Su Li picked up a fork, elegantly speared a piece of pastry, lowered her gaze slightly, and began to enjoy her breakfast with a calm expression.
Her breakfast had always been prepared personally by Auntie Lan, and every dish suited her taste to perfection.
In this household, Auntie Lan was responsible solely for Su Li's daily life and meals, and she took orders from Su Li alone.
Auntie Lan had originally cared for Su Li's mother, and later followed Su Li to live in the Su Family Ancestral Residence for many years, knowing Su Li's preferences inside and out.
Just as Su Li took a sip of milk, an extremely grating voice reached her ears: "Sister, are you going out today?"
Hearing this voice, Su Li gripped her cup tightly.
Even though she had already calmed down in her room for several hours and was gradually digesting the reality of her rebirth, the mere appearance of this person still made it hard for Su Li to suppress the fury in her heart.
She raised her eyes slightly, a flash of disgust instantly crossing them. That aversion was like a beam of cold light in a freezing night—fleeting yet distinct.
The speaker was none other than her stepmother's daughter, Li Xueyao—the very person who had colluded with outsiders in her past life to drive her to a desperate end.
Quickly steadying her emotions, she lifted her gaze in the direction of the voice, and what came into view was Li Xueyao's face, a picture of delicate refinement.
She belonged to that breed of pitiful-looking petite beauties—small-boned and exquisite, with a sickly pale complexion and a pure, stunning countenance.
Beneath her arched willow eyebrows, a pair of shimmering deep-brown eyes looked as though they were always on the verge of tears. With a dainty nose and alluring crimson lips, her expression seemed laden with boundless shyness and innocence, inevitably stirring a sense of tender pity in others.
Looking closer, she was dressed in a new custom-made Versace outfit for women, wore a Cartier diamond necklace around her neck, carried this season's new LV handbag on her arm, and exuded the fragrance of Givenchy perfume.
Converted into RMB, this entire outfit likely amounted to millions.
Of course, for a top-tier wealthy family like the Su family, this was practically nothing.
Su Li could not help finding it somewhat laughable; people who climbed up from the bottom always carried that unpresentable, small-town vulgarity, dressing themselves up like upstarts.
In the circles of the ultra-wealthy, only young misses from modest, low-ranking families chased luxury brands. True daughters of top-tier tycoons wore exclusively hand-made private couture, never repeating a design.
From this single detail alone, it was clear that her father merely regarded them as playthings.
He had let them move into the Su Family Villa, but had never intended to truly educate Li Xueyao. Consequently, despite living in the Su family for years in her past life, Li Xueyao and her mother had no inkling of what the true foundation of the Su family really was.
Yet they had still harbored delusions of usurping the nest and taking her place—what an absolute joke.
Su Li looked at Li Xueyao coldly, remaining silent for a moment. Her gaze was like a bottomless lake—surface undisturbed, yet concealing turbulent currents underneath.
Then, she spoke slowly: "What business is it of yours?" Her voice was icy, devoid of a trace of warmth.
Li Xueyao seemed oblivious to Su Li's aversion, still approaching with a fawning smile and a hint of ingratiation in her eyes.
She lifted her chin slightly, flashing a sweet smile; yet that smile appeared entirely deliberate, like wearing a hypocritical mask.
Her sparkling eyes seemed to hide countless petty schemes, yet those schemes were filled with scheming calculation.
Tilting her head slightly, she said in a sweet voice: "Sister, I'm just worried about you.
If you're going out, take me with you, okay?
I haven't been out to play in so long."
What met Li Xueyao was a look of mockery and near-sarcasm from Su Li.
Su Li looked at Li Xueyao as if she were an idiot, and said with a flat tone: "My mother only gave birth to me. I have no idea where Miss Li's 'sister' is supposed to come from."
Li Xueyao's expression shifted; her smile froze instantly on her face, and a trace of panic flashed in her eyes.
Yet she quickly recovered that pitiful, woeful appearance, biting her lower lip gently with eyes full of grievance.
Lowering her head, she nervously twisted her hands together, her voice laced with tears: "Sister, don't be so fierce. I know I was wrong in the past, won't you forgive me? From now on, I will definitely listen to you."
Looking at Li Xueyao's hypocritical face, Su Li felt a wave of nausea.
She put down her fork and stared sharply at Li Xueyao, but quickly reined in her emotions, her gaze returning to cold sharpness: "Put away your fake acts, Miss Li. Let me say this again: my mother only gave birth to me, I have no sisters, and I must ask you to keep your self-respect."
Seeing that Su Li showed zero consideration for her, Li Xueyao could no longer keep up the act. She stood frozen for a moment, thinking inwardly: "What's wrong with her today? Did she take the wrong medicine?"
In the past, she had also called Su Li sister; although Su Li had never acknowledged it, she had never stripped away her dignity in public either.
Thus, she had happily performed her one-woman show, playing the role of deep sisterly affection.
Yet today, not only had she rebuffed her publicly, but she had also used her identity to put her in her place.
Calling her "Miss Li" was plainly saying: what relation do you have to the Su family? With the surname Li, what kind of nobody are you?
She and her mother had finally managed to enter the doors of the Su family, but the Su family patriarch had never acknowledged their status.
Father Su had merely allowed the two of them to move into the Su Family Villa, publicly acknowledging his relationship with her mother, but he had never even registered their marriage, let alone allowed her to take the Su surname.
Furious to the extreme, Li Xueyao was about to flare up when she caught the look her mother was giving her.
She could only take a deep breath, staring straight at Su Li. She had to admit that she envied Su Li—envied her to the point of madness.
From the very first time she saw Su Li, that high-and-mighty queen-like posture, that ice-cold yet alluring face, and her enviable status as the Eldest Miss Su were all things far beyond her reach.
Why was it that Su Li was born into such a lavish family and destined from birth to be superior to others?
Why? Tell her why... Why must she live in the mud from the moment she was born?
Sometimes she thought that reincarnation was truly a technical skill; what she spent her entire life trying to obtain was something others possessed the moment they were born.
Before Su Li returned, her life had been much easier.
Although her position lacked legitimacy, basking in the halo of the Su family had made her utterly fall in love with this wealthy lifestyle.
After all, the Su family was a top-tier powerhouse in Haining City.
In those years, when Su Li, the eldest miss, never returned to the Su Family Ancestral Residence, she was the young lady of the Su family.
The entire Su Family Villa belonged entirely to her and her mother.
Those high-society gatherings that Su Li couldn't even be bothered to attend were all attended by her in Su Li's place.
Why, the moment Su Li returned, was she beaten back to being a Cinderella, and now forced to hand all of this over on a silver platter!