Chapter 1: It Can Only Get Worse, Not Worth It

Standing at the door with her new mother, Sheng Jiaoyang was devastated.

The gloomy door opened, revealing a level of squalor she couldn't have imagined—a bed, barely 1.5 meters wide, stood against the corner, along with a simple cloth wardrobe. In another corner, a wooden table and two plastic stools sat. Further in was a narrow balcony connecting the kitchen and toilet.

From the moment she accepted herself as someone else, she had subtly inquired about her new identity.

A single-parent family, with all expenses covered by Xu Qing's meager salary.

Xu Qing was her new mother. And her current name was Xu Jiaojiao.

She knew the family was poor, but seeing it in person revealed an even greater poverty than she had imagined, a poverty she found hard to accept. She

remained dazed for a long time until the door closed, leaving her alone in the room, before finally snapping back to reality.

While she was lost in thought, her new mother had already done a series of chores, including cooking, laundry, and mopping. Two bowls of barely touched food sat on the table, and Xu Qing was already on her way to work.

"Jiaojiao, Mommy's going to work. Eat and then take a nap," she vaguely remembered Xu Qing saying as she left.

Sheng Jiaoyang rested her chin on her hand, looking down at the two unappetizing bowls of food, and sighed.

If she were to die, it would definitely be from starvation!

With a bitter expression, Sheng Jiaoyang put down her chopsticks, went to the bedside, and rummaged through the backpack she had brought back from the hospital. She found tissues, her phone, coin purse, keys, and some other odds and ends.

After picking out her phone, wallet, and keys, she turned and left the room.

She needed to go to the service center to top up her phone credit. After discovering she had become someone else, she tried to contact her closest relative, her grandfather, but he had taken her original body abroad for medical treatment the night of the accident. To contact him, she first had to get past his personal assistant, Uncle Zeng. Fortunately, she had often called Uncle Zeng before and remembered his number. However, although the call went through, Uncle Zeng not only didn't transfer the call to her grandfather but also hung up on her. Her phone then ran out of credit and was disconnected, making it impossible to make calls. So now she needed to keep her phone accessible before making any further plans.

Walking along the alleyway piled with clutter towards the street, Sheng Jiaoyang felt like she was living through a nightmare. Just a few days ago, she was a young lady driving a sports car, excitedly going to "catch someone in the act," but now she was a poor girl living in a low-rent apartment, having to personally go to the service center to top up her phone credit.

Life is unpredictable!

For years, she had deliberately avoided thrills, living like a normal person, and everything had been peaceful until her heart condition suddenly flared up after she braked suddenly.

Even more unexpectedly, she woke up in another person's body.

Unbeknownst to her, Sheng Jiaoyang had already arrived at the entrance of a mobile phone service center. When she returned with Xu Qing earlier, she had noticed a service center near the bus stop where she could top up her phone credit, and their place was about a 5-minute walk from the bus stop. On a

hot afternoon, there weren't many people on the street, and only one female clerk was eating in the service center.

"Hello, how do I top up my phone credit?" Sheng Jiaoyang walked over.

The clerk looked up and asked, "How much do you want to top up? Top up 100 now and you'll get a gift."

Sheng Jiaoyang rummaged through her coin purse and silently took out a… 10-yuan bill.

"…" The clerk's gaze swept back and forth between the phone in Sheng Jiaoyang's left hand and the bill in her right.

Sheng Jiaoyang glanced down at her phone. Actually, she also found it strange that Xu Jiaojiao, whose family was very poor, could use a phone that would cost several thousand yuan in China.

A moment later, Sheng Jiaoyang, holding her phone with just over a dollar left on the balance, walked out of the store under the strange gaze of the clerk.

The sun shone brightly outside, but her heart was filled with gloom.

She had just checked; the money in her small coin purse was meager, the largest denomination being the ten-yuan bill she had used to top up her phone credit, the rest being just a few one-yuan bills.

Now, she only had those few dollars left.

