As evening approached, the aroma of dinner drifted through the Machinery Factory residential compound. Only the Zhao family’s living room remained eerily silent, the atmosphere so tense it could freeze a person solid.
Eighteen-year-old Pei Nian stood in the center of the room. Tall and slender, with fair skin, she was strikingly beautiful even in a worn blue cotton blouse.
“Who did it?” she asked. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unmistakable edge. “Who signed me up for the countryside behind my back?”
When Pei Nian was five years old, her mother, Pei Zhilan, died saving important factory documents during an emergency. After that, Pei Nian had been raised by her grandfather.
Three months ago, her grandfather passed away from illness. She was still two months shy of turning eighteen, so her household registration had to be transferred back to the Zhao family temporarily. The plan had been to transfer it again after she received her diploma and took over the factory job awarded as compensation for her mother’s sacrifice.
Yet on the very day she received her graduation certificate, she discovered that someone had registered her to be sent to the countryside.
The rag in Wang Cuihua’s hands had nearly been twisted into a rope as she avoided Pei Nian’s gaze.
Zhao Jianguo, however, put on a stern face, trying to act like a father.
“NianNian, mind your tone when talking to your elders. Going to the countryside is national policy. We all have to—”
“Policy?” Pei Nian cut him off with a sneer. “What does that have to do with me? My mother’s life paid for a factory job that’s waiting for me. I’m someone with a legitimate position.”
She paused, her gaze sweeping leisurely across Zhao Jianguo and Wang Cuihua.
“Besides, if the Zhao family has to send someone, what does that have to do with me?”
Zhao Jianguo’s face flushed crimson.
“Th-This is your home too! Xiaojun is your younger brother. He’s still young. He can’t endure the hardships of the countryside.”
Pei Nian looked at Zhao Xiaojun, who seemed desperate to disappear, and mocked him.
“I don’t have a younger brother. My mother only gave birth to me. My surname is Pei. As for him…”
She pointed at Zhao Xiaojun, her tone dripping with disdain.
“Zhao Jianguo, no matter how much he resembles you, he’s still nothing more than the burden your second wife brought with her. Don’t tell me you’ve actually mistaken him for your own son?”
Just hearing the words younger brother made Pei Nian sick.
Her worthless father and Wang Cuihua had long been carrying on behind her mother’s back. As soon as her mother died, Wang Cuihua hurried into the Zhao household, bringing along Zhao Xiaojun, who was two years younger than Pei Nian.
“Pei Nian! What nonsense are you talking about? He’s your brother!” Wang Cuihua shrieked.
“I’ll say this one last time.” Pei Nian’s voice turned icy. “I don’t have a brother.”
“Two useless parents raised one useless son. Since you couldn’t find him a job, you decided to gang up and scheme against me instead?”
Her words were like a dull blade slicing into flesh, exposing the selfish calculations of Zhao Jianguo and his wife.
“A freeloader actually dares set his sights on my job? You’re tired of living.”
“Pei Nian!”
Zhao Jianguo slammed his palm onto the table, his hand trembling with rage.
Wang Cuihua’s face turned the color of pig’s liver.
“You ungrateful little wretch!”
Zhao Xiaojun’s face burned bright red.
Especially the words freeloader.
Those three words were like sparks dropped into a barrel of oil, igniting years of humiliation and resentment.
He stared at the contempt in Pei Nian’s eyes.
His mind snapped.
Pei Nian noticed the sudden change in his expression. That cowardly look had been replaced by something vicious.
Already furious, she couldn’t be bothered wasting more words. She stepped forward, raising her hand to slap some sense into him.
The moment Zhao Xiaojun saw her hand rise, all the fear and anger he’d been suppressing exploded.
“Ahhh!”
With a crazed roar, he charged like a mad young bull and shoved her with all his strength.
Pei Nian had never expected the coward to fight back—let alone like this.
Caught completely off guard, she staggered backward.
Bang!
The back of her head slammed hard against the wall.
Her vision went black.
Countless fragments of light, sound, and memories burst into her mind like a collapsing dam.
Towering skyscrapers.
Red and green stock charts flashing across computer screens.
