Chapter 1: Transmigration
Spring, 1952
Capitalist Jiang Residence, Lucheng

“Jiang Wei, whether you like it or not, you’re getting married. It was you who stole nutrients from Xiaoyan in the womb. It was you who made her frail at birth, forcing her to rely on ginseng and bird’s nest soup to survive.

Back when the Gu family was wealthy, Xiaoyan could still live in luxury after marriage. But now that they’ve fallen from grace and are about to be exiled to the countryside—not to mention that Gu Da is a chronically ill, terminal patient—I’m not letting Xiaoyan marry him just to become a widow.”

Those heartless words made Jiang Wei suddenly open her eyes. In front of her was a traditional, ornately decorated Chinese hall.

Two pear blossom chairs with intricate carvings stood in the room. On them sat a middle-aged couple: the man in a black Zhongshan suit, the woman in a black qipao with golden trim.

They were the original body’s parents—Jiang Dahai and Shen Peirong.

The person Shen Peirong was gently comforting by the hand was the Jiang family’s eldest daughter, Jiang Yan, the original body’s twin sister.

Speaking of twins, Jiang Wei gave Shen Peirong, that biased mother, a mocking look before her gaze landed on the jade pendant around Jiang Yan’s neck.

Jiang Yan’s hand stopped wiping her tears and nervously pressed down on the pendant.

Shen Peirong didn’t like the way her younger daughter was looking at her. “Jiang Wei, it was my decision for you to marry in Xiaoyan’s place. Why are you glaring at her?”

She had always disliked the youngest daughter sent off to the countryside. Bringing her back was only so she could take Xiaoyan’s place and marry into the Gu family—a family now doomed, with a groom on death’s door.

“Ohh~” Jiang Wei deliberately dragged out the syllable.

Back then, Shen Peirong’s first child had been delivered prematurely. When giving birth to the twins, complications caused by the original body’s overdevelopment led to a difficult labor, making her unable to bear any more children.

As the main wife of the household with no son, Shen Peirong blamed everything on the original body.

Coincidentally, a fortune teller claimed the second daughter was destined to bring misfortune to her parents and sister, while Jiang Yan was born blessed, with a jade in her mouth. If kept apart from her twin, the family’s fortune would flourish.

Without a second thought, Jiang Dahai and Shen Peirong sent the newborn—who hadn’t even nursed—to a random rural household to be raised.

As for the adoptive parents… they weren’t worth mentioning.

Jiang Dahai was furious at his daughter’s lack of manners. “You little savage from the countryside! No sense of propriety! Jiang Wei, how dare you speak to your mother like that?”

Shen Peirong felt comforted when her husband defended her.

Over the years, she’d regretted not giving him a son. But he never blamed her—instead, he poured all his hopes into Xiaoyan, even arranging for her to marry the eldest son of Commander Gu.

Who would’ve thought that the commander would fall from power and be exiled to the countryside? With no choice, she brought Jiang Wei back to marry into misfortune instead.

“Father, don’t get angry. It’s not worth harming your health. My sister just speaks her mind. She has no emotional bond with Mother, which is understandable.

If it’s really too much, let me marry instead. I’m frail anyway—dying a bit sooner or later makes no difference. Cough, cough, cough…” Jiang Yan said, then coughed up bright red blood.

“Oh my precious baby! You’re coughing blood again—it must be that Jiang Wei upsetting you!

My sweet girl, stop saying such nonsense. Drink your soup—Mother had the kitchen specially prepare ginseng chicken soup just for you,” Shen Peirong said, quickly patting her back and feeding her herself.

Jiang Yan gave Jiang Wei a smug look from behind her tears.

Jiang Wei returned an exaggerated sniff and nearly laughed at their mother-daughter act.

“Oh no, Master Jiang! You can’t let the eldest miss marry!

Setting aside the hardships of the countryside, I’ve heard that Gu Da coughs up enough blood to fill two bowls. They even say he drinks human blood and eats flesh! If the eldest miss marries into that family… oh heavens, that’s a death sentence!”

