Tongmu Winery, located on the outskirts of A City, was a gathering place frequented by the wealthy and elite.
"Can we not pick this place for the next gathering? It's so far from the city center. Every time I come here, besides dodging paparazzi, I also have to shake off sasaeng fans. Thank my superb driving skills, or else you'd be waiting till dawn and still wouldn't see me show up."
The golden-haired young man wore a loose, dark coat, yet even that couldn't conceal his tall, slender, and well-proportioned figure. The moment he entered, he directly removed his mask and cap, exposing his handsome, striking face—one that could make countless young girls scream—to the open air.
Unlike Duan Mingxuan's cold, refined, and noble handsomeness, Gu Xingye possessed a youthful, spirited charm. The natural downward curve at the corners of his eyes gave him a look of perpetually arched brows and smiling eyes, as if he might break into a grin at any moment, making him seem easy to get along with.
Everyone present was young. Though the golden-haired young man was the last to arrive, he drew everyone's attention. Apart from Yan Yao, who continued minding his own business, everyone else hurriedly rose to greet him, calling out "Brother Gu" and "Xingye" with warm, eager familiarity.
Gu Xingye responded with a few casual grunts before ignoring the rest. No one showed any sign of displeasure. This wasn't him deliberately giving anyone the cold shoulder—it was an arrogance so deeply ingrained it had become second nature. He didn't need to observe courtesy with his peers; courtesy was something others had to mind.
Though everyone present was from wealthy, prestigious families, even among the elite, there were hierarchies.
"Being a big star really changes a person—so much more pretentious now. You act like driving here is some pilgrimage to the West."
A perfect shot, a beautiful angle—the red ball dropped straight into the pocket.
Yan Yao lazily straightened up. His features were lush and romantic, his peach-blossom eyes clear yet full of allure. Though he wasn't smiling, when he fixed his gaze on someone, it was practically mesmerizing.
Seeing Yan Yao there surprised Gu Xingye somewhat. "When did you get back?"
"A few days ago."
"Any results on the matter?"
"Same as always," Yan Yao said. "They talk a big game when I go there, but once the DNA test comes back, it's not her at all."
"Did Auntie come back too?"
"Not yet. After the DNA results came out, she received new information—apparently they found a girl in Nanzhou who looks similar and whose background matches. She might be my sister. Auntie couldn't wait, so she flew over again."
Gu Xingye wasn't surprised by this outcome either. The True and False Heiress Incident of the Yan family had caused quite an uproar in their circle back then, so much so that afterward, whenever a child was born into the family, they'd have DNA tests done every so often.
"What about Yan Zhu?" Gu Xingye said, stirring the pot. "Every time there's news about a real sister, she always makes a fuss. Why's she so quiet this time?"
Yan Yao seemed indifferent to the matter. "She wants to come back, so of course she has to stay quiet."
Gu Xingye didn't like Yan Zhu. She'd had a princess temper since childhood. Before her identity was exposed, she'd been spoiled into arrogance and had bullied Gu Xingye plenty when they played together.
After losing her status as the true heiress, she appeared to have restrained herself on the surface, but she still held the position of the Yan family's adopted daughter and treated ordinary people with no less disdain.
Yan Zhu loved the spotlight and reveled in being surrounded by camera flashes, so she'd entered the entertainment industry casually right after starting university. With her beauty, noble status, and the down-to-earth persona she carefully crafted, she'd attracted quite a few fans.
But human nature is hard to change. At a new film press conference, when a fellow actress stole her center position on stage, Yan Zhu flew into a rage and actually slapped the second lead actress in public, even threatening to cut her scenes and have her kicked out of the industry entirely.
Even though there had been plenty of scandals over center-position disputes in the entertainment industry, this was the first time someone had made such an ugly scene in public. With too many media and bystanders present, and the event being broadcast live, the Yan family managed to suppress the news in the end, but Yan Zhu had thoroughly infuriated Madam Yan.
Madam Yan was already exhausted from searching for her biological daughter and had no energy left to discipline her adopted daughter. She could only order Yan Zhu to go abroad and reflect on her behavior, not to return until she'd thought things through.
