Chapter 2: She absolutely cannot have a man who is no longer capable of doing this

When the original owner regained consciousness, she had already been sent to the Gu family. The Gu family had three sons — the first two were already married and living in the countryside. The youngest, Gu Rongqing, had joined the military early on and was now stationed in Shangdu City with a certain military unit. He had risen through the ranks quickly and was already a deputy regiment commander.

It was said that Gu Rongqing was already twenty-five. In this era, men his age already had children old enough to run errands. It didn’t make sense that someone with such a high position was still single. Rumor had it that he was injured during a mission — a critical injury that supposedly affected his manhood. That was why he remained single to this age.

When the original owner learned all this, she completely lost hope in life and ran straight into a pillar, knocking herself unconscious. That was when her soul was replaced with that of Ruan Xiangxiang from the modern world!

As for the original owner’s father — was he blind? Why didn’t he care about his own daughter? The answer was simple: once there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather. Ruan Chenghong looked down on his biological daughter for being unpresentable. He left everything to Zhang Lingyu, the stepmother, who loathed this strange-looking stepdaughter and treated her with extreme harshness.

At home, all the good food and drinks went to Ruan Mengmeng, while all the chores were dumped on the original owner. She was only allowed to finish junior high before Zhang Lingyu claimed the family couldn’t afford her education and made her work a temporary job. All her wages had to be handed over.

After Ruan Mengmeng started high school, she became more and more stylish and needed new clothes, shoes, and cold cream for her face — all of which cost money. The original owner had been raised in poverty. Dresses and leather shoes were things she had never even seen before, let alone owned. As for sanitary pads, she had to use Zhang Lingyu’s discarded cloth strips during her period!

Now that Ruan Mengmeng had gotten into college, her expenses skyrocketed. Getting rid of the “useless” original owner could bring in a huge dowry of 300 yuan — of course Ruan Chenghong was thrilled and wouldn’t care if his daughter lived or died.

Ruan Xiangxiang, admiring her new beautiful face in the mirror, sighed and felt sorry for the original owner. To end her life so easily — wasn’t that just giving satisfaction to her enemies and grief to the few who might’ve cared? With a face like this, in the modern world she could’ve easily taken the entertainment industry by storm.

But of course, that was all hindsight. The original owner couldn’t have foreseen the future. How could a young girl possibly fight against an entire social environment?

“Since I’ve taken over your body, we’re one now. No one will ever bully us again!” Ruan Xiangxiang clenched her fists, determined to live well — and beautifully.

[You… you really mean it?]
Suddenly, a timid voice echoed in her mind. Ruan Xiangxiang jumped, startled, and looked around, thinking she might’ve been hearing things.

[I’m sorry. Don’t be scared. I am you, and you are me. Do you really want to live for me? To swap souls with me? If you don’t want to, I can give you everything back — your money, your car, your villa… Forget it, they weren’t really mine anyway.]

The voice spoke again, full of reluctance and sadness.

“Soul swap?” Ruan Xiangxiang blinked her pretty eyes and accidentally caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror — oh my! Such charm in her eyes!
Oops… she probably shouldn’t be admiring her looks at such a serious moment, but seriously, this face was too beautiful to ignore.

This face — who would trade it for money? Ridiculous! Of course she was willing!
Money could be earned again, but a face like this? It was one of a kind — no amount of money could buy it, let alone plastic surgery!

[You agree? Okay! It’s settled then! Thank you!]

VROOOM…!!
The voice in her head shouted gratefully, and then the roar of a sports car engine blasted through her mind. It was followed by silence, as if someone had driven away at full speed.

It was the sound of the Porsche she’d spent a fortune on in her past life. The exhaust had been specially modified — she’d recognize that sound anywhere.

Ruan Xiangxiang: Girl… you adapted to your new life pretty fast, huh? You’re already driving my sports car?

Then she smiled, a soft, relieved smile tugging at her lips.
How wonderful. They had both gotten exactly what they wanted.

But first — she had to end this bizarre arranged marriage.

In the original novel, Gu Rongqing was just a side character and wasn’t described in detail. All she remembered was that “rumor had it he got severely injured on a mission and was no longer functional as a man.”

In her previous life, Ruan Xiangxiang was always busy. She barely had time for anything, so she’d listen to a few minutes of audiobooks on Tomato Novel App while brushing her teeth in the morning. It took her months to finish one book, and she could never remember the plot well.

Thankfully, she remembered that very important detail — Gu Rongqing couldn’t perform.

In her previous life, she had never even held a man’s hand. This time around, she was going to enjoy life. A man who “couldn’t”? Absolutely not.

As for the Gu family — the father had passed away early, and the mother, Lu Wenhua, was deeply worried about her youngest son’s marriage.

When her son was gravely injured that year, doctors said it might affect his fertility. Since then, he refused to discuss marriage. No matter how many blind dates were arranged, he never responded.

But now, he was already twenty-five. If he didn’t find a partner, who would take care of him in his old age?

Through distant relatives, Lu Wenhua heard that the Ruan family’s daughter had a strange appearance and no one wanted to marry her. She immediately reached out to some friends and sent over a betrothal gift.

Lu Wenhua didn’t expect much — but to her surprise, the Ruan family readily agreed! She had just finished sending a telegram to her son and hadn’t even made it home yet when the Ruan family had already delivered the girl to their doorstep.

This new bride turned out to be quite headstrong—she rammed her head straight into a pillar. The entire Gu family was thrown into panic. They rushed to get a doctor, and thankfully, managed to save her life. But ever since, she had locked herself in her room and refused to come out.

Lu Wenhua was extremely uneasy, feeling like she had caused a huge mess. She also truly felt guilty toward the girl. After all, with the rumors outside saying her third son was impotent, wasn’t this basically tricking someone’s daughter into a doomed marriage?

Knock knock knock.

“Dear girl, are you hungry? Aunty brought you some steamed buns. Have a bite, okay?”
Lu Wenhua knocked on the room door. Since the girl clearly didn’t want to marry her son, she didn’t dare call herself “mother-in-law” and instead addressed herself as “aunty.”

Inside the room, Ruan Xiangxiang had already composed herself. Upon hearing the knock, she didn’t hesitate and opened the door right away.
She had already made up her mind — this marriage had to end. If the Gu family dared to stop her, she wouldn’t mind making a big scene.

She was expecting to see a mean-looking old woman outside the door, but to her surprise, the woman standing there wasn’t that old at all. With her kind eyes and apologetic smile, it was easy to imagine that she must have been a gentle beauty in her youth.

In one hand, she held a rustic clay bowl containing two fluffy white steamed buns and a boiled egg. In the other, a bowl of millet porridge. She looked at Ruan Xiangxiang with genuine concern.

“Xiangxiang, you’re up? Does your head still hurt?”

Ruan Xiangxiang had been unconscious for two days and was honestly starving. Upon seeing the food, she didn’t overthink things — filling her stomach came first.

“I’m much better, nothing serious,” she said, taking the food and immediately digging in with big bites.