Yu Yang was already in a foul mood— and of all times, Song Li chose this moment to fall into full fangirl mode!
“Holy shit, he’s so handsome!”
“Nuwa is biased! We’re all made of clay, so why is he so special?!”
“Broad shoulders, narrow waist, perky butt—this is celestial-grade perfection!”
Yu Yang turned her head slightly and saw nothing but Song Li’s drooling, lovestruck expression.
She hadn’t even opened her mouth yet when Song Li’s next words scared her half to death.
“Fuck—why is he walking toward us?!”
Yu Yang looked up and saw Pei Yu— no, Pei Yuheng—approaching her with an air of lofty composure.
Six years had passed.
She had never imagined she would see him again in a place soaked in fame and profit like this.
His eyes were dark and dense, like a pool of stagnant water—calm, unreadable. His nose bridge was high, his thin lips pressed together. There was clearly a smile at the corners of his mouth, yet it filled Yu Yang with fear.
From the very first time she met Pei Yuheng in her youth, she had known— beneath that seductive face lay a nakedly vile soul.
The cruel words she’d spoken at their breakup—
Now, one by one, they slapped her square in the face.
It hurt.
A shadow fell over her. Under the pressure of his presence, Yu Yang was forced to lift her chin.
“Yu Yang, hello.”
The next second, a champagne flute was pressed into her hand, the liquid inside exuding an intoxicating aroma.
Prompted by someone nearby, Yu Yang raised the glass toward him.
“President Pei, please.”
Pei Yuheng accepted the wine from her hand.
A faint itch spread across Yu Yang’s palm, slowly flooding every corner of her body.
She didn’t even know how she ended up sitting back down.
Finally, the gathering dragged on until it ended.
In Yu Yang’s mind, there was only one word left—
——Run!
She glanced at Pei Yuheng. Tonight, he accepted every toast without refusal. Whoever offered him a drink, he drank it.
His thick lashes drooped slightly, the corners of his eyes tinged red. Yu Yang knew—he was a little drunk.
But she no longer had the standing to bring him a bowl of hangover soup.
Everything was her own doing.
No one else to blame.
Song Li tugged Yu Yang toward the exit, still chattering away.
“My god, so a face like that actually exists in this world!”
“If he debuted, he’d probably break the record for fastest explosion of fame in the entertainment industry!”
She kept praising him nonstop, until it took a long while before she realized Yu Yang hadn’t said a word.
“My little Yangyang, what’s wrong with you?”
Yu Yang stared into Song Li’s innocent eyes.
“I… I’m done for.”
——Her ex, the one she’d dumped, had become her financial lifeline. How was she supposed to break this deadlock? She honestly had no idea.
Right now, she only prayed that Pei Yuheng—that madman—wouldn’t go crazy and lock her up, torturing her once a day.
Just thinking about it made her heart ache.
——Wuwuwu, I really shouldn’t have gone out today!
Song Li let out an “Ah?” looking utterly confused.
She was just about to ask more when a shrill, piercing voice stabbed straight into her ears.
“Baby, I’m your mom! Don’t you recognize me anymore?!”
“I sent you so many messages—why didn’t you reply to a single one?!”
Song Li stiffly turned her neck and locked eyes with Yu Yang.
Yu Yang was completely stunned.
Her mind filled with question marks.
Seeing that Yu Yang wasn’t responding, the woman suddenly began screaming hysterically, shouting names Yu Yang couldn’t even make sense of.
Yu Yang was even more bewildered now.
She had no idea what she was supposed to say.
More and more people gathered around Yu Yang in the lobby.
Yu Yang swept her gaze around and tried desperately to pry those bony hands off her—but failed every time.
Everyone pitied Yu Yang for having no parents.
But only Yu Yang herself knew— to her, the words father and mother were the deepest kind of pain.
As a child who was never expected, her very birth had been a complete mistake.
Song Li dutifully stepped in, separating the madwoman from Yu Yang.
But she didn’t last long before being shoved aside.
Yu Yang panicked.
Song Li had been with her for many years—her place in Yu Yang’s heart was something outsiders could never imagine.
Suddenly, someone shouted something.
Yu Yang didn’t catch it clearly, but the surrounding noise vanished in an instant. The crowd that had been pressing in just moments ago disappeared completely.
She lifted her head and stared at a middle-aged man.
“May I ask… who are you?”
“I’m her husband—Pei Yucheng.”
As he spoke, the man pulled the woman tightly into his arms.
Yu Yang sneered inwardly.
——Another one with the surname Pei?!
——Am I really destined to clash with people named Pei tonight?!
Coming back to her senses, Yu Yang’s gaze darted between the two of them, trying to discern something.
Seeing the situation, Song Li tried to leave with Yu Yang—but an arm suddenly stretched out, blocking their path.
“Miss Yu, may I ask if you know Yu Dong?”
Yu Yang’s body began to tremble uncontrollably, as if she’d been dragged back into that little dark room from her memories.
The foul breath, the greasy, rough hands, the filthy, obscene words…
Why did she always have to be forced to remember that unbearably dirty past?!
What the man said next shocked her even more.
“Miss Yu, we’d like to trouble you to do a paternity test with us. We suspect that you are our biological daughter.”
Yu Yang coughed a few times.
“You must be mistaken. I—”
“If you were really their biological daughter, how could they have treated you like that?!”
The wound was torn open again, bloody and raw.
Yu Yang felt her heart clench so tightly it was on the verge of stopping.
“And if I refuse?”
Pei Yucheng smiled faintly. “You’ll agree.”
Yu Yang’s hand, hanging by her side, slowly clenched into a fist, her eyes filled with fury.
The sound of leather shoes stepping closer grew clearer.
What terrified Yu Yang more than doubts about her identity— was the fact that Pei Yuheng actually addressed the man who claimed to be her possible father with a calm, indifferent:
“Big brother.”
Yu Yang was dumbfounded.
Every single thing that happened tonight made her unbearably irritated.
Pei Yucheng shot Pei Yuheng a glance full of disdain. If he’d known back then that that child would be so hard to kill—and would later threaten his own position—he never would have softened his heart and let him live.
Pei Yuheng smiled helplessly and followed Pei Yucheng’s gaze to Yu Yang beside him.
“What, sister-in-law’s starting to randomly claim daughters again?”
Yu Yang felt extremely uncomfortable under the scrutiny of those two blunt gazes.
“No—she is our daughter!”
The moment Pei Yucheng said those words, both Yu Yang’s and Pei Yuheng’s expressions darkened.
After all, less than three hours after reuniting, her ex had suddenly become her little uncle— how could something this outrageously absurd happen to her?!
Pei Yucheng smiled as he looked at the two of them.
“Your sister-in-law isn’t in good health, so we’ll be leaving first.”
“Oh, and little brother—trouble you to see my daughter off.”
Yu Yang retorted stubbornly, “I’m not!”
Pei Yucheng gave a very helpless smile.
“Then we’ll wait for the paternity test results.”