The Eldest Sister Destroyed My Entire Family; Upon Rebirth, I Beat Her to Death

Shen Tang, the legitimate daughter of the Pingyuan Marquis, endures a tragic existence after marrying Xie Guimo, the heir to Prince Jingyang. Their marriage is cold and childless, defined by mutual indifference. When Xie Guimo dies of poison on his way back from a victorious campaign, Shen Tang is blamed and cast into a freezing woodshed by her own family. Her twin sister, Shen Juan, reveals the devastating truth: they are not biological sisters. Shen Juan is the daughter of the Second Madam, swapped at birth after their real brother was buried alive and their real brother disappeared. Shen Juan confesses to murdering their father, grandfather, cousin, and unborn child, and reveals she poisoned Xie Guimo using a sachet Shen Tang had embroidered. As Shen Tang is strangled, she is reborn, waking up in her maiden chambers the day before the substitute marriage is to take place.

In this second life, Shen Tang resolves to change her fate. She realizes that her engagement to Xie Guimo was originally meant for Shen Juan, but a bad omen at a temple and Shen Juan's subsequent feigned illness led to Shen Tang being forced to marry in her sister's place. In her previous life, Shen Tang had trusted her maid, Doukou, who suggested drugging Shen Juan to avoid the marriage, a scheme that backfired and resulted in Shen Tang being sent as the substitute bride. This time, Shen Tang exposes Doukou's treachery, slaps her, and refuses to participate in the poisoning plot. When Shen Juan poisons herself to frame Shen Tang, Shen Tang cleverly reveals the deception by splashing tea on the fainted Shen Juan, exposing the fraud in front of the family matriarch and the physician.

Despite the exposure, Consort Ye, the powerful aunt of the Prince Jingyang family and mother of the Second Prince, insists that Shen Tang marry the unconscious Xie Guimo to perform an auspicious ceremony believed to save his life. Shen Tang, knowing from her past life that Xie Guimo will recover regardless, refuses to enter the wedding palanquin. She publicly stakes her life on his survival, stabbing her arm with a hairpin to prove her resolve, and kneels in the ancestral hall until news arrives that Xie Guimo has woken up. Her boldness shocks the family and shifts the power dynamic, earning her a measure of respect from her father, Shen Sui, and the Old Madam.

Shen Tang uses the opportunity to plant seeds of doubt in her father's mind regarding the Second Branch of the family. She claims to have received a dream from her deceased mother, revealing that the Second Uncle orchestrated the disappearance of her elder brother and the switch of the babies. She also reminds her father of a lost jade pendant, proving her knowledge of private matters. This strategy aims to protect her father from the Second Branch's long-term schemes. Meanwhile, Shen Juan, desperate to avoid the marriage now that Xie Guimo is awake, injures herself by soaking in cold well water, further damaging her reputation and health. The engagement is eventually canceled by Prince Jingyang's Manor, leaving Shen Tang free from the doomed marriage. She begins to rebuild her life, determined to uncover the truth about her missing brother and exact revenge on those who destroyed her family in her past life.