At eighteen, Xu Mengzhou’s greatest asset was her youth…a reckless bravado that feared nothing and no one. Unfortunately, she had crossed paths with Ruan Li, a woman who could dismantle all her defenses and leave her completely utterly defeated with just a pair of soft lips and a few casual words.
Was Ruan Li being too cruel, or was she just hopelessly out of her depth, unable to handle even the simplest flirtatious teasing?
Xu Mengzhou pouted miserably, her eyes glaring with resentment, though she wasn’t entirely sure who she was actually mad at.
Fortunately, Ruan Li knew when to quit while she was ahead. For the rest of the drive, she didn’t utter a single word, acting as if she were strictly obeying Xu Mengzhou’s wishes.
She understood her “arch-nemesis” all too well. Mengzhou was like a guitar string…tightened yet relaxed, with only a tiny margin left to press down or rebound. If she pulled too hard and the string snapped, the musician’s own hand would be the first to get hurt.
Ruan Li was heading home for serious business, but it was also to give Xu Mengzhou a little breathing space.
It was just like fishing: only by alternating between reeling in and letting out slack could you keep the fish from breaking the line and swimming away.
Ruan Li hadn’t lived at home in a very long time.
Before she turned fourteen, the atmosphere in the house had been bizarre. Her mother, who was generally gentle yet firm, often bore an expression of deep resentment. Her father looked at her with an equally strange gaze…neither affectionate nor repulsed.
It was only when Ruan Li grew older that she finally understood what that look meant: a mix of calculated wariness, a disguised, fake tenderness, and a deeply buried malice.
The thing her father said to her most often was to emphasize how much he loved her, how suffocating her mother’s control over him was, and how she shouldn’t follow in her mother’s footsteps, but instead be a obedient, good daughter. He tried to frame himself as an innocent victim, attempting to get his young daughter on his side so she would hand over the family’s financial control to him.
During the summer break after her mother passed away, Ruan Li stayed with the Xu family. It was there that she learned what true love and self-freedom actually felt like.
From then on, she moved out of the villa to rent a place of her own, wanting nothing to do with her father’s repulsive face.
Yet the old man’s skin was shameless enough. After his mistress was sent to prison, he brazenly brought the twins she had borne him back home, living there openly in a shameless bid to leverage their shared bloodline and claim a piece of the Ruan family fortune.
Lin Wenchao was a venomous snake who epitomized selfishness, treating everyone around him as mere tools and stepping stones.
As for the illegitimate twins…Lin Jing and Lin Nian…they had officially taken their father’s surname after their mother died. They were made of the exact same cloth: cunning, treacherous, and utterly ruthless.
The only difference was that they were dumber.
When Ruan Li arrived home, all three of them were waiting for her. The moment she showed her face, Lin Wenchao greeted her with a warm, attentive smile.
Though in his mid-forties, the man had maintained his appearance well, exuding a refined, scholarly aura. When he smiled, he looked as gentle and pristine as a breeze blowing through a bamboo forest.
“Come, sit, sit! I had the kitchen prepare some bird’s nest soup for you. It’s been simmering on low heat, just waiting for you to get back.” He turned to the twins. “Xiao Jing, Xiao Nian, aren’t you going to greet your sister?”
The twins were fraternal and didn’t look alike.
The elder sister, Lin Jing, took after her father. She bore a strong literary, scholarly air and presented herself as soft and delicate…a classic white lotus.
The younger brother, Lin Nian, took after his mother. His eyes and brows carried a striking, dramatic charm, and his skin was whiter than milk…it was obvious he spent a great deal of effort on his appearance.
Both put on eager smiles and greeted her warmly as their sister.
“Sister, your work must be so exhausting,” one said sweet-talkingly. “Dad personally supervised the kitchen while they made the bird’s nest soup. He missed you so much.”
“Not just Dad,” the other chimed in. “We missed you too! Sister, can you come home to see us more often?”
Ruan Li matched their expressions with a flawless smile of her own. “Now that the bidding process is over, things have slowed down quite a bit. I’ll be back often.”
All four of them were stellar graduates of the fake-smiling academy. To an outsider, they would have looked like the picture of a happy, loving family.
A servant served the bird’s nest soup, which was indeed of top-tier quality. However, Ruan Li never consumed extra rich delicacies like this casually; her diet strictly adhered to her nutritionist’s plan. She simply dipped her spoon to touch her lips, making a polite gesture.
Setting the bowl down, Ruan Li scanned the room before letting her gaze settle on her cheap excuse for a father, Lin Wenchao.
She let out a heavy sigh, looking deeply troubled. “Actually, I came home today because I have something urgent to discuss.”
“The Ruan Corporation is expanding rapidly, which naturally means we’re making plenty of enemies. There are plenty of wolves and jackals in this city looking to tear off a piece of our flesh. Some have even bribed the shareholders… even the people by my side have…”
She knitted her brows tight and closed her eyes briefly, as if struggling to cope with the pain of betrayal.
Taking advantage of the moment, the three exchanged quick glances. Lin Wenchao seemed to catch onto something, a spark of ambition instantly flaring in his eyes.
Sure enough, he heard Ruan Li continue: “During the recent bidding project, I proposed numerous plans, only for the shareholders to shoot them down with all sorts of excuses. These outsiders are stretching their hands right onto my dining table to steal my food. I’m fighting a lonely battle at the company.”
Lin Wenchao’s breath hitched. Suppressing his inner excitement, he forced a look of deep concern and confusion. “How could this be? What should we do?”
Ruan Li looked up. “I need your help.”
The moment the words left her mouth, all three struggled to conceal their thrill. Lin Nian, the least composed of the group, was the first to blurt out, “Sister, just tell us what you need! We’ll definitely help!”
Ruan Li looked touched and deeply relieved, a faint glisten appearing in her eyes.
“There were misunderstandings between us in the past, and I used to harbor hostility toward you… But time is a cure for everything. It has made me truly understand those helpless situations, those past mistakes.”
As she spoke, she gave Lin Wenchao a meaningful look and nodded slightly toward him.
“No matter what, blood is thicker than water,” she continued. “You are my closest family, the people I should trust the most. The Ruan Corporation is our shared home, and we need to work together to take it back from those outsiders.”
She turned her gaze. “Lin Jing… Xiao Jing, would you be willing to join the company and take the lead in developing the newly acquired land?”