Chapter 2
His tone was rather arrogant, but in the next instant, it changed drastically. “Eldest Miss, why have you come out here personally?”
“Second Master has already given his instructions. There’s no need to trouble you with such a trivial matter.”
A trivial matter?
Although the clerk’s words sounded respectful, he was actually trying to sideline Ran Zhixi.
And this Second Master was currently one of the most influential figures in the Ran family, overseeing the operations of Baishan Hall.
Although Cheng Jin had read the original novel and had a general understanding of Ran Zhixi’s circumstances, hearing such remarks from a mere clerk gave her an even deeper appreciation of just how difficult Ran Zhixi’s position was.
Perhaps…
“Second Uncle is in charge of Baishan Hall’s affairs, but surely he has no authority to interfere with the pharmacology academy inside the Ran residence?”
The Ran family’s Second Master and his subordinates had been openly and secretly suppressing Ran Zhixi, trying to push her to the sidelines. However, there was no denying that the current head of the Ran family was still Ran Zhixi’s father. Even though he had no Alpha heir, the pharmacology academy, which was the lifeblood of the Ran family, remained under the authority of the main branch.
In other words, Ran Zhixi had the final say.
Evaluating every student who entered the pharmacology academy was part of Ran Zhixi’s responsibilities.
It was simply that the Ran family’s Second Master was both the chief manager of Baishan Hall in Bai City and her elder, making it difficult for Ran Zhixi to interfere too much.
But that didn’t mean she had to let others walk all over her.
“Eldest Miss, how could you say such a thing? Second Master is only looking out for you, after all.” The clerk gave an awkward smile and avoided meeting Ran Zhixi’s gaze. Instead, he directed all his frustration toward Cheng Jin.
“Are you registering or not? Show me your name plaque and documents!”
Cheng Jin was speechless. She had just rolled her eyes inwardly when she heard Ran Zhixi speak from behind her.
“The people you meet today…”
“Their future potential may be limitless.”
Cheng Jin understood that Ran Zhixi’s words weren’t directed at anyone in particular. She was simply making a statement. Her voice was calm and indifferent, and after speaking, she didn’t spare the clerk another glance. Instead, she lowered her voice and took her daughter’s hand.
“Xiangxiang, would you like Mother to take you boating on the lake?”
It was March, the season when spring brought warmth and flowers began to bloom. Bai City was also situated in a central region, so the temperature was pleasantly mild.
At such a time, boating on the lake would indeed be a relaxing experience.
Ran Zhixi had brought only her daughter, Xiangxiang, without even a servant to look after them.
That didn’t quite befit the status of the Ran family or her position as its eldest young lady.
Yet she seemed perfectly content.
Despite all the troublesome matters surrounding her, Ran Zhixi remained completely unperturbed. She truly lived up to her role as the female lead.
Cheng Jin couldn’t help stealing a few more glances at her. Her white ruqun fluttered in the breeze, and her eyes were filled with tenderness whenever she looked at Xiangxiang. She seemed like an entirely different person from the woman she’d been moments earlier.
But Cheng Jin didn’t stare for long. She remembered that she’d come here to register.
She straightened her collar and handed her documents to the clerk from earlier.
Ran Zhixi’s remarks had made the clerk considerably more restrained, and he accepted Cheng Jin’s documents with a reasonable degree of courtesy.
Cheng Jin waited quietly as he compared the documents against her name plaque.
There was nothing particularly wrong with the documents, but when he examined the name plaque…
The clerk looked it over several times before finally calling over an older female Alpha standing behind him.
“What’s going on?”
The female Alpha had a rather fierce appearance, and her tone was… equally fierce. She was somewhat intimidating.
However, Cheng Jin wasn’t frightened. The clerk, on the other hand, respectfully presented the documents and name plaque to her.
Like the clerk before her, the female Alpha compared the two repeatedly. Eventually, her expression darkened, and she asked Cheng Jin, “Are these documents yours?”
“They’re mine.”
The name written on the documents was indeed Cheng Jin. She had glanced at them before coming here, but as for the name plaque…
It had been tucked inside the documents, and she hadn’t noticed it.
