Chapter 1

After finding out I was the fake heiress, I clung to the poor student I sponsored and cried for three days and three nights.

“Soon I’ll be thrown out of my house. I’ll have to live on scraps, with nothing decent to wear. I won’t even be able to keep paying for your schooling.”

“Boo-hoo! My Chanel! My Bulgari necklace! I can’t bear to leave you behind…”

Then the poor student vanished for ten days. When he finally showed up again, he was dressed in a tailored suit and polished shoes, exuding the air of a wealthy young master.

Without a word, he shoved a pile of designer handbags and necklaces into my arms.

That was when I learned he was a rich heir.

The humiliation of being deceived surged through me. I was just about to swing a handbag at his face when lines of comments suddenly appeared before my eyes:

【Sigh. For the female lead’s sake, the second male lead will have to go home and be the son of that bastard father of his.】

【His father may be the richest man in Beijing, but whenever he’s in a bad mood—which is almost every day—he takes it out on his son and beats him mercilessly.】

【He even beat one of the second male lead’s ears deaf. That’s why the guy gave up his identity as a young master, left home with nothing, and wandered the streets. At least he didn’t have to endure his father’s abuse anymore, and he met the kindhearted female lead.】

【What a shame. The female lead’s destined male lead is about to appear and begin his rescue-the-fake-heiress routine. Poor second male lead is going to suffer for nothing.】

I stared at the comments for a long moment, then grabbed the poor student by the collar and pulled it down.

Sure enough, his body was covered in large bruises.

1

I’d been frail and sickly since childhood, so my parents spoiled me rotten.

My little brother was even forced to humiliate himself and act like my dog, doing whatever I ordered.

Whenever I threw a tantrum for no reason or bullied him, my parents would sensibly look up at the ceiling and pretend they hadn’t seen a thing.

My brother would curse me out, saying I did one awful thing after another and would get what was coming to me sooner or later.

I’d only sneer.

“Feudal superstition.”

After that, I spent three years donating school supplies and daily necessities to children in the mountains. I also sponsored a poor student in my class.

I’d buy all kinds of delicious food and stuff him with it, while muttering, “Please let everything go smoothly for me. Don’t let me get what’s coming to me.”

The poor student, Gu Jingshen, was quiet, with cool, pale skin and a high nose.

Most importantly, his emotions were remarkably steady.

He patiently listened to me mutter my strange superstitions every day. He never looked at me like I was a mental patient; he just sat calmly beside me, studying and working through problem sets.

For some inexplicable reason, I always felt safe around him. I’d decided he was the talisman that could ward off my unfilial little brother’s curse.

I sponsored him all the way through college.

Then, out of the blue, he said he wanted to earn his own money for tuition and end our sponsorship.

The whole world collapsed around me.

Only one thought remained in my head:

【My talisman is leaving me. My talisman is leaving me!】

How could this happen?

I clung to his legs, sobbing and begging him not to leave me.

My nose was running, my face was soaked with tears, and I wiped every bit of it on him.

I was heartbroken and utterly desperate. Anyone looking at us would have thought I was the one he’d been sponsoring.

People passing by stared in shock. One girl even glared at me and muttered, “What a scumbag.”

At last, Gu Jingshen had no choice but to pull me to my feet and agree to keep accepting my support.

I jumped for joy, flung my arms around him, and slapped his back.

“Bro, we’re brothers for life!”

For some reason, his expression turned awful.

Like his wife had just run away from him.

The poor student’s name was Gu Jingshen.

It sounded exactly like the name of some domineering CEO in a novel.

So how had he ended up so broke he had to sleep on the street?

I thought about it and couldn’t figure it out.

Never mind. Thinking about it gave me a headache.

I’d be better off using those extra brain cells to think up new ways to bully my idiot little brother.

2

It wasn’t until that day, while I was wandering around my father’s office looking for some interesting imported trinket, that I came across a file.

The date on it was yesterday.

My father had been away on a business trip for three days, so his secretary must have brought it over.

The file itself didn’t seem special. But in bold, unmistakable letters, it read:

“Paternity Test Results.”

