Chapter 2: After Losing Interest in Life, He Suddenly Fell in Love

Zhan Qipei was both furious and restless, feeling as if he was burning!

He gnashed his teeth fiercely, summoning all his strength to resist with all his might.

"I told you not to move," Qiao Jing struck the man on the neck with a knife hand, and the man instantly weakened.

Since Zhan Qipei was in good physical condition, he did not immediately lose consciousness and faint after being struck by Qiao Jing. Instead, he watched with extremely weakened eyes at the figure bustling over him.

So presumptuous, so bold, does this woman really have no idea how to spell the word 'shame'?

Good, very good, just wait—he would make you pay a price... a lifetime's price...

His consciousness gradually faded, and he unknowingly slipped into a deep sleep.

The sun set behind the mountains, turning the remaining clouds a brilliant array of colors.

Qiao Jing sat on a small stool at the door peeling corn kernels. She planned to make corn porridge with freshly picked corn.

Before she had even finished peeling one ear of corn, she saw a red Ferrari bumpily making its way toward her, stopping right in front of her house.

Had the Zhan family come for her?

Qiao Jing stood up and looked toward the stopped car. She had promised her dying grandfather that she would marry into the Zhan family and become the wife of the Zhan family head.

With a "clunk—" the car door opened, and two elegantly dressed women got out, one a bit older, around fifty years old, the other just over twenty. Both bore some resemblance to each other, clearly mother and daughter.

"Are you Qiao Jing?" Su Manhan looked at Qiao Jing with disdain.

"Hm," Qiao Jing replied indifferently.

"Just hm? Is that how you talk to your future mother-in-law?" Zhan Nanqing stepped forward and shouted at Qiao Jing.

"It doesn't matter; I promised Grandpa, just 100 days. After 100 days, whether to divorce or not will be entirely my choice," Qiao Jing said.

If it weren't for this, she wouldn't have agreed to marry into the Zhan family for no reason.

Zhan Nanqing rolled her eyes speechlessly. "You speak so nicely, but if it wasn't for your grandfather's luck in saving my grandfather's life on the battlefield, would a country girl like you be fit to marry into our Zhan family or be fit to marry my brother?"

"Why all the needless chatter? You're here to pick me up today, aren't you? Are we going or not? If not, I'm not coming, and it will be your Zhan family who breaches the marriage, not my concern," Qiao Jing challenged, her eyebrows defiantly raised, her tone filled with impatience.

"You, you—" Zhan Nanqing was so angry she could hardly speak.

Su Manhan was also infuriated, but reminded by the countless admonitions from the old master before coming, who insisted that no matter what, they had to bring Qiao Jing back to marry her son or he would jump off the roof to prove his point.

She knew her father-in-law well; if she didn't bring Qiao Jing back today, the old master would definitely climb to the roof, and even if he didn't jump, he would scare them half to death.

Thinking this, Su Manhan had no choice but to swallow her anger.

"Pack your things and hurry up and come with me."

"Hold on, I'll make a phone call," Qiao Jing said as she dialed.

"Younger Brother, I'll be away for a while. Have someone from the lab come over and look after my corn, monitor the experimental results. If this new variety of corn succeeds in testing, it will elevate our country's agricultural development to a new level."

"Pfft—" Zhan Nanqing burst into laughter, looking at Su Manhan, "Mom, listen to her. It's hilarious. A country bumpkin talking like she's someone so grand, who does she think she is? The legendary agricultural expert, Professor Qiao?"

"Ha! Professor Qiao, while she shares the surname Qiao, she's worlds apart from him. Speaking of which, brother got news yesterday that Professor Qiao might very well be in this village. He came here early in the morning, but why doesn't he answer his phone when we call?" Su Manhan said worriedly.

Zhan Nanqing looked around, "Look at this place, it's all small hills around here, it must be a bad signal."

Hearing what Zhan Nanqing said, Su Manhan guessed it must be so.

