CHAPTER 1 : WEAK VASE

Jiang Su was an assassin.

The ultra-cold, ultra-cool, ultra-ruthless.

Like the typical assassin backstory, she had no parents since childhood and was taken in by someone. She never went to school, never had friends. The director hired teachers to tutor her one-on-one. Calligraphy, chess, painting, martial arts—she was taught everything.

And so, she grew up.

Grew until she was nineteen.

The day before Jiang Su’s nineteenth birthday, her specialized instructor knocked on her door and smiled, saying, “Tomorrow, I’ll be teaching you things only adults can learn.”

Jiang Su had never learned those things before, but she had a general idea—it was nothing more than using seduction to lure a target.

She changed into her pajamas, feeling restless for the first time.

She didn’t know how many times she had tossed and turned when she finally opened her eyes in the dark, frowning.

Cough… She choked on water.

The next moment, more water engulfed her.

“Help! Someone jumped into the river! Quick, help!”

“Hurry, hurry! Over there! She’s about to go under!”

This road was always congested, and today was no exception. Upon hearing cries for help, many people got out of their cars.

Some were just there to gawk and take pictures, while others genuinely wanted to help.

Inside a white nanny van, a young man rolled down the window, glanced toward the river, and said in a low voice, “Something seems to be happening over there.”

“That’s none of our business, though! Damn, when will this traffic clear up? Look at these people—if they all get out of their cars, even when the road clears, we’ll still be stuck here!” A middle-aged man in the back seat slapped his thigh in frustration.

But the young man couldn’t hold back any longer. He pushed open the car door.

“Hey, hey, ancestor, where are you going? We’re already late! It’s your birthday party today!”

“I’m going to take a look.”

“Look at what?”

“I won a swimming championship.”

The middle-aged man cursed, “I know you won a championship, but wasn’t that like eight hundred years ago? What, are you going to jump in and save someone now?”

The young man had a tall and upright figure, and even with sunglasses and a mask, his presence was impossible to ignore. As he moved toward the river, people instinctively stepped aside for him.

When he saw that someone was indeed struggling in the water, he didn’t hesitate—he shrugged off his coat and shirt, tossed aside his hat and sunglasses, took a running start, pushed off the railing with one foot, and leaped toward the riverbank.

The crowd gasped in unison.

“Oh, impressive!”

Meanwhile, Jiang Su was still processing the flood of information pouring into her mind.

She hadn’t sorted everything out yet.

All she knew was that she had become a character in a book, a woman who had jumped into the river over a broken heart. And in the original plot, some celebrity was supposed to rescue her, but in the process, he drowned while she survived. As a result, she was vilified and scorned, treated like a rat on the street.

Jiang Su didn’t want to be a rat.

Without hesitation, she gathered all her strength, swung her arms, and applied the swimming skills she had practiced for over a decade—propelling herself toward the surface.

The cries for help around her abruptly ceased.

For a brief moment, the air seemed to freeze.

Jiang Su swiftly wiped the water off her face and calmly addressed the onlookers. “I’m fine. Just admiring the scenery, slipped a little.” After recalling something from her interpersonal relations lessons, she added, “Sorry for worrying everyone.”

Her tone was a bit stiff, but her voice was exceptionally pleasant—clear as an oriole’s song, with a hint of cool detachment.

And when people took a proper look at her, they realized—she was breathtakingly beautiful.

She was soaked from head to toe, her skin pale, wet strands of hair clinging to her face, and long curled eyelashes trembling under the weight of water droplets.

Her delicate, stunning features made her look incredibly fragile.

The young man didn’t dare to stare for too long.

After a brief moment of shock, the surrounding crowd quickly began to speak up:

“It’s alright, as long as you’re okay.”

“We called an ambulance for you, do you still need it, miss?”

“Are you cold? Here, take my coat.”

“Be careful next time! Don’t walk so close to the riverbank for no reason!”

Jiang Su had never been surrounded by so many people at once. Listening to the voices rising around her, she found herself momentarily stunned.

But she wasn’t the only one.

The young man was also caught off guard.

He stood there awkwardly, locking eyes with Jiang Su.

Jiang Su had just arrived in this world and hadn’t fully figured out the situation. She didn’t want to offend anyone unnecessarily. Noticing that the young man seemed somewhat displeased, she thought for a moment and said, “Thank you.”

The young man opened his mouth, wanting to say, I didn’t even do anything, there’s no need to thank me…

But before he could speak, Jiang Su continued, offering him a compliment: “You have a good physique.” Don’t be upset.

The young man: “……”

He stood there, cold wind blowing against him for a few seconds. His face and neck turned slightly red, and he was so stiff he couldn’t get a single word out.

