“An’an, you studied abroad—you’re broad-minded. You’ll help me, won’t you?”
“Just this one night. As long as I get pregnant with A-Li’s child tonight, I swear I’ll never disturb you newlyweds again.”
Fulfill her? A-Li?
A soft, syrupy female voice sounded by her ear.
Ruan An’an opened her eyes. What greeted her was an exquisitely elegant old foreign-style house in Haishi.
Hexagonal floral tiles were laid in an interlocking pattern, and a teak flower cabinet lay quietly beneath a French arched window.
Moonlight filtered into the room through dark green velvet curtains with half-moon cutwork, broken into shattered patches of light by the ornate window lattice.
On the coffee table before her, a pair of dragon-and-phoenix candles on a brass candlestick were glaringly eye-catching.
Where is this? Ruan An’an frowned.
Before she could move, the man beside her, wearing a blue Dacron shirt, spoke impatiently. “Ruan An’an, you’ve studied abroad—how can you still be as stiff as some country bumpkin?”
“If the doctor hadn’t said you can’t have children, I wouldn’t have had to wrong my sister-in-law like this…”
Studied abroad? Sister-in-law?
Ruan An’an jolted, an unbelievable thought flashing through her mind.
Had she transmigrated into the novel she was adapting—After Crossing into the ’70s, Spoiled to Tears by the Younger Brother-in-Law Who Shouldered Two Households?
She’d chosen that novel because the benefactor who gave the female lead her first pot of gold had the same name as her.
She’d thought it would be a feel-good story, but after reading it she nearly passed out in anger.
In the book, Ruan An’an’s reputation was ruined on her wedding night, and she had to wait on her widowed sister-in-law during confinement—pregnant with her own husband’s child.
Not only was her dowry drained dry by the Xu family, she became a典型 target during the “Three Antis and One Strike” campaign and died miserably on the road to exile.
She’d been so angry she worked three days and nights straight rewriting the plot—worked herself to death.
And now she’d woken up as this unlucky capitalist young lady in the book.
Ruan An’an pinched her thigh hard. Hiss—painful. Not a dream.
She really had transmigrated.
Thinking of the original owner’s tragic fate, Ruan An’an shuddered.
Scheming against the original owner was one thing—scheming against me is another!
Just then, Mother Xu spoke again.
“An’an, you can’t lay eggs. You have to let your husband and your sister-in-law have more children. That way there’ll be someone to support you in old age and smash the basin for you, right?”
Ruan An’an almost laughed out loud.
The old woman’s moral blackmail was polished to perfection.
If she wanted children so badly, why did she have her younger son marry the original owner in the first place?
She might as well have had him marry the widowed sister-in-law directly.
Wasn’t it just that she wanted children and coveted the original owner’s dowry?
The original Ruan An’an was the only daughter of the Ruan family. Her great-grandparents were wealthy merchants who provided weapons and medicine during special times.
Her grandparents were among the first scientists who studied abroad and returned; when the PRC was founded, they went to the western frontier and devoted their lives to frontline research.
Her parents were both university professors in weapons science, educating generations of students.
Good people never prosper; rotten gourds live a thousand years.
Because members of the Ruan family held important posts, they drew the covetous eyes of villains. When she was young, her father died in an accident during a decryption support mission.
Her mother was gravely injured as well and never fully recovered.
Afraid that her maternal family in Taiwan Province might harbor ill intentions, she hurriedly arranged Ruan An’an’s engagement to the Xu family’s eldest son.
But only three years after her mother’s death, Xu Yanli used a few sweet words to bewitch her. Before the wedding, he tricked her into handing over control of her dowry.
As Ruan An’an was mulling over this mess, the previously silent Xu Yanli suddenly spoke.
“Ruan An’an, my sister-in-law is willing to sacrifice herself to leave an heir for the Xu family. If you won’t learn from her, fine—but you’re even making things difficult for her. She’s personally come to beg you now. Say something already. What does your silence mean?”
His voice was cold and impatient. When he saw Ruan An’an look over, he even stepped forward to shield Su Qingyue behind him.
Anyone who didn’t know better would think tonight was their wedding night.
Ruan An’an sneered, cocked her head, and played dumb. “Did my sister-in-law beg me? I didn’t see any sign of begging.”
“You—” Xu Yanli’s face changed, about to curse Ruan An’an for pushing her luck.
Su Qingyue hurried to stop him, asking softly, “An’an, as long as you agree to let A-Li give me a child, I’ll do anything!”
So pliable—shameless to the core!
Seeing Ruan An’an still silent, Su Qingyue’s eyes flickered. She poured a cup of tea and, catching them off guard, suddenly knelt before Ruan An’an.
“An’an, I offer you tea. Just treat me as A-Li’s plaything. The child I bear will also call you mother, all right?”
Ruan An’an’s lips curved, her expression growing ever more mocking. Sitting upright on the bed, she looked down at Su Qingyue kneeling at her feet. At this point, the little white lotus hadn’t yet discovered the secret of the space she carried, so she could only bow and scrape.
Once she had the space, she wouldn’t look like this at all.
But now that she was here, the space, the dowry, and that man who would one day become the commander-in-chief of the military region—all of it would be hers!
As for Xu Yanli, that rotten cabbage—if she wanted it, she’d toss it to her!
The contempt in her eyes was unmistakable. Su Qingyue felt her chest clog, nearly fainting.
This bitch dared humiliate her only because she had money and backing!
Just wait—once she gave birth, she would make Ruan An’an repay today’s humiliation tenfold!
Seeing Su Qingyue kneeling, Xu Yanli’s heart ached. He hurried to help her up.
“Sister-in-law, get up!”
Su Qingyue shook him off and knelt straight-backed, saying resolutely, “I won’t get up, A-Li. An’an is right—if you’re begging, you should look like you’re begging.”
Xu Yanli’s face darkened. He looked at Ruan An’an with a chilling gaze. “Ruan An’an, you’ve gone too far. Make my sister-in-law get up and apologize to her!”
“Apologize? Fine!”
Ruan An’an sneered, took the teacup—
Splash!
Tea cascaded down Xu Yanli’s face, drenching him like a drowned rat.