Chapter 1: 001: I'm Sorry, You Are Not in My Family Tree

“Don’t touch me.”

The boy didn’t look at her. He only used a tissue to carefully wipe the hand she had touched, tossed it into the trash can, and spoke in a cold, indifferent voice.

Bai Lian leaned against the tree, the scene replaying in her mind over and over.

Her ink-black hair clung damply to her pale neck. She pulled her black trench coat tighter around herself, let out a lazy yawn, and recited a phone number to the old man beside her.

The old man adjusted the frames of his glasses. Seeing that she had finally remembered a number, he took out his phone and dialed. The call was answered quickly. “Hello, is this student Song Min?”

“It is.”

The old man was very polite. “It’s like this: student Bai Lian accidentally fell into the water by the lake at Mingtai Villa. Could you come and pick her up?”

The person on the other end was silent for a moment, trying to recall who this name belonged to, before speaking in a tone of restraint and annoyance: “Don’t call me again.”

The call was disconnected.

The old man was stunned. “He…”

Bai Lian was still sitting on the rock. “Him? My fiancé, I suppose.”

One would expect someone who had fallen into the water to look disheveled, but she sat with her arms crossed, leaning against the tree. Her dark eyes held a hint of confusion, like a white tiger that had taken a nap in a hurry, only to wake up lazily and find itself in an unfamiliar place.

“What about your other family members?”

She thought for a moment. “They’re hosting a banquet to celebrate the birthday of the mistress’s daughter.”

The old man looked at the girl, who appeared quite well-behaved, and didn’t know how to comfort her.

“It’s fine,” Bai Lian tilted her head and chuckled. “Thank you for saving me. I’ll sit here for a while longer.”

He had other things to attend to; saving the drowning Bai Lian had just been a coincidence. He had assumed the girl was determined to die, but to his surprise, she had woken up after her heart had stopped for two minutes, and she didn’t seem to have any intention of committing suicide again.

“Don’t sit for too long; you’ll catch a cold.” He left his phone number with Bai Lian, glanced at the black trench coat she was wearing, and then hurried off to catch his flight.

Bai Lian put away the paper and watched him walk away.

She stood in place for a long while before tugging at her uniquely styled clothes and sitting back down on the rock, her elbows resting on her knees and her chin propped loosely in her palms.

This body was also named Bai Lian.

She had looked at her reflection in the lake; she looked exactly like herself.

Two years ago, her mother discovered that her husband was not only keeping a mistress but had also fathered two illegitimate children. She divorced him, left without asking for custody, and walked away with grace.

The original owner was usually good-for-nothing and had been caught cheating on the recent preliminary exams.

When she was being criticized by her teacher in the office, she saw Song Min, who had come to hand in homework. The original owner had instinctively grabbed the hand of this fiancé, and he had pulled away with cold disgust, uttering those words: “Don’t touch me.”

Recalling this, Bai Lian rested her chin on her hand, her distinct knuckles pressing lightly against her cheek. *Tsk.*

What was the original owner doing with such a beautiful face?

She tightened her coat, which smelled of silverweed.

It wasn’t a strong scent, just a bit chilly.

Bai Lian looked at the solar-powered streetlights glowing in the distance, her eyes filled with bright stars. She sat on the rock, quietly observing this astonishing world.

She didn’t know how much time had passed before a pair of glaring headlights swept over her.

She reached out to shield her eyes, blocking the light.

“Eldest Miss.” The driver stepped out of the driver’s seat and opened the door to the back of the business van.

As the door opened, she saw a gentle-looking young girl sitting on the outer side, wearing an exquisite dress.

After standing up, Bai Lian noticed that besides Bai Shaoqi, there was also a noble-looking boy sitting next to her, his head bowed as he looked at his phone.

Oh, Song Min.

“Sister,” Bai Shaoqi glanced at Bai Lian indifferently. She offered her the seat in front and moved to the three-seater in the back row. “You sit in the front.”

The boy, who had been looking at his phone, furrowed his brows.

Seeing Bai Shaoqi move to the back, he also put away his phone without a word and squeezed into the back seat.

The driver looked at Bai Lian awkwardly; every time this happened, the Eldest Miss would act like she had gone mad. “Eldest Miss, Young Master Song, he…”

Bai Lian flicked the hair hanging over her forehead as she organized her memories. She didn’t sit in the back, only gesturing for the driver to open the front passenger door.

The car drove toward the Bai residence.

“Min-ge,” in the quiet, Bai Shaoqi suddenly spoke up from the back seat. “Did you log into my account?”

“Yeah. You used a Fourier transform for that problem? That method won’t work; I’ve tried it.”

“Don’t look down on me. What if I solve it?” She reached out to take Song Min’s phone.

Song Min hurriedly protected his phone. He would wipe away the spots where the original owner had touched him, yet he showed no resistance to Bai Shaoqi at all. “Then I’ll do your chores for you.”

Bai Shaoqi: “Ah, chores again?”

“Are you complaining?”

“…”

Both of them were in the international class at No. 1 High School and were this year’s key talents. They often attended various competition courses together, and Bai Shaoqi was not inferior to any boy when it came to science.

The two spoke as if no one else was around, and no one else could join in.

The driver glanced at Bai Lian, who was sitting quietly and obediently in the passenger seat, feeling a bit awkward. He explained to Bai Lian, “The Second Miss and Young Master Song are talking about the software for the Jiangjing Preparatory Camp. No. 1 High School has ten spots this year, and they…”

Halfway through, the driver remembered that Bai Lian had cheated for one of these spots and immediately shut his mouth.

