Reborn as a True Heiress and Becomes a Boss

Chapter 1 The cruel truth

As night falls, the Baiyun Food Street, a small food street on the east side of Jiangcheng, is brightly lit. This food street has a great location, near the Financial Street and the University Town. Office workers and students like to come here for lunch and dinner after work and school. The air is filled with the aroma of various delicacies that makes people's mouths water.

It was 10 p.m. and the food street was packed with people, especially a restaurant called Zhang Jie Seafood, which was extremely popular. People lined up in a long queue in front of the barbecue grill outside the restaurant, and the restaurant itself was also full.

A woman dressed as a chef and wearing a mask was standing in front of the stove, carefully stirring the dishes in the wok. Finally, she deftly tossed the wok with her left hand and slowly scooped the dishes into an empty plate prepared on the side with her right hand.

"Xiao Jian, the garlic clams for the customer are ready, please take them up to the restaurant." The woman said to the boy who was handing out numbered tickets to people in line to take orders.

The young man had just handed out the last number tag when he told the next customer that all the number tags were gone. He turned around and replied, "Okay, Sister Qing."

When they heard that there were no more number plates, those who hadn't gotten one went to other places. His barbecue restaurant was always very popular, and the chef's skills were so good that it was packed every night. Sometimes, they were even busy until two or three in the morning. So the owner made a rule that customers in line could only take out, and there were only so many number plates available each day.

Although the proprietress wanted to earn more money, she had no choice. Her chef had more than one job; he worked at a large restaurant during the day and came to work part-time at her restaurant after finishing his shift at 9 pm. If it were too tiring, he might not want to work for her anymore. Her business was so successful because of this chef. So the proprietress made this rule.

It was still May, and even at night it was very hot, let alone cooking over a fire. The woman pulled down her mask to get some fresh air and washed the pot she had just used. The proprietress, Sister Zhang, watched the woman working diligently and sighed slightly.

Perhaps life is just unfair like this. Her family's chef is a kind and gentle person, and his cooking skills are beyond question. He treats everyone with sincerity. Knowing that she has a stomach problem, he often makes her cordyceps flower health soup. But such a good person must have committed some sins in his past life to paralyze some vicious and ruthless relatives in this life.

"Nianqing, these are the dishes these customers ordered for takeout. You've really worked hard." Sister Zhang handed her the menu.

Yang Nianqing took the menu and smiled gently, "It's alright, Sister Zhang, it's not hard work." The smile on the woman's face made the scar that covered her entire right cheek look a bit ferocious, and people around her looked at her strangely. Yang Nianqing even sensed that some people were whispering. She smiled awkwardly at Sister Zhang, put on her mask, turned around, and lowered her head to continue working.

Sister Zhang sighed again. Actually, Yang Nianqing used to be very beautiful, looking a lot like a celebrity in the entertainment industry. But because of an accident, her face was burned, resulting in permanent disfigurement that would be difficult to recover even with plastic surgery. Nianqing said it was an accident, but Sister Zhang knew it wasn't.

Yang Nianqing was disfigured because her mother poured a bowl of hot soup on her face. Her mother lived near Yang Nianqing's house, and everyone in the neighborhood knew about it. Yang Nianqing started working to support her family after graduating from junior high school, and at that time she was working for her mother.

Yang Nianqing has a younger sister named Yang Qianmei. Unlike the gentle and filial Yang Nianqing, Yang Qianmei is rather materialistic and rebellious. When she was 17, she lied to Yang Nianqing, saying she needed to buy a computer to study in order to chase after a star. Yang Nianqing had no idea that she wanted to use the money to chase after a star, so he asked her for an advance on his salary and gave it to Yang Qianmei. Yang Qianmei then used the money to go to another city to chase after a star, but she encountered bad people and some bad things happened.

