Chapter One: Waking Up to Find the Whole Family Doomed

“Clatter—” Chu Ying’s chopsticks fell to the floor, trembling.

“What’s wrong with you again, child?” Liu Shuang’er looked at her youngest daughter, speechless.

From birth, this daughter was different—while others cried, she smiled; while others crawled, she smiled; when others walked, she still smiled.

She smiled until she could eat meat, then suddenly she walked, jumped, and even sang.

By now, Liu Shuang’er knew her daughter was extraordinary, prone to sudden bouts of madness.

“Mother, what did you just say?” Chu Ying stammered. “You said you found a woman in the backyard, named… Lin Xiaoyue?”

“Yes!” Liu Shuang’er shook her head with a sigh. She had never seen such a pitiful child—helpless and tragic.

Chu Ying’s mind was filled with the word “ruined.”

Wasn’t that the name of the heroine from that popular system novel she’d once casually read?

Help!

She had thought she simply transmigrated into another world while still in the womb, but it turned out to be transmigration plus book crossing!

Fifteen years ago, Chu Ying was a struggling working woman in society; one day, after overworking, she died suddenly and transmigrated into another world while still in the womb.

She had suspected she might have crossed into a novel.

But the eight brothers of the villainous female supporting character in the book had names slightly different from her own eight brothers, and the heroine who was supposed to arrive a year ago had still not appeared. So she didn’t think much of it.

She never expected—the heroine wasn’t absent, just that her time hadn’t come yet.

Chu Ying’s face fell; despair was all she felt.

In the story, the heroine, bound to a popular system, needed to woo ten prime men, relying on them to ascend to the position of consort.

By a twist of fate, her eight brothers perfectly matched the system’s criteria for prime men, and the heroine pretended to be foolish and pitiful, moving into their home.

One by one, she ruined the marriages of her eight brothers and their wives, yet didn’t successfully win over a single man.

In frustration, she awakened, refusing to rely on men or the system.

She directly sowed discord between her father and mother, fabricated treason evidence, reported her family’s loyalty in a rebellion, earned the title of princess, and used her royal identity to move into the palace.

She then trampled over the crown prince and the second male lead to rise, ultimately ascending the throne as emperor and empress alongside the male lead.

She completed a life filled with ambition.

But Chu Ying… because she competed with the heroine for the male lead, was pierced through the heart by him and left to die in the wilderness.

Chu Ying sobbed.

How did it happen that when she woke up, her entire family was doomed?

“Little sister, what’s wrong?” Her eldest brother Chu Hengyang looked at her with deep concern; his gentle eyes moved slightly. “Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”

Chu Ying looked tearfully at her brother, unable to speak her pain.

How could she tell her kind-hearted, tender, gentle eldest brother—who wouldn’t even crush an ant out of kindness—that their whole family was doomed?

“Brother, I…” Chu Ying choked back her tears.

“Hmph.” Chu Hengyang’s gentle expression remained unchanged. “Little sister has always been as cheerful as a mad fool, never sad. It seems someone has hurt her. When I find out who it is, I will have them skinned and their bones crushed.”

Chu Ying froze.

She doubted her ears.

How could her gentle, kind eldest brother say such terrifying words?

“Little sister?” Chu Hengyang asked with concern.

“Little sister is so saddened she’s stunned. Skinned and crushed bones is too mild—better to chop that person into mincemeat and feed it to wild dogs!”

Chu Ying: “?!”

Brother, how can you, with that soft jade-like face and your reputation as a nurturing teacher, say such brutal things?

Her perfect, gentle image of her big brother shattered completely.

Wait a moment. Did she just gain the ability to read minds?

Could this be the legendary golden finger from novels that Heaven granted her—meant to help her family survive this calamity?

“Ah Yu,” Chu Ying sprang up and went to her personal maid, Ah Yu. “Say something to me.”

Ah Yu: “Uh… mistress is well.”

Silent as a chicken, she heard nothing.

But suddenly, a familiar voice echoed in her ears—her father’s voice: “Could this be what Old Li meant, that when daughters reach a certain age, they suffer from ‘divine madness,’ fall for wild men, quarrel with their family, and then elope with the wild man, abandoning mother and father forever? Wuwuwu…”

Chu Ying’s fingers trembled; she slowly and stiffly turned around.

Chu Jue, eating his meal, wore a cold, solemn expression filled with deadly intent.

Their gazes met, and he spoke only two words: “What’s wrong?”

“Wuwuwu, is my daughter going to argue with me? So sad, so painful—I want to cry.”

Chu Ying stammered: “N-no, nothing—”

Heavens!

Was this really the same Minister of Justice father who spoke no more than two words, decisive and awe-inspiring, who struck fear into criminals and intimidated strangers?

“Tsk. I’ll have to comfort this crybaby again later,” Liu Shuang’er’s voice came.

Chu Ying nearly dropped her chopsticks.

What kind of fresh love scene was this?

And why did her mother seem completely unlike her usual gentle self?

She had thought it was a story of a strong man and a weak woman, but was it actually the other way around?

Though it seemed she could only hear her family’s thoughts, not those of others.

Heavens!

Why did other transmigrators’ mind-reading golden fingers either save their families from eavesdropping or save nations by eavesdropping on court officials, but for her… she could only overhear her family’s thoughts, shattering her romantic illusions and feeding her a steady stream of family love drama!

“Little sister, if you’re unwell, just go rest in your room,” Chu Hengyang said anxiously.

“Chop into mincemeatI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.