chapter 7
In a VIP room at a top-tier hospital.
I hung from the central air conditioner, spinning in circles out of boredom.
Beside me stood a middle-aged man who looked very steady and composed.
He was the original body’s father, Jiang Zhenghua.
He’d rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, and I watched his hair turn gray overnight.
His heir had lost a leg, and the daughter everyone knew had been paralyzed. He must have been frantic and at his wit’s end.
After a while, a well-preserved noblewoman burst into the room.
It was Mrs. Jiang, the original body’s mother.
She’d been on vacation abroad when she got the terrible news, then taken emergency flights all the way here.
The moment she entered the room, she wailed over Jiang Xiaoxiao and Jiang Zhiheng, who were lying unconscious in their beds.
Her crying was first-rate, even by funeral standards.
I had to give her credit.
After a good long cry, Jiang Xiaoxiao’s body suddenly twitched.
Then her eyes slowly opened.
Mrs. Jiang hurried to embrace her: “Xiaoxiao, you’re awake?”
But Jiang Xiaoxiao shrieked and shoved her away, grabbing the sheets with both hands, her pupils suddenly huge.
“Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Don’t come near me!”
I was startled.
I hadn’t shown myself. Logically, Jiang Xiaoxiao shouldn’t be able to see me.
It seemed she was so frightened that her mind had nearly broken.
Mrs. Jiang was startled by Jiang Xiaoxiao’s state, and only after a moment did she cry: “Xiaoxiao, it’s me, your mother.”
“Don’t scare me, Xiaoxiao.”
Jiang Zhenghua frowned and said sternly: “Xiaoxiao, what exactly happened last night?”
He clearly didn’t believe that both Jiang Xiaoxiao and Jiang Zhiheng getting into accidents in a single night was mere coincidence. He suspected an enemy was behind it.
Jiang Xiaoxiao panted in short, rapid gasps, her body trembling uncontrollably: “It’s Jiang Ye! She turned into a vengeful ghost and came for me!”
At the sound of that name, both Jiang Zhenghua and Mrs. Jiang went still.
After a long moment, Mrs. Jiang finally asked: “Jiang Ye, Jiang Ye… how is she?”
Of course she didn’t know the original body was already dead.
Because that shady hospital was too afraid to file a report, so before contacting Jiang Xiaoxiao, it had hidden the whole thing.
I smiled coldly, watching this little play unfold.
Jiang Xiaoxiao said: “Jiang Ye killed herself! She had cancer, and yesterday she killed herself!”
“She came for me yesterday!”
Mrs. Jiang’s eyes went wide, her lips trembling slightly.
Jiang Zhenghua, too, stiffened all over at the news.
They hated Jiang Ye, sure. But no matter what, Jiang Ye was their flesh and blood.
In the story’s original course, Jiang Ye swallowed the pills and died, her parents learned the truth, and they grieved bitterly.
Now I’d twisted the story’s course, but hearing of her death still rattled them a little.
But this was nowhere near enough.
I couldn’t see their fear.
Unlike Jiang Xiaoxiao and Jiang Zhiheng, they had no secrets.
They firmly, stubbornly believed that Jiang Ye was crude and vain, and so they were disappointed in her and turned a blind eye to her.
They believed they’d done nothing wrong. They believed what they saw was the truth.
That made things tricky for me.
Fear without a secret isn’t delicious.
But I’d find an opening.
Jiang Xiaoxiao sobbed and clung to Mrs. Jiang: “Mom, my sister said I stole her parents, said I stole her boyfriend.”
“She said even if she died, she wouldn’t let me have peace.”
“Mom, I’m so scared.”
“Find a Master to get rid of her.”
Even after what happened last night, she was still lying through her teeth to her adoptive parents.
Her words dragged Mrs. Jiang back from the news of Jiang Ye’s death, and the grief that had just risen was replaced by disgust.
“Is it Jiang Ye? Did she hurt you and Zhiheng?”
“Even in death, she won’t rest easy. So vicious!”
Just as she had countless times before, she made her judgment without a second thought.
Jiang Zhenghua said with distaste as well: “I’ll contact a Master later.”
“A pest like her doesn’t deserve to be called a daughter of mine, Jiang Zhenghua.”
I straightened my head.
Opportunity was here.