5
Jiang Mian looked utterly exasperated as she pushed Han Xu’s phone back toward him.
“Dad, don’t worry. After that brush with death, I’ve had a chance to think things through.” Once you do something twice, it gets easier—after calling him “Dad” a few times, Jiang Mian could now say the word without hesitation.
With a look of remorse, she continued. “I must have been out of my mind to be so obsessed with Gu Qiwen. An unrequited love will never work out. Given his status, he’s not even fit to tie my shoes, yet I kept throwing myself at him and getting rejected. How embarrassing.”
Now that she had transmigrated into the role of the supporting female character, she had no intention of following the original storyline. Fortunately, she had arrived in time, nothing had begun yet, and her four fathers had not met their fate.
As for the male and female leads, they could do whatever they wanted, as long as they didn’t come near her.
Han Xu was momentarily stunned. He knew exactly how much his daughter had once liked Gu Qiwen. But that man thought too highly of himself and dared to look down on his daughter—that was precisely why Han Xu detested him.
So, when Jiang Mian had asked him to use his influence to force Gu Qiwen to be with her, Han Xu had refused without a second thought. Never did he expect that refusal would lead to his daughter attempting suicide.
He had his bodyguards bring Gu Qiwen to the hospital, hoping to surprise Jiang Mian and let her see him as soon as she woke up. But he had stepped out for only a moment, and when he returned, he overheard Gu Qiwen cruelly mocking his daughter making his rage flared instantly.
From the time she was little, he had never once scolded Jiang Mian. And now some poor nobody from who-knows-where dared to insult his precious daughter like that? Han Xu wanted to kill the man.
He had been a little worried that his daughter might be upset that he had his bodyguards beat Gu Qiwen. But hearing Jiang Mian’s words now, he felt overjoyed, though he couldn’t help but stroke her pale little face with concern. If it weren’t for that Gu fellow, his daughter wouldn’t have suffered so much—though at least now she had become more sensible.
“My poor precious daughter,” Han Xu said. “But I’m so glad you’ve come to this realization. You have to remember—you’re my little princess, the one I hold in the palm of my hand. No one is allowed to make you feel wronged. If anyone dares to bully you again, Daddy won’t let them get away with it.”
Jiang Mian obediently nodded. Han Xu then asked, “Are you hungry? What would you like to eat? I’ll have the chef send something over.”
Now that he mentioned it, Jiang Mian really was hungry. She frowned slightly—back in the world of immortal cultivation, after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, she no longer needed mortal food to survive.
The last time she had felt hunger was in her life before last, when she had been a carp spirit. Thinking about it now, she felt a little nostalgic. She was about to name two dishes according to the original owner’s preferences when a voice interrupted—
“Mianmian!”
A whirlwind rushed into the hospital room. Jiang Mian looked up instinctively and found herself facing a curly-haired man in a yellow Taoist robe. She couldn’t quite make out his face, as it was mostly hidden behind a thick beard.
Her eyes lit up. She could sense the presence of “energy” in this man—not spiritual energy, but something beyond the reach of ordinary mortals. That meant this man was very likely a cultivator of the Tao.
At the same time, this energy gave Jiang Mian a cold, eerie feeling, which only piqued her curiosity further.
“Where is my precious daughter hurt? Let me see!” The yellow-robed figure noticed the white bandage wrapped around Jiang Mian’s wrist. He gently lifted her hand and gasped. “How did this happen?”
His words confirmed Jiang Mian’s suspicion about who he was—another one of the original owner’s fathers. This father was named Zuo Xingping, a legitimate heir to a lineage of celestial masters with genuine talent and knowledge.
However, his fate was terribly unfortunate—he could never accumulate wealth and was a poor Taoist. On ordinary days, he would set up a stall on the street with a fortune-telling banner, practicing divination.
In the original owner’s memory, this father was nothing but a superstitious fraud, a swindler skilled in every possible trick of deception. Being around him was embarrassing, and she deeply disliked him.
Whenever she saw Zuo Xingping, she would speak coldly and treat him terribly. Yet none of this stopped Zuo Xingping from adoring her. He cherished this daughter as if she were the apple of his eye and did everything he could to give Jiang Mian the best.
