Unlike the world she was familiar with, in this world, Ji Nian’s homeroom teacher wasn’t Old Liu.
Instead, it was a teacher she had never met before. Upon learning Ji Nian’s intentions, he quickly had her sign the paperwork, showing no objections to her dropping out.
Clutching her withdrawal application, Ji Nian sat on a swing in the park near the school.
It was still spring here, and the breeze carried a slight chill but felt pleasant. At this hour, students were in class and adults at work, leaving the park mostly to the elderly and parents with young children. Ji Nian found an inconspicuous spot to sit, pulled out the original owner’s phone from her backpack, and began searching for anything useful while asking her system: "I’ve taken over this body—so where is the original owner now?"
The system’s electronic voice crackled again. Ignoring the static, Ji Nian pieced together its words.
"This is what you’d consider a parallel world. Strictly speaking, the original owner doesn’t exist. Minor characters like this, who only appear for a single chapter, rarely develop souls. Most are just programs following scripted trajectories."
Ji Nian understood.
But a new question arose.
If the original owner here had no soul, why did the one in her world have one?
She suddenly thought of the soul-transfer experiment.
Could it be that the original owner’s body had been empty, but that mad experiment actually succeeded, summoning his deceased daughter’s soul into it…?
She had only glimpsed this in Ji Tingzhou’s study and dismissed it as nonsense, so she hadn’t looked further.
The system buzzed twice, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately remained silent.
Having spent most of her money hiring thugs earlier, Ji Nian checked her accounts across various apps and found she had only fifty yuan left.
"It’s been years since I’ve been this broke…"
Long accustomed to never worrying about money, Ji Nian was abruptly reminded of the taste of poverty.
Beyond what she earned from her potions, her family’s allowance alone had always been more than she could spend.
Thinking of her family, she asked the system about the current timeline.
This world was a year behind hers, and she was still a high school sophomore.
She fell silent.
"So, without my interference, Wei Yang is now a madman tormented by poison, my maternal uncle died years ago, and Sister Zhile is gone too, having died protecting Shen Qingtang."
The system confirmed this and added more details.
For example: He Xiang had dropped out soon after arriving in S City to care for his gravely ill grandmother.
Yang Xinyu, due to sudden family turmoil, developed psychological issues and took his own life during his first year of high school.
And…
"Lu Jinghuai is still alive… but might as well be dead."
Ji Nian closed her eyes.
Though these people weren’t the ones she knew, hearing about their fates in the original storyline still pained her.
"What about Dad…"
She paused mid-sentence.
Even knowing this world’s Ji Tingzhou wasn’t her father, she couldn’t help but care.
And she wanted to see him.
Ji Nian had no memories from this body, but based on the crises she’d faced in her past life, this was around the time he’d been suffering terribly—likely close to becoming a vegetative state.
"No wonder he suddenly announced Shen Qingtang as his heir…"
He must have sensed his time was running out.
Ji Nian hugged her knees, resting her head on them.
Not far away, in the sandpit, a little girl around five years old crawled around while her father excitedly waved a camera, urging her to look his way. Her mother sat on a bench, smiling at the scene.
The warmth of their happiness reached Ji Nian from across the distance.
Suddenly, she regretted it.
She shouldn’t have pretended to fight with Ji Tingzhou just to scare him.
In the park, where everyone else looked at ease, only one girl in a school uniform sat alone.
No one knew this wasn’t her world.
As dusk fell, the park grew busier.
Ji Nian pressed a hand to her growling stomach and bought two stuffed pancakes.
Ignoring the sympathetic glances from passersby, she crouched by the roadside and took big bites.
But when she accidentally scared a passing child into tears, she quietly packed the unfinished pancake into its bag and left.
"Where… are you going?" the system asked.
Ji Nian fished out two coins and boarded a random bus, settling into a seat at the back. Gazing at the familiar-yet-unfamiliar scenery outside, she replied: "Tonight, I want to see Dad at the Ji Family home."
Even if he might not be her father here.
With Wei Yang’s sanity gone, no Sister Zhile or assassins around, the Ji Family’s defenses were practically nonexistent in Ji Nian’s eyes. She was confident she could sneak in undetected.
It sounded like a good thing, but it only deepened her sorrow.
Lost in thought, Ji Nian suddenly realized she’d wandered near Chen Mo’s company. She didn’t go inside, just stared at the building, wondering where Numbers One and Two had gone now that Chen Mo was gone.
She ended up crouching by a flower bed, zoning out.
Then, in the evening, she encountered someone unexpected.
The moment Gu Xiuyuan stepped out of his car, he spotted the figure hunched near the bushes from a distance.
Oddly, he’d never paid much attention to her before—perhaps because she’d hurt Shen Qingtang. Yet now, he noticed her immediately.
Gu Xiuyuan frowned.
His attendant followed his gaze and asked, "Young Master, shall I have her removed?"
Gu Xiuyuan shook his head. "No."
He didn’t know why he walked over, but before he realized it, he was standing above Ji Nian, looking down at her with cold indifference.
Ji Nian glanced up and waved. "Hey."
Then she offered her half-eaten pancake. "Want some?"
Gu Xiuyuan swatted the cold, greasy thing away in disgust.
It hit the ground with a thud.
Ji Nian quickly picked it up, checking the bag. Thankfully, she’d tied it tightly—nothing had spilled. It was still edible.
She glared at him. "What’s your problem? Just say no."
"Having fun stalking me?" Gu Xiuyuan ignored her question, his voice icy as he watched her crouch to retrieve the food, clearly intending to keep eating it.
Ji Nian blinked in confusion, then pieced it together.
He thought she’d followed him here.
"Way to jump to conclusions, Gu Xiuyuan. My legs can’t outrun your car tires. If anything, you’re the one stalking me."
She rolled her eyes and casually patted his stomach.
What shocked Gu Xiuyuan more than her audacity was how fast she moved—so fast he hadn’t even seen her hand.
His gaze sharpened instantly.
But the girl before him showed none of the fear she once had. In fact, she acted as if she knew him well—as if he were the one who’d forgotten years of acquaintance.
Ji Nian said with an effortless familiarity, "How many days has it been since you last took a shit? Your stomach feels so hard."
Gu Xiuyuan: "……?"
Having never heard such crude language in his life, Gu Xiuyuan was nearly furious. "You—you—"
"Don’t be mad. I’ll make you something to help with digestion. Lend me some money, will you?"
Instead of backing down as expected, Gu Xiuyuan met a pair of smiling, spring-like emerald-green eyes.
Her gaze was incredibly gentle, yet it inexplicably made him feel… an odd sense of familiarity.
