A flood of complicated memories surged into Shen Shuli’s mind, making her vision go black in waves.
“I actually transmigrated into that damn novel written by the author of *The Princess on the Run*?!”
After a long moment, Shen Shuli finally came to her senses, gritting her teeth in fury.
Last night, her best friend had recommended a novel about fake and true daughters, a group escaping famine, and a beloved heroine.
That was when she discovered something.
That damn author of *The Princess on the Run* had actually used the names of her, her best friend, and even their family members in the novel.
They either became stepping stones for the female protagonist’s rise to success or vicious supporting characters who met miserable ends and died horrible deaths.
Shen Shuli and her best friend were absolutely furious!
How was that any different from openly cursing them?
In a fit of rage, the two of them spent the entire night leaving bad reviews and reporting the novel.
Who would have thought that just after Shen Shuli received confirmation from the website that their report had been successfully processed, before she even had time to celebrate, everything suddenly went black.
When she opened her eyes again, she had already transmigrated into the novel.
Thinking of something, Shen Shuli immediately checked with a thought.
Thankfully, her spatial storage was still with her.
Feeling a sharp, burning pain in her face, along with severe swelling and bruising, she finally realized that her cheeks were covered in layer upon layer of slap marks.
She immediately understood her current situation.
In the novel, the original host was the Lin family’s fake daughter.
According to the story’s timeline, the original host had just been driven out of the Lin residence.
Yesterday, the Lin family had held a poetry gathering, hoping the original host would distinguish herself, raise her social standing, and thereby smoothly secure a marriage alliance with the imperial family.
Instead, a remarkably talented young woman had suddenly appeared and stolen the spotlight.
This woman was extraordinarily gifted in both talent and the arts. The fake daughter, the original host, had been utterly defeated in several competitions.
The Lin family had been thoroughly humiliated.
And what was even more outrageous was that, once the talented woman’s true identity was revealed, her appearance—seven-tenths similar to Madam Lin’s—combined with testimony from the Lin family’s midwife, proved that she was actually the Lin family’s true daughter, who had been deliberately switched at birth and had grown up outside the family.
The original host became a fake who had stolen another person’s life.
After the truth came to light, Madam Lin grew increasingly fond of her true daughter the more she looked at her.
She immediately declared that she wanted to bring her biological daughter back into the family.
But the true daughter refused. She tearfully complained about having suffered countless hardships since childhood while someone else enjoyed the wealthy life that should have belonged to her. She even declared that if the fake daughter did not leave, she would never acknowledge her ancestors or return to the Lin family.
Faced with the two daughters, the Lin family was even more inclined to keep the true daughter.
Especially Madam Lin.
Whenever she thought about how her biological daughter had been abandoned outside for thirteen years, suffering countless hardships before finally growing up, her hatred toward the fake daughter deepened.
What made matters worse was that the true daughter possessed extraordinary beauty and talent, even completely overshadowing the noble young ladies of the capital.
The original host, on the other hand, was not only a fake daughter but also as stupid as a pig, bringing shame upon the Lin family.
To prove their sincerity to the true daughter, Madam Lin personally took action at the poetry gathering in front of all the talented young men of Qingzhou.
Without showing the slightest mercy, she viciously slapped the original host one hundred times!
She then ordered the servants to strip the jewelry and ceremonial dress from the original host and throw her out of the poetry gathering like a piece of trash!
Shen Shuli could only feel that the entire plot was utterly poisonous.
They could simply go their separate ways and leave things at that.
Why humiliate her to such an extent?
It was obvious that the true daughter’s appearance was inferior to the original host’s.
They were clearly using this opportunity to ruin the original host’s face, destroy her reputation, and pave the way for the true daughter by removing every possible obstacle!
If a passing aunt at the entrance of the poetry gathering had not taken pity on the original host and lent her a piece of clothing, she would have been practically naked right now!
And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
To completely eliminate the original host as a threat, the Lin family had deliberately released vicious dogs to attack her!
Right—the vicious dogs!
Shen Shuli’s gaze turned sharp.
At the poetry gathering, when the Lin family servants had stripped the original host, they had deliberately smeared medicinal powder on her body that would drive vicious dogs into a frenzy.
No matter where the original host ran, she could never shake off the dogs’ keen sense of smell!
“Even a tiger won’t eat its own cub, but a woman can be more vicious than a snake!”
On Shen Shuli’s personal list of people she wanted dead, Madam Lin absolutely had to be number one.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Just as Shen Shuli was on guard, she faintly heard the furious barking of vicious dogs.
She immediately took a set of clothes from her spatial storage and changed into them, then threw the clothes contaminated with the medicinal powder onto an empty patch of land in the distance.
Less than fifteen minutes later, a pack of vicious dogs appeared, their eyes gleaming ferociously. Baring their fangs, they madly tore at the pile of clothes.
“They really came right on schedule… A bunch of animals relying on their master’s power. You all deserve to die!”
A cold gleam flashed through Shen Shuli’s eyes.
With a single thought, every last vicious dog was taken into her spatial storage.
“Hmph. Since you came to me, I’d be rude not to return the favor. The Lin family gave me such a generous gift, so I’ll have to give them a proper gift in return!”
The true daughter had returned home because she wanted to climb the social ladder through the Lin family’s wealth and status, eventually marrying a prince, didn’t she?
And the Lin family had driven her out because they wanted to use the true daughter for a marriage alliance and become relatives of the future emperor, didn’t they?
