“What did you say?”
“I want to swap marriages!”
Tang Youyou had not even recovered from the shock of being stabbed through the heart by the family of a patient involved in a medical dispute when she heard the startled exclamations of an old woman and a young girl beside her.
She blinked a few times and finally came to her senses.
The old woman in front of her had a dark expression, looking as though she had just swallowed something disgusting.
Meanwhile, the young woman standing beside her had her chin raised stubbornly, wearing an expression that clearly said, I’ve made up my mind. No one is changing it.
What was going on?
Tang Youyou was completely confused.
She shook her head, and a flood of memories that did not belong to her suddenly surged into her mind.
She had transmigrated?!
And she had transmigrated into a capitalist heiress who shared her exact name and even looked somewhat similar to her.
The Tang family was a century-old prestigious family whose roots stretched back to the late Qing Dynasty. Despite the country’s upheavals and multiple political changes, the family had managed to remain standing.
However, by the generation of the original owner’s father, the Tang family was already a shadow of its former glory.
Twenty years ago, Grandpa Tang died young. The original owner’s father, Tang Hao, was not particularly talented at doing business either. Not long after his father’s death, he took it upon himself to donate most of the family’s wealth, dealing another devastating blow to the Tang family.
In the end, with the original owner’s grandmother making the final decision, the authority over the family was handed to her second son, Tang Zhen.
Over the following years, Tang Zhen managed to turn things around, and only then did the Tang family regain the comfortable life they had today.
But now it was the autumn of 1968, and the Tang family was about to face a reckoning.
Once the news came down, Tang Zhen tried every possible means to save himself. When he found himself with nowhere else to turn, he set his sights on the marriages of his niece and his biological daughter, Tang Yue.
The original owner was twenty years old. Her mother had suffered massive blood loss while giving birth to her and died only a few days later.
Less than a month afterward, Tang Hao married his current wife, Zhou Ping, who also brought along a stepchild who was only a couple of days younger than the original owner.
As the saying went, Once you have a stepmother, you get a stepfather.
From the original owner’s memories, it was obvious how biased her stepmother was and how useless her father could be. If not for her grandmother’s affection, her life would probably have been worse than that of a beggar.
Originally, Tang Youyou’s fiancé was Qin Yuchen, the eldest son and legitimate grandson of the Qin family, another century-old prestigious family.
Her cousin’s fiancé, meanwhile, was Zhao Yunzhou, the son of a farming family who had saved Grandpa Tang twenty years ago.
But five years ago, for reasons unknown, the original owner and her cousin had their marriages swapped.
According to her grandmother, it was all because of the original owner’s stepmother. She couldn’t stand seeing the girl enjoy a good life, so she had personally approached the Qin family and arranged it.
But!
Tang Youyou wasn’t the original owner.
Looking at things from an outsider’s perspective, she couldn’t help feeling that her grandmother’s biased accusations didn’t hold water at all!
From the original owner’s memories, her biological father and stepmother’s concern for her didn’t seem fake.
Instead, it was her grandmother, Cai Jinhe, who appeared loving on the surface but was actually deliberately spoiling her rotten while constantly manipulating her, turning her against her parents and sowing discord between them.
Eventually, the original owner became estranged from her own parents.
Today, Tang Youyou had woken up beautifully in a huge two-meter-wide bed before being summoned to the old family residence.
Her grandmother had been talking about the marriage between her and her cousin.
And right in the middle of it, her cousin, who had always acted superior and looked down on her, suddenly proposed switching their marriages back.
Tang Youyou stared at Tang Yue, who was inexplicably excited, her face filled with confusion.
What was wrong with her?
Had her cousin lost her mind?
Cai Jinhe, who apparently felt the same way, glared furiously at Tang Yue.
Pretending she hadn’t heard the words swap marriages, she simply made the decision herself.
“That’s settled, then. The two of you should start preparing over the next few days…”
“Grandma!”
Before Cai Jinhe could finish, Tang Yue hurriedly interrupted her.
While Tang Youyou looked on in confusion, Tang Yue leaned down and whispered something into her grandmother’s ear.
Cai Jinhe’s expression immediately changed to one of astonishment.
“You’re sure?”
Tang Yue nodded vigorously and whispered, “Grandma, you have to believe me.”
Cai Jinhe looked uncertain.
