“Tang Jin, you can’t be so selfish! I’m your father. How can your grandfather’s belongings be passed directly to you instead of me?
“Your mother and I still plan to have a son in the future. No matter what, it won’t be your turn! You unfilial daughter, hand over the treasures your grandfather hid right now!”
“…”
So noisy!
Tang Jin regained consciousness and looked up at the fury burning in her father’s eyes. At the same time, the memories and plot she had just awakened to flooded her mind.
So it turned out that she was a supporting female character in a period novel—a white moonlight whom the male protagonist mourned countless times after her early death.
She and Song Yunli had accidentally spent a night together. Song Yunli had waited for her in the army all this time, expecting her to come find him. Instead, she was murdered by her own family.
And now, she was at the point in the story where her grandfather had just passed away, and her father was forcing her to hand over all the inheritance left to her.
“I already told you. Grandfather donated all of his assets. He didn’t leave me anything.”
Tang Jin stared coldly at the man raging before her.
Her grandfather had been a patriotic capitalist. When the political campaigns began, he had wisely turned over his wealth to the state. That decision had saved their family from being sent to labor camps.
He had even arranged for the entire family to work at the canned food factory.
But Tang Zhiyuan had always believed that the old man must have hidden part of his fortune. When his father died without leaving him anything, he exploded with rage and began pressuring Tang Jin.
“That’s impossible! I was there when your grandfather handed over his assets. There’s no way our family only had this little!”
Tang Zhiyuan raised his hand to slap her.
Tang Jin knocked his hand away with a backhand strike, causing him to suck in a sharp breath of pain.
“Tang Jin! How dare you defy me? I’m your father!”
“Heh…”
A cold smile curved her lips, mockery flashing through her stunning eyes.
“Father? You think you deserve that title?
“I grew up with Grandfather. The number of times we’ve met can be counted on two hands.
“So stop putting on airs in front of me. I’m not your precious stepdaughter who fawns over you. That act doesn’t work on me.”
“Tang Jin!”
Furious, Tang Zhiyuan grabbed a stool nearby.
At that moment, a figure rushed out from the shadows—it was her stepmother, Zhang Xiuli, who had been secretly listening to the argument.
“Zhiyuan, don’t be angry. She’s still young and doesn’t understand. After all, blood is thicker than water. Xiao Jin will definitely hand the things over to you, won’t you, Xiao Jin?”
She deliberately shot Tang Jin a meaningful glance.
The husband and wife were playing the classic good-cop, bad-cop routine, trying to manipulate her.
The old Tang Jin might have fallen for it.
But after learning the story’s plot, she knew exactly what happened after she handed over her inheritance.
Her father hastily married her off to a divorced committee director.
Not long afterward, she was beaten to death.
Just thinking about it made her blood boil.
“‘Won’t you’? Who are you to speak here?”
“How dare you talk to your mother like that!” Tang Zhiyuan snapped.
He truly loved Zhang Xiuli.
Back then, Grandfather had forcibly separated the two lovers, and Tang Zhiyuan had entered a political marriage with Tang Jin’s mother.
After Tang Jin was born, they divorced almost immediately and went off to reunite with their respective first loves.
As a child, Tang Jin was either raised by her maternal grandparents or by her paternal grandparents.
She had never had much of a relationship with either parent.
“She’s not my mother.”
Before Tang Jin could finish speaking, the stool in Tang Zhiyuan’s hands came flying toward her.
Fortunately, she reacted quickly and dodged.
Then, with lightning-fast reflexes, she grabbed the teapot from the table and hurled it at the couple.
Tang Zhiyuan instinctively shielded Zhang Xiuli.
Moments later, blood was streaming down his head.
“You unfilial daughter! You unfilial daughter…”
“Zhiyuan! Zhiyuan, are you alright?”
Zhang Xiuli gasped in shock.
Since when had this stepdaughter become so fierce?
In the past, whenever Tang Zhiyuan beckoned, Tang Jin would eagerly rush over, desperately hoping for a little fatherly affection.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
Tang Jin sneered.