The screech of brakes.
The terrifying sensation of her body flying through the air.
Then…
Endless darkness.
Immediately afterward came even older, clearer memories.
Her mother’s gentle humming.
The fragrant warmth of her embrace.
Her grandfather’s endless words of advice before he passed away.
And the ugly faces of the fools standing before her now.
Twenty-plus years of memories from her previous life as a wealthy heiress in the modern world—living in luxury, spending her days eating, shopping, and enjoying herself—collided violently with the eighteen years she’d lived in this era.
Her head felt like it was splitting apart.
When the unbearable dizziness and pain finally subsided, Pei Nian slowly opened her eyes.
She remembered everything.
She wasn’t just the eighteen-year-old Pei Nian of the 1970s, the girl spoiled by her grandfather and known for her fiery temper.
She was also Pei Nian from the twenty-first century—a rich heiress whose family owned mines, who had spent every day indulging in the good life.
She had transmigrated into this world before birth.
For eighteen hazy years, those memories had remained sealed away.
And today, after Zhao Xiaojun’s idiotic shove…
They had all returned.
How wonderfully ironic.
She slowly straightened, rolling her stiff neck.
The lump on the back of her head throbbed painfully.
Yet her mind had never been clearer.
She looked coldly at the three stunned people before her.
Zhao Jianguo’s face was full of panic. He wanted to step forward but didn’t dare.
Wang Cuihua had turned as pale as paper, her lips trembling too badly to speak.
As for Zhao Xiaojun, the culprit himself, he was completely dumbfounded. He stared first at his own hands, then at Pei Nian, who suddenly seemed like a completely different person.
His soul had practically left his body.
“N-NianNian… are you alright?” Zhao Jianguo asked, his voice shaking uncontrollably.
Pei Nian ignored him.
The next second, she casually lifted her leg and kicked Zhao Xiaojun squarely at the side of his left knee.
The movement looked relaxed, almost effortless.
But the angle was devastatingly precise.
Zhao Xiaojun instantly collapsed to the floor, clutching his leg.
It felt as though the bone had shattered.
Excruciating pain shot through him, and tears and snot poured down his face.
“My son!”
Wang Cuihua screamed and lunged at Pei Nian, clawing for her face.
Pei Nian frowned in disgust.
She sidestepped the woman’s sharp fingernails, grabbed her arm, used Wang Cuihua’s own momentum against her, and gave her a swift pull and throw.
“Ow!”
Wang Cuihua lost her balance.
Thud!
Her face smashed directly into the floor.
Blood immediately gushed from her nose.
She lay there groaning, no longer daring to get back up.
Zhao Jianguo was completely stunned.
Looking at his son curled up on the ground and his wife bleeding and moaning, both shock and fury rushed to his head.
“Pei Nian! Have you lost your mind?!”
Only then did Pei Nian finally turn her attention to her worthless father.
Treating him with the same courtesy, she caught his wrist just as he tried to raise an arm to block her—
Then executed a clean, textbook shoulder throw.
Bang!
Zhao Jianguo crashed heavily onto the floor, letting out a miserable groan.
The family of three now lay neatly lined up on the ground.
In a strange way…
They looked almost harmonious.
“Y-You unfilial daughter…”
Lying on the floor, Zhao Jianguo pointed at Pei Nian, so furious he could barely get the words out.
Pei Nian looked down at him, her eyes ice-cold.
“You thought that now Grandpa’s gone, you could finally throw your weight around?”
“A useless live-in son-in-law thinks he can bully me?”
“What a ridiculous fantasy.”
She slowly surveyed the chaotic living room.
Zhao Jianguo lay on the floor gasping.
Zhao Xiaojun clutched his leg, wailing in pain.
Wang Cuihua lay face-down, whimpering as blood continued to drip from her nose.
“Tsk.”
Pei Nian clicked her tongue softly, her gaze settling once more on the three pathetic fools before her.
The swelling on the back of her head still throbbed faintly, silently reminding her of everything that had just happened.
Now that she remembered everything…
She wasn’t going to swallow this humiliation.
And every debt would be collected, one by one.