The man was in a hurry. He whispered a quick “Sorry” and left immediately. He was dressed in a sharp suit with polished leather shoes, sapphire cufflinks that caught the light, and brilliant golden hair the very image of an elite professional.
Cheng Yu wrapped an arm around Bai Niao’s waist, narrowing his eyes as he watched the man’s retreating back. “Is that someone you know?” he asked softly.
Bai Niao’s face was pale. She forced herself to stay calm and shook her head. “I don’t know him. Don’t… don’t be like that. He probably just had an emergency. I’m fine anyway.”
She tugged at Cheng Yu’s sleeve, her lips pressed thin. Cheng Yu ruffled her hair and smiled. “What kind of person do you take me for?”
“I’m just worried about you,” he said nonchalantly. “If you do know him, it’s fine; I could accompany you to say hello.”
Bai Niao shook her head vigorously, looking a bit anxious. “I really don’t know him. Let’s just go eat; I’m starving.” Her expression was haughty, bordering on accusatory.
Cheng Yu allowed her to pull him inside by the sleeve, laughing helplessly. “Alright, whatever Niaoniao says.”
Earlier that afternoon, he could tell at a glance that the imposter was trying her best to imitate Bai Niao, but her disguise was clumsy—as obvious as a puppeteer pulling strings. The real Bai Niao was vivid and vibrant, like a spring rose that no color could overshadow.
Cheng Yu’s focus was entirely on Bai Niao, so even someone as meticulous as him didn’t notice that her palms were covered in cold sweat. She kept her eyes lowered, her gaze filled with profound terror.
Why is that man in the capital? Shouldn’t he have been deported long ago?
Though years had passed, the moment she saw his face, Bai Niao’s memories flooded back. She wouldn’t forget that face even if she died.
She sat beside Cheng Yu on the soft, half-moon sofa of the high-end restaurant, which shielded most of their table from the view of others. Cheng Yu held a fork, coaxing her softly, “Come, Niaoniao, have some fruit first.”
He was always indulgent with her; when he doted on her, he could be incredibly tender. Bai Niao’s smile was forced. She was so nervous that her teeth clamped down hard on the silver fork, and she accidentally bit her tongue until it bled.
Being a very delicate person, her eyes immediately filled with tears. Cheng Yu pried her lips open and saw the slight trail of blood on her bright red tongue. He immediately asked in a low, urgent voice, “Does it hurt, Niaoniao?”
Her tears were about to fall. Her watery eyes shimmered as she whimpered, “It hurts.”
Her scattered thoughts suddenly snapped back to the present, and tears began to fall like broken strings of pearls. Cheng Yu hadn’t brought many people with him today. He leaned over to kiss her forehead, handed her some water, and said instantly, “Wait a moment, I’ll have the doctor come over.”
Bai Niao took a small sip of ice water and nodded with a wrinkled face, her long lashes wet from crying piteously. Cheng Yu hadn’t stationed anyone inside the dining area, but whenever he traveled, there were always escorts nearby. Bai Niao didn’t like being watched, so he simply didn’t let them show themselves.
Without thinking much of it, Cheng Yu got up and left.
Bai Niao sat in her seat, her eyes still red, until the man who had bumped into her earlier walked back toward her. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed European was very conspicuous in the crowd. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and appeared before her like a silent phantom.
“You’re still alive?” the man asked with a hint of surprise, yet his expression remained chillingly calm.
Bai Niao gritted her teeth, suppressing the urge to slap him. So many years had passed, but seeing his face still caused a wave of frantic rage to surge from her chest.
“You damn bastard!” She wanted to kill him right then and there. “Why aren’t you dead yet?”
The man’s Chinese wasn’t perfectly standard, but it was fluent enough. He spread his hands and smiled. “The Lord is above; of course I am still alive. And I shall remain alive until I go to Heaven.”
When Bai Niao first met her fiancé, she was just a small child.
Before her birth, her mother, Madam Zhong, had been infertile for many years, so her arrival was the greatest joy the Zhong family had experienced in a long time. From the moment she was born, she was exceptionally pampered; everyone in the family doted on her. It could be said that Bai Niao entered this world surrounded by spoiled affection.
But within two or three years, her situation underwent a subtle change because Madam Zhong became pregnant again. While the child was still in the womb, doctors diagnosed it as a boy.
The Zhong family had been on the verge of having no male heir, so the news of a “Young Master” sent them into such a frenzy of joy that they ignored the doctor’s subtle hints—or perhaps, even if they knew, they didn’t care.
Although the Zhong family had declined, they were still old nobility and a genuine wealthy clan with a prestigious reputation. When the Zhongs married off their daughters, it was always to higher-status families; they were never mistreated. So what if the Young Master was a “medicine jar” (frail/sickly)? With the Zhong family’s wealth and power, they could afford to raise him regardless.
