THE VILLAINOUS FAMILY AND THE FOOLISH DAUGHTER

In the most luxurious villa in the capital, the crystal chandelier cast a cold light, reflecting off the polished silver tableware. The atmosphere at the Lu family’s dinner table was always suffocating—not because they weren’t happy, but because every member here was a genuine “villain” in the high-society world.

My mother—a true “femme fatale” with sharp eyes and a deadly smile—was holding my year-end summary. She cleared her throat, preparing to read the “achievements” of her eldest daughter. I—Lu Xiaoke—bowed my head, fidgeting with my skirt, my heart pounding like a drum awaiting a final verdict.

“Lu Xiaoke,” my mother’s voice was melodic yet commanding. “This year, you pretended to be pitiful and cried a total of 24 times. Out of those, 23 times people saw right through you. And the last time… it was because someone stepped on your foot, so your fake crying turned into real sobbing. You faked a smile over a thousand times, cursed others in your head hundreds of times, but never once dared to speak it out loud.”

She paused, squinting at me. “Remember the sports meet? You faked a faint to attract the school hunk, but the result was that not a single soul in the stadium cared. You lay there in the sun until you almost got a heatstroke. Your only method for dealing with people you hate is still… telling the teacher. Your keyword for this year is: Useless. Keep it up, daughter.”

The room fell silent. My “green tea” younger sister, Lu Xiaowu, sighed with pity. She flicked through her phone, pouting. “Sister, you’re embarrassing me. How can you be a villain with such poor skills?”

Her screen lit up. I caught a glimpse of a contact named “188 Cold Hunk 10.21” messaging: “Baby, you’re ignoring me, I’m so sad.” Followed by a transfer of 520,000 yuan with the note: “A voluntary gift, no need to return.” I swallowed my bitterness. I was the older sister, yet I hadn’t even held a man’s hand.

My older brother, Lu Zhan—a man famous for his brutality—glared at me. He didn’t know how to comfort, only grunting coldly: “It’s good enough that you’re still alive. Who bullied you? Tell me, I’ll take care of them.”

I lowered my head in gloom. In this house, everyone had talent, everyone had schemes. Only I was the “trash,” the black sheep of the Lu family tree. Frustrated, I slammed the table and stood up, acting as dramatically as possible: “You guys are all idiots! I don’t deserve to be in this family! I’m running away!”

I tried to squeeze out a few tears but failed. Just as I was about to turn away, Butler Wang burst in, his face pale. “Master, Madam! There’s a girl in a white dress at the gate… She says she is the real eldest miss of the Lu family!”

I froze. My 25th attempt at playing the victim for the year failed because of a sudden plot twist. A girl named Gu Ruoyuan, dressed in a simple white dress and looking timid, stepped into the living room. Her calloused hands gripped her skirt, and her eyes were brimmed with tears as she looked at my parents.

“Mom, Dad… I finally found you.” She sobbed out a story about being swapped at birth by a nurse and living a hard life with a peasant woman. Then she turned to me, her voice trembling: “Sister, I know you don’t like me. I can leave right now, I just want to be near my parents for a little while… I won’t fight for anything…”

My weak heart melted instantly. She looked so pitiful; I felt like a villain who had stolen someone else’s life. I sniffled, almost crying along with her. But when I glanced at my family, I felt a chill.

My father let out a long yawn. My mother was nonchalantly admiring her new manicure. My sister curled her lip: “The crying isn’t convincing enough, needs more practice.” My brother tilted his head: “Hey, your snot is coming out.”

Gu Ruoyuan was stunned, quickly sniffing back. Realizing she was being mocked, her face turned purple with rage. I hurriedly whispered to my brother: “She looks so sad, why are you teasing her?”

My brother replied coldly: “Stupid. She’d sell you and you’d probably help her count the money.”

Despite this, with my excessive “compassion,” I still defended Ruoyuan. This drove her mad. In a moment of losing control, she pointed at me and screamed: “Look! How can this idiot be your biological daughter? It should be me! A genuine ‘green tea’ who fits this family!”

My father finally nodded, slowly chewing on a dry cigar (since I banned him from smoking): “Alright, so what do you want?”

Ruoyuan immediately regained her demure look: “I want to join this family, to feel the warmth and love…”

I whispered: “I suspect you’ve come to the wrong house. Where would this family find those things?”

But my sister, Lu Xiaowu, stepped forward and held her hand, smiling gently: “Sister, you should stay.” Seeing that smile, I shuddered. When the “Founder of Green Teas” smiles like that, someone is about to meet their doom.

