Jealousy made her unrecognizable

Although the Lu family's reaction touched Lu Xiaoxiao deeply, she knew perfectly well that things couldn't go on like this.

No matter what, Lu Jiaoyue had to appear on that variety show, or the rest of the plot would go completely off the rails.

Realizing she still wasn't being vicious enough, Lu Xiaoxiao tried hard to recall how the original owner of her body had tormented Lu Jiaoyue in the original novel.

Lu Xiaoxiao wasn't particularly good at playing the villain, and she didn't have any experience, either. All she could do was borrow the original owner's methods.

She vaguely remembered a scene where the original owner had tampered with something, causing Lu Jiaoyue to fall down the stairs and get hurt, incurring the wrath of the entire Lu family.

Hmm... that would be an easy scene to recreate.

But when Lu Xiaoxiao glanced at Lu Jiaoyue, she couldn't quite bring herself to do it.

Her younger sister looked so delicate and soft. If she tumbled down the stairs, who knew how badly she would cry?

Still... there's no reason I can't improvise a little~

After dinner, Lu Xiaoxiao asked Lu Jiaoyue to go upstairs with her.

Lu Jiaoyue was quite happy and chatted enthusiastically with her the whole way.

"Let me tell you something funny! A couple of days ago, someone gave Lu Yubai a stack of Scratch-Off Tickets at his birthday party. After he scratched them all, he found out he'd won fifty thousand yuan!"

"What? How much did you say?"

Lu Xiaoxiao was so shocked that her voice nearly cracked.

So Lu Jiaoyue repeated herself. "I said he won fifty thousand yuan! Really!"

Jealousy could easily twist a person's face beyond recognition. Lu Xiaoxiao could barely keep her smile in place.

Damn it! I gave him a stack of Scratch-Off Tickets, but I never thought Lu Yubai would actually win!

The sales clerk had even told Lu Xiaoxiao that this batch had relatively low odds of winning and suggested she buy a different kind. But Lu Xiaoxiao had waved a hand and declared that these were the ones she wanted. Her main goal had been to mess with him.

How did Lu Yubai just casually win fifty thousand like that? Couldn't he share a little of that luck with me?!

"Oh, that's nice. Congratulations to him." Lu Xiaoxiao forced out a couple of polite responses through gritted teeth and a fake smile.

Lu Xiaoxiao swore she would never give anyone Scratch-Off Tickets again, because she genuinely would get jealous if they won.

Lu Jiaoyue didn't notice anything strange about Lu Xiaoxiao's tone and moved on to other topics.

She didn't get to chat alone with her older sister every day, so whenever she had the chance, Lu Jiaoyue treasured it.

Without anyone realizing it, the true heiress who had been adored by everyone in the original novel without ever needing to reciprocate had become utterly obsessed with her older sister.

"I made some desserts for our third brother last time, and he said I was pretty good at it. Can I make some for you next time, too?"

"Oh, and I got into the same university as you! We'll be able to go to school together. I'm so happy I'll get to be so close to you!"

"And, and, I met a Mr. Gu recently. I've been chatting with him on WeChat these past couple of days. If you're interested, can I show you?"

"..."

Lu Jiaoyue chattered away up ahead, while Lu Xiaoxiao, who stayed half a step behind her, seemed distracted and gave only brief replies.

Lu Jiaoyue was already used to her sister's outward lack of enthusiasm toward her, so she didn't notice anything unusual. She simply assumed her sister didn't know how to express herself and kept happily chattering on.

But when they reached the very top of the stairs, Lu Xiaoxiao suddenly stopped her.

"Lu Jiaoyue, can you check whether my hair clip is crooked?"

Hearing her sister call her name, Lu Jiaoyue turned around without any suspicion. She inspected the top of Lu Xiaoxiao's head and found that the bow clipped into her hair was indeed crooked.

"It does look a little crooked. Let me fix it for you..."

She reached out, but just as her fingertips touched the ends of Lu Xiaoxiao's hair, her hand suddenly met empty air.

The next second, Lu Jiaoyue watched helplessly as Lu Xiaoxiao fell down the stairs.

It all happened in an instant, leaving no time to react.

Lu Jiaoyue's hand was still frozen in midair, but Lu Xiaoxiao had already tumbled onto the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

"Sis... sister?"

In a situation like this, most people's first reaction might have been to cry out in alarm. But Lu Jiaoyue was so shocked that she couldn't make a sound.

Even that instinctive call to her sister was so quiet it was barely audible, like a murmur.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Lu Shiyan was the first to arrive. His expression darkened when he saw Lu Xiaoxiao curled up on the floor in apparent pain, and he immediately crouched down to help her up.

Lu Yuan, Song Zhilan, and the others also came running at the noise. The sight of Lu Xiaoxiao sent Song Zhilan into a panic.

"Is she all right? Is Xiaoxiao all right? Why did she suddenly fall down the stairs?"

Only when she saw the Lu family gathered around Lu Xiaoxiao did Lu Jiaoyue snap out of her daze. She hurried down the stairs in a few strides, rushed over to Lu Xiaoxiao, and began anxiously explaining, "Dad, Mom, Shiyan, she accidentally..."

Before she could finish, Lu Xiaoxiao's weak voice suddenly interrupted her.

"I'm fine. Jiaoyue probably didn't push me on purpose. Just don't blame her."

At Lu Xiaoxiao's words, Lu Jiaoyue's pupils contracted sharply, and her mind went completely blank.

Did she mean what I think she meant?

Was my sister... deliberately framing me?

Lu Xiaoxiao avoided Lu Jiaoyue's gaze, clutching the hem of Lu Shiyan's shirt with one hand as she continued pretending to be in terrible pain.

In truth, she wasn't hurting at all. As she fell, Lu Xiaoxiao had already spent points to have the system block her sense of pain.

[All right, all right, I'm actually perfectly fine. Hurry up and check the surveillance cameras you installed. Once you do, you'll discover that I'm framing Lu Jiaoyue. Then you'll have a legitimate reason to give her my spot on the variety show.]

[But honestly, having everyone fuss over me like this feels pretty nice. It's warm and reassuring... I've never experienced it before, so even getting a brief taste of it now is nice.]

Lu Yuan looked stunned after hearing those thoughts.

There were no visible surveillance cameras along this staircase, but the Lu family had installed pinhole cameras in many concealed locations.

They hadn't been installed to invade anyone's privacy. Lu Yuan was simply cautious by nature, so he had arranged for them as a precaution against theft. He had never told the children about them.

However, security in the Beishan Villa District was top-notch, so this extra precaution had never been needed.

Which raised the question: how exactly did Lu Xiaoxiao know about them?

Before Lu Yuan could think it through, he heard a sob beside him.

He turned his head and saw that Lu Jiaoyue's eyes were already brimming with tears.

The girl was biting her lower lip tightly, visibly trying not to make a sound. In the end, though, she couldn't hold it back, and that sob had slipped out.

Her shoulders kept trembling, and large tears pooled in her reddened eyes. The way they hovered on the verge of spilling made her look utterly pitiful.

"Sister..." Lu Jiaoyue's voice was thick with tears, and she struggled to catch her breath even through those few words. "I didn't mean to..."

"I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to!"