"Get the hell out of here!"

"You fake!"

"Our Garrett family doesn't keep trash, and we sure as hell don't keep ungrateful leeches!"

Those sharp, nasty curses were like fine needles, one after another stabbing straight through Elaine Garrett's ears, making her head buzz.

She snapped her eyes open.

What she saw was not the familiar stove and counters of a back kitchen, but a shabby little room with yellowed walls and peeling plaster.

A mean-faced middle-aged woman was jabbing a finger right under her nose, spraying spit as she cursed nonstop.

Beside her stood a pretty young girl with two braids. She timidly tugged at the woman's sleeve, her big eyes shining with tears, looking like she'd suffered some terrible injustice and was still trying to be considerate.

"Mom, don't talk about my sister like that..."

That was what she said, but the smug little curl at the corner of her mouth, that bit of gloating she couldn't hide, was caught by Elaine the moment she opened her eyes.

What was this, some kind of play?

Before she could sort that thought out, a flood of strange memories crashed into her head.

The sixties. Swapped daughters. Vicious supporting female role...

She, the modern state banquet chef Elaine Garrett, had actually transmigrated into a book.

And of all people, she'd landed in the character with the exact same name, the fake daughter with the miserable ending.

In the novel, after the real daughter Pearl Garrett was brought home, the original Elaine grew jealous and resentful, making trouble at every turn. In the end, her adoptive parents and the male lead joined hands to send her off to a godforsaken farm in the Northwest, where she froze to death in her very first winter.

And what was happening now was the opening scene.

The real daughter had only been home three days, and the adoptive parents already couldn't wait to sweep this "fake" out the door.

Margaret Garrett shook off Pearl's hand and looked at Elaine as if poison had been smeared into her eyes.

"Pearl, you're just too soft-hearted!"

"She stole eighteen whole years of your good fortune, ate our food, drank our water, and now she still wants to stay here shamelessly? Dream on!"

She jabbed her finger even closer, flecks of spit landing right on Elaine's face.

"Elaine, I'm giving you two choices!"

"Either you take ten bucks and get out, and from now on you're cut clean from our Garrett family!"

"Or you go to the Northwest in Pearl's place and spend the rest of your life paying back the eighteen years we raised you!"

The Northwest?

Elaine's mind sank.

The book had made it very clear. Pearl was the daughter of a sent-down youth who had returned to the city. Under policy, the family had to send one child to the countryside. The Garretts couldn't bear to let their real daughter suffer, so they set their sights on the original Elaine.

And what kind of place was that Northwest?

Endless yellow sand, never enough to eat all year round, and in winter the wind could freeze a person solid. Throwing a city-raised girl into a place like that was no different from sending her to die.

Cold-blooded. Really cold-blooded.

Her adoptive father, Herbert Garrett, who had stayed quiet the whole time, finally took an unhurried sip of tea and spoke in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Elaine, what your mother said is for your own good too."

"Pearl grew up in the countryside. She's weak. She can't take that kind of hardship."

"You've been sturdy since you were little. Going to the countryside to toughen up will do you good, not harm."

Pearl joined in too, her voice soft and careful, tears coming the instant she wanted them.

"That's right, Sister."

"That job at the textile mill was supposed to be mine in the first place."

"You've had it for eighteen years. Just... take pity on me and fill the countryside quota for me."

"Mom and Dad weren't able to raise you all these years without hardship either..."

Listen to that.

How pretty those words sounded.

So she, Elaine Garrett, was just supposed to let this whole family gnaw her to the bone and squeeze every last drop out of her?

Elaine laughed coldly inside.

If this were the original host, she'd probably already be crying and panicking.

But who was she?

She was Elaine Garrett, who had clawed her way out of an orphanage and fought her way into a state banquet kitchen with nothing but a knife and a wok shovel.

What kind of monsters hadn't she seen?

This level of fake innocence wasn't even enough to get stuck in her teeth.

She didn't cry. She didn't make a scene. She simply looked at the three "family members" in front of her, all putting on their act, her gaze calm as a bottomless well.

This family had never once treated her like a person.

Margaret felt a flicker of unease under that stare, and because of it her voice only got louder.

"What are you staring at? Gone mute?"

"Today you are going to give me an answer! If not, I'll go to the neighborhood committee and report you for being unfilial!"

At that moment, Pearl seemed to "accidentally" bump the table with her elbow. The teacup rolled off with a clatter, and scalding tea splashed straight toward Elaine.

