Rubbing Salt in the Wound

Xia Zhi got into Lu Kuo's car in a daze.

"Where are you headed, sister-in-law?"

Xia Zhi suddenly faltered. Where was she going?

What should she do while her mission target was away?

"Home."

She thought of her job in the real world. Although she had been a miserable extra, Xia Zhi was utterly conceited about her acting skills.

She had grown up in a theater. Her grandmother was a veteran actress, and all the uncles and aunties there had been Xia Zhi's teachers. Immersed in that environment from childhood, she had built a solid foundation in theater.

Thanks to her good looks, a talent scout had spotted her when she was ten. She had shot an advertisement for a learning device and become a household name.

She had thought her acting career would be smooth sailing. Unfortunately, someone had deliberately hurt her later, leaving her disfigured. But she had never given up her love of film and television, and had still earned admission to a renowned film academy with outstanding grades.

Her older brother had wanted to help her get plastic surgery to repair the scars on her face, but Xia Zhi had refused. She was selling her acting, not her looks.

But just when she had been on the verge of making it beyond bit parts, she had gotten into a car accident.

Then she had transmigrated into the book.

This was probably the most outrageous joke heaven had ever played on her.

Lu Kuo claimed to be busy, yet he drove at an unhurried pace, as though he were in no rush to get to work.

Xia Zhi casually opened WeChat. The first chat displayed was Lu Heng's, with the record of her thousand-yuan transfer to him sitting right there. The sight put the little money lover in an even worse mood.

That damned pervert was already so rich, yet he would not even let her off the hook for a thousand yuan. Miser.

Fuming, Xia Zhi opened the archvillain's Moments.

Uh.

There was actually nothing there.

Could this be an alternate account?

She could not believe anyone in this day and age did not use Moments.

Then she opened the original owner's Moments. Good grief, it was a riot of color, with everything imaginable. The central theme was showing off her wealth: clothes, shoes, bags, mansions, and more.

Below was a chorus of groundhog shrieks.

The screen was full of fake friends.

Xia Zhi remembered how, in the book, the original owner had lost all dignity over the explicit photo scandal and videos. It was these dear friends kicking her while she was down that had driven her to slit her wrists.

What kind of dear friends were these?

They were downright toxic.

Xia Zhi rubbed her hands together. She finally had something to do. Starting now, she would clean up her Moments.

She would delete all the meaningless people and social connections from her life.

Just as Xia Zhi was busy blocking the groundhogs, two WeChat messages popped up on her phone.

-Xia Xia, are you free tomorrow evening?

-Come over for dinner with Brother Heng. It's my birthday.

Sender: Ugly Duckling.

The original owner's contact note read: Lu Heng's cousin, Tangtang.

Xia Zhi tried hard to recall the book. There had indeed been a girl surnamed Tang, named Tang Fangjing. She was a relative on the archvillain's adoptive parents' side and seemed to have grown up with him.

That would make them childhood sweethearts, with a fairly deep bond.

The book had devoted only a few lines to this character. It mentioned an occasion when the original owner had accidentally caused Tang Fangjing to get hurt. The archvillain had scolded the original owner without bothering to find out what had happened, intensifying the conflict between the married couple.

This character's role in the book was most likely also to advance the plot, ultimately pushing the archvillain beyond his tolerance for the original owner until he killed her.

At that thought, Xia Zhi could not help shuddering.

Suddenly, a flood of memories about Tang Fangjing appeared in Xia Zhi's mind.

The original owner had been very close to Tang Fangjing. They often ate and shopped together, and the original owner had been generous to her, constantly buying her this and that.

Xia Zhi guessed that the original owner had intended to curry favor with the archvillain by getting close to his cousin.

Except...

The original owner had been far too naive. This Tang Fangjing was no good at all.

She had encouraged the original owner to wear revealing clothes and heavy, garish makeup, even claiming that this was exactly what the archvillain liked best.

Even the nightclub visits had been this dear cousin's handiwork. Tang Fangjing had said that men could never withstand provocation, and that provoking them would stir their possessiveness.

The original owner had believed her nonsense, only to earn even greater disgust and indifference from the archvillain.

Xia Zhi quickly sorted out the tangled relationships involved.

So the archvillain and the original owner reaching the point where he killed her had not simply been because she had forced him into this marriage. Other factors had fanned the flames.

Perhaps because Xia Zhi had taken so long to reply, the other party grew impatient and called her.

"Xia Xia, it's me."

The girl's voice sounded very sweet.

"Did you see my messages?"

Xia Zhi feigned languor. "Oh, Tangtang. What messages? I'm not up yet..."

She yawned as she spoke.

"Huh? Where's Aheng?"

She seemed to be looking for someone. After searching for a while, she acted as though realization had dawned. "Oh, I remember. He said last night that he was leaving on a business trip this morning."

Tang Fangjing's heart lurched. Lu Heng had actually told Xia Zhi his schedule. That had never happened before.

"You... you two slept in the same room?"

Just last week, Xia Zhi had been crying to her about how Lu Heng refused to touch her, even drowning her sorrows in alcohol over it. He had not touched her in five years. Tang Fangjing did not believe he would have touched Xia Zhi in just a few short days.

Xia Zhi smiled shyly. "Not just the same room. The same bed. And he..."

"He was so gentle. He really cared about how I felt in that department."

Up front, Lu Kuo was so shocked to hear this that he nearly mistook the accelerator for the brake. She had suffered tearing, and he was still gentle?

His sister-in-law was certainly accommodating.

Tang Fangjing's head exploded with a boom. She could barely believe what she was hearing.

"That... that department?"

"You did it?"

Xia Zhi smiled even more happily. "Mm-hmm. Lots of times."

Lu Kuo could not help studying this sister-in-law of his through the rearview mirror, her words enough to scare someone to death. Fierce, so fierce. Probably only Aheng could handle a girl like this.

Tang Fangjing's voice involuntarily turned shrill. "Did you give him some kind of drug?"

Xia Zhi pretended not to notice the jealousy and hatred practically spilling out of Tang Fangjing through the screen.

"Tangtang, you're happy for me too, right? Come to think of it, it's all thanks to you. I absolutely have to treat you to a meal to thank you properly."

Tang Fangjing realized she had lost her composure, but quickly brought her emotions under control and asked in a calm voice,

"How is it thanks to me?"

Xia Zhi said sincerely, "You suggested I go to a nightclub and fool around with men to provoke Aheng. He acted as though he didn't care, but how could any man really not care about something like that?"

"He confronted me, and then, while we were arguing, he threw me onto the bed."

The image of a domineering CEO sprang vividly to life.

Tang Fangjing's mind went blank. No, that was impossible. She did not believe it.

This woman was lying to her!

She had to ask Aheng and get to the bottom of this!

Aheng was not that kind of person. There was no way he would be attracted to an idiot like Xia Zhi, who had nothing but her looks!

"R-really?"

Tang Fangjing could barely maintain her smile anymore. To keep herself from losing her composure again, she had to hastily end the conversation.

"Congratulations, Xia Xia. You finally succeeded."

"Mm-hmm, I'm so happy too. I've finally found happiness of my own."

Xia Zhi did not forget to rub salt in Tang Fangjing's wound.

"Thank you, Tangtang. If it weren't for that wonderful idea of yours, your cousin and I would still be giving each other the cold shoulder."