Her mother blamed everything on Yang Nianqing, and even threw scalding soup in her face in a fit of anger because Yang Nianqing looked like that male celebrity. But how could Yang Nianqing be blamed for all this? Cheng Ying didn't know what she was thinking; how could she be so biased towards her daughters? Sometimes she even wondered if Yang Nianqing was her biological daughter, otherwise how could she be so indiscriminate?

She hasn't treated Nianqing well all these years. Doesn't she even know who bought the house she lives in? Don't think she doesn't know. Her house was bought with Yang Nianqing's salary over the years. If she had such a good daughter, she would be laughing in her sleep. Sigh, I don't want to think about it anymore. The more I think about it, the angrier I get!
Yang Nianqing had no idea what Zhang Jie was thinking. She was busy preparing the takeout for the customers. Yang Nianqing smiled and thought that her sister and brother-in-law had come back today. She planned to take a day off tomorrow to go home and cook a good meal for her family. Her sister and brother loved her cooking the most.

Although many people say that her family treats her badly, she feels that happiness is like drinking water, only she knows whether it is hot or cold. She is already very happy, with kind parents and lovely younger siblings. Although her mother always tells her to earn more money to help her younger siblings, she feels that as the older sister, it is her duty to help her younger siblings. Her younger sister has suffered so much because of her.

Thinking of this, her smile faded slightly. Yang Nianqing thought about how she had helped the hotel achieve a five-star rating this month, and how her salary and bonus, plus the money she had saved from part-time jobs, would be enough to help her younger brother, Shiping, buy a small apartment, and maybe even have a little left over. Her sister had also mentioned wanting to buy a new car, and with a little extra money from her, it should be enough for her to get one. She felt very happy, truly. Yang Nianqing smiled again.

"Mommy, look, the crayfish smells so good! I want to eat some!" A child's voice interrupted Yang Nianqing's thoughts. Yang Nianqing looked up and saw a woman holding the hand of a chubby, four- or five-year-old boy. The woman picked up the little boy and said gently, "Ranran is allergic to crayfish, so he can't eat them. Ranran, have you forgotten that you got pimples after eating crayfish last time? Be good, Ranran, Mommy will buy you candy later."

The little boy looked longingly at the crayfish in Yang Nianqing's pot, pouted, and said, "Okay, goodbye, crayfish."

The little boy's mother chuckled and shook her head, then smiled at Yang Nianqing when she noticed her gaze.

Yang Nianqing nodded politely to her, watching the mother and child leave. The child... she once had a child too. If that child were still alive, he would probably be just as adorable. Yang Nianqing paused in her stir-frying, a touch of melancholy in her eyes. She shook her head and continued cooking. She and that child were not meant to be, not fortunate enough to be his mother. She hoped he would be reborn into a better family in his next life.

It was 11:39 PM when Yang Nianqing finished preparing the last customer's food and handed it to him. He took off his apron, stretched, and moved his neck. Finally, he was done.

Sister Zhang walked over and smiled at her. "You've worked so hard, Nianqing. You should go home now. Your brother Chen and I are busy here. Go back and rest."

"Yes, Sister Qing, I'm here to help my sister and brother-in-law too." Young Zhang Jian put his arm around Sister Zhang's shoulder and smiled at her.

Feeling warmed by the kindness of Sister Zhang and her friends, Yang Nianqing smiled gently and said, "Okay, Sister Zhang, Brother Chen, Xiao Jian, I'll be going now."

After saying goodbye to Sister Zhang and the others, Yang Nianqing rode her little donkey home.

Yang Nianqing lived in a small four-story building with only one family per floor. Her family lived on the third floor. As soon as she got downstairs and locked her car, she noticed that her lights were still on. Were her parents still awake? Were they waiting for her? It was so late at night, and someone was waiting for her at the door. Yang Nianqing smiled happily. Who said her parents weren't good to her? They were clearly very good to her.

