Ding Lan was awakened by the cold.
She slowly opened her eyes in a daze. The first thing she saw was a dilapidated roof, with water dripping steadily onto the floor below.
Where was she?
Ding Lan cautiously examined her surroundings. She was inside an extremely run-down earthen house.
Wait…
Ding Lan suddenly sat upright, her face filled with disbelief.
Hadn’t she fallen off a cliff?
Could it be that she hadn’t died? If she had survived, shouldn’t she be lying in a hospital? How had she ended up in a place so poor that there was practically nothing inside?
Her first instinct was to open the door and go outside to take a look. She lifted the object that could barely be called a quilt and immediately realized that something was wrong.
Her body…
Sitting on the bed, Ding Lan stretched out her hands and examined them carefully.
They were a pair of weather-beaten hands, with thick calluses covering her palms and fingertips.
These definitely weren’t her hands.
Although her own hands weren’t exactly delicate enough to be described as soft as jade, they were certainly fair and slender.
This situation was simply too strange!
Without holding out much hope, she touched her own face.
Her skin was rough, and she was so thin that she was practically skin and bones.
This wasn’t her body…
So had she come back to life in someone else’s corpse?
Ding Lan forced herself to stay alert and decided to go outside first to see what was happening. Just as she was about to get out of bed, a sudden wave of heart palpitations made her vision go black.
Her entire body uncontrollably fell backward.
Fortunately, she hadn’t actually gotten out of bed yet. Otherwise, she would have taken a nasty tumble.
Holding her head, she lay back down on the bed. Suddenly, the memories of a complete stranger flashed through her mind at lightning speed.
The enormous amount of information caused her head to throb painfully.
Only after the pain gradually subsided did she slowly support herself against the wall and sit up.
Ding Lan began carefully sorting through the memories belonging to another person.
When she had finally finished organizing all of them, she was stunned once again.
She discovered that she hadn’t come back to life in someone else’s body after all.
Instead, she had transmigrated into a novel she had read in her previous life—a novel about officialdom—and had become a minor cannon-fodder character whom the author had barely mentioned.
Back then, she had only started reading the novel because her roommate recommended it to her. There happened to be a cannon-fodder character in the story who shared the exact same name as her, which was what initially sparked her curiosity.
Speaking of the novel’s “Ding Lan,” one had to mention Ding Jing as well. He was one of the minor antagonists who appeared during the male protagonist’s early development.
The Ding family had three children: the eldest daughter, Ding Lan; the second child, Ding Jing; and the youngest daughter, Ding Qiao.
Ding Jing was the second child of the Ding family and their only precious son.
Ding Lan’s parents were the typical kind of people who favored sons over daughters. Since Ding Jing was their only son, they spoiled him terribly.
When Ding Jing was born, his father had even carried him to a fortune-telling Daoist priest to have his fate read.
The Daoist had confidently declared that Ding Jing was destined to become the top scholar in the imperial examinations.
That was all it took.
Ding Jing’s father believed the Daoist’s words without the slightest doubt.
Their family had been farmers for three generations and had never produced a scholar. So as soon as he returned home, he went around telling everyone that his son was destined to become the top scholar.
He didn’t care in the slightest whether the Daoist’s prediction was actually reliable.
From that moment on, life became miserable for Ding Jing’s elder sister, Ding Lan.
Whenever the family had anything good, it had to go to Ding Jing.
Whenever they managed to save a little money, it had to be set aside for Ding Jing’s education.
The Ding family lived in extreme poverty. The entire family could barely eat enough to fill half their stomachs, while Ding Jing had eggs to eat every single day.
Later, Ding Jing casually mentioned that he wanted to eat meat.
Without a second thought, Ding Jing’s father went up the mountain to hunt some meat for his precious son.
Unexpectedly, his luck ran out.
He encountered a black bear in the mountains.
Terrified, he turned around and ran, but how could he possibly outrun a black bear?
The bear swiped at his leg, tearing away a large chunk of flesh.