Perhaps she'd truly learned her lesson—Yan Zhu had been uncharacteristically well-behaved this time. Previously, she'd been extremely sensitive about the search for the true heiress, always stirring up trouble to draw attention whenever there was news. But this time, she'd stayed quiet without causing any mischief, and had even volunteered to accompany Madam Yan to find her real sister.
It was almost as if she'd been soul-snatched.
Having never lived with his biological sister, Yan Yao didn't feel particularly attached to her, but his relationship with his adopted sister was also lukewarm at best. There was sibling affection, but only barely.
"Alright, enough about her." Yan Yao set down his pool cue and grabbed two glasses of whiskey on the rocks, handing one to Gu Xingye. "Why are you the only one here today? Where are Jiang Heng and Duan Mingxuan?"
"Jiang Heng's been dealing with a lot lately. Not long ago, another cheap half-brother showed up at his door. That old man of his is like a cockroach—not only does he breed like crazy, he keeps discovering new children out of nowhere, giving him fresh surprises every day."
"As for Duan Mingxuan…" Gu Xingye looked like he didn't even want to bring it up. "He doesn't have time for us now. He's busy attending to his little princess."
"Little princess?" Yan Yao raised an eyebrow.
"Some new young actress he's been promoting. She just started college, and he spoils her rotten. Speaking of which—you know I've already assembled the crew for my next film and we're about to start shooting. Then a few days ago, Duan Mingxuan suddenly asked if I could hand the whole crew over to him. He offered to compensate me with three times the budget, because his little princess had taken a liking to the script and wanted to play the female lead. He even asked if I could step down from the male lead role, saying my acting was too poor and that filming opposite me would hinder his little princess's path to becoming a Best Actress…"
Gu Xingye laughed helplessly. "Don't you think he's lost his mind?"
"Completely lost it." Yan Yao nodded in agreement. "But I'd advise you not to take the role anyway."
"Why?"
"Based on the popular trope these days, you'll refuse to back down out of spite and force your way into the production to prove yourself. Then, while filming scenes opposite the female lead, you'll gradually fall in love with her, and eventually become part of their little game…" Yan Yao paused, his expression turning grave. "Oh no. Could it be that we're already part of their game right now?"
"Why are you so familiar with this kind of trope?" Gu Xingye looked him up and down. "You've been secretly binge-watching Mary Sue idol dramas, haven't you? Since when did President Yan develop a maiden's heart?"
Yan Yao: "It's a young man's heart."
Gu Xingye made a face like he'd just swallowed a fly, clearly disgusted.
"But what's going on with Duan Mingxuan, really?" Yan Yao said. "Didn't we agree he'd never be a woman's dog again?"
"You're remembering wrong." Gu Xingye corrected him. "The one who swore never to be a woman's dog again was Duan Lingze, not Duan Mingxuan."
"What's the difference? Either way, those brothers are doomed to be done in by women their whole lives." He said lazily. "I suggest the Duan family find a feng shui master soon and check if something's off with their ancestral luck. Why do the lovesick fools keep targeting their family's impure world reincarnation?"
Don't let Duan Lingze's current unhinged, couldn't-care-less demeanor fool you—he did stupid things in his youth too.
Stupid in a spectacularly dramatic way.
When Duan Lingze was young, he fell in love with a girl he met during his exchange year at a public high school. She was practically his half-classmate. They fell in love at first sight and got together quickly.
But the girl's family background was terrible. Not only was she poor, but her parents had divorced early on, and neither of them wanted anything to do with her.
A girl from that kind of background was fine for a fling, but the Duan family would never allow Duan Lingze to marry her.
The Yan and Duan families were close, and Yan Zhu and Duan Lingze had been betrothed since childhood. Even after Yan Zhu's true identity was exposed, the engagement wasn't called off—the intended bride just switched from the fake daughter to the real one who hadn't been found yet.
The girl's poor background, the pre-existing engagement with the Yan family… with all these factors combined, the Duan elders naturally couldn't allow them to be together. They used every means at their disposal to keep them apart, but Duan Lingze was like a man possessed—he absolutely had to be with that girl. He was even willing to give up everything from the Duan family, abandon it all, and elope with her overseas.
