While the couple was deciding Qin Lian's fate, a soft, trembling voice interrupted them.
"…Mom? Dad?"
Mu Ruoyu stood hesitantly at the doorway, her doe-like eyes glistening with tears. Her delicate figure trembled as if weighed down by guilt.
"Dad, please… don't blame Sister," she whispered, voice choked with emotion. "It's not her fault. All of it happened because of me. I shouldn't have come back."
"Ruoyu, don't say that!" Zhao Shuying immediately rushed to embrace her, holding her tightly. "None of this is your fault. You are our daughter."
"But it is!" Ruoyu sobbed into her mother's shoulder. "If I hadn't come, Sister wouldn't have had to give up her engagement with Chengyan. She wouldn't have hurt herself. Let me marry Xu Yinchen instead—I was betrothed to him anyway."
"No!" Zhao Shuying pulled back, shaking her head firmly. "You've suffered enough. How could I let my daughter become the stepmother to three filthy bastards? How could I let you marry a pig farmer?"
"You deserve so much more. I can't believe the Mu family had the audacity to force this onto you, a girl who just turned twenty, while Xu Yinchen is nearly thirty! Three kids? A pig farm? Absolutely not!"
"But Sister will hate me forever…" Ruoyu whimpered, her voice shaking. "She seems so hurt by my arrival. If I hadn't come back, none of this would have happened…"
"Ruoyu," Qin Zhong said, his voice firm but laced with a cruel finality and surprising gentleness towards his daughter. "This isn't your fault. Everything Qin Lian has belongs to you. It's only right that she returns what was never hers to begin with."
Ruoyu hiccupped, shaking her head. "But—"
"No buts," Qin Zhong cut in, his voice sharp. "This is the way it has to be!"
Zhao Shuying nodded, wiping Ruoyu's tears away with a soft touch. "Don't think about it anymore, my love. Tomorrow, everything will go back to how it was meant to be."
Qin Zhong exhaled, his decision final. "Qin Lian will marry Xu Yinchen tomorrow, and that's the end of it."
....
Upstairs, Qin Lian's heart pounded as muffled voices from downstairs reached her ears.
Xu Yinchen… Lin Chengyan… Mu Ruoyu.
The names echoed in her mind. Her breath hitched. This wasn't just a strange dream. This was the world of a novel she had read before.
And those names, Lin Chengyan and Mu Ruoyu; they weren't just ordinary people. They were the main leads of the story. Meanwhile, Xu Yinchen, a pig farmer and father of three children, was nothing more than a side character.
But the most shocking of all—
There was another character in the novel—a villainess, or more precisely, a cannon fodder—who exists just to make sure the main leads get their happy ending. A girl who shared her name and face.
She…she had become that side character, Qin Lian.
Her chest tightened as she recalled the plot. In the novel, Qin Lian was the fake daughter, swapped at birth after a hospital fire.
For twenty years, she lived a privileged life as the beloved daughter of the Qin family, while Mu Ruoyu, the real daughter of the Qin family, grew up in poverty, in the countryside, raised by the Mu family.
But one month ago, Mu Ruoyu returned to the Qin family. And everything changed.
The Qin family, devastated by the truth, wasted no time in embracing Mu Ruoyu, their biological daughter. Overnight, they showered her with love and affection, eager to make up for the years she had lost.
And Qin Lian? The daughter they once cherished?
She was discarded.
The warmth, the affection, the security she had always known, was snatched away overnight and given to Mu Ruoyu.
Even her engagement.
Qin Lian had been engaged to Lin Chengyan since childhood. Her entire life had revolved around the dream of becoming his wife, of becoming Mrs. Lin.
Meanwhile, before Mu Ruoyu returned to the Qin family, she had been engaged to Xu Yinchen, a pig farmer with three children.
The Mu family had already accepted the betrothal gifts and had no intention of breaking the engagement, even after finding the truth.
To break the engagement, the Qin family have to return the betrothal gifts, something they had no intention of doing. Their solution was cruelly simple: Qin Lian, the real daughter of the Mu family, would take Mu Ruoyu's place and marry Xu Yinchen.
…..
