After Transmigrating as a Scumbag Gong, I Ended Up with the Cannon Fodder - Chapter 2

Yin Nanbai and Wen Si went together, driven by Yin Youxia. Yin Youxia disliked Liu Siyin so much that she wouldn’t even let her sit in the passenger seat. Liu Siyin and Yin Man sat in the back, a faint, sweet fragrance drifting into Yin Man’s nostrils—Liu Siyin’s scent, as sweet and fragrant as fresh flowers.

Her eyes shimmered with shallow, crystalline waves, so beautiful and clear. At this time, she hadn’t yet gone blind.

The thought of such delicate eyes losing their sight filled Yin Man with regret. She couldn’t help but say, “Try not to cross the street too often.”

“Huh?” Liu Siyin was completely bewildered by the random remark.

How could Yin Man explain to Liu Siyin that in the future, she might get into a car accident while crossing the street with Yin Youxia? That she would push Yin Youxia out of the way, go blind from the accident, be abandoned by Yin Youxia, and ultimately choose suicide?

The tragedy was already profound, but her blindness made it even more heartbreaking.

Yin Man felt deep sympathy for Liu Siyin’s character. Though her role was brief, it embodied all the tragic elements: born without the right to choose her origins, repeatedly humiliated as an illegitimate daughter, used as a tool by her father, her only loving mother dying early, her fiancé abandoning her after she went blind, and the blind woman being abandoned by her family, her life extinguished like a fading fragrance within half a month.

Liu Siyin died at the young age of twenty-one.

It wasn’t out of excessive sentimentality, but Yin Man often felt a pang of sympathy for tragic characters. It was as if everyone else existed solely to advance the protagonists’ romance. Yet, stripping away their plot functions, weren’t they also living, breathing people?

Capable of feeling pain, suffering, and dying.

Unable to find the right words, Yin Man simply gazed out the window. The traffic lights blinked before her eyes. “Be careful,” she blurted out suddenly.

Liu Siyin didn’t understand, but she found the capricious Miss Yin rather peculiar.

Their interactions had been few.

Among the Yin Family, Liu Siyin had spent more time with Yin Youxia, her fiancée. Still, she had heard plenty about Yin Man. Her own siblings and cousins all feared Yin Man, often saying that one wrong word could cost you half your life. Dealing with Yin Zhe, that cunning fox, was far easier—he only wanted money, not lives.

As the eldest daughter of the Yin Family, Yin Man wielded considerable power, far surpassing Yin Youxia’s influence, thanks to the backing of the Mei Family.

For the Liu Family, the Yin Family was a prestigious alliance. For the Yin Family, the Liu Family was a valuable ally. They needed a marriage to cement their ties; whether they loved each other after the wedding was irrelevant.

In such a family, only those with power, status, and cunning held any real influence or the right to choose. She possessed none of these. As the illegitimate daughter of the Liu Family’s Third Sister, she was only brought back to the family at the age of fourteen, groomed until eighteen, and then offered to the Yin Family. From the start, she was merely a tool for a strategic marriage. The Liu Family hoped her decent looks would persuade Yin Zhe and Yin Man to accept her, knowing the Mei Family stood behind them.

But Yin Zhe and Yin Man both wielded immense influence, whether derived from their family’s status or their own capabilities. Neither chose her. Yin Zhe rejected her and passed her on to Yin Man, who in turn rejected her and pushed her onto Yin Youxia.

Like a leather ball, she was kicked back and forth between them.

Yin Youxia didn’t like her either, she knew that. But she also understood the consequences of failing to marry into the Yin Family.

The Liu Family might not rank among the most prestigious noble houses, but they excelled at leveraging resources. While other families shunned illegitimate children, the Liu Family specialized in cultivating marriage tools. Being sent to the Yin Family was already the best possible outcome, the finest fate her face could secure. She had a cousin who now served as the shared mistress of the Zhang Family siblings.

