The courtyard of the No. 45 Hutong was unusually noisy and bustling today, filled with an extraordinary level of commotion.

It was mealtime, and several people were squatting on the steps with large bowls in their hands, watching the excitement.

“Jiang Cheng, let’s talk inside.”

Jiang Cheng, who had been keeping her head down, shook her head stubbornly and said, “No! There are too many people here.”

Lin Chengyuan’s mouth twitched slightly. Could he not see that there were many people around? He just wanted to avoid them.

Was the person in front of him a blockhead, or was she trying to use the crowd to prevent him from speaking? He hadn’t expected Jiang Cheng to be so cunning!

But since things had come to this, Lin Chengyuan didn’t think he had done anything wrong. If she wanted to talk, then they would talk.

“Jiang Cheng, He Dan and I have received approval from the organization and have obtained our marriage certificate. We are legally married.”

“After we met once, I returned to my unit. We didn’t even have a wedding. Although you’ve lived with the Lin family for three years, you are not my wife.”

Jiang Cheng kept her legs close together, her back slightly hunched, as she peered at Lin Chengyuan through her thick bangs.

He was about 1.8 meters tall, with the appearance of a pretty boy—fair-skinned with red lips.

So, this was the male lead of the book! Indeed, he had the face of a pretty boy multiplied by the face of a scoundrel.

“Jiang Cheng, do you understand?”

Lin Chengyuan’s eyes showed impatience and anger. The woman in front of him was like a wooden stump, illiterate and utterly outdated. How could she possibly be fit to be his wife?

“If you didn’t plan to marry me, why did you ask me to wait for you three years ago? And why didn’t you stop me from moving into the Lin family back then?”

Jiang Cheng kept her head down, her hands clutching the whitened corners of her clothes in front of her, her voice muffled and tense.

Ah! She had burned her throat drinking hot water, and it felt really uncomfortable.

Lin Chengyuan was stumped by her question.

He hadn’t expected the usually silent Jiang Cheng to retort. In his view, Jiang Cheng should have immediately agreed after he spoke.

It seemed that his marriage had hit her hard.

After all, she was a woman who liked him. Lin Chengyuan, thinking himself kind-hearted, added an extra explanation:

“Jiang Cheng, I only sympathize with you. There’s no other meaning. No matter how you look at it, our marital relationship is invalid. I hope you won’t cling to it.”

Jiang Cheng, still looking down, pouted.

Cling to it? Hell no!

She couldn’t wait to get away from this family!

A month ago, Jiang Cheng had finished her simultaneous interpretation work at a major national summit and was driving to the supermarket for a big shopping trip, planning to stay home for half a month to recover her burned-out brain cells.

But then she was hit by a truck that ran a red light, and she transmigrated into the novel she had been listening to while driving.

A novel so disgusting that she wished she had never opened it.

The male lead, Lin Chengyuan, and the female lead, He Dan.

The entire book was about their love, marriage, and entrepreneurship, claiming to be a sweet story.

Jiang Cheng’s role was that of a feudal remnant wife arranged by Lin Chengyuan’s family.

After meeting once, Lin Chengyuan was urgently called back to his unit, while Jiang Cheng moved into the Lin family as his wife and stayed there for three years.

During those three years, she took care of the entire Lin family, working like a man, enduring hardships without complaint.

Lin Chengyuan never returned in those three years, and when he finally did, he brought back He Dan, whom he had already married, touting the freedom of marriage.

The disgusting plot started here, with the entire Lin family psychologically manipulating Jiang Cheng, making her willingly stay with the old Lin family and continue to be their maid.

Lin Chengyuan’s parents disgustingly acknowledged Jiang Cheng as their goddaughter, and when Lin Chengyuan’s business hit a snag, they gave Jiang Cheng to a sixty-year-old man!

Of course, the book beautified the plot, claiming that Jiang Cheng had volunteered.

When she had listened to the book, she had spat a hundred times, which still wasn’t enough to express her disgust.

A month ago, the original host, overworked and caught in the rain, died quietly from a fever.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that the car she was driving during the accident had turned into her space, containing fever-reducing medicine, she would have probably burned to death as soon as she arrived.

Jiang Cheng, standing in the middle of the courtyard, still kept her head down, appearing weak and old, with long hair covering half her face, making her look dull and aged.

Her washed-out, patched clothes made Lin Chengyuan look at her with disdain.

A woman could be so slovenly, truly not even comparable to a single finger of He Dan.

Thinking of this, Lin Chengyuan glanced at He Dan, who was standing beside him, smiling gently and silently, her eyes full of trust in him.