“Since all of you want to cling to imperial power and wealth…”
Then she would collect some interest first.
She would take away every bit of the Lin family’s wealth and destroy the ladder they intended to use to reach the heavens!
Once she decided to do something, Shen Shuli acted immediately.
Outside a secluded section of the Lin residence’s outer wall, Shen Shuli quietly climbed over.
Having lived in the Lin residence for thirteen years, the original host was extremely familiar with its layout.
After knocking out a servant, Shen Shuli went straight to the Lin family’s treasury.
She smashed the lock and opened the treasury door.
Looking at the room filled with dazzling gold, silver, and precious jewels, a cold smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
“Collect!”
“Collect!”
“Collect!”
The Lin family had thirteen treasury stores scattered throughout the residence, both openly and secretly.
The gold and silver treasures accumulated by generations of the Lin family, their reserves of money and grain, their fine military equipment…
In an instant, everything was swept into Shen Shuli’s spatial storage!
And that wasn’t the end.
Shen Shuli continued moving through every corner of the Lin residence, knocking out all the servants stationed there one after another.
With a wave of her little hand, she emptied everything in the Lin residence.
From the large items, such as tables, chairs, benches, roof beams, and tiles, to the smallest things, such as pots, bowls, ladles, chopsticks, needles, and thread—everything was taken!
She didn’t even spare the living creatures in the residence.
Chickens, ducks, cattle, horses, and other livestock were all collected, collected, collected!
In just half an hour, the magnificent Lin residence had been transformed directly into a bare, unfinished shell.
“What a pity. The Lin family is still at the poetry gathering, performing their touching display of familial affection with the true daughter…”
“Otherwise, I’d really love to see the wonderful expressions on their faces when they discover that their entire fortune has been emptied!”
The Lin residence would probably be thrown into chaos for quite some time.
If the Lin family had not been a century-old aristocratic clan with deep roots in the imperial court…
With her current strength, she had no way to contend with such a powerful family. Otherwise, she really would have liked to confront the Lin family face-to-face.
But there was still plenty of time.
“Hehehe~”
Shen Shuli was in an excellent mood.
After leaving the Lin residence, Shen Shuli released one of the Lin family’s swift horses from her spatial storage and rode straight out of the city.
The early stages of this novel centered around fleeing from famine. Within a few days, all kinds of natural and man-made disasters would begin arriving one after another.
She still had plenty of things to do, so she had no intention of wasting time here watching the show.
According to the upcoming plot, the original host would be bitten by vicious dogs. Unable to afford medical treatment and with nowhere else to go, she would eventually leave the city to search for her biological parents—the foster parents of the true daughter who lived in the countryside.
After learning that the original host was actually their biological daughter, those foster parents of the true daughter would not treat the original host as their own daughter at all.
They would even make things difficult for her in every possible way just to curry favor with the true daughter…
Thinking about those disgusting plot developments, Shen Shuli decided to go and meet the biological parents from the novel herself!
However, she wasn’t going back to acknowledge her roots and return to the family.
The Lin family had already removed her from the Lin family genealogy, leaving her without a registered household status.
Only after finding the biological parents from the novel and getting the village head to testify could she register her household status again.
Otherwise, if someone discovered that there was something wrong with her identity and reported her, the government soldiers would arrest her and sell her into slavery.
Moreover, during the journey to escape the famine, without household registration documents, she wouldn’t be able to obtain travel permits and would not be allowed into any city.
If she couldn’t replenish her supplies when the time came, that would be a serious problem.
“Giddy-up!”
Shen Shuli urged the horse forward, galloping at full speed.
All the horses raised by the Lin family were top-quality warhorses.
Over short distances, they could reach speeds of up to sixty kilometers per hour.
Four hours later, Shen Shuli arrived at the village where her biological parents lived—Peach Blossom Village.
Peach Blossom Village was a small mountain village situated on the border between Qingzhou and Ningzhou.
Backed by the Changbai Mountains, it was surrounded by beautiful mountains and clear waters.
However, after ten months without rain, even with such a favorable environment, many plants had already withered and dried up, making the entire area look bleak and desolate.
Beside the main road outside the village was a small stream that was almost completely dried up.
Shen Shuli immediately spotted a short, plump, middle-aged man wearing a bamboo hat and a slender, graceful woman who was half a head taller than him. The couple sat together on a rock, leisurely fishing.
Peach Blossom Creek in Peach Blossom Village.
People fishing beside Peach Blossom Creek.
For some reason, the sight of their familiar-looking backs made Shen Shuli momentarily dazed, and an inexplicable sense of closeness suddenly welled up inside her.
But only for an instant.
Shen Shuli quickly came back to her senses, secretly laughing at herself for getting distracted.
“Uncle, Auntie,” Shen Shuli dismounted and tied up the reins before walking over to ask, “May I ask if you know where Su Wanwan’s family lives?”
Su Wanwan was the true daughter’s name.
After being recognized by the Lin family, she had already changed her name to Lin Wanwan.
This voice…
Why did it sound so familiar?
Swish!
Hearing someone speak, the husband and wife turned around at the same time.
“You… you!”
The moment the couple saw Shen Shuli’s face, they froze in place.
The corners of their mouths began twitching uncontrollably in perfect unison.
Good heavens!
Was that swollen, featureless face in front of them really a human face?
What kind of horrible grudge could someone have to be beaten into such a state?!
Seriously, how could she still dare to go outside and frighten people looking like that?!