Just as Su Manhan was thinking this, Qiao Jing emerged, dragging her suitcase.

The butler stepped forward, intending to help Qiao Jing load her suitcase into the car's trunk.

"No need, it's very heavy, you can't lift it," Qiao Jing said.

The butler's face darkened. What did she mean by that? Was she looking down on him? If she, a frail girl, could carry it, why couldn't he?

"Miss Qiao, as the butler, this is my duty," he said.

Seeing the butler insist, Qiao Jing set down the suitcase, opened the car door, and got inside.

The butler sneered in his mind, "Pfft! What a joke; let's see if he'll still give you a kind face in 100 days."

As he thought this, the butler reached out to lift the suitcase. The next second, he and the suitcase fell into the dirt, getting a mouthful of mud.

Damn!

Was this suitcase filled with iron lumps? It's so heavy!

After driving for a while, Qiao Jing suddenly realized something and took out her mobile phone to send a message to Brother Four.

"Brother Four, someone at my place got hurt. Bring a few people and get him to the hospital, and don't let him know it was me who saved him."

Qiao Jing didn't do this anonymously out of altruism but because she vividly remembered the look in the man's eyes when she was treating his wound—as if he wanted to devour her.

Better to avoid trouble when possible; she didn't want any complications.

Brother Four: "OK."

The car took over an hour to finally arrive at the Zhan family's villa.

Purple Garden, the largest private luxury villa in Imperial City.

"This is my place, what do you think? Shocked, aren't you?" Zhan Nanqing boasted to Qiao Jing.

"Oh, it's okay," Qiao Jing responded indifferently. It was still quite smaller compared to some palace she had lived in before.

"Whatever! Keep pretending," Zhan Nanqing thought. To her, Qiao Jing was just a country girl who had lived in a crumbling tiled house; her heart must be immensely shocked now.

After getting out of the car, Qiao Jing dragged her suitcase towards the villa.

"Stop, you're going in wearing that?" Zhan Nanqing called out to Qiao Jing.

Qiao Jing looked down at her clothes, "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"It's dirty and ugly." After saying this, Zhan Nanqing threw a handbag in front of Qiao Jing, "Change your clothes before you come in."

Qiao Jing couldn't be bothered with her. She dragged her suitcase and boldly walked straight into the villa.

"Hey! Are you deaf or what—you—"

"It's fine, let her wear whatever she wants. If she really leaves, it's hard to explain it to grandpa," Su Manhan pulled Zhan Nanqing back and said.

Zhan Nanqing's face turned steely, "Mom, we can't just ignore everything. We have to set some rules for her. After all, she's going to be my brother's wife for 100 days, and when she goes out, she represents our Zhan Family. If she embarrasses herself out there, it will naturally reflect on us!"

"You are right. Bring me the household rules I prepared in advance."

"Okay, Mom."

Not long after Qiao Jing entered the room, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Su Manhan came in and handed over the household rules, "Here are the Zhan family rules. You must memorize them all today. If you don't finish, you're not going to sleep."

Qiao Jing took them roughly, scanned them quickly—over five hundred rules.

"Ridiculous." After saying that, Qiao Jing crumpled the paper into a ball and casually threw it, precisely into the trash can.

This scene felt like a slap in the face to both Zhan Nanqing and Su Manhan.

"Really, a wild girl raised without a mother's influence, no wonder your father threw you into the countryside not long after you were born," Zhan Nanqing pointed at Qiao Jing's nose and scolded.

As soon as Zhan Nanqing finished speaking, she saw Qiao Jing stop what she was doing, turn sideways to look at her, her gaze cold and filled with boundless danger, making Zhan Nanqing's hair stand on end and her spine chill.

"What, what are you going to do? You want to hit me?"

Zhan Nanqing thought since she was the young mistress of the Zhan Family, Qiao Jing, no matter how bold, wouldn't dare to lay a hand on her.

As Zhan Nanqing was thinking this, Qiao Jing raised her hand decisively and slapped her.

With a "smack" sound!