Because it was late and the surroundings were quiet, even the slightest sound would be very noticeable. To avoid disturbing others, Yang Nianqing carefully made no noise as she went upstairs. When she reached the third floor, she found that her door wasn't closed properly. Yang Nianqing shook her head helplessly. How could she be so careless? She probably wouldn't even notice if a thief broke in.

Yang Nianqing hadn't even closed the door when she heard her younger sister Yang Qianmei's voice. "Mom, my sister said she'll buy me a new car for my birthday, it'll cost over a million yuan, and she also said she'll come see you then."

Yang Nianqing frowned. She had planned to buy her younger sister a new car, but since her sister got married and lived in Kyoto for many years, she hadn't seen her sister for more than half a year. She hadn't had a chance to tell her sister yet, and she didn't have the money to buy her a car worth more than a million yuan. Besides, she went home every day, let alone visit her mother. She could see her mother every day. Didn't her sister only have her as an older sister? Who was this older sister her sister was talking about?
For some inexplicable reason, Yang Nianqing remained silent, standing quietly with a bad feeling about her.

“Daiqing is coming! Daiqing, my dear daughter, I haven’t seen you in so long! Qianmei, are you serious? Is your sister really coming?” Cheng Ying cried tears of joy as she excitedly grabbed her daughter Yang Qianmei’s hand.

The mother's grip on Yang Qianmei's hand was so tight it hurt a little. Although she was displeased, she smiled and said, "Yes, Mom, my sister did say she was coming to see you."

Yang Nianqing leaned against the wall, her hands unconsciously clenching. Daiqing? Her mother's good daughter? Who is she? Why has she never been mentioned by anyone before?
"Mom, my eldest sister is so good! She's even buying a car for my second sister. She's much better than that bitch Yang Nianqing!" Yang Shiping said enviously to Yang Qianmei, who raised an eyebrow at him smugly. He was furious. If he weren't so far away from his eldest sister, he would be the one closest to her now. He was her only younger brother! Eldest sister? Aren't I Shiping's eldest sister? Why would Shiping call me a bitch? What happened? Yang Nianqing was filled with doubt and confusion. Little did she know that her parents' next words would clear up all her questions.

"What are you talking about? Can Yang Nianqing compare to your sister? If you ask me, Xiaoying made the right decision to switch Gu Rongrong's daughter with our daughter back then. Otherwise, how could our Daiqing be so outstanding with our family's conditions? And all these years, with Yang Nianqing working herself to the bone to earn money for us, we've lived so well. It's all thanks to Xiaoying switching the children that our family got a free slave, and this slave is now a free ATM." Yang Song said smugly.

"Of course Yang Nianqing isn't as good as our Daiqing. How could Gu Rongrong's daughter be as good as my daughter? Speaking of which, Yang Nianqing is really lucky. Back then, I switched her with my daughter intending to starve her to death. I was too lazy to feed her or breastfeed her, yet she still survived. I didn't dare to be too obvious at the time. Although it's normal to favor boys over girls in the countryside, I couldn't just stop feeding her for no reason. I had to make an appearance. I never expected that she would survive with such inconsistent feeding. She's really tough." Cheng Ying's tone was sharp and sarcastic, and her face was filled with a malicious smile.

"It's fortunate that we didn't kill her back then, otherwise where would we find a well-behaved slave? Back then, she and her twin brother looked more and more alike, so I never let her watch TV, for fear that she would discover something. I never expected that Qianmei would fall in love with her brother and that such a thing would happen." At this point, Cheng Ying glared at her daughter.

