Jiang Ning stared in horror at the carriage charging straight toward her.
Her heartbeat spiked instantly, and an overwhelming sense of fear engulfed her.
“No—!”
She cried out, but no one heard her.
Her body seemed frozen in place, unable to react at all.
Just as the carriage was about to crash into her, at the critical moment, she saw a small stone suddenly fly out and strike the horse’s head.
The horse neighed in pain and veered off course, crashing straight into a scholar standing nearby.
Jiang Ning glanced over—and to her surprise, the unlucky scholar who had become the “scapegoat” had sharply defined features and an exceptionally handsome face.
A beauty!
And not just any beauty—a cold, aloof kind of handsome man.
She watched as he calmly tried to control the startled horse. The carriage swayed violently from side to side, frightening the surrounding crowd into scattering like startled birds. The scene quickly descended into chaos.
At that moment, Jiang Ning was suddenly shoved by some well-meaning bystander. Like a wild horse breaking free of its reins, she went barreling straight toward the scholar.
“Ah—!”
She let out a shrill scream, certain she was about to fall and break into pieces.
But in that urgent instant, the scholar expressionlessly caught her.
Being caught so directly, Jiang Ning flushed red with embarrassment, forcing out an awkward yet polite smile.
This single embrace, however, was like “thunder igniting earthfire”—instantly making the two of them the center of everyone’s attention.
But just at that critical moment—
From behind the scholar, an invisible kick suddenly struck, snapping his leg and gifting him a set of internal injuries for good measure.
The scholar instantly felt as though all strength had been drained from his body. His vision went black, and he fainted on the spot.
In the next second, Jiang Ning’s dark eyes widened abruptly.
She watched helplessly as she—herself—actually abandoned the unconscious handsome scholar and slipped away amidst the chaos.
No.
That shameless behavior couldn’t possibly have been hers!
Jiang Ning clenched her teeth.
A man that devastatingly handsome—shouldn’t she have taken the opportunity to get close and win him over?
Yet just as she had barely stepped into her home, a group of people stormed in right after her, seething with anger.
They pointed at her and began shouting insults:
“Shameless! Hugging a man in public—where is your sense of propriety? You’ve utterly disgraced our Zhuang family!”
“The engagement is off! You are not fit to marry into our family!”
Jiang Ning was still confused when she suddenly found herself overcome with rage—so furious that she smashed her head straight into a wall.
Great Zhou Dynasty, Baisha Village—
“Ugh…”
Jiang Ning felt as if her head were splitting apart. She raised a hand to clutch it, while an incessant, grating voice rang in her ears.
“You wretched girl, still pretending to be dead in front of me?”
“Jiang Ning, even if you knock down all the walls here, this engagement is definitely being called off! Don’t say we’re heartless—your antics one after another have made even the village dogs unable to stand it! Where has your sense of decency and shame gone?”
Jiang Ning slowly opened her eyes.
Only then did she realize she was slumped against a courtyard wall.
Around her stood a crowd of people dressed in strange, unfamiliar clothing, all pointing at her and whispering.
In front of her stood a middle-aged woman with a melon-seed-shaped face, glaring at her as if she were looking at a toad—her expression dripping with disdain and disgust.
“You, a young woman, went to make a scene at the academy gates. Not only did you cause Qing’er to be ridiculed—
“You even hugged Scholar Lu in public, making a spectacle worse than a theater troupe! And what happened? His leg was ‘hugged’ broken by you, and he still hasn’t woken up.
“Even the academy head’s daughter was frightened because of you. If Qing’er hadn’t pleaded on your behalf, you’d already have been dragged to the authorities!
“A person like you is not worthy of my son!”
Even after smashing her head until her face was covered in blood, she still hadn’t died—Madam Ma looked visibly disappointed.
Why was this wretched girl so hard to kill?
Qing’er had said it clearly—best to force her to death, ruin her reputation, and let her die in shame.
That way, the broken engagement wouldn’t affect him, and after a few years, no one would remember this incident.
But now—what should they do?
She shot a meaningful glance at her sister-in-law, Madam Chen.
Understanding immediately, Madam Chen stepped forward as if to check on Jiang Ning, but in truth, she pretended to stumble—lunging forward to deliver a fatal blow.
However, just as Madam Chen pounced—
Jiang Ning instinctively shifted to the side and avoided her.
Bang—!
Madam Chen’s plump body crashed to the ground. Her palms were scraped raw against the gravel, and she cried out in pain.
At that moment, Jiang Ning finally understood.
Everything that had happened today had been planned.
Starting from the carriage incident, they had been trying to kill her all along.
Jiang Ning felt dazed.
So everything she saw earlier… wasn’t a dream?
Before she could think further, a sharp, needle-like pain stabbed into her head.
Immediately, fragments of memories that didn’t belong to her flooded into her mind.
As the memories merged, she understood in an instant—
She had transmigrated.
The “Scholar Lu” they had mentioned—the one she had embraced—was the elusive Lu Huai’an who lived near the back mountain.
The original owner of this body had only seen him once from afar while working near the mountain and didn’t know him at all.
Who would have thought he would be so strikingly handsome—so much so that one couldn’t look away after a single glance?
The middle-aged woman in front of her was Madam Ma, the mother of her original fiancé, Zhuang Yunqing.
Seeing that Jiang Ning had avoided Madam Chen’s attack and was now staring blankly as if lost in thought, Madam Ma frowned.
Then she raised her voice sharply in warning,
“Did you hear what I just said?”
Jiang Ning supported herself against the wall and slowly stood up.
Blood was still trickling down from the right side of her forehead, making her look rather frightening.
Madam Chen hurriedly scrambled to her feet and backed away from her.
After steadying herself, Jiang Ning looked at them coldly and let out a mocking laugh.
“You’ve tried again and again today to force me to my death.
“When you saw I didn’t die, you wanted to try again, didn’t you?
“What a pity—you’re too late.
“I’m still alive. Are you disappointed? Unhappy?”
The crowd erupted in an uproar.
What was going on? Could there be more to this story?
“You wretched girl, what nonsense are you spouting?” Madam Ma panicked, her thoughts exposed.
She noticed that Jiang Ning no longer seemed weak and easy to bully as before. Instead, she spoke clearly and logically.
Her instincts told her this was bad.
She immediately tried to stop her from continuing.
“Nonsense? Which part of what I said is nonsense?” Jiang Ning suddenly looked at Madam Ma with a pitiful expression.
“Your son got involved with Liu Xueying, the academy head’s daughter, which is why he’s been delaying the marriage.
“I only went to the academy today to demand an explanation—but your son, feeling guilty, used a carriage to injure someone. I had barely returned home when you came to break off the engagement…”
Boom—
The scene instantly exploded with noise.
The villagers were like firecrackers set off all at once, bursting into heated discussion.
“Madam Ma, is it true? Your son is involved with the academy head’s daughter?”