Chapter 2: Just Transmigrated and Already Plotted Against

Shen Peirong’s eyes welled with tears, guilt rising in her heart. She hadn’t expected the daughter she disliked most to speak up in her defense, while the daughter she had always cherished took the side of a concubine.

The grievances from all these years brought tears to her eyes.

Chen Xiaolian was both confused and panicked. She was confused because Jiang Wei wasn’t anything like the weak, stupid girl she’d heard about.
She was panicked because—had Jiang Wei already discovered Jiang Yan’s true identity?

Jiang Yan panicked too. She couldn’t let Shen Peirong’s attitude waver. As she wiped Shen Peirong’s tears, she also started crying.
“Mother, it seems my sister is already well-adjusted to rural life. You can rest easy letting her marry into the Gu family.”
If she’d known Jiang Wei was such a smooth talker, she should’ve poisoned her mute on the way back to the city.

“That’s right,” Shen Peirong composed herself. “Weiwei, you don’t understand your sister’s character. She’s kind and warm-hearted. Even the concubines and maids in the residence adore her.
The second concubine only spoke up for her out of concern. After all, your birth caused your sister to be frail—marrying into the Gu family can be seen as atonement.”

So Jiang Yan marrying over would be suffering, but the original body marrying over and becoming a widow would be a blessing? The logic was so twisted it was practically leaking out the other end.

Jiang Wei nodded sweetly. “I understand, Mother. I’ll obediently marry into the Gu family and take the place of my sister in marrying that dying invalid.”
She was a professional transmigrator—if she got this body, then she had to do the job.

Her sudden obedience made Shen Peirong uncomfortable. “You really are willing to marry that sickly man from the Gu family?”

“Mhm. Marrying him means I’ll be a ready-made widow. Such a good deal—I couldn’t be happier.”

Both Chen Xiaolian and Jiang Yan smirked mockingly. So Jiang Wei really was just a fool missing a few brain cells. They’d worried too much.

“Then your father and I will prepare a generous dowry for you,” Shen Peirong said, both comforted and a little guilty. If the girl really did become a widow, she’d find her a good family for remarriage.

“I appreciate you and Father going through the trouble. I’m feeling a bit tired—I’d like to return to my room to rest.”

Trying to buy her off with a little dowry?

Not happening.

Her goal was the entire Jiang and Shen family fortune—including the two stone lions at the gate.

Jiang Dahai waved irritably, “Go on then. Help Second Miss back to her room. The wind’s been strong lately—don’t come out. Leave the marriage arrangements to your mother and sister. You just stay put and prepare for the wedding.”

In other words: lock her in her room to prevent her from running away.

“Thank you, Father.” Jiang Wei deliberately turned toward Jiang Yunhe and said in surprise, “How strange. Big Brother is supposedly the second concubine’s child, yet he looks so much like Mother. And Big Sister, she actually resembles the second concubine.
Isn’t there a saying—sons resemble their mothers? Anyone who didn’t know better might think Big Brother was actually my twin.”

As soon as she spoke, cold sweat broke out on both Chen Xiaolian and Jiang Yan’s foreheads, and even Jiang Dahai’s expression shifted to panic.

Shen Peirong, perceptive as she was, looked at Jiang Yunhe—who resembled her more than anyone—and her mind went blank.

Could it be…? No way…

Jiang Wei left at that moment with deliberately heavy steps. Any longer and she might’ve laughed out loud.

Before transmigrating, she had just completed her strategy mission and was about to receive a billion-dollar reward.

Who would’ve thought a system error would send her into a retro 1950s novel titled “After Marrying the Troublemaker from the City, I Struck It Rich”—where she became the male lead Gu Ting’s ugly, dumb, and malicious ex-wife.

She firmly believed it wasn’t a system error—the System Bureau just couldn’t take the loss.

So no matter how the system explained it, she filed a complaint.

Eventually, the System Bureau compensated her with a three-story villa space, perfect for hoarding supplies,
and a resource-trading system that let her exchange materials with other transmigrators from around the world.

