Chapter 5: The Marriage Alliance

As I walked past Zhang Hao, he suddenly grabbed the hem of my dress.

“Xiao An…”

I looked down at him and coldly brushed his hand away.

“Zhang Hao. I’ve spent all these years paying back the debt I owed your mother. As for you… I don’t owe you a damn thing.”

I glanced toward the emergency room, my resolve firmer than it had ever been.

“Xiao Jiu will survive. I don’t care what it costs. I’ll save him. As for you… you disgust me.”

After taking care of Xiao Jiu’s hospital bills and arranging my foster mother’s funeral, I dragged my old suitcase behind me and headed straight to the Song family home.

The Song family’s mansion was every bit as extravagant as you’d expect from a wealthy family. Massive gates, sprawling grounds, and landscaping trimmed more beautifully than my own hair. Even the taxi fare just to drive in here was enough to make me want to cry.

The moment the housekeeper opened the door, a beautiful young woman came out to greet me.

Song Xue.

She smiled sweetly, wearing the polished smile of a pampered heiress. Just looking at her was enough to make me feel like I’d already lost before the race had even started.

I handed her my taxi receipt.

“Could you pay this for me? One hundred and twenty yuan and seven cents. Thanks.”

Song Xue’s smile froze.

“Huh? You… want me to pay?”

I nodded.

“Unless you expect the driver to come inside and ask your mother for the money?”

Leaving her standing there in stunned silence, I walked into the house as calmly as if I belonged there.

In the living room, Zhou Xinlan was sitting with a cup of coffee.

She was my biological mother.

And I…

I was the long-lost daughter of the Song family.

To outsiders, I was the family’s real heiress.

To the people inside this house, I was simply a spare piece on the board.

When she saw me walk in, she finally looked up.

Her eyes swept over me once before she frowned, as if she’d received the wrong item from an online order.

“You’re back? Go take a shower and change later. Now that you’re part of the Song family, you need to learn some manners.”

I obediently nodded.

“Yes, Mom.”

After all, I owed someone two hundred thousand yuan right now. They could probably sell me off and still not make enough to cover the debt.

Song Xue immediately stepped forward, her smile as sweet as honey.

“Sis, I hope we’ll get along from now on. This is your home too. We’re family.”

I nodded gratefully.

“Yeah. I’m hungry, though. Could you make me some fried rice? No green onions, please. Thanks.”

Song Xue froze.

“…What? But I don’t know how to cook.”

I sighed.

“That’s a shame. I thought a wealthy heiress knew how to do everything.”

My room wasn’t particularly large, but it had everything I needed. At the very least, it was much better than the leaky little rental I’d lived in before.

That evening, Song Xue brought a bowl of porridge to my room.

The sweet smile on her face immediately put me on guard.

Sure enough, the very next second—

Crash!

The hot porridge splashed all over her.

Then came the sobbing.

“Sis, I’m sorry! I really didn’t mean to steal your family or your life! Please don’t hate me!”

I sat on the bed without moving an inch.

I hadn’t even picked up my spoon yet.

The whole performance happened so quickly that I almost wanted to applaud.

The nanny was the first to rush in.

She looked at me as though she’d just discovered a new species of bacteria.

“Miss, don’t get too close to someone like her. You can tell just by looking at her that she has no manners.”

A moment later, Zhou Xinlan appeared as well.

“You’ve barely been home and you’re already causing trouble. I suppose growing up in a different environment really does make a difference.”

I nodded.

“Exactly. Where I come from, at least nobody throws porridge all over themselves.”

The entire room fell silent.

My convenient little brother, Song Yang, was even more enthusiastic.

Every day, he acted like a soldier assigned to protect his precious big sister.

Whatever Song Xue pointed at, he attacked.

Once, he saw me casually picking up empty plastic bottles, stomping them flat so I could sell them for scrap.

He immediately sneered.

“Guess you’re just used to being poor. A wild chicken can never become a phoenix.”

I looked at him once and silently mouthed:

Idiot.

Too bad he couldn’t read lips.

Zhou Xinlan made me take crash courses in everything—etiquette, piano, horseback riding, ballroom dancing…

Basically, all the skills I’d once thought existed only in movies.

Unfortunately, I was merely average at everything.

Standing next to Song Xue, I was no different from the night sky that existed only to make the moon shine brighter.

Song Yang found me more irritating by the day.

“What do you have that Sister Xue has? What can you possibly compare to her?”

I thought about it seriously.

I could collect more plastic bottles in a single day than anyone else.

I could grill skewers until they smelled incredible.

I could hand out flyers, wait tables, and wash dishes all in the same day.

Could any of them do that?

Different fields, that’s all.

Everyone had their own specialties.

I hadn’t been brought back because of family affection.

The Song family needed another pawn for a marriage alliance.

Everyone understood that.

They just didn’t say it out loud.

One time, when Song Xue and I were alone, I said calmly,

“Zhang Hao went to prison. My foster mother died, too.”

She merely gave a small nod.

Not a flicker of emotion crossed her face.

I suddenly found it almost funny.

Maybe blood really wasn’t as magical as people claimed.

Strangers had cared about me more.

My own family treated me like a stranger.

After several months of intensive training, I put on expensive evening gowns and accompanied my mother to all kinds of social events.

Sometimes, when I looked at the girl in the mirror, even I barely recognized her.

The dirt and coal smoke that had once clung to me seemed to have disappeared.

But no one ever asked whether I actually liked this life.

Zhou Xinlan was busy choosing a “suitable match” for me.

To put it bluntly, she was looking for the man who could pay the highest price.

In the end, she found him.

Jiang Yan—the rising young heir of Beijing’s elite circle.

Rumor had it that he had a terrible temper, ruthless methods, and was an illegitimate son.

Zhou Xinlan looked at me meaningfully.

“With your background, there are probably certain things you’re more experienced at than other girls.”

I laughed.

“So that’s why you once tried to marry me off to a seventy-year-old man?”

She calmly took a sip of coffee.

“It didn’t happen in the end. Otherwise, what exactly do you think you have to rely on to stay in the Song family?”

I stared at her for a long time before asking,

“I’m not your biological daughter?”

Zhou Xinlan set down her coffee cup.

“Does that really matter?”

In that moment, I finally understood.

Some things couldn’t be earned simply because you shared the same blood.

A mother’s love, for example.

That night, I wore the spaghetti-strap dress Zhou Xinlan had prepared for me.

There was so little fabric that I honestly suspected the designer had been trying to save on materials.

I stood outside Jiang Yan’s hotel room.

After a few seconds of hesitation, I knocked.

The door opened.

The room was pitch-black.

Before I could even make out the man’s face, a strong arm yanked me inside.

My back hit the door.

An arm locked around my waist.

Hot breath brushed the back of my neck.

My heart began pounding wildly, and suddenly, every ounce of courage I’d gathered beforehand vanished.

“I’m sorry… I can’t do this.”

I looked up anxiously.

In the dim light, the man stared at me with an unreadable smile.

For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating.

I instinctively reached out, wanting to touch his face.

But he turned his head away.

His cold eyes slowly traveled over my body, making me lower my head in embarrassment.

I wanted to leave.

But the moment my hand touched the doorknob, he pulled me back into his arms and held me firmly against him.

“Miss Song, you’ve changed your mind?”

I immediately went still.

He pointed toward the bathroom.

“Go take a shower.”