Chapter 3: The Chaebol Heir’s Canary — “Hello, My Name Is Jiang Qiuyan.” Part 1

Sunlight stung Shi Yu awake. The moment she opened her eyes, tears streamed down uncontrollably. Her mind was still foggy, and it took a long time before she grasped what had happened.

She’d stumbled into a heat-period alpha’s room, and her own heat had been triggered early. For the past three days, she’d been pinned to this bed, nonstop from dawn to dusk…

Just recalling it made Shi Yu’s cheeks burn and her whole body squirm with discomfort.

Every inch of her ached with exhaustion. Her waist and the insides of her thighs were especially sore. Her eyes and throat stung. There wasn’t a single spot on her body that felt fine.

Shi Yu slowly sat up and looked around. The alpha was nowhere to be seen.

Must have left.

Shi Yu felt no anger, only gratitude. After all, that night’s circumstances hadn’t left her room to think things through.

Better to sleep with that beautiful, gentle female alpha than be pawed at by a filthy alpha like Shi Huaixin. At least the other was gorgeous and kind.

The blanket slid off. As Shi Yu looked down, she saw the mottled marks all over her body.

Everywhere. Even her arms and the backs of her feet weren’t spared.

Shi Yu sat in silence for a long time before getting out of bed with a blush. She had no idea where her own clothes had gone, so she grabbed two of the alpha’s garments, pulled them on, and leaned against the wall on her way out.

Before leaving, she double-checked: no phone number, no check left behind. Clearly, no intention of taking responsibility.

Good. That’s exactly what I was thinking too.

Shi Yu walked out of the hotel reeking of a heat-period alpha’s pheromones. Everyone stared. She ignored the looks and focused on finding a safe place first, then slowly figure out how to leave Hai City.

That beast Shi Huaixin abusing her was one thing, but trying to hand her over as a favor to someone else? If she hadn’t fought back desperately, that day she would have…

The more Shi Yu thought about it, the angrier she got. Her fists clenched so hard her nails broke through skin and embedded in her palms.

“I thought you were dead. Didn’t expect you to still be alive.”

At the sound of that voice, Shi Yu felt as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head, cold enough to make her teeth chatter.

Shi Huaixin leaned against the car, eyeing her with disgust and coldness. Shi Yu knew he was restraining himself, or he’d have struck already.

She’d hoped to slip away, but Shi Huaixin was waiting right at the hotel entrance. Would she never escape his clutches in this lifetime?

Shi Yu’s heart sank to the bottom. Under Shi Huaixin’s sinister gaze, she opened the car door and got in.

Smack!

The moment the door shut, Shi Yu took a solid slap to the face.

“You little bastard. You made me lose face in front of my friends. See if I don’t beat you to death!”

Shi Yu held her head and took the blows, her thin body curling up.

Shi Huaixin beat her until he was tired, then shook out his hand and sat back. His assistant handed him an expensive handkerchief. He took it and wiped his hands at a leisurely pace, his voice chilling to the bone.

“I’ll spare your life this time. But if you disobey me again… hmph!”

Shi Yu shuddered and couldn’t help but regret everything. She never should have listened to the system and agreed to do its missions. Saving herself in different timelines, it claimed. In reality, she was completely powerless.

Shi Yu wasn’t from this world.

Growing up in an orphanage, she’d dropped out before finishing high school. After years of odd jobs, she’d barely scraped together enough for a down payment on a small apartment in her county town. On her way to make the payment, she saw a car barreling out of control toward a little girl and rushed forward without thinking.

Then—

She got hit and killed.

She thought death was the end, like a lamp going out. Instead, not only did she not die, she was approached by something called a system that wanted her to travel through worlds and save herself.

The system called 007 told her that her soul had been scattered across different places, and only by gathering all the pieces could she become whole again.

And because her soul was incomplete, lacking the ability to perceive and respond to certain emotions and feelings, her fate in every world was grim.

What she needed to do was change her tragic endings in each world.

Although Shi Yu was utterly confused, she wouldn’t refuse a chance to live again.

She reached an agreement with the system and was about to depart for the minor worlds, but… something went wrong along the way.

Shi Yu didn’t know what happened. She only knew the system vanished before it could even leave a last word.

She woke up in a narrow, dim room. Before she could make sense of anything, the door was shoved open. A middle-aged woman whose face she couldn’t quite make out stormed in, glaring at her with displeasure.