Ding Jing’s father immediately cried out in agony.
Fortunately, a hunter from the mountains heard his screams and rushed over, saving him.
By the time the villagers carried Ding Jing’s father down from the mountain, he was barely clinging to life.
When Ding Jing’s mother heard what had happened, she hurried over with the children.
The entire family collapsed in tears.
Ding Jing’s father’s final words before his death were to instruct his wife to make absolutely certain that Ding Jing attended a private school.
With Ding Jing’s father dead, the family’s main source of labor was gone.
All the burdens fell onto Ding Jing’s mother.
At the time, Ding Lan was only twelve years old, Ding Jing was eight, and the youngest daughter, Ding Qiao, hadn’t even been weaned yet.
Soon, winter arrived and it was time for school enrollment.
Eight-year-old Ding Jing was at the perfect age to begin studying.
However, attending a private school required more than just expensive tuition. All the other things a student needed were also costly.
Fortunately, Ding Jing’s father had managed to save a little silver before his death.
Using that money, Ding Jing’s mother successfully sent her son down the path of education.
But how long could that small amount of silver possibly last?
The high expenses were more than one woman could bear.
In addition to tending the family’s farmland, Ding Jing’s mother had to go into town during the day to wash clothes for other people.
Remembering her husband’s final wish, she gritted her teeth and persevered for three whole years.
In the end, she collapsed from exhaustion.
And once she fell, she never got back up.
She lay in bed for more than a month before finally passing away.
Before closing her eyes for the last time, she grabbed Ding Lan’s hand and reminded her:
“You must let your younger brother continue his studies. Otherwise, when I go underground, I won’t have the face to see your father.”
Ding Lan was an honest and dutiful person.
She took over her mother’s burden and continued paying for Ding Jing’s education.
When there was no money, she could only sell the family’s farmland.
Following the family’s rule—whatever else they might lack, Ding Jing could never go without—she continued sacrificing everything for her younger brother.
Unfortunately, the younger brother who had been spoiled by his family for so long was not particularly considerate.
At the private school, Ding Jing liked comparing himself with his classmates.
If someone else had something, he had to have it too.
Every time he came home, he would immediately ask Ding Lan for money.
Ever since Ding Jing started attending private school, the two sisters had been living barely like human beings.
They couldn’t even eat their fill.
Ding Lan remembered the original body’s fate from the novel.
She had been worked to death!
The author had killed off “Ding Lan,” and Ding Lan herself had immediately dropped the novel.
Before abandoning it, she had even angrily gone to the comment section to criticize the author!
She never could have imagined that she would one day transmigrate into this very novel and become that foolish elder sister, “Ding Lan.”
Ding Lan gave a cold laugh.
“Since I’ve inherited this body, I’m not going to spoil this little brother anymore!”
Just as she had that thought, the door was pushed open from outside.
A half-grown boy dressed in a white robe entered the room.
When he saw the person inside staring straight at him, he impatiently said, “Big Sis, it’s time to pay my tuition.”
Ding Lan searched through the memories in her mind.
Only then did she remember that the person standing before her was none other than that “wonderful little brother,” Ding Jing.
She hadn’t expected the first person she would meet after transmigrating here to be someone coming to ask her for money.
Her eyes rolled slightly, and she immediately came up with an idea.
Ding Lan put on a sorrowful expression and looked at him pitifully.
“Xiaojing, our family doesn’t have any money left.”
Ding Jing frowned.
“Don’t we still have land?”
Ding Lan secretly pinched her thigh hard, and tears immediately streamed down her face.
“I’ve already sold everything that could be sold. All that’s left are a few pieces of barren land that no one wants to buy.”
Ding Jing watched her reaction carefully.
Something about it felt strange.
In the past, whenever he asked his elder sister for money, no matter how difficult things were, she would always find a way to scrape the money together for him.
After a pause, he finally said, “Think of a way.”
With that, he turned around and walked out.
Ding Lan hurriedly called after him.
