Free Web NovelChapter 1: Chapter 1: Poor Little Cabbage
"Gu Zhao! Get down here! I promise I won’t hit you, alright?"
"I’m not coming down! I saw the stick you’re hiding behind your back! Don’t even think about tricking me down to beat me!"
In a corner of the orphanage, a rather thin woman brandished a stick, yelling at the girl on the wall.
The girl, wearing a faded pink floral dress, stood on the wall with her hands on her hips.
"I’m not coming down! Nope, not coming down! Not even if the emperor of heaven himself showed up!"
The woman was absolutely furious. "You’ll jump down even if you break your legs! You’re coming with me to apologize!"
"A couple came to adopt you, and what do you do? You yank the man’s pants right off! Is that right?! Then you laughed at his Ultraman underwear!!"
Gu Zhao looked completely unrepentant. "He said it was hot and wanted to lift my skirt to ’help me cool down’! As a good kid, how could I let an elder help me? I should be the one helping elders! He was hot, so I took his clothes off for him! Who knew he’d be so petty."
Gu Zhao gazed up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, her expression melancholic, her eyes filled with sorrow. "Director, you don’t understand me, and I don’t blame you... Life is just one setback after another... A long and winding road to nowhere..."
Gu Zhao sighed. She had transmigrated into a novel.
’In my last life, I was a fifteen-year-old mental patient. Perfectly well-behaved and law-abiding... I just went crazy, not criminal.’
’I never hurt anyone; I just read a novel to unwind...’
’...and the next thing I knew, I’d relaxed a little too much. One moment my eyes were closed, and the next, I was three pounds, box and all.’
’And then, I transmigrated.’
’I transmigrated into a doted-on-protagonist novel, *True Daughter She Exploded in the Entertainment Industry*, and became the villainous fake daughter who was abandoned by her wealthy family at the age of five.’
’In the original novel, the true daughter was a transmigrator with an adult’s soul, equipped with a doted-on-protagonist script. As for me, the fake daughter, I caused all sorts of trouble after the real one returned, and ended up being cast out to an orphanage.’
’The fake daughter, of course, refused to accept this and fought tooth and nail against the heroine. But you don’t even have to think about the outcome—how could the original owner, a real child, ever win against an adult with the mind of a twenty-something?’
’The result was predictable: a lonely, miserable ending in the final Chapter.’
’By the time I arrived, the plot had already fast-forwarded to the part where I was dumped at the orphanage gates...’
’Life’s hard. Go mad. Give up.’
The Director’s brow furrowed slightly as she listened. ’That couple didn’t seem like that kind of people...’
"Get down first," she said. "I’ll look into it."
Just then, a commotion erupted at the orphanage gates. Several black luxury cars pulled up slowly. Doors opened, and a group of bodyguards in suits emerged, forming a line around the lead car.
The Director frowned at the sight, shooting Gu Zhao a warning glare. "I’m going to check it out. You behave yourself, and you’d better be down from there and back in your room before I get back!"
Seeing Gu Zhao’s unconcerned expression, still putting on her melancholy maiden act, the Director sighed. "You little rascal. You’ll learn your lesson when you fall and hurt yourself!"
She shot Gu Zhao one last glare and walked towards the gate.
From her high perch, Gu Zhao could see everything clearly. She watched as the rear door of the lead car opened and a handsome man stepped out. His face was calm and indifferent, the corners of his eyes drooping as if he were tired. He had heavy, dark circles under his eyes.
DING!
Gu Zhao felt a ringing inside her head. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the sound.
[Your System has been delivered. Please click to confirm receipt.]
Gu Zhao ignored it and kept shaking her head.
[Your System has been delivered. Please click to confirm receipt.]
"Shouldn’t you give me something to click on first?" Gu Zhao muttered. ’My brain must really be waterlogged. Otherwise, why would the system be so stupid? It’s probably all swollen from the water.’
The voice went silent for several seconds.
[Auto-confirmation successful.]
[Hello, Host. I am your Little Cabbage System.]
Gu Zhao crouched down, sneaking glances at the gate.
The Director had already gone over and appeared to be chatting with the man who looked like he was on something.
While observing the scene, Gu Zhao found a moment to reply to the system. "You really sound cheap."
[I really am cheap...]
The system’s mechanical voice turned deep and somber...
Gu Zhao fell silent.