She was already twenty-one years old. Next year, when Yin Youxia turned twenty, they would be married.

Just as Yin Youxia disliked her, she disliked Yin Youxia in return. But her preferences didn’t matter.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a ringing phone.

She pointed to Yin Man’s phone. “Sister Man, your phone’s ringing.”

Yin Man glanced down at the phone casually tossed on her lap. The caller ID read “Brother”—Yin Zhe was calling.

She answered the call, her fingers tracing the phone’s edge. “Hello, Brother.”

“Manman, I heard you went out to dinner with Third Sister and the others?”

For the original owner of this body, Yin Zhe was her only brother. For Yin Zhe, Yin Man was his only sister. As for Yin Youxia and the others, Yin Zhe didn’t even bother to call them by name.

In her previous life, Yin Man had been an orphan, raised by her grandmother. When her grandmother passed away at sixteen, she had survived for another decade on her own. This was the first time she had experienced familial affection again—a feeling both unfamiliar and deeply longed for.

Unsure how to speak to Yin Zhe, she paused before replying, “Mm, we’re on our way. We haven’t arrived yet.”

Yin Zhe was taken aback. “You actually went?”

He couldn’t possibly think the rumors he’d heard were false, could he?

Yin Man tightened her grip on the phone. “It’s just dinner. What’s the big deal?”

It wouldn’t have mattered if someone else had gone to dinner with Yin Nanbai, or even if he himself had gone. But this was Yin Man. Yin Zhe tapped his desk, trying to hide his growing anxiety. He knew his sister’s temperament all too well: the calmer she seemed, the more trouble she was likely to cause.

He wasn’t worried about Yin Man making things difficult for the others, but about her leg. She hadn’t even left the house yet, and he’d already heard she’d gone out directly with Yin Youxia and Liu Siyin. At dinner, she’d be surrounded by Wen Si’s people, all on the same side. If Yin Man caused a scene, they might mistreat her.

The more Yin Zhe thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. Yin Man was his only sister, the only family his mother had left him when she passed away. He would spoil her to the ends of the earth rather than see her suffer even the slightest injustice.

“Wait for me there. I’ll be right over. Don’t cause any trouble until I arrive.” Hearing Yin Zhe’s stern warning, Yin Man’s nose tingled slightly, tears welling up against her will.

Her fingertips brushed the corner of her eye, the dampness sending a shiver through her chest. Guilt and unease surged within her as she suppressed her inner turmoil. “It’s just dinner, Brother. Don’t make such a fuss.”

“Just dinner?” Yin Zhe didn’t quite believe her. Before he could press further, his secretary interrupted. Yin Man told him to get back to work and hung up.

She definitely won’t cause any trouble, she thought. I’m not the same Yin Man I used to be.

The original owner believed Wen Si had stolen her family and caused her mother’s death. But Wen Si only entered the family two years after her mother’s passing, meaning there was no overlap in their timelines. Even Yin Youxia was conceived after Wen Si joined the family.

Yin Man leaned back in her chair. When Yin Zhe called again, she didn’t answer, but she kept her phone raised. Liu Siyin, who had been avoiding looking at her earlier for fear of being accused of eavesdropping, glanced over and froze at the sight of the gruesome scars on Yin Man’s wrist. “Sister Man, your wrist…”

Yin Man lowered her head to follow Liu Siyin’s gaze. The scars were jagged and raw, like knife slashes. With a calm motion, she pulled down the sleeve of her arm. The original owner had a self-destructive streak, repeatedly harming herself. Her madness wasn’t reserved for others.

The original owner was a lunatic, Yin Man thought. I’m not.

“It’s nothing,” Yin Man said.

Despite her words, her hand involuntarily brushed Liu Siyin’s chin, a deliberately flirtatious gesture. “Are you worried about me?” The smooth, delicate feel of Liu Siyin’s skin, like warm jade, sent a thrill through Yin Man’s heart. Her gaze collided with Liu Siyin’s fragile, frightened eyes.