Ruoyuan quickly sucked up to my mother. She praised her youth and beauty, saying those who called her “Scorpion Beauty” were just jealous. My mother beamed and invited her to the basement to feed the “pets.” Ruoyuan glanced at me triumphantly: “Aren’t you coming? Oh, right, you’re not biological, you probably don’t love animals like Mom and me.”

Five minutes later, a blood-curdling scream echoed from the basement. Ruoyuan was pale as a ghost, collapsing in front of glass cases filled with colorful venomous snakes and scorpions. My mother was surprised: “What’s wrong, dear? I was just about to give you this Emperor Scorpion.”

As she spoke, she placed a giant scorpion on Ruoyuan’s shoulder. Ruoyuan’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the spot. My mother panicked: “My baby! My baby!” but her hands were busy putting the scorpion back in its box, afraid it would get hurt when she fell.

The following days were a nightmare for Gu Ruoyuan. She tried to seduce my brother by wearing a thin nightgown to his room at night. Instead, he forced her to watch 5D VR horror movies all night long, causing her to faint under his bed; she didn’t wake up until two days later.

When she went to school with my sister, she tried to use her looks to steal the “fish” in Xiaowu’s pond. But she didn’t know that Xiaowu was a genius top student, and all those school hunks were just “prey” in Xiaowu’s hands. Ruoyuan danced on stage, but the Crown Prince of the capital forced her to dance all night because he thought she was… a living music box. She went to cheer at a basketball game and gave the school boss water that caused a strawberry allergy, landing him in the hospital. He declared: “Gu Ruoyuan and dogs are not allowed on the court.”

Ruoyuan’s endurance reached its limit. One afternoon, when it was just the two of us, she furiously knocked over the cake I offered her.

“Why is your life so easy?” she screamed, eyes bloodshot. “You stole 20 years of my life! I’m kicking you out!”

She slapped herself, pinched her arms until they were bruised, and even took a knife to slash her own wrist. Then, she set fire to my brother’s favorite anatomy book. When the butler and my parents rushed in, she sobbed: “It hurts so much… don’t blame Sister Xiaoke, it was my fault for making her angry…”

My father rubbed his chin and looked at me, his eyes filled not with anger, but with pleasant surprise: “Xiaoke, did you really do this? Well done, you finally learned how to strike!”

But Ruoyuan’s smile vanished when my mother sighed: “Mr. Lu, book the tickets. Send Ruoyuan abroad tomorrow. Hire bodyguards to watch her; don’t let her come back.”

Ruoyuan froze. “Why? She bullied me!”

My brother cut her off coldly: “Sister, stop reading those trashy novels. Xiaoke is a natural-born idiot; she’s lucky if others don’t bully her. Aren’t you tired of acting alone?”

I quietly unclasped my necklace and pressed play. The images of her self-harming and burning the book were clear as day. “I’m stupid, so I always wear a mini camera to protect myself,” I said softly. Ruoyuan wailed, but not a single person in this villainous family showed any mercy. She was dragged away that very night.

Everything seemed to be over until the night of my rescheduled birthday party. I was kidnapped.

Waking up on a jagged cliff, I found myself tied up, with the black sea roaring below. Gu Ruoyuan held a dagger, her face insane: “It’s all your fault! Because of you, my mission failed. Your parents have enemies; they hired me for 5 million to tear your family apart. I’m the fake one, you’re the real one, but who would believe it?”

I looked at her, surprisingly calm. “I knew you were a fake long ago. Even though everyone in my family is ‘bad,’ they never strike their own. You slandered my sister, burned my brother’s book… that proved you aren’t a Lu.”

She sneered: “So what? You’re dead now!”

“Did you forget I’m a coward?” I smiled. “There’s a GPS chip in my earrings. If I leave the house more than 50km, it triggers an alarm.”

The roar of a helicopter tore through the night. My father’s voice boomed over a loudspeaker: “Release my precious daughter!”

“Bang! Bang!” Two sniper shots rang out, precisely hitting Ruoyuan’s limbs. She collapsed but didn’t die. My brother poked his head out of the helicopter, his face still cold as ice, but his fingers made a small “finger heart” towards me.

Back home, I was still the foolish Lu Xiaoke, unable to read stock charts or manipulate men. But at the cozy birthday party, watching my family clap and sing off-key, my heart was full of joy.

“Thank you for not hating me for being stupid,” I sobbed.

My mother held my hand: “You’re not stupid. You’re the only one who takes care of the snakes when I’m away.”

My father added: “And the only one who dares to ban me from smoking.”

My sister winked: “You’re the one who makes this house of villains feel like a home.”

I closed my eyes and made a wish under the candlelight. It turned out that in a forest of villains, sincerity—and sometimes a little “foolishness”—was the most powerful weapon to hold a family together.