Chapter 9: Who is pulling the strings behind the scenes to steal her fortune?

“Just a few days ago!”

That day, Song Shixing had just returned from a competition abroad and found Song Wanwan at home, wiping away tears.

Although he hadn’t spent much time with this younger sister and their bond wasn’t deep, they were family after all, so out of politeness, he asked what was going on.

Song Wanwan claimed she had been blackmailed for five million and was being slandered online for being a mistress.

At first, Song Shixing was furious and even wanted to help Song Wanwan get revenge. But after asking his eldest brother, he discovered that it wasn’t a rumor—Song Wanwan really was a mistress.

The reason she was crying at home that day was because she had been scolded by their eldest brother upon returning, which had reduced her to tears.

Song Shixing was left speechless. That was why he hadn’t paid any attention to Song Wanwan on this show, pretending they didn’t know each other.

However, because of the incident where Song Wanwan was blackmailed for five million, Song Shixing didn’t have a good impression of Jiang Nanxi either, which was why he had been sarcastic just moments ago.

As Song Shixing was recalling that day, he saw Jiang Nanxi take out her phone and play a recording for him on the spot.

Song Wanwan’s voice came through the recording.

“Jiang Nanxi, a D-list celebrity like you will only drag Shen Lan down. Stop clinging to him, lest you affect his future! Consider this money my charity to you; stay away from Shen Lan from now on!”

The recording played repeatedly in the guesthouse. Not only did Song Shixing hear it, but everyone else did too.

Jiang Nanxi sneered, “Did you hear that? That money was what your sister paid me to leave Shen Lan.

At that time, Shen Lan and I hadn’t broken up yet. Not only did she get together with him, but she also made things difficult for me every day. I’ve lived this long, and I’ve truly never seen such an arrogant mistress.

Do you rich people all think that having money makes you right, and that everything should belong to you? We poor people don’t deserve anything, right?”

“Of course not.”

Song Shixing frowned and said, “The Song family’s upbringing isn’t like that. Regarding my sister’s matter, she was indeed in the wrong.”

The audience who heard the recording were also shocked.

[My god, Song Wanwan looks pure, kind, and understanding on the surface, but I never expected her to be a hoodlum in private.]

[I don’t get it. Song Wanwan is already a daughter of the Song family; why would she want to be a mistress, and to a guy like that? Are there no other men left in this world?]

[I’m starting to empathize with Jiang Nanxi. Her scumbag boyfriend cheated with a rich girl, and she was humiliated by the rich girl and almost blacklisted by the entire internet. Anyone would go crazy.]

[Song Wanwan even forced Jiang Nanxi to attempt suicide at the company entrance before. She’s truly not human!]

Song Wanwan and Shen Lan had the lowest scores, so they were the last to choose their tasks, leaving them with the two most grueling and exhausting ones that offered very few points.

The two were currently under the scorching sun, hoeing the fields with great effort, completely unaware that Jiang Nanxi had exposed the recording.

Song Wanwan also didn’t know she was being cursed at by the audience; she was still trying hard to hoe the fields to perform well and win back public favor.

Back at the guesthouse.

Song Shixing sat in his seat, frowning, having lost the mood to do his tasks. He couldn’t understand why his own sister would be such a person.

His sister had been lost since childhood, and their parents had passed away in an accident five years ago, but his eldest brother and he had never given up on searching for her.

Heaven knows how happy he was when his sister was finally found. Both he and his eldest brother had wanted to give her the best things in the world and agreed to all her demands.

Given the power and wealth of the Song family, they had the ability to satisfy most of her requests.

That was until one day, when Song Wanwan drove her car and hit a classmate, sending them to the hospital, simply because the classmate had said a few things that made her uncomfortable.

Only then did his eldest brother realize they couldn’t unconditionally indulge all her demands, or the Song family might end up raising a murderer. Thus, his eldest brother became increasingly strict with her.

Song Shixing also developed a rift with Song Wanwan because of this incident and was no longer as enthusiastic toward her.

Later, Song Shixing was busy with the World Championships and didn’t have much contact with Song Wanwan, mostly hearing about her through the internet.

As it turned out, the moment he returned to the country after winning the world championship, he saw the headline about his own sister being caught as a mistress.

Seeing Song Shixing’s frowning, conflicted expression, a flash of contemplation crossed Jiang Nanxi’s eyes.

Her divination showed that Song Wanwan had stolen her luck, but Song Wanwan was just an ordinary person—how could she have the ability to steal someone else’s fortune?

Could it be that the Song family was helping her?

Thinking of this, Jiang Nanxi’s gaze toward Song Shixing turned cold.

If the Song family was truly behind helping Song Wanwan borrow her luck, she would absolutely not spare them.

“Let’s go do the next task.”

Jiang Nanxi put the food into the guesthouse refrigerator and pulled Li Chu along to complete their tasks.

Besides making money, there was another reason she insisted on joining this variety show: Song Wanwan was also participating.

She didn’t know who was helping Song Wanwan borrow her luck behind the scenes, so she naturally couldn’t know how they had taken it.

But if she could ruin Song Wanwan’s reputation, make her the target of public scorn, and cause her to lose everything, the luck-borrowing formation would lose its effect, allowing her to find a way to reclaim her fortune.

“The second task is feeding the pigs. That should be simple, right? The last task scared me to death; these 100 points are really hard to earn.”

Li Chu’s voice came from beside her.

Jiang Nanxi looked at the location of the pigsty and realized it was right next to a small river in the village.

She said to Li Chu, “When we go over later, stay away from that river. You’ve been clashing with water-related things lately.”

“A small river?”

Li Chu looked toward the river and happened to see a woman washing clothes in it. The water was very shallow, only reaching the woman’s knees.

“The fortune teller also told me to stay away from water recently, but this river is so shallow. It shouldn’t be able to drown anyone, right?”

Just as Li Chu finished speaking, a villager passing by said, “Don’t let the shallowness fool you; it can still drown people. Someone drowned here before.

They say that person was washing clothes, bent over, when something suddenly grabbed her hair, yanked her head into the water, and drowned her.

When others found her, she was still standing in the river, but bent over with her head buried in the water. It was such a strange way to die! The village elders say it’s a water ghost from the reservoir upstream that couldn’t find a substitute, so it swam down here to find one!”

Li Chu was startled and pointed at the woman washing clothes in the river. “Then why is she still washing clothes there? Isn’t she perfectly fine?”

“It’s high noon right now, the sun is at its strongest. The water ghost wouldn’t dare show its face. Of course, it’s fine to wash clothes at this time. Later, when the sun isn’t as intense, you two should stay away from that river. We villagers don’t really wash clothes here anymore.”

“Alright.”

Jiang Nanxi walked beside Li Chu. She looked up at the mountain range surrounding the village and couldn’t help but furrow her brows.

She saw a thick, dark cloud hovering halfway up one of the mountains, and she could sense a heavy, sinister aura within it.

Jiang Nanxi realized, “No wonder there are so many strange occurrences in this mountain village. It turns out there’s a very powerful, unclean thing lurking nearby.”

(End of chapter)