Yuyin finished her Master's funeral arrangements alone and immediately packed her bags to return to Pingcheng.
She intended to honor her Master's final wish: to break off her engagement to the wealthy Cheng Family. Most people believed she was punching above her weight, never suspecting that the Cheng Family had actually stolen her destiny pattern, using her luck to skyrocket to success and become the leader of the construction industry.
As soon as she reached the foot of the mountain, Yuyin received a call from her uncle. His voice sounded as frantic as if a knife were pressed to his throat.
"Yuyin, the Cheng family is here causing trouble again. If you don't come back, you won't get to see your grandmother..."
A shiver went down Yuyin's spine, and she frowned. "Isn't Grandmother recovering in the hospital?"
"I was just too clumsy to offend the Cheng family, so I brought her back here to look after her. Hurry up and take a taxi back; I'll reimburse your fare."
He hung up before the last word had left his lips.
Thinking of her ailing grandmother, Yuyin used the last of her money to hail a taxi, urging the driver to speed back to the apartment complex. The Cheng family was ruthless and vicious. She remembered their last visit, when they had broken her uncle’s leg; ever since, they had called her during every holiday to curse her, wishing they could graft her legs onto themselves.
The moment she arrived at the door, her uncle, Xu Wang, grabbed her and shoved her toward the coffee table.
"Mrs. Cheng, we’ve tricked the girl back. Do whatever you want with her—beat her or scold her, it’s all on her!" Xu Wang cowered, not daring to look directly at the mother and son sitting on the sofa.
Yuyin looked up to see her fiancé, Cheng Fangnan, lying sideways on the sofa in trendy clothes, playing a video game. His mother, Gao Zixia, dressed in a high-end silk qipao with exquisite makeup, barely lifted her eyelids when she entered.
"Ma'am, this stubborn, foolish girl can take a beating. If she has offended you, we will punish her ourselves. We wouldn’t dare dirty your hands." Her aunt, Cui Fang, chimed in with a fawning smile, bowing so low in her attempt to curry favor that she nearly kissed Gao Zixia’s feet.
Yuyin kept her mouth shut. When it came to shamelessness, her aunt and uncle were in a league of their own.
"Yuyin, for these past ten years, you've shown no initiative. The gap between you and my son has grown too large; let's call off the marriage. As for this apartment, consider it your compensation." Gao Zixia looked down at Yuyin with disdain, as if she were nothing but an ant.
The implication was clear: Yuyin was not worthy of her son.
Xu Wang and his wife were stunned. They had never imagined the Cheng family had come to call off the engagement. Had they known, they wouldn't have called Yuyin.
"If you want to break the engagement, Uncle Cheng surely won't agree," Yuyin said, picking up the marriage contract and stealing a glance at her fiancé, Cheng Fangnan. She nearly broke into a smile.
*Hmph!* They wanted to walk away clean after draining her dry? Did they really think she was still the same fool who felt nothing but gratitude toward the Cheng family?
Before her Master died, he told her that this wealthy, second-generation fiancé was not to be kept. The entire engagement was a trap.
The Cheng family had targeted her for her "Tianyi Noble" destiny pattern. After the engagement, they spent ten years siphoning her luck, allowing their construction business to soar until they became the richest family in Pingcheng. Meanwhile, she had been mocked and belittled for seventeen years, and her parents had met with a tragic, sacrificial fate.
Her Master could not bear to watch her suffer for the rest of her life. Before he passed, he defied the heavens to awaken her intellect, telling her she must break the engagement and burn the contract. She had asked Mr. Cheng countless times to break it off, but each time she was fobbed off—they wanted to squeeze every last drop out of her!
Now, these two fools, knowing nothing, had brought the contract to her door themselves. It was exactly what she wanted.
"Stall her! Your Uncle Cheng is already on a flight back home. He explicitly told us that he wants you and Fangnan to hold the wedding this year," Xu Wang whispered, pulling Yuyin aside, fearing she would give in to Gao Zixia and agree to the breakup.
Yuyin’s brow smoothed. So, Gao Zixia had come behind her husband's back. That made things even easier. The Cheng family didn't want her, and Yuyin was desperate to dissolve the contract. However, she had to play along to prevent the Cheng family from causing her trouble later. Mr. Cheng was a vicious man; it would be best to let them fight amongst themselves.
"Uncle, how should I stall?" Yuyin asked, feigning innocence.
Xu Wang was furious, thinking Yuyin was brainless. "Throw a tantrum, kneel and beg, use whatever you’ve got—if all else fails, pretend to be dead."
"I don't know how; my Master didn't teach me that. Why don't you show me, Uncle?" Yuyin’s eyes were calm, her expression as "innocent" as a child unaware of the ways of the world.
Gao Zixia heard every word. She stared at them as if they were idiots. "I am here to inform you, not to negotiate. Fangnan, tear up the contract."
"Uncle Cheng said he wanted to hold the wedding for us. If you burn the contract without his consent, he’ll be furious," Yuyin said, rubbing her eyes to fake a cry, though her heart was blooming with joy.
Without the restraint of the marriage contract, the Cheng family was doomed.
