The private room door swung open, and Ni Manxin watched as a woman entered. Upon closer inspection, it was Fang Yi. What was she doing here? Seeing how familiar she seemed with the place, this was likely not her first visit.
A terrifying thought suddenly struck Ni Manxin. Could it be…
“Fang Yi, how did you get here?”
Tang Yubo laughed. “She drops by here all the time. She knows this place much better than you do.”
“You two…”
Fang Yi noticed Uncle Yan’s bleeding mouth and saw Ni Manxin collapsed on the floor. She finally understood why Tang Yubo had summoned her here today, realizing this was all part of his carefully laid plan.
“Tang Yubo, what exactly are you trying to do?” Long Chuyao demanded angrily.
Tang Yubo grabbed Ni Manxin’s wrist, forcibly dragging her before Fang Yi. Pointing at Fang Yi, he declared, “Ni Manxin, look! Open your eyes wide and see—this is your dear sister. Want to know how I met her? She wanted to join forces with me to kill you! See? This is your beloved sister. She wanted you dead. You should be thanking me for keeping you alive this long. Just hand over the item, and I won’t make things difficult for you. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being merciless!”
Ni Manxin couldn’t believe Tang Yubo’s words. She turned to Fang Yi, hoping she would deny it all, insisting it was all lies.
But after a long wait, Fang Yi merely lowered her head and uttered three words, shattering Ni Manxin completely.
Staring at her friend Fang Yi standing before her and recalling Tang Yubo’s past playful banter, Ni Manxin realized it had all been an illusion.
One wanted her dead; the other had schemed to get close to her for the item.
A sharp pain suddenly shot through Ni Manxin’s chest. Clutching her chest, she couldn’t help but ask, “Is what he said true?”
Fang Yi nodded, then quickly shook her head. With a grave expression, she confessed, “Ni Manxin, I hate you. I’ve always hated you. You know how much I’ve always liked Dong Yue, yet you stole him from me. I did want you dead. As for your father, I truly didn’t know Tang Yubo had taken him, nor that he would resort to torture. I swear I had no idea about any of that, and I never instructed him to do such things.”
Ni Manxin sneered coldly. “Then what did you instruct him to do? Kill me?”
Fang Yi bowed her head in silence.
Tang Yubo, growing impatient, stepped forward and seized Ni Manxin’s hair. His eyes fixated on the glowing ornament around her neck, burning with greed as he prepared to tear it off.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his arm. Looking down, he saw Ni Yuan desperately biting his arm, refusing to let go.
In a fit of rage, Tang Yubo instantly slammed his palm against the back of Ni Yuan’s head. Before Ni Manxin could react, Ni Yuan’s eyes closed.
Ni Manxin stood frozen in shock, Fang Yi stared in stunned silence, and Tang Yubo kicked the lifeless body contemptuously, snarling, “Daring to oppose me? You deserved to die.”
As Ni Manxin rushed at him frantically, Tang Yubo slapped her hard across the face, then ripped the ornament from her neck.A snow-white jade neck was instantly marred by a gash, blood slowly trickling from the wound.
“You want this thing so badly? Fine, I’ll swallow it. Let’s see how you take it then?”
Tang Yubo was thoroughly enraged by Ni Manxin,
“You’d risk your life for this inveterate gambler? Have you forgotten he sold your mansion? And you still defend him like this?”
Ni Manxin smiled bitterly, “You don’t understand. No matter what he becomes, he’ll always be the father who gave me life and raised me, the one who nurtured me all these years. He’s the person I love most and who loves me most in this world.”
Hearing Ni Manxin’s words, Fang Yi instantly thought of Father Fang. In such circumstances, he could give all the money he had for his children’s happiness.
She wasn’t Fang Yi, yet she was enjoying the warmth of family in her place.
Life is long, she smiled. She wanted to return to the home she had always despised. She wanted to care for them on Fang Yi’s behalf for the rest of their lives, to make up for the guilt in her heart.
Seeing Tang Yubo’s gaze never leaving Ni Manxin, Fang Yi seized the chance to cast a spell and search for Dong Yue.
Tang Yubo laughed heartily upon hearing this, “Ni Manxin, don’t you know yet? The father you speak of isn’t your real father at all. You’re just a nameless stray he picked up.”
Ni Manxin was stunned, unable to process Tang Yubo’s words. Her mind went blank, her face pale as she stared at her father lying motionless on the ground, unable to accept it.
“It can’t be. How is that possible? You’re lying.”
Tang Yubo glanced at Ni Manxin contemptuously, unwilling to say more. He walked up to her and said, “Believe it or not, he’s not dead yet. When he wakes up, you can ask him whether I’m lying or not. I hope that after learning the truth, you’ll hand over what you’re holding. My patience is limited.”
Tang Yubo touched Ni Yuan’s head, and after a short while, Ni Yuan slowly opened his eyes.
Ni Manxin rushed to Ni Yuan’s side and helped him up.
Father Ni Yuan stroked Ni Manxin’s hair down to her cheek and smiled.
He unlocked memories sealed away for many years, telling Ni Manxin that Tang Yubo was right—she was indeed found at his doorstep.
He also told Ni Manxin that when she was very young, she fell seriously ill.
On the way to the hospital, he encountered a man who claimed to be a doctor. The man wrote a prescription and then vanished into thin air.
Since Ni Manxin took the medicine from that man, she had never fallen ill again.
It was during that serious illness that he learned Ni Manxin was different from other children—she had no heart.
Ni Manxin lowered her head, her hand trembling as she pointed to her chest, “There’s no heart here?”
Ni Yuan nodded and said, “That’s right. That’s what the man said.”
Ni Manxin still couldn’t believe it was all true and suddenly thought, “What about Mom? Is she fake too?”
Ni Yuan sighed, recalling that from the day he adopted Ni Manxin, over ten million suddenly appeared in his hands, terrifying him at the time.
Others looked down on him for being too poor, so no woman would glance his way. Later, when he brought home a child of unknown origin, the villagers thought he was not only poor but also morally corrupt. Wherever he went, people would point fingers behind his back.
Ni Yuan didn’t bother to explain much, nor did he feel the need to.
He believed his daughter was more important than anything else. As for remarrying, he had long stopped considering it.
To ensure his daughter wouldn’t be affected, he soon took her away from the village they had lived in for many years and moved to a big city to start a new life.
Later, no one knew how the villagers found out that the former pauper had not only moved to a big city but was even living in a villa lifestyle that city dwellers would envy. The village was instantly abuzz with gossip. However, Ni Yuan, far away in the city, remained completely unaware of all this.
I