"Mom~" Yang Qianmei tugged at Cheng Ying's hand and shook it playfully. Cheng Ying glared at her again and continued, "She felt very guilty at the time and even made Qianmei some nourishing soup. So I played along and splashed the soup on her face, ruining her skin. No one could tell then. She thought I did it in a fit of anger, so why would she blame me? As soon as I showed the slightest expression of regret, she clung to me like a dog again, hahaha~"

Yang Qianmei laughed smugly and said, "I still remember when she secretly got pregnant, I don't even know whose bastard it was. She wanted to give birth to it. Who would earn money for us while she was pregnant? Did she expect our family to raise the child for her? Of course not. So I added abortion pills to the soup she made for me and made her drink it. Hahaha, she never suspected me. She thought I had forgiven her and happily drank it. In the end, the child was gone, and she thought it was because she was not healthy enough to keep it. It's really funny." Yang Qianmei hugged Cheng Ying and acted coquettishly.

"Mom, I solved a problem for you, can you reward me?"

Cheng Ying patted her daughter's hand and smiled, "What do you want?"

"It's that blood jade pendant with the phoenix engraved on it."

“That belongs to Yang Nianqing. What are you going to do with it? And if someone finds out, your sister will be in big trouble.” Cheng Ying frowned. The pendant was found in Yang Nianqing’s hands after the children were switched.

The pendant wasn't big, only about the size of an adult's finger joint. Yang Nianqing held it tightly in her hand, which is why she didn't notice it. Luckily, the hospital where they gave birth was in a rural county town and didn't have surveillance cameras. She also gave birth during the day and was discharged that night, which is why the baby swap was so successful. Gu Rongrong probably thought the pendant had been stolen.

"Oh, Mom, isn't that pendant pretty? Are you afraid that Yang Nianqing's biological mother will find out and then take Yang Nianqing back to fight with my eldest sister for the inheritance?"

Cheng Ying scoffed, "What am I afraid of? Your eldest sister and Yang Nianqing's twin brother don't look alike at all. Do you think they haven't had any suspicions? They probably investigated. Look at what Yang Nianqing looks like now. As a twin sister who doesn't look like her at all, how could Xu Nuofei not have any suspicions? He just doesn't want to admit it. How can a disfigured monster compare to our Daiqing? If her mother saw Yang Nianqing, she definitely wouldn't want to acknowledge her. Wouldn't it be shameful to acknowledge her? Our Daiqing is so good. I couldn't bear to part with her back then."

“Look, Gu Rongrong named your sister Daiqing, and I named her daughter Nianqing. It’s all because I miss my daughter. Daiqing still thinks of me so much. If you ask me, daughters are the best. They are a mother’s sweet little cotton-padded jacket. If you want that pendant, I’ll find it for you tomorrow.”

"Thank you, Mom." Yang Qianmei smiled sweetly, but inwardly she thought, "You couldn't bear to part with her, but you still changed it. You're still biased towards boys. Let's see if you'd be willing to part with a boy." Yang Song and Yang Shiping were also smiling beside her, creating a picture of family happiness.

Yang Nianqing leaned against the wall, trembling with fear, her hand tightly covering her mouth to prevent herself from making a sound. What had happened today had shattered her long-held beliefs. Yang Nianqing quietly slipped away. The rest of the Yang family remained unaware that their conversation had been overheard by the person involved.

Even late at night in May, it was still very hot. Yang Nianqing wandered aimlessly along the pedestrian walkway next to the Songjiang Highway Bridge. Because it was already late at night, there was not a single person or car on the road. The only companions for her were the cold streetlights and the sound of the river.

She still couldn't believe what had happened that day. A cool breeze blew up, making her feel cold even on such a sweltering night. Yang Nianqing hugged her arms and knelt down by the roadside. At that moment, she could no longer hold back her tears and burst into sobs. She had never felt so lonely before, as if the whole world had abandoned her.

Everything changed overnight. The kind parents she thought she had, the loving siblings she thought she had—it turned out that it was all just her own imagination! Every word her parents and siblings said kept echoing in her mind.

"Why..." Her heart ached so much that she felt suffocated. Her rapid breathing seemed to make her feel a little better. Tears kept falling from Yang Nianqing's eyes, one drop after another, onto the ground. She swayed and almost collapsed to the ground. She supported herself with her hands and watched as the ground was gradually soaked by her tears. The intense despair made her unable to help but ask aloud.