[Host, don’t look down on me. You’re a little cabbage, too. See that poser over there? That’s your second brother.]
Gu Zhao was confused. ’In the novel, the original owner never found her biological family.’
[It’s not that she didn’t find them. They’re the ones who didn’t want her. According to the data in my library, they met the original owner... and then rejected her.]
[Host, your mission is to go from being an unwanted little cabbage to a wanted cabbage.]
[Mission Issued: Get your brothers to sincerely accept you. Reward: One hundred million US dollars.]
Gu Zhao wanted to gag when she heard the mission, but her eyes lit up at the reward!
One hundred million US dollars! That was enough for her to lie back and do nothing for the rest of her life!!!
’I can do this!’
[This System is so kind that I’ve decided to give you my ultimate, secret-weapon skill.]
’That generous?’
[Animal Language Proficiency has been dispatched. System has automatically confirmed receipt.]
The next second, an overwhelming cacophony flooded her ears, making Gu Zhao’s head throb. She clamped her hands over her ears, but she could still hear it.
It felt like a thousand people were brawling and screaming inside her head, a constant, buzzing din.
Dizzy and disoriented, Gu Zhao lost her balance and fell.
Face-first.
’Stay down where you fall...’
Gu Zhao stayed sprawled on the ground until the buzzing in her ears subsided. She lifted her head, her eyes completely glazed over.
[Host, you still alive?]
Gu Zhao opened her mouth. "Sthill..."
A trickle of blood spilled from her mouth... along with a front tooth...
Gu Zhao froze. She licked the new gap where her tooth used to be. ’...A little breezy, huh...’ she thought.
System: ...
Gu Zhao: ...
[Host, maybe you should close your mouth... It’s a little... unsightly...]
"Thith stupid thkill! No wonder it wath free! Even a dog wouldn’t take it!!" Gu Zhao exploded in fury.
’My speech is full of holes!’
Gu Zhao immediately clapped a hand over her mouth.
The system sounded sheepish for a moment, but quickly regained its confidence. [It was free, what more could you ask for! As long as it works, right? And trust me! This skill is great. It only has side effects at the beginning. They’ll go away.]
Gu Zhao couldn’t be bothered to argue. She picked up her fallen tooth, her heart aching with regret.
’This is going to make eating such a pain!’
"Wow! Toothless! Toothless! CAW CAW!" a mocking voice cackled in her ear. Furious, Gu Zhao whipped her head around to find the source and saw an all-black crow perched on a large, nearby tree.
"Hello, Toothless! Call me Crow, we’re practically family now!" The crow hopped gleefully on its branch.
An enraged Gu Zhao snatched a rock from the ground to throw at it, but just then, the Director’s voice called out from behind her.
"Little Zhao, hurry over here! Your second brother is here to take you home!" The Director’s voice was laced with unconcealed delight.
’She wasn’t just happy for Gu Zhao, but for herself too! Her hair was safe at last!’
’She wouldn’t have to lose any more sleep over this little troublemaker!’
"Little Zhao, hurry up now! Don’t keep your brother waiting." The Director seemed even more anxious than Gu Zhao. ’This troublemaker has to go!’
’Besides, the car he drove, the clothes he wore—everything screamed that his family was wealthy!’
’If Gu Zhao went with them, she would have a good life.’
The Director looked at Gu Zhao, her eyes filled with affection. ’They had only known each other for three days, and for all three of those days, Gu Zhao had done nothing but make me angry...’
’But...’
’...I know this child, Gu Zhao. She isn’t a bad kid; she’s actually very perceptive. The day the Ye Family dropped her off, the girl hadn’t cried or thrown a single tantrum.’
’She was completely different from the person Mrs. Ye had described—someone who was disrespectful to her parents and framed her own sister.’
’The Director understood perfectly. Gu Zhao had simply been in the way of their real daughter, and had thus become a nuisance.’
"Little Zhao, this is your biological second brother. Go on, greet him," the Director urged with a beaming smile.
The man watched them coldly, saying nothing. When his eyes landed on Gu Zhao, a flicker of disgust flashed in their depths.
Gu Zhao walked over to the Director, still clutching the rock she hadn’t thrown.
Seeing the rock in her hand, the Director feared Gu Zhao would make a bad impression on her brother. She quickly pulled Gu Zhao in front of her, furtively snatched the rock, and tossed it away behind her back.
