At daybreak, Song Zhaoxi woke up aching all over. Faintly, she could hear the grunts of pigs nearby.
“You worthless little slut! The sun’s already scorching your backside and you’re still not out working? Did you think our family picked you up for free? Shameless wretch!”
A shrill stream of insults rang in her ears. The next moment, a blow from a stick landed on her, jolting her fully awake.
Song Zhaoxi was shocked to discover that she was lying inside a pigsty. Several pigs rooted around beside her.
Where am I?
She was a food blogger and Hanfu designer with tens of millions of followers. She had merely stayed up late to read a novel in her spare time—so how had she woken up in such a bizarre place?
A flood of unfamiliar memories poured into her mind.
She had transmigrated into the novel she had been reading, The Grand Secretary Has Darkened Again, and had become a fool.
The male lead, Ji Changfeng, was a Grand Secretary who had risen from humble origins. Ruthless and calculating, he held immense power over the imperial court.
The fool had been Ji Changfeng’s first wife in the countryside. A fortune-teller had claimed that she could bring him good luck and ward off misfortune when he was a sickly child, so the Ji family had taken her in.
Instead, she had become the family’s punching bag.
She lived in a pigsty and endured a miserable existence.
Song Zhaoxi looked up at the sharp-faced old hag standing before her and let out a cold laugh.
This old woman, Granny Ji, was Ji Changfeng’s step-grandmother. She had given birth to the second and third branches of the family and controlled all household affairs. She treated the fool, who had been brought into the family halfway through, no better than livestock.
Caught by Song Zhaoxi’s icy stare, Granny Ji froze for a moment.
For an instant, it seemed as if the fool had become a completely different person.
“You stupid fool! Get to work this instant! What are you staring at me for? Keep looking and I’ll gouge out your eyes and feed them to the pigs!”
Still cursing, Granny Ji raised the stick in her hand to strike again.
Heh…
Song Zhaoxi bent down, picked up a sharp stone from the ground, and jabbed it hard into the sow beside her.
The sow squealed in pain and instantly went berserk, charging straight at Granny Ji like a battering ram.
“Oink! Oink!”
Granny Ji was terrified.
Before she could bring the stick down, the enraged sow rammed her into the air. The stick flew upward and came crashing down onto the back of her head.
With a shriek, Granny Ji collapsed to the ground, twitching before passing out.
The startled sow burst out of the pigsty and ran wildly out of the courtyard.
The commotion quickly drew the Ji family over.
The first to arrive was Ji Pingping, the daughter of the second branch.
“You little bitch! What did you do to my grandmother?”
Looking at the plump young woman with her triangular eyes and upturned nose, Song Zhaoxi clicked her tongue.
“The pig did it.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you are—a stupid pig?” Ji Pingping sneered. The sight of this fool always disgusted her.
Only after insulting Song Zhaoxi did she notice that one of the pigs was missing.
“Idiot, where’s the pig?”
“It went mad, knocked Granny Ji flying, and ran away.”
Hearing that the pig had escaped, Ji Pingping hurriedly sent the family out to search for it. Then she turned back toward the pigsty and raised her hand to hit Song Zhaoxi.
Song Zhaoxi stepped back two paces.
Ji Pingping missed her target and fell flat on her face.
“You bitch! Did you trip me?”
“Hm? Didn’t you fall down all by yourself?”
Song Zhaoxi lifted her foot and stomped hard on Ji Pingping’s hand.
Ji Pingping shrieked in pain.
Song Zhaoxi stared at her coldly with her dark eyes.
Ji Pingping was the only daughter of the second branch and the one who bullied the fool the most.
The look in Song Zhaoxi’s eyes sent a chill down Ji Pingping’s spine.
Furious and embarrassed, she scrambled to her feet.
“You little slut! Believe it or not, I’ll beat you up!”
“Pingping, she’s just a fool. Don’t bully her all the time.”
A gentle woman’s voice sounded from behind them.
Song Zhaoxi turned and saw a frail-looking woman walking over.
This was her new mother-in-law, Yao Lianxin—Ji Changfeng’s biological mother.
The eldest branch of the family, Yao Lianxin and her husband, were kind but weak-willed. They were the only people in the household who treated the fool well.
Unfortunately, they were too honest and submissive.
Ever since Old Master Ji had passed away, they had been oppressed by Granny Ji and the second and third branches.
If not for the fact that the eldest branch did most of the work and handed over all their earnings for the family to squander, they likely would have been thrown out long ago.
Ji Pingping let out a mocking laugh.
“What do you mean by that, Auntie? The family only agreed to take in this fool because of Big Brother Ji. We’ve fed her and given her a place to stay. Are we somehow in the wrong for that now? What, just because Big Brother can study and become a scholar, this fool can’t be touched?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“Then what did you mean? So what if you gave birth to a scholar?”
Ji Pingping spat toward both of them before helping the dizzy Granny Ji back to her room, all the while continuing to curse under her breath.
Granny Ji soon regained consciousness.
Thinking back on what had happened, she felt as though her world had been turned upside down.
Sitting beside her, Ji Pingping complained, “Grandma, Auntie is getting out of control. I only said a few words to that fool, and she accused us of bullying her. Does that fool even count as a person? We should just throw her out.”
Granny Ji thought she had a point.
Back when they had brought the fool into the family, it was supposedly to bring good fortune to Ji Changfeng.
Granny Ji had never believed in any of that.
She had only wanted to earn a good reputation among the villagers while taking the opportunity to disgust Ji Changfeng—that little bastard.
Unexpectedly, after the fool entered the family, Ji Changfeng’s health really did improve, and his studies progressed remarkably well.
But Ji Changfeng was not her biological grandson.
Deep down, Granny Ji had never wanted the eldest branch to prosper.
Originally, she had thought that since the fool was simple-minded and didn’t eat much, keeping her around as a servant wasn’t a bad idea.
Yet when she recalled the cold look in the fool’s eyes earlier, the more she thought about it, the more unsettled she became.
This fool could no longer stay.
However, if she drove her away outright, the villagers might accuse her of neglecting Ji Changfeng.
To outsiders, she was the kind-hearted step-grandmother who had generously brought a fool into the family for her grandson’s sake.
All her cruelty was reserved for behind closed doors.
Just then, Ji Dajiang and his wife from the second branch returned with the sow, carrying it back with the help of several villagers.
The courtyard quickly filled with onlookers.
An idea struck Granny Ji.
She rushed outside and began wailing dramatically.
“I can’t live like this anymore! I just can’t go on!”
“Granny Ji, what happened?”
Song Zhaoxi stepped out of the pigsty and watched Granny Ji’s performance with a cold expression.
Granny Ji pointed at her and cried out, “Everyone, please judge for yourselves! I took in this orphaned fool for Changfeng’s sake. I’ve fed her well and given her a home. I only scolded her a little, and she dared to hit me! Even my eldest daughter-in-law is defending her. I might as well die!”