Chapter 481 - 167: The 80s Drama Queen is Forced into Business as a Top Student (2)

Chapter 481: Chapter 167: The 80s Drama Queen is Forced into Business as a Top Student (2)

The original host believed she was a burden to the family. With her father gone, it hadn’t been easy for her mother to struggle and raise her. She felt she couldn’t be so selfish as to put her mother in a difficult position within the new blended family.

From the time she was just three or four years old and barely understood the world, she had been helping her mother with household chores. Now, at nine, the girl’s hands were covered in thick calluses, and her face was tan and rough, not looking like a child’s at all.

So, after arriving at the Xiao family’s home, she made a habit of yielding. She bit her tongue and swallowed every grievance, never arguing or fighting for anything.

After all, her mother had brainwashed her into believing that the two of them were intruders who had destroyed the Xiao family’s original happiness, so they had to live meekly and walk on eggshells.

She thought that once she grew up and found a job, she could finally catch her breath and have a life of her own.

Little did she know that her meekness only made that family grow more and more brazen.

It was right around a wave of layoffs, and the newspaper agency was poorly managed and on the verge of bankruptcy. Xiao Xuezhen was busy scrambling to save his own job and got to know many shady characters.

One of them took an interest in Xiao Hailan and proposed becoming the Xiao family’s son-in-law.

The man was five years older than even Xiao Xuezhen. The Xiao family and the Lan Family were, of course, unwilling. In the end, however, it was the original host’s "good" mother, Ren Xingchen, who came up with the idea of putting her own daughter forward.

Ren Xingchen then laid out a list of benefits: her daughter’s future would be secure, and she wouldn’t have to face the crisis of layoffs and unemployment; she could easily become a wealthy man’s wife at such a young age, something Ren Xingchen herself hadn’t achieved after struggling for half her life; and most importantly, her daughter needed to repay the debt of her upbringing by helping Mr. Xiao through this crisis...

With her own mother laying it all out like that, the original host just nodded in agreement as if she didn’t have a soul.

But before they could even get married, the old man violated her, using a mix of threats and coaxing.

Then, the old man turned right around and said the original host was too wooden—marrying her would be like marrying a puppet. He said the betrothal gift would serve as her compensation and even helped Xiao Xuezhen find a decent job to smooth things over.

With the Xiao family’s financial crisis resolved, everyone began to scorn the original host for being "immodest," for letting a man take advantage of her before she was even married.

They threw all sorts of heart-piercing insults at her, and it’s impossible to know which exact phrase was the final straw.

In a numb daze, the original host leaped from the rooftop of the new skyscraper that old man had just built...

Sheng Leyun lowered her eyelids slightly. ’This is why you can’t be too obedient, too considerate. Otherwise, your sacrifices will be taken for granted, and people will just keep demanding more and more, with increasing madness.’ ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

’It was the Xiao family who owed her and Father Sheng, but what happened? That hypocrite Xiao Xuezhen "took care of" the man’s wife by luring her into his bed, while driving the poor kid to her death!’

’Oh, right. Father Sheng died a hero’s death, so he should have received a substantial death benefit.’

’But the mother and daughter never saw a cent of that money. Otherwise, given how dim-witted Ren Xingchen is, she would have surely funneled it to her maiden family, bit by bit!’

’Thinking about the things Xiao Xuezhen usually mailed to Ren Xingchen, I guess that bastard must have pocketed the money himself. Otherwise, with his formidable first wife and the Yue Family, he would never have been allowed to have his own secret savings.’

After running through the events from start to finish, Sheng Leyun found she only had the dry facts of the plot, completely devoid of the original host’s emotions. It left her unsure where to even begin.

’Actually, this is pretty good too. It gives me free rein to do as I please. Heh, I’m going to turn the Xiao family’s world upside down and make them understand that it’s much easier to invite a demon in than to send it away!’

’To break free from all shackles and live a comfortable life of modest means as an ordinary person—to be needed and loved—without borrowing any of my skills or knowledge from other worlds as a mission-taker... that’s probably what the original host would have wanted to see, right?’

Just as she was thinking this, her posture—the straight shoulders and the slightly bowed head of someone with low self-esteem—transformed completely. Her head shot up, chin tilted so high it was almost level with her nose, but her back hunched slightly, giving her the defiant and unruly air of a teenage delinquent.

The two adults had been murmuring affectionately to each other for quite some time. Only when the announcement of the train’s arrival sounded did they reluctantly begin to gather their luggage.

Ren Xingchen glanced down and saw the drastic change in her daughter. A wave of displeasure washed over her, and she gave the girl a shove. "What do you think you’re doing? A young lady should act like one."

Normally, a shove like that would have sent the little girl stumbling. This time, however, Sheng Leyun simply took a light half-step to the side and wasn’t moved at all.

However, Ren Xingchen never expected the daughter who always let herself be bullied to actually dodge. Over the years, the force of her shoves had only increased. When this one suddenly met empty air, her own momentum sent her stumbling forward two steps.

Ren Xingchen glared daggers at Sheng Leyun. If Xiao Xuezhen hadn’t been standing right there, she really would have slapped her across the face.