“Brain Storage?” (‵???`)?
Spring, 1970.
“Manman, Zhang Yao must be looking down on your family now that your fortunes have fallen. That’s why he’s talking behind your back. That scumbag has completely forgotten how your grandfather helped them back then.”
Li Weimian sniffled, crying her heart out.
Lu Shiman rubbed her ears and then her eyes in disbelief. She had only been browsing the biggest novel platform, Tomato Novel, during her break and happened to click on a historical drama novel. The female supporting character just happened to have the same name as hers, so she glanced at it a little longer… and somehow, she ended up transmigrated into it.
In the book, Lu Shiman’s counterpart is an over-the-top, drama-loving young lady from a wealthy and influential family. The Lu family had only one daughter, Lu Shiyin. Lu Patriarch Lu Hansheng intended to find her a husband, but she fell in love with Li Shichuan, a village boy, at first sight. The next year, she gave birth to Lu Shiman.
Lu Shiman was beautiful and pampered from a young age. But three years ago, Lu Shiyin died, and with the family’s decline, the Lu family was vulnerable. Still, Lu Hansheng had always been benevolent, saving countless lives. Thanks to his network, no one dared to touch the Lu family while he was alive.
A year ago, Lu Hansheng passed away, leaving the household in turmoil. The spoiled child had never seen any of it. Li Shichuan brought in Xiang Hongmei and her daughter under the guise of being housekeepers. Lu Shiman could see through Li Shichuan’s favoritism toward Li Weimian, and to protect her position, she became even more arrogant, exploiting the last of Lu Hansheng’s influence.
The crying girl in front of her was the book’s female lead—Li Weimian.
Outside, she bullied people left and right. Li Shichuan secretly moved the Lu family assets, planning to escape to Hong Kong with his wife and daughter. Using their inheritance, they started a business there. By coincidence, Li Weimian met a wealthy true love, and with his help, they smoothly climbed into high society. They married, expanded their business, and became renowned entrepreneurs.
Of course, none of this had anything to do with Lu Shiman. The Lu family and she were merely blood bags funding Li Weimian’s rise. After Li Shichuan fled, she was taken away, investigated, and sent to the remote northwest for labor reform—and she died on the Gobi Desert within a month.
Thinking of this fate, Lu Shiman’s expression darkened. She wasn’t stupid—why should she give them everything?
“Crying, crying, crying… you’ve wasted all the family fortune with your tears.”
“Everything’s going downhill because of you crying! Annoying.”
“Nothing to do? Get out. I don’t want your bad luck spreading.”
Lu Shiman said disdainfully. She wouldn’t continue stirring trouble or helping them transfer assets.
Her first priority was to take all the assets Li Shichuan had moved. If she couldn’t, she would donate them all—anything but letting those people benefit. She also needed a plan to send all of them to the northwest to contribute to the country properly.
She couldn’t endure labor reform alone while they profited from her family’s money.
She wondered if her old space ability still existed. If she had been transmigrated, surely it hadn’t disappeared.
Li Weimian froze, tears on the brink of falling. “Manman, how can you say that? I’m just standing up for you.”
“I’m doing this for your own good.”
Her father had instructed Li Weimian to keep Lu Shiman occupied so she wouldn’t discover the Hong Kong plan. Originally, keeping Lu Shiman company was a nuisance; now, she was being blamed for “wasting the family fortune with tears”?
“I need you to work for me. And how can a housekeeper’s daughter call me sister?”
“I’m giving you a chance, not for you to push your luck. Do you think I, Lu Shiman, am easy to bully?”
Lu Shiman crossed her arms and coldly studied Li Weimian. “You remind me of your father… could it be that you…”
Li Weimian tensed instantly, hands clenched tightly, cold sweat breaking out.
“No, you must be mistaken. I’ll just go to the bathroom.” She jumped up and fled, not daring to look back. If Lu Shiman found out, it would be over.
Lu Shiman snorted and closed the door. “Such a coward. Not scary at all.”
Once the door shut and the curtains were drawn, she let out a long breath—but her expression wasn’t good.
“Damn it… did everything I stored in my space last life disappear?”
She had awakened her space when she graduated college at 18. At first, she thought it was for the apocalypse and stored a lot of supplies. But the apocalypse never came. Life as a wage slave continued, and during her master’s research lab in her master’s graduate years, she had worked her butt off. After graduation, she worked 007-style jobs—but at least she earned well, and her secret space had accumulated many treasures. Now, after transmigrating, all of it was gone!
“Damn it, the universe is picking on me!” she cursed. Meanwhile, following the original character’s memories, she collected the gold bars and jewelry left behind by Lu Hansheng and Lu Shiyin.
“Just with this, I already have a lot of gold bars. That shameless Li Shichuan must have hoarded even more.”
Looking at the two boxes of treasures in her space, her eyes gleamed with an idea.
People only feel real pain when they lose something they love. She could wait to move the transferred assets later; there were still ten days before Li Shichuan left for Hong Kong. Plenty of time.
But the family’s furniture, carved from huanghuali and golden-thread nanmu, could not be given away cheaply.
She touched the golden-thread nanmu desk beside her, heart aching. After thinking for a moment, she drew the curtains and headed out confidently.
Li Weimian, standing at the window, felt slightly relieved. Lu Shiman was gone—she’d probably go to confront Zhang Yao, and her father’s task was done.
Lu Shiman, however, took a turn and entered a narrow alley behind the Lu family estate.
The alley was dirty, with gray walls and piles of trash along the roadside. Several children were playing and stopped in surprise when they saw her.
“Why is the young miss here? Did someone anger her again? She hates us dirty, low-class kids, doesn’t she?”
“Run, she won’t hit us… right?”
Lu Shiman’s face darkened. The original character’s reputation really was that bad. She quickly realized why the original disliked this place. Just a few steps in, she felt itchy.
Following her memory, she stopped at a small courtyard. She knocked on the door.
“Is Wu Hongfei here?”
A clear, bright voice answered. Wu Hongfei hobbled out, stunned to see her.
“The young miss?”
“Sigh… I’m not really a young miss anymore. That doesn’t matter. Can you do me a favor?” She cut straight to the point.
Thanks to her grandfather’s favor, it should be doable—but one favor spent was gone forever, so she had to use it wisely.
“Sure, tell me.” Wu Hongfei nodded. He owed the Lu family his life and would do anything.
“Go to the second-hand market and buy a bunch of broken furniture— the more worn, the better. Then find an empty house. Tomorrow, move all my family’s furniture there and replace it with the second-hand furniture.”
“I’ll handle disposing of your old furniture myself. Once it’s done, I’ll pay you fifty.”