“You, of all people, want a dowry?” Mrs. Zhu said indignantly.
“My sister is your biological daughter—does that mean I’m not?” Zhu Shanshan said. “Don’t think I don’t know how much you’ve prepared for my sister. I’m not saying you have to give me exactly the same amount as her, but I want a house and some money. Without those, I won’t marry!”
“You… the property transfer won’t be completed that quickly. You’ll have to go to the Qiao family first,” Mrs. Zhu said.
“You have plenty of ways to make it happen, don’t you?” Zhu Shanshan didn’t believe that Mrs. Zhu and the others couldn’t get these matters settled as soon as possible. “If you don’t take care of it, I’m not going over there!”
“Are you trying to drive us to our graves? Do you have to push your family so hard?” Mrs. Zhu had absolutely no intention of giving Zhu Shanshan any of those things; she hated her with a passion.
Mrs. Zhu felt that if Zhu Shanshan hadn’t delayed coming out of her womb for so long, her body wouldn’t have suffered such severe damage, and her husband wouldn’t have sought out another woman in hopes of having a son. That despicable Zhu Shanshan—and she actually had the nerve to demand compensation!
“You’re the ones who forced me into this living widowhood!” Zhu Shanshan snorted coldly, clenching her fists. She had long told herself not to get angry over these people, but they kept pushing her to her limits time and time again. Every time Zhu Shanshan thought her family was as bad as it could get, they somehow managed to become even more despicable.
Once, Zhu Shanshan had planned to find a stable job after graduating from college and move out of the Zhu household for good. But the Zhu family was counting on her to pay off their debts—how could Zhu Shanshan not hate them?
Unlike Qiao Yitong, who graduated from a prestigious university abroad around the age of twenty, Zhu Shanshan was already twenty-three and hadn’t yet graduated from college—though she was close. She had started school relatively late and hadn’t skipped any grades.
If it weren’t for the arranged marriage, Zhu Shanshan could have worked to buy a house on her own; she wouldn’t have needed a dowry. But these people chose this very moment to push her—Zhu Shanshan—into this situation, so naturally, she couldn’t just walk away with nothing.
“The Qiao family isn’t going to come over and kidnap me. Even if you force me to go, if I say I don’t want to, can the Qiao family really force me? That would be a crime!” Zhu Shanshan said. “Do you want to make enemies with the Qiao family?”
Of course, neither Zhu’s father nor mother wanted to offend the Qiao family, so they had no choice but to do as Zhu Shanshan said. However, the house the Zhu family gave Zhu Shanshan was small and not in a particularly good location—it was a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment.
Zhu Shanshan knew that if she asked these people for a better house, they wouldn’t be willing to part with it. Zhu Shanshan figured that once she moved into the Qiao household and truly became a daughter-in-law of the Qiaos, she certainly wouldn’t let the Qiaos treat the Zhu family so well. If the Zhu family wanted more benefits, they could go ask for them in their dreams.
In the evening, Zhu Shanshan arrived at the Qiao residence with her luggage; she didn’t have much. She hadn’t brought anything else—the Qiao family already had everything she needed. Zhu Shanshan didn’t own much jewelry either. The Zhu family knew that, given her temperament, even if they bought her some jewelry at the last minute, she wouldn’t treat them any better, so they wisely decided not to buy any.
Zhu Jiaojiao suggested that Zhu Shanshan wear some of her old jewelry, to which Zhu Shanshan replied, “Sure, go ahead and bring it over.”
Zhu Jiaojiao had expected Zhu Shanshan to refuse; she hadn’t anticipated that Zhu Shanshan would agree.
Qiao Yitong was waiting in the living room for Zhu Shanshan to arrive. As soon as Zhu Shanshan came in, Lady Qiao noticed that Zhu Shanshan didn’t look very happy.
“Xiaotong, take her to the room next to your older brother’s,” Lady Qiao said; she had no intention of having Zhu Shanshan share a room with Qiao Xudong.
Qiao Xudong was currently unconscious and unable to do anything for himself.
