Chapter 3

Lin Qian was fuming. In her past life, after marrying into the Lu family, she had suffered endlessly under this conniving little sister-in-law.

Now that she had been reborn, she was determined to turn the entire Lu family upside down.

Smack! She stood up and slapped Lu Xiaoqin hard across the face.

Lu Xiaoqin was stunned. She glared at Lin Qian and screamed, “Lin Qian! I’m my brother’s only sister, and you dare hit me?!”

Smack!

Lin Qian slapped her again without a hint of hesitation.

Why wouldn’t she dare?

If the Lu family didn’t pay to shut this brat’s mouth today, she’d expose all of Lu Xiaoqin’s dirty little secrets.

“Ah! Lin Qian, you psycho!”

As Lin Qian raised her hand to strike again, Mother Lu rushed up from downstairs.

“Good heavens, what are you two doing?”

Lu Xiaoqin immediately pointed at Lin Qian and tattled, “Mom! She’s not even married into our family yet, and she’s already beating me up!”

Mother Lu gave her daughter a light scolding glance and turned to Lin Qian with a soothing smile. “Qian Qian, Xiaoqin is Zhan Ting’s only sister. She’s been spoiled since she was little. As her future sister-in-law, can’t you just let it go? I’ve got some errands this morning, could you help out and make breakfast for the family?”

Mother Lu was good at putting on a sweet front while stabbing people in the back. In her past life, young and naïve Lin Qian didn’t know how to say no. She only realized Mother Lu’s cunning ways after falling into one trap after another.

Getting Lin Qian used to making breakfast for the family—that was the second “rule” Mother Lu had sneakily imposed even before she officially joined the family.

Lin Qian glanced at Lu Xiaoqin and gave a cold laugh. Then she turned to Mother Lu and said, “Auntie, if I were you, I wouldn’t go out today. You should keep a closer eye on your daughter. Lu Xiaoqin is pregnant.”

Her last sentence landed like a thunderclap, making Mother Lu lose her composure on the spot. Lu Xiaoqin spun around and tried to run.

“Lu Xiaoqin!”

Mother Lu completely lost it. As her mother, she knew all too well what kind of person her daughter was.

Lu Xiaoqin, still clinging to a sliver of hope, stubbornly confronted Lin Qian. “You better not talk nonsense without proof! You’re not even married to my brother yet and already living in our house. I’ll throw you out if I have to!”

“Shut your mouth!”

Mother Lu smacked her daughter’s hand away and looked at Lin Qian with a fake kind smile. “Qian Qian, we’re all women. A woman’s reputation is everything. Xiaoqin will be your sister someday…”

“I’m not making anything up,” Lin Qian interrupted. “Yesterday, when you had me cleaning the house, I found the pregnancy test report hidden under Xiaoqin’s pillow. She probably hasn’t decided whether to keep the baby yet, huh?”

Lu Xiaoqin was furious at being exposed. “You bitch! You’re lying!”

Smack!

Mother Lu slapped her daughter hard across the face.

“Qian Qian, this is all my fault. Xiaoqin is still immature and reckless, but no matter what, she’s Zhan Ting’s only sister. You can’t let her reputation be ruined like this.”

Her meaning was crystal clear—she wanted the report back and was using Lu Zhan Ting to pressure Lin Qian into handing it over.

Lin Qian held out her hand. “Don’t worry, Auntie. I know the Lu family’s reputation is more important than Xiaoqin’s, so I’ve kept the report safe and sound.”

Mother Lu caught the hint and sighed. “Qian Qian, wait here. I’ll get the money.”

Lu Xiaoqin was furious. “Lin Qian, do you even want to marry my brother? Aren’t you afraid he’ll see how greedy you really are?”

Mother Lu paused too, clearly trying to gauge Lin Qian’s reaction.

Lin Qian stared her down. “If you think keeping a pregnancy a secret is more important than money, then I’ve got nothing else to say.”

Mother Lu hadn’t expected Lin Qian to be so unflustered. She quickly turned to fetch the money.

Lin Qian snorted. In her past life, she’d been far too kind. She had found the pregnancy report and gone to Lu Xiaoqin out of genuine concern, only to be berated for meddling and threatened with being kicked out of the Lu family.

Turns out the entire Lu family was a bunch of shameless bullies—treating anyone nice to them like a doormat.

Mother Lu returned quickly and placed ten yuan in Lin Qian’s hand. “Qian Qian, we’re family. Now go get that report for me, and we’ll never speak of this again, okay?”

“Auntie, aren’t you being a little too stingy?”

Mother Lu caught the hint again and added another twenty yuan.

Lin Qian saw that the money was about equivalent to a month’s wages. Only then did she turn around and go fetch the report.

When Mother Lu saw the test results, she was so enraged she slapped her daughter again. “You shameless girl!”

Lin Qian didn’t say anything out loud, but she agreed—Lu Xiaoqin really was born trash. If they kept her around, she’d bring even greater disaster to the family later. She was the one who caused their grandfather’s death, after all.

Lu Xiaoqin stormed out and ran down the stairs, furious.

Mother Lu chased after her, yanking her back and slapping her again. The two of them argued loudly all the way out the door on their way to the hospital for an abortion.

Lin Qian realized she was hungry, too. She went downstairs to the kitchen to make herself breakfast—she needed a full stomach before going to the military base to break off her engagement with Lu Zhan Ting.

Once in the kitchen, she noticed that most of the food and supplies had been slowly bought and stocked by her over the past week.

It made her heart ache. She wasn’t rich to begin with. The money she had used was all saved from overtime she had worked over the past year, while her official salary had been taken by her mother.

The meat had been eaten by the Lu family just yesterday.

Out of spite, Lin Qian took out six eggs, cracked and scrambled them all, then boiled some water to cook noodles.

From the room, Lu Zhan Ting’s paralyzed grandfather smelled the delicious aroma of fried eggs and was practically drooling.

He was quite pleased with himself—thinking his grandson had picked the perfect wife. Her cooking was better than any housekeeper they’d ever had.

But he waited and waited, and Lin Qian never brought the food to him. Finally, he couldn’t hold back and called out, “Qian Qian…”

Lin Qian heard him but didn’t respond.

Lu Zhan Ting’s grandfather wasn’t any better than the rest of them—an old man who still thought he could exploit his future granddaughter-in-law.

When she had first moved in, the Lu family still had a maid. But the day she cooked dinner with the maid, both the old man and Mother Lu sang her praises at the table.

The next day, they claimed the maid had taken leave and hinted that Lin Qian, as a good future daughter-in-law, should take care of everything—including waiting on the old man.