Chapter 02

Knock knock knock—

The sound of knocking came, followed by the voice of a servant. “Second Miss, Madam and the others are back. They’ve asked you to come downstairs.”

Jiang Lisheng opened the door quickly, which caught Aunt Liu, who had come to call her, slightly off guard.

Everyone knew this newly found young lady was not to be trifled with. She had a naturally explosive temper, and not to mention, she had already lost her temper earlier that morning. Aunt Liu had assumed this would be a tough job, likely having to stand outside the door and endure a scolding. She hadn’t expected this at all…

Pushing those thoughts aside, Aunt Liu noticed how pale her face looked and couldn’t help but kindly remind her, “Speak properly later, and apologize to your parents.”

Jiang Lisheng said nothing and walked past her, heading downstairs.

The Jiang family was not at the very top among the prestigious families in the capital, but they weren’t at the bottom either. They were, at the very least, somewhat reputable.

The villa had four floors above ground, not counting the basement. The parents lived on the third floor, the children on the second. The fourth floor was originally meant for entertainment, but after Jiang Lisheng returned, she was given one of the spare rooms there.

As she stepped out of the elevator, she ran right into the returning family.

The living room was grand and luxurious. At the forefront stood a well-dressed couple, looking like they had just come back from a banquet. On either side of them stood two strikingly poised teenagers—her biological older brother, Jiang Ansheng, and… the adopted daughter, Jiang Nuonuo.

Without betraying any emotion, Jiang Lisheng took in the sight before her and stepped up to the four of them.

Compared to this clearly close-knit family of four, she instead looked like an outsider.

“Jiang Lisheng! After causing such a huge mess, you still have the nerve to show your face in front of me!”

Father Jiang flung the coat he had just taken off to a servant and lashed out in fury.

Jiang Lisheng’s body had been taken over tens of thousands of times, and each time she came back to life on this very day, so she knew exactly what her father was referring to.

Out of anger and jealousy over being abandoned by the family, Jiang Lisheng had once vented her frustration by speeding on the road. While passing a gas station, she was provoked by a group and casually beat up the leading punk on a ghost-fire motorcycle^[1]Ghost-fire motorcycle (鬼火摩托) is a slang term in Chinese referring to low-cost, modified mopeds often used by unruly teens for street racing. Known for their flashy lights and loud engines..

Unfortunately, that punk happened to be the young master of a partner family in business with the Jiangs.

No wonder they hadn’t even stayed to celebrate Jiang Ansheng’s birthday. They had rushed home in such a frenzy; it was clearly to come back and confront her.

Under normal circumstances, Jiang Lisheng would have already snapped back at them, but since she had just regained her body, she was in a pretty good mood. Even looking at these two parents in front of her, she found them more tolerable than usual.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have shown up in front of you,” she nodded, her expression full of sincere agreement. “So Dad, you’d better hurry up and leave.”

The sudden retort caught Father Jiang completely off guard and left him speechless.

Standing silently behind them, Jiang Ansheng lifted his eyelids slightly. His expression remained indifferent, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

Father Jiang felt his temple throbbing. The subtle shift in atmosphere made the tension in the room spike again.

At that moment, Jiang Nuonuo stepped forward at just the right time, a sweet smile on her face. “Sister, I know you’re just throwing a tantrum. I do feel guilty that Mom and Dad missed your birthday because they came to watch my competition. But still, you shouldn’t take out your anger on others.”

Her words immediately reminded Father Jiang of what Jiang Lisheng had done. His expression darkened noticeably.

Jiang Lisheng kept her gaze fixed on her.

The system chimed in helpfully with a character note: [This is Jiang Nuonuo, the male lead’s white moonlight.]

Jiang Lisheng: [I know. She’s the one who’ll take one of my kidneys in the future.]

Jiang Nuonuo was the daughter of Mother Jiang’s younger sister.

At the time, Jiang Lisheng had just been missing for a year when Mother Jiang’s sister passed away due to complications during childbirth.

In truth, Mother Jiang hadn’t been particularly close to her sister. In fact, she had harbored resentment toward her for many years, simply because the sister was an illegitimate child.

But the person was gone, and with the pain of losing her own daughter still fresh, whatever hatred she had was gradually worn away. With her husband’s approval, she decided to raise Jiang Nuonuo by her side.

Jiang Nuonuo was clever and quickly won over both parents’ affection. She even helped Mother Jiang recover from the grief of losing her daughter.

As with all old-school abuse novels, the female supporting character Jiang Nuonuo was intelligent, endlessly adored, and beloved by the male lead, her childhood friend. Later in the story, when she fell ill, the male lead and his family forcibly took a kidney from Jiang Lisheng to save her.

Jiang Lisheng had grown up in the back alleys of the city, and whatever little cunning she had was used up by her adoptive parents. There was no way she could outmatch these people from a powerful household.