She's already tried so hard, hasn't she? She's tried so hard not to complain, not to resist, not to be jealous, and to learn to be content and happy, hasn't she? Why treat her like this?

Yang Nianqing clutched her clothes tightly, unable to hold back her questioning again: "Why, why, why?" Why was she treated so unfairly? Why was she enslaved? Why was her child killed? Why did she have to endure such a fate? She knew no one would answer her, but she couldn't help herself. Even she, who had always been submissive, couldn't help but question the injustice of fate.

"Ha, Yang Nianqing! How stupid are you! What are you expecting? Heh..." Yang Nianqing mocked herself, she never knew she could be so foolish. "Yang Nianqing, you've lived for thirty years, and you've made yourself a laughingstock, hahaha... What have you done, what have you done!"

In truth, Yang Nianqing always knew that Cheng Ying and the others disliked her, and that Yang Qianmei and Yang Shiping always looked down on her as their older sister. But she thought it was because she hadn't done enough. Even when she was scolded and beaten every day, she swallowed her tears and told herself it was okay, that her parents were only doing it for her own good. Even when Cheng Ying disfigured her, she forced a smile and said, "Mom, I'm fine!" How ridiculous!

She still remembers that when she was a child, she often didn't have enough to eat. Cheng Ying said that her family was poor and her younger siblings hadn't eaten yet. As the older sister, she had to give way to her younger siblings. She never doubted it. She tightened her belt every day and secretly vowed that she would never let her younger siblings go hungry. But now that she thinks about it, if they were really poor, why did her younger siblings always have snacks and were so fat?
Her younger siblings could play with their friends, but as the older sister, she started doing housework at the age of four. She had endless chores to do every day. Her younger siblings didn't do well in school and could repeat a grade year after year, but she was always first in her class. However, the family didn't have money, and as the older sister, she had to take care of her younger siblings. So, after finishing junior high school, she went out to earn money to support her family.

She was the older sister and had to take care of her younger siblings, so even though she had worked for over ten years, even though she became a head chef and did various part-time jobs earning hundreds of thousands a month, she had never bought a new piece of clothing. The phrase "you are the older sister" had oppressed her for thirty years! It turned out that she was not their daughter at all, not their older sister! They just treated her as a slave who could make money. It turned out that the people who were truly related to her by blood were ashamed of her and did not want to acknowledge her back.

Her only relative, the child she conceived unexpectedly, was killed by her beloved younger sister! And what did she do? Out of inexplicable guilt, she treated Yang Qianmei like her own ancestor. Yang Qianmei's misfortune at a young age was entirely her own fault! It had nothing to do with her!
"Yang Nianqing, all of this is caused by your own self-deception. What face do you have left to live in this world? You've been weak your whole life, so be brave just this once!" How evil can human nature be? Today I've finally seen it for myself! Yang Nianqing staggered to her feet and climbed onto the railing by the bridge. Looking down at the quiet, dark river below, Yang Nianqing smiled gently.

"Child, your mother has come to find you." With that, Yang Nianqing leaped into the river, disappearing almost instantly. It wasn't that she didn't hate, or that she didn't want revenge; it was simply that she had lost the will to live. Those people's faces were disgusting, and the world itself seemed ugly. She no longer had the courage to face it. Thirty years ago today, she was born into this world, and now, thirty years later, she loathed it and wanted to leave.

Meanwhile, in distant Kyoto, a handsome and refined man suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart, and couldn't help but cry out, startling his family who were celebrating his birthday. "Nofi? What's wrong?" A beautiful middle-aged woman patted his back to comfort him. The man sobbed, "I don't know, Mom, I just suddenly feel a deep, painful pain in my heart, so very painful..." He then suddenly fainted.

"hooligan!"

"elder brother!"

I'm a newbie author, please be kind to me.

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(End of this chapter)