“Xiaojing, I’m sorry, Big Sis has let you down!”
After all, she was a perfectly capable young woman from the twenty-first century.
Was she really going to have trouble fooling a twelve-year-old child?
Only after Ding Jing’s figure had disappeared did Ding Lan raise an eyebrow.
Trying to squeeze money out of her?
That wasn’t going to happen.
Although she had managed to send away one “bloodsucker,” what she had just said was indeed the truth.
The family’s good farmland had already been sold off by the original Ding Lan.
Only two patches of barren land remained, and they were being used to grow a few crops for the family to eat.
For farmers, losing their farmland meant life became extremely difficult.
Ding Lan’s thoughts were in turmoil.
She decided that the first thing she should do was take stock of the original owner’s possessions.
After getting out of bed and putting on her shoes, she followed the memories in her mind and opened the only piece of furniture in the room besides the bed—a battered wooden chest.
She carefully rummaged through it.
There were only two or three coarse-cloth garments, all of them covered in patches.
At the very bottom of the clothes was a small cloth pouch.
Ding Lan pulled it out.
She emptied everything from the pouch onto the bed and counted it.
There were only fifteen copper coins.
Ding Lan looked up at the ceiling.
“There’s really no way to live like this!”
Although she complained, when she thought about it carefully, she had at least managed to get a second chance at life.
She was just poor.
That was still better than being dead!
Ding Lan put the copper coins back into the cloth pouch and returned it to the chest.
This was all the money she had left, so she had to keep it safe.
Thinking that she should first go outside and observe her surroundings, Ding Lan stepped out of the room.
As soon as she did, she saw an auntie in the courtyard gathering clothes.
When the woman saw her, she greeted her warmly.
“Xiaolan, are you feeling better?”
Ding Lan froze for a moment before realizing that this was Auntie Liu, who lived next door.
She smiled.
“Auntie Liu, I’m almost completely recovered.”
Auntie Liu continued gathering the clothes without stopping as she chatted.
“You still need to rest more. Your face is still so pale.”
Ding Lan merely gave a quiet response and didn’t say anything else.
Auntie Liu glanced at her haggard face and lowered her voice.
“Did your younger brother come asking you for money again?”
Hearing this, Ding Lan put on an expression of helplessness.
“Yes. There really isn’t any money left in the family.”
Auntie Liu couldn’t help coming over to advise her.
“I heard your younger brother isn’t studying properly at the private school. Apparently, he spends his days eating, drinking, and having fun in town.”
She paused before continuing.
“Look at you. You’ve even fallen ill because you’ve been working so hard for your younger brother. You should think about yourself too.”
Ding Lan knew that Auntie Liu was saying this sincerely.
She smiled and nodded in agreement.
After gathering all the clothes that had been drying in the courtyard, Auntie Liu said goodbye and returned to her house to prepare dinner.
The sky gradually darkened.
Ding Lan figured it was probably time for dinner.
She rubbed her completely empty stomach.
Well, she should at least find something to eat first!
She looked around their small courtyard.
It was a very traditional rural farmhouse.
One corner of the courtyard was piled high with firewood and bamboo.
In the middle stood two larger main rooms.
Off to the side was the earthen room where she lived, along with a kitchen that didn’t even have a door.
Ding Lan walked straight into the kitchen.
She opened the rice jar and looked inside.
There wasn’t a single grain of rice.
She searched through the entire kitchen, turning it upside down, and finally found that the family still had a few sweet potatoes and some cornmeal left.
Her stomach was growling with hunger.
Ding Lan thought about it.
She didn’t know how to cook cornmeal, so she decided to boil the sweet potatoes first.
Suddenly, an excited little girl’s voice came from outside the courtyard.
“Big Sis! I dug up some wild vegetables!”
Ding Lan quickly realized who it was.
This should be her youngest sister, Ding Qiao.
She called toward the courtyard, “Little Sis, I’m in here!”
After a short while, Ding Qiao followed the sound of her elder sister’s voice into the kitchen.
