Volume 1, Chapter 1: The Crimson Bite
Outside the car window, the night scenery kept shifting, scattered lights and shadows falling over the trembling shoulders of a young girl.
On her fair skin was a deep crimson bite mark.
“Put your clothes on.”
“Stop crying.”
The man in front of her gripped Meng Zhi’s slender waist, the veins on the back of his hand clearly visible.
His fingertips moved slightly, pulling up the collar that had slipped off Meng Zhi’s shoulder.
Yet her body temperature kept rising, stirring bold desires in the girl who was usually shy and reserved.
She gently cupped the man’s face, her voice naturally sweet and soft, tinged with a hint of tears: “Don’t you like me anymore?”
Without giving her a chance to react, he grabbed the back of her head and kissed her lips heavily.
The man’s features were indistinct in the shadows, but the masculine tension that only a mature man possessed made her heart race. In her daze, she mistook him for someone else.
He was gentle yet forceful, reducing her to sobs until she unconsciously called out the name of her childhood sweetheart.
Her lips stung as he bit her.
“Zhizhi.”
“Look clearly. Who am I?”
Meng Zhi’s body went weak. She opened her eyes and looked at him through the mist in them.
…
A shrill voice woke Meng Zhi from her light sleep.
“Give me the steering wheel now!”
The woman frantically grabbed for the wheel, and the sound of a sudden brake followed.
Then came a violent impact and a fine, piercing pain.
The Meng family’s driver died on the spot. Meng Zhi didn’t know when she had been thrown from the car.
She hurt so much she couldn’t even lift her fingertips, her vision blurred with blood.
Chu Qinyan, also injured, crawled out from the passenger seat and made her way to the back of the car, avoiding the dashcam.
Seeing Meng Zhi’s situation, Chu Qinyan burst into wild laughter:
“Perfect, Meng Zhi. It seems fate wants you to die here.”
“I will never let you get your marriage certificate with A’ye.”
“Your fiancé, your parents, everything—it’s all mine!”
With her last bit of strength, Meng Zhi grabbed onto the iron railing beside her, her hands gradually losing their color.
She didn’t understand. She had already fled the Meng family long ago, far away from everything Chu Qinyan had taken from her. Why was she still not satisfied?
Six years ago, a news story had captured the city’s attention—a girl covered in wounds had escaped barefoot from the mountains, desperately fighting against being sold off by her foster parents.
Back then, it was Chu Qinyan who had desperately stopped the Meng family’s car.
Meng’s mother’s heart ached for this girl with such a bitter fate, and together with Meng’s father, they decided to sponsor her.
Meng Zhi didn’t know when it had started, but this girl who visited her parents once a week began appearing more and more frequently.
Chu Qinyan even worked desperately hard to get into the same school as Meng Zhi. After that, she gradually began to imitate her style of dress and her way of speaking.
But she presented herself as even more pitiful and delicate, always afraid of being abandoned.
Whenever Meng Zhi showed the slightest displeasure, not only her family but even the people around her would say:
[You were raised as your parents’ only beloved child. She’s so pitiful—what harm is there in giving in to her a little?]
[Chu Qinyan became this outstanding, and she had to pay far more than you did. How can you be so petty and jealous of her?]
[You’re not saying you don’t want your family to keep helping her, are you? Do you want to drive her to her death?]
Meng Zhi had forgotten when her personality had become so reserved.
She only remembered that Chu Qinyan was becoming more and more like the lively, cheerful girl she herself used to be, and her pitiful, humble demeanor made everyone love her even more.
Only Shang Ye, her childhood friend, had always stayed by Meng Zhi’s side.
He held her hand, leading her to him time and again, giving her enough of a sense of security.
Meng Zhi listened as Chu Qinyan repeated the name “Shang Ye” over and over. Her consciousness was already fading, and she didn’t even have the strength to speak.
She dug her fingernails into her palm, forcing herself to stay awake.
Only Shang Ye—only him—couldn’t be taken away from her.
Just then, Chu Qinyan stumbled forward a few steps and collapsed onto the ground.
A sobbing voice came through:
“Ah Ye, Ah Ye, I’m in so much pain. Hold me…”
“I don’t know—I can’t reach Mom or Dad, and Meng Zhi isn’t answering either. I’m so scared. Am I going to die?”
“Qinyan, don’t be afraid!”
Shang Ye’s voice rang out, carrying a worry and fear Meng Zhi had never heard from him before.
Meng Zhi was too weak to make a sound, the strength in her hands draining away rapidly.
The man didn’t even take the time to assess the scene. He scooped Chu Qinyan into his arms and strode toward the car.
“Ah Ye, if I die, can you promise me one thing?”
“Don’t say that. You’re not going to die.”
“Can you not marry Zhizhi? I loved you before she ever did. I don’t want anything else—I only want you, Ah Ye…”
“Alright, I promise you. Let’s get to the hospital first, be good.”
Meng Zhi couldn’t hear anything after that.
She was like a hollow shell stripped of its soul, even her will to live gone.
Before her eyes, she seemed to see her parents and Shang Ye gathered around a hospital room, all of them fussing over Chu Qinyan, as if the name “Meng Zhi” had been erased entirely.
Meng Zhi closed her eyes. The moment she went limp, a hand suddenly seized her with force.
“Meng Zhi! Grab hold of me!”
A vaguely familiar low voice came through, carrying a fear that was foreign to Meng Zhi.
She only felt herself grow lighter before being enveloped in an embrace with a crisp, clean scent.
The man carried her swiftly into the car, stripped off his coat, and wrapped her tightly within it.
“Hurry. To the hospital.”
She heard him bark in a low voice, then pick up his phone to issue more orders.
But when he spoke to her, his cold, distant tone turned impossibly gentle.
“Meng Zhi, Zhizhi, don’t fall asleep yet.”
“Do you know who I am?”
The man’s slender hand wiped at the blood streaming from Meng Zhi’s forehead, while his other hand clenched into a fist, as if holding back something fierce.
Meng Zhi couldn’t tell whether it was her shivering from the cold, or him.
The thought made her bitter. Her own parents didn’t want her—was there really anyone in this world who feared losing her?
“Zhizhi, I won’t let anything happen to you. Don’t be scared.”
His warm palm brushed against her ice-cold cheek, treating her with the utmost care.
Meng Zhi suddenly wanted to see his face. She forced her eyes open.
Before her was a magnified, handsome, mature face. His deep, unfathomable dark eyes concealed all coldness and fury, reflecting only her image.
These features—Meng Zhi knew them all too well.
She had only ever seen him as someone unapproachable, without a hint of a smile.
“Little… uncle?”
Her fiancé’s uncle.
Shang Shiyan.
As if to confirm she wasn’t hallucinating, the man’s throat bobbed, and a fleeting, complex emotion flickered through his eyes.
“Mm. It’s me.”
Meng Zhi was utterly stunned.
She had imagined a thousand possibilities, but never that the one person least likely to appear would show up here.
How could her little uncle possibly be here?
Before she could think further, Meng Zhi sank into endless darkness.