Chapter 04 

Jiang Lisheng had a sweet and restful sleep, until the rare beauty of her dream was broken by the noisy sounds outside.

She didn’t need to think to know what it was about.

Stretching lazily, Jiang Lisheng ignored the chaos, lifted the blanket, and headed to the bathroom to freshen up.

The moment she looked up and saw herself in the mirror, she noticed something unusual.

Her facial features hadn’t changed much, but her complexion seemed to have become a bit fairer.

It wasn’t very noticeable—only upon closer inspection could it be seen.

Jiang Lisheng narrowed her eyes.

The system gave a flattering smile. [Because the host has awakened, those limitations that don’t significantly affect the plot will now gradually be lifted.]

Jiang Lisheng said nothing and brushed her teeth slowly.

After finishing, she changed her clothes and went downstairs.

The situation in the living room could only be described as utter chaos.

No one knew which corner the piglet had relieved itself in, but the robotic vacuum cleaner had smeared the pig feces evenly across every inch of the floor, filling the entire house with a foul, fishy stench.

The expensive genuine leather sofa and the porcelain vases that Mother Jiang had paid a hefty price for were completely ruined. The throw pillows were torn apart, feathers flying everywhere. The piglet squealed and darted through the clamor, dashing around like a rocket, leaving shrill screams in its wake wherever it went.

“Where did this pig come from?!”

“Aunt Liu—! Get it out! Throw it out for me!!”

“What are all of you standing there for? Turn off that damn robot!”

Mother Jiang had lost all composure, her expression nearly deranged.

Father Jiang didn’t look too good either. His leather shoes had taken a hit—he hadn’t noticed when putting them on just now and had stepped right into a pile of pig feces.

Everyone in the house was helpless against the piglet, the scene as loud and chaotic as a morning wet market.

Jiang Lisheng watched the spectacle with great interest. When the little piglet rushed to her feet, she reacted swiftly, grabbing it by both ears and lifting it up before slowly walking out.

“How lively.”

Jiang Lisheng carried the piglet and smiled at the crowd.

In an instant, all eyes turned toward her.

Jiang Lisheng calmly stepped forward and put on a stern face as she scolded the pig, “Jiang Lisheng, you’re being disobedient. How could you pee and poop everywhere? Just look at how angry you’ve made your parents.”

The noisy living room fell into a moment of subtle silence.

Mother Jiang glanced at the fat pig in Jiang Lisheng’s hands, and suddenly her head buzzed. “Shengsheng, what did you just say?”

Jiang Lisheng still had a smile hanging on her lips. “I followed Dad’s wishes and caught a pig to be his daughter.” She spoke generously. “This pig can even have my name. From now on, let’s call it Xiao Jiang. What do you think?”

Father Jiang had already been furious all morning because of this pig, and just as he hadn’t calmed down, he heard Jiang Lisheng say such things. As one might expect, his anger surged again.

“Jiang Lisheng, I think you—!”

“Please don’t get upset,” Jiang Lisheng cut him off before he could finish, her expression looking pitiful. “I understand how you both feel. After all, you didn’t raise me at all while I was growing up, and I truly regret that. Now that I’m giving you this pig, you can treat it like me and raise it little by little from childhood. That way, I can vicariously experience what it’s like to be cherished and loved under my parents’ roof. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Raising the pig to adulthood.

Being cherished under their roof.

Every single word she said was like an explosion, yet Father and Mother Jiang found themselves unable to refute any of it.

To be honest, they did feel guilty about how they had treated Jiang Lisheng.

But since ancient times, what parent ever admits their negligence or guilt toward their children? And so, over the long years, that guilt gradually wore down into impatience and resentment.

Now Jiang Lisheng had laid everything out so openly and straightforwardly, leaving them completely speechless.

Father Jiang’s mouth twitched as he forced down his anger. “I made a casual remark, and you actually brought back a pig. What if I told you to build me a rocket—would you go and make one too?”

Jiang Lisheng fell silent, as if seriously considering the feasibility of such a task.

In the end, she gave a solemn nod. “I will, in this lifetime.”

Father Jiang: “…”

Mother Jiang truly couldn’t stand these chaotic days anymore. She softened her tone and said gently to Jiang Lisheng, “Your father was just speaking out of anger. The Zhao family has been close to us for many years, and we have business dealings with them too. Listen to your mother—go with your father to the Zhao family today and offer an apology. Then this matter will be over. As for this pig…”

She paused. “Give it to the kitchen and have them make roast suckling pig.”

Jiang Lisheng’s eyes widened as she clutched the piglet tightly in her arms. “Mom, what are you saying? It’s just a child!”

The piglet let out a snort in agreement.

Mother Jiang was momentarily speechless. “Then are you saying you want to…”

“Of course I’m going to keep it,” Jiang Lisheng said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Mother Jiang’s face turned an ugly shade of green.

Raise a pig? What kind of decent family raises a pig?

Jiang Lisheng softened her voice. “Mom, my younger sister and older brother get everything they want. I just want to raise a daughter on Dad’s behalf. You’re not going to say no to that too, are you? You’re not going to be biased, right? You wouldn’t be, would you? Of course not, right?”

—Raise a daughter on Dad’s behalf.

That line didn’t just criticize her parents, it insulted herself along the way too.

At this point, Father Jiang’s temper had been completely worn down. His head ached terribly, and he waved his hand in frustration and impatience. “As long as you go with me to apologize, whether you raise a pig or a goose is up to you.”

Jiang Lisheng beamed. “Sure, let’s go right now.”

With that, she handed the piglet over to the housekeeper and cheerfully headed upstairs to change.

Throughout all this, the system had remained silent. Jiang Lisheng casually pulled a white tracksuit from the wardrobe and changed into it. “System, in the original story, was there a part where I hit someone?”

