The Big Boss Tears Up the Scum Girl's Script - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: When the Phoenix Girl Goes Straight

Having obtained all of the original owner’s memories, Yun Jiang felt a profound sense of injustice on behalf of the person standing before her.

The original owner was also named Yun Jiang. She hailed from a remote mountain village in the extreme north—a place barren, ignorant, and unheard of by almost everyone.

Her parents’ union was born of mutual pity: an orphan raised on the charity of the village and a neighbor’s daughter who had been abused by her stepmother. They became husband and wife to lean on each other.

Due to their poverty, even their eldest daughter, Yun Jiang, was born at home. She was pulled into this world by a seventy-year-old midwife, weighing a scrawny four pounds.

Her name came about because her mother craved ginger dishes during her recovery. Her father joked that she was a girl raised on “ginger milk,” and teased that she might as well just be called “Ginger” (Jiang). Thus, she was registered as Yun Jiang; both parents could speak, but neither could write.

Before she was ten, her father fell down a mountain path on his way home from a village feast. By the time they found him, his body was frozen solid. He had broken his neck and died instantly.

The mother, the sole remaining pillar of the house, was pregnant at the time. Devastated, she forced herself to control her grief to avoid a premature birth, knowing that a premature baby would cost more money than they had and likely wouldn’t survive anyway.

Three months later, the mother gave birth to a younger sister. The auntie who helped with the delivery told Yun Jiang that this baby was just as scrawny as she had been like a tiny, red monkey.

The young original owner looked at the “skinny monkey” in her arms, then at her mother collapsed on the bed, and felt as if she were looking at her own inevitable future.

The days that followed were a struggle for survival. Their mother worked the thin fields to raise the two sisters, doing just enough to keep them from starving. This impoverished woman did her best to provide stability, and her greatest pride was her brilliant eldest daughter.

Life for a widow with two children was harder than for most. A local loafer set his sights on the three rooms left by the father, wanting to become the girls’ stepfather. He claimed he wanted to farm his few acres alongside theirs.

The mother, well aware of the man’s reputation, rejected the proposal.

Furious, the man and his mother began a smear campaign, slandering the widow from one end of the village to the other. They said the most vile things, and he would often kick their gate while passing by drunk.

Accustomed to cold words since childhood, the mother turned a deaf ear to it all.

The original owner watched with cold eyes. Unlike her sister, who reacted with anger, her desire to escape this place only grew stronger.

When she just started middle school, a group of people carrying cameras arrived in the neighboring village along with two spoiled children. They were dressed in glamorous clothes and looked upon everything there with undisguised disdain.

The original owner went to watch the commotion once. She only caught a glimpse of the words “Program Crew” on the side of a vehicle and the backs of the children as they threw their suitcases in frustration.

The following Monday, the teacher introduced them, saying two transfer students from a big city had come to “experience life” and hoped everyone would get along.

The class cheered with curiosity. Only the original owner noticed that the class monitor, who used to sit in the center, had been “swapped” with one of these students.

She realized then: He got to go out.

Even the original owner, who usually kept to herself, couldn’t suppress her curiosity. One day, while passing a desk, a boy called out to her.

The nonchalant boy asked her what the homework was. Seeing her confusion, he explained that he had spent the whole night on his phone and hadn’t written a word; he wanted to cram because the director’s nagging was annoying.

She instinctively asked, “Aren’t phones just for buttons? Can you actually ‘play’ on them?”

The boy and his female desk-mate laughed. While the cameras weren’t pointed at them, he pulled a cold, black smartphone from his pocket.

The girl smiled and whispered, “The director won’t let us play with them, so we hide them. Don’t tell, okay?”

The glowing screen was a sight she wouldn’t forget for two years. She stared at his palm in wonder. It wasn’t just a phone; it was a rare treasure from a world she had never seen. This was her closest contact with the outside world, and it made her heart pound.

At that time, she didn’t know a camera nearby had zoomed in on her. Her look of longing brought tears to many viewers’ eyes, and the production crew later won an award for it.

However, due to the camera angle, the final cut made it look like she was staring at a black fountain pen on the desk with envy.

The teenage girl in her old, worn-out clothes—with the “plateau red” on her cheeks from the harsh northern winds—looked rough but tidy. Her hair was neat, her posture straight. She stood in silent contrast to the rowdy classmates around her. Her bright, piercing eyes struck a chord in the hearts of the audience.

Later, this photo was used for promotion, captioned as “The Gaze Yearning for Knowledge from the Mountains.” When it aired, the scrolling comments hinted at her extreme poverty.

The response was massive. The production crew visited her home and gave the mother 3,000 yuan, calling it a “portrait fee.”

The mother didn’t understand, but she was overjoyed by this windfall, even as jealous neighbors began to crowd their doorstep.

