The roar of a car engine swelled from far to near, and soon it pulled up close to Lin Muyan and Lin Xiao.
A deep-blue Rolls-Royce came to an abrupt stop beside Lin Muyan. The window rolled down, and from the back seat a handsome, flashy face leaned into view.
“Muyan, is it really you?”
The instant Rong Muchen laid eyes on Lin Muyan, the delight in his eyes was something he didn’t even try to hide.
Lin Muyan and the bullet comments were startled at the very same moment.
“Muchen, you’re back in the country?”
【Hold on, why has Young Master Rong shown up early?】
【If Young Master Rong is back in the country at this point, doesn’t that mean he’ll meet Jiaojiao ahead of schedule? This…】
The bullet comments fell into chaos. While Lin Muyan fielded Rong Muchen’s greetings, she didn’t miss a single one of the comments’ spoilers.
“Muyan, the whole gang’s been saying you’re the baby the Shen family swapped by mistake. Seeing you here in the Half-Mountain Villas puts my mind at ease, I told them they were talking nonsense, taking the joke too far at your expense. I’ll go chew them out when I get back.”
【By rights, Rong Muchen is supposed to be the guy who claws his way back from overseas after the global apocalypse breaks out, and it’s Jiaojiao who takes him in.】
【Rong Muchen and Lin Muyan were originally boyfriend and girlfriend, they never quite made it official, but everyone in their circle knew the two of them had been a thing for a while. It was only after she went to the Shen family and started acting up day after day, putting everyone in danger over and over, that Young Master Rong finally saw through her true face.】
【Young Master Rong and Jiaojiao are a match made in heaven, mutual attraction, feelings deepening over time. I ship them so hard. But now he’s actually back in the country early, could things be changing?】
Even though the bullet comments had gone quiet for a while after Shen Jiaojiao’s baffling little speech earlier, when it really came down to the crunch, they still sided with Shen Jiaojiao.
Lin Muyan had no idea that, from the bullet comments’s point of view, Muchen and Shen Jiaojiao were supposed to be the couple. Then again, it figured, even the young-miss identity itself belonged to Shen Jiaojiao, so what right did a fake heiress like her have to be with a rich, handsome man like Rong Muchen?
So Lin Muyan abruptly cut Rong Muchen off.
“They weren’t talking nonsense. I really am not the Shen family’s young miss. I left the Shen family a few days ago. Young Master Rong, I’ve got things to do, so I’ll be going.”
Lin Muyan didn’t know how to face this man she liked, but she still worked up the courage to lay out the facts. Even if Muchen didn’t know now, he’d have to find out sooner or later, tomorrow at the latest.
She didn’t dare lift her head and look at Rong Muchen, afraid of seeing something that would break her heart. She just ducked her head and made to pull Lin Xiao away.
Rong Muchen was caught completely off guard by her words, but once it sank in he hurried to block Lin Muyan’s path.
“Muyan, don’t go yet, I…”
Before he’d finished half a sentence, a delighted voice rang out from not far off.
Mrs. Shen came trotting over with a smile, towing Shen Jiaojiao by the hand. She looked to be in quite a hurry.
“It really is you, Muchen, you’re back in the country?”
Mrs. Shen acted thoroughly familiar with him, and as she spoke she steered Shen Jiaojiao closer to her side, positioning her right under the streetlamp so Rong Muchen could get a good look.
Rong Muchen blinked, glanced at Lin Muyan, then at Mrs. Shen with this other girl in tow, and all at once it dawned on him.
“Mrs. Shen, the two of you…”
Mrs. Shen answered with a chuckle. “What a coincidence, running into you here. I was just saying I’d go to the banquet tomorrow and catch up with the elders of your family.”
With that, Mrs. Shen gave Shen Jiaojiao a little push forward and said, laughing, “Jiaojiao, quick, say hello to Brother Muchen. He’s the future heir of the Rong family, the same age as you. Our two families are on good terms, and we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on.”
