“Lin Shu, I’ll give you one last chance. Hand over the antidote, and I’ll leave you with an intact corpse.”
The icy voice cut through the dead silence of the woodshed like a blade.
Her entire body ached as if her bones had fallen apart. Lin Shu struggled to lift her eyelids and saw, against the light, a tall and imposing man bursting through the door.
He wore a Black Brocade Robe, his hair bound by a Gold Crown Hair Binding. His incomparably handsome face was currently covered in a layer of frost.
Xiao Che.
The Marquis of Jing’an Heir, her fiancé in name.
And the living King of Hell who had ordered the original owner of this body to be beaten to death with clubs.
Lin Shu’s heart plummeted as if seized by a hand, her breath catching for half a second.
Her survival instinct made her curled-up body shuffle backward until her back hit the cold, damp wall, forcing her to stop.
Her mind was a tangled mess. The intense pain in her body intertwined with the terror the original owner felt before her death, nearly causing her to faint.
She had actually transmigrated into a book.
Just a moment ago, she had been a corporate drone working around the clock on a project proposal. How had she blinked and woken up in a different world?
And of all places, it had to be a trashy, melodramatic family-strife novel she had recently read, Schemes of a Concubine’s Daughter: The Heir’s Beloved.
She had become the villainous supporting character who shared her name—an arrogant, domineering, and brainless beauty who, in her fight with the female lead for the male lead’s affection, went so far as to offer herself to him, only to be beaten to death on his orders.
A complete and utter scapegoat who wouldn’t even survive past the third chapter.
Behind Xiao Che, a young girl in a light green Silk Skirt timidly peeked out. Her skin was fairer than snow, her brows knitted with sorrow, presenting a picture of pitiable beauty.
This was the female lead of the book, Lin Shu’s younger half-sister, Lin Wan’er.
When Lin Wan’er saw Lin Shu’s wretched state, a flash of triumph crossed her eyes before being swiftly masked by a perfectly calibrated look of concern.
She advised in a soft voice, “Elder Sister, just admit your mistake. Grandmatron Xiao dotes on you the most. As long as you hand over the antidote, the Heir and Father will surely be lenient.”
What a venomous scheme!
Lin Shu sneered inwardly.
According to the original plot, the one who poisoned Old Madam Xiao wasn’t her at all, but this pitiful-looking Lin Wan’er before her.
She had bribed the maid in Lin Shu’s room to frame her, aiming to eliminate her bothersome elder sister by the legitimate line. At the same time, she could attend to the gravely ill Old Madam Xiao without rest, earning Xiao Che’s favor and the sympathy of the entire marquisate.
A vicious plan that killed two birds with one stone.
The original owner, that fool, had only wailed and proclaimed her innocence when framed like this, which only made things worse and solidified the accusation.
But she was not the original owner.
She was Lin Shu, a modern corporate drone who had read the script.
She knew that proclaiming her innocence now was useless. Xiao Che was already biased by Lin Wan’er’s tears and the fabricated evidence; he wouldn’t believe her at all.
She had to save herself.
“I did not poison her.”
Lin Shu propped herself up against the wall, struggling to her feet. Her gaze met Xiao Che’s directly. “I wasn’t the one who administered the poison, and I don’t have an antidote.”
Xiao Che’s brow furrowed even tighter, the impatience and killing intent in his eyes almost tangible. “Still stubborn when death is at your door.”
“Your Lordship,” Lin Wan’er tugged on Xiao Che’s sleeve at the perfect moment, her eyes red-rimmed. “Elder Sister must have been confused for a moment. Please don’t be angry with her. The most urgent matter is to save Grandmatron…”
Her words, while sounding like a plea for mercy, were in fact urging Xiao Che to quickly condemn Lin Shu.
As expected, Xiao Che’s patience ran out.
He waved his hand coldly.
“It seems you won’t shed a tear until you see the coffin.”
“Men.”
“Drag her out and beat her.”
“Beat her until she’s willing to reveal the antidote!”
Two burly, fierce-looking household servants immediately rushed in from outside and strode toward Lin Shu.
An icy fear instantly seized Lin Shu’s heart.
She knew this was the plot of the original book.
She would be dragged out, forced onto a long bench, and beaten to death.
No.
She didn’t want to die!
She had finally escaped the “blessing” of a 996 work schedule, not to come here for an “immersive death experience”!
Beg for mercy? Useless. All Xiao Che wanted right now was the antidote.
Fight back? How could a weak woman with no strength to even truss a chicken possibly win against two strong men?
What could she do?
As the servant’s hand was about to grab her arm, Lin Shu’s mind went blank. Overwhelming fear and indignation threatened to consume her.
On what grounds? On what grounds could this cold-hearted man decide her fate based on a few tears from a white lotus?
A complex emotion—a mixture of anger, despair, and the laughable self-respect of a modern person—surged up from the depths of her heart.
She stared deathly at the lead servant, whose hand was already outstretched, and squeezed out a hysterical sentence through gritted teeth, using every ounce of her strength.
“Don’t touch me!”
“Kneel before me!”
Her voice was shrill, even breaking from the intensity.
However, something bizarre happened.
The menacing servant’s hand, suspended in mid-air, froze abruptly. A look of confusion and struggle flashed across his face, and his eyes went vacant.
Then.
Under everyone’s astonished gazes.
Thump!
The tall, sturdy servant’s knees gave way, and he actually knelt ramrod straight before Lin Shu.
The entire woodshed was plunged into a dead silence.
The other servant was dumbfounded.
The delicate expression on Lin Wan’er’s face froze.
Even the perpetually frosty Xiao Che, for the first time, showed a flicker of incredulous shock in his deep, bottomless phoenix eyes.
Lin Shu herself was stunned. She… what had she just said?
She had merely, in a moment of desperation, subconsciously yelled out what she most wanted him to do.
But he… why did he actually kneel?
The servant kneeling on the ground was also bewildered. He wanted to stand up but found his knees were seemingly nailed to the floor, completely unresponsive to his commands.
He looked at Lin Shu in terror, as if he were seeing a demon.
“You… what did you do to me?”
Lin Shu’s heart began to pound wildly.
A bold and astonishing thought took shape in her mind.
Could it be… this was her Golden Finger?
An Incantation?
Words spoken become reality?
Lin Shu forcefully suppressed the wild joy and shock in her heart, forcing herself to calm down.
Now was not the time to study this. The most important thing was to grab this life-saving straw!
Lin Wan’er was the first to react. She let out a cry and quickly hid behind Xiao Che, her voice tinged with tears, “Elder Sister, you… how do you know this… this kind of evil art?”
In an era like this, being associated with the words “demonic” or “evil” would lead to a fate far worse than poisoning and murder.
A brilliant move to divert disaster onto another.
Xiao Che snapped out of his shock. He stared intently at the kneeling servant, then at Lin Shu’s pale but calm face.
Demonic arts?
He didn’t believe in ghosts and gods.
But the bizarre scene before him caused the reason and judgment he prided himself on to waver.
Lin Shu snorted inwardly but remained outwardly composed.
She certainly wouldn’t admit to having any special ability, but she didn’t rush to defend herself either. Instead, she turned her gaze to Lin Wan’er and changed the subject. “Younger Sister, you said my maid, Bi Yue, personally saw me hide a packet of powder under my pillow, correct?”
Lin Wan’er felt a little unnerved by her stare but forced herself to remain calm and nodded. “Yes… yes, Bi Yue has already told the Heir and Father everything.”
“Good.”
Lin Shu nodded, her gaze shifting to Xiao Che. “Marquis Heir, could I trouble you to bring that maid named Bi Yue here?”