When the city children left, the boy gave the fountain pen to the original owner, casually saying, “Since you like it so much, you can have it.”

The original owner at school and her mother at home had no idea that cameras were recording their reactions to these “gifts.” It was a tear-jerker that boosted the show’s declining ratings back to the top.

The crew and the city kids made a fortune. While Yun Jiang was thousands of miles away, she became a beneficiary. A corporation sent representatives to announce that the top ten students in the school would receive sponsorship—a significant scholarship, but one that could only be used for education.

The original owner used this “spider silk” of hope to keep herself at the top of her class, never slacking.

By the time she graduated middle school, she held the number one spot and secured her sponsorship. She truly became the “Golden Phoenix” of her hometown. Her mother could finally stand tall against those who said she was useless for only having daughters.

Initially, due to the gap in educational resources, she couldn’t keep up with city students. But she fought back with relentless effort, winning scholarships every year.

After three years in a high-quality high school, she graduated as the 7th highest scorer in the province and was admitted to the prestigious Finance Department of An University.

Up to this point, her life seemed like a story of luck and incredible self-discipline an inspiration to many.

However, in the original owner’s eyes, the university environment was worlds apart from high school. She went from being the center of attention to a “nobody” on the margins.

She hated this feeling. Suddenly, her beauty was just one of many, her talent was matched by everyone else, and her family background was non-existent. In a gathering of elites, she was unremarkable.

Invisible competition was everywhere. Soft competition in lifestyle was far more intense than just studying.

The original owner developed a taste for vanity. Starting in high school, she refused to admit she was the girl in that famous, tragic photo from years ago, leading people to believe it was just someone who looked like her.

The students saw her as an independent, brilliant top student. Seeing her fair, delicate face, they believed her and stopped bringing up the photo. Only then did she feel at ease. She was desperate to shed her past; she wanted to kill the memory of that “clueless village girl” before anyone else could find her.

Or rather, this issue had always existed. She had been suppressing it until it reached a breaking point and exploded out of control.

Regarding her scholarships, she spent them all on herself. As a student, this was somewhat understandable and not necessarily a cause for harsh criticism.

However, she gradually cut off daily contact with her mother and sister. She only reached out when necessary and usually, “necessary” meant asking for money. She would use “study materials” as an excuse to squeeze more money from her mother.

Previously, when she had first secured her high school sponsorship, her younger sister, Yun Juan, had wanted to use her old study notes to improve her own grades. But Yun Jiang wanted to remain the only “Golden Phoenix.” She wanted to be the only one praised.

After the National College Entrance Exam, she did the same. To avoid being criticized, she deliberately “abandoned” her study notes at the dormitory entrance, letting the cleaning lady sell them for scrap. If asked, she could play the victim.

She would rather her notes be sold as trash than give them to anyone—including her own sister or juniors asking for help. This revealed her hidden, selfish nature.

Yun Juan had already begun to suspect her sister’s behavior. Faced with her sister’s indifferent expression, she finally realized the truth and spoke her doubts aloud.

The original owner, home for a rare visit, had a massive fight with her sister. Their mother didn’t know what to do. Yun Jiang used “getting familiar with the campus” as an excuse to leave for university early—the very day after her celebratory banquet.

In university, her standards for food and clothing became exorbitant. She dressed exquisitely and spent lavishly. Carrying designer bags and wearing current season fashions, nothing on her body cost less than four digits. Those who didn’t know her assumed she came from a wealthy family.

As her desire for consumption expanded, her funds dwindled. Though a student at a top-tier university, she turned to dark paths: consumer loans, credit cards, and borrowing from acquaintances.

The school scholarships were no longer enough. She was strapped for cash but refused to break the “wealthy” image she had built by taking a part-time job. Furthermore, her plans for grad school would require even more money.

The original owner took a desperate step. She turned to her family for money. After her mother gave what she could several times, she eventually ran out and asked for a few more days.

Pressed by creditors, the original owner felt that her mother’s meager savings wouldn’t be enough anyway. She blurted out that they should just marry off Yun Juan the bride price from the man in the next village would be more than enough to cover her debts.

The mother was horrified by her eldest daughter’s words. Naturally, she could never agree.

The original owner, thousands of miles away, didn’t realize that her mother’s old phone was on speaker. Every word she said was heard clearly by Yun Juan.

No matter how hard she tried, Yun Juan could never have imagined that in her sister’s eyes, she was merely an object to be traded for cash. Her heart went cold, and their already strained relationship hit absolute zero.

It was at this moment that the original owner met Lu Yuan a rich, beautiful woman who was “silly with money.” Spurred on by others, she began to pursue her.

This relationship started with the twisted intent of treating Lu Yuan as a human ATM. Beyond that, she eventually caused the ruin of Lu Yuan’s entire family. It was truly a monstrous thing to do.

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