By the time Jiang Su had walked past him and was heading away, he finally snapped back to his senses. He bent down, picked up the shirt and coat he had discarded earlier, and put them back on.

“Damn, you scared me to death!” A middle-aged man had rushed over from the nanny van, throwing his arms around him. “You didn’t jump in, did you? If you catch a cold, I swear I’ll lose my mind!”

The young man pushed him away and turned around. He glanced at the girl’s retreating figure, hesitated for a moment, then caught up to her and handed over his coat. “Wrap it around your waist… you’re, um… kind of wet…”

By the time he got to the last part of the sentence, his voice had started to stammer.

Jiang Su accepted it, along with another coat handed to her by a kind older woman in the crowd.

She wore one as a jacket.

Wrapped the other around her waist.

“Thank you,” Jiang Su said.

With her attitude so composed, the crowd naturally stopped questioning why she had fallen into the river or whether their concern had been unnecessary. Instead, the atmosphere remained warm and friendly.

Just then, the ambulance and police car arrived.

Jiang Su tensed up slightly.

She was an assassin, though she had yet to carry out a mission. Still, the director had repeatedly emphasized that people like them were natural enemies of the police—like mice and cats.

Suppressing the instinct to flee, Jiang Su obediently followed the paramedics into the ambulance.

Meanwhile, the young man also returned to the nanny van.

“Oh my god, why did you give her your coat?” The middle-aged man scolded in exasperation. “What if she turns out to be some obsessed fan? If your other fans see this, what will they think?”

“I was trying to help.” The young man paused, then said, “If fans would be upset over that… then they need to be guided differently.”

The middle-aged man was speechless.

“Alright, alright, let’s get moving. Actress Dong—who has been out of the entertainment industry for years—is coming to your birthday party today. That’s big news! You cannot be late! If the media catches wind of it, they’ll say you don’t respect your seniors!” The man continued nagging, “At that point, it won’t just be news—it’ll be a scandal…”

The young man hummed in acknowledgment.

But he didn’t say that it wasn’t him who had invited Dong to the party.

She had offered to come.

His thoughts drifted back to the girl who had fallen into the river.

She didn’t seem like she had simply slipped, nor did she look like she had jumped in out of despair.

Her eyes were strikingly clear—detached and indifferent, yet carrying a touch of innocence…

Hopefully, she won’t fall in again, the young man thought. Then he finally lowered his head, unlocked his phone, and scrolled through the many birthday wishes on Weibo.

Meanwhile, Jiang Su, sitting in the ambulance, sneezed.

A nurse wrapped a blanket around her and asked gently, “Do you have a phone? You should contact your guardian.”

Jiang Su reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.

It was completely waterlogged.

She shook her head.

The nurse could only sigh. “Alright then, once we get to the hospital, we’ll run a check-up, and the police can help contact someone for you.”

Jiang Su nodded.

But in the next moment, a sharp pain pierced her head.

More images and information flooded her mind.

A lavishly decorated villa.

A pale-faced girl muttering under her breath as she smashed a picture frame: “So that’s why he always ignored me, never sparing me a glance—it’s because of Dong. He likes Dong.”

Inside the shattered frame was a photo of a woman in her thirties, dressed in an elegant white evening gown. Her slightly curled short hair was styled in a soft, airy fashion, making her look delicate and ethereal.

A servant, hearing the noise, quickly knocked on the door. “Miss Jiang, are you alright? Did something break? Did you cut yourself?”

Silence.

When the servant got no response and eventually left, the girl quietly took her phone and wallet and went downstairs.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she overheard two servants whispering:

“Miss Jiang really has a strange temper. I called her several times, but she wouldn’t respond. I think she broke something.”

“Do you think it was something of the master’s?”

“That shouldn’t be the case…”

“I’ll go make her some medicine. She keeps getting sick every few days—it’s honestly odd.”

Tears slid down the girl’s face. She murmured, “No one likes me. I don’t belong in this house. I’m just a burden.”

The memories continued flashing rapidly.

The girl jumped into the river. The young man died instead of her.

And then came the flood of online hate:

“Why wasn’t it you who died back then?”

“Disgusting.”

Then, that woman—Dong—stood before the girl.

Dressed in an even more glamorous evening gown than the one in the photo, she looked down at her with an air of superiority. A faint smile graced her lips.

“Hm,” she mused, “you do resemble me a little.”

The scene replayed rapidly.

Someone stood in an office, reporting the girl’s death in a low voice.

The leather chair swiveled around.

A tall man in a black suit sat in it. His features were striking—sharp brows and eyes like ink, deep and piercing. The upward tilt of his eyes and the high bridge of his nose made his already exquisite face exude an air of danger, an aggression that made people avert their gaze.

He reacted as if hearing something trivial, merely saying, “Got it.”

