Ryū Kingdom.
By the moat.
From a crude wooden shack came the strange sounds of a man and woman—if one could call it arguing, it was laced with ragged breathing; if one could call it fighting, it carried an unmistakable rustling. In the tranquil night beneath the bright moon and scattered stars, it struck an eerily suspicious note.
“Damn it! Get off me!” The man, with a woman pressed atop him, seemed to have exhausted his patience and let out a hoarse roar.
“Stop your yelling—you’re not the one losing out here!” Chu Xinrao was just as irritated. Losing the patience to peel off his clothes piece by piece, she resorted to brute force and simply tore them apart.
Moonlight streamed through the cracks in the shack, falling across the woman’s face. Seeing her dazed, wandering gaze and flushed cheeks, the man narrowed his furious dark eyes and ground out through clenched teeth, “I know you’ve been drugged. Let go of me, and I can cure you!”
Chu Xinrao’s hand, gripping at his waistband, paused for a moment—then she let out a scoff. “You’re just a fisherman. What do you know about curing an aphrodisiac? Do you take me for a three-year-old you can fool?”
Rip!
Her halted hands suddenly yanked hard, shredding the last of his undergarments.
Even though she knew full well how deranged her current behavior was, she was also on the verge of tears from sheer helplessness…
God only knew how unlucky she’d been—transmigrating into the body of a pitiful wretch who’d been abused since birth!
The body she now inhabited was called Gu Xinrao, sharing her given name but not her surname.
This Gu Xinrao had originally been the young miss of the Minister’s household, but from the moment of her birth, she’d been sabotaged by a corrupt midwife. To secure a life of wealth and privilege for her own newborn granddaughter, the midwife had taken advantage of the chaos in the household while the Minister’s wife lay weak after childbirth and swapped the newborn baby girl out of the estate!
The noble young miss thus became a lowly peasant girl.
For eighteen years, she’d never worn a single new garment, never eaten a single full meal—beatings, poison, and curses were instead her daily fare, and the abuses she suffered defied enumeration!
Gu Xinrao had originally believed she was mistreated simply for being a daughter, but just recently, the original soul had encountered a wealthy young gentleman. After meeting Gu Xinrao, this gentleman noticed her striking resemblance to his own mother, grew curious, and investigated her background—only to discover she was his full-blooded younger sister…
But the corrupt midwife who served as their grandmother had passed away years ago. The current foster parents played dumb and obstinate, refusing to admit any connection to the baby swap, and pinned all the blame on the dead midwife.
Seeing that the Chu family was coming tomorrow to take their biological daughter back, the foster parents feared that once she reclaimed her true heritage, their own daughter would lose her life of luxury. So tonight, feigning reluctance at their parting, they tricked her into drinking a tonic laced with drugs, then sent her to the home of the village’s lame old bachelor…
Their aim was to ruin the girl’s chastity, brand her a wanton woman, and make it impossible for the Chu family to accept her!
She had been a middle school teacher in the twenty-first century, and had only soul-transmigrated to this other world because she’d died saving a drowning student. Transmigration was one thing, but to nearly be raped the moment she arrived was another.
Fortunately, she’d practiced kickboxing in her past life, and her attacker was just a lame old man—she subdued him without much effort and fled the village.
But once she’d escaped, she was equally lost.
The drug in her body was taking effect. She didn’t dare head into the city, so she chose the moat instead. Spotting a small wooden shack there, she’d planned to hide for the night and wait out the drug’s effects…
Who could have known there would be a man inside that shack!
She truly hadn’t meant to act like a beast, but the man sat motionless, cross-legged in the center of the room. She had gone up to him, begging to borrow the cabin for the night, yet somehow she tripped and fell right onto him—
That fall was practically the death of her!
Like a starving ghost stumbling upon a piece of succulent meat, her mind hadn’t even caught up before her hands were already tearing at his clothes!
Shame!
For the man beneath her, being forcibly violated by a woman—that was shame!
But for her, was it any less so?
