After Transmigrating into a Cannon Fodder Real Daughter, the Plot Changes

Chapter 161 Part 1 – Wrong Backpack (I)

After leaving Beijing, Jiang Ruo settled in a small town to live a secluded life. She simply couldn’t bear Jiang Huai’s exploitation anymore.

When Jiang Huai first came looking for her, she was genuinely happy. After all, Jiang Huai was her only blood relative in this world—her biological father.

Back when her origin was exposed, her father hadn’t stepped up to protect her. Instead, he immediately asked her to leave Minjiang City. Jiang Ruo had felt helpless at the time, but she also understood that, under those circumstances, her father had no way to shield her.

Her father wasn’t a responsible man. He had made mistakes in the past. Still, he had loved her for many years. Their bond as father and daughter couldn’t have been entirely fake.

Now that her father had lost everything, she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. So she withdrew five million from the card Qin Zheng had given her and handed it over to him for investment. She believed that with his business acumen, it was only a matter of time before he made money.

Just as Jiang Ruo had hoped, Jiang Huai did start making money quickly and even bought her many gifts. Both father and daughter were overjoyed at the time, feeling like a better life was just around the corner.

But life is never smooth sailing. His subsequent investments kept failing, and he even lost the principal.

After losing money, Jiang Huai became extremely irritable. He kept muttering that it was all because the Feng family was scheming against him behind his back. Otherwise, with his capabilities, even if he didn’t make a lot of money, he wouldn’t be losing every single time.

Jiang Ruo didn’t know whether what he said was true or not. She only knew one thing: she absolutely couldn’t let her father find out that she still had money.

If the Feng family really was targeting him, then giving him more money would be no better than tossing it into a river—at least that would make a splash.

If the Feng family wasn’t targeting him, then it only proved that her father had no real head for business. His previous success had all been due to the Feng family’s support. Now that he was cut off from them, of course he would run into wall after wall.

So when Jiang Huai asked her for more money, Jiang Ruo lied and said she had none. She told him she had already given him everything she had and now had less than ten thousand left, barely enough for tuition or dialysis.

Her father believed her, but he started plotting something else. He actually approached Huang Di, the notorious young master of the Huang family, saying he wanted to introduce her to him.

Jiang Ruo knew Huang Di. She knew his family background was impressive, but she also knew that he himself was human garbage.

Back in her first year of junior high, Huang Di had pestered her for a while. He ended up getting beaten up by her brother and Bai Guolin. Due to the Jiang family’s influence, Huang Di had no choice but to swallow the humiliation and back off.

At the time, Jiang Ruo had merely thought Huang Di was a playboy. It wasn’t until later that she realized his real problem wasn’t that—he was completely depraved of morals.

Huang Di had taken a liking to a female classmate from an ordinary family. He forced her to date him and got her pregnant. At the time, they were both still in junior high.

The situation blew up. The Huang family paid to settle the matter, and Huang Di himself was sent abroad in disgrace to lie low.

Jiang Ruo had long since lost contact with people from her previous circles. She didn’t know when Huang Di had returned to the country, nor how her father had connected with him. But none of that mattered—what mattered was that she would never get involved with scum like Huang Di.

Looking Jiang Huai in the eyes, Jiang Ruo refused righteously: “I will never go meet someone like that, let alone associate with him. You can forget it.”

Jiang Ruo’s tone wasn’t exactly respectful, and Jiang Huai couldn’t tolerate it. He immediately put on a mocking expression and sneered, “You think he wants a relationship with you? It’s just mutual benefit. He was into you before, and he’s never forgotten you. If you keep him company for a while, he won’t treat you badly.”

As he spoke, his voice took on a shrill, eerie tone, sending a chill down Jiang Ruo’s spine.

From that moment on, she stopped seeing Jiang Huai as her father and began planning how to rid herself of him completely.

If she stayed in university, Jiang Huai would definitely come looking for her there. So she chose to drop out. She had already failed so many classes that graduating would be difficult anyway. On top of that, her health was poor. She was living day by day—her diploma didn’t really matter anymore.

If she visited her brother in prison regularly, Jiang Huai would wait outside to ambush her. So she had to stop going.

As for her brother… once she had settled down, she would write him a letter. Even if she couldn’t receive a reply, that was just something she’d have to accept.

Jiang Ruo’s plan was thorough. After cutting ties with Jiang Huai, she moved to a quiet waterside town and settled there.

Though she had once been a child star and later did live-stream sales, all that was years ago. No one paid attention to someone who had fallen from grace.

Now she was more mature than before. She changed her hairstyle, and no one really noticed her anymore. She could walk the streets openly.

She had once been dazzling, but now she was just another face in the crowd.

The card Qin Zheng had given her originally held over six million. After covering medical expenses and daily needs, and giving five million to Jiang Huai, less than a million remained.

