang quickly arranged a matchmaking session.

The man introduced was clean-cut, well-dressed, and worked in the publicity department of the steel factory. He was twenty-four and went by the name Zhou Wenpeng.

After hearing his background, Sun Lanting practically wanted to marry him on the spot. He was perfect in every way. In her eyes, he was her dream prince.

Zhou Wenpeng caught her starry-eyed gaze and a dark glint flickered in his eyes—gone in an instant.

Sun Lanting, completely lacking in self-awareness, didn't even stop to ask why someone so ideal would be interested in her.

But like someone drowning who's grabbed onto a floating reed, she clung to the hope with all her might.

The matchmaking was a success. The two families quickly agreed on a wedding date, and Zhou Wenpeng even gave a bride price of 188 yuan.

In this era, the average bride price for a city girl was about 100 yuan. Offering 188 showed real "sincerity."

But just days later, the Youth Relocation Office issued a notice for Sun Lanting to be sent down to the countryside. Oddly, the envelope didn't list a specific name at first.

This notice hit the Sun household like a bolt of lightning. No one had signed up for the relocation—how could this be?

At first, Father Sun wasn't too concerned, assuming it had been delivered by mistake. But when he opened it and saw his daughter's name, he collapsed onto the floor in shock.

The rest of the family quickly gathered to check the document.

At the top, it read:"Dear Comrade Sun Lanting, thank you for voluntarily signing up to aid in rural development..."

Sun Lanting couldn't bear to read another word. She couldn't accept it—she blacked out on the spot.

Panic broke out in the Sun household. Father Sun rushed to scoop her up and ran straight to the nearest hospital.