Yin Man withdrew her hand. She struggled to control this body’s instinctive impulses—the urge to tease beautiful women, the fleeting moments of cruelty, the desire to provoke Yin Youxia’s displeasure.

After Yin Man touched Liu Siyin, the atmosphere in the car became strangely tense, Liu Siyin biting her lip tightly, a mixture of humiliation and embarrassment.

Yin Youxia glanced back through the rearview mirror, her knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel too tightly. Though she didn’t care for Liu Siyin and even disliked her, Liu Siyin was still her publicly acknowledged fiancée.

Yin Man scoffed, “Can’t even touch her?”

What is she even saying?!

Yin Man suppressed the urge to bite off her own tongue. It was better to keep her mouth shut.

The atmosphere in the car grew even more strained. She and the original owner of this body were fundamentally different people. Constantly uttering words that went against her true nature made Yin Man feel deeply conflicted.

Finally, they arrived at their destination. The parking spot was across the street from Yuzukawa. Yin Youxia pushed Yin Man ahead, while Liu Siyin trailed half a step behind. From the moment Yin Man stepped out of the car, her eyelid had been twitching incessantly.

The blaring of car horns and the chatter of pedestrians filled her ears. Instinctively, she glanced up at the traffic light across the street—it was already red.

“Watch out!” She was abruptly shoved aside as her wheelchair careened across the road, its wheels spinning wildly as it hurtled toward the opposite curb. Yin Man braced for the humiliating tumble, but a kind pedestrian managed to stop the chair just in time. “Thank you,” she murmured.

The woman who had grabbed her wheelchair startled slightly. “Since when do you say thank you?”

Yin Man looked up into the unfamiliar face of a woman who clearly recognized her, though Yin Man had no recollection of her. The original owner of her body had been surrounded by countless women in her world, and this one left no impression whatsoever.

Snapping back to reality, Yin Man’s gaze landed on the middle of the road. A woman lay collapsed there, crimson bl00d pooling around her, while Yin Youxia stood frozen on the other side.

Twenty-one years old, car accident, blindness… The pieces clicked into place in her mind.

This was the very family banquet described in the original novel—the one held in Yuzukawa. Wen Si had invited Liu Siyin, and as she and Yin Youxia crossed the road, the accident occurred. It was also here that Yin Youxia first met Mei Xuying, who had just returned from studying abroad. Mei Xuying called an ambulance for the shaken Yin Youxia and accompanied her to the hospital.

In the original novel, Yin Man wasn’t present during the car accident. Her appearance hadn’t delayed the plot’s progression; Liu Siyin still got into the accident, only instead of pushing Yin Youxia out of the way, she pushed both Yin Man and Yin Youxia, saving both of them.

Since she hadn’t altered Liu Siyin’s tragedy, she naturally wouldn’t change Mei Xuying’s appearance either.

She heard the woman pushing her wheelchair calling for an ambulance. The sounds of crying and commotion echoed around her, making the woman’s voice barely audible. She vaguely guessed the woman’s identity but had no energy to care.

She wasn’t far from the scene, but the crowd blocked her view.

Yin Man strained her legs slightly, struggling to move closer to the crowd, but she couldn’t stand up from the wheelchair. She’d forgotten—she was now disabled.

She reached out and touched the woman’s hand. “Push me over there.”

She was pushed to the center of the road. When she saw the face clearly, Liu Siyin looked like a tattered rag doll, covered in bl00d, disheveled and miserable. In the original novel’s description, Liu Siyin’s injuries hadn’t been this severe, and there hadn’t been so much bl00d.

Did my arrival hasten Liu Siyin’s death?

Guilt toward Liu Siyin drove her to claw at her palms until they bled.

A low voice echoed in her ear: “Yin Man, when did you learn to care about people?”