The Xia Residence.
“You mean it? You’re really willing to marry him?”
Xia Jianyong asked again in disbelief, unable to believe that the person who had just been threatening to die rather than marry would now agree.
What he didn’t know was that just as they were pressuring her, the Xia Yuhuan before him had already been replaced by a new soul.
The current Xia Yuhuan was a medical genius from the 23rd century who had won numerous international medical honors by the young age of twenty.
She was assassinated on her way to the lab and unexpectedly transmigrated into a 1970s novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the cannon fodder true heiress in the book.
The original owner of the body shared her name, also called Xia Yuhuan.
She went missing at the age of three and was only found this year, 1974, at the age of eighteen—only to be asked to marry the gravely injured and comatose Chi Yanzhou in place of the adopted daughter, Xia Zhuyu.
Xia Zhuyu was the female lead of this period novel.
The original owner’s mother, Xia Qingqing, couldn’t accept her daughter’s disappearance and fell ill with grief. Fearing that something would happen to her from excessive sorrow, Xia Jianyong adopted Xia Zhuyu the following year to help relieve her boredom and sadness.
Xia Qingqing did not like Xia Zhuyu and focused solely on finding the original Xia Yuhuan. Ultimately, she died in an accident during one of her searches for her daughter.
However, the transmigrated Xia Yuhuan knew that the original owner’s disappearance was no accident; it had been orchestrated by Xia Jianyong himself.
Xia Zhuyu was not his adopted child, but his illegitimate daughter.
Not long after Xia Qingqing’s death, Xia Jianyong married his mistress, and the family of three was reunited.
Furthermore, the death of the original owner’s biological mother, Xia Qingqing, was also shrouded in suspicion.
The author hadn’t written about this point clearly, but Xia Yuhuan had already made a mental note.
If the original owner’s mother was indeed murdered, she, having occupied her daughter’s body, would definitely avenge her.
As for the original owner, after being forced to marry Chi Yanzhou and living as a widow in practice for two years, the man died of organ failure.
She returned to her family home, only to be schemed against and sent to the bed of an old, high-ranking official. Unable to bear the humiliation, the original owner leaped from a tall building.
After sorting out the story’s timeline, Xia Yuhuan was furious.
So they thought they could just bully the meek, did they?
The original owner was a pushover, but she was not. Just watch how she would put this scumbag father and his family in their place!
The cheating scumbag father, the stepsister who was about her age, and the stepmother who had taken the original owner’s mother’s place—she wouldn’t let a single one of them off!
She would make them pay the price, as repayment for the grace of using the original owner’s body.
Marrying Chi Yanzhou and escaping the Xia family was her first step.
“Yes, but I have conditions. I’ll marry him if you agree to them,” Xia Yuhuan said at once.
Xia Jianyong: “What conditions? Name them.”
“First, I want ten thousand yuan.”
“Second, I want to take my mother’s belongings with me.”
“Third, I want to publicly disown you in the newspapers.”
Xia Jianyong’s expression changed instantly upon hearing this. “That’s impossible. Absolutely not.”
The reason he had gone to such great lengths to bring Xia Yuhuan home to marry in Xia Zhuyu’s stead was not only because he couldn’t bear for Xia Zhuyu to become a widow in practice, but more importantly, he wanted to maintain his family’s marital ties with the Chi family.
The Chi family was large and influential. Only by maintaining a familial relationship with them could he profit.
If he disowned Xia Yuhuan, he wouldn’t gain the slightest benefit.
“You must agree to at least two of the three conditions, or the deal is off,” Xia Yuhuan said.
Xia Jianyong frowned, his eyes flickering.
Xia Yuhuan reminded him, “I’d advise you not to get any funny ideas. Even if you tie me up and force me to marry him, you can’t watch me every single day. I’ll eventually find my freedom, and when we tear all pretenses apart, I will make things even more embarrassing for you.”
“As long as you agree to my conditions, I will marry him willingly and cooperate with you to keep the Chi family stable. Isn’t that much less trouble than using force?”
Xia Jianyong’s expression shifted continuously, but he finally relented. “Fine, I’ll agree to the first two. But I don’t have ten thousand. A thousand at most. Hey… where are you going?”
“To the Chi residence to call off the engagement,” Xia Yuhuan said without looking back.
Trying to fob her off with a thousand yuan? Not a chance.
Xia Jianyong gritted his teeth. “Come back, we can discuss it further!”
In the end, after a heated back-and-forth that left them red in the face, they settled on a price of 6,666 yuan.
Xia Yuhuan said it was for good luck.
She forced Xia Jianyong to give her the money on the spot, which he reluctantly did. Afterward, Xia Jianyong also retrieved Xia Qingqing’s belongings for her.
Xia Yuhuan glanced through them. They were indeed Xia Qingqing’s things, but they were all worthless.
The valuable items had all been pocketed by them.
She raised her eyes and fixed her gaze on Xia Zhuyu.
Xia Zhuyu was extremely displeased that Xia Yuhuan had demanded over six thousand yuan. Seeing her look over, she curled her lips into a gentle smile and said, “Sister, you’re not going to take the things and then go back on your word, making me marry him instead, are you?”
“Xia Yuhuan, don’t you go too far!” Xia Jianyong immediately bit out.
Xia Yuhuan smiled. “Relax, I’m a person of my word. I mean what I say and will absolutely not go back on it.”
Then, she strode toward Xia Zhuyu, reached out, and snatched the jade pendant from around her neck.
“Ah, that hurts…” Xia Zhuyu cried out, her eyes welling up with tears from the pain.
She stared at the jade pendant in Xia Yuhuan’s hand and lunged for it.
An inexplicable panic seized her heart.
It was as if losing this jade pendant would completely alter the course of her life.
“Give me back my thing.”
Xia Yuhuan grabbed her shoulder with one hand and held the jade pendant high with the other.
Her smile was light. “Dad just promised to give me all of Mom’s belongings. This was also Mom’s. Are you planning to go back on your word?”
Xia Jianyong heard the threat in her voice, and his face turned dark.
In the end, he could only try to persuade Xia Zhuyu. “Zhuyu, just give her this jade pendant. Dad will get you a better one later.”
Seeing Xia Jianyong concede, Xia Zhuyu was instantly thrown into a panic.
“I don’t want another one, Dad! I just want this one! I don’t want any other! Dad, please help me get it back, okay?”
This time, Xia Zhuyu’s tears were genuine.
Seeing this, Xia Yuhuan couldn’t help but click her tongue inwardly. As expected of the female lead. She really does have a halo. The universe gives her a sixth sense.
That’s right. The reason Xia Yuhuan insisted on snatching this jade pendant was not just because it was her mother’s, but because this pendant was a golden finger—it was the female lead Xia Zhuyu’s portable dimension.
The dimension had not yet acknowledged an owner, so naturally, she had to snatch it and claim it for herself.
Ignoring Xia Zhuyu’s heart-wrenching sobs, Xia Yuhuan turned and went straight upstairs.
Back in her room, Xia Yuhuan found a knife, cut her finger, and dripped her blood onto the jade pendant to claim ownership.
Instantly, Xia Yuhuan felt her consciousness flicker, and in the next moment, she appeared in an unfamiliar space.
The moment Xia Yuhuan appeared in the dimension, Xia Zhuyu’s face downstairs turned deathly pale, and she nearly fainted.
Just now, she felt as if something had been completely stripped away from her body.
The sensation left her heart twisted in agony, filled with terror and unease.
“Dad, are we really just going to let Xia Yuhuan have her way with us like this?” Xia Zhuyu asked, her voice laced with hatred.