The Qiao family wasn’t short on servants, nor did they lack the money to hire a nurse; there was absolutely no need for Zhu Shanshan to provide round-the-clock care for Qiao Xudong. Lady Qiao reasoned that if Qiao Xudong did wake up, Zhu Shanshan wouldn’t necessarily have to stay with the Qiao family.
If it weren’t for Old Master Qiao’s insistence on recognizing Zhu Shanshan as his granddaughter-in-law, Lady Qiao would never have made such arrangements.
“All right, I’ll take Zhu… Sister-in-law there right away.” Qiao Yitong had originally intended to say “Zhu’s older sister,” but when she spotted Old Master Qiao not far away, she quickly corrected herself.
As soon as Lady Qiao saw the look in Qiao Yitong’s eyes, she knew Old Master Qiao had arrived.
“Father-in-law,” Lady Qiao said, turning to Old Master Qiao. “Xiaotong and Shanshan are of the same generation. Shanshan has just arrived and may not be used to things yet. She’ll feel less pressure talking to Xiaotong, so let Xiaotong keep her company.”
“You’ve thought this through carefully.” ” Old Master Qiao nodded, then turned to Zhu Shanshan. “Your grandfather and I are old friends. If there’s anything on your mind, you can speak to me directly.”
Old Master Qiao was showing his support for Zhu Shanshan; he felt that her willingness to come at this time proved she was a good girl. Old Master Qiao felt it wasn’t quite right to use his friend’s granddaughter to bring good luck to his own grandson; he had to handle the situation with tact so as not to cause the young girl any distress.
“Thank you,” Zhu Shanshan said, feeling a bit flustered. She rarely found herself face-to-face with someone like Old Master Qiao, and the Zhu family had never given her many opportunities to do so.
The Zhu family had generally brought their eldest daughter and youngest son to the Qiao household; they hadn’t even considered bringing Zhu Shanshan along.
“Call me Grandpa,” Old Man Qiao said kindly.
“Grandpa,” Zhu Shanshan replied.
“Good, very good,” Old Master Qiao said.
“Grandpa, I’ll take my older sister-in-law to the room to put our things away first,” Qiao Yitong said.
Qiao Yitong watched Old Master Qiao being so gentle with Zhu Shanshan, then thought about how her grandfather treated her—he certainly wasn’t this kind and affable toward her.
So Qiao Yitong led Zhu Shanshan to their room. As a struggling author, Qiao Yitong rarely described the female lead’s appearance in detail; she usually stuck to terms like “pretty,” “beautiful,” “delicate and demure,” or “delicate and refined”—the simplest and most common words. Such descriptions were merely general and not particularly detailed.
When Qiao Yitong saw Zhu Shanshan, she thought that if she didn’t know the characters’ names and family backgrounds, she really wouldn’t have been able to tell that these were the male and female leads.
Zhu Shanshan wasn’t exceptionally pretty, but she was quite pleasant to look at, and she still had a certain student-like charm about her.
“Sister-in-law, haven’t you graduated yet?” Qiao Yitong asked, recalling that in the original novel, Zhu Shanshan was still in school.
“I’m a senior; I’ll graduate in a few months,” Zhu Shanshan replied.
“Oh, then you probably don’t have any classes left now,” Qiao Yitong said.
“What about you?” Zhu Shanshan asked.
“Me? I’ve already graduated,” Qiao Yitong replied.
“That’s great,” Zhu Shanshan said enviously. “You’re younger than me, right?”
“……” Qiao Yitong felt as if she’d asked a question she shouldn’t have. “I am a little younger.”
“That’s great,” Zhu Shanshan said. “Are you going to get a job?”
“Yes, I am,” Qiao Yitong replied. “Once I start working, my sister-in-law can come take a look.”
Qiao Yitong led Zhu Shanshan to the room, which was much larger than Zhu Shanshan’s original one.
“I wasn’t sure what kind of things you’d like, so I bought a few things on the spur of the moment,” Qiao Yitong said. “I made the list, the maids put it together, and Grandpa paid for it.”
Of course, Qiao Yitong couldn’t possibly have paid for this herself—her monthly allowance was limited. When she chose items, she always picked high-quality ones; none of them were subpar.
