chapter 4

chapter 4

I didn’t get crushed to death.

But Feng Yan and I called off our engagement.

His mother came to see my parents, and over the time it took to sit together for afternoon tea, they happily canceled our engagement and changed it to Feng Yan and Cheng Lin.

They really understood a thing or two about online returns.

I was the fake, so they returned me and exchanged me for the real thing.

Overall, though, it was still a loss, because online, if something is fake, you get ten times your money back.

It was nearly half a month later before I saw Feng Yan again at a birthday party.

Zhong Lan, the only daughter of the Zhong family, was celebrating her birthday. She had always liked socializing, and more than half the young people in our circle had come.

I had been busy with school lately, and now that I finally had some free time, I thought I would come relax.

I had stayed at school for two days, then gone straight to the venue.

Only after I arrived did I realize Cheng Lin was there too.

She was greeting Zhong Lan.

“Lanlan, that outfit suits you so well. Just now, from far away, I thought you were a fairy,” Cheng Lin said, her little mouth practically dripping honey. “Happy birthday. You obviously still look like a high schooler, so how are you celebrating your twenty-fifth birthday?”

She coaxed Zhong Lan into such a daze that her mouth never stopped smiling.

The liveliness over there had nothing to do with me, left out in the corner.

But I didn’t feel lonely in the slightest.

Because Cheng Lin’s inner voice was much more entertaining than these people.

She was cursing again.

— “I can’t. This brain-dead woman likes hearing lies that much?

— “She believes whatever people say.

— “Does she not have a brain?

— “What birthday presents are these people giving her? Can’t each of them chip in a little and crowdfund her a brain?

— “I can’t take it anymore.

— “Can you not come link arms with me? I’m scared brain damage is contagious.

— “Stay the hell out of my way.

— “With me here, you’ll never become the heroine’s sister-in-law in this lifetime.”

Ah…

So Zhong Lan was the sister-in-law who, after marrying into the family, would always bully me and slap me across the face.

If this had been before, I definitely would have found it unbelievable.

I was slow to warm up to people. Although Zhong Lan was five years older than me, she was one of the few friends I had.

Until today, when I came here with a gift. After she accepted it, she merely swept me with an indifferent glance, set the gift aside casually, and left me hanging.

Then I knew that in her eyes, I was now nothing more than the Cheng family’s adopted daughter. My marriage to Feng Yan had fallen through too. I had no backing at all and was no longer someone worth socializing with.

I sat in the corner, eating and drinking, happy to have the peace and quiet.

People beside me were chatting.

“I heard Zhong Lan really managed to invite Feng Cishu today?”

“Of course. Didn’t you see she’s wearing the newest limited-edition haute couture gown today? When I arrived just now, she was still showing off, saying Feng Cishu would come later.”

“Don’t tell me those two are really getting together?”

“Then Zhong Lan’s latched on to a real big shot. Who doesn’t know the Feng family is thriving now, and more than half of it is thanks to Feng Cishu?”

“Look… speaking of the Feng family, Feng Yan came today too.”

“He’s been pretty dramatic lately too. He broke off his engagement with that fake heiress from the Cheng family and is going to marry the true heiress who just came back.”

“How heartless. Before, wherever those two went, they had to be together. Now they split up just like that.”

“Shh, Cheng Yangyang is sitting over there…”

Their voices gradually lowered, and I could no longer hear them.

Boring. I had wanted to keep listening.

After drinking two glasses of wine, I had eaten and drunk my fill. Just as I was about to leave, Zhong Lan came over with a few of her friends. The moment she arrived, she hit me with, “You still haven’t left?”

What kind of setup was this now?

Since when did people chase guests out too?

I pointed at the empty plate in my hand. “I was just about to.”

“I heard Cishu took you to school that day,” Zhong Lan began lashing out wildly. “Seeing there’s no hope with Feng Yan, you’ve started looking for Cishu? Cheng Yangyang, with an appetite that big, aren’t you afraid you’ll choke?”

I found it funny.

So after all that, she was jealous.

She even wanted to get jealous over such a tiny little hint of vinegar? How pitiful.

If it had been the old me, I would have endured it. I hated stirring up trouble for no reason.

Unfortunately, now I had long since thrown my old patience to the back of my mind. All I wanted was to feel satisfied.

“You’re that lacking in confidence?” I looked her up and down, then let a laugh roll out of my throat. “Makes sense.”

She exploded instantly.

“Cheng Yangyang, do you not know what situation you’re in right now?! Do you need me to tell you?

“You’re just a marriage alliance tool for the Cheng family. In the future, who knows when they’ll need some project and trade you away for it. In that respect, even a dog has more human rights than you do. But this last bit of value is all you have, or why would the Cheng family keep raising you? Cheng Lin is much more likable than you.”

Her voice was fairly loud, and many people present turned their eyes toward us.

Including Feng Yan, but he didn’t move.

Only one voice came closer and closer.

— “Fuck, Feng Yan really is no good.

— “He wants to do it like in the original text again, waiting until the heroine is completely hopeless at the very last second before he makes a move.

— “He’s trying to PUA the heroine.

— “I really want to zap him into a CPU.”

Cheng Lin slowly approached.

But she didn’t come too close either.

— “Forget it. Let Zhong Lan scold her a bit. It won’t hurt.

— “It can also make the heroine wake up sooner.

— “After all, that really is what the Cheng family is planning.

— “Today, I’ll just be responsible for eating melon.

— “Fight! Fight!”

Cheng Lin began cheering us on in her heart.

But I was going to disappoint her.

I wasn’t good at arguing. I was clumsy with words.

But I had been the eldest young lady of the Cheng family for so many years. I had plenty of these people’s secrets.

If I casually took out just one and aired it, Zhong Lan would lose a layer of skin.

Let her scold me. It didn’t hurt.

I was listening.

Seeing that I didn’t speak, Zhong Lan became even more enthusiastic.

“Sure enough, dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes. Cheng Yangyang, I heard your biological parents were farmers,” she laughed. “If you were sent back, you’d have to plant rice seedlings and farm the land, with endless work to do every day. Thinking about it that way, you should be glad they’re already dea—”

Before Zhong Lan could finish speaking, an entire bottle of red wine was poured over her head.

She screamed and stood up, drenched so badly she couldn’t even open her eyes.

— “Seriously, fuck. I couldn’t hold back.”

I lifted my head a little blankly. Cheng Lin was standing behind Zhong Lan, holding an already empty red wine bottle.

“Who? Who was it?!” Zhong Lan roared with her eyes squeezed shut, already on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

Cheng Lin showed her little tiger teeth and smiled. “It was me, Lanlan.

“I wanted to wish you a happy birthday.”