“I stopped expecting love from you two trashy adults a long time ago.
“I was born with weak family ties. I accept that.”
She pressed hard against the wound on Tang Zhiyuan’s forehead.
Pain made his vision swim.
Yet he still muttered stubbornly:
“I’m your father…”
“You’re not worthy.”
Tang Jin smeared the blood from her hands across her own face and forehead.
Then she burst into tears and ran outside.
“Dad, please stop hitting me!
“Grandpa really didn’t leave me any other property!
“Waaah…”
Tang Zhiyuan and Zhang Xiuli: !!!
When had Tang Jin learned how to turn the tables like this?!
They lived in the workers’ housing compound of the canned food factory.
The sight of Tang Jin covered in blood left the neighbors dumbfounded.
“Good heavens! What happened? Did Tang Zhiyuan beat his daughter again?”
“Jin girl, your father is too heartless! Hurry to the clinic!”
“Thank you for your concern, Auntie. I’m really fine.”
Tang Jin was breathtakingly beautiful.
With tears glistening in her eyes and a fragile smile forced onto her face, she looked pitiful enough to break anyone’s heart.
The women of the housing compound instantly felt sorry for her.
“They say it’s true—once there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather. Look at this poor child…”
Inside the house, Tang Zhiyuan nearly fainted from anger.
In the end, Zhang Xiuli had to support him all the way to the clinic.
After exposing the true faces of her scumbag father and vicious stepmother to the entire compound, Tang Jin hurried toward the neighborhood committee office.
She needed a letter of introduction.
If she remembered correctly, she was already carrying Song Yunli’s child.
She had to find him at the army camp.
Otherwise, she would be branded as a promiscuous woman.
And in these times, that kind of accusation could ruin—or even end—a person’s life.
“Tang Jin! Why are you running so fast? My mother wants to see you!”
On the way, she ran into her stepsister, Tang Meiyu, who had just rushed back home.
As if she couldn’t see the blood all over Tang Jin’s face, Tang Meiyu lowered her voice and said:
“Dad said that once he gets Grandpa’s inheritance, he’ll pick out some nice things for my dowry. You’d better not hide anything.”
“Get lost.”
A thought flashed through Tang Jin’s eyes.
Tang Meiyu had just reminded her.
In the original story, after Tang Zhiyuan obtained the inheritance, he really did give Tang Meiyu many valuable items.
Among them was an exquisite jade pendant.
Inside that pendant was a dimensional storage space.
At that realization, Tang Jin immediately changed her plans.
She would retrieve Grandfather’s inheritance first.
Such a powerful golden finger could not be allowed to fall into Tang Meiyu’s hands.
She was taking it back.
“Tang Jin! You’ve really grown bold! How dare you talk to me like that? Just wait until Dad hears about this—he’ll punish you!”
Tang Meiyu lifted her chin arrogantly.
Because Tang Zhiyuan adored Zhang Xiuli, he naturally doted on her daughter as well.
In the past, Tang Jin had desperately longed for fatherly love.
Whenever Tang Zhiyuan told her to give way to Tang Meiyu, she obediently complied.
But now…
Bang!
Tang Jin kicked Tang Meiyu squarely in the body.
The girl stumbled backward several steps before falling flat onto the ground.
“Tang Jin! You’re finished! How dare you kick me? When Dad finds out, he’ll definitely beat you—”
“That’s assuming he still has the strength to.”
Tang Jin let out a cold laugh and turned away.
Time was precious.
Only when the golden finger was firmly in her own hands would she feel at ease.
“TANG JIN! GET BACK HERE!!!”
Tang Meiyu’s hysterical screams echoed behind her.
Tang Jin never looked back.
Taking advantage of Tang Zhiyuan’s trip to the clinic, she jogged toward a wooden cabin her grandfather had gifted her.
The cabin stood far from the city.
The flowers and plants in the courtyard had long withered, making the place look abandoned and desolate from afar.
But Tang Zhiyuan would never have guessed—
Everything her grandfather had left her was hidden there.