Shen Jiaojiao darted a glance up at Rong Muchen, then quickly lowered her head, as if shy, and with a touch of inferiority in her heart, too.
What a handsome boy, more handsome than those celebrity idols. Pity she was too thin and scrawny right now, not nice to look at. If she’d known, she’d never have starved herself and faked illness back at the Lin family. Now look, fattening herself back up was taking forever.
Rong Muchen didn’t pay Shen Jiaojiao much mind. He gave a careless nod and said:
“Um, Mrs. Shen, Muyan and I still have things to discuss. How about you two…”
A flicker of hidden resentment crossed the depths of Mrs. Shen’s eyes, and she shot Lin Muyan a covert, withering look.
The little wretch really had been blessed with a fine face, Young Master Rong was still infatuated with her.
“Young Master Rong, perhaps you don’t know yet, but Muyan and Jiaojiao were swapped by mistake as babies. Jiaojiao is the one who’s truly my Shen family’s child. Muyan has chosen to return to her birth family and live there. I hear her birth father is some kind of carpenter, and her birth mother used to be a servant in our Shen household, she secretly hid the fact that she was pregnant, gave birth, and somehow, who knows how, mixed up the two children.”
Mrs. Shen dabbed at the corner of her eye, the very picture of grievance and heartbreak.
“My poor Jiaojiao, suffering twenty years of hardship out there…”
Playing right along with Mrs. Shen, mother and daughter clung to each other and burst into tears.
Lin Muyan frowned faintly and badly wanted to flee, but Rong Muchen was blocking her way.
“Muchen, let’s talk about my business another time. I really do have something urgent and need to go.”
Lin Xiao caught on to something. His little sister seemed to like this rich young man in front of them, but Mrs. Shen had come running over at this exact moment, and the things she was saying were plainly meant to wreck it. He was now thoroughly on guard against this Mrs. Shen.
“You’re Young Master Rong, right? My sister and I have somewhere to be. Please clear the way.”
Lin Xiao took Lin Muyan’s hand and stepped in front of her, shielding her, and blocking off Rong Muchen’s probing gaze as well.
Rong Muchen’s heart was an absolute tangle just then. He hadn’t believed his friends when they’d said it, how could Muyan possibly be the baby swapped by mistake? She so obviously was the Shen family’s young miss. But at this moment he too was a little dazed, not knowing how to react.
He badly wanted to ask, carefully, what on earth was going on, but Mrs. Shen’s little speech just now had made him realize that Muyan’s relationship with the Shen family seemed to have soured. If he pressed further right now, it would only hurt Muyan.
So Rong Muchen took the initiative and offered to see Lin Muyan off.
“Let me drive you. Muyan, get in the car first, all right?”
Lin Muyan had meant to refuse, but then she turned and caught the veiled warning in Mrs. Shen’s eyes, and the look on Shen Jiaojiao’s face as she stole sidelong glances at Rong Muchen, and all at once she changed her mind.
“Sure. Then take me and my brother on up. Brother, let’s get in.”
Lin Xiao immediately did as his sister asked, taking the front passenger seat and leaving the back row to the two of them.
Lin Muyan opened her own car door. Mrs. Shen and Shen Jiaojiao stood not far from it.
Mrs. Shen lowered her voice and delivered a vicious warning to Lin Muyan.
“Don’t you forget, you’re not the Shen family’s young miss anymore. Don’t even dream of using that identity to trick Rong Muchen into being with you. The Rong family will never accept the daughter of a lowly carpenter and a nanny as their eldest son’s bride, so you’d best give up the idea now while you still can.”
The grating warning buzzed in Lin Muyan’s ears, and Mrs. Shen’s sharp eyes stabbed into her like a dagger.
Why was her adoptive mother so heartless? They might no longer be mother and daughter, but that was no reason to treat her like a sworn enemy, was it?
These words of hers were caustic enough to be called downright vicious.
The Mrs. Shen of before had clearly never been like this…