The moment Shen Yingying woke up, she discovered that someone had her pinned tightly against a tree trunk.
The person gripped the back of her neck as though he wished she were dead, using tremendous force. It felt as if the bones in the back of her neck were about to be crushed.
Shen Yingying was so frightened she nearly fainted. She had clearly been sleeping at home, so how had she ended up here?
Could it be that her ex-boyfriend, whom she had dumped, had come to take revenge?
She had no time to think. Her instinct for survival took over, and she hurriedly softened her tone and begged for mercy.
“Big Brother! Easy, easy! My neck is about to break! A gentleman settles matters with words, not fists. Let’s talk this through. I only have two legs, I can’t run out of your grasp. There must be some misunderstanding between us…”
Unexpectedly, instead of loosening his grip after hearing her plea, the man behind her tightened it even more. The pain was so intense that tears instantly welled up in Shen Yingying’s eyes.
“A gentleman?”
The man’s hoarse, deep voice sounded behind her. “You called me a gentleman? Did I hear that wrong? Weren’t you the one who called me a beast? Shen Yingying, are you scared now?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he let out a low laugh. “I never thought I’d see the day when you were afraid.”
His warm breath brushed against her ear, raising goosebumps all over her body. Shen Yingying’s mind suddenly went numb, as though a hidden switch had abruptly been flipped.
Countless fragments of memories that did not belong to her flooded into her mind all at once.
In only a brief instant, she managed to grasp the crucial point from that chaotic torrent of memories.
She had transmigrated!
She had transmigrated into the period novel she had read two days ago, becoming the villain Xie Fangzhu’s wife, Shen Yingying, who shared both her name and surname.
The moment she realized this, Shen Yingying nearly died on the spot.
In the novel, Xie Fangzhu had been forced into marrying the Original Owner.
Xie Fangzhu had been born into a landlord’s family. His parents had died when he was very young, and the Original Owner’s kind-hearted grandfather had taken him in.
Although he had been given shelter, his life had still been miserable.
Whenever the Original Owner’s grandfather was not around, the other members of the Shen Family treated him as nothing more than the child of a landlord.
They did not regard him as a human being. They beat and cursed him whenever they pleased, treated him like a dog, and even the Shen Family’s rats held a higher status than he did.
After enduring until adulthood, his maternal uncle, who had finally become successful, used his connections to get him a job as a worker in the coal mine. At last, he escaped from the Original Owner’s family.
Unexpectedly, the Original Owner’s fiancé broke off their engagement. Her reputation was ruined, and she could no longer find a suitable match.
The Shen Family then forced Xie Fangzhu, who had become a mine worker, to marry the Original Owner.
Although Xie Fangzhu had been the one at a disadvantage in this marriage, the Original Owner did not see it that way. She even refused to let him touch her after they were married.
She believed that Xie Fangzhu would forever be an inferior landlord’s son. If she had not married him, he would surely have remained a bachelor for the rest of his life and been ridiculed by everyone.
By marrying him and freeing him from the disgraceful title of lifelong bachelor, she believed he should already be grateful.
Xie Fangzhu did not make a fuss. He indulged her in everything, and every month after receiving his wages, he faithfully handed half of them over to her.
His attitude only made the Original Owner become even more overbearing.
She looked down on him, believed he was not a real man, that he was even worse than livestock, and eventually ran away with a man from another province who claimed to be the director of a state-owned factory.
Before she fled, she even tricked him out of all of his savings, smugly mocking him as an idiot. She said that one day, if someone sold him, he would probably help count the money himself.
As the great villain who had nearly driven both the male and female protagonists into complete ruin, Xie Fangzhu was naturally not some pig-headed fool.
He was an extremely vindictive man. Every bit of the inhuman abuse the Shen Family had inflicted on him during his childhood had been etched into his memory. One day, he intended to repay every single bit of it.
The Shen Family forcing him to marry the Original Owner was no different from delivering “prey” directly to his doorstep.
After marrying her, he behaved just as he always had. No matter what she wanted, he indulged her without any bottom line.
