Angst Is Fun While It Lasts

Jiang Yourning died.

But then she came back to life.

For fuck's sake, even if the whole world shunned her in her next life, she would never read another angst novel.

On Valentine's Day, her slave-driving boss had squeezed overtime out of her because she was single. Then, all the way home, the lovey-dovey couples plastered across the streets, with no sense of boundaries, had made her eyes hurt.

So Jiang Yourning had resolutely shunned the entire world and gone home to find an angst novel to soothe her soul.

She stayed up until five thirty in the morning, reading until the title was the only thing left alive in the entire book. Jiang Yourning felt wonderfully satisfied.

And so, amid the tidal wave of furious reviews, she lavished it with praise and gave it five stars. Only then did she close her eyes in contentment.

Angst was fun while it lasted; waking up was a trip to the crematorium.

When she woke up, she had become the vicious supporting female character who shared her exact name and suffered the most horrific death in the book. Worse, the story had already reached the point where the heroine had broken with her family.

Thanks to the antics of Jiang Yourning, the fake heiress adored by the whole family, the heroine-the real heiress-had been wounded all over by her relatives and had also attracted the deranged male lead.

And so.

The male lead and heroine embarked on a bout of captivity play that tormented them within an inch of their lives. Before Jiang Yourning could do anything to save her own skin, the deranged male lead ground her bones to dust and scattered her ashes, along with the heroine's death-courting family.

Afterward, the male lead even carried the urns containing the entire Jiang Family's ashes to the heroine, begging for praise.

Motherfucker~

Being cut with a blade really had been an out-of-body experience.

And now, when she opened her eyes again, she was back inside the book.

It truly chilled her to the bone.

"Something's happened! Something's happened, Miss!"

While Jiang Yourning was still trembling as she relived the pain, a young maid came rushing over.

Those familiar words from the maid frightened Jiang Yourning into springing up from the stone stool.

"What happened? Has that damned psycho from the Chu Family come?"

Jiang Yourning's reaction startled Chun Tao.

"M-Miss, what nonsense are you talking about?"

After looking Jiang Yourning over a couple of times, Chun Tao continued:

"I... I overheard someone in the front courtyard saying something about babies being switched back then, and a real young miss and a fake young miss.

"It seems that young miss came to our door herself. I thought this might be something important, so I hurried over to tell you."

In a flash, Jiang Yourning sprang to Chun Tao's side and gripped her shoulders tightly with both hands.

"Chun Tao, what time is it now?"

"Th-the hour of the dragon."

Seeing her young mistress's eyes suddenly gleam, Chun Tao looked rather bewildered.

"I mean, what year is it?"

Jiang Yourning was growing anxious, and her grip on Chun Tao's shoulders tightened.

Chun Tao slowly uttered the words, "The fourth year of Yu'an."

Having received that answer, Jiang Yourning breathed a sigh of relief.

The heroine was coming home today, and she, the vicious supporting character, had yet to start causing trouble. The original story had only just begun; there was still time to turn everything around.

For the sake of her own life, she had to find a way to kill that psycho before he had fully developed!!!

At that thought, a brilliant smile spread across Jiang Yourning's face.

"Come on, Chun Tao. Let's go to the Elegant Beauty Courtyard!"

Jiang Yourning was in high spirits the whole way there. Even the hideously ugly Big Yellow in the courtyard looked much prettier to her.

"Chun Tao, go buy a female dog in town this afternoon. Give old Yellow some company."

Chun Tao gave Jiang Yourning a puzzled look.

"B-but, Miss, Big Yellow is a female dog."

"..."

Jiang Yourning laughed awkwardly. In too good a mood to hold it against the little maid for undercutting her, she said, "Then find her a male!"

"You're so kind, Miss. I'll take care of it this afternoon."

Chun Tao wore a smile.

Those people outside were talking nonsense. Apart from occasionally being a little out of her mind, her young mistress was clearly very kind.

The Elegant Beauty Courtyard.

At that moment, the atmosphere was rather strange.

Jiang Huai'an, Jiang Yourning's father by circumstance, wore a dark expression.

His wife, Lin Xiangyin, did not look much better.

"A mix-up is a mix-up, but both children are innocent. I raised Ningning with my own hands. She is my own daughter!

"That child came back without a word of warning. We can acknowledge her, but Ningning's position as the Jiang household's fifth young miss must not change. Otherwise, how is she supposed to show her face outside in the future?"

As soon as Jiang Yourning entered the courtyard, she heard those words from Lin Xiangyin.

From the perspective of her current identity, she was rather touched by Lin Xiangyin's daughter-addled brain, which considered everything from Jiang Yourning's side.

After all, before her bones had been ground to dust and her ashes scattered, this woman had resolutely shielded her, paying with her own life to spare Jiang Yourning a round of physical suffering.

But from the heroine's perspective, this mother more or less deserved to die.

Whenever her adopted daughter disliked her biological daughter and squeezed out a few tears, she would hurt the heroine in all sorts of ways without distinguishing right from wrong.

This family would fall apart without me.

Suddenly bursting with a sense of responsibility, Jiang Yourning took a moment to summon the right emotions, then strode into the room with the swagger of someone who recognized no kin.

"Father, Mother! I heard I was switched as a baby, and now your biological daughter has come back?"

Jiang Yourning's eyes sparkled as she looked around for her.

"N-Ningning, wh-where did you hear that? There's no such thing!"

Seeing her daughter before her, Lin Xiangyin's eyes filled with heartache. With the words already on her lips, she instinctively chose to conceal the truth.