She, Chu Xinrao, had always valued virtue and integrity, serving as a model of conduct for others. Yet now she was committing such a base, shameless, and morally corrupt act—this wasn’t merely shameful, it was utterly unforgivable!
But…
Even as her heart wished she could flay herself alive, her arms wrapped around the man with ever-diminishing reason. It was as if her body belonged to someone else—her awakened soul simply couldn’t control this flesh.
Gradually, the guilt in her heart was completely drowned out by the lust erupting from her body. Sensing that the man beneath her remained unwilling to cooperate, she grew irritable and slapped at him, sobbing and shouting, “Are you even a man or not?”
Whether it was from her beating or from being infuriated to the point of internal injury by her shameless behavior, the man suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood with a “pfft.”
Black blood reeking of foul odor dripped down Chu Xinrao’s neck.
That stench instantly sobered her up somewhat, and she froze, staring at him.
Through the moonlight streaming in from the cabin window, she finally got a clear look at his features. With a tiger’s back, a wasp’s waist, and long legs—a body so fine it could make anyone’s nose bleed, let alone the fact that he was a young, handsome, gorgeous man!
Just as she was stunned, the man let out another roar, “Get off!”
Chu Xinrao’s heart jolted as she met his icy, piercing gaze. The murderous look in his eyes was like a blade drawn from a frozen wasteland, as if he wished to tear her limb from limb, sending goosebumps across her heated skin.
Yet this bone-chilling pressure lingered in her heart only for a moment. Soon her reason was once again devoured by the burning desire within her. As she pulled him close again, she unexpectedly lowered her head and pressed her lips against his cold, thin mouth—
“Mmph… you… you damned woman… how dare you… mmph…”
“Please just cooperate, won’t you? I’ll serve you like a slave afterward!”
“You—”
…
Crane Call Village, on the outskirts of the city.
In the dead of night, only one household still had its lamp burning.
A middle-aged couple was enthusiastically keeping company with a young woman adorned in luxury.
“Qiang’er, don’t worry. We’ve already sent that wretched girl to Cripple Zhou’s room. Your father and I promise you—once the Chu family sees that scene tomorrow, they won’t want that wretch anymore!”
The woman speaking was none other than Liu Shuixiang, Gu Xinrao’s adoptive mother.
Standing beside Liu Shuixiang, the man with the gaunt, sharp face was Gu Quanfu, Gu Xinrao’s adoptive father.
And the young woman seated across from them was none other than their biological daughter, now the young miss of the Minister’s household—Chu Lingqiang.
Upon hearing that their plan had succeeded, Chu Lingqiang was very pleased and gave them a gentle smile. “The Chu family has served as officials for three dynasties and places great importance on the family’s reputation and honor, especially the Grand Lady, who values propriety above all. If they were to learn that Gu Xinrao is a wanton and dissolute woman, even though she carries the Chu family’s blood, for the sake of the family’s dignity, they would never acknowledge her identity.”
“Qiang’er, last time you mentioned that the Grand Lady was arranging a marriage for you. Which high official’s son has she chosen for you?” Liu Shuixiang asked with a smile.
“A high official’s son?” Chu Lingqiang glanced at her with disdain. “Given the Chu family’s standing at court, aside from the royal family, who is worthy of marrying me?”
Hearing this, Liu Shuixiang and Gu Quanfu both widened their eyes, filled with excitement and delight.
Chu Lingqiang sat upright with an air of arrogance, making no effort to hide her contempt for their “ignorance.” But to ensure they would wholeheartedly serve her, she did not conceal certain matters from them.
“Imperial Concubine Qin holds the Chu family in high regard, and I have been her chosen daughter-in-law since childhood. However, the Prince of Yunan has remained in his fiefdom all these years, so my marriage to him has been postponed. Not long ago, I heard that the Emperor issued a decree summoning the Prince of Yunan back to the capital. Imperial Concubine Qin has given the Chu family her assurance that once the Prince returns, we will be wed.”
It was precisely at this critical juncture that she could not allow Gu Xinrao to reclaim her family name!