The woman in the purple qipao was the most favored concubine, Chen Xiaolian, mother to Jiang Yunhe.

Jiang Yunhe was the same age as Jiang Wei, but he’d suffered brain damage after a fall at age five.

His mind remained stuck at five years old ever since.

At that moment, he was squatting and playing with marbles. Seeing Chen Xiaolian laugh and cry like a magpie in spring, he gleefully picked up a marble and flicked it straight at her face. Pop!

“Oww!” Her fake crying turned into real sobbing.

The scene was absurd. Everyone had strange expressions—Shen Peirong looked gleeful, Jiang Yan full of disdain, and Jiang Dahai shouted in frustration, “What a disaster!”

Chen Xiaolian chased after Jiang Yunhe in anger.

Jiang Yunhe hid behind Jiang Wei and stuck out his tongue at his mother.

Furious, Chen Xiaolian raised her foot to kick him—but Jiang Wei suddenly kicked her to the ground.

“Oww, Master Jiang! She hit me, wuwuwu…”

“Heh. I am the legitimate daughter of the Jiang family. Jiang Yunhe is the rightful young master. And you? You’re just a concubine. What right do you have to discipline us?” Jiang Wei’s plain face radiated hostility.

“I…” Chen Xiaolian was stunned. Spoiled for years by her lover’s indulgence, she had long forgotten her place. Her face turned ghostly pale.

“Cough, cough, cough… Sister, even if Aunt Chen is a concubine, she grew up with Father and gave him children. Aren’t your words a slap in Father’s face?” Jiang Yan tried to bring her father’s authority into play.

But her freshly drunk chicken soup left a strong odor as she spoke, and Jiang Wei pinched her nose in disgust.

“Reeks.”

Jiang Dahai exploded. “Wretched girl! Apologize to your aunt immediately!”

“Father, have you gone senile too? I may be a bumpkin you abandoned in the countryside, but I still represent Mother’s status. You want me, a legitimate daughter, to apologize to a concubine? If word gets out, wouldn’t the Jiang family become a laughingstock?

Do you and sister really not understand even this basic truth?”

“I understand just fine. I just don’t like your arrogant, defiant attitude. You don’t act like a proper young lady at all,” Jiang Dahai snapped, unwilling to admit he was in the wrong—just soft-hearted toward his concubine.

Jiang Yan tearfully added, “Sister, I only want our family to live in harmony. Why would you accuse me so harshly? I was just afraid your reputation for bringing misfortune would make the Gu family reject you.”

Classic green tea move—bringing up the original body’s supposed curse to stir the family’s anger.

But who was Jiang Wei?

She was a top-tier transmigrator, once cast as the villainous green tea in countless stories!

She quickly wiped her tears and said, “Thank you, sister, for your concern. Those rumors have already left me bruised and scarred, but I’m fine. This is a new society now. If anyone tries to slander me with superstition again—I’ll report them.”

The message was clear: anyone who dared bring it up again would be reported for promoting feudal superstitions.

As expected, Jiang Dahai stepped in to mediate. “Enough. No one is allowed to mention sending the second miss to the countryside anymore. Xiaoyan, that includes you.”

It was a sensitive time—many capitalists in the city were being sent to the countryside for reeducation. One had to tread carefully.

“Yes, Father.” Jiang Yan reluctantly agreed but added, “Sister, I didn’t mean that. I just meant Aunt Chen has had a hard life.”

“Being a concubine can’t possibly be harder than being the main wife, right, sister? You don’t sympathize with Mother running the household but instead pity Aunt Chen. What’s so hard about lying in bed drinking bird’s nest soup all day?”

“Cough, cough, cough… Sister, your words are vulgar and disrespectful.”

“You can’t blame me. That’s just how people talk in the countryside. Even if I’m a country bumpkin, I understand that a woman’s status comes from her mother. I only feel sorry for my own mother, not for Father’s other women.”