Ivy Mercer slowly opened her eyes. It was pitch-black all around, obviously nighttime, and she could feel someone tugging at her clothes.
What a nerve. Which bastard had the guts to take advantage of her?
The second that hand reached for her again, her body moved faster than her mind. She grabbed the filthy hand, twisted hard, and flung the man straight to the ground.
He let out a howl. "You bitch, you dare hit me? Just wait, I’ll deal with you good."
As he cursed, he scrambled up, snatched a stick from the ground, and rushed at her.
At the same time, Ivy flipped up in one smooth motion and got to her feet. By then, the man was already right in front of her.
She caught the stick in his hand, yanked with force, and tore it away from him. Then she raised it and started laying into him without a bit of mercy.
She did not hold back at all. The beating had him yelping nonstop.
At first, he was still yelling insults. "You damn woman, stop right now."
"When you’re my wife, let’s see how I deal with you then."
The moment Ivy heard that, her face went cold. He still dared to set his sights on her?
Her grip tightened, and each blow came down harder than the last.
Soon he was screaming miserably. Then she heard him cry out, "Grandma, I was wrong, I won’t dare again. Please stop hitting me. Sylvia Hartley told me to do it. She pushed me into it. Right, it’s all her fault."
"Grandma, please, I really won’t dare again. Spare me this once."
Only then did Ivy stop. She asked, "Who is Sylvia Hartley?"
"You forgot? Sylvia Hartley is one of the female educated youths at the zhiqing point."
Ivy could not make sense of the situation at all. She understood every single word he said, yet once they were put together, none of it made sense to her. What was a zhiqing? She had never heard of such a thing in the interstellar age.
Since she could not figure it out for now, she pushed it aside. Sooner or later, she would get to the bottom of it.
Only then did she notice the heat raging through her body. She had been drugged.
Damn it. They had actually used that kind of filthy aphrodisiac on her. She was a dignified fellow of the Interstellar Research Institute, and now she had been treated like this.
Right now, she still hadn’t sorted out what was going on, so she decided to let the person on the ground off for the moment. Sooner or later, she’d settle this score.
And Sylvia Hartley—she wouldn’t get away either.
"Keep your mouth shut. Know what you should say and what you shouldn’t. If I find out you said one word you weren’t supposed to, you know exactly what’ll happen."
"Don’t worry, miss, I won’t talk nonsense."
"Get lost."
The second that person heard it, the crying stopped on the spot. They scrambled up and bolted, terrified this she-devil might change her mind the next second.
Just then, voices drifted over from the distance. It sounded like a whole bunch of people were out looking for someone. She avoided them and headed downhill.
She was in a patch of small woods on the hillside.
By now, Ivy Mercer felt her body getting hotter and hotter. She wanted to find somewhere with no one around and just endure it, and if she could find water, even better. If she could soak in it, maybe it would cool the burning inside her.
Her legs felt heavy as iron, like they were filled with lead. Her vision was getting blurrier too, and the heat in her body kept climbing. Gritting her teeth, she kept forcing herself downhill.
Then she heard the sound of running water not far away. Her pace quickened at once, and she followed the sound.
A little later, she spotted a wide river. Ivy Mercer was just about to jump in when a man appeared from nowhere and blocked her path.
"Comrade, you mustn’t do anything foolish."
"Move."
"I’m not moving. I can’t just stand here and watch a woman comrade jump into the river."
"Move aside. I’m not trying to kill myself."
"Really?"
"Mm."
The man finally stepped aside. Ivy Mercer hurried toward the riverbank, moving even faster, and just as she was about to jump in—
someone behind her grabbed hold of her clothes.
"Let go of me. I’m not trying to kill myself."
"I’m not letting go. I’m done believing anything you say. You were obviously trying to jump into the river."
Ivy Mercer shook him off hard, but before she could take two steps, the man lunged at her again. She was so irritated she felt like a whole herd of wild beasts was stampeding through her head.
If she didn’t deal with the drug raging inside her soon, her body was going to give out.
"Are you letting go or not?"
"No."
"Fine. Don’t blame me later. You asked for this."
Using every bit of strength she had left, Ivy flung him away again. Before he could react, she struck his acupoint. His body instantly locked up, and he dropped to the ground without moving.
She bent down, hoisted him onto her shoulder, and headed for another patch of woods.
After finding a hidden spot, she threw him onto the ground. In a rush, she tore off her own clothes, then reached down and started undoing the man’s clothes too. After that, she climbed right on top of him.
The man on the ground stared at her, his eyes full of shock, disbelief, and utter confusion.
Was he seriously about to be taken by a woman?
He was still frozen in that absurd thought when a soft little mouth pressed against his. Sweet, warm, tender, with the faint scent of orange on her breath.
What happened next shocked him even more.
He really was overpowered by a woman. And worse, he was the one underneath. In the end, he blacked out.
The woman on top of him had clearly been drugged. Her whole body was burning hot.
After who knew how long, Ivy finally felt the medicine in her body completely wear off. Only then did she get dressed again.
Then she released the man’s acupoint, put his clothes back on for him, and moved him to a safer place. After that, she hid herself not far away.
She had wanted to leave right then, but she was worried the man might not be safe lying there alone, so she could only stay hidden nearby and wait for him to wake up.
Now she was fully clear-headed, and she had no idea how she was supposed to face that man. Ivy hadn’t thought of an answer yet, so for the moment, hiding was the only thing she could do.
She had originally come from the interstellar age. Back there, she had been an academician at a research institute. That institute was something all the major forces in the Interstellar Federation tried to win over while also fearing in equal measure. Anyone qualified to work there was the best of the best, one in ten thousand.
The institute mainly worked on new weapons, warships, mecha, medicine, Old Earth history, old recipes, ancient plants, and things like that.
Ivy Mercer had been a professor in weapons and warship research. She knew a fair bit about other fields too—pharmaceuticals, mecha, all of it to some extent.
This time, it was her assistant who had been bought off by a rival. Right after another one of Ivy’s experiments succeeded, the woman stabbed her in the back. The blade went straight through her heart, and just like that, she died.
That assistant had once been the person she trusted most. They had worked side by side and produced one breakthrough after another. In the end, though, that same person killed her. Ivy still had no idea why she did it.
But she was already dead in the interstellar age. Whether she knew the reason or not didn’t really matter anymore.
Just then, a flood of memories crashed into her head. The pain was so fierce it felt like her skull was about to split open.
They were the original owner’s memories. After a long while, she finally managed to sort through them.
The original owner was also called Ivy Mercer. The place she lived was Hongqi Brigade, Wuliu Town, Qingshui County, Gansu Province, in the northwest of Huaguo. The year was 1970.
Ivy had seen records of this era in interstellar archives before.
This was a time of shortages. The country was poor, people didn’t have enough to eat or enough to wear, and life was hard on just about everyone.
And the technology was badly behind. Thinking of that, Ivy felt very clearly that since she had come to this time, she ought to use what she knew to do something worthwhile.
No matter where she went, Ivy Mercer was going to live a vivid life.
Right now, the country was encouraging educated youth to go up to the mountains and down to the countryside. That was what people meant by sent-down youth.