She hadn’t believed her at first, but the way her granddaughter spoke made everything sound so mysterious that she couldn’t help getting goosebumps.
Her opposition disappeared in an instant.
After exchanging a meaningful look with Tang Yue, Cai Jinhe cleared her throat and turned to Tang Youyou.
“Youyou, your little sister says she can’t bear to watch you suffer after marrying into a rural family, so she wants to switch the marriage back. What do you think?”
Tang Youyou blinked.
What else could she think?
There was absolutely no way she was going to the countryside.
She’d have to be out of her mind to give up the comfortable life of being the Qin family’s young mistress.
As for Tang Yue’s sudden change in attitude?
Whatever.
Things would work themselves out when the time came.
Why bother worrying about it now?
“Of course that’s fine…”
“No.”
The moment she finished speaking, Tang Hao’s panicked voice came from outside.
The next second, Tang Youyou watched as Tang Hao hurriedly pushed the door open.
He must have run all the way there because his normally neatly slicked-back, pomaded hair was now slightly disheveled, with one lock stuck against his forehead.
He stopped beside Tang Youyou, panting heavily, both hands braced against his knees, having completely abandoned his usual dignified appearance.
Seeing this, Cai Jinhe’s expression darkened.
“How can you behave so recklessly in front of the younger generation? Have you no sense of decorum?”
Tang Hao took a deep breath before hurriedly speaking.
“Mom, I heard you were going to swap Youyou and Yue’s marriages?”
Cai Jinhe nodded.
“You should be grateful to Yue. If she hadn’t been unwilling to let Youyou suffer…”
“I disagree.”
Before Cai Jinhe could finish, Tang Hao anxiously interrupted her.
Seeing how he seemed determined to send her off to the countryside to suffer, Tang Youyou couldn’t help frowning.
She was just about to speak when Tang Hao suddenly winked at her and subtly gestured with his eyes.
Although his expression looked rather comical, the concern in his eyes was impossible to hide.
Tang Youyou’s heart skipped a beat.
She considered herself pretty good at reading people.
Could it be that her impression of the original owner’s father—that he didn’t care about her—had all been a misunderstanding?
She decided to keep watching.
After hearing him refuse, Tang Yue was visibly anxious.
“Why not? Uncle, do you really want to stand by and watch Cousin go to the countryside and suffer?”
“Exactly!”
Catching Tang Yue’s meaningful glance, Cai Jinhe slapped her thigh and angrily scolded him.
“Tang Hao, I didn’t say anything before when you failed to care about Youyou. But now that Yue has finally offered to swap marriages, you actually want to object? What exactly are you thinking?
“Just how much nonsense has that wicked woman Zhou Ping whispered into your ear to make you so heartless toward your own daughter?
“Oh, my poor granddaughter! Don’t be afraid. You have no father or mother to love you, but Grandma will love and protect you for the rest of your life.”
Cai Jinhe pulled Tang Youyou toward her.
Tang Youyou froze for a moment.
Why did this scene feel so familiar?
It reminded her of the old woman she had encountered just before transmigrating—the woman who had dragged her son’s corpse to the hospital entrance and collapsed on the ground, wailing and crying for her son.
She had merely been leaving work on time and happened to pass by the hospital entrance.
And that woman had stabbed her straight through the heart.
Tang Youyou shuddered.
She subtly pulled herself away from Cai Jinhe’s embrace, a trace of wariness settling in her heart.
But when Tang Hao heard his mother’s theatrics, he didn’t try to smooth things over like he normally would.
His attitude was firm.
“I said no. Five years ago, you forced the marriage swap on us. Now you want to switch them back without even discussing it with me. What makes you think things can be that easy?
“Besides, I know my daughter. She isn’t suited to marrying into the Qin family.”
No!
Tang Youyou was practically screaming inside.
She wanted to tell him: If being the Qin family’s young mistress isn’t suitable for me, then is farming in the countryside supposed to be?
Farming?
Absolutely not.
She would rather die than go work the fields.
The greatest hardship Tang Youyou had ever experienced in this life was using her mind to harvest the medicinal herbs she had planted inside her dimensional space.
There was no way she was going to deliberately make herself suffer.
Wasn’t it much better to be the young mistress of a prestigious family, eating delicious food every day and sleeping until she naturally woke up?
Thinking about this, she immediately interrupted Tang Hao, who was still trying to object.
“No. I agree.”