Chapter 1

Grass grows lush and orioles take flight beneath the February sky.   “Father, I’m Wangyue! I’m your biological daughter!”   In the Yuan family courtyard.   A thirteen-year-old girl dressed in a peach-pink cotton dress stood there, a silver hairpin adorning her head. Her small face was flushed red from crying as she screamed at the top of her lungs, “Father! Do you still remember Liu Yiyi, from beneath the willow tree in Liu Family Village all those years ago?”   Her ear-piercing wail not only snapped Yuan Meiliang out of his dazed state, but also jolted the young girl standing behind him awake.   Gu Qing blinked and looked around in confusion.   Yuan Wangyue?   The name sounded strangely familiar.   A fifteen-year-old boy was frowning at the sobbing girl. “You say you’re my biological sister. Do you have any proof?”   “I do!” The girl who called herself Yuan Wangyue rolled up her sleeve, tears glistening in her eyes. “Every child of Father’s has the same birthmark on their arm. Father has one, and so do my three brothers. Isn’t that right?”   There, on her slender jade-white arm, was a black birthmark. It was neither too big nor too small—exactly the size of a copper coin.   The middle-aged man and the boy were both stunned. They immediately rolled up their sleeves, and sure enough, they each had an identical black birthmark in the exact same spot, each the size of a copper coin.   Gu Qing became even more confused!   The novel she had stayed up late reading last night, The Koi Female Lead’s Rise to Fortune, seemed to have an identical scene where the characters recognized their true identities!   That copper-coin-sized black birthmark was the Yuan family’s hereditary mark.   Yuan Meiliang’s grandfather had it. His father had it. Yuan Meiliang had it. His three sons had it too.   But strangely enough, his daughter did not!   Everyone had previously assumed that the birthmark was passed down only to the men of the family. But now…   The man and the boy both turned toward Gu Qing.   “You’re not a member of the Yuan family. You’re not my daughter, Yuan Wangyue!”   Gu Qing suddenly understood everything.   She had transmigrated into The Koi Female Lead’s Rise to Fortune, the novel she had read.   And not only had she become the novel’s koi female lead, Yuan Wangyue, the girl sobbing her heart out was actually the real daughter of the Yuan family—the one who had been taken in and raised by the Gu family.   As for Yuan Wangyue, her biological mother was Liu Yiyi, a peasant girl from Liu Family Village. Liu Yiyi was quite beautiful, and when Yuan Meiliang had visited Liu Family Village for an outing, he had fallen in love with the young and lovely Liu Yiyi at first sight. The two had fallen deeply for each other, and in a moment of passion, Yuan Wangyue was born.   Unfortunately, Madam Yuan was jealous by nature, while Yuan Meiliang was a man who relied on his wife for support, so he only dared to secretly keep Liu Yiyi and her daughter outside the family home. It was not until Yuan Wangyue was two years old, when both Liu Yiyi and Madam Yuan fell ill and died one after another, that Yuan Meiliang finally brought Yuan Wangyue home.   The Yuan family was a prominent clan in Dexing County. Yuan Wangyue had never truly suffered, but as the only daughter of the household, she had clearly been treated less favorably than her brothers.   As for Gu Qingluo, she had experienced both poverty and wealth, riding a complete roller coaster of fortune.   The good days lasted only a year or two before Gu’s mother fell seriously ill.   Their house was sold. All their valuable belongings were sold as well. Money flowed away like water, yet they still could not save her. Gu’s father was devastated and soon became sickly himself, dependent on medicine.   The family moved from the northern part of the city to the west, and their life steadily deteriorated. Forget fine clothes and delicacies—even having enough to eat became a problem.   From that point on, the fates of the two girls changed completely.   The Yuan family prospered more and more. They eventually settled in the capital, enjoying wealth and glory. Her father and brothers rose rapidly through the ranks, while Yuan Wangyue married into a wealthy and prestigious family.   And the Gu family…   A mother who died young, a sick father, five brothers who met tragic deaths—and her, left in despair…   In the novel, Gu Qingluo’s fate was to be sold into a brothel, where she endured the darkest side of human nature. Eventually, by a twist of fate, she learned her true identity and ran to the Yuan family to claim her place.   It had happened early.   More than ten years early!   At this point, the Yuan family was still in Dexing County!   Good heavens!   Gu Qing bared her teeth in disbelief.   It was one thing to transmigrate into a novel and become the fake heiress, but the novel’s true heiress had actually been reborn—and they had both arrived on the very same day!   “My daughter! What on earth happened? How could Yiyi have mistaken her own child?” Yuan Meiliang was utterly heartbroken.   Yuan Wangyue sobbed. “Back then, in Liu Family Village, Mother and Gu’s mother went into labor at the same time. Mother couldn’t afford a midwife, so she gave birth alongside Gu’s mother. Everything was chaotic and rushed, and that was when the babies were accidentally switched.”   “So that’s what happened!” Yuan Meiliang cried. “Your mother passed away so young. If she knew that she had mistakenly raised someone else’s child and allowed her own daughter to suffer outside for all these years, how heartbroken would she be?”   Yuan Wangyue pressed her lips together, her eyes flickering.   “Father, the Gu family has so many people, and they’re so poor they can barely make it from one meal to the next. Not only could your daughter never eat her fill, I also had to wash their clothes, cook their meals, and serve them like a servant. I truly couldn’t stay there any longer.”   Hearing his daughter’s description, Yuan Meiliang’s heart nearly broke in two.   He hugged his daughter and burst into tears.   “My poor daughter! You’ve suffered so much all these years! It’s all Father’s fault. I failed to find you and bring you home, leaving you to suffer!”   “Father! As long as I can return to your side and my brothers’ side, no matter how difficult or exhausting it is, it will all be worth it!”   Yuan Meiliang held the girl and wept bitterly. Yuan Shijun wiped away his own tears as well.   “How touching!”   Gu Qing watched calmly.   For one thing, she was not the original Gu Qingluo, so she had no emotional attachment to these people whatsoever.   And secondly…   Heh.   Not a single person in this Yuan family—including the real heiress kneeling on the ground and crying—was innocent or easy to deal with!   The novel had mentioned the Gu family before. Although they did not appear often, there was an unmistakable warmth between the lines.   The Gu family’s five sons had been fiercely protective of their younger sister. They would have gone through fire and walked over blades for her without hesitation. Although they could not give her a life of luxury, they made sure she was well fed, warmly clothed, and treated with dignity. The Gu family had already given everything they had to her.   Yet she claimed that she had suffered in the Gu family…   Those five brothers had one after another died from exhaustion, succumbed to illness, been executed, disappeared without a trace, or suffered the destruction of their entire family.   Now that she had been reborn, instead of advising her five brothers to devote themselves to doing good, guiding them onto the right path, and helping them live out their lives safely, she had hurried over to claim her identity. Worse, she had slandered the father and brothers who had cherished her like precious jewels right in front of the Yuan family.   Did she have any conscience at all?!   And as for Yuan Meiliang and his other three sons…   Their ambitions were higher than the heavens, but their efforts were as light as paper. Every one of them was short-sighted and obsessed with immediate gains. They had nearly ruined the Yuan family, and it was only because the original Gu Qingluo had worked tirelessly behind the scenes to mediate and save them that she managed to keep their nearly bankrupt household afloat.   Yet in her previous life, the father and brothers whom she had helped lift to great heights were not grateful at all. Instead, once they had achieved success and prosperity, they became cold and harsh toward her. Then, when the real heiress appeared, they eagerly plotted against her in secret.   Now that she had been managing the household for more than a year, her father and brothers’ dissatisfaction had already been drawn as taut as a fully stretched bowstring.   And now the real heiress had shown up early.   These ungrateful wolves were probably going to seize the opportunity and make full use of it.   Sure enough, Yuan Shijun, the second son of the Yuan family, spoke up at that very moment.   “Father, what about her?” Yuan Shijun curled his lip. “She’s not our daughter, so what are we supposed to do with her?”   Food, clothing, and daily necessities all cost money. One more person meant one more expense.   And now there was another one!   Before Yuan Meiliang could say anything, Yuan Wangyue spoke first.   “I’m sorry. I didn’t come here to take Father and my brothers away from you. They’re simply my family by blood, and I don’t feel happy forcing myself to smile in a family where I have no blood ties. But if you want to stay, then I’ll go back. After all, a lifetime is short. It passes in the blink of an eye. As long as I know that my father and brothers are living happily and doing well, that’s enough for me.”   Gu Qing: “…”   What a piece of green tea—premium green-tea brand, too!   Hearing his biological daughter’s words, Yuan Meiliang grabbed her hand, his heart aching.   “Silly child, what nonsense are you saying? You’re a member of the Yuan family. How could Father possibly let you leave?”   “But Father, she has lived with you for more than ten years. You have a deeper bond with her. I can’t make things difficult for you.”   Yuan Meiliang shouted, “This family bears the surname Yuan, not Gu!”   Gu Qing smiled calmly.   “Then I’ll leave.”   Since the real heiress wanted her identity back, then she could have it!   Yuan wasn’t exactly a royal surname, nor was it made of gold and jade.   As for the cannon-fodder supporting character Gu Qingluo—the identity Yuan Wangyue didn’t want?   She would take it.   Although this start was a little disastrous, and the ending was rather tragic…   At least, it wasn’t too late yet.