Reborn After Divorcing The Obsessive Genius Heiress - Chapter 1

“Hey, have you heard? FutureTech is coming to our school for a recruitment fair next month!”

At Luocheng University Seventh Branch’s Cafeteria 3, Lin Ya slapped the table, sending ripples through the egg drop soup in her bowl.

“Careful,” Qiu Wu said, pushing the wobbling bowl further from the edge. “Do they even need a recruitment fair? I thought most people in Luocheng already work for FutureTech.”

“Tsk, you don’t understand,” Lin Ya said, wagging her finger. She’d always been a die-hard FutureTech fan. “That statistic includes all their branches and subsidiaries. This time, it’s the headquarters coming! They only want the cream of the cream.” She made a secretive hand gesture. “I heard even the probationary salary is this high.”

“Then you’re definitely in,” Qiu Wu said, picking out most of the cilantro from her noodles. “You have the best grades in our class. Just prepare well and make a good impression on your future boss.”

“Maybe not,” Lin Ya said, suddenly shy. “Your grades are good too. Don’t you have any thoughts about it?”

“You said it yourself—they only want the cream of the crop. How could I possibly measure up?” Qiu Wu chuckled. “But I’ll go with you and keep you company.”

“Yess! I love you!” Lin Ya tried to lean across the table and kiss Qiu Wu, but Qiu Wu stopped her. “Alright, enough fooling around. The food’s going to get cold.”

“Excuse me, can we add you on WeChat?” Just as things settled down, someone gently tapped Qiu Wu on the shoulder.

She turned around to see two freshmen, their nervousness evident in their timid glances.

“Freshmen, you shouldn’t be poaching from upperclassmen. We seniors still have plenty of singles,” Lin Ya teased, stirring up mischief.

“Ya Ya…” Qiu Wu glanced at the girls’ tightly clasped hands and smiled warmly. “Sure, I’ll add you.”

They exchanged WeChat contacts and edited the notes.

“My name is Qiu Wu, and I’m from the Industrial Design Department. If you have any questions about campus life as new students, feel free to ask me.”

“It’s no trouble. Goodbye.”

After seeing the freshmen off, Qiu Wu sat back down. Lin Ya propped her head up and laughed. “You should become a celebrity. You’re signing WeChat contacts like you’re signing autographs!”

Qiu Wu looked at her with a weary gaze. Lin Ya dramatically clutched her heart. “Oh, please, stop radiating that charm! I won’t be bewitched by beauty until I get rich!”

“Alright, alright, alright. It’s all my fault. Please eat quickly and get some rest,” Qiu Wu said with an exasperated smile.

Lin Ya was momentarily lost in thought.

It was true that Qiu Wu possessed the physical beauty to bewitch people. Her naturally deep orange hair and pale green eyes were rare in Luocheng, a city predominantly populated by people of Ancient Eastern Continent descent. Moreover, her features were striking: gentle eyebrows, a prominent nose bridge, and full red lips. When she smiled, her almond-shaped eyes sparkled like spring waters, evoking a deep sense of affection.

Her skin wasn’t as pale as that of Luodong residents, who had lived under the Skydome System’s protection since birth. Instead, it carried a unique, healthy, and wild vitality.

In short, based solely on appearance, she resembled a mountain spirit newly transformed into human form more than an ordinary human.

This uncommon aura was like a wild rose suddenly blooming among greenhouse flowers—undeniably eye-catching.

If they hadn’t spent three years together without any sparks of romance, “greenhouse flower” Lin Ya wouldn’t have dared to innocently claim she harbored no improper feelings toward Qiu Wu.

After lunch, with no classes on Friday afternoon, Qiu Wu was preparing to go to the library with Lin Ya to prepare for the presentation when her phone suddenly vibrated in her pocket.

She pulled out her phone.

Sister Wang: “Miss, the Family Head wants me to pick you up. I’m waiting for you in the parking lot at the south gate of the university.”

What’s going on?

Qiu Wu frowned.

Her adoptive mother rarely took the initiative to contact her, perhaps considering her unlucky.

She assumed it was her cousin Qiu Ji, who had been bullied again and needed someone to vent to.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Ya asked, having finished packing her things.

“Nothing. My family needs me, so I can’t stay with you this afternoon. I’m sorry,” Qiu Wu said, putting away her phone with an apologetic smile.

“Don’t worry about it. Just go. Text me if anything comes up,” Lin Ya said, playfully scolding her with a wave of her hand.