Before Jiang Mian could speak, Han Xu had already shouted angrily, “Charlatan! Let go of Mianmian right now—don’t touch her wound!” As he spoke, he physically pulled Zuo Xingping away.
Zuo Xingping released Jiang Mian’s hand and shouted back at Han Xu, “What exactly happened? Something this serious happens to Mianmian, and you didn’t even inform me!”
Han Xu asked Jiang Mian gently if her wound hurt, then said to Zuo Xingping without looking up, “What good would telling you do?”
Zuo Xingping jumped up in fury. “Mianmian is my daughter too! If I hadn’t calculated that she was facing a bloody disaster, you weren’t planning to tell any of us at all, were you!”
Han Xu wished the other three would stay far away, so that his precious daughter would belong to him alone. He said, “Since you could calculate it yourself, why would I need to tell you?”
Zuo Xingping: “…”
Sometimes, he really wanted to give this man a bad luck talisman.
The original story was very long, and Jiang Mian couldn’t sort through all of it at once.
According to the plot, when Zuo Xingping arrived at the hospital, the original owner was in pain from her wound reopening. Seeing Zuo Xingping—the father she detested—she flew into a rage and drove him away on the spot, leaving him so dazed and distracted that he nearly got into a car accident.
“Mianmian.” Zuo Xingping looked cautiously at Jiang Mian, whose face showed no expression. He had been too anxious just now and momentarily forgotten that his daughter didn’t really like him touching her. “Which bastard hurt you? Tell me, and I’ll avenge you.”
After reading this part of the plot, Jiang Mian sighed inwardly. She answered obediently, “I hurt myself.”
Zuo Xingping: “???”
He was so shocked that he temporarily forgot how unusually different his daughter’s attitude toward him was.
Han Xu, however, frowned. As one of the doting fathers, he knew his daughter’s preferences very well. He knew Jiang Mian didn’t like Zuo Xingping—whenever they met, she never gave him a pleasant look.
But now…
Han Xu felt a twinge of jealousy.
“I’m fine now, Dad. Don’t worry.” Jiang Mian pointed at the beard on Zuo Xingping’s face—at first glance, she had thought it was real, but now she realized it was a fake one he had glued on. “It’s about to fall off.”
After saying this, Jiang Mian suddenly lowered her head, a hint of delight gleaming deep in her eyes.
Just a moment ago, she had connected with the spiritual energy in the air—in fact, she had been trying to sense it ever since she woke up. But she hadn’t been able to detect any, and had started to think there was no spiritual energy in this world. Just as she was about to give up, she finally sensed it.
Though it was pitifully faint—not even one ten-thousandth of what existed in the cultivation world—as long as there was spiritual energy, no matter how little, it was enough for her to cultivate.
Even if she couldn’t achieve what she had in the cultivation world, simply reaching the stage of drawing energy into her body would give her the ability to protect herself in this otherwise utterly ordinary mortal realm.
Overjoyed at connecting with the spiritual energy, she didn’t notice the shock on her two fathers’ faces.
Han Xu was fine—he had already been called “Dad” by Jiang Mian, so he had some buffer but Zuo Xingping had not.
When Jiang Mian had entered her rebellious phase, she started calling all four fathers by their full names. Especially Zuo Xingping—it had been over a decade since she last called him “Dad.”
Suddenly hearing Jiang Mian call him that, Zuo Xingping’s expression was exceptionally complicated in that moment—shock, disbelief, excitement, and bewilderment all at once.
When Jiang Mian came back to herself from her joy, she saw this celestial master father pinch himself hard on the arm, then look at her with disbelief. “Mianmian, y-you… what did you just call me?”
Jiang Mian noticed that the celestial master father’s eyes were a little red. Unaccustomed to such scenes, she turned to Han Xu and said, “I’m hungry.”
“What do you want to eat? I’ll go buy it!” Zuo Xingping was so excited he was about to rush out.
Oh my god, Mianmian actually called him Dad!
Zuo Xingping felt like spinning in circles with joy—this felt even better than capturing an evil spirit.