Before awakening, Jiang Lisheng had suffered quite a bit at Jiang Nuonuo’s hands.

Jiang Nuonuo’s friends often used appearances to put her down. Whenever the two stood together, they would say one was an ugly duckling and the other a white swan. Even if Jiang Lisheng didn’t care at first, hearing that over and over still made her feel inferior and upset.

If it wasn’t appearance, then it was talent. They would say Jiang Nuonuo excelled in all the traditional arts: zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and was always at the top of her class. And her? She paled in comparison in every way. How could someone like her possibly be worthy of entering the Jiang family?

At the time, Jiang Lisheng couldn’t understand why.

She didn’t understand why others insisted on comparing her to Jiang Nuonuo, nor why, despite being the biological child, her family didn’t seem to like her at all.

Now she understood.

In this kind of old-school abusive romance novel^[2]“old-school abusive romance novel” (古早虐文) is a genre of early Chinese web novels known for dramatic and emotionally intense plots where the female lead often suffers repeated mistreatment … Continue reading, eighty percent of the female lead’s plotlines existed solely to highlight how amazing the dazzling female supporting character was—her excellence, intelligence, and beauty. Otherwise, how could they emphasize the female lead’s inferiority, ordinariness, and sensitivity? How else could they set up her transformation later on to stun everyone?

Whether it was intelligence or beauty, all of it was nothing more than plot-imposed traits.

Jiang Lisheng had figured it out and no longer cared.

The girl in front of her wore a faint smile, deliberately standing between the parents, her arm gently linked through Mother Jiang’s, subtly yet naturally showing off the newly bought diamond bracelet on her wrist.

These small gestures of subtle flaunting were common from her. In the past, when Jiang Lisheng was starved for affection, she had indeed fallen for it. But things were different now—she had a new brain.

And this new brain worked wonderfully. This time, Jiang Lisheng wouldn’t fall for such childish tricks.

“Yes, it was my fault.” Jiang Lisheng nodded and looked away, her expression solemn. “Compared to a birthday, my little sister’s competition is more important. Today is, after all, the day Mom suffered to bring me into this world. It makes sense not to celebrate. I suggest we cancel both my birthday and my brother’s in the future. Just celebrate yours.”

She smiled faintly, her gaze full of meaning. “After all, you’re not the same as us.”

Jiang Nuonuo had just been about to ask what was different when, a second later, she understood the hidden meaning behind Jiang Lisheng’s words.

Her biological father was unknown, and her mother had died the day she was born. Yet every year, she held lavish birthday celebrations. Jiang Lisheng was clearly mocking her for not honoring her birth mother.

Her pretty face turned pale. Mother Jiang, standing beside her, seemed to realize it too. She fell silent and quietly pulled her arm out of Jiang Nuonuo’s grasp.

That small gesture immediately filled Jiang Nuonuo with a wave of grievance.

Father Jiang had always been biased, and now, with his anger rising again, he immediately erupted, shouting, “Your sister was absolutely right! You’ve been back for two years, and you’ve failed both in academics and as a person. If I had known you’d turn out this useless, I never should have brought you back! Even taking that pig at the village gate as my daughter would’ve been better than you!”

Father Jiang was, after all, well-educated. Though strict, he rarely used crude language. But today he was truly furious, angrier than he had ever been.

Jiang Lisheng didn’t argue. She listened quietly and obediently.

She stood straight, her eyes calm and indifferent. Only after confirming that Father Jiang had finished his scolding did she respond earnestly, “Father, your reprimand is well deserved.”

Father Jiang fell silent, vaguely sensing that something was off about Jiang Lisheng today.

Jiang Lisheng added, “Compared to me, it seems that pig at the village gate is more suited to be your daughter.”

“…”

The grand hall fell into an odd silence for two seconds as everyone tried to make sense of what she had just said.

Wait a moment…

Something’s not right. That sounded like an insult.

Jiang Lisheng couldn’t be bothered with them. She walked past them and headed out.

Before she reached the door, a sudden voice interrupted her. “Where are you going?”

The voice was clear and sharp, almost catching the ear. At first listen, one might have mistaken it for a voice actor’s.

Jiang Lisheng stopped in her tracks and looked up.

The speaker was Jiang Ansheng, her biological older brother.

The young man had just turned eighteen this year. Among his peers, he stood out with his height—estimated to be over 1.8 meters.

He wore a silver-white suit, perfectly complementing Jiang Nuonuo’s black evening dress.

To be fair, Jiang Ansheng and Jiang Lisheng looked very much alike.

Both of them had delicate and gentle facial features, the kind that left a striking impression at first glance.

However, this softness didn’t make Jiang Ansheng appear feminine. On the contrary, it was tempered by his cool and aloof demeanor, lending him an air of distance and unapproachability.

