CHAPTER 100: CHAPTER 100: SLAPPING THE FAKE RICH GIRL 1

Anning woke up to an indescribable damp, musty odor.

She opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings by the light of the moon.

With one look, she understood the environment she was in, and the era it belonged to.

This time, her client was Zhao Anning.

Zhao Anning’s story was not complex, reminiscent of the melodramatic plots in romance dramas from early years.

Born into the wealthy Zhao Family, she was inadvertently switched at birth and became the daughter of the Liu Family.

The Liu Family was poor, and in a household that favored sons over daughters, Zhao Anning was neglected from a young age, burdened with all sorts of chores, and was often scolded and beaten, resulting in a timid and non-confrontational personality.

At the age of fifteen, while in the second year of junior high, Zhao Anning’s true identity was revealed. The Zhao Family learned about the switched child and hurriedly came to take Zhao Anning home.

Zhao Anning had thought that being recognized by her birth parents would guarantee her the life she deserved, full of parental love and brotherly affection, free from the abuse she used to face every day.

However, on the day before she was taken away, she was threatened by the Liu Family, who warned her that if she dared to mess with the Liu’s daughter, she would regret it and that the Liu Family would certainly make trouble for her.

After being taken back by the Zhao Family, she found that the Zhao Family did not turn away the Liu’s daughter but instead treated her exceptionally well and didn’t even change her surname.

Zhao Mingzhu, who should have been the daughter of the Liu Family, was mistakenly brought up in the Zhao Family, raised in luxury, and carefully educated, her insights and knowledge far surpassing those of Zhao Anning.

Zhao Anning found it suffocating to stay in the Zhao Family after just a few days.

She thought of the novels and TV series she had stealthily watched and feared that if she stayed any longer, Zhao Mingzhu would plot against her.

Out of fear, yet unable to voice her concerns to the Zhao Family, she made a fuss and insisted on moving out.

The Zhao Family was still good to Zhao Anning, and seeing her determination to move, they bought her a house near her school, arranged for a caretaker, and gave her a generous allowance.

Zhao Anning thought moving out would lead to better days, but to her dismay, Zhao Mingzhu, who appeared kind and amiable, was secretly inciting classmates to target her at school.

Zhao Mingzhu, the school’s belle, had many admirers, and these boys, used by her as pawns, deliberately targeted Zhao Anning. Some girls, keen on currying favor with Zhao Mingzhu, were violent towards Zhao Anning, making her school life miserable.

This only intensified Zhao Anning’s fear.

Her grades also started to plummet.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. The real disaster came after Zhao Mingzhu graduated and joined the Zhao Family company, eventually sidelining her aging father, Father Zhao, corrupting Zhao Anning’s brother, and, in the end, taking over the company.

Father Zhao, Mrs. Zhao, and Zhao Anning’s brother were all kicked out of the house by Zhao Mingzhu.

Zhao Anning too was several times undermined by Zhao Mingzhu, resulting in a tragic end for the entire family.

After Zhao Anning passed away, her soul did not immediately dissipate. She witnessed Zhao Mingzhu acknowledging the Liu Family as her own, showing great filial piety to Mr. Liu and Mrs. Liu, and caring deeply for the Liu’s younger brother. The Liu Family was reunited, truly enjoying familial bliss.

Looking at her own family’s tragic demise filled Zhao Anning with resentment and injustice.

She had originally thought she wouldn’t care about blood ties and deliberately distanced herself from the Zhao Family.

But when her birth parents were killed and her own brother was crippled and humiliated on the streets, Zhao Anning’s heart ached unbearably. She realized, no matter how many years they had been separated or how indifferent she appeared, she still longed for her relatives’ care and carried her parents and brother in her heart.

Zhao Anning’s wish was to seek revenge on Zhao Mingzhu and drive her out of the Zhao Family.

Furthermore, she also wanted true family togetherness, parents who would love and cherish her, to mend her relationship with her brother, and to make her family proud of her.

Anning thought this task was not difficult; she had been transmigrated into ancient times for missions in her two previous lives, and in fact, she had quite wanted to experience the modern era.

Moreover, Zhao Anning’s identity was suitable, so she took over the task.

And now, it was when Zhao Anning was still with the Liu Family.

She was living in a storeroom that was damp and dirty, and naturally, it reeked.

Anning sat on the bed for a while, then quietly got up and checked the calendar hanging in the living room. She calculated the time and knew that the day after tomorrow would be when Mrs. Zhao would come to fetch her.

Knowing that she would stay at the Liu Family for one or two more days at most, Anning relaxed.

She decided that during these one or two days, she wouldn’t do anything; she just needed to play the role of the timid and cowardly Zhao Anning well.

And now, the most important thing for Anning to do was to ignore the awful environment, rest up well to have the energy to deal with the scumbags of the Liu Family over these two days.

Just now, Anning had also probed and found out that this world was an End of the World, meaning there was no Spiritual Power here, and the will of the world did not permit the existence of any supernatural phenomena.

Cultivation and such were out of the question. If Anning wanted to do well in this task, it was impossible to rely on any other powers; she could only depend on her own abilities, such as cunning and knowledge.

Anning could adapt to circumstances. Since cultivation was not possible, she put those thoughts behind her and quickly fell asleep in bed.

Before dawn, while Anning was sound asleep, she heard a knock on the door.

Shortly after, she heard Mrs. Liu’s characteristic loud voice: "Anning, you sloth, the sun has already reached your backside, yet you’re still not up. Hurry up and start cooking, get up and clean."

Anning was startled awake.

She sat up, wiped her face, and immediately put on the timorous, uneasy, and frightened expression that was unique to Zhao Anning.

She jumped out of bed, casually grabbed a coat to wear, put on shoes, and went to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, Mrs. Liu’s massive slap came flying towards her.

Anning certainly wouldn’t take a beating.

She pretended to slip to dodge, and while she eluded it, Mrs. Liu nearly fell due to the overexertion of her swung hand.

This made Mrs. Liu even angrier, cursing: "Stop dawdling and get to work. If I had known you’d be this lazy, I wouldn’t have bothered giving birth to you. I struggled to bring you into this world, and this is how you repay me?"

"I... I’ll get to the work now."

Anning lowered her head and quickly slipped past Mrs. Liu.

She tied her hair back with a band, then immediately went to the kitchen to start the fire and cook rice. While the rice was cooking, she quickly swept both inside and outside the house with a broom.

Mrs. Liu, seeing Anning working efficiently, finally nodded in satisfaction: "At least you know your place."

She watched Anning for a while, seeing that she was working quickly without any signs of slacking, then contentedly went back to sleep.

From Zhao Anning’s memories, Anning knew that the Liu Family was quite lazy; no one wanted to get up in the morning, and it had always been Zhao Anning who cooked breakfast.

And until Mrs. Liu had her fill of extra sleep, she would not wake up easily if the meal wasn’t ready.

Anning took advantage of this time to make herself a rather lavish breakfast.

She fried eggs, stealthily served herself some of the cooked vegetables quickly, and also cautiously fried some slices of meat to eat.

If it were Zhao Anning, she certainly wouldn’t have had the courage to do this.

But Anning was different; she had the guts and the smarts, and knowing that the Zhao Family would come for her the day after tomorrow, she was afraid of nothing.

After finishing her meal, she brushed her teeth and washed her face, and only then did she go to wake up the Liu Family.