"She'll marry Xu Yinchen tomorrow, and that's final!" Qin Zhong's cold words echoed in Qin Lian's ears, her chest tightening as the weight of it all bore down on her.
So it was all true—she had woken up in the world of a novel she had read some time ago, but not as the heroine.
In the story, the original Qin Lian had reacted to this situation with anger, humiliation, and hatred.
She despised Xu Yinchen, venting out her anger and frustration on him, treating him and his three children cruelly, blaming them for her misery.
Even after marrying Xu Yinchen, she shamelessly clung to Lin Chengyan, constantly causing trouble for him and Mu Ruoyu.
Her actions not only tarnished her reputation but also dragged Xu Yinchen's name into disgrace.
Her recklessness knew no bounds, and one incident nearly cost the Xu family dearly. Her carelessness almost started a fire in the Xu family home, putting the children in grave danger.
The youngest child, who was left home alone, would have been burned to death if not for the other children who arrived in time to save him.
It was the final straw for Xu Yinchen's patience, who divorced her after this, unable to endure her arrogance and thoughtlessness any longer.
Divorced and abandoned, Qin Lian fell into ruin.
Deceived by a perverted man from the city, she ran away with him, only to be taken advantage of and discarded like trash. What little dignity she had left was stripped away, leaving her with nothing.
Once a proud and overbearing lady of the Qin family, she became nothing more than a joke; isolated, despised, and forgotten.
After squandering all the money she had stolen from the Xu family, she found herself penniless and broken.
The man she trusted had long vanished, leaving her to fend for herself on the streets. Her money, her innocence, everything was gone.
In the story, her downfall wasn't even given a proper ending. The author didn't bother to show it—just a passing mention of an accident and her death in one of the chapters, while the focus remained on the main leads.
Lin Chengyan and Mu Ruoyu, the main leads of the story, overcame every obstacle, their love growing stronger with each challenge.
While they lived their happily ever after, Qin Lian's tragic fate was nothing more than a small part of this story.
"I was so happy when Qin Lian finally got her retribution in the novel," she sighed, recalling the scenes clearly. "She stopped bothering the main leads and disappeared from the lives of Xu Yinchen and the kids. Who would've thought I'd wake up inside the novel… as her?"
From one living hell to another.
She had gotten into an accident in her world, and now… was she meant to meet such an unreasonable end here too?
"That girl was such a fool," Qin Lian muttered bitterly, thinking about the original host's actions. "Chasing after things that were never yours is nothing but foolish," she added, her voice low.
She had been fooled by Chen Zhihao for three long years, believing in a love that never truly existed. She couldn't help but see herself in the original host—the same desperation for love, the same hunger for attention.
But that was where the similarity ended.
She would never allow anyone to trample over her self-respect for the sake of a forced love.
Nor would she be foolish enough to push away someone's kindness just to chase after cold indifference.
…..
Downstairs, the Qin family was gathered as they discussed Qin Lian's marriage.
"I'll call Xu Yinchen's village," Qin Zhong declared, his tone allowing no argument.
"The wedding will proceed tomorrow as planned. I'll tell them to come and pick Qin Lian up. It's better than letting them go to the Mu family and discovering about the bride swap. We're not irresponsible like the Mu family."
Zhao Shuying frowned. "But won't that be troublesome? If we call them here, we'll have to host them properly; arrange a wedding banquet, gifts, and a wedding dress."
"Ever since Ruoyu returned, the Mu family has completely let go of the wedding preparations. If we don't handle this well, it will seem like we're mistreating Qin Lian."
Qin Zhong scoffed. "They're not coming for a feast, just the bride. And a wedding dress? What for? This isn't some grand ceremony. She has so many fancy clothes anyway. They're just taking her away. A simple welcome would be enough."
His voice turned colder. "Qin Lian should be grateful we're even hosting this wedding after everything she pulled today. If it were anyone else, they would have cut ties and thrown her back to the Mu family."
"You're right. She embarrassed us enough," Zhao Shuying muttered, her voice tight. "Causing a scene in front of the Lin family… If she dares to pull something like that tomorrow—"
"She won't," Qin Zhong cut in sharply. "She knows her place now and has no choice."
"Dad, will Sister accept this marriage? What if she refuses—"
~Creak~