How cold…
This was Tang Li’s first sensation as her consciousness returned.
Everything around her was pitch black, eerily silent like she was drowning. An invisible hand clamped around her throat, mercilessly dragging her down into an endless abyss.
Tang Li struggled desperately, but her limbs would not move. Burning pain surged through her chest, every breath becoming torture and despair.
No one would come to save her. She was like a discarded ugly stone, sinking into a bottomless darkness, just like the unwanted life she had always lived.
“No wonder you have no friends. You’re a wild child, a jinx!”
Sharp accusations and disgusted stares from others pierced her memory like grains of sand, embedding themselves into every bloodied night of her life.
Her parents had clearly died in an accident, so why did it always become her fault in the end?
“Look at you, always so gloomy! Ever since you joined the company, nothing has gone smoothly! Do you secretly want the company to collapse?”
Her supervisor’s furious roar echoed in her ears, while coworkers passing by sneered in ridicule. She was everyone’s punching bag. No matter where she went, misfortune seemed to follow.
“Oh my, this bride lost both her parents since childhood. Who knows if she’ll bring bad luck to her husband too?”
Relatives spat melon seed shells as they whispered jokingly, their words drifting to her husband’s ears and turning into hesitant glances, and the faint disgust on her mother-in-law’s face.
Tiny droplets of malice, like willow fluff, slowly drowned a living person.
“My son marrying you was the worst misfortune of eight lifetimes! You cold, heartless disaster! Why don’t you just go die!”
A ferocious face pressed close to hers. The swollen eyes loomed larger and larger. Tang Li fell to the ground in front of the grave, her numb, decaying body already unable to shed a single tear.
Perhaps this life truly was cursed. Even on the way home from the cemetery, she ran into a criminal seeking revenge on society and was pushed into a lake to be silenced.
Water flooded her lungs. In the final second before death…
If there were another life, she didn’t want to be so weak anymore. She didn’t want to accept fate again…
Suddenly, a cold mechanical voice sounded in her ears.
【Congratulations, Host. Transmigration successful. Welcome to the world of “The Overbearing Prince Dotes on Me Ruthlessly.”】
The water stopped dragging her downward. Soft waves supported her sinking body, wet hair brushing her cheeks. The sounds of insults and arguments faded away like a receding tide.
In their place, a gentle and anxious voice grew clearer.
“Miss… wake up…”
Someone was calling her?
“Miss… please wake up…”
A faint light seemed to pierce through the dark lake. Tang Li surged with a desperate will to survive. The moment she felt her limbs move again, she broke free and swam toward the light with all her strength.
“Mm…”
She let out a soft groan and forced her heavy eyelids open.
Blinding light flooded her vision. After a few seconds, she finally adjusted and saw her surroundings clearly.
No freezing lake. No mocking friends. No furious boss. No arguing with my mother-in-law.
Instead, there was an intricately embroidered bed canopy above her, and a carved wooden bed with an antique fragrance of sandalwood in the air.
This was not the lake bottom, not her home, and not any place she recognized.
“Sixth Miss…”
A voice called beside her.
Tang Li turned her head in confusion and saw a maid in ancient dress kneeling by the bed, looking at her anxiously.
Where was this? Hadn’t she been pushed into a lake?
The maid’s eyes lit up with relief and she quickly helped her up.
“Sixth Miss, you’ve finally woken up! You scared this servant to death!”
Tang Li froze again.
Miss?
The mechanical voice she heard earlier… Transmigration… “The Overbearing Prince Dotes on Me Ruthlessly”…
Could it be… she didn’t die, but instead transmigrated into a novel?
She had read many similar web novels before. Modern girls accidentally enter fictional worlds, becoming adored heroines, winning over male leads and supporting characters, and living a sweet, privileged life.
The more she thought, the more excited she became.
Maybe she really was the heroine!
She forced down her excitement and asked carefully, “Who are you?”
“I am Xiao Mei, miss. Don’t you recognize me?”
Tang Li’s eyes lit up and she continued testing, “Of course I do… let me ask you, who am I?”
“You are the Sixth Miss of the Marquis household, surnamed Tang, given name Li.”
A noble young lady, and even her name matched her real one. This had to be it!
Tang Li could barely contain her excitement. She was truly the heroine of a Mary Sue story!
From now on, she would enjoy a life of endless admiration and glory.
She hurriedly asked, “Do I have siblings? How many people are in my family?”
The maid hesitated, looking uneasy.
Just then, the door was kicked open with a loud bang, sending dust flying everywhere.
A richly dressed young woman walked in, covered in jewels and gold ornaments, radiating arrogance.
Tang Li instinctively looked at herself. Plain clothes, a single wooden hairpin… She looked extremely poor in comparison.
But she quickly comforted herself. Maybe she was the cold, low-key type of heroine.
She smiled gently. “And who might you be?”
Xiao Mei turned pale and hurriedly whispered, “Miss, this is the Ninth Miss of the household…”
“Ninth Miss?”
Before Xiao Mei could finish, the girl exploded.
“How dare you call me sister? A lowly illegitimate bastard like you dares address me like that? Do you even deserve it?”
Tang Li’s smile froze.
Illegitimate daughter?
Wasn’t she the Sixth Miss of the Marquis household?
Before she could react further, the Ninth Miss coldly ordered, “Men! Tie her up and throw her out of the residence!”
Servants rushed in immediately.
Xiao Mei tried to plead despite her fear, but was kicked aside.
The Ninth Miss sneered. “She dared to push my Seventh Sister into the water. Now she gets what she deserves. Throw her out!”
Soon, Tang Li was dragged outside and thrown into the snow.
The heavy doors slammed shut behind her.
Cold wind and snow swallowed her thin body.
She lay curled in the snow, finally spitting out the cloth in her mouth, staring at the sky in despair.
This… was not the heroine script she expected.
A cold mechanical voice sounded again.
【Identity unlocked: Cannon Fodder NPC. Estimated survival time: 2 hours. Please acquire survival skills. System entering sleep mode. Countdown begins…】
“Wait! Don’t go offline! Isn’t there a mistake?!”
But there was no response.
So she wasn’t the heroine at all. She was just cannon fodder meant to die early and highlight the real protagonist.
Just as despair set in, a frantic old voice came from behind.
“Li’er! My child! Mother finally found you!”
Tang Li turned weakly.
A disheveled old woman in tattered clothes rushed toward her and hugged her tightly, crying.
“How dare they treat us like this! Those heartless people! When the Marquis returns, I’ll—”
That voice… that unreasonable tone…
Why did it sound so familiar?
Tang Li tremblingly pushed aside her hair and looked at the face in front of her.
She froze. “…Wang Cuihua?”
The old woman’s crying stopped instantly.
Damn it! Why had her vicious mother-in-law also transmigrated into the book?!