Chapter 1: The Villainess Wakes Up, and the Green Tea Gets Burned

Lin Qian came to amid soft music and spiteful whispers.

In front of her, a girl in a white dress sat on the floor, eyes brimming with tears. Beside her, Lu Xi had his arm around the girl’s shoulders and was looking at Lin Qian with disgust, as if she had just committed some unspeakable crime.

“Lin Qian! You’ve gone too far!”

The familiar voice stopped Lin Qian short.

A second later, a flood of strange memories poured into her head.

She had transmigrated into the romance novel she’d been reading before she fell asleep, and become the villainess who shared her name: a foolish rich heiress who used money and power to chase the male lead, Lu Xi.

In the original story, she loved him to the point of losing her mind and schemed against the heroine, Bai Lian, again and again. In the end, the two of them joined hands to steal her most important project, and the Lin Group went bankrupt. Her father fell ill, and she was left carrying an enormous debt.

Meanwhile, Lu Xi and Bai Lian got married and took over everything she had worked so hard to build.

An ending infuriating enough to make you laugh.

Lin Qian looked at the couple in front of her and sighed inwardly.

Money, family background, a whole conglomerate to inherit. And the original owner of this body had traded all of it for a man who wasn’t worth a cent.

Truly, good resources put to terrible use.

“Sister Lin Qian, I know you don’t like me.” Bai Lian lowered her head, her voice choked. “But there’s really nothing between me and Xi. Please don’t hurt him anymore because of me.”

Lu Xi immediately tightened his grip on her shoulder.

“Did you hear that? Lianlian has put up with you this much!”

Lin Qian watched the two of them put on their show and slowly clapped.

“Bravo. One cries, one defends. It’s a waste of talent that you two aren’t in the movies.”

Bai Lian was stunned.

Lu Xi’s face darkened.

“What are you up to now?”

“Nothing. I just want to ask one question.” Lin Qian pointed at the wine glass on the floor. “Who threw wine on her dress?”

“Who else?” Lu Xi said coldly. “Everyone here knows you’re jealous of Lianlian.”

“So you saw it with your own eyes?”

“I don’t need to see it to know!”

Lin Qian laughed.

“Then congratulations. Your eyes don’t see, your brain doesn’t work, and yet you’ve lived perfectly well until now. A medical miracle.”

A few people in the crowd burst out laughing.

Lu Xi turned red.

“Lin Qian!”

“Don’t shout. I’m not deaf.”

Lin Qian turned to the staff member in charge of the party’s screens.

“Would you mind replaying the camera footage for this area? If possible, show everyone the part right before Miss Bai fell.”

Bai Lian suddenly went pale.

That small change didn’t escape Lin Qian’s eyes.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the footage appeared on the big screen.

In the video, Bai Lian kept glancing toward Lu Xi, then walked up close to Lin Qian on her own. While Lin Qian was still talking with another guest, Bai Lian stepped on her own hem, stumbled, spilled wine on herself, and fell.

No one pushed her.

No one threw any wine.

The whole banquet hall erupted.

“So she fell on her own!”

“And just now she was saying Miss Lin bullied her?”

Bai Lian got to her feet, trembling.

“I… I was just careless. I didn’t mean to blame you, Sister!”

Lin Qian tilted her head.

“Oh, really? Then why didn’t you say so right away, instead of letting someone else’s boyfriend jump in and accuse me?”

Lu Xi had no answer.

“We’ve known each other for years. Do you really have to make everything so ugly?”

“Known each other for years?” Lin Qian raised an eyebrow. “Are you talking about the years I paid for your car, invested in your projects, or the years you said in public that I was a nuisance but still took my gifts?”

Lu Xi’s face changed at once.

Lin Qian took out her phone and opened a file her secretary had prepared in advance.

“By the way, I have an announcement.”

She looked straight at Lu Xi.

“As of today, the Lin family is ending every marriage arrangement with the Lu family. All investments, loans, and financial obligations will be reviewed according to the contracts.”

Lu Xi was stunned.

“Are you crazy? You want to call off the engagement over something this small?”

“No.” Lin Qian smiled. “I’m calling it off because I’ve finally realized I misjudged a piece of merchandise.”

She paused, her gaze sweeping over his expensive suit.

“Today just helped me discover I bought a defective product.”

Laughter rang out across the banquet hall.

Lu Xi had never been humiliated in front of so many people. He gritted his teeth and tried to pull Lin Qian outside to talk in private.

She stepped back at once.

“Sorry, I’m not in the habit of going off alone with men who already have girlfriends.”

Bai Lian hurriedly caught Lu Xi’s arm.

“Xi, let it go. I don’t want Sister Qian to be angry because of me…”

Lin Qian looked at her.

“Don’t worry. From now on, I won’t get angry over you anymore.”

She turned to leave, tossing back one light remark:

“Because I’m going to make you take responsibility for what you do yourself.”

That night, Lin Qian went home and opened every financial file the Lin Group had.

The smile slowly faded from her lips.

The original Lin Qian hadn’t just given Lu Xi money.

She had also signed a guarantee for a Lu Group loan, putting up part of her shares in the Lin Group as collateral.

If the Lu Group couldn’t pay, the Lin family would be dragged into the abyss with it.

Lin Qian looked at her own signature on the paper and coldly closed the file.

“Wonderful.”

Now she knew what Lu Xi was really after.

He didn’t just want a rich girlfriend.

He wanted the whole Lin family.

And Bai Lian was probably not just a girl who liked stealing other people’s boyfriends, either.