Chapter 7

The young girl was tall and slender, with fair skin.

Her clothes were fashionable—at first glance, she looked like the daughter of a wealthy family.

Lin Xiaoxiao searched her memory and realized that the rich young lady standing before her was none other than Jiang Shanshan—the girl who had swapped lives with her!

From the female lead’s perspective, the author described Jiang Shanshan as a beautiful, intelligent, and charming girl.

When she grew up, Jiang Shanshan learned that she was actually a foster child, switched at birth by mistake. She began secretly searching for her biological parents.

After a period of tracking and investigation, Jiang Shanshan uncovered a shocking secret!

Her biological father, Lin Jianmin, was actually a spy!

Her mother, Yan Zhaodi, was no better—posing as a nurse, she colluded with human traffickers to abduct and sell women and children.

And the real daughter she had switched places with, Lin Xiaoxiao, had even become the mistress of a spy leader!

After intense inner struggle, Jiang Shanshan decided to sacrifice her family for the greater good. That very night, she reported everything to the Public Security Bureau to avoid being implicated with the Lin family.

As a result, after Lin Jianmin and Yan Zhaodi were arrested, one was executed by firing squad, and the other was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lin Xiaoxiao, the unlucky one, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for being the mistress of a spy—and eventually died behind bars.

Because Jiang Shanshan’s report helped the authorities, the police rewarded her with 100 yuan and presented her with a “Good Citizen” award.

The human traffickers who had switched the Jiang family’s baby received the punishment they deserved. Jiang’s father and mother were overjoyed.

From then on, they raised Jiang Shanshan as their own daughter, doting on her endlessly.

They used the best resources and connections to nurture her and even recommended her to attend a Workers-Peasants-Soldiers University.

In college, Jiang Shanshan met the male lead, Yang Haizhou. Later, the two married, loved each other deeply, and became a much-talked-about couple of their era.

After recalling the book’s plot, Lin Xiaoxiao took a deep breath and silently cursed the shameless author countless times in her heart.

Damn it! What kind of nonsense, twisted-values, swapped-daughter story is this?!

The female lead was clearly a white lotus—pure and righteous on the surface, but calculating and dark-hearted underneath!

She knew perfectly well that “Lin Xiaoxiao” had been sold by the Lin family to an old agent as his mistress. Instead of trying to save her, she took the chance to report her to the authorities—just to crush “Lin Xiaoxiao” completely and eliminate any threat!

Now, the transmigrated Lin Xiaoxiao gave Jiang Shanshan a cold sidelong glance and asked flatly, “Jiang Shanshan, what do you want from me? Speak.”

Jiang Shanshan lifted her chin slightly and smiled faintly. “It’s nothing major. I just want you to go to the newspaper office and withdraw the severance notice.”

Jiang Shanshan had been secretly tracking the Lin family for a long time and already had solid evidence that Lin Jianmin was a spy selling state secrets, and Yan Zhaodi was a despicable human trafficker.

But the reason Jiang Shanshan hadn’t taken action yet was because she had no evidence to ruin Lin Xiaoxiao’s reputation.

So she waited for an opportunity—even actively contacting Lin Jianmin, offering intelligence in exchange, and persuading him to send Lin Xiaoxiao to be the mistress of a pockmarked-faced scholar-spy.

Then she could report to the Public Security Bureau and destroy Lin Xiaoxiao completely!

But plans couldn’t keep up with changes—Lin Jianmin, Yan Zhaodi, and the spy leader were all thrown into prison first by the transmigrated Lin Xiaoxiao!

After hearing Jiang Shanshan’s words, Lin Xiaoxiao finally understood why she had come to see her.

It seemed the newspaper announcement had really struck a nerve!

They couldn’t sit still anymore, and had sent Jiang Shanshan to negotiate.

Lin Xiaoxiao sneered. “Jiang Shanshan, your biological father is guilty of espionage, your biological mother of human trafficking—they’re both in prison. Instead of worrying about them, you care about me severing ties with the Lin family?!”

Jiang Shanshan was momentarily at a loss. Her informants had told her Lin Xiaoxiao was a pushover, long beaten into submission by the Lin family, and anyone could bully her.

But today, Lin Xiaoxiao was different—not only articulate and sharp-tongued, but nothing like the timid pushover she’d been before!

Jiang Shanshan stared at her for a few seconds but still couldn’t see what had changed.

Her face darkened. “It’s your parents sewing in prison, not mine. My parents are well-educated elites of society—they would never commit crimes!”

Lin Xiaoxiao smirked. “If they’re not your parents, then my publicly severing ties with them doesn’t concern you, right? So why are you begging me to withdraw the announcement?”

Of course it concerned Jiang Shanshan—her announcement had caused a huge stir. The entire city of Yangcheng now knew about the baby swap.

If Jiang’s father and mother couldn’t handle the public pressure, they might reclaim Lin Xiaoxiao, the real daughter, and Jiang Shanshan—the fake one—would lose her favored position!

But she would never say that aloud.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled five big bills from her pocket and generously held them out to Lin Xiaoxiao.

“Lin Xiaoxiao, how much did it cost you to place that ad? I’ll pay double. Just withdraw the severance notice—these fifty yuan will be yours…”

“Jiang Shanshan, put away your stinking money!”

Before the words were even out, Lin Xiaoxiao slapped her hand away with a smack.

“You’ve been living under my name in the Jiang family, enjoying the life of a rich young lady—fine food and comfort every day!

Meanwhile, I was living worse than a pig or dog in the Lin family, almost sold to an old man to be tortured to death. Do you think fifty yuan can make up for that?!”

Without waiting for Jiang Shanshan’s reaction, Lin Xiaoxiao turned and strode toward the train station.

The Youth Office had booked train tickets for the educated youth yesterday.

Her destination was Hongqi Commune, Zhaoyang County, Xiang Province.

Departure time: 11:55 a.m.

When Lin Xiaoxiao entered the station, a group of young people with large bags stood on the platform.

A round-faced girl spotted her and waved happily. “Xiaoxiao, over here! We’re on the same train.”

Lin Xiaoxiao searched her memory and recognized her as her junior high classmate and good friend—Huang Lihong.

She smiled. “Lihong, how did you know we’re on the same train?”

“I signed up yesterday afternoon,” Huang Lihong said. “When I filled in the destination, I saw you wrote Zhaoyang County, Xiang Province, so I wrote that too. This way, we can both be educated youth in the same place.”

Lin Xiaoxiao said, “Same county doesn’t mean much. There are over a dozen townships and hundreds of villages—we might not be assigned to the same one.”

Huang Lihong looked disappointed. “If I’d known, I would have asked the Youth Office director—maybe we could be in the same village.”

Lin Xiaoxiao comforted her. “It’s fine if we’re in the same township. I can take leave to visit you.”

“Wooo—”

Just then, the train entered the station with a long whistle.