Struck by Lightning and Transmigrated

Chu Tianqing was a wide-eyed, foolish college student who had finally found a job three months after graduation. On the weekend of her first week at work, the company squeezed her into going mountain climbing for a team-building event.

It took half her life to make it to the summit, and she had only just sat down to catch her breath when dark clouds suddenly gathered overhead, blotting out the clear sky.

The team leader hurriedly organized everyone to head down the mountain, urging them to leave at once.

Chu Tianqing could barely walk. Clinging to her last breath, she lagged behind everyone else. As she passed a large tree, a flash of white light suddenly filled her vision, followed by an ear-splitting bolt of lightning.

What did it feel like to be struck by lightning? A prickling numbness swept through her, her vision went dark, and her whole body went limp. She fell straight backward.

Chu Tianqing slowly closed her eyes. Her last thought was that if she had been struck dead by lightning during a team-building event, it ought to count as a workplace accident. The company would pay her parents a large sum of compensation, right?

Mom, Dad, use that money to support yourselves in your old age. At least that would count as her fulfilling her filial duty. They still had her older sister, so they mustn't grieve too much over her death.

Chu Tianqing lost consciousness completely. She felt herself drifting higher and higher, sinking into boundless darkness.

An unknown amount of time passed before her senses gradually returned.

Her stomach hurt and she felt nauseated. The air was icy cold, and she could smell disinfectant and hear a machine beeping.

What did that mean? Could it be that she wasn't dead?

Delighted, Chu Tianqing snapped her eyes open and started to sit up, only for her temples to throb sharply. The pain sent her lying back down.

Memories that didn't belong to her flooded her mind. Perhaps because her heart was beating too fast, a nurse and a doctor were alerted and rushed in to examine her.

"Miss Shen, please calm down. Is something bothering you?"

Chu Tianqing's lips trembled as she asked in a quavering voice, "What did you call me?"

"Miss Shen." The nurse looked worried. She held up two fingers in front of her. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Chu Tianqing didn't want to answer. She hurriedly said, "A mirror. Do you have a mirror? A phone will do too. Where's my phone?"

Someone put a phone in her hand. Its case, encrusted with diamonds and pearls, was clearly not her style, and the Apple phone itself was one she couldn't afford.

Trembling, Chu Tianqing unlocked it with her fingerprint and opened the front-facing camera. One look, and she fainted on the spot.

Because that wasn't her face.

The good news was that she wasn't dead. The bad news was that she had transmigrated, and into a real-and-fake heiress novel she had once read.

She had adored the heroine's clever, sharp, and ruthless streak, but now she had become the heroine's archenemy—the fake heiress.

What kind of person was the fake heiress? Vain, greedy, selfish, evil, and utterly without scruples.

To hold on to the wealth and glory that didn't belong to her, she played the white lotus in public while constantly stirring up trouble and framing the heroine behind the scenes. She even hired someone to kill her.

Naturally, she came to no good end, landing in prison for murder.

While Chu Tianqing was unconscious, it was as if she had a long dream, and it also helped her sort out her thoughts.

The plot had only just begun. The heroine had reunited with her birth family and returned home, while the fake heiress, hoping to preserve her position, had swallowed more than a dozen sleeping pills in a suicide attempt to gain sympathy. She was in the hospital to have her stomach pumped.

Thank goodness, thank goodness. She hadn't made any terrible mistakes yet, and she had plenty of chances to turn things around.

By the time Chu Tianqing opened her eyes again, she was much calmer. Just in case, she pulled off everything stuck to her body and attached to her fingers.

She pressed a hand over her wildly pounding little heart and resolved to start her life over.

She had finally managed to come back to life. She couldn't go and land herself in prison.

Chu Tianqing caught her breath and began working out a plan. First, she needed to find a way to smoothly extricate herself from the Shen family.

Speaking of the Shen family, Chu Tianqing quickly sorted everyone into camps based on the original novel and the memories she had inherited.

Jiang Youyi, also known as Madam Shen, was the mother who had raised her for over twenty years. She doted on her terribly, and her heart was on her side.