But that girl, despite her humble origins, had not a single ounce of frugality in her. She was vain and greedy, naive and carefree, loving a life of luxury and unable to endure even the slightest hardship. Of course, Duan Lingze couldn't bear to let her suffer either.
He had abandoned everything from the Duan family to be with her, so naturally he wouldn't touch any of the family's resources again. To maintain the girl's lavish lifestyle, he was willing to do anything. The extreme sports that had once been merely a hobby became his means of earning money. He even worked as an underground boxer, risking his life for money—all so that girl could continue living like a princess.
A Heaven's Chosen, raised in gold and jade, willing to go to such lengths for someone—surely anyone would be moved, right?
But that girl was as if she had no heart at all.
Not only was she unmoved, she even hooked up with his good friend behind his back.
Duan Lingze caught them in bed together. As he stood there, thunderstruck and in disbelief, the girl showed not a trace of guilt. She admitted her betrayal without hesitation and declared she was leaving with that man.
He had offered her his bleeding, raw heart, and she had shattered it into pieces.
He wanted to take revenge on her—revenge for her betrayal and trampling of his sincerity, to make her weep and regret and admit her mistakes.
But she never gave him that chance.
Just as she was leaving with that man, they ran into a foreign gang shootout and were caught in a car accident. The man became a vegetable, while the girl who had betrayed him died on the spot—her body reduced to nothing.
He hadn't even had the chance to take revenge on her before she died.
She died at the moment when his love and hatred were both at their most intense, yet she gave him no opportunity to retaliate, nor to forgive her. She simply left this world cleanly and decisively, and from then on, love and hate both turned to emptiness.
He could no longer find anyone to carry his love, nor anyone to bear his hatred.
When he watched that girl consumed by flames and reduced to ashes, did he feel a sense of justice served and satisfaction, or did he feel his heart torn apart with unbearable agony?
The story of the prince and Cinderella came to a tragic end. Duan Lingze returned to the Duan family and once again became the aloof young aristocrat, as if nothing had ever happened. He seemed to have completely forgotten her.
Gu Xingye knew this matter very well, because his cousin Gu Ran had become a vegetable in that very car accident.
Thinking of this, Gu Xingye curled the corner of his mouth in a mocking smile. "My brother was a hopeless romantic too—rushing to be the third party only to end up as a vegetable. No idea what he was after. Was that woman a succubus? Or had all the women in the world died out?"
"Don't understand, and don't want to."
Yan Yao couldn't care less.
"Fair enough." Gu Xingye glanced at him. "Someone like President Yan naturally wouldn't understand the mindset of these love-struck fools."
As mentioned before, Madam Yan had spent most of her energy over the years searching for her biological daughter, which naturally meant she had neglected her son's upbringing.
As for Yan Yao—to put it nicely, he was uninhibited and free-spirited; to put it bluntly, he was warm on the surface but cold within.
He had a face radiant as morning clouds, strikingly handsome and beautiful—the type that should have been very popular with women. Yet he had no interest in romance whatsoever, as if he didn't want any connection with the world.
Fortunately, he was still young, and Madam Yan, busy searching for her biological daughter, wasn't pressuring him to bring a girl home anytime soon.
"At this rate, Brother Yan, when will you ever stop being single?" A young man nearby couldn't help teasing. "It won't be until I already have kids while you're still all alone, right?"
"You don't even have a girlfriend yet, and you're already thinking about kids?"
Yan Yao lowered his eyelids and merely curled his lips at the remark, looking somewhat indifferent.
"Actually, I'm really curious what it would look like if Brother Yan genuinely fell for someone… Wait, I just thought of something interesting." The man seemed to have a sudden idea and said with great enthusiasm, "Have you guys heard of the term 'genetic sexual attraction'?"
"It's a phenomenon observed by scientists—if two siblings with blood ties are separated from a young age, unaware of their blood relation, and reunite as adults, they'll easily be attracted to each other and fall in love involuntarily."
"What a cruel joke of fate—what's actually the familiarity and closeness born of blood ties can easily be mistaken by the unaware parties as the heart-fluttering of love at first sight."
"Brother Yan, you haven't found your real sister yet, right? If you keep going like this, and one day your heart suddenly skips a beat… what if the object of your affection turns out to be your own biological sister?"