Chapter 1: The Young Lady Has Been Eating Sand for Three Years

“Dad, I like Gu Yeting—I love him!” Qin Yue knelt on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

“What fault does the young miss have? She only fell in love with a man,” Zhang Ma wept alongside her, speaking up for Qin Yue whom she had watched grow up.

The moment Qin Ye arrived in this world, his mind was filled with a buzzing noise. As he stood there, dazed, Qin Yue continued to cry. Seeing that his face remained expressionless, her heart hardened. Somehow, she produced a fruit knife and pressed it against her neck.

“Dad, if you refuse to help the Gu family, you’re refusing to acknowledge me as your daughter. Fine, I’ll die right in front of you!”

“Young miss, what are you doing? Put the knife down, quickly!” Zhang Ma was anxious, wanting to intervene, yet afraid that any sudden movement would agitate Qin Yue into hurting herself. She could only fidget on the spot, helpless.

But Qin Ye’s face was still a mask of indifference.

Qin Yue had always been the apple of her father’s eye, cherished and spoiled since childhood. In the past, she had never needed to go so far—even a few tears would make her father drop his dignity and coax her with all his heart.

She knew how dearly she was loved, and because she knew, she acted so fearlessly.

But now, even with a knife to her own throat, threatening to die, her father still refused her plea.

While Qin Yue found herself in a dilemma, Qin Ye was checking the original body’s obsession.

The attachment was so strong that, if he wished, he could sense exactly what it was: to keep the daughter away from Gu Yeting.

As the leader of the “I Am Your Father” transmigration team, this was Qin Ye’s first mission. Of course, he was a leader in name only—his team was just him.

He asked his AI assistant, “San’er, what do you think?”

The AI replied, “Lying down, watching.”

What a useless snack, he thought. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a white silk scroll drifted down in his mind.

Qin Ye blinked: what’s this?

He looked closer. The scroll read: “Ye Xiaoxiao has loved Gu Yeting since their school days, but she never existed in his eyes. Everyone knows Gu Yeting’s ideal is the eldest Miss Qin. In his eyes, no one else matters. But what no one knows is that every night, Gu Yeting and Ye Xiaoxiao share a passionate embrace in secret. She is content to remain in the shadows, willing to be his dog, so long as she can stay by his side, summoned and dismissed at will. She believes that one day, her devotion will be rewarded, but that day never comes. When she unexpectedly discovers she is pregnant, she finally decides to let go of the relationship. While his heart is elsewhere, she flees in the night, taking nothing but herself. But just as she lets go, he refuses to release her. She flees; he chases. She cannot escape. ‘Ye Xiaoxiao, I would give you my life. Why do you still insist on leaving me?’”

His eyes reddened, his hands gripping her waist with crazed desperation and passion. In the throes of their final night together, she thought, let this be the last time. Afterward, she vanished without a trace.

Gu Yeting lost his mind. He took revenge on everyone who had ever wronged Ye Xiaoxiao. The young miss, once his obsession, became a despised speck of rice on his collar. He blamed her for the loss of his beloved, orchestrating the bankruptcy of the defenseless Qin Group. When the young miss fell from grace, he was still unsatisfied, for his true love had not returned—proof that his efforts were not enough. So, he forced the young miss to debase herself, threatening to cut off her hospitalized father’s medication unless she complied. Once-proud, the young miss was reduced to dust and humiliation. He thought, “Xiaoxiao, do you see this? If you do, why haven’t you come back to me?”

After five years of torment, Gu Yeting became a hollow shell until, one day, he spotted a miniature version of himself on the street. Hope flickered back into his lifeless eyes. “Xiaoxiao, this time, you won’t escape me again!”

Qin Ye: ...

He instinctively leaned back in tactical retreat.

The AI followed suit. “I don’t want this kind of filth in my database! And also...”

“Look at your daughter. She really is about to cut her own throat,” the AI reminded him, like an old man on the subway checking his phone.

Qin Ye’s attention snapped back to reality.

Qin Yue, having waited in vain for a response, steeled herself and drove the fruit knife toward her neck.

Qin Ye lifted his foot and kicked her.

Though stunned by the blow, Qin Yue’s self-harming attempt was thwarted.

She looked at Qin Ye in disbelief, her delicate face full of shock.

Before she could react further, Qin Ye’s expression changed. “Yueyue, my dear Yueyue, can’t we talk things through? How can you joke about your own life? Thank goodness I was quick. If that knife had gone in, were you really determined to make your old father bury his own child?”

