“Yinyin is our daughter, too. You were lost for eighteen years. If Yinyin hadn’t been by my side all these years, I wouldn’t have survived.”
“Yinyin has been weak since she was little and can’t handle the hardships of the countryside. As her older sister, you should look after her. Give your job to her and go down to the countryside in her place.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll pack your luggage for you, prepare food coupons, and money so you won’t suffer in the countryside.”
……
Jiang Tang’s consciousness gradually returned. Listening to the words coming from the mouth of the beautiful woman in front of her, familiar scenes flashed through her mind like a movie reel.
Didn’t I die in the countryside?
Jiang Tang quickly realized that she had been reborn—back to the day she was coaxed and tricked by her biological parents into taking her adopted sister’s place to go down to the countryside.
She had been separated from her biological parents before she was even a year old and was adopted by a couple working at a textile factory. After graduating from high school, her adoptive parents arranged for her to work at the factory.
Following her original life trajectory, she would have been cherished in the palm of her adoptive parents’ hands, doted on by her older brother, and married to a well-matched man.
However, three days ago, a couple claiming to be her biological parents suddenly found her, claiming they wanted to take her home to live a life of comfort.
In her past life, Jiang Tang had been raised by her adoptive parents to be completely unguarded against others. She deeply cherished these biological parents whom she had finally found. So much so that when they asked her, right upon their first meeting, to hand over her job opening to their adopted daughter and take her place in the countryside, she agreed.
Ignoring her adoptive parents’ warnings, she insisted on replacing the adopted daughter. Because of this, a rift formed between her and her adoptive parents, chilling their hearts.
Later, she suffered endlessly in the countryside. When she fell ill, no one cared, and she couldn’t even afford medication. She died of grief and depression at the young age of twenty.
Meanwhile, the adopted daughter was doted on excessively in the city, controlling all the family’s wealth and living without a single worry.
Only after her death did Jiang Tang realize that the world she lived in was actually a book, and she was merely a canon fodder female supporting character.
The adopted daughter, Su Yinyin, was the female protagonist of the book. Protected by the Su couple, she married Song Chenchuan, the son of the machinery factory director. Leveraging the golden opportunities she possessed, she lived a prosperous, worry-free, and smooth life.
Only after reading the plot of the original book did Jiang Tang learn that her death was not merely caused by illness. Su Yinyin, terrified that Jiang Tang would return to compete for her parents’ favor, had deliberately hired people to persecute her and secretly poisoned her.
Even the rescue letters Jiang Tang had sent to her adoptive parents were intercepted by Su Yinyin.
Not only that, Su Yinyin smeared her reputation after her death to highlight her own delicate, innocent image.
As if bringing about her death wasn’t enough, Su Yinyin also killed Jiang Sijie, the son of the Jiang couple (Jiang Tang’s adoptive parents). She joined forces with Song Chenchuan to steal his accomplishments and even ran over the grieving couple with a car when they went to demand an explanation.
Thinking of the tragic end described in the book for the three members of the Jiang family, Jiang Tang closed her eyes in heartache.
Reborn into a new life, she would never walk her previous path again, nor would she let her parents and brother suffer such a fate—and she would certainly never beg for her biological parents’ love again.
Since Su Yinyin had taken lives for her own selfish gains in the past life, this time, Jiang Tang would seize Su Yinyin’s golden opportunities and prevent her from living effortlessly ever again.
As for going to the countryside, she wouldn’t go either.
However, she needed to play along with the Su family for now. Thus, Jiang Tang nodded, feigning agreement to go to the countryside, and stated her condition.
“I can do it, but I have one request: I want the phoenix-patterned jade pendant left behind by Maternal Grandmother.”
When Jiang Tang finished speaking, silence fell over the room.
The Su couple had expected Jiang Tang to open her mouth wide to demand major benefits from them, considering she was taking Yinyin’s place in the countryside. They hadn’t expected that all she wanted was an inconspicuous jade pendant.
Unaware of the pendant’s true purpose, the couple agreed without much hesitation and even searched for it on the spot, handing it over to Jiang Tang.