“Stay away,” Han Xu frowned. “Are you trying to buy street stall garbage for Mianmian again? Do you want her to get diarrhea?”
Zuo Xingping’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt. He looked guiltily at Jiang Mian.
Jiang Mian: “?”
A moment later, she dug up a memory from the original owner. Last year, on the original owner’s birthday, all four fathers celebrated together.
After the party ended, she started opening gifts. That was when Zuo Xingping appeared, holding a few skewers of fried meatballs—back when he used to take care of Jiang Mian, she had shown a liking for fried meatballs.
The original owner, thinking it was her birthday and not wanting to ruin the mood, ate a couple to be polite. Then she had diarrhea all night. The next day, she threw the remaining uneaten meatballs all over Zuo Xingping.
For a while after that, her hatred for this celestial master father reached its peak.
After reviewing this memory, Jiang Mian: “…”
If she had a child who treated her like that, she would make sure they understood why flowers are so red.
No wonder the original owner became so recklessly spoiled later on—it was because these fathers indulged her without any bottom line whatsoever, instilling in her from a young age the belief: I am the world, everyone else should revolve around me, and if anything goes wrong, my four fathers will fix it.
As the saying goes, behind every unbearable child was a pair of unbearable parents. She had four…
“I want freshly boiled soy milk,” she said to the celestial master father.
“And I want crystal fish balls,” she said to the wealthy father.
Han Xu said, “Things from outside aren’t clean. Dad will have someone cook it for you right away.”
“I’ll do it myself, absolutely clean,” Zuo Xingping retorted. “Mianmian, just wait. I’ll have it ready soon.” And then he rushed out like a whirlwind.
Thinking of how in the original plot, Zuo Xingping had nearly gotten into a car accident because he was so distracted, Jiang Mian—though she wasn’t following the original storyline—still instinctively added, “Dad, be careful. Watch out for cars.”
Not wanting to be outdone, Han Xu made a phone call and ordered the hospital to prepare soy milk and crystal fish balls immediately. Could that charlatan Zuo Xingping possibly be faster than him?
All the medicine Jiang Mian used was imported. In less than a week, the wound on her wrist had healed, leaving only a thin red line that would disappear completely in a few more days.
She examined the spiritual roots of her current body. Fortunately, she had five spiritual roots, which meant she could cultivate.
However, the spiritual energy in the air was too thin, and her physical condition was poor. After a week, she still couldn’t even manage to draw energy into her body, let alone set up formations, draw talismans, or refine pills.
Thinking back to her glorious days in the cultivation world in her previous life, Jiang Mian consoled herself—at least she had survived. That alone was a great fortune.
She left the hospital quietly. Why quietly? Because she had overheard Han Xu say he would send her to school via private jet = =
Passing by a shopping mall, Jiang Mian noticed many people looking up at something. Following their gaze, she saw a massive electronic screen mounted on the mall’s exterior, playing an advertisement.
The man in the ad was wearing a custom-made high-end suit. His facial features were perfectly sculpted, as if created by the gods themselves. His gaze was deep and gentle. He looked straight ahead and spoke a single line in English.
His voice was low, magnetic, and sensual—the kind that made your heart itch.
“Qin Jingrun, I want to have your babies!!!” A girl’s scream came from somewhere in the distance.
“He’s really so handsome,” someone passing by Jiang Mian said with genuine admiration. “If only I could marry him and be his wife.”
Jiang Mian instinctively replied, “It’s even better to be his daughter.”
The girl happened to hear her and turned around. “For a perfect male god like Brother Qin, he can have a wife, but he absolutely cannot have a daughter!”
“…” Jiang Mian genuinely wanted to understand. “Why?”
The girl said seriously, “Because he once said that if he had a daughter, he would pour all his love into her. Then what would us fans do?”
Jiang Mian touched her nose and glanced back at the man on the big screen, whose smile could topple cities.
Original owner, you have a biological father this devastatingly handsome—why did you fall for Gu Qiwen at first sight and become so devoted to him? Just because he’s the male lead?
Author, could your bias be any stronger?!
**