Qin Ye beat his chest in anguish, grief etched into his features, as if his daughter’s actions had aged him ten years in an instant.

Even Zhang Ma, so stunned she nearly squawked, blinked several times, glancing from Qin Ye to Qin Yue, then joined in scolding, “Sir is right, young miss. You can’t joke about your life, no matter what. Come, let Zhang Ma see if you’re hurt.”

Qin Yue’s chest ached from the kick, but she kept silent, stubbornly lifting her chin. “If you won’t agree, I’ll die!”

“Oh, don’t talk about death, it’s unlucky,” Zhang Ma spat several times to ward off bad luck.

“Did Gu Yeting put you up to this?” Qin Ye’s face grew serious once more.

“No, I found out by accident that the Gu family is in trouble, so I came to beg you for help,” Qin Yue replied.

Gu Yeting’s father, Gu Xingteng, was incompetent. Under his management, the family business declined. After several disastrous decisions, the Gu family teetered on the brink of collapse.

In the original memories, Qin Yue had knelt just like this, begging her father to help the Gu family. He couldn’t bear to see his daughter cry; the moment her tears fell, he agreed.

The Qin Group risked everything, sacrificing blood and flesh to help the Gu family through their crisis. Who could have foreseen that Gu Yeting would later turn on them, seizing the opportunity to swallow up the Qin family’s assets?

Had it not been so sudden, even with his protagonist’s halo, Gu Yeting wouldn’t have brought down the Qin Group so easily.

The original man’s deepest hatred wasn’t for Gu Yeting’s betrayal, but for the way Gu Yeting tormented Qin Yue.

His goodwill toward Gu Yeting was solely for Qin Yue’s sake. Otherwise, he had always disapproved of Gu Yeting—never giving him a kind look.

But what had Qin Yue ever done to deserve such cruelty?

He had only agreed to help the Gu family on the condition that Qin Yue go abroad for her studies, hoping distance and time would cool her feelings for Gu Yeting.

In his eyes, Gu Yeting was uncouth, ill-mannered, wholly unworthy of his precious daughter. As a student, Gu Yeting was notorious for fighting and causing trouble, always at the bottom of the class, with a foul temper to boot.

Qin Ye, for his part, also found Gu Yeting’s mind to be truly warped.

And that Ye Xiaoxiao—Gu Yeting treated her like a dog, openly pining for another woman, yet she felt proud simply to be used by him, thinking herself privileged. Qin Ye honestly couldn’t understand it.

“Dad, please help him. I’m begging you. He’s so proud. If the Gu family really falls and he loses everything, how much pain will he endure?”

Qin Yue still tried to persuade him.

Qin Ye frowned. “He’s so proud—how could he possibly accept my help? Yueyue, silly child, your well-intentioned interference will only hurt him more.”

Qin Yue hesitated. “Is that really so?”

“I know what kind of person Gu Yeting is. I even held him as a child. He’s proud to the bone—he’d rather die standing than live on his knees. You mean well, I know, but in his eyes, this is charity. Listen to your father and let this go. Pretend you know nothing.”

“But Dad—”

“No buts. Would your father ever harm you?” Qin Ye patted her shoulder. “You have to trust Gu Yeting. If he’s the one you’ve chosen, is he really the kind of man who’d be crushed by a little setback? Besides, did your father not start from scratch back in the day? Are you saying that proud Gu Yeting can’t even compare to your father?”

“Dad, how could he compare to you?” Qin Yue replied, finally convinced. Gu Yeting was so proud—perhaps he really would rather see the Gu family collapse than accept her help.

Qin Yue was still a student. She knew not to fall in love too early, so even though Gu Yeting showed her favoritism, she had never truly accepted or rejected him, though she did like him.

For a well-behaved child like her, the most rebellious thing she’d ever done was kneel before her father for Gu Yeting’s sake, hoping to use her father’s love to save the Gu family.

Qin Yue was stubborn, but easily persuaded.

The original man’s mistake was loving his daughter more than life itself, granting her every wish, and ultimately raising a white-eyed wolf, only to be bitten in return.

If it were Qin Ye, and not for the original man’s lingering wish, he would have told Qin Yue to die somewhere else if she insisted on dying.

But when it came to fulfilling that wish, he couldn’t be too harsh.

Seeing Qin Yue still look up to her father as the greatest, Qin Ye’s lips curled in satisfaction. Of course, someone as deranged as Gu Yeting couldn’t compare to him.