“Later, Qianhe will discuss the marriage contract with Jingchuan. Don’t come out and get in the way!”
The sharp pain in her wrist made Jiang Lai open her eyes.
Blinding fluorescent lights, peeling walls that looked ready to crumble, and old, broken furniture — this was the room Song Qin used to lock her in whenever she “misbehaved.”
What was going on?
For a brief moment, Jiang Lai was stunned. Had she been reborn a year earlier — to the very day Pei Jingchuan came to discuss the engagement?
She was originally the real daughter of the Gu family who had been switched at birth. Before returning to the Gu household, she had grown up in a reclusive metaphysical sect with her master.
It wasn’t until her talismans began to lose their power that her master divined she was destined for a great calamity — one tied to the fake daughter, Gu Qianhe, who had been siphoning the Gu family’s fortune.
That was why Jiang Lai descended the mountain and returned to the Gu family, painstakingly trying to change everyone’s fate.
Yet in her past life, even after she died in place of Gu Qianhe in a deserted factory, the Gu family never once truly saw her.
A dark, ink-like chill gathered in Jiang Lai’s eyes.
“Wasn’t that engagement originally mine?”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Song Qin snapped coldly, her gaze full of disgust.
“The Pei family’s engagement was arranged for the Gu family’s daughter — and the only daughter of the Gu family is Qianhe!”
In her previous life, Jiang Lai had sought out famous doctors to treat Song Qin’s illness and even boiled medicine for her while running a fever of forty degrees.
All she got in return was this kind of treatment.
Jiang Lai laughed bitterly.
“Madam Gu, the engagement was personally arranged by Grandmother for me and Pei Jingchuan. Since when did you have the right to interfere?”
Song Qin froze when Jiang Lai called her “Madam Gu.” A flicker of guilt flashed beneath her hatred.
“You owe all of this to Qianhe! Ever since you came back, she’s suffered so much because of you!”
Jiang Lai sneered.
“She stole my graduation thesis, locked me in a basement crawling with snakes and insects, and spread rumors about my private life online… and you still say she was wronged?”
“That was all for your own good!” Song Qin retorted without the slightest sense of shame.
In her eyes, Jiang Lai was wild and unruly. If she wasn’t disciplined, wouldn’t she embarrass the Gu family as their second daughter?
“Unfortunately, I can’t accept your ‘kindness,’ Madam Gu.”
With that, Jiang Lai pushed Song Qin aside and kicked the door open.
Her aura was so sharp and imposing that the servants who tried to stop her instinctively shrank back.
She strode into the living room and sat confidently on the brown leather sofa.
When Gu Qianhe saw her, her heart sank.
“Why are you here, sister? Didn’t I tell you to stay in your room?”
“I came to see my fiancé,” Jiang Lai replied lightly, a faint smile curling her lips.
Gu Qianhe’s eyes immediately reddened.
“Sister… didn’t you already give Jingchuan to me?”
“Did I?” Jiang Lai said calmly. “I’ve changed my mind.”
In her past life, she had stubbornly insisted on giving up the engagement to maintain peace with Gu Qianhe — even causing a rift with her grandmother, who truly cared for her.
But after dying once, how could she be so foolish again?
Gu Qianhe stared at Jiang Lai with a venomous glint. Why wasn’t she following the script?!
Sensing Song Qin coming down the stairs, Gu Qianhe suddenly burst into tears.
“Sister, I know you’ve always disliked me… but Jingchuan and I truly love each other. Please don’t take him away from me…”
Enraged by her crying, Song Qin rushed forward and raised her hand to slap Jiang Lai.
“Have you made enough trouble?!”
But her hand froze mid-air.
An elderly woman in a dark red Tang suit stood on the second floor, leaning on a pear-wood cane — Gu Old Madam.
Beside her stood a tall man in a tailored black suit. His features were strikingly handsome, his presence cold and commanding — Pei Jingchuan.
“Mother,” Song Qin immediately lowered her head.
“Jiang Lai has been bullying Qianhe. I just couldn’t stand it anymore…”
Gu Old Madam descended the stairs swiftly and pulled Jiang Lai protectively behind her.
“Tell me — is Jiang Lai your biological daughter, or is that impostor your real child?”
Ever since her husband passed away, she rarely interfered in family matters. But Jiang Lai — the true daughter who had been switched at birth — was a thorn in her heart.
“If you dislike her so much, then from now on, she’ll live with me!”
Then she turned to Pei Jingchuan.
“Since you’re here today to discuss the engagement, let’s settle Jiang Lai’s marriage once and for all!”
Gu Qianhe bit her lip, looking pitifully at Pei Jingchuan.
“Grandma… Sister already agreed to give up the engagement. And you’ve seen how deeply Jingchuan and I care for each other…”
Song Qin hurriedly added, half warning Jiang Lai:
“We agreed before — once Qianhe’s engagement is finalized, I’ll give you three percent of the Gu family shares.”
Three percent?
In her past life, when Gu Qianhe got engaged, the Gu family gifted her thirty percent of the shares in celebration.
They were practically treating Jiang Lai like a beggar.
Jiang Lai clicked her tongue and turned to Pei Jingchuan.
“So in Madam Gu’s eyes, Mr. Pei is only worth three percent of Gu Corporation?”
Song Qin panicked.
Pei Jingchuan was the true power holder of the Pei family — a ruthless, decisive figure who showed no mercy in business.
The Gu family’s engagement with him existed only because Old Madam Gu had once helped his family. Otherwise, how could a small family like the Gu’s reach someone like him?
Jiang Lai continued calmly:
“Or are you planning to send an utterly useless fake daughter into the Pei family in exchange for a mere three percent?”
Gu Old Madam slammed her cane on the floor.
“Lai Lai is absolutely right!”
Jiang Lai walked over to Pei Jingchuan and leaned slightly toward him.
“Mr. Pei, you’ll agree to our engagement, won’t you?”
Pei Jingchuan glanced at her.
“You’re very confident, Miss Jiang.”
“Not really,” she whispered near his ear. “You just need to know — in this world, only I can heal your brother’s legs.”
She might not be a doctor, but she knew secret metaphysical techniques that could restore bones and nerves. As long as someone was still alive, she could save them.
As she pulled back, warmth surged through the talisman in her pocket — a sign that her spiritual energy was responding.
Her master once told her that only someone with a rare Zixiao destiny could break the heavenly restrictions on her powers and save her from her calamity.
A shocking thought flashed through her mind.
Could it be… that Pei Jingchuan was the fated benefactor she missed in her previous life?