Chapter 7: The Yu Family’s Assets

Why did she always trust Yu Qingshan and Yi Qiuguo so deeply? Because in the year she entered the entertainment industry as a star, they had a minor car accident and stayed in the hospital for nearly half a month. She only arrived on the third day, and it was Yu Xunhuan who had been taking care of them diligently. She felt guilty and remorseful, but that was also the day when the two of them took out all their savings—five million yuan—and gave it to her.

“Accidents happen too quickly. Mom and Dad don’t know how much longer they’ll live. It’s better to clarify some things early on. We’re giving you all the family’s money. From now on, you’re the pillar of the family.”

“Your brother will have to get married someday. If the money goes to him, once he has a wife, he won’t be united with us anymore. You’ll suffer grievances. We feel more at ease if the money stays with you. Be kind to him if he behaves well, but if not, we’ll keep it for ourselves.”

Yi Qiuguo maintained her usual petty expression, but her words were filled with affection: “Don’t blame Mom for being frugal. Look, the money we saved is all for you! Has Mom ever lied to you? You’re the best. Although I often tease you, I love you the most.”

What a grand performance.

Yu Xunge prided herself on being restrained enough; otherwise, she wouldn’t have given away only half of the money she earned over the years.

She often wondered if she was too cold-hearted. Her family trusted her completely, entrusting her with everything, yet she always held something back.

It wasn’t until the third year after the game invasion, when she was hunted to the brink by the Su family, that she took refuge at the Yu residence for a day, believing the most dangerous place to be the safest. That was when she discovered the Yu family’s secret chamber.

How laughable. She thought the Yu family was wealthy enough just to buy and combine two floors in the city center’s luxury apartment. Yet, the adjacent unit on the first floor also belonged to the Yu family—a secret storage for their treasures. The storeroom was directly connected to their study, cleverly used as a secret chamber.

Inside were three hundred jin of gold bars, thirteen boxes of cultural relics, calligraphy, paintings, and antiques, plus seven boxes of jewelry.

The Yu family truly had little cash on hand. Yu Qingshan was a branch of the Yu family in City B. He had no right to participate in the family business and appeared to be an ordinary professor. But the real family fortune came from the treasures his father inherited when the Yu family split years ago.

Just those three hundred jin of gold were worth over seventy million yuan, not to mention the cultural artifacts and antiques.

Yet, they told themselves that five million was all the family had and that they gave it all to her—they only trusted her.

Yu Xunge clutched her aching chest, telling herself not to rush, not to blame herself. She wasn’t that stupid; they were just too formidable.

But the more she thought this way, the more fiercely the tears streamed down.

She knew from that moment on, for all eternity, she would never be able to trust anyone again.

They had destroyed her ability to trust.

When even the closest kin could betray her, when the sweetest words from loved ones were laced with poison, what she thought was unreserved sincerity was merely calculation. If that was so, how could she dare to trust anyone else?

Yu Xunge opened her eyes and exhaled deeply. She couldn’t wait any longer. If she didn’t get those things tonight, she feared she wouldn’t sleep.

It was only the 25th, but Yu Xunge felt busier than a dog.

She drove straight out, bought several extra-large cartons from the Shunfeng delivery station, and dragged them home.

After assembling the cartons and neatly packing them into her backpack’s compartments, she boldly drove to the Yu residence. By then, news that Liu Hongsheng had been forced to jump off a building by Liu Zhengliu had already spread in the work group. After briefly talking to Yu Qingshan and the others, she feigned a bad mood and went back to her room.

Yi Qiuguo hesitated but finally couldn’t hold back and asked her to come down halfway up the stairs. She told her that tomorrow, Yu Xunhuan would bring his girlfriend home to visit—and the girlfriend was the youngest daughter of the Su family.

Yu Xunge feigned surprise and asked, “Secretly dating already? Not bad. But which Su family?”

Yi Qiuguo smiled at the mention: “You know Su Baige, right? The movie emperor? That Su family. Su Baige is the eldest son; the second son, Su Jinxuan, was the archery champion at the last Olympics. Your brother’s girlfriend is Su Yitong, the youngest daughter of the Su family. They’ve been dating for about half a year and said they want to bring her home for us to meet.”

Yu Xunge smiled, “That’s great! You must make a good impression.”

Yu Xunhuan saw Yu Xunge’s radiant smile and furrowed his brow slightly.

Looking into Yu Xunhuan’s eyes, Yu Xunge felt a wave of nausea. She didn’t understand why, in the book’s perspective, Yu Xunhuan saw her as a paranoid sister with a twisted affection for him. She was convinced she had done nothing beyond proper bounds.

She attributed this to the author’s need to morally justify killing off a genuinely good character to the male lead. She wrote her as a madwoman so the male lead would “have no choice but to” painfully kill her, then wastefully exploit her talents, stripping her gifts to empower someone more deserving and help the male lead succeed.

But that was from the book’s perspective.

To her, the person involved, at the moment of death, she saw through the fog and discerned the essence beneath the facade of wordplay and false adornments.

He wanted her talent; she had to die.

The stains imposed upon her were only to make the male lead appear “pure and flawless.”

But now, it seemed Yu Xunhuan could never truly believe she regarded him as her possession. So who was the real pervert?

Yu Xunge stifled her nausea and echoed a few words with Yi Qiuguo but said nothing about buying a house.

Still, she was curious: “I know Su Baige. His family is very wealthy, right? Would they be satisfied with our family?”

Her question was sincere, no need to pretend. Having died once, she still didn’t understand this matter. Su Baige, a famous second-generation rich heir, with family assets in the tens of billions, would accept Yu Xunhuan as a brother-in-law?

Yi Qiuguo’s expression stiffened, and her voice lowered: “That’s why, you see, since you have a house, can you buy one for your brother too? Just for the wedding to make a good impression. After the wedding, it can be transferred back to your name.”

In her previous life, she didn’t need to bring this up herself. Yu Xunge held back a laugh and feigned helplessness, shrugging: “I’m out of money. A friend said there’s a great project that will make big profits. I came back a few days ago to celebrate with my brother because of this. Once I earn the money, I’ll use it to buy a villa. But right now, I really have none.”

Yi Qiuguo was easily used by Yu Qingshan as a pawn but was also easily fooled. After Yu Xunge finished speaking, the anger rising on her face subsided, and she moved her mouth a few times before finally falling silent and looking toward Yu Qingshan.

Yu Xunge knew it was Yu Qingshan’s turn to act.

But she didn’t want to listen. She said bluntly, “Why don’t we just sell this house? That should be enough for a down payment.”

Everyone fell silent. Yu Xunge sighed and admitted her own uselessness. The drama was unfinished, and her agent had run into trouble again. After some idle talk, she wore a face of “my career is struggling” and retreated to her room.

Passing by the study, she opened the door and went inside, placing the white-boned thrush bird from her pocket into a corner. The flesh had been removed, leaving only the tiny skeleton.

After putting the thrush away, she casually picked a book and was just stepping out when she saw Yu Qingshan outside the study, his expression gentle but guarded, clearly wary of her discovering the study’s secret.

Yu Xunge returned to her room with an indifferent expression, then began self-weight training on the carpet while closely watching the thrush’s movements. She had held back upgrading her five attribute points because some attributes could be improved through early-stage training.

After an hour of exercise and a shower, she started recording the secrets and information she knew from her previous life.

At the moment of her death, she knew she was the villainous female supporting character in a male-oriented novel about an intrusive son-in-law. But after being reborn, for some reason, the specific content of that book was unclear… She only remembered that the character profile had left a deep impact on her.