I thought, So Dad finally suspects that idiot little brother of mine isn’t his biological son? He even had a paternity test done.

Wouldn’t it be great if the results showed something? We could trade him for a well-behaved, sensible, clever little brother.

That would be wonderful.

I opened the file eagerly.

But the names on it were mine and my father’s.

And the result clearly stated:

“No biological relationship.”

The sky collapsed around me all over again.

My blood went cold. My hands shook so badly I nearly tore the flimsy page in half.

In fact, I did.

Selfish, cowardly, and weak as I was, I was genuinely afraid that once they found out, they’d be relieved. They’d have every reason to kick their lawless, spoiled daughter out of the house and happily welcome the real heiress home.

The real heiress.

She must be healthy, sensible, and polite.

Nothing like me, the girl who used her poor health to rule the household like an emperor.

Every day I talked back to my parents. If I was unhappy, I’d cry, throw a fit, and even threaten to live or die over it. I bullied my little brother shamelessly, making him run errands, buy things, take out the trash, and pick up deliveries. Whenever I caused trouble, I’d push him forward to take the blame without a trace of guilt.

Worst of all, when I’d been reading online novels about fake and real heiresses, I once got curious and asked my little brother, who was massaging my legs,

“If I were the fake heiress, what would you do?”

The moment I finished, his eyes lit up. They practically glowed green.

“Really? Really?”

“Do I even have to ask? Pack your things and get out of my house!”

He stopped pouring my tea and massaging my legs, then called his pack of bad-news friends.

“Bro, tell me if this is hilarious. My sister isn’t really my sister! Ha-ha-ha, a blessing from heaven! Yeah, that evil tyrannosaur.”

“No one’s going to bully me anymore! Ha-ha-ha, we have to celebrate…”

I was so furious I jumped up, grabbed his ear, and slapped him.

“Fake my foot! I’m your real sister! You believed it? You’re dead tonight, you little brat!”

Back then, beating him had felt great. Now, I regretted it just as much.

If Dad found out I was the fake heiress, my brother would probably throw my luggage down the stairs before Dad even had time to announce it.

No wonder. No wonder my parents and brother were such honest people. How could they have a daughter as willful and unruly as me?

It turned out I wasn’t their biological child.

But now wasn’t the time to talk about it.

After a long hesitation, I used tape to mend the torn report and put it back in the file where I’d found it.

Thinking about it, I really had done plenty of awful things. I deserved to face the consequences.

Dad wouldn’t be back from his business trip for another half month. He wouldn’t see the file until then.

So let me selfishly enjoy these last two weeks and a day.

In fifteen days, I’d quietly leave on my own.

It would be the last thing I could do to make it up to this family.

3

I was so heartbroken that I couldn’t accept the brutal truth, and I had no one else to confide in. So I went to see the poor student I sponsored, Gu Jingshen.

I rented a private room at the restaurant where we often ate, then more or less dragged him there and cried for three days and three nights.

I couldn’t even be bothered to eat.

The staff were afraid I’d die right there, so they kept opening the door to bring in a little food, and sneaking glances at me while they were at it.

Gu Jingshen didn’t know how to comfort me. All he could do was let me cry and wipe my tears and snot all over him.

Yet he never seemed impatient.

He stayed by my side through three days of sobbing and hysterics. He even skipped the lab experiments at school.

He said he’d asked his supervisor for leave.

He really was a person of great conscience.

That only convinced me further that he was my good karma, my talisman, the last bit of peace and quiet I had left.

It was just a shame he was about to leave me, too.

“Boo-hoo! Soon I’ll be thrown out of my house. I’ll have to live on scraps, with nothing decent to wear, and I won’t even have money to sponsor you anymore.”

“Boo-hoo! My Chanel! My Bulgari necklace! I can’t bear to leave you behind…”

“Boo-hoo! My princess bed, my custom-made curtains, my limited-edition Disney plushies… I have to say goodbye to all of you!”

At last, I cried myself to exhaustion.

I curled up into a tiny ball on the sofa, still sniffling without a break.