Or perhaps she simply hadn’t anticipated something like this happening.
“It’s getting late. You should return home for now, Alpha. As soon as there’s any news, someone from Baishan Hall will come to inform you.”
There was a trace of politeness in the woman’s words, but Cheng Jin could clearly see something else in her eyes…
Contempt.
Yes, contempt.
As an outsider to this world, Cheng Jin understood that she shouldn’t do anything unnecessary.
Entering the Ran family and joining Baishan Hall were merely ways for her to survive in this unfamiliar world.
But they weren’t her only options, so there was no need to force matters.
Imitating the people around her, she bowed to the female Alpha and replied calmly, “Very well, Manager. I’ll return home and await your news.”
Cheng Jin’s composed, matter-of-fact attitude made the female Alpha raise an eyebrow and glance at her, but she said nothing.
The clerk standing behind her, however, was another matter.
As soon as Cheng Jin turned her back, he muttered under his breath, “Who does she think she’s fooling? She certainly wasn’t acting like this when she came to the residence a few days ago.”
“Watch your tongue,” the female Alpha warned.
The clerk immediately fell silent and lowered his voice. “Manager Huo, this humble servant knows his mistake.”
Manager Huo…
Hearing that title, Cheng Jin suddenly recalled a passage from the novel.
“Ji Han is the person most suited to Eldest Miss.”
Oh.
One of the female protagonist Ji Han’s die-hard supporters.
If Cheng Jin wanted to survive comfortably in a yuri novel where readers could bet on different romantic pairings, she felt it was essential to understand the main protagonist properly.
However, after reading the novel, she genuinely believed that Ji Han wasn’t worthy of Ran Zhixi, the female lead who played the more receptive role in the relationship.
Apart from possessing extraordinary luck that ordinary people could never hope to match, Ji Han was, in Cheng Jin’s eyes, an indecisive and fickle person who constantly went back and forth.
And that indecisiveness was especially evident in her romantic entanglements with Ran Zhixi.
Their marriage had originally been nothing more than a contractual arrangement in which both parties got what they needed. Yet Ji Han was the first to cross the boundaries of that agreement. Then, when her feelings weren’t reciprocated, she turned around and sought comfort in the arms of Zhou Xiaoxiao and others.
Yes, others…
Aside from the two female leads eventually finding happiness together, much of the novel revolved around Ji Han’s romantic entanglements with various supporting female characters.
After all, that was the defining feature of a stock-picking romance novel.
Unfortunately, Cheng Jin…
She had bet on the wrong person.
She had thought that the woman Ji Han would ultimately end up with was Ji Ruyan, the one who waited bitterly for her return in the countryside.
Ji Ruyan could be considered Ji Han’s childhood sweetheart.
Cheng Jin had always had a particular soft spot for childhood-sweetheart romances. Moreover, the original novel’s synopsis was written entirely from Ji Han’s perspective, following her journey from Ji Village to Bai City and eventually to the capital, where she established her own medicinal herb shop.
It had all the elements of a satisfying wish-fulfillment novel. Ji Han and Ran Zhixi supported each other along the way. In the early stages, Ji Han harbored a one-sided crush on Ran Zhixi while feeling somewhat bothered by the existence of her daughter. Later, she became entangled with several Omegas before finally overcoming all the obstacles and finding happiness with Ran Zhixi.
However, Cheng Jin hadn’t actually finished reading the entire novel. She’d dropped it when Ji Ruyan was written out of the story, only skimming the final chapter to see that Ji Han and Ran Zhixi had gotten their happy ending.
And there was something particularly remarkable about this novel…
While reading it, Cheng Jin had experienced a whole range of emotions. She felt that Ran Zhixi deserved better and wished she could simply remain beautiful and independent on her own.
She also felt sorry for Ji Ruyan and found Ji Han even more infuriating.
But not knowing who would ultimately end up together had left her with a lingering sense of frustration, as though she had a breath caught in her chest. Once her emotions settled, Cheng Jin swore that she would never read another stock-picking romance novel.
And her words had become a prophecy.