After leaving the cafeteria, Qiu Wu opened her umbrella to block the warm afternoon sun and walked alone toward the south gate of Luoda University.

Near the southern gate parking lot, a construction site roared with activity. Rumbling machinery flattened the land, reducing it to unrecognizability, while clouds of dust billowed out to fill half the street. Yet this couldn’t disturb the purified sky above.

Qiu Wu remembered that just two months ago, this had been a small grove of trees, home to noisy cicadas and long-tailed birds.

The cicadas were dead, and the birds had flown.

Soon, the decaying flesh of the earth would form a crust of steel and iron.

Beep!

The honk of a car startled Qiu Wu from her thoughts. She hurried over to the long black sedan and climbed in.

“Miss,” the middle-aged woman driving nodded expressionlessly.

The car glided smoothly down the wide road, leaving District 57, home to Luoda University’s Seventh Branch, and heading toward District 15, where the Qiu Family resided.

As they progressed, the roadways grew more congested, the buildings towered higher, and the crowds grew louder.

The entire world was restless.

Qiu Wu averted her gaze and made conversation. “Sister Wang, did the Family Head say why they wanted to see me?”

“No,” Sister Wang replied, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead, not even glancing at her.

Just as I thought.

Qiu Wu’s adoptive mother ran the household with iron discipline, resorting to physical and verbal abuse at the slightest infraction. As a result, nearly every member of the Qiu family had learned to keep their mouths shut, especially when it came to matters involving the Family Head.

Qiu Wu stuck out her tongue, then closed her eyes to rest. Whether it’s fortune or misfortune, I can’t escape it either way.

After nearly four hours of driving, the car finally pulled up to the Qiu family’s ancestral home.

The five-story mansion was a valuable asset in District 15, where real estate prices were skyrocketing, and it remained the last shred of dignity for this declining minor clan.

Qiu Wu stretched her aching limbs from the long drive, smoothed the creases in her clothes, and dusted non-existent specks from her casual pants. Adopting the posture of a “thousand-gold” young lady, she quietly opened the car door.

Back straight, steps steady, and a carefully controlled smile.

Climbing the redwood stairs, Qiu Wu felt as if she were walking to her execution.

“You still have the nerve to come back?”

The executioner had arrived.

Qiu Wu stiffly raised her head, meeting her cousin Qiu Ji’s icy gaze. The woman shared her green eyes, but her hair was jet black.

“I asked you a question. Are you deaf?” Qiu Ji’s mood seemed particularly foul today as she strode quickly to confront her.

Qiu Wu lowered her head decisively. “My apologies, Eldest Miss.”

At this moment, arguing over who was the greater thief or bandit would only invite more physical punishment. A simple apology, on the other hand, might preserve some peace.

Her calculation proved wrong.

Qiu Ji seized Qiu Wu by the throat and slammed her against the nearby wall with brute force.

You’re not the eldest sister… Did you decide to get rid of me on the spur of the moment?

The stone carvings on the wall dug painfully into her back, the suffocation bringing a wave of dizziness.

Qiu Wu gripped Qiu Ji’s wrist. Breaking free wouldn’t be difficult, but considering the consequences, she resignedly gave up the struggle. “Eldest Miss,” she gasped, “did I… did I offend you?”

Qiu Ji had never personally laid a hand on her before. At most, she’d scold her, punish her to kneel in the Confinement Room.

Qiu Ji glared at her, and in those eyes—so like her own—Qiu Wu saw a sea of loathing and a glimmer of… resentment?

“You… you’re quite capable.”

What capability?

Qiu Wu didn’t understand, but she wouldn’t need to if Qiu Ji didn’t release her.

“The… the Family Head is still waiting for me.”

Even if you don’t care about my life, you can’t ignore your mother, can you?

“Hmph!”

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

Qiu Ji released her grip. Qiu Wu collapsed into violent coughs, her vision blurring as tears from the chokehold briefly obscured her sight.

By the time she regained her composure, Qiu Ji had already left.

Qiu Wu activated the front-facing camera. As expected, a conspicuous red mark circled her neck.

The fear wouldn’t dissipate anytime soon.

She sighed, returned to her small room on the lowest floor, and covered the mark with a silk scarf.

Her adoptive mother wouldn’t intervene even if she saw it, so this way she could avoid the trouble of explaining.

The study of Qiu Qi, the Family Head of the Qiu Family, was on the third floor, protected by a thick wooden door so solid it seemed you wouldn’t hear a sound even if the building exploded.

Qiu Wu remembered her last visit here was when she was twelve, just after being adopted by the Qiu Family.

