Chapter 1: Transmigrating into a romance

Gu Zi was awakened by a woman’s crying. Before she could open her eyes, a flood of unfamiliar memories swept through her mind.

Only then did distant footsteps sound, and the woman’s crying gradually faded away.

“No, I absolutely won’t allow my own daughter to marry an older man with three children!”

“I never expected we’d mix our daughter with the Lin family. The Lins are so poor, and they agreed to marry our precious daughter into a home like that. Zi, you should think of your real daughter.”

Gu Zi opened her eyes, dazed, and saw a man standing near the window, while the woman beside the bed still cried and wiped away tears.

Then it hit her: she had transmigrated into the historical romance she’d read the night before.

The real heiress of the Gu family, Lin Miao, had recently appeared at her door. She looked exactly like Madam Gu—Zhang Mei—when she was young.

The original hostess used to be pampered, but her position in the Gu family now felt extremely strange.

Lin Miao, the real heiress, lived in poverty. Once Gu Zi understood the situation, she clung to the Gu family and refused to leave.

The original hostess of this body was supposed to marry the head’s son according to her parents’ arrangement.

Because the original hostess wasn’t the main character, her story was only a side note in the romance.

Now, the timeline of the story had reached the point where the original hostess learned she would marry an older divorced man—and even tried to end her life by jumping into a river.

Gu Zi realized the two people in the room hadn’t noticed she was awake. She struggled to sit up, making noise, but the Gu couple remained lost in their own world.

From Gu Zi’s book-life perspective, the Gu Zi in the novel was arrogant and had never faced real challenges.

But she was different—she was thirty now, and she had been through a lot.

Gu Zi looked at Zhang Mei and said softly, “Please don’t cry. I’m willing to marry him.”

Gu Shan turned his head to look at Gu Zi in bed, but stayed silent.

Zhang Mei snapped out of her thoughts. She looked at Gu Zi’s calm face and wondered what she had just said.

“Mom, I understand.” Gu Zi smiled sweetly and said softly, “If I stay with the Gu family now, people may think I’m trying to steal Lin Miao’s fiancé.”

Hearing Gu Zi’s words, Zhang Mei felt guilty and uneasy.

For over a decade, they’d treated Gu Zi as their precious daughter.

The door opened, and the real heiress, Lin Miao, walked in. She saw Gu Zi had woken up, and her parents hesitated to send her away.

Gu Zi looked at Lin Miao—who was acting so fake—and smiled. “Miao Miao, this is your home.”

Gu Zi got out of bed and, as if remembering something, looked at Zhang Mei in front of her.

“Could you lend me some money? I need to catch a bus to my fiancé’s place.”

As Gu Zi stepped away, Zhang Mei couldn’t help watching her retreating figure—an increasing sense of discomfort settling inside her.