What could a few dollars do?

The once wealthy and powerful Sheng Jiaoyang wandered the streets in destitution, her life drastically altered, leaving her bewildered.

Before, she was always pampered and taken care of.

Before, she used the best tools for her paintings and studied under top masters.

Before, her attire never cost less than five figures; luxury cars, fine wines, and gourmet food were readily available.

Before, she could do whatever she pleased…

But now, standing at a busy intersection with only a few dollars, she realized that, stripped of her former status, she was powerless.

Suddenly, a crisp cell phone rang.

Sheng Jiaoyang paused, seeing the unmarked number on the screen, she hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Hello?" "

Jiaojiao, your acceptance letter arrived at the school yesterday. Your phone has been out of service these past few days, so I haven't been able to reach you. Remember to keep your phone accessible in the future, otherwise you might miss important information. Okay, come to the school. I'll be in the office these next few days."

"...Oh."

After hanging up, Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly realized a serious problem: she had absolutely no idea which school Xu Jiaojiao graduated from.

She could only return to her place to see if she could find any useful information.

She searched her less than 20-square-meter room from top to bottom, but to her dismay, she found nothing related to the school—not even a diary, textbooks, or homework.

The room was indeed too small, but it was incomprehensible that a student's living space didn't have any books!

After searching for a long time without finding the information she wanted, and instead breaking out in a sweat, Sheng Jiaoyang felt completely exhausted. For a moment, she even considered causing another car accident to see if she could turn back, but it was just a fleeting thought; ultimately, she didn't dare to gamble on that possibility.

Opening the wardrobe, Sheng Jiaoyang silently criticized the original owner's taste. After picking and choosing, she picked out a white T-shirt without any messy patterns, tossed aside the loose, baggy casual pants, and found a pair of cropped jeans.

With a few snips of the scissors, the T-shirt and jeans were transformed.

The high-necked T-shirt had an arc-shaped cutout at the neckline, the hem was shortened, and a half-finger-long wide tassel was left; the cropped jeans were transformed into denim shorts.

As for her underwear, she had asked Xu Qing to buy new ones while she was in the hospital. She absolutely could not tolerate using someone else's underwear, even if that person was the original owner of the body.

Upon reaching the bathroom, she discovered it was so rudimentary that there wasn't even a water heater!

Sheng Jiaoyang nearly went crazy. This place was constantly testing her limits; just when she thought it was the worst, she found something even worse.

A half-meter-high mirror on the gray wall reflected Sheng Jiaoyang's current dejected expression. Beneath thick bangs was a pretty face: large, curved eyelashes, a straight nose, and pink lips. Her face shape resembled Xu Qing's—small, though her chin wasn't as pointed as Xu Qing's due to some baby fat on her cheeks.

Sheng Jiaoyang squinted at her reflection, raising a hand to brush her bangs aside with a hint of disdain. While her appearance was decent, her hairstyle had ruined half her image. The other half was her nearsightedness. Her eyes, which should have been sparkling and captivating, were forced to squint to see.

The only thing she was truly satisfied with was her body—healthy and tall, qualities she had always longed for. If she had Xu Jiaojiao's height, she wouldn't need to wear sky-high heels. Back when she, a petite woman barely over 1.6 meters tall, entered a circle of tall, foreign women, she was constantly ostracized and belittled for her height. Thinking

back on those sarcastic remarks, Sheng Jiaoyang still felt a surge of resentment; she could easily imagine how furious she must have been. Protecting her reputation, she couldn't let that anger fester inside—it would be bad for her health. Since height was an unchangeable fact, she would focus on other areas—academics, connections, taste, and other aspects—to thoroughly outshine them. Seeing their envy and jealousy gave her a sense of satisfaction.

"Looks like I'm not entirely useless after all,"

Sheng Jiaoyang muttered with a slight sense of relief, looking down at her long, straight legs.

Her gaze fell on the clothes in her hands, and her face froze, a terrible headache washing over her.

Hot water…