This probably isn’t good either.

After confirming her expression was innocent and obedient, Qiu Wu pressed the intercom button beside the door.

“Family Head, it’s me, Qiu Wu.”

After a brief silence, Qiu Qi’s voice came through, accompanied by the click of the lock.

“Enter.”

Qiu Wu pushed the door open. Nine years had passed, but the room seemed unchanged: the massive wooden desk wide enough for a pool table, the towering bookshelves crammed with volumes. Even with the spacious room and ample natural light, the atmosphere remained stifling.

The only difference was the person seated at the desk.

Qiu Qi, usually stern and bitter, was actually smiling at her.

Every hair on Qiu Wu’s body stood on end.

When things are this abnormal, something sinister must be at work!

Precisely because she understood her situation so well, Qiu Wu felt unprecedented panic.

Nine years ago, the previous Family Head of the Qiu Family had fallen gravely ill, and their business ventures had suffered repeated setbacks.

The Qiu Family, plagued by misfortunes, finally turned to metaphysics and consulted a renowned Master for a divination.

The Master declared that the Qiu Family was destined for this calamity, and to avert it, they needed to adopt a girl of the same clan, born on the day of the Awakening of Insects, and treat her with kindness.

After great effort, the Qiu Family found a suitable candidate: Qiu Wu, who was then living in Luoxi.

Tracing their lineage back four or five generations, Qiu Wu’s family was indeed related to Qiu Qi’s ancestors. But a century had passed, and the two branches of the Qiu Family had grown incomparably different.

Just as Luoxi and Luodong, though part of the same city and separated only by the Luochuan River, had developed vastly distinct characters.

Luodong accounted for over ninety percent of Luocheng’s population and economy, its technology leading the world, making it the most prosperous metropolis in the globe.

Luoxi, however, relied on agriculture and animal husbandry. In recent years, pressured by Luodong’s development, it had become increasingly sparsely populated across its vast lands.

While Qiu Ji of Luodong attended a banquet with her mother, Qiu Wu of Luoxi was picking red-tinged apples from the branches.

Perhaps fate had a hand in it. During the first three months after Qiu Qi approached her, Qiu Wu’s parents died in a car accident while transporting their farm produce to the market. Left behind were Qiu Wu, her elderly grandmother, and her two-year-old sister. The culprit was a penniless drunk who couldn’t afford much compensation.

Faced with the Qiu Family’s relatively generous compensation and the prospect of a shattered household left without a provider, Qiu Wu had no real choice.

The Qiu Family, eager to resolve their calamity, rushed to complete the adoption procedures and brought Qiu Wu from Luoxi to Luodong. Initially, they were courteous and attentive.

However, the turning point foretold by the Master’s prophecy failed to arrive. Six months after adopting Qiu Wu, the Family Head fell ill and passed away, dealing a severe blow to the family’s business and plunging them into turmoil.

Qiu Wu’s status naturally shifted from “the lucky star of hope” to “the unlucky burden.”

Family Head Qiu Qi treated her as if she were invisible, while Qiu Ji, the original Eldest Miss of the Qiu Family, frequently beat and berated her as if she were a servant.

Qiu Wu held no grudge. She still felt indebted to the Qiu Family; that timely sum of money had saved her remaining family. As for herself, she had braced for the worst the moment she stepped onto the car that took her away from home.

She never imagined this day would come so soon.

Facing the Family Head’s welcoming smile, Qiu Wu braced herself, her caution heightened. “May I ask why you summoned me?”

Qiu Qi gestured to the chair beside the table. “Please, sit. There’s no rush.”

A steaming cup of tea rested on the table before the chair.

At this point, she wouldn’t have been surprised if the Family Head claimed her kidneys were failing and she was the only suitable donor.

Qiu Wu silently took her seat, her hands beneath the table repeatedly rolling the hem of her T-shirt as her mind oscillated between possibilities.

Should I agree to give her a kidney?

Qiu Qi’s light cough interrupted her wild speculations. The usually stern man now spoke with the calm authority of someone presenting financial reports, yet now he was striking up casual conversation. “Xiao Wu, how old are you now?”

“Twenty… twenty-one?” Caught off guard by the question, Qiu Wu stumbled over her words.

Why is he asking this?

Qiu Qi smiled, finally resembling a genuine elder. “When I was your age, I already had A-Ji.”

A sudden realization struck Qiu Wu, and her tense body instantly relaxed.

So that’s all?

It’s just a marriage alliance.

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