Su Nian’an kept turning over in her mind where she could keep her bank notes safe. After much thought, she decided it would be safest to carry them on her person.
The Su family were not to be trusted, so she couldn’t leave the money in the room she was staying in now.
The drawbacks of not having a personal storage space were becoming glaringly obvious. Once she went down to the countryside, she would have to find a way to get that spatial bracelet from the male lead as soon as possible.
If she remembered correctly, in the original novel, the female lead had gone to great lengths to obtain that spatial bracelet of his. She had even saved the male lead’s mother’s life, and only then received the bracelet as a reward. Which meant the storyline where the female lead gained her portable storage space happened quite late in the story.
Su Nian’an glanced at the time — it was already past one in the afternoon. In these times, people went shopping at dawn; if you went late, you missed the best goods at the best prices.
But Su Nian’an wasn’t too concerned about that. She only wanted to buy some daily necessities anyway. As for grain and staples, without a storage space, there was no easy way to take them with her. She could only carry a few jin at most — anything more would be far too cumbersome to transport.
Su Nian’an had already made up her mind: once she managed to get her hands on the male lead’s spatial bracelet, she would start stockpiling supplies. And she certainly wouldn’t let his family go without — she would eat the finest delicacies, and his family would get to share in the abundance!
As she stepped outside, Su Nian’an spotted Su Nianxi standing in the courtyard, preening like a peacock in full bloom. She held her head high, looking down at Su Nian’an with haughty arrogance.
If this were the original owner, seeing Su Nianxi dressed so beautifully while she herself wore coarse, patched old clothes, she would surely have bowed her head in shame long ago. But Su Nian’an was a modern woman from the twenty-first century — she’d lived through multiple cycles of fashion trends. In her eyes, Su Nianxi’s gaudy, over-the-top outfit was simply… tacky.
So she merely glanced at Su Nianxi once, then looked away.
“Su Nian’an! What is that supposed to mean!”
Su Nianxi had spent over an hour getting ready, all so she could make Su Nian’an feel inferior in her presence. To her fury, the woman had only given her a bland glance and nothing more?
Su Nian’an found this vicious side character utterly tedious — brainless and foolish.
“What do you mean by ‘what is that supposed to mean’? Su Nianxi, your face is healing quite quickly, isn’t it?” Su Nian’an replied with a faint, knowing smile.
At those words, Su Nianxi instinctively covered her face with both hands. That morning, Liu Cuilan had applied ointment to her bruises, and the swelling had gone down considerably. She had also layered on face powder, managing to conceal the faint, lingering marks of the slap.
“Su Nian’an! If you ever dare lay a hand on me again — do you believe my mother would beat you within an inch of your life? She said so herself this morning! If you so much as touch me again, she’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget!” Su Nianxi’s voice rose in pitch, her hostility toward Su Nian’an laid bare without a shred of pretense.
Then, to Su Nianxi’s shock, Su Nian’an suddenly spoke, her voice thick with hurt and grievance.
“Why would your mother beat me? What have I done wrong? I’m the one taking your place in this marriage! I’ve sacrificed so much for you — what more could I possibly have done to wrong you?”
Su Nianxi assumed Su Nian’an was finally cowering in fear, and so she grew even more emboldened.
“Wronged? Do you have any idea how happy and carefree my life used to be as my parents’ precious daughter? It was only after you showed up that I learned I wasn’t their real daughter at all! It’s all your fault! Why didn’t you just die the moment you were born? You’re nothing but unwanted trash! And you’ve stolen so much money from this family too!”
Su Nian’an nearly laughed out loud at those words. If there hadn’t been other people nearby watching them, she would have slapped that self-righteous look right off Su Nianxi’s face.
So foolish and so malicious. Every second spent in Su Nianxi’s company felt like a waste of time.
“If I had died,” Su Nian’an asked calmly, “who would have taken your place and married into that family?”
“My parents would have found some other way! We wouldn’t have needed you at all — we could have —”
Su Nianxi never got to finish her sentence. A sharp voice cut her off.
“Su Nianxi! Shut your mouth!”
It was Su Aiguo. He had been standing nearby for quite some time, watching the two of them speak. He had said nothing while Su Nianxi hurled insults and abuse at Su Nian’an. It was only when Su Nianxi declared they “didn’t need Su Nian’an” that he finally stepped forward.
How bitterly ironic. What kind of parents could be so cruel to their very own biological daughter?
“Father!” Su Nianxi protested immediately. “Su Nian’an is the one being rude to me! I was just —”
“Silence!” Su Aiguo cut her off sharply. “I’ve been standing here this entire time! Do you take me for a fool? I heard every single senseless word you said!”
Su Aiguo looked at his adopted daughter, his heart heavy with disappointment. So foolish. She does everything so carelessly — and always leaves traces and evidence behind.
He suspected Su Nian’an had held her tongue and refused to fight back precisely because she had known he was standing there all along — waiting for Su Nianxi to dig her own grave with her reckless words.
Su Aiguo had warned Su Nianxi time and time again: do not pick fights with Su Nian’an now, of all times. As long as she stayed quiet and let Su Nian’an take her place and marry and move to the countryside, everything in the Su household would return to normal. Yet despite all his warnings, the girl would not listen to a single word he said.
“Su Nianxi — apologize to your sister at once!”
Tomorrow they would be sending Su Nian’an off to the Gu family. At such a critical moment, Su Aiguo wanted nothing more than to avoid unnecessary complications.
Su Nianxi’s face darkened with resentment. She was shaken and embarrassed that her father had overheard everything. But then she remembered how her parents had spoiled and pampered her since childhood, and her confidence returned.
“Apologize? You want me to apologize to her? I won’t! Father, you’ve changed! You never used to be like this!”
With that, Su Nianxi turned and stormed back into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Su Nian’an stood there, blinking in bemusement. Well then… does this mean I’m free to go into town now?
Dealing with someone as impulsive and short-sighted as Su Nianxi… Su Nian’an realized she could outmaneuver her without even breaking a sweat.
“Nian’an, my dear… please don’t take what you just saw to heart. Nianxi has always been rather headstrong and impulsive,” Su Aiguo said quickly, stepping forward to smooth things over with a forced smile.
In the grand scheme of things, Su Aiguo wasn’t necessarily a bad man. Yet whenever Su Nianxi was involved, he behaved in ways that were utterly unreasonable, unjust, and devoid of conscience. To treat his own biological daughter this way, all for the sake of an adopted child… from Su Nian’an’s perspective, he was a man entirely lacking in warmth and compassion.
And yet, when it came to matters of honor and obligation, he wasn’t entirely without merit. Take this marriage arrangement with the Gu family, for instance. Legally, he could have chosen to break the engagement, and the Gu family would have been powerless to stop him. Yet he insisted on honoring the agreement. He even made an effort to be polite and civil toward Su Nian’an, rather than resorting to threats or brute force to compel her compliance.
Still, Su Nian’an knew: if Su Aiguo ever dared to force her to go through with this marriage against her will… so long as he did not kill her to silence her, she would find a way to make him pay.
And murder was no trivial matter, even in these times. Especially for a man like Su Aiguo — someone of standing and reputation in the capital. He would never risk his good name and social standing by staining his hands with her blood.
That was precisely why Su Nian’an had dared to stand her ground and defy the Su family from the very moment she arrived.