“Do you know what time it is and you’re still not up? Do you really think you’re a Second Miss?” The woman gave a contemptuous snort. “Don’t forget, this is the Pei family, and your surname is Shi.”

“Even the Old Master says not to treat you as a human being. I don’t need to spell out what that means.”

She rolled her eyes, turned, and walked out, slamming the door behind her with a bang.

“Get up and get to work. There are guests today. Madam told us to prepare first thing this morning. Don’t you dare slack off!”

Shi Yu struggled out of bed. It felt like fine needles were being driven into her skull, throbbing with pain.

Without much thought, her identity came back to her.

In this world, she was also called Shi Yu, the illegitimate daughter of Shi Huaixin, the Pei family’s live-in son-in-law.

When Shi Huaixin was young, he’d leveraged his looks to climb his way up to Pei family heir Pei Yiyi. They later married and had a daughter, Pei Shuyu. To outsiders, the couple was a model marriage.

Yet this alpha, who seemed to dote on his wife and child beyond reproach, not only had an affair but also an illegitimate daughter just five years younger than his eldest.

Shi Huaixin was a clever man. Fearing he’d leave a child behind, he only sought out low-grade omegas who couldn’t conceive. But how often do you walk along the riverbank without getting your feet wet?

Shi Yu was that accident.

Her mother, being a low-grade omega, had a hard life. Upon discovering she was pregnant with Shi Yu, she thought she could use the child to force Shi Huaixin into marriage. She fought desperately to give birth, only to learn that Shi Huaixin had been lying to her all along.

He wasn’t the master of the household who held all power, like he’d packaged himself. Even the prestigious Shi family he constantly boasted about didn’t exist. The real powerful family was the Pei family, and the one in charge was Pei Yiyi. He was nothing more than a live-in son-in-law without any real authority.

Learning the truth devastated Shi Yu’s mother. She became unstable, often using Shi Yu as a punching bag. Growing up abused, Shi Yu developed a sensitive, timid, cowardly personality.

Whenever someone was unkind to her, she numbed herself and told herself it was just her imagination. And whenever someone was too kind, she instinctively pulled away, believing it was all an illusion, like a sand castle that could vanish in an instant.

Her mother passed away when Shi Yu was eighteen. On her deathbed, crying, she apologized and begged for forgiveness, then handed Shi Yu a bankbook, telling her to get far away from Shi Huaixin and start a new life.

Shi Yu didn’t know if her mother truly regretted things or if it was just crocodile tears. Either way, she kept the bankbook.

After all, whether she entered the workforce or studied another year for college, money was essential.

Unfortunately, Shi Huaixin snatched that bankbook away soon after. She never even knew how much was inside.

Shi Huaixin brought her to the Pei family estate, beating and berating her constantly. Over time, the servants joined in on the bullying. Everyone in the Pei family could step on her.

Shi Yu lived without a shred of dignity, but she was locked inside the villa with no chance of escape.

Shi Huaixin’s spies surrounded her on all sides. Every step was fraught.

His reasons for doing this were twofold: he disliked Shi Yu, and he wanted to prove his loyalty to his wife.

To protect his position, he wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice Shi Yu.

And the reason she’d spent three chaotic days with that heat-stricken female alpha? That was also thanks to Shi Huaixin!

That day, she’d finally been taken out by Pei Shuyu, but the moment they reached the mall, Shi Huaixin’s bodyguards escorted her to his private tea room. There, a middle-aged foul alpha forced her to drink spiked tea, and that alpha had designs on her.

Shi Huaixin watched it all unfold without lifting a finger, even seemed pleased. If Shi Yu hadn’t fought back desperately, she would have fallen into that vile alpha’s hands. What would have followed was self-evident.

Yet he showed no guilt whatsoever. Instead, he was enraged by Shi Yu’s resistance.

If his heart were ripped out, it would surely be black and festering.

“Kneel!”

A furious shout snapped Shi Yu out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Shi Huaixin’s twisted expression.

She dropped straight to her knees, cracking them against the floor with a bang that made it sound painful.

But this time, Shi Huaixin wasn’t mollified as usual. He walked up and kicked her hard.

“You’ve been gone for three days. Who were you fooling around with?!”

He knew perfectly well, but he wanted to humiliate Shi Yu in front of every servant.

“You reek of alpha pheromones. Do you have no shame?! Just as cheap as your worthless mother!”

Shi Yu’s fists clenched, teeth grinding to powder. In the end, she bowed her head and admitted fault.

“I’m sorry, Dad. I won’t do it again.”