Back to the Heiress, Back to Slay

Episode 1

Avery Vinton has been farming in the countryside when her brother Sang Yifan shows up, furious that he waited two hours while she worked the land. He calls her a country bumpkin and refuses to accept a sister raised by a nightclub hostess, giving her three minutes to leave. Avery kicks him out instead. Back home, Grandmother orders that Avery be brought back to the Vinton family—"the sky over Jiangcheng is about to change."

Sang Yifan is sent to fetch her, grumbling about picking up someone with a stained past. Yet when he faces Avery, he feels an odd pressure he can't explain. He warns her the score will be settled once she's on his turf.

Episode 2

Avery warns someone to smoke less, then catches a detail no one expects: the emblem on a garment belongs to the top designer Youlan. The family assumes a country girl could never afford such a piece—so it must be borrowed to show off. Their suspicion deepens when Avery arrives on an international motorcycle worth five million, outpacing their two-million car.

At the Vinton house, the staff are told to roll up the Persian rug and set aside a separate cup for the "country" guest, so her mud and poverty don't dirty the family home. Avery finally meets Sang Li—and notes that her mother is the very person who abandoned her.

Episode 3

The reunion turns vicious fast. Avery's mother boasts that she threw away her "weak-minded" child and chose Sang Li instead, who scored 150 on IQ tests and ranked 20th in her province. She warns Avery to drop her nightclub habits or face consequences.

Sang Li plays the gracious sister, presenting a diamond necklace supposedly designed by the famous Youlan as an apology gift. Behind the smile, she's certain a girl who never finished high school can't tell real diamonds from plastic—and that a ten-yuan street-stall necklace will humiliate Avery in high society forever. Avery's quiet question about which "famous designer" works so cheaply lands like a warning shot.

Episode 4

Avery strikes back hard, and Sang Yifan takes the hit—she kicks him once, and he coughs up old blood while onlookers whisper she looks like someone carrying several lives on her conscience. The family erupts: Sang Li arranged a necklace from the top designer Youlan, and Avery dared to make a scene rejecting it.

Avery's reply chills the room—the Avery from before age six is dead, killed by her own mother. Her mother insists a six-year-old couldn't possibly remember. Sang Li taunts that even if Avery spotted the fake, no one in the family will believe her. Then a call comes in: Youlan herself, the twenty-year-old genius designer, is on the line.

Episode 5

Youlan is offended—Avery is wearing items custom-made for her, head to toe, and now someone claims a necklace is Youlan's design. Youlan demands the camera turn so she can see who's bold enough to fake her work. She takes one look and dismisses the necklace as junk, mocking the clumsy lie.

Sang Li scrambles, claiming she bought it through a friend and only wanted to give Avery a taste of humiliation. Youlan isn't moved: within two hours a lawyer's letter will arrive, demanding five million in compensation—pocket money, she says. Avery's mother warns her to make Youlan drop the suit, or she'll be thrown out of the Vinton family. Then someone arrives: the person Avery has been waiting to repay.

Episode 6

Grandmother welcomes Avery home warmly, promising to protect her and help her stand firm in Jiangcheng. Sang Yifan gives Avery a necklace bought with his savings—he kept only ten thousand for living expenses and spent the rest on her. He jokes it still beats Sang Li's fifteen-yuan necklace.

But a photo surfaces: Sang Yifan crouched at a street stall picking out that necklace. He insists he was just helping a child choose a style, not buying it for his sister. Their mother sneers that even a real diamond would look like glass on a village girl. Sang Yifan declares his only sister is Avery—Sang Li is an imposter. Then a lawyer's letter is delivered.

Episode 7

The lawyer's letter arrived in half an hour, not two. Avery's mother orders her to call off Youlan immediately. Avery refuses, and when they threaten her, she shows them what real intimidation looks like—she's been far too polite until now.

The family turns on Grandmother for bringing this "troublemaker" home, but Grandmother stands firm: if Sang Li can't pay, her mother will pay for her. The mother offers to cover the five million herself—only for Avery to reveal she's already donated it. Furious, the mother storms off. Grandmother takes Avery upstairs, and Sang Li seethes: everything in the Sang family is hers, and Avery won't take a single cent. Then Grandmother raises the Fu family engagement.

Episode 8

Grandmother announces that the engagement to the Fu family originally belonged to Avery—it only fell to Sang Li because of the baby swap, and now it should be returned. Sang Li protests that she's the one engaged to Fu Xiuyuan, and her mother argues Avery, raised by a nightclub hostess, would embarrass the wealthiest family in Jiangcheng.

Grandmother is unmoved: what belongs to Avery, no one takes. She asks Avery her thoughts, and Avery agrees to the engagement—the next day. Sang Li's mother insists the engagement party with Fu Xiuyuan be held sooner rather than later. Outside, Sang Li mocks Avery's motorcycle, then gapes at the five-million car Avery casually gives away.

Episode 9

Sang Li tries to provoke Avery into a fight, but Avery's brother steps in, warning that violence would only smear Avery's name online. Their mother threatens her, and Avery fires back—she reminds her of the dark room, the electric shocks, the whippings, the dead mice she forced them to eat as children. Sang Yifan says Avery is the only sister he has left to protect.

At the engagement gathering, Avery is warned to sit quietly and cause no trouble, since the Fu family is coming. But Fu Xiuyuan hasn't shown up—and someone wonders aloud whether he's trying to run from the engagement.