A bamboo basket meant for carrying by an adult was strapped to her thin, small body.
She was wearing a dusty gray outfit and looked pale and painfully thin.
From a distance, she could easily have been mistaken for a little beggar wandering the streets.
Ding Lan thought carefully.
Her youngest sister should only be five years old now.
Then she remembered Ding Jing in his spotless white robe.
She turned to look at her little sister.
Ding Lan couldn’t help curling her lips.
This family really was biased beyond all reason.
Ding Qiao carried the basket on her back and excitedly came over to show her elder sister what she had collected.
“Big Sis, I dug up so many wild vegetables on the mountain!”
As though presenting a treasure, she then took two bird eggs out of the bamboo basket and handed them to Ding Lan.
“I also found these bird eggs on the mountain. These are for Big Sis to eat!”
Ding Lan looked at her severely malnourished little sister.
How could she possibly have the heart to take bird eggs away from a child?
She accepted the two eggs and thought that she might as well boil them together with the sweet potatoes.
She immediately got to work.
After scrubbing the cooking pot clean, she poured some water into it and put the washed sweet potatoes inside.
However, when it came time to start the fire, Ding Lan couldn’t help feeling helpless.
Fortunately, Ding Qiao, who was standing beside her, was already very perceptive.
She had started the fire without being asked.
The firewood burned brightly, and the sweet potatoes were soon cooked.
The two sisters stood by the kitchen stove and began eating.
Ding Lan took out the two boiled bird eggs and immediately handed them to Ding Qiao.
Ding Qiao’s face turned red.
“Big Sis, I don’t want them. You’re sick, so you should eat them.”
Looking at the sensible little girl, Ding Lan couldn’t help thinking of modern society.
Children this age were often much more spoiled and troublesome.
Her heart softened toward this little sister.
“Little Sis, you eat them.”
Ding Qiao stubbornly refused and insisted that Ding Lan eat them instead.
In the end, neither of them would give in.
They eventually compromised and each ate one egg, finally settling the matter.
Ding Qiao stared longingly at the bird egg in her hand.
After hesitating for a moment, she asked, “Big Sis, why don’t I save mine for Second Brother?”
Ding Lan’s expression immediately turned cold.
“Don’t save it for him. He isn’t lacking food.”
After a pause, her tone softened slightly.
“From now on, whenever we have anything good to eat, we’ll keep it for ourselves.”
Ding Qiao looked at her elder sister, who had suddenly changed her attitude so drastically.
She murmured a quiet agreement.
Author’s Note
After Transmigrating into a Fake Heiress, I Raised the Villain is the author’s currently updating serialized novel. If you’re interested, please visit the author’s profile and add it to your collection!
Synopsis:
The moment Jiang Yan opened her eyes, she discovered that she had transmigrated into the fake heiress of a Minister’s residence—and the real heiress was about to come knocking at her door!
In the original novel, the real heiress was the heroine, a woman of extraordinary intelligence who was also highly skilled in palace intrigue.
Jiang Yan wanted to cry.
I can’t beat her!
To avoid becoming a cannon-fodder character beneath the real heiress’s feet, Jiang Yan decisively packed her belongings and embarked on the road back to the countryside to farm.
But just after leaving Chang’an City, she picked up a skinny little beggar.
The little beggar didn’t say a word.
He only stared at her with a sinister, gloomy look.
Feeling compassionate, Jiang Yan took the little beggar home and raised him as her younger brother.
She never expected that several years later, the little beggar would transform into the ruthless and cold-blooded villain BOSS from the novel.
Jiang Yan panicked!
Little Skit
The legendary ruthless and cold-blooded villain slowly cornered Jiang Yan against the wall.
Jiang Yan: “W-What are you doing?”
The villain’s eyes were red.
Villain: “You didn’t come looking for me.”
Jiang Yan: “…”
The villain complained in a nasal voice, sounding aggrieved.
“You used to know how to comfort me!”