"Burn?" Gao Zixia furrowed her brow, her gaze drifting slowly to the document. "This thing has to be burned?"
"Yes. A Xuanmen marriage contract is different from a normal one. You have to drip both people's blood on it, then both sides must agree to the dissolution and burn it for it to take effect. But Uncle Cheng told me not to listen to you," Yuyin bowed her head, pouting to look reluctant, while shielding the contract from Cheng Fangnan.
Their Xuanmen marriage contract was witnessed by the Grand Patriarch. All the characters were written in a mixture of blood and ink, and it was sealed with Xuanmen spells. Unless the contract was burned, the marriage bond would remain until death.
Yuyin flicked her fingers behind her back. *I’ve hinted at it so clearly,* she thought. *If they still don't get it, they should go to the hospital and have their brains checked.*
"Yuyin, shut up!" Xu Wang realized too late that his niece had just told the Cheng family exactly how to break the engagement.
Cui Fang was so angry her face turned green. She shoved Yuyin onto a dining chair, wishing she would just drop dead on the spot.
Yuyin looked at them. Xu Wang’s lips were blue and his tongue black; there was a faint, purplish-black shadow at his vital points. It was the mark of death. Her uncle was a man from the countryside, dirt poor, with a leg injury that made it hard to find work. His wife was a lazy gambler, and their daughter hadn't even finished high school. The whole family relied on the Cheng family for survival. If the engagement were broken, all of her uncle’s fantasies would vanish. That was why he hated Yuyin; his resentment only deepened the death aura surrounding him. He wouldn't be long for this world.
Cheng Fangnan couldn't wait. He dripped his own blood onto the contract, then forcibly pulled Yuyin up, using a shard of broken porcelain from the floor to cut her finger for blood.
"It hurts... I have to wait for Uncle Cheng to come back..." Yuyin sobbed in fake refusal, not putting up any real resistance, even cooperating with Cheng Fangnan’s attempt to get her blood.
Xu Wang rushed over to stop them but was grabbed by two of the Cheng family’s bodyguards. "Yuyin, don't agree! Your grandmother is still in the hospital! Without the Cheng family’s help, how will she get her surgery?"
Yuyin took a step back, feigning an attempt to escape Cheng Fangnan’s coercion. "Uncle Cheng isn't here; I won't agree to break the engagement."
Xu Wang and Cui Fang exchanged a look, thinking their niece wasn't completely stupid after all.
Gao Zixia glanced at the door. A bodyguard walked over, picked up a kitchen knife, and waved it near Xu Wang’s leg.
This time, Xu Wang’s face turned ghastly pale. He stuttered in terror, "Br-break it, we agree to break the engagement! Do whatever you want with Yuyin, just don't cause any more trouble for our family!"
"Uncle, didn't you tell me to stall?"
"Shut up!" Xu Wang roared hysterically, nearly wetting his pants.
As Yuyin’s blood dripped onto the burning contract, it flared up like gasoline, sending flames shooting high into the air.
As the contract turned to ash, Yuyin saw the once-radiant Cheng Fangnan’s face instantly darken, his body shrouded in gloomy energy. His mother, Gao Zixia, was even worse off. She had been glowing with good fortune, but now she looked visibly bloodless, her complexion sallow.
"Mom, since we’re already out, let’s go to Lianxi Taoist Temple to burn some incense. The divination we cast last year is due anyway." Having broken the engagement, Cheng Fangnan was beaming. He didn't even look at the doorstep and tripped, falling flat on his face.
Gao Zixia didn't fare much better; her nose, which was still in the recovery phase from cosmetic surgery, was knocked crooked by the large iron gate.
Yuyin watched their retreating figures, her smile deepening.
After sending the Cheng family off, Xu Wang’s true colors surfaced.
"You useless girl, I’ve raised you for nothing! The Cheng family is the richest in Pingcheng. One meal of theirs could feed us for a year! I spent so much effort trying to get you married in as a young mistress, and you go and rush to break the engagement!"
Still fuming, Xu Wang grabbed his belt to strike Yuyin. He had already planned out where his future villa would be, and now it had all gone up in smoke.
"Uncle, you were the one who called me back," Yuyin retorted, grabbing his belt and tossing it aside. She no longer looked like the timid, obedient girl from moments ago.
Xu Wang glared, his eyes bulging. The belt he swung encountered an invisible resistance and wouldn't move an inch. "You dare talk back? See if I don't break your legs!"
Suddenly, as Xu Wang lashed out, it was Cui Fang who felt the pain. She let out a scream that sounded like a pig being slaughtered.
"Xu Wang, you dare hit me? I’ll pluck every hair off your body!" Cui Fang roared, jumping onto Xu Wang’s stomach and raining down punches.
*What the hell!*
Xu Wang was too terrified to move. "Yuyin, what kind of trick are you playing?"
He felt that Yuyin was different since coming down from the mountain; she was clearly not the fool she had been. Perhaps she had been possessed by a ghost, otherwise, she would never have dared to defy them like this.
Yuyin stood by the door, unmoving. She pinched her fingers and calculated—the suffering she had endured all these years was about to bounce back.