“By the way, Grandpa and the others said that tomorrow, you—as my older sister-in-law—should come with me to the temple to draw fortune slips and get an amulet for my older brother,” Qiao Yitong said. “I’ll go with you.”
Qiao Yitong made a point of emphasizing this; she had originally planned to go on her own. But since Grandpa Qiao had said that, it meant he wanted Qiao Yitong to take Zhu Shanshan along—a way of letting outsiders know that the Qiao family accepted Zhu Shanshan.
“Okay, sure.” Zhu Shanshan had no objections; she’d known since childhood to read people’s expressions and act accordingly. Zhu Shanshan could sense that Lady Qiao didn’t care for her, though Qiao Yitong didn’t seem to dislike her. Old Master Qiao seemed fairly pleased with her. Zhu Shanshan didn’t know what the future held, but she knew she had to first gain a firm foothold in the Qiao family.
Qiao Yitong was the only granddaughter of this generation in the Qiao family—excluding any granddaughters by marriage, since they didn’t live in the Qiao household.
Zhu Shanshan needed to get along well with Qiao Yitong; she couldn’t afford to start off on the wrong foot.
“Little Sister, may I call you that?” Zhu Shanshan asked.
“Sure, of course,” Qiao Yitong nodded. “Big Sister-in-law, we have to get up early tomorrow.”
“Three or four o’clock? Are we walking there?” Zhu Shanshan asked.
“No, no, no—we don’t have to walk, and we don’t have to get up that early either,” Qiao Yitong hurriedly waved her hand. “If we go that early, wouldn’t we be disturbing the Bodhisattva’s rest? We can get up a little after six, get ready, have breakfast, take a car to the foot of the mountain, and then hike up from there.”
Qiao Yitong was afraid Zhu Shanshan would suggest they walk there—it was such a long distance, and walking would be both difficult and unsafe. They could always park at the foot of the mountain and hike up from there.
“Sister-in-law, you don’t need to be so cautious. From now on, this is your home,” Qiao Yitong said. “ “If you have time, spend more time with Grandpa—he’ll like you.”
Old Mr. Qiao was still in good health. While Qiao Xudong remained unconscious, Zhu Shanshan would have to take care of him, so she should talk to Old Mr. Qiao more often—that way, he’d grow even fonder of her.
In the original story, Zhu Shanshan had plenty of interaction with Grandpa Qiao.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll be heading out now,” Qiao Yitong said, gesturing toward the door.
“Go ahead and head home,” Zhu Shanshan replied.
“Oh, right.” Qiao Yitong walked to the doorway and poked her head out. “Sister-in-law, you haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
Qiao Yitong glanced at her watch—it was just past five. “We’ll all eat together in a bit. Should I have the maid come and take you to the dining room, or should I come myself?”
Qiao Yitong wasn’t particularly keen on coming over to Zhu Shanshan’s place all the time. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to build a good relationship with Zhu Shanshan, but if she came too often, it would upset Lady Qiao. If Qiao Yitong didn’t know about how she was also the female lead in a novel, she might have been a bit more clingy toward Zhu Shanshan.
The thing was, Qiao Yitong still had some matters to deal with—she hadn’t even sorted out what happened last night yet, and she felt guilty about it. Qiao Yitong tried to recall some details from the book. Oh no—why was it that when it came to her own story, she couldn’t quite remember the details, while the plots of other series were much clearer in her mind?
Oh no, oh no—this must be divine retribution.
Qiao Yitong admitted she was a lousy author, but not a lousy woman.
When Qiao Yitong went downstairs to the living room, intending to report to Old Master Qiao that she’d settled Zhu Shanshan in, she saw a handsome man chatting and laughing with Old Master Qiao. Wasn’t this the very arch-rival she’d kissed while drunk last night?
Oh, and he was a big shot, too—with a massive fortune and a vast empire.
Qiao Yitong wondered how she’d ever thought she had the right to be his arch-rival in the first place—it was clearly just her own one-sided perception.
At that moment, should she turn around and walk away? Or should she steel herself and go over?
“Xiaotong, your older brother’s friend is here—aren’t you going to say hello?” Before Qiao Yitong could make up her mind, Old Man Qiao had already spotted her.