Two or three-year-old Bai Niao, clutching her teddy bear and watching everyone celebrate, vaguely understood her brother’s special status. But shortly after the Young Master was born, the good news turned into a nightmare.
He truly was a “medicine jar”—and not an ordinary one. The names of his ailments were ones that rarely even appeared in medical textbooks. In an era of highly advanced medicine and technology, Zhong Yu’s illnesses made even famous doctors sigh and shake their heads.
None of this had anything to do with Bai Niao. She held her dolls, lay in the arms of her teddy bear, and listened to her nanny tell stories. Despite lacking her mother’s care, Bai Niao grew into a beautiful, healthy young girl. She wore twin ponytails and greeted every servant in the villa with a smile. Many said the Eldest Miss of the Zhong family was a child brighter than the sun.
Everything changed when Bai Niao was eight or nine years old.
The Young Master, Zhong Yu, who had lived in a hospital ward since birth, was finally discharged after a successful major surgery and returned home for the first time. He was like a porcelain doll features delicate, face pale, needing support just to walk.
Madam Zhong had taken Bai Niao to the hospital to see Zhong Yu before. He had been lying on a sterile white bed behind glass. She had asked curiously, “Mom, when will Brother get better?”
Madam Zhong’s expression had been very sorrowful, but back then, she would still say gently, “Don’t worry, Brother will be better soon.”
However, her son’s prolonged illness eventually withered her last bit of warmth. Years later, Bai Niao still remembered Madam Zhong losing her temper once, pointing at her and screaming, “Why weren’t you the one who got sick?”
Afterward, Madam Zhong had held Bai Niao and cried, apologizing to her, but Bai Niao remained heartbroken for a long time. It wasn’t until she completely left the Zhong family that she understood why. The one plagued by illness shouldn’t have been her, of course. She didn’t have a pair of parents who had committed so many sins; naturally, the karmic retribution wouldn’t fall on her head.
But at eight or nine, Bai Niao was a very simple child. Holding her teddy bear, wearing a white princess dress and a small silver crown, she walked down the stairs with innocent eyes, looking just like a little princess from a storybook.
Her eyes were soft as she said gently, “Brother, I’m Big Sister.”
She was pampered and willful; even at eight or nine, she still wanted her nanny to feed her, not acting like a big sister at all.
Zhong Yu looked down in silence. He looked like porcelain, his neck a sickly greenish-white with veins clearly visible. Bai Niao thought he was ignoring her on purpose; feeling both embarrassed and annoyed, her face flushed red. She had been raised on a pedestal and had never been treated with such slight.
Zhong Yu stood there for a long time before letting out a raspy “Sister.” Bai Niao was terrified; she had never heard such a scary voice. It didn’t sound human at all—it sounded like a wild beast.
Terrified, Bai Niao hugged her bear and ran back to her bedroom. Her nanny came to comfort her, explaining that because her brother had undergone surgery, he had to use a medical device to speak; he hadn’t meant to scare her. She let out an “Ah,” her small face filling with guilt, but it was impossible for her to apologize to Zhong Yu. After all, she was the “Big Sister.”
So, it wasn’t until dinner that Bai Niao sheepishly went downstairs. She watched Zhong Yu slowly eating his medicinal meal, her eyes wide with curiosity. “Can I have a taste, Brother?”
Bai Niao had never seen a medicinal meal before. Zhong Yu seemed dazed for a moment, then nodded and pushed the porcelain bowl toward her. Bai Niao took a spoonful, but the moment she tasted it, she spat it out because it was so bitter. Being incredibly delicate, she let out a “Wah” and started crying.
Her nanny hurried over to hold her, giving her water to rinse her mouth and coaxing her with candies and desserts. “Don’t cry, Eldest Miss. You’ll feel better after eating something sweet.”
Zhong Yu sat in his seat, looking a bit nervous. He was a child of very few words and quite small; he stood on his tiptoes to offer an unwrapped candy to Bai Niao. “Sor… ry…”
The porcelain-like child looked so earnest. Looking at him, Bai Niao slowly forgot to cry after eating several candies.
During that time, Mr. and Madam Zhong were away. The servants had initially worried the two wouldn’t get along since Bai Niao was such a pampered miss, but to their surprise, the siblings soon became very close. She would wear her little backpack and leather shoes, calling out “Brother!” sweetly when she came home from school.
Their close relationship greatly relieved Madam Zhong upon her return.
Until one afternoon, Bai Niao secretly took Zhong Yu to the garden. She had prepared a huge bouquet for him and said excitedly, “Today is the 100th-day anniversary of Brother being discharged!”
But as soon as she finished speaking, her quiet and well-behaved brother’s face suddenly turned blue. His breathing became labored, and white foam soon seeped from his lips. Only then did Bai Niao learn that her brother was so fragile he couldn’t even stand the scent of flowers.
When Madam Zhong found out, she nearly went insane. She gripped Bai Niao, her mind shattered. “Are you trying to kill your brother on purpose so you can inherit the Zhong family fortune?”
