“Ugh… it hurts…”
Mumbling, “Which bastard dares hit me while I’m sleeping? Get out—”
Before she could finish her defiant words, pain shot through her body, making Jiang Yuyan cry out in her sleep.
Her mind turned to mush; in a daze, the visuals around her swayed violently, the world spinning, never focusing for even a moment.
In the end, Jiang Yuyan simply assumed she had finally had a wonderful dream about a man and blissfully “slept through it.”
The next day:
“Ahhh! Lin Yuyan, how could you do such an indecent thing? Get up and tell us what’s going on with the man in your bed!”
“Father, Mother, calm down… Yuyan sister, maybe… it wasn’t intentional—”
“Shut up! Don’t let that—”
“Bang!” Someone on the bed casually tossed a pillow.
“Shut up! What are you shouting for? Want to keep shouting until I can’t sleep? Get out!”
…
Lin’s parents widened their eyes, unable to believe that the daughter who used to obey silently could scold them and go back to sleep like nothing happened.
Jiang Yuyan, who had just closed her eyes, suddenly woke, scanning the surroundings: a strange, shabby room, a hard bed beneath her—not the comfortable apartment she had in the 25th century.
A flood of unfamiliar-yet-familiar memories hit her. Jiang Yuyan lay flat, speechless.
All because of one medical dispute, she, a 25th-century traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, had been sent back to the 1970s in a reborn-era novel as the cannon-fodder fake heiress.
The original owner was named Lin Yuyan—just one character off from her own name.
The Lin family had only just been rehabilitated, and the original Yuyan hadn’t even enjoyed her life as the Lin heiress before the arrival of the real heiress, Jiang Yue (now called Lin Yue), shattered it.
Upon arriving, Lin Yue knelt before the original Yuyan, tears streaming, crying:
“Sister Yuyan, I really… I didn’t mean anything else. I just… want to reclaim my biological parents. That’s all… sob sob…”
The original Yuyan, soft-hearted, seeing her pitiful state—tattered clothes, dirty face, looking like she’d suffered greatly—felt guilty for not sympathizing.
But within two days, the original Yuyan, terrified of being sent back to her biological family, was suddenly tackled onto a bed by a man with Chinese medicine, hitting the back of her head and… dying.
When she woke up, it was Jiang Yuyan in the 25th century, and before she could react, the man overwhelmed her for the first time, letting her experience the charm of a handsome man.
Wait!
Jiang Yuyan snapped back. The man??
She turned, meeting a sharp, fully awake gaze, shivering. Gathering courage, she glared back fiercely:
“What are you looking at? And who are you? Why are you in my room?”
Ling Wenchen’s face darkened. He silently got up, dressed, and when fully ready, looked back at the person still shrinking on the bed:
“Lin Yuyan, what exactly happened yesterday? You should know better than I do. But I think you miscalculated—you can’t just escape what’s yours to face.”
At the door, Lin Yue, eavesdropping, almost fell but steadied herself in time. She timidly smiled.
Ling Wenchen ignored her and walked out.
Panicked, Lin Yue called after him, “Ling Da-ge, wait!”
He stopped, glanced at the empty doorway, then looked at her. Her scheming eyes had already made a poor impression.
Lin Yue’s heart sank; she thought coldly: this lifetime, without my schemes rushing to make you my husband, that short-lived ghost can stay with that despicable Lin Yuyan.
Perfect—once those two are out of the way, everything left will be mine.
Smiling softly, Lin Yue called, “Ling Da-ge—”
“Comrade Lin, call me Comrade Ling. I’m Lin Shiping’s comrade, but men and women are different. Also… did you do yesterday’s thing?”
Ling Wenchen’s sharp gaze pierced her, analyzing.
Yesterday, he had come to deliver a gift for his brother Lin Shiping’s sister, Lin Yuyan.
Unexpectedly, he met the returning biological daughter, Lin Yue, who claimed Yuyan wasn’t home and didn’t dare take the gift herself. She asked him to wait in the living room.
One cup of tea—just one cup—and he felt something was wrong with his body.
Lin Yue’s eyes welled up, pitifully: “Ling Da—Comrade Ling, I had no choice. Sister Yuyan asked me to do it. She said she liked you—”
Ling Wenchen tightened the door handle, opened the door, and left without looking back.
Lin Yue called after him, but he was gone. Her pitiful expression instantly hardened, annoyed, and she left as well.
Her goal was achieved; with this leverage, she didn’t believe Lin Yuyan could marry a high-ranking official’s son in this lifetime.
Hearing the silence outside, Jiang Yuyan quickly sat up, almost hurting her waist. She gritted her teeth, rubbed her back, and got dressed.
According to the book she had read, this scheme was only just beginning.
Now, feeling her stomach growling, she hurried to the kitchen. No matter what—eggs or meat—she tossed it carelessly into the cupboard, which worked in her favor.
Half an hour later, after a meal, Jiang Yuyan finally felt grounded in reality.
Now, she began thinking about the upcoming challenges.
At noon, Lin’s parents returned from work, saw the cold table with no hot food, and the father immediately got angry.
“Where’s the food? Lin Yuyan, what have you been doing? How come there’s still no meal?”
Jiang Yuyan opened the door, listening to her father’s angry shouting, accompanied by her mother and Lin Yue fanning the flames. Her father’s anger only grew.
She walked past them expressionless, arms crossed, watching the family act piously, saying nothing.
Lin Yue’s eyes flickered; timidly, she approached, “Sister Yuyan—”
“Stop. Who are you calling sister? Just by looking at your face, you’re much older than me. How dare you call me sister? Is there nothing else you care about?”
Lin Yue: “……”
Her face darkened; she forced a smile. “Yuyan, Father and Mother came home starving. Why haven’t you cooked yet?”
Jiang Yuyan sat silently, watching this family’s so-called manners, amused:
“What? Am I your Lin family maid or servant? How much do you pay me a month? Hah—nothing. And yet you have the nerve to ask your fake daughter to cook? Who gave you the face?”
Lin Father: “What’s this attitude? Lin Yuyan, why have you become so insolent? Did the Lin family ever abuse you?”
Lin Mother rolled her eyes, impatiently sitting down: “What else? Ungrateful brat. Some things you just can’t teach.”
Jiang Yuyan raised an eyebrow: “Hearing Madam Lin, it seems all these eighteen years, every household chore in the Lin family was done by me since I was three.”
Lin Mother was indifferent: “So what? Ask around—whose kids don’t do chores? Did a little work make you special? Now you want to turn your back on the family, huh?”
Lin Father looked full of disappointment.
It seemed Madam Lin was right; Lin Yuyan’s heart had grown distant, and no one could tame it.