Elaine lifted her arm on instinct to block it.

"Hiss—"

Her forearm burned with sharp pain.

And at that exact instant, a soft "ding" sounded in her mind, like something had quietly been triggered.

A dim, grayish space, about twenty cubic meters in size, suddenly appeared deep inside her consciousness.

This was... a portable storage space?

In her previous life, she had a piece of ancestral jade. After it recognized her with blood, it had opened up this very space. She had never expected it to come with her.

The most incredible thing about this space was that time stood still inside it.

A steamed bun put in there would still come out hot and steaming ten years later.

Elaine's heart started pounding.

With this thing, what did she have to fear?

The Northwest?

In other people's eyes, it was hell. To her, it was nothing more than starting over somewhere else.

She forced down the wild joy rising in her chest and lowered her eyes.

The enamel mug Pearl had knocked down was still spinning by her feet.

Her mind moved.

Whoosh—

The enamel mug vanished without a sound.

Inside the space in her mind, there it was, the exact same thing.

It really worked.

The corner of Elaine's mouth lifted slightly.

Good.

Didn't they want to suck her dry?

Then she would let them see what "squeezed dry" really meant.

Under the mixed looks from the three Garretts—smug, contemptuous, self-satisfied—Elaine finally spoke. Her voice was clear and cool, not a trace of panic in it.

"Fine. I'll choose."

Margaret froze for a second, then planted both hands on her hips.

"At least you've got some sense! Say it. Are you taking the money and leaving, or going to the Northwest for Pearl?"

In her eyes, Elaine would definitely choose the first.

Who would be stupid enough to go suffer in a place like that?

Pearl quietly clenched the hem of her clothes too, afraid Elaine might really take the money and leave. If that happened, the countryside slot would fall back onto her own head.

Only Herbert stayed calm, holding his teacup like he had already won.

Elaine's gaze passed slowly over the three of them. She enunciated every word, clear and steady.

"I'll go to the countryside."

What?!

All three people in the room froze at the same time.

Margaret could hardly believe her ears. She even dug a finger into one ear and demanded,

"What did you say? Say it again!"

Pearl was so delighted she nearly cried out on the spot, the wild joy in her eyes almost spilling over.

She was going.

She was really going.

Wonderful.

That textile mill job would be hers.

Elaine repeated herself, face calm, as if she were saying something utterly trivial.

"I said, I'll go to the countryside in Pearl Garrett's place."

Pearl covered her mouth, and fresh tears rolled right down, this time switched neatly into "gratitude."

"Sister, you... you can really bear to do that?"

"Don't worry. Once I've got my footing at the textile mill, I'll definitely send you money and things."

Looking at that clumsy performance, Elaine nearly laughed.

Send money and things?

More likely she was praying Elaine would die sooner in the yellow sands of the Northwest.

Elaine cut her gaze away and turned her cold eyes toward Herbert and Margaret.

"But I have one condition."

Margaret's brows twisted up impatiently.

"You worthless girl, what condition could you possibly have? Letting you take Pearl's countryside slot is already smoke rising from your ancestors' graves!"

Elaine didn't even look at her. Her voice wasn't loud, but every word landed clean.

"My condition is simple."

"Starting today, I, Elaine Garrett, sever all ties with the Garrett family."

"I want it written out, black and white, a formal document cutting family relations. Each side puts down their thumbprint. Then we bring in someone from the neighborhood committee as witness."

"From now on, who I marry is my own business, whether I live or die is my own fate. I have nothing more to do with your Garrett family."

"And none of you will ever use this so-called debt of raising me to pressure me again."

Those words hit the shabby room like a clap of thunder.

Sever ties?!

In these times, being cut off from your family was no small matter. It was the same as being cast aside by society itself.

Had this dead girl gone crazy?

Herbert slammed his enamel mug down on the table with a bang. His face turned green with rage, and his trembling finger pointed straight at Elaine as he roared,

"You... you unfilial wretch! Say that again!"

He was shaking all over.

Never in his dreams had he expected this adopted daughter, who had always been held in their hands and controlled at will, to dare say something so rebellious today.

If word got out, where would he put his face as deputy director of the textile mill?

What would people say about Herbert Garrett?

That he had forced his adopted daughter to cut ties with him?

Elaine wasn't afraid in the least. Her back was straight as a ramrod. She met his furious stare head-on and spoke again, one word at a time.

"I said—I want to sever ties with all of you."