“I’m telling you,” she screamed maniacally, “not a chance!”
Bai Niao wasn’t even nine yet; she didn’t understand what Madam Zhong was talking about. Her lips were pressed together, and in her palm was a candy that was about to melt—but she could never give it to Zhong Yu again.
Madam Zhong sent Bai Niao away to another location. The nanny and servants who looked after her were all replaced with new ones. In the massive villa, Bai Niao held her teddy bear and spent many sad days and nights.
But she was truly a person blessed with good fortune.
The grandmother next door discovered Bai Niao’s presence. Every day, she would invite Bai Niao over as a guest to eat her homemade cookies and let Bai Niao pet her long-time cats and dogs. Her yard was filled with roses, and the canvases on the walls were covered in oil paintings.
Bai Niao squatted on the ground, her skirt stained with dirt, but she was working hard to water the plants. “I can water them now, Grandma!” Her voice was soft, but just as she finished, she was bumped by a dog that suddenly rushed over.
Bai Niao tumbled to the ground, her dress soaked by water from her small watering can. She was a mess, and just as she was about to burst into tears from sadness, a pair of hands gently lifted her from the ground.
A young boy in a white shirt spoke in a voice that was gentle and clear. “Grandmother, who is this?”
His choice of words was classical and his speech elegant, like someone who had stepped out of an opera. Bai Niao, covered in mud and with a wet dress, had fallen on the ground—but the first time she met her fiancé, it was indeed in such a pathetic state.
Cradled in his arms, her nose was filled with a lingering, crisp fragrance. She thought dazed, Is this older brother a deity from a storybook? Even his embrace smells so good.
He stayed at the villa for that entire summer, accompanying his grandmother and the young Bai Niao. On Bai Niao’s ninth birthday, he personally made her a cake, lit the candles, and said with a curve of his brows, “I wish Niaoniao happiness and joy every day, and everlasting bliss.”
His phrasing was very archaic, which Bai Niao admired greatly. In reality, it was because his Chinese was still unrefined and not very fluent at the time. Bai Niao couldn’t tell; she just said very happily, “I also wish Brother eternal happiness.”
No one at that age could forget a person like her fiancé. Someone like him merely left a shadow in other people’s worlds, which would turn into tears of regret upon waking from a dream. Furthermore, Bai Niao saw him every summer.
The Zhong family had dumped her there, originally intending to exile her completely. But against all odds, it was there that Bai Niao transformed from a small sparrow under a tree into a phoenix on a branch.
When Bai Niao was twelve, the grandmother next door became seriously ill. Bai Niao cried as she dialed the emergency number, then, under guidance from a video call, her hands trembling, she performed CPR on the grandmother. No one expected that at such a critical moment, a child like her would play the key role.
He flew in from abroad overnight. Compared to the green youth she first met, he was now a tall and upright young man. Bai Niao stayed by the hospital bed, crying harder than anyone. When she saw him, her suppressed tears all came flooding out. She threw herself into his arms, crying once more like that pampered little girl from before.
He knelt down to pick her up, coaxing her in a low voice, “Don’t be afraid, Brother is here.”
Later, the grandmother was taken abroad. Such a deep debt of gratitude eventually transformed into a marriage contract. He took Bai Niao’s hand, led her back to the Zhong family, and said in a gentle, steady voice, “From now on, Brother will back you up.”
Bai Niao was far too young then. She didn’t know what his name represented or what kind of colossus lay behind his surname; she only knew that the way everyone looked at her had changed. Those who once looked down on her were now filled with fear. Those who once insulted her now shrank away.
“We’ll start like this,” his voice was very mild. “In the future, if you find someone you like, just tell me. We can dissolve the engagement; it won’t affect anything.”
Bai Niao was naive; she didn’t understand what the engagement meant for her. She just subconsciously gripped his hand tight and said through tears, “But what if I don’t want to leave you?”
He paused, then knelt down to hold her hand, saying solemnly and tenderly, “Then I will marry you.”
Bai Niao was unlearned and pampered, possessing many bad qualities, but when she was with him, she was always so obedient, soft, and delicate. She was beautiful and had a princess temperament; her male classmates who liked her were too numerous to count, as were the people in the elite circles who secretly watched her.
But Bai Niao never looked at anyone else. She waited to grow up, waited for him to marry her. In her most brilliant and cheerful youth, she gave all her love to him alone. But as she gradually grew up, she realized just how far away he truly was from her.
He stood far too high so high that even if Bai Niao stood on her tiptoes with all her might, she couldn’t reach him. Thus, that love eventually turned into an obsession that destroyed everything.
When she sought out that European businessman, Bai Niao knew she was treading on thin ice, but she truly didn’t know what else to do. She wanted to keep him wanted to keep him forever.
In the end, Bai Niao paid the price for her absurdity, and that price was far too agonizing.