Jiang Su’s gaze shifted to the desk, where a sleek name card holder sat. On the card, two characters stood out—”Cheng Yue.” Below them, a string of numbers. Simple and precise.

Then, the images in her mind abruptly stopped.

“You okay?” A nurse’s urgent voice rang in her ears.

“Strange, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with her,” a doctor murmured in confusion.

Jiang Su quickly looked up and met their gazes. “I’m fine.”

That man—Cheng Yue—was powerful and terrifying.

Jiang Su’s sharp instincts immediately extracted the most crucial piece of information.

The ambulance soon arrived at the hospital. By then, she had already sorted through the memories of this body’s past.

There was no going back to her original world. She had to continue living in this body that resembled hers, but she had no intention of living the girl’s life.

Oddly enough, realizing she no longer had to complete an endless stream of assassination missions made her feel slightly relieved.

She cooperated with the doctors and nurses through a full-body examination, then used the soggy bills in the wallet to pay the fees. Afterward, she went to the nearby mall to buy new clothes and a phone before clumsily following the GPS to find a hotel.

By the time she finished checking in, it was already 7 PM.

Dragging her exhausted body, she slowly made her way toward the elevator.

A man rushed past her, gripping his phone tightly, cursing furiously.

“Is she insane? She hasn’t even debuted and already ran off to date someone? Did she sign the company contract for nothing? The official lineup has already been submitted—where the hell am I supposed to find a replacement?”

“If the scandal broke mid-competition, at least we’d get some publicity out of it! But she got caught before it even started—how are people supposed to take our company seriously now?”

“Tell her to get lost! Get lost, get lost, get lost!”

“I’m about to just grab someone off the street at this point—”

The man hung up in a rage and stepped into the elevator alongside Jiang Su.

Of course, “grabbing someone off the street” was just an outburst.

He thought about selecting another trainee from the company—someone pretty, someone ornamental, someone with no money or connections, easy to control. Someone who could be pulled out of the competition at any moment if needed…

Ding—the elevator doors opened.

His train of thought was abruptly cut off.

Jiang Su stepped out first.

The man happened to catch a glimpse of her back and froze.

“Hey—Miss! Wait a second… wait!” He quickly chased after her.

Jiang Su turned around, staring at him coldly.

For some reason, a shiver ran down his spine. But he quickly suppressed the strange feeling, pulled out his phone, and opened a news alert.

Then he looked at Jiang Su. Then at the phone. Then at Jiang Su again…

“It’s really her from the news!”

Jiang Su tilted her head slightly, silent.

This guy was weird.

If they ended up fighting, should she twist his neck first or kick him in the chest?

“The person Zhao Qiuying rescued in the news—it was you!” The man spoke eagerly.

She’s gorgeous. He thought to himself.

Even in those blurry news photos, her beauty had been unmistakable.

And standing here in person, she looked even more delicate, like the ultimate fragile vase.

Jiang Su’s tone was indifferent. “He didn’t save me.”

The man nodded quickly. “Right, right. He was going to, but before he could, you climbed out yourself. Either way, you both made the news together!” And on Zhao Qiuying’s birthday, no less. The publicity was insane—it shot straight to the top of the trending charts!

And wasn’t Zhao Qiuying a mentor on that upcoming idol competition?

This kind of hype…

The man forced a warm smile and handed her a business card. “Hello, I’m a talent manager from Sanjin Entertainment. Would you consider training with us and debuting in an idol competition?”

Debut? As a celebrity?

Jiang Su had seen this on TV before.

She pursed her lips. “…How much per month?”

“Base pay is three thousand.”

Jiang Su turned and walked away.

A contract killer made at least three hundred thousand per job.

The man quickly shouted after her, “But if you debut successfully, you’ll be making tens of thousands a month—bare minimum! If you act in movies, shoot commercials, release an album—you’ll be making millions!”

Jiang Su suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Millions?

Alright, career change it is.

By midnight, the birthday party was still in full swing.

Dong Jiayu turned slightly toward Zhao Qiuying, smiling. “I heard you’re going to be a mentor on an idol show?” She smiled slightly, “How about I be a guest too?”.

Zhao Qiuying, distracted, replied absentmindedly, “Mm, whatever..”

Meanwhile, Jiang Su, fresh from a shower, sat at the hotel desk, emptying the contents of her wallet.

Among them was a shiny bank card, probably holding a lot of money.

It wasn’t hers, so she didn’t even spare it another glance. Without hesitation, she snapped it in half and tossed it into the trash.

Then she frowned slightly.

Under the warm light, her jade-like skin glowed with an almost unreal beauty.

“…Strength and skills are still intact, but this body’s durability is terrible,” she muttered.

What if she met that fierce-looking Cheng Yue in the future and couldn’t snap his neck with one hand?