My name is Jian Ning, and I’m the “fake heiress” the top-tier Jiang family raised for twenty years. Everyone knows that the Jiang family’s real pride and joy is my older sister, Jiang Ruoxue. She’s beautiful, talented, and adored by everyone, and she’s the Jiang family’s Plan A for an arranged marriage with the wealthy Lu family. I’m nothing but the “failed backup plan,” Plan B, whom the Jiangs trotted out in case something went wrong with the marriage alliance. My job was simple: play the supporting role to my sister, sit quietly in the background at the engagement banquet, then take the money the Jiang family gave me and disappear for good. That was the plan, anyway. I’d memorized my lines and was just waiting to collect the money and start a new life. But on the day of the engagement banquet, my sister Jiang Ruoxue eloped for love. She made a spectacular getaway, leaving behind a letter condemning business marriages as feudal dregs. The whole crowd was in an uproar. The Jiang and Lu families had lost face, and a business deal worth tens of billions was on the verge of collapse. While everyone panicked, my father, at least in name, looked me in the eye for the first time and ordered, “Jian Ning, you’re up.” And so, amid everyone’s pity and mockery, I went from backup to bride, marrying Lu Jinyan, heir to the Lu family, a man famed for his ruthless methods and icy demeanor. Married life be like:
Lu Jinyan: “This is an agreement. We each get what we want, and stay out of each other’s business.”
I nodded enthusiastically. “Okay, honey. Got it, honey. No problem, honey!”
The Jiangs: “You just have to keep Lu Jinyan steady. That’s all you need to do.”
I smiled. “Understood. I’ll be the perfect lucky charm of a Mrs. Lu.”
What they didn’t know was...