Jiang Lisheng had a fiery temper, while Jiang Ansheng was the quiet type.

Since her return two years ago, she hadn’t had much interaction with this biological brother.

She was genuinely surprised that he had spoken.

Still, she didn’t respond to him. After a two-second pause, she simply walked away on her own. This caused Jiang Ansheng, who remained standing in place, to frown slightly, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Father Jiang, still fuming from Jiang Lisheng’s behavior, grabbed his wife’s hand and snapped, “Don’t bother with her. She’ll come back once she’s hungry.” Remembering the call from the Zhao family, his expression grew even darker, and his words became even harsher. “If I had known it would be like this, I would’ve let her fend for herself out there. It’s been two years—if I’d raised a dog, it would be loyal by now.”

After all, she was her own flesh and blood. Hearing him speak that way, Mother Jiang felt uncomfortable, though more than anything, she still harbored resentment toward her biological daughter.

She resented her for being immature, disobedient, and not as considerate and understanding as Jiang Nuonuo.

The atmosphere among the family was tense. Jiang Nuonuo quickly brushed aside her earlier displeasure and naturally positioned herself between the couple, her voice sweet as honey. “Dad, Mom, don’t be angry. Sister is just being immature. I’ll apologize on her behalf.” She gently ushered them forward. “Today is Brother’s birthday, and I won an award for my dance. Let’s enjoy dinner and celebrate properly. Let’s not dwell on unhappy things.”

She had always been obedient and thoughtful. With a few smooth and flattering words, she quickly soothed the parents, and soon, they had already cast Jiang Lisheng out of their minds and followed Jiang Nuonuo into the dining room.

Jiang Ansheng remained where he was.

He looked down, his gaze fixed on his WeChat messages, where his birthday greeting, along with several other messages, still sat unanswered.

**

The Jiang family lived in Jin Palace.

In this capital city where every inch of land was precious, this luxurious villa district was situated right in the bustling heart of the city. Though located in a lively area, the villas offered rare tranquility. It went without saying that the price was astronomical, and those who lived here were either wealthy or powerful. The entire compound held only thirty villas, so residents were few, and outside vehicles were not allowed entry.

Naturally, there were no taxis or buses available for her to take.

In the end, Jiang Lisheng decided to ride her own beat-up scooter.

The electric bike was an off-brand model, painted blue and white. She had bought it when she was fifteen using money earned from part-time jobs. Though it was secondhand, it was the only possession she had ever truly owned in her life.

She remembered the day she had secretly saved up and brought the scooter back, not daring to let her adoptive parents find out. So she had left it at a childhood friend’s place. When they eventually found out, her adoptive parents had yanked her by the hair and beat her. Unwilling to back down, she had bitten a chunk of flesh from her adoptive father’s hand, then rode the scooter around the town all night.

Jiang Lisheng carefully inspected the scooter. It had a few fresh scratches from the previous night’s wild ride when that group had attacked her, but nothing serious.

She fastened her helmet and rode off.

The sun was about to set. The villas were spaced far apart, and the surrounding scenery was picturesque like a brush-painted oil painting, every corner bursting with vivid colors.

Her little blue scooter weaved through the road with a beeping di di di, just as it turned a corner and crossed paths with a black Maybach.

[It’s the male lead! Yes!] The system was extremely excited at that moment. [Host, crash into him!!]

Jiang Lisheng: “?”

Are you out of your mind?

System: [That’s how the plot is supposed to go. You have to stage a crash, get injured, make the male lead misunderstand you, and deepen his bad impression. That’s the only way to advance the storyline!]

The Maybach was jet black from top to bottom, and its license plate flaunted an arrogant sequence of five sixes.

Jiang Lisheng’s brow twitched. There was no way she was going to crash into it. She asked, [So deepening the impression is enough, right?]

System: [Yes, that’s right.]

Fine. Just deepen the impression, huh?

She steered the scooter to the side and then—

Faced with the approaching luxury car, she raised both middle fingers high. Her red hair was bold and eye-catching, chin lifted slightly, nostrils aimed forward, her entire demeanor screaming arrogance.

System: […]

The system kindly reminded her: [Host, please maintain your character persona.]

Maintain the persona? Jiang Lisheng raised an eyebrow, then adjusted her expression, putting on a pitiful, teary-eyed little-white-flower look. “How about this?”

Sensing the system’s silence, Jiang Lisheng righteously said, “What, is there some rule saying a delicate white-lotus female lead isn’t allowed to flip the bird?”

The moment she finished speaking, the plot progress bar crept forward by one tiny point. The system slowly let out a: [……6^[3]‘6’ is Chinese internet slang that means “cool,” “well played,” or “well said.” So when the system responded with [……6], it was expressing approval or praise..]