In the eyes of the people living in the mining district, Little Xie was a man who treated his wife exceptionally well.
He treasured her so dearly that he feared she might fall if he held her in his hands, and feared she might melt if he held her in his mouth. As long as it was something his wife wanted, he would even pluck the moon from the sky for her.
Unfortunately, his wife was not a good woman. She was restless and promiscuous.
The stark contrast made some of the warm-hearted people in the mining district wish they could take his place and beat that woman on behalf of the pitiful Little Xie.
Because of that, when he openly carried the Original Owner, who had eloped with another man, back home over his shoulder and broke her legs the moment they arrived…
All the humiliation and restraint he had endured beforehand as preparation finally paid off.
Not a single neighbor or acquaintance in the mining district sympathized with the Original Owner, nor did anyone offer her help.
Instead, they believed that Xie Fangzhu had finally stood up for himself. A woman who had been unfaithful to her husband deserved exactly that kind of fate!
After both of her legs were broken, the Original Owner lost her freedom forever.
Xie Fangzhu locked her up and kept her like a dog.
He inflicted upon her every form of torment that he had once suffered in the Shen Family.
In an instant, the Original Owner fell from heaven into hell. She longed to die, yet the devil Xie Fangzhu would not even grant her the right to die.
Before long, she went insane.
The things that happened inside the house remained unknown to outsiders.
All they knew was that the Original Owner had suffered a mental breakdown after her failed elopement and had become a lunatic incapable of caring for herself.
As for her husband, Xie Fangzhu, not only had he refused to abandon her, but he had remained by her side and cared for her devotedly. He was truly a good man who appeared only once in a century. The Original Owner simply did not know how to appreciate what she had!
Thinking about the Original Owner’s final fate, Shen Yingying’s legs trembled like bamboo shaken by the wind.
Xie Fangzhu was completely insane, and he was the type who relied on overwhelming physical strength.
That terrifying madman was standing right behind her now.
With her frail body, she was absolutely no match for him.
What was she supposed to do?
After only a brief hesitation, she decided to tell him that she was not the Original Owner.
Although it sounded utterly unbelievable, Xie Fangzhu was cautious and deeply suspicious by nature. Faced with two people whose personalities were completely different, he might actually give her a chance to explain.
Besides, whether he believed her in the end or not, as long as he gave her time to talk, she could put on an act and might find an opportunity to escape his clutches.
However, the moment she opened her mouth, it felt as though an invisible hand had seized her throat. She could not produce a single sound.
Could it be that she was forbidden from saying it because of the hidden rules of this world?
They had dragged her here to take the blame, yet they would not even allow the scapegoat to defend herself. How tyrannical!
Shen Yingying was furious! But anger solved nothing. She was nothing more than a fish lying on the chopping block. She had no choice but to grit her teeth and think of another solution.
Suddenly, she remembered that from beginning to end, the Original Owner’s attitude toward Xie Fangzhu had never changed.
Even after her legs had been broken, she had never lowered her head. In fact, the insults she hurled at him had become even more vicious than before.
And Xie Fangzhu actually liked that attitude, because it allowed him to torture her with even more ruthless methods while feeling completely justified.
In that case…
Would showing weakness toward him work?
The thought immediately lifted her spirits, and she quickly adjusted her emotions.
When her eyes began to sting with unshed tears, she spoke in a pitiful voice and apologized, “Xie Fangzhu, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept it from you…”
Xie Fangzhu froze for a moment.
Then, as though he had just heard the funniest joke imaginable, he gave a mocking laugh. “Kept it from me?”
The next moment, he roughly spun her around and violently grabbed her by the jaw.
His eyes were as deep and cold as the darkest night as they fixed on her. His voice was sinister, like a bloodthirsty beast. “Don’t tell me that the next time you run off with your lover, you’re planning to let me know in advance? Shen Yingying, do you think I’m as stupid as you are?”
Shen Yingying’s back slammed hard into the tree trunk behind her, and the pain made her gasp uncontrollably.
With that impact, she finally got a clear look at the fearsome great villain described in the novel.