Jinghai City, Jiang Family Residence, Third Floor.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Liu Rouran kicked off her blanket, screaming at a pitch so high it made her own ears ring.
She sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, her face pale and her heart pounding like a war drum.
"Wha …" She glanced around, disoriented. "What was that?"
Relief washed over her when she realized she was in her own room.
Just moments ago, she had a dream, a very long, vivid dream that felt like she had lived inside it for years.
The dream appeared like scattered puzzle pieces, making it hard for Liu Rouran to make sense of it.
And at the end, her adoptive sister, Jiang Rouyan, pushed her into a freezing lake in the middle of winter. People might've seen it as an accident, but Liu Rouran swore she saw a smile on her sister's face.
The moment her body hit the frozen lake, the thin surface cracked, dragging her into the icy depths.
She tried to swim to the surface, but unfortunately, she couldn't swim and no one was trying to help her.
Liu Rouran knew it was just a dream, but for some reason, it felt too real. She could still feel the chill all over her body.
"Rouran! Wake up!"
Her fingers clenched the blanket at the sound of her adoptive mother's voice.
Zhao Lihua, better known as Madam Jiang, slammed the door open with a bang. Her face was red with rage, her arched brows sharp as knives.
"You ungrateful brat! How dare you report your own sister to the Ethics Committee?!" she barked from the doorway. "Yanyan just got an invitation from LUXE, and you went and ruined it by accusing her of plagiarism?!"
"Are you jealous because Yanyan got the invitation while you didn't?!"
Liu Rouran frowned deeply. She got out of bed and stood firmly across from her so-called mother.
"Everything I said is true," she said coldly. "Rouyan stole my exam design."
"Where's the proof?!" Zhao Lihua snapped. "Yanyan told me she submitted her sketches to her professor first!"
Liu Rouran gritted her teeth. Just a few days ago, her professor had suddenly given her a harsh warning, accusing her of plagiarizing Jiang Rouyan's design.
When the truth was otherwise.
She'd always drawn her designs in a sketchbook before digitizing them. That sketchbook had mysteriously vanished. She let it go, thinking she could just redraw the designs since she had photos.
She didn't expect it to be used against her.
Jiang Rouyan had taken those sketches and submitted them first. Now, even the professor wouldn't believe Liu Rouran's version of the story.
So, with no other choice, Liu Rouran reported it to the Ethics Committee.
But instead of solving the problem, it only made her life messier.
"I've been feeding you since you were five years old, and this is how you repay me?!" Zhao Lihua shouted. "You're no different than a dog that bites the hand that feeds it!"
Liu Rouran blinked a few times and was too stunned to speak. Her adoptive mother's words were harsh, but that wasn't the only thing that caught her attention.
That line ...
She'd heard it before in the dream.
Was it really just a dream?
If not, then ... didn't that mean she was really going to die in that lake?
"Liu Rouran! Is your mouth just for decoration?! Why are you so quiet?!"
Just as she opened her mouth, her vision blurred. In a blink, she saw a few minutes into the future.
[Jiang Rouyan bursts into the room in tears, claiming that LUXE has postponed her invitation until the plagiarism issue is resolved.]
[Zhao Lihua demands Rouran to drop the complaint. When Liu Rouran refuses, her mother slaps her.]
[Then, Zhao Lihua kicks Rouran out of the house and insists on sending her to her long-lost biological family.]
Rouran gasped as the vision vanished and reality snapped back.
What was that?
Could she really see the future after being sick for three days?
She remembered the fever. After the professor's warning, she'd fallen ill. She didn't tell anyone, just took some medicine and tried to sleep it off.
Maybe … maybe the fever wasn't just a fever.
Maybe her ancestors had given her a rare gift.
Or maybe she was just going crazy.
But then, everything in her vision began to happen.
"Motherrr!!" Jiang Rouyan's wailing voice could already be heard echoing through the hallway.
"LUXE said they're thinking about canceling my invitation until the plagiarism issue is resolved!"
As expected, Jiang Rouyan ran straight into Zhao Lihua's arms.
"Oh, my poor Yanyan," she said, stroking her daughter's back. "You must be devastated. All your hard work has been ruined by your own sister."
Hard work?
What hard work?
The only thing Jiang Rouyan had done was copy someone else's design.
"Mother, what should I do?" Rouyan whimpered like a child who'd lost her candy.
"Don't worry," Zhao Lihua said gently. "Mother will take care of this."
She then turned to glare at Liu Rouran with a sharp look. "This is your last warning. Withdraw the complaint, and I'll forget this happened."