Holding the jade pendant in her palm, Jiang Tang returned to the room the Su family had prepared for her.
Following the description in the book, she bit her finger and dripped fresh blood onto the snow-white jade pendant.
Within moments, the white jade emitted a faint red light. Soon, the pendant vanished, replaced by a new red mole on Jiang Tang’s wrist.
With a shift in her consciousness, an endless, vast space appeared before her eyes.
This was the female protagonist Su Yinyin’s golden touch in the book—a portable pocket space.
But this time, the golden touch belonged to her.
In truth, this jade pendant was originally meant for the granddaughter by blood. Su Yinyin had stolen it from her in her past life; this time, it was simply returning to its rightful owner.
Next, she needed to find an opportunity to sweep all of the Su family’s hidden wealth into her space, treating it as compensation for what they owed her in her past life.
Calculating the timeline, the male protagonist, Song Chenchuan, who was visiting family, would meet the female protagonist, Su Yinyin, three days from now. After falling in love at first sight, they would start discussing marriage.
However, the deadline to leave for the countryside was in ten days. If Su Yinyin didn’t have a job during this period, she would have to be sent down.
The corners of Jiang Tang’s lips curled upward. This time, she would not give her job to Su Yinyin. She wanted to see how Su Yinyin, the “female protagonist of the book,” would manage to avoid going to the countryside.
Jiang Tang’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.
She opened the door to find Su Yinyin standing outside, her eyes filled with grievances.
“Sister, I heard from Mom and Dad that you’re giving your job to me. Honestly, you don’t have to do that. The job belongs to you, so how could I take away what’s yours? It’s fine if I go to the countryside—it’s just my fate.”
Leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, Jiang Tang silently watched Su Yinyin put on her act.
It had been just like this in her previous life. Su Yinyin’s words, paired with her delicate and pitiful appearance, had brought out a sense of deep heartache in Jiang Tang.
Looking back now, that heartache had only existed because Jiang Tang craved the love of her biological parents, leading her to truly treat this adopted girl as her younger sister.
Now, reborn, Jiang Tang looked at Su Yinyin again and felt her acting was clumsy and as fake as could be.
How had Jiang Tang responded to this exact scene in her past life?
Not only did she feel sorry for Su Yinyin, but she also claimed she hadn’t wanted that job anyway, that the Jiang couple had forced her to take it, and that she would rather go to the countryside than work there any longer.
Later, these words were “unintentionally” passed to the Jiang couple by Su Yinyin. When they kindly tried to persuade Jiang Tang not to be foolish and suffer in the countryside, Jiang Tang insisted on going, saying many hurtful things that created a deep rift between them.
All of that had been deliberately orchestrated by Su Yinyin.
This time, Jiang Tang would not distance herself from her adoptive parents again. The ones who truly cared about her had never been the biological Su couple, but the Jiang family.
Blood ties were not the only measure of family.
After finishing her pitiful performance, Su Yinyin waited for Jiang Tang to speak, but Jiang Tang remained unresponsive.
Instead, Wei Cuiying, sitting on the sofa in the living room, walked over heart-wrenchingly and pulled Su Yinyin into her arms.
“Yinyin, don’t be sad. Your sister has already agreed to give you the job and go to the countryside in your place. You’ve been physically weak since childhood; how could you suffer in the countryside? No matter what, I won’t let you go down there.”
Having lived through a past life, Jiang Tang felt no inner turmoil watching her biological mother and the adopted daughter show affection to each other.
Feelings between people were never guided solely by bloodlines. Even though Wei Cuiying was her biological mother, she had never considered Jiang Tang her daughter in her heart.
The Su couple’s coldness and ruthlessness made Jiang Tang all the more determined to execute her upcoming plans.
Just then, Wei Cuiying turned her eyes toward Jiang Tang with disgust.
“You’re her older sister! Yinyin is aggrieved to this extent, yet you don’t even know how to comfort her? You are so devoid of manners—just how on earth did that Jiang couple raise you?”