She had ended up in the novel’s ancient ABO world, unable to return to her original world, where she had been an ordinary, unremarkable female Alpha.
Worse still, she no longer had access to highly effective suppressants, and she had no idea how she was supposed to manage her life from now on.
However, these worries didn’t last long before another problem arose.
After leaving the Ran residence, Cheng Jin made her way back toward her current home through a maze of winding streets and alleys. Lost in thought, she failed to notice that someone had been following her. It wasn’t until she walked from the lakeside into an alley that several male Alphas appeared before her, blocking her path with knives in their hands.
“Cheng Jin, you’ve been hiding from us for the past few days. Now you’ve got nowhere left to run, have you?”
“Tch! Didn’t you say you were going to marry into the Ran family and get some silver out of it? Where’s the money?!”
The gambling house’s relentless harassment had never truly left the original Cheng Jin alone. Over the past two days, Cheng Jin had managed to avoid these men because she vaguely remembered where the original character had been killed.
But now, there was nowhere left to hide.
After all, she could change what happened to the academy enrollment slot, but she couldn’t erase the gambling debts the original character had accumulated.
“Eight taels of silver. When exactly are you planning to pay us back?” The thug leading the group stepped forward, practically pressing his blade against Cheng Jin’s neck.
It would be a lie to say Cheng Jin felt nothing.
She was afraid. Of course she was afraid.
Although she had practically nothing tying her to her original world anymore, she still wanted to live!
She hadn’t even figured out how to survive in this world, and now she was about to lose her life over a gambling debt…
No. Absolutely not.
And besides…
“Why has the debt become eight taels? Wasn’t it three?” Cheng Jin asked, forcing herself to remain calm.
The thug chuckled maliciously. “Three taels? That was the amount a few days ago. How many days have passed since then? If everyone behaved like you, how would the gambling house stay in business?”
What a grand excuse. At the end of the day, it was nothing more than loan-sharking.
Cheng Jin genuinely didn’t want to acknowledge the debt as hers. Besides, it wasn’t as though she’d wanted to end up in this world in the first place!
“Could you give me a few more days? If I manage to enter the Ran residence…”
The Ran family was the only lifeline Cheng Jin could think of, so she had no choice but to grasp at it. However, the moment the men standing before her heard those words, they burst into roaring laughter.
“After the scene you caused at the Ran residence a few days ago, you still think they’ll let you attend the academy?”
“You demanded ten taels of silver before you’d even consider marrying into their family, saying you absolutely wouldn’t agree otherwise! After making a demand like that, how could the Ran family possibly still want you?!”
The thug’s words made Cheng Jin’s eyes widen in disbelief.
Idiot.
She desperately wanted to curse the original character for being such an idiot. All for the sake of a little gambling debt, how could she have been so shortsighted? Why had she insisted on gambling in the first place?!
“I… It’s not like there’s absolutely no chance they’ll let me in…” Cheng Jin muttered quietly.
The thug looked at her with even greater contempt, but before he could say anything, something behind Cheng Jin caught his attention, leaving him momentarily stunned.
Cheng Jin was standing only a few steps away from the street, but there were people blocking her from behind as well, leaving her with absolutely no chance of escaping. She hadn’t even attempted to turn around.
Yet the look on the thug’s face made her instinctively follow his gaze.
Standing a short distance away by the roadside were Ran Zhixi and Xiangxiang.
Xiangxiang was holding a sugar figurine that Ran Zhixi had bought for her. She looked up at her mother and called sweetly, “Mother, you have some too.”
Cheng Jin didn’t dare look at them for long.
She didn’t even understand why she felt this way, but her instincts told her to pretend nothing had happened and act as though she hadn’t seen Ran Zhixi and her daughter at all.
Unfortunately, the thug had other ideas.
The instant she turned her head, the blade against her neck pressed even closer. The thug revealed a sinister smile.
“Cheng Jin, you remember what you said last time, don’t you? If you couldn’t pay back the silver, or if that Omega from the Ran family refused to give you the money, you’d…”
“Lure her out here and let us brothers have a taste of her.”
Comments 0
You must be logged in to comment.
No comments yet. Be the first!