**

The Bai family mansion.

Bai Qiming sat on the sofa in the hall, waiting for Bai Shaoqi and Song Min to return.

“Song Min came back with me to get my brother’s notebook,” Bai Shaoqi said to Bai Qiming with a smile.

Bai Lian ignored their pleasantries. She sat directly on the sofa, her fingertips tapping the coffee table nonchalantly as she signaled for the butler to pour her some tea.

Once the butler placed the tea in her hands, she lowered her head and blew on it casually.

“Your studies are stressful, and you have to practice the guzheng; don’t overwork yourself,” Bai Qiming said, handing the apprenticeship invitation on the table to Bai Shaoqi. “Practice ‘The Song of the White-Clad’ well over the next two days. Dean Jian likes it very much.”

Song Min was clearly surprised. “You can play ‘The Song of the White-Clad’?”

Bai Shaoqi was modest. “I’ve only learned the basics.”

Bai Lian leaned back against the sofa, tucking her half-dry black hair behind her ears. She stared at the apprenticeship invitation for a long while, then tapped the rim of her cup and lazily interrupted their conversation: “That apprenticeship invitation was my birthday gift from two years ago.”

Bai Shaoqi’s voice paused. She squinted at Bai Qiming’s invitation.

Then, with a look that was neither a smile nor a frown, she said, “Sister has also studied the guzheng?”

Hearing this, Song Min, who was standing to the side, looked up.

In Beicheng, who didn’t know that Bai Lian was good-for-nothing?

Bai Qiming gave Bai Shaoqi a reassuring look before turning to Bai Lian, his voice turning cold. “Dean Jian is a professor at Jiangjing University. She has strict criteria for teaching students. You don’t understand music, so it’s useless for you to hold onto it. Shaoqi is more suitable than you.”

“Hmm,” Bai Lian held her teacup, her expression very innocent. “…Don’t understand music?”

She smiled.

Quite interesting.

She had changed bodies.

“Did I say something wrong?” Bai Qiming’s gaze was heavy, but he assumed she was just quibbling. “You drove away three teachers and even slept in Teacher Li’s music room. You studied for a year—tell me, do you even know how many strings a guzheng has?”

So that was it.

Bai Shaoqi withdrew her gaze. “Dad, if Sister wants to learn, just give it to her. I’m going upstairs first.”

Lowering her eyes, her face held blatant mockery. She smoothed her sleeves, feeling a deep disgust for Bai Lian’s behavior. It was truly—

Parroting others.

She went upstairs in a foul mood, and Song Min followed her when he saw her leave.

He passed Bai Lian with indifference, not sparing her a single glance.

Song Min had known since he was a child that Bai Lian was his fiancée. Everyone said his fiancée was good-looking, but to Song Min, Bai Lian was just a title: “fiancée.”

She had no presence in his eyes, and in these ten-plus years, she hadn’t left any impression on him at all.

He didn’t have the slightest interest in the Bai Lian that others called “very beautiful.”

**

After the two left, Bai Qiming’s expression turned gloomy. He handed the apprenticeship invitation in his hand to the butler.

He looked at Bai Lian coldly. “Why did you cheat?”

Bai Lian retorted, “I didn’t.”

The Eldest Miss Bai was the one who cheated.

What did that have to do with her, Bai Lian?

Bai Qiming was almost sneering. “So, are you going to tell me you got into the school’s top ten on your own?”

“Why is that impossible?”

Bai Qiming felt that her refusal to admit it was simply hopeless. “Follow me to the ancestral hall.”

The ancestral hall was filled with spirit tablets. Bai Qiming took three incense sticks, bowed rigorously, and then said to Bai Lian, “Bai Lian, you are eighteen, not eight. When your older brother was your age, he had already won several awards and negotiated several deals.”

He didn’t mean to mock her; he was just stating facts.

When Bai Lian was in her first year of high school, Bai Qiming had put in a lot of effort, specifically arranging for her to be in the same class as Song Min to foster their relationship. But Bai Lian couldn’t keep up with the international class curriculum and dropped to a regular class after the first exam.

In contrast, Bai Shaoqi had improved, getting into the international class on her own merit and participating in various extra-credit competitions.

Bai Lian was looking at the spirit tablets behind him; every word he said was jumping on her landmines.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Does the son of a mistress count as my older brother? Do you not have your own genealogy that you have to sponge off mine?” She hadn’t changed her clothes yet, and her black hair tangled around her thin, fair neck.

She leaned against the doorframe, wrapped in her trench coat, and chuckled at Bai Qiming.

The butler stood to the side, feeling a chill. He looked at Bai Lian’s face, which was strikingly beautiful, and thought she looked exactly like the kind of high-IQ psychopathic criminal.

There was a scent of blood.

“You…” Bai Qiming had never been defied like this, especially by Bai Lian, the daughter he looked down upon the most. His face flushed red with anger. “You unfilial child, you are simply beyond reason!”

He finished inserting the incense.

“Never mind Shaoke, even if you had one-tenth of Shaoqi’s ability! In two hundred years of Bai family history, we’ve never had anyone like you,” he looked her up and down, defining her word by word. “Cheating on exams, good-for-nothing!”

“Reflect properly in front of your ancestors. Don’t come out until you know you were wrong, otherwise—” He looked down at Bai Lian from his height, as if evaluating an insignificant commodity. “Go back to Xiangcheng, and don’t ever step foot in my Bai family home again!”