"I sure as hell don't want to be stuck with an idiot. What a pain."
"And look at Rosalind Mercer now. If we take her to the military district like this, she'll only make the whole family lose face."
As she spoke, Vivienne Mercer flicked the train ticket in her hand onto the table. It landed with a sharp smack.
"If she insists on going, then we go separately. And once we get there, don't expect me to admit I know her."
She was heading there for a better life, not to suffer.
If some fool of a relative followed behind her, how was she supposed to show her face in the military district?
The moment those words came out, the expressions in the room all turned a little strange.
Rosalind Mercer and Vivienne Mercer were cousin sisters. Both had married soldiers, and the two men were even stationed in the same military district.
The family had originally planned that once the papers for joining their husbands were settled, the two sisters would travel there together, looking out for each other on the road.
Who would have thought Rosalind Mercer would suddenly come down with a high fever and burn her mind stupid?
Now that Vivienne Mercer refused to travel with Rosalind Mercer, her father also felt Rosalind Mercer had turned foolish and would only be a burden.
So even though he did not say it outright, in his heart he was clearly standing on his daughter's side.
Albert Mercer took two pulls from his cigarette. Seeing his second son keep his mouth shut, he simply laid the matter bare.
"Even if Rosalind Mercer has gone stupid, she's already got the marriage certificate with Nathaniel Holt. That makes her a Holt family's daughter-in-law. There's no reason for us to raise her for them. So Rosalind Mercer has to be sent over to Nathaniel Holt."
"Besides, your mother and I are getting on in years. We don't have the strength to keep feeding a fool. If you don't want to send Rosalind Mercer to the military district, then take her back to the city and raise her yourselves."
No sooner had he finished than the second son, Stanley Mercer, could not stay seated.
"Why should we be the ones to raise her?"
Albert Mercer dragged hard on his cigarette, then lifted a yellowed finger and jabbed it toward Stanley Mercer.
"If it weren't for her father's death compensation, would you have gotten that job at the meat factory?"
Stanley Mercer shot back at once, "Then by that logic, what about Rosalind Mercer's bride price money, and the compensation you and Mother squeezed out of the hospital? Didn't all of that end up in your pockets too?"
Who here could really claim their hands were clean?
Albert Mercer was so angry he broke into a fit of coughing. After he finally caught his breath, he let out a long sigh.
"Forget it. As long as you get Rosalind Mercer out of the way, all the good stuff the Holt family sent her will be yours."
Now that there was something to gain, Stanley Mercer finally shut up. But Vivienne Mercer still wasn’t satisfied.
"Grandpa, what about me? I should get something too, right?"
Albert Mercer thought it over for a moment, then said, "Your aunt left behind a few pieces of jewelry. She’s like this now anyway, she can’t wear them. They’ll go to you."
Only then did Vivienne smile. Rosalind’s mother had come from Hucheng as an educated youth, so the things she left behind had to be worth money.
The three of them sat there figuring out how to dump Rosalind, that burden, and split up her family’s property. Not one of them noticed Rosalind sitting by the doorstep. In those eyes that looked dull and blank, a streak of cold light flashed by.
She had crossed into a book.
She had become the cannon-fodder supporting girl in the period novel Sweet Seventies Military Marriage, a girl with the exact same name as her.
In the book, the heroine, Vivienne Mercer, was one of those lucky stars. From childhood to adulthood, everything went her way, and she drifted into a good life without much effort.
As for Rosalind, she was the unlucky foil set up beside her.
Whenever Vivienne got something good, Rosalind was the one who paid for it.
Take when they were one year old and learning to walk. The two of them fell at the same time, and Rosalind ended up as the cushion underneath.
At three, Rosalind got stung all over the head by hornets, while Vivienne somehow got wild honey to eat.
When she was five, Rosalind’s mother drowned trying to save someone. Vivienne, on the other hand, escaped disaster and came out blessed.
At seven, Rosalind’s father died in the line of duty. Stanley Mercer took his elder brother’s compensation money and got himself into the meat factory. From then on, his whole family moved into the city and started living well.
...
And this time, Rosalind had gone foolish, so Vivienne was about to get her hands on the things Rosalind’s mother had left behind.
Among those things was a ring with a storage space inside. Once Vivienne got it, her life completely took off.
When Rosalind had read this book before, she had felt especially bad for that pitiful girl who shared her name. She’d been so angry she stopped reading halfway through.
What lucky-star heroine? Vivienne was nothing of the sort. She was clearly feeding off the original Rosalind’s luck, making that poor girl take every disaster in her place.
The original Rosalind had only been five when her mother died. At seven, her father was gone too. This whole family, old and young, had been living off the little her parents left behind, yet when it came to her, they pinched every penny and treated her like she didn’t deserve a thing.