Chapter 1: memories

 Chapter 1: memories

"Bark, bark, bark."

Four-year-old Shu Yu lay on the ground, her frail body trembling in fear, but still fiercely barking at the dog in front of her, trying to scare it away.

The dog wasn't big and barked a few times before Shu Yu grabbed a stone and threw it at the dog.

The dog cried out and ran away.

Shu Yu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly picked up the steamed bun on the ground, patted off the dirt, and grabbed her growling stomach, wolfing it down.

After a couple of bites, she suddenly heard a reprimand, "Xiao Shuyu, what are you doing?"

Shu Yu turned her head and saw her own mother, Xue Yiniang, walks toward her with a dark expression, snatching the steamed bun out of her hand.

The small steamed bun rolled to the ground, and in just two rolls, it fell into the gap and disappeared.

Shu Yu swallowed, unwilling to look away, and staggered to her feet. "Aunt, I..."

"Smack." Aunt Xue slapped her across the face, sending the small figure flying.

"You are the third young miss of the Shu family, and you are fighting with a dog over food. Don't you have any shame? Don't you feel ashamed?" 

Shu Yu wiped her nosebleed and whispered, "I'm hungry." She hadn't eaten for two days.

"You still have the face to say you're hungry? If it weren't for you staining my clothes, would I be laughed at by the other Yiniangs? This is a lesson for you. You can't even withstand a little hunger. What use are you?" 

Shu Yu's tears were about to burst out, she quickly approached, grabbed Xue Yiniang's sleeve, and said urgently and carefully, "I'm sorry, Aunt. I was wrong. Xiao Shuyu is ignorant. I won't eat anymore. Aunt, please don't be angry." 

"Look at your hands, still covered in blood. My skirt has been dirtied by you again. Get out of here." Xue Yiniang pushed her away with disgust on her face.

Shu Yu took two steps back and fell to the ground. Aunt Xue told the maid next to her, "Lock her up in the dark room, let her go hungry for two more days, she doesn't even know how to repent."

Shu Yu curled up in the corner, holding her knees, silently crying. Her nosebleed had stained her clothes a bright red.

"Aunt, I was wrong. I won't do it again. Please let me out, okay? It's so dark here, and the bugs will bite my hands. I'm so scared, I'm not hungry anymore, really."

Xiao Shuyu wiped away her tears and looked down, only to see a snake that she didn't know when had come in, standing up half of its body and spitting out its tongue at her.

Shu Yu held her breath, widened her eyes and began to tremble.

The snake seemed to sense something and suddenly jumped up, rushing towards her.

"Ah..."

Shu Yu suddenly woke up from her bed, looking at the dim light flickering beside the bed, and slowly let out a breath.

Covering her chest, she thought of the dream she had just had and sighed.

It wasn't a dream, it was a memory from when she was a child in this body.

Shu Yu had transmigrated from modern times to the Shu family in Marquez Dong'an of the Da Su Dynasty a year ago, taking over the identity of Miss Shu Yu who was fourteen years old. Because of this, she didn't have a complete memory of the original owner's past and would slowly remember it in this way.

She didn't know where the original owner had gone, whether she had died completely, or had other experiences.

But Shu Yu knew the ending of this book very clearly.

As the illegitimate daughter of the Shu family's third young lady, her presence in the book was not high and had no relationship with the male and female leads.

However, the cannon fodder in the book was the eldest daughter of the Shu family, who was now her sister.

Her sister liked the male lead but had implicated the entire Shu family. Three months later, the whole Shu family would be exiled thousands of miles away, and she, as a character with not many appearances, was one of them.

Knowing the ending, Xiao Shuyu naturally didn't want to follow the ending in the book. Even if she wasn't valued in this family, she didn't want to be exiled to the border.

However, she quickly discovered that even if she changed the process, the powerful plot would still pull the ending back.

After trying twice, she stopped wasting her efforts.

Anyway, the ending of the Shu family in the book only wrote about their exile. The book didn't mention what happened after exile, whether it was good or bad, it was up to her to decide.

Since then, Shu Yu has been quietly serving as the invisible third young lady of the Shu family.

In her past life, Shu Yu's parents were persecuted by a certain organization because of their research results. Shu Yu endured humiliation and worked hard for more than ten years to become strong, filling up her skills, fighting through difficulties step by step, and finally climbing to the position of one of the indispensable confidants behind the boss, who was known as retired but actually had full control.

She then destroyed the huge organization all by herself and avenged her parents who had died tragically. But who would have known that the enemy had left a hand, and she also lost her life, becoming the third young lady of the Shu family today.

Compared with the life of calculating everything as if walking on thin ice in her past life, her current life was surprisingly good. She ate, drank, and slept, although there were occasional disputes, but as a little invisible person, she was unlikely to be affected, at least she didn't have to worry about her life being in danger.

As for her birth mother, Shu Yu and she were like two strangers, indifferent to each other.

In three months, she would be able to break away from the plot and find a way to sever ties with the Shu family.

Shu Yu had a nightmare and was thirsty. She got out of bed to pour herself a glass of water. Suddenly, she heard a hissing sound. She turned around and saw a snake swimming towards her.

Damn, the nightmare actually came true.

Shu Yu's face changed slightly. She grabbed the snake's seven-inch part and slammed it to the ground, smashing its head instantly.

The snake wriggled twice and then stopped moving.

Shu Yu frowned. How could a poisonous snake get into her room?

At this moment, she heard footsteps outside, and the door was slammed open.

Shu Yu instinctively grabbed a nearby piece of clothing and put it on. Then she looked at the two women who had barged into her room and frowned. "What are you doing here so late at night?"

The two women walked past the inner room and approached her coldly. "Third Miss, the Old Madam is looking for you. Come with us."

Shu Yu had a feeling that something was wrong. If the grandmother had something to tell her, she would have sent someone to inform her, but these two women had barged into her room directly.

Moreover, was the snake related to them?

She cautiously got up, nodded, and followed the two women out.

The three of them walked through the courtyard and the back garden without encountering anyone. Even though it was night, it shouldn't be so quiet.

They soon arrived at the lotus pond in the backyard of the Shu Mansion. The old lady of the Shu family was standing by the pond, along with the Eldest master of the Shu family, the second master, and several young masters and misses.

Such a big lineup?

Shu Yu was pushed in front of the old lady. Yesterday, the old lady had been kind to her, but now her eyes were filled with disgust, as if Shu Yu was some kind of filthy thing. She even took a step back and waved her hand, pointing at the lotus pond and saying to the two women, "Push her down."

(End of chapter)