Chapter 4: The Keepsakes

The most important thing right now was to keep Jiang You under control, coax her into agreeing to the marriage, and get Boss Wang to send the bride price to pay off their debts.

Li Haochen was still in the hands of loan sharks, and those people were ruthless.

Li Tianming couldn’t afford to take any risks.

His huge frame made the slap he delivered to Ge Chunhua incredibly powerful.

Her cheek instantly swelled up, turning red.

Her eyes went bloodshot.

Furious, she lunged at him, claws ready to scratch his face off.

"Li Tianming, you heartless bastard! How dare you hit me?!"

They had agreed to use both coercion and persuasion to force Jiang You into marrying that idiot—

And now this man had the audacity to turn on her?

He had completely lost his mind!

She tried to keep screaming, but Li Tianming forcefully dragged her into their room and slammed the door shut.

Then, he turned back to Jiang You with a guilty look.

"Xiao You, I accept your conditions. It’s my fault—I failed you."

Li Haochen had gambled away over two million yuan.

With that two million from the bride price, plus their savings, it would be enough to pay off the debt.

As for Jiang You’s father’s jade bracelet—

He had already gotten it appraised long ago.

It was cheap trash, worth maybe a hundred or two at best.

"If she wants it, let her have it. Who cares?"

Right now, the most urgent matter was getting his son back.

As for the remaining four million…

He could find a way to trick it back later.

Jiang You had grown up under his care—

He knew her inside and out.

This girl was soft-hearted and easy to fool.

If not for the fact that the house was in her name, he would have sold it ages ago.

But this stubborn little brat—

She acted all filial, but the moment anyone mentioned selling the house, she refused to budge.

"This is my home. If I lose my home, I have nothing."

She was just as stubborn and annoying as her dead father!

Thinking of his son, Li Tianming twitched slightly, struggling to maintain his guilty expression.

"You really agree to marry him? No regrets?"

Jiang You nodded without hesitation.

"Of course. If Boss Wang is as rich as you say, marrying him means I’ll have a comfortable life."

"Plenty of money, plenty of free time, and a husband who’s too stupid to cheat on me—sounds like a great deal."

"Besides, my parents are gone. You’re my only family now, Uncle. I’ll need to rely on you in the future."

"If my cousin ever needs help, I’ll always be there for him…"

A series of sweet lies flowed effortlessly from her lips.

Li Tianming had spent years feeding her false promises, filling a fridge worth of empty hopes.

Now, she was just returning the favor.

Her real goal?

The moment the bride price was in her hands, they could forget about getting it back.

As for Boss Wang?

That old bastard had definitely been involved in drugging her and sending his brainless son into her room in her past life.

Without his approval, Li Tianming wouldn’t have dared to go that far.

Luckily, back then—

She had barely eaten for fear of being scolded by Ge Chunhua.

That night, she had only taken a few bites before heading to her room, so the drug’s effects were weak.

She had woken up just in time to see—

A crooked-nosed, drooling idiot trying to pull down her pants.

Her limbs were weak, her body numb—

But she immediately realized what was happening.

Good thing she had always kept a small pair of scissors under her pillow.

She had stabbed her own thigh to stay awake—

And when that brute raised his fists to hit her, she had stabbed him too.

The two of them had ended up battered and bloody, exchanging injuries—

She took a punch, and he took a stab wound.

In the end, Boss Wang decided she was too aggressive, worried she might hurt his precious idiot son, and dropped the marriage arrangement.

Li Tianming’s plans had fallen apart.

But somehow, he had still managed to get Li Haochen back.

This time, Jiang You was going to rip four million yuan straight from their hands—

And she didn’t feel guilty in the slightest.

As for the two million she let Li Tianming keep?

She didn’t care.

Sometimes, you had to give up a small fish to catch a big one.

Right now, her top priority was preparing for the apocalypse.

Wasting time battling Li Tianming would be a total loss.

That night, as soon as Li Tianming got the confirmation, he gleefully packed up and moved out of her house.

He also returned all of her father’s belongings.

Among them—

Was the old, cracked jade bracelet.

The moment Jiang You saw it, she exhaled in relief.

After locking the door, she didn’t hesitate.

She pricked her finger and dripped her blood onto the bracelet.

A Past Life’s Secret Unveiled

In her past life, she had seen this very bracelet on Li Yingyue’s wrist.

She had always assumed it had sentimental value to her cousin.

After all, the bracelet was ugly, clearly low-quality jade—

Not something her vain, beauty-obsessed cousin would normally wear.

Yet, she had never taken it off, guarding it jealously.

It wasn’t until right before Jiang You was taken to Forbidden Island that Li Yingyue had finally revealed the truth.

She had mockingly told her—

"This bracelet? It belonged to your father."

"Oh, and by the way—it's actually a spatial artifact."

At the beginning of the apocalypse, Jiang You had struggled to survive alongside her uncle’s family.

Li Yingyue had claimed she had awakened spatial abilities, making her one of the first ability users.

She could store supplies in her space, making her incredibly valuable.

Since she was the first to awaken, she had looked down on everyone else, acting like a superior being.

Jiang You, on the other hand, hadn’t awakened any powers at first.

It wasn’t until a life-threatening battle that she finally unlocked her wind abilities.

From that point on, all the dangerous tasks naturally fell onto her.

Li Yingyue had no combat skills, so she was just a walking storage unit.

Li Haochen was a useless coward, his legs turning to jelly the moment he saw a zombie.

Li Haoxuan was only eight years old—just a child.

And as for the elders—

Ge Chunhua and Li Tianming, both in their fifties, constantly claimed they were too weak to fight.

Jiang You, completely unaware of the compensation money her parents had left behind, had blindly believed in their “kindness”.

She had sacrificed herself for them, thinking it was repaying their generosity.

She had always faced danger first, always gave them the best food, always put their survival above her own.

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