The two exchanged a smile, beautiful and sweet.

In contrast, Lin Chengyuan felt even more disgusted by Jiang Cheng in front of him.

Not speaking? Playing the victim? Was she trying to gain sympathy? What a low-class tactic.

“I don’t want to cling to you. I just want to ask one thing—”

The silent Jiang Cheng suddenly looked up, mustering her courage to ask, “Then what do these three years count as? Bad luck?”

“Pfft!”

“Cough, cough!”

The neighbors watching the excitement in the courtyard either spat out their food or choked on their water.

What she said was too funny!

It really was just bad luck.

Lin Chengyuan, being questioned, looked grim, his face darkening as he scolded, “Do you have to make such a scene?”

“Make a scene?”

“Are you saying that asking you an embarrassing question is making a scene?”

Jiang Cheng looked at the other members of the Lin family and asked, “Do you all think I’m making a scene too?”

Mother Lin was the first to step forward, pretending to pat Lin Chengyuan.

“Ah Yuan, I won’t allow you to speak to Jiang Cheng like that!”

“Cheng Cheng, I’ve long considered you my own daughter. Mom can’t bear to part with you!”

As soon as Mother Lin spoke, the people in the courtyard who had despised Lin Chengyuan’s behavior began to change their opinion.

It seemed that the Lin family still had some sense of propriety.

Jiang Cheng also looked moved as she gazed at Mother Lin, but inside she was cursing: What a shameless bunch!

“Cheng Cheng, this is a new society now. They are free to love, and you are not at fault. It’s all Mom’s fault. If you want to blame someone, blame me!”

“Alright! Then I’ll blame you for the crooked beam above leading to the crooked beam below.”

Mother Lin: ????

Jiang Cheng still looked dull, calmly watching the stunned Mother Lin and said:

“You told me to blame you.”

Mother Lin’s eye twitched, and a flash of disdain appeared in her eyes. What a blockhead.

“Cheng Cheng—Grandma can’t bear to part with you either. Why don’t you stay and be our daughter, our granddaughter? We can still be a family!”

Grandma Lin, with her neatly combed white hair and a cane in her hand, spoke up.

Jiang Cheng thought to herself: The ultimate old white lotus has entered the stage!

“Grandma—you’re so kind! How much dowry have you prepared for me?”

Grandma Lin frowned slightly.

“What dowry?”

Jiang Cheng, rubbing the corners of her clothes, asked in confusion, “Didn’t you say you consider me your daughter, your granddaughter? I’ve wasted three years and am already twenty. It’s time for me to get married. Since you’re my maternal family, shouldn’t you provide a dowry?”

Grandma Lin’s face turned ugly.

She had never thought of letting Jiang Cheng marry out, let alone providing a dowry.

The talk of her being a daughter or granddaughter was just a ploy to deceive Jiang Cheng.

“Cheng Cheng, you’ve hurt Grandma’s heart! Grandma truly cares for you, and all you think about is money?”

Jiang Cheng still looked helpless, speaking in an honest tone:

“Talking about money hurts feelings, but if we don’t talk about money, how can I know you have feelings for me? Was Grandma lying to me just now?”

Grandma Lin looked as if she had been electrocuted, her wrinkled face trembling.

Mother Lin quickly stepped forward, grabbing Jiang Cheng’s arm, her face full of sorrow.

“Cheng Cheng, if Mom had the money, I would definitely give you a decent dowry! But you know the family’s situation. Give us two years, and Mom will save up for your dowry, okay?”

“I really can’t bear to see you suffer outside. You’re a woman, and the Jiang family is gone. Where can you go? Just be Mom’s daughter, and we’ll live together as before, okay?”

Jiang Cheng silently pulled her arm away, and Mother Lin’s heart rose to her throat, feeling that the person in front of her was somewhat out of control.

It should be fine.

She knew how much Jiang Cheng liked Lin Chengyuan.

Mother Lin’s heart slowly settled.

“Aunt Lin, can you return the 600 compensation money you took from me when you brought me to the Lin family?”

“Back then, you said I was the sister-in-law, so you used it as Lin Jiaojiao’s dowry.”

“Now that the real sister-in-law has arrived, you can ask her for it!”

Mother Lin’s heart skipped a beat, her pupils shaking.

Jiang Cheng had actually brought up the compensation money!

“The Jiang family’s compensation money? They actually dared to take it. How shameless.”

“See? This is what a real daughter is like. Even if it’s someone else’s money, they have to save it for a dowry!”

“Those words earlier were just to fool an idiot!”

The “idiot” Jiang Cheng: Big brother, even though you’re insulting me, you’re right!