Shen Yunsheng, a second-generation heir to a wealthy family and a rich father, was relatively neutral. His position was that, since the family didn't lack money anyway, they could raise both daughters.

Shen Heng, the eldest son, had grown up with his grandparents and wasn't close to his parents. He didn't care one way or the other about his real and fake younger sisters, but he had his own bottom line.

In the original story, the fake sister kept causing trouble, throwing the household into chaos. When a scandal broke and affected the group's share price, he flew into a rage and took action against her, sending her straight to prison.

Of course, the scandal surrounding the fake heiress had been entirely orchestrated by the real heiress.

Chu Tianqing shuddered at the thought. When it came to brains and cunning, she was no match for the real heiress.

So staying away was the best choice.

Chu Tianqing was working out her grand escape plan when she suddenly heard voices outside.

She hurriedly lay down and pretended to be asleep, acting as though she knew nothing.

Her hospital suite had a bedroom and a sitting room. The person outside was probably talking to the doctor and nurse. After quite a while, the bedroom door was gently pushed open, and someone quietly walked up to her bed.

Chu Tianqing's mind raced as she recalled the details of the original novel, trying to work out who would come to see her at this point.

Then she realized the original novel hadn't said! This part had only covered the real heiress's side of the story!

What should I do? What should I do?

Chu Tianqing's heart pounded. She wasn't a good actress, so how was she supposed to play this without giving herself away?

"Stop pretending to be asleep. I know you're awake," a deep, pleasant male voice said. He pulled over a chair and sat by the bed, sounding a little helpless. "Do you know your eyes are darting around?"

Huh? No, I didn't.

Chu Tianqing's breath caught. She slowly opened her eyes and found an extraordinarily handsome man in a suit looking at her with a gaze that was thirty percent disdain, thirty percent contempt, and forty percent amusement.

Her brain slowly turned, matching him to someone in her memories. So this was none other than her dear older brother, Shen Heng.

Although they had been brother and sister for so many years, they weren't particularly close. There was some history behind that.

Madam Shen, Jiang Youyi, had once been a minor celebrity from an ordinary family. She hadn't met Old Madam Shen's standards, and the old lady had opposed her son Shen Yunsheng marrying her.

To win the beauty's hand, Shen Yunsheng and Jiang Youyi had a child in secret first. Nine months later, Shen Heng was born.

As soon as Shen Heng was born, he was treated as a pawn and sent back to Hong Kong to be raised by his grandparents.

The couple hoped that, for their grandson's sake, the elders would allow Jiang Youyi into the family.

The tactic succeeded, and yet it didn't.

Jiang Youyi and Shen Yunsheng successfully registered their marriage, but she still wasn't allowed through the Shen family's doors.

Shen Yunsheng took Jiang Youyi north to Jincheng, where he developed the branch company's business.

Four years later, Jiang Youyi gave birth to her younger daughter, Shen Xixi. She poured all her regret and sorrow over missing her son's childhood into her younger daughter, pampering her to the skies. If she asked for the stars, she wouldn't be given the moon.

The brother and sister lived in the south and north respectively, and generally saw each other twice a year: at the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival.

Even when they met, they weren't close. Shen Heng had received an old-fashioned elite education from childhood and couldn't stand how Shen Xixi loved to cry, make a fuss, act spoiled, and throw tantrums whenever she pleased, without a shred of manners or upbringing.

Just like that, more than twenty years flew by. As the wealthy family's sole heir, Shen Heng came to Jincheng after graduating from university to familiarize himself with the northern business and pave the way for taking up his post in the future.

But after arriving in Jincheng, he didn't move back home. Instead, he stayed at his family's luxury hotel.

Jiang Youyi had been upset about it for quite some time.

Chu Tianqing frantically sorted through the information surfacing in her mind and didn't speak for a moment.

Shen Heng clicked his tongue impatiently and said coldly, "Shen Xixi, stop playing dumb. This trick won't work on me. I'm not Mom; I won't let you lead me around by the nose."