"No," Liu Rouran replied firmly, without even a hint of hesitation.
Zhao Lihua's eyes flared. She raised her hand to slap her, but Rouran, already knowing it was coming, stepped back.
The slap hit nothing but air.
"Liu Rouran! How dare you dodge me?!"
"It was a reflex," Rouran replied calmly. "Who just stands there and lets themselves get slapped?"
Zhao Lihua had hit her so many times before. Her movements were always so fast that Liu Rouran never had a chance to react.
Sometimes she'd throw cold water in her face. Other times, she'd slap her without warning.
More often, she'd hit the back of her head, so much that Liu Rouran once wondered if she'd end up with a concussion someday.
But now, with her ability to see the future, avoiding those hits had become easy.
"You!" Zhao Lihua pointed an angry finger at her. "I've had enough of you! Pack your things and get out of my house!"
"Mother, don't be so harsh on Rouran-jie," Rouyan said sweetly, tugging on her mother's arm like a dutiful daughter. "If she leaves, Rouran-jie might not be able to continue her studies …"
Zhao Lihua softened her voice.
"Oh, Yanyan, you're such a kind and understanding girl. Your sister has done something terrible to you, yet you're still worried about her future."
She gently patted her daughter's hand. "Since your sister has found her biological family, let them be the ones to take care of her now."
Jiang Rouyan spoke in a quiet, almost hesitant voice. "But … I heard the Liu family lives in some remote village at the foot of a mountain. I don't think they have enough money to pay for Rouran-jie's education."
She paused for a moment, then continued, "If … if Rouran-jie withdraws the complaint for me, will Mother allow her to stay here?"
Zhao Lihua nodded without hesitation. "Of course. Of course. If she can be a good sister, I'll let her stay."
Jiang Rouyan turned to Liu Rouran with eyes full of fake tears. "Rouran-jie, you heard what Mother said. Please, can you withdraw the report for me? You'd feel bad if LUXE canceled my invitation, right?"
To Liu Rouran, Jiang Rouyan was no different from their mother.
She always acted sweet and gentle, but behind that soft voice was someone who only cared about getting what she wanted by making others feel guilty.
In her dream, Rouran had made the mistake of staying. Hoping that if she helped Rouyan, she'd return the favor.
She had also been worried about the same thing Jiang Rouyan had just said.
What if her biological family couldn't afford her tuition if she got expelled?
At the time, she thought staying in the Jiang Family was her only chance, but in the end, that choice only led her to misery.
If she insisted on staying, she would die.
There was no reason to stay anymore.
Even if her real family couldn't afford to send her to college, she'd find another way to succeed.
"No." Liu Rouran's voice was calm, but firm. "I won't take back my complaint."
"You—!" Zhao Lihua's voice rose.
"I'll leave," Rouran interrupted calmly. "You won't have to see me again."
• •
Liu Rouran didn't bring much from her bedroom, just some clothes and a few of her favorite plushies.
She didn't want Zhao Lihua to call her greedy for taking too many things from the Jiang Residence.
As she reached the front door with her suitcase in hand, Jiang Weiguo stepped in to block her path.
"Rouran, think this carefully," he said calmly. "All you have to do is take back the report you filed against your sister. Then you can stay."
Liu Rouran lifted her head, meeting his face, the same gentle expression he always wore.
Jiang Weiguo was the man who had adopted her from the orphanage.
But no, it wasn't out of kindness or a desire to help children without parents. He did it to build a good image in front of the public.
He used Liu Rouran like a decoration, a symbol of how "generous" the Jiang family was.
For years, he proudly told people in his business circle how well they had treated her and how she turned ungrateful and spoiled in return.
But the truth was far from that.
Behind closed doors, his wife abused her, his daughter stole from her, and he did nothing.
From school to college, she'd always outshone Jiang Rouyan and they hated her for it.
Jiang Weiguo and Zhao Lihua had asked her over and over to hold back. "Don't score too high," they said. "Let your sister shine."
And now, Jiang Weiguo also wanted her to stop fighting for what was rightfully hers.
"Rouran, we took you in from a dirty orphanage," he said. "Can't you do this one small thing for your sister?"
They had spoiled Jiang Rouyan so much, she had started to rot from the inside.
Now that Liu Rouran was leaving, she knew one thing for sure that Jiang Rouyan wouldn't be able to get another high score on her own.
"I'd rather leave," Rouran said coldly, "than spend the rest of my life being Rouyan's personal maid."