Only then did she withdraw the complaint.

As an experienced transmigrator, she had already thoroughly studied most of the novel’s plot.

Jiang Yan was not the original host’s twin sister, but rather the daughter of the second concubine.

Back when Shen Peirong passed out after giving birth, Jiang Dahai and Chen Xiaolian switched Jiang Yunhe and Jiang Yan.

That’s right—the scumbag father, Jiang Dahai, was part of the baby swap plan.

Chen Xiaolian wanted her daughter to become the legitimate daughter.

Jiang Dahai, on the other hand, didn’t want a son born of Shen Peirong to inherit the family business.

The so-called fortune teller? Just another part of their scheme—meant to get rid of Jiang Wei and have Shen Peirong focus entirely on raising Jiang Yan.

Their ultimate goal was to trick Shen Peirong into handing over all the property left to her by her father—to wipe out her bloodline entirely.

When Jiang Yunhe was five, he fought with Jiang Yan over a jade pendant and was pushed into a rock by Chen Xiaolian—leaving him mentally disabled.

Jiang Yan wasn’t the female lead. She was a “black koi”—a vicious supporting role who thrived off the protagonist’s luck and wore the jade pendant to drain her fortune.

The original host? She was the male lead’s malicious ex-wife who died early.

In the novel, Jiang Yan, the black koi, learned in advance that the Gu family was about to be exiled,
so she urged Shen Peirong to bring Jiang Wei back from the countryside to marry in her place.

Using her sweet appearance and gentle act, she fooled the naïve original host into marrying Gu Ting,
then couldn’t stand how well the Gu family treated Jiang Wei.
She schemed to make the original hand over the Gu family’s assets that were entrusted to her,
sowed discord between Jiang Wei and Gu Ting, and manipulated the naive girl into reporting the Gu family for hoarding wealth, leading to a fast-track divorce.

In the end, after acquiring a massive inheritance from the Shen family, Jiang Dahai abandoned Jiang Wei, Shen Peirong, and Jiang Yunhe, fleeing to Hong Kong with Chen Xiaolian and Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan used the vast resources she obtained from both the Gu and Shen families to become a celebrated socialite.
She later returned to the mainland and married the male lead’s rival, the story’s second male lead and major antagonist.

The original Jiang Wei, realizing the truth too late, took Jiang Yunhe to beg Gu Ting for forgiveness.
On the road, they were captured and tortured by remnants of the Japanese army hiding in China.
It was the male and female leads who ultimately wiped out the enemy and avenged the siblings, laying them to rest properly.

As for Shen Peirong, she was sent to a labor farm to raise pigs due to her capitalist background.
When she learned that both her children had died, she fell into a pit of pig manure and drowned.

“Second Miss, I heard you had an argument with Madam. I brought some chicken soup for you.”

Just as Jiang Wei returned to her room, a woman in a pink qipao arrived with a five-year-old boy, carrying chicken soup.

Chen Yiyi.

The third concubine of the scumbag father, younger half-sister to Chen Xiaolian. With her came her five-year-old son, Jiang Tian.

Jiang Tian blinked his large eyes and stared at Jiang Wei.
“You’re the country bumpkin raised in the countryside because you bring bad luck to your parents, right?”

“That’s right. And you’re the illegitimate little brat born after your mom borrowed seed from someone else because her husband couldn’t give her a child, right?”

“Cough cough! Second Miss, I kindly brought you chicken soup—why must you slander my innocence?” Chen Yiyi’s voice trembled with fear as she protested.

“Slander? Isn’t it the truth?” Jiang Wei smirked and knocked over the bowl of chicken soup.

The soup sizzled as it hit the floor, corroding the wood.

“Third Concubine, if I drank that soup, I’d probably end up being a mute bride.”

“It wasn’t me!” Chen Yiyi turned pale as a sheet. “It was the eldest miss—she said if I made you mute, she’d have the madam recognize Jiang Tian as her own son!”