Phoebe Huxley scooped up a spoonful of fragrant steamed egg custard and brought it to Tang Xiaonan's mouth. The rich, eggy aroma made her drool. She opened her mouth wide, revealing gapped teeth. Her four molars, top and bottom, were all missing, leaving a neat little doorway.
Hearing Adrian Hawthorne's name, Tang Xiaonan's heart pounded. 'Isn't he my fiancé from the book?'
It was a shame the original Tang Xiaonan had courted disaster, turning a perfectly good fiancé into a bitter enemy. But while the original owner of this body didn't deserve sympathy, Adrian Hawthorne was no saint either. The author had described his personality as follows—
Withdrawn and suspicious, moody and unpredictable, and held a grudge over the smallest slight.
'A tyrant in the flesh!'
What's more, after suffering a series of devastating blows and a head injury, Adrian Hawthorne's temperament had become increasingly erratic. He grew more and more petty, turning cold and merciless at the slightest displeasure. Even if the original Tang Xiaonan hadn't acted so foolishly, she probably wouldn't have lasted long with him anyway.
Serving a monarch is like serving a tiger, after all!
'Just look at the women around a man like that. How many of them ever meet a good end?'
"I've been wanting to beat up that bastard Adrian Hawthorne for ages! Who does he think he is, walking around with that scowl on his face all day?" Patrick Thorne, the second son of the Thorne family, fumed.
"Wait, Second Brother!"
The third son, Jim Thorne, was now holding two shoulder poles. He handed one to his second brother and kept the other. Xiaonan's pale, tender arm was scraped and bleeding, and she was running a high fever. This time, he was determined to teach that jinx a harsh lesson and get revenge for his little sister.
Tang Xiaonan's heart hammered even harder. She remembered what was happening now. It must be 1978, not long after the Lantern Festival. She was still a six-year-old "little meat bun." On a freezing day, she had shamelessly pestered Adrian Hawthorne into letting her follow him up the mountain to cut firewood. She had even snatched the bird eggs he'd found. While he was chasing her, she accidentally fell down a slope, and it was Adrian Hawthorne who had carried her back.
But Phoebe Huxley, fiercely protective of her daughter, thought Adrian Hawthorne was the one who had harmed her. She had slapped the boy right then and there and spewed a string of colorful words at him.
Phoebe Huxley was bossy and arrogant, and her skill at public cursing was ranked number one in the entire production brigade. Berated by her, Adrian Hawthorne grew stubborn and didn't bother to explain. He probably figured no one would believe him anyway, so he just let Phoebe Huxley hit and curse him.
But Phoebe Huxley should not, under any circumstances, have insulted Adrian Hawthorne's mother. That was his absolute limit.
And then... Adrian Hawthorne, that young wolf, fought back. He shoved Phoebe Huxley. By the time she realized what had happened, he had already run home.
But this incident planted a thorn in Adrian Hawthorne's heart. Though it was small at first, Tang Xiaonan and her family were masters at courting disaster. They wore away the little bit of gratitude he might have felt for the Thorne family until it became a negative value. The thorns in his heart multiplied, and when Tang Xiaonan eventually met her demise, he chose to stand by and do nothing.
"Hurry and eat, Xiaonan. It won't be good if it gets cold," Phoebe Huxley urged.
"Mom, where are the bird eggs I brought back?"
Tang Xiaonan was in no mood to eat. She had to pull out that thorn in Adrian Hawthorne's heart! In the book, before his death, this guy was the ultimate villain—the final boss who even overshadowed the male lead.
'The original owner of this body really had a death wish, provoking this moody, unpredictable arch-villain time and time again.'
'And the Thorne family had indulged her without any principles, time and again ruining her connection to what could have been a powerful backer.'
She had to stop them!
"The bird eggs all broke, and your new clothes are a complete mess. Don't put bird eggs in your pockets anymore, you hear?" Phoebe Huxley said with a hint of reproach.
Tang Xiaonan's heart sank. 'Oh, crap... it's over.' Those three bird eggs were the ones Adrian Hawthorne had gone to great trouble to find. He'd wanted to take them back to supplement his grandfather's nutrition, and she had ruined them.
'Why was this damn kid so annoying? No wonder she met a bad end in the book—she deserved it.'
Furious, Tang Xiaonan smacked herself on the head. She threw off the covers and ran outside without even putting on her shoes, shouting as she went, "First Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, come back!"