System: [Yes, there is. But there are some minor differences.]

System: [In the original novel, your character was a pitiful and delicate little white flower, completely incapable of taking on three people at once.]

Let alone almost beating them to the point of being unable to care for themselves.

It was precisely because this act so blatantly violated the character persona that the main god system took notice. Seeing that the plot was about to veer off course, it forcibly stripped Jiang Lisheng of her personality and transferred soul after soul into her to correct it. Yet none of them yielded satisfactory results.

Thinking of all those failed rounds, the system sighed helplessly deep inside and began feeding this part of the plot into Jiang Lisheng’s mind.

Jiang Lisheng narrowed her eyes as the text played out in her mind like a scene from a movie.

There was indeed such a scene in the original novel, but the difference was that the original female lead, when harassed, had panicked and only managed to slightly scratch Young Master Zhao. It was far from sending him to the hospital like what had happened now.

Then, just like today, Young Master Zhao filed a false report, and Jiang Lisheng was forcibly dragged to the Zhao family to apologize by Father Jiang.

She had lowered her head and said sorry to her abuser, weak, aggrieved, helpless, and full of unwillingness. Of course, Young Master Zhao knew she was the daughter the Jiang family had recently brought back. As one of Jiang Nuonuo’s sycophants, the young master of the Zhao family, in order to vent his goddess’s anger, naturally would not let go of the pitiful female lead in this abuse-filled story. After that, with his interference, the female lead embarked on a series of soul-crushing, body-tormenting, and dignity-shattering side plots.

Jiang Lisheng was more than familiar with this part.

Those transmigrators either refused to show up at all, or they stormed over and beat up Young Master Zhao a second time in front of his parents. The results, needless to say, were disastrous.

[Ding.]

[You have a new main storyline update.]

A panel popped up in front of her, and Jiang Lisheng glanced at the words displayed.

[Apologize to Zhao Ming. (Plot Progression: 5%) (In Progress)]

An apology, huh~~

Jiang Lisheng seemed deep in thought.

The system gave a jolt, afraid she might pull something wild. [Host, please, you absolutely must not act like female lead A or B and show up throwing punches. This is a law-abiding society. Hitting people lands you in the station.]

It still remembered that dignified general from ancient times who had transmigrated to the present and ended up sentenced to seven years in prison for seriously injuring someone. By the time she got out, everything was already too late.

Tragic.

The past wasn’t even worth remembering.

Jiang Lisheng widened her eyes. “So the law only applies to the female lead, huh? When they were harvesting my kidney, how come no one got arrested?”

System: “……”

Jiang Lisheng curled her lips and couldn’t even be bothered to argue with a bundle of data. “Besides, don’t worry. How could a pathetic loser like me go around hitting people? Don’t overthink it, Ling. I’ve got a sense of measure.”

It’s just an apology, after all.

Who isn’t born a grandson to fate? So what if a grandson apologizes to another grandson?

Small matter—not even worth mentioning.

Jiang Lisheng tidied herself up and went downstairs. At this point, Father Jiang had also changed into a fresh suit and was waiting downstairs.

The housekeepers and aunties were cleaning up the mess left by the piglet. Seeing this, Jiang Lisheng felt a little embarrassed.

“Aunt Liu.”

“Second Miss,” Aunt Liu stepped forward with a rag in hand.

Faced with Father Jiang’s impatient gaze, Jiang Lisheng ignored him and directly took out her phone. “It’s all my dad’s fault for being so willful, insisting I bring back a pig to be his daughter. It’s caused you extra work. Here, take this money and divide it up among everyone later.”

With that, she transferred eight thousand yuan to Aunt Liu via WeChat.

This time it was Aunt Liu who froze. Before she could say anything more, Jiang Lisheng had already followed Father Jiang out the door.

Aunt Liu looked at the transfer record on her phone, a complex feeling welling up in her heart.

**

After all, Jiang Lisheng had known poverty and understood how hard it was to earn money through labor.

The moment of splurging had felt great, but now, staring at her nearly empty allowance, she fell silent again.

Father Jiang sat beside her without a word. At such a critical moment, she naturally felt too embarrassed to ask him for money, so she went straight to the point—

[Jiang Lisheng: Send me some money.]

[Jiang Ansheng: ?]

[Jiang Lisheng: Brother.]

This was the first time she had called Jiang Ansheng “Brother” since returning home.

Never mind the ulterior motive—real money, cold hard cash, that’s as pure as it gets.

Jiang Ansheng was clearly stunned too. He immediately transferred fifty thousand yuan through Alipay, and casually asked—

[Was that pig yesterday worth ten thousand?]

Jiang Lisheng counted the four zeros in the transfer notification, and her mood brightened instantly. [That pig isn’t worth ten thousand, but calling you ‘Brother’ is worth fifty.]

Jiang Ansheng: [.]

Jiang Lisheng put down her phone.

She honestly felt her old self had been trying too hard. What was dignity really worth? She didn’t like the Jiang family, nor did she feel much attachment to Jiang Ansheng, her twin brother, but as long as the bond of blood remained, what was rightfully hers would still be hers.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jiang Lisheng glanced at Father Jiang beside her.

Though the Jiang family looked down on her as their daughter, they had never intended to mistreat her. Still, the allowance she’d been given and the gifts Mother Jiang had bought always ended up taken by Jiang Nuonuo under various pretexts, and for the sake of saving face, she had never said a word.

She needed to find an opportunity to take back everything that belonged to her.

Before she knew it, the car had turned into a picturesque lakefront villa district.

The car passed through the gates and stopped in front of a three-story villa. Once the gates opened, it slowly drove inside.

They had arrived at the Zhao residence.