Jiang Zhou had also given her a card. When she checked the balance, it had over a million.

Together, the two cards held just a little over two million. She transferred the funds to her own account and began planning to cut costs and find income.

She had no diploma, and her health wasn’t great, so it wasn’t realistic to find a good job. After thinking it over, Jiang Ruo decided to pursue a translator’s certification.

It didn’t require a college degree, and her English had always been strong. With enough preparation, she was confident she could pass.

Once certified, she could take freelance work online, and then she wouldn’t have to worry about burning through her savings.

After she got busy, Jiang Ruo felt that life had become much more fulfilling.

Since she couldn’t visit Jiang Zhou, she could only write to him regularly. But because she couldn’t leave an address, she never received a reply from him, which left a lingering sense of regret.

On her twentieth birthday, Jiang Ruo went on a solo trip to clear her mind and happened to run into a former junior high classmate, Zhou Li.

Zhou Li recognized her at once and greeted her warmly. They exchanged contact information and soon began chatting frequently on WeChat.

Back in junior high, Jiang Ruo hadn’t paid much attention to Zhou Li, who was never particularly outstanding. But after reuniting years later, she found him to be quite decent.

A month later, Jiang Ruo accepted Zhou Li’s confession and became his girlfriend.

The moment she agreed, Jiang Ruo felt a bit lost.

Even she didn’t know whether she had said yes because she feared loneliness or because she had never experienced love and simply wanted to try it.

At the beginning of their relationship, Jiang Ruo found the feeling of being in love quite nice. Zhou Li was indeed considerate and cared deeply about her feelings. He constantly reminded her that he had finally won over the goddess he had adored for years.

Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last. Jiang Ruo quickly discovered that Zhou Li had an intense need for control. Even though she no longer had close friends and had cut contact with her relatives, Zhou Li still insisted on regularly checking her phone.

In Zhou Li’s mind, she was still that popular goddess from junior high. Just a single look from another man would make him irrationally angry.

Later, Zhou Li found out that she had been writing letters to Jiang Zhou. They had a big argument, and it wasn’t until she promised to stop writing that he finally backed off.

Jiang Ruo couldn’t bear to part with Jiang Zhou, but even more so, she couldn’t bring herself to break up with Zhou Li. Despite his controlling nature and his pettiness, she couldn’t let go of the warmth he brought her.

Every time they quarreled, Jiang Ruo would think of Bai Guolin—that man who once listened to her every word.

If Bai Guolin hadn’t gone to prison, he would surely be by her side now, and he would never try to control her relationships.

But unfortunately, someone like Bai Guolin was extremely rare.

Whenever she thought about the people and events of the past, Jiang Ruo felt a deep sorrow, but she never dared to show it—not even a trace. If Zhou Li found out, it would only lead to another blowout.

So this was what it was… she was just an ordinary person desperately trying to draw warmth from others.

…

To many people, Jiang Li was like a legend—a guiding North Star hanging high in the sky. No matter how low-key she was, she always seemed to shine a light forward, yet remained unattainable.

While other students were stressing over failed courses, she was publishing paper after paper. While others scrambled for scholarships, she had already won multiple awards for her research and appeared on the cover of a medical journal.

Many believed Jiang Li was destined to become the next Feng Qi, as her achievements now were no less than his in his youth.

But the students at her campus knew there was still a big difference between “Goddess Jiang” and the great Feng Qi—because Jiang Li, despite her packed schedule, still made time for romance.

In other words, unlike Feng Qi, she might be a goddess, but she was one who lived among mortals.

Tong Yi, as Jiang Li’s boyfriend, was also a legendary figure at Capital University. He was a man who had made it onto the global wealth list even before graduation—barely worthy of their “Goddess Jiang,” some said.

Girls at the medical school often spotted Tong Yi outside Jiang Li’s dorm building. A new freshman, unaware of who he was, once tried to strike up a conversation, only to be coldly shut down.

It was said that Tong Yi had looked at her expressionlessly and asked, “You’re trying to hit on a guy who already has a girlfriend. Are you mentally ill?”

The girl blushed and stammered, “I… I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”

Tong Yi replied without changing expression, “So I don’t have a girlfriend, but I’m standing outside the girls’ dorm at the crack of dawn? You think I’m crazy?”

The girl was too stunned to respond, covered her face, and ran off. Someone who witnessed the scene later recounted it to others, and the story quickly spread until everyone on the campus knew exactly how Tong Yi rejected unwanted advances.

From that day on, Tong Yi was no longer just “barely worthy” of Jiang Li—he was now “probably worthy.” His standing had jumped up a notch among Jiang Li’s fans.

After Jiang Li found out about the incident, she couldn’t help teasing Tong Yi, “Aren’t you mad they’re saying stuff like that?”

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