"..." It was practically a slap across Jiang Yunli's face.
She had painstakingly worked at this for so many years, but no matter how many fans shipped them online, it was only online.
It still did nothing to change her situation.
The Ji Family would not break off the engagement over online opinions or because Shen Yunzhi was some country bumpkin too embarrassing to present to others.
Ji Nanxian's attitude chilled her even more.
No matter how sweet his words were.
He did not even dare fall out with his family to break off the engagement.
Jiang Yunli dug her nails deep into her palms, yet still had to act understanding. "It's all right. Take her."
Jiang Yunli let Ji Nanxian see her reddened eyes. "As long as it benefits you."
Ji Nanxian was deeply moved. "You're the only one who's so understanding."
He reached out and hugged Jiang Yunli.
Jiang Yunli rested her head on his shoulder, but her gaze was ice-cold.
Shen Yunzhi had suffered such a huge loss.
And Jiang Yunli thought she could smooth everything over just by leaving the show?
She had previously been too lazy to confront Jiang Yunli, but that did not mean she would let others bully her like this.
Inside Shen Yunzhi's head, the system told her some of the novel's background details.
"The original owner's adoptive parents, that family in the countryside, didn't treat her very well."
"They gave all the good food and drink to their youngest son, only to raise a little punk who wouldn't even attend a junior college."
"The original owner had excellent grades. She skipped grades and completed her nine years of compulsory education, but then they wouldn't let her continue studying. They only let her attend high school after the village committee said tuition would be waived and she'd receive a scholarship."
"Later, the original owner got into Jing University, the best university in the country, at fifteen. Her parents hid her admission letter because they didn't want her to go."
"Then the whole real-and-fake-heiress affair came to light, and Jiang Yunli was sent back to the countryside. That couple kept thinking Jiang Yunli must have gotten money from the Jiang Family. Wanting to curry favor with her, they gave her your admission letter and had her attend university in your place."
"Later, Jiang Yunli gritted her teeth and studied for a while, but she couldn't keep up, so she took a leave of absence, using the huge upheaval in her family as an excuse."
"With something like that having happened, no one suspected Jiang Yunli."
"When she took leave, the teachers at the university even lamented the fall of a child prodigy."
Even in the real world, cases of people in rural areas taking someone else's place at a good university cropped up endlessly.
A little money and a few connections could solve anything.
As Shen Yunzhi listened to the system's blathering, she idly scrolled through her phone contacts to find the director's number.
Since Ji Nanxian said she had financial dealings with the director.
Then she would give him some dealings to look at.
Did he seriously think she was easy to push around?
Over on Xiao Yao's end.
He received a call from the director.
After hanging up, he opened the chat with "Shit's Raining Down and You're Still Stirring" of his own accord.
[What are you and the director planning?]
[Shit's Raining Down and You're Still Stirring: None of your fucking business.]
[Talking to me like that? Don't forget who's funding this show.]
[Shit's Raining Down and You're Still Stirring: ?]
Xiao Yao had thought Shen Yunzhi would fly into a rage and come punch him.
Instead, moments later, he received a long-winded message from Shen Yunzhi.
[Shit's Raining Down and You're Still Stirring: I want to invite my adoptive parents onto the show.]
[Shit's Raining Down and You're Still Stirring: Do you know what kind of life I used to lead? Every day, there were dozens of mu of farmland at home, then I'd come back with nothing to eat, and the next day I'd have to keep plowing dozens of mu-that feeling of helplessness. All I could do was go crazy, act absurd, and play the pity card, but nobody cared. I play the clown every day, but inside I'm incredibly fragile. I don't actually want to be like this either. The things that don't kill me just keep beating me up. Honest people like me never get rewarded for doing good, but the moment we do one tiny bad thing, karma comes knocking.]
[Shit's Raining Down and You're Still Stirring: It's okay if you say no. I know my life was rejected by heaven to begin with. Whichever road I choose is wrong, because all my roads lead to the grave.]
[?]
He had only wanted to tease Shen Yunzhi.
Who knew Shen Yunzhi would send him such a huge wall of text?
Whatever came out of Shen Yunzhi's mouth was always half truth, half absurdity.
People who hated her generally would not believe any hardship she spoke of.
Before Xiao Yao could send "For the sake of all those words you typed..."
He received another message from Shen Yunzhi.
[Shit's Raining Down and You're Still Stirring: Is that enough, bro? If not, I'll copy some more off the internet.]
[Zhou Papi: ?]
Xiao Yao looked at his chat history with Shen Yunzhi, utterly speechless.
He messaged his well-connected drinking buddy on WeChat.
[Little bro.]
The reply came quickly.
[Big bro!]
[Little bro!]
[Big bro!]
[Cut the crap. How much do you know about Shen Yunzhi?]
Before you continue