“The fruit swallowed by greed will become the missing heart of the snake.”
August in Jiangcheng.
The sun was scorching enough to practically peel a layer of skin off a person.
Despite the approaching evening, the streets still had few pedestrians. Even the cicadas stuck to the tree trunks chirped with exhausted repetition, rarely moving except to flutter their wings and emit a few muffled, vibrating sounds.
As the lights began to flicker on, a banquet was in full swing inside the villa district.
People dressed in formal wear cheered in this ultra-expensive neighborhood, celebrating the exact same happy occasion together.
Only Nan Zhi knew that a cicada stuck to a tree trunk had just died.
Her gaze followed that fallen shell as it dropped into the dirt, then indifferently shifted away without lingering.
Too many cicadas died in the summer, and even more would come alive in the summer.
“Waiter,” a somewhat anxious cry rang out from beside the dessert table. “My dress is stained.”
The instinctive reflex to reply nearly burst from her throat.
Nan Zhi swallowed it back immediately.
Her fingertips tightened around her backpack straps as she reached into her pocket for her earphones.
Not caring that the wires were tangled into a knot, she listened quietly as Stefanie Sun sang Black Skirt at a low volume. Lowering her head once more, she hid herself like a single raindrop at the eaves, melting silently into the cheering crowd.
“Hey, did you hear what old He was talking about earlier?”
Two middle-aged upper-class women, arm in arm, discussed the matter as they walked toward the beverage area. “Word has it that the Fu family had their child switched at birth back then, and now they’ve found the true heiress. They’ve already brought her back and are looking for a chance for her to officially re-enter the family registry. Do you think the Fu family, which has been an only child for three generations, is going to have a civil war now that they have both a real and a fake daughter?”
“No wonder the celebration banquet is being thrown with such fanfare,” the slimmer woman replied immediately, taking her arm. “I heard the celebration is just a gimmick; the main point is to introduce the Fu family’s young miss to the Gu family’s young miss, so they can arrange a marriage later on.”
“You have to hand it to Boss Fu for knowing how to do business,” the heavier woman chuckled softly. “Take back the true heiress, and send the fake heiress off to a marriage alliance. That way, you don’t have to worry about internal fighting, and it counts as not raising her in vain. Ah!!!”
The discussion was cut abruptly short.
The linked arms separated, and both women turned around in a panic to inspect the hems of their skirts. To their horror, their expensive Shu-embroidered cheongsams were speckled with bright red sots of tomato ketchup.
“Apologies.” Nan Zhi’s gaze swept calmly over the stains, her tone cold. “Would you like me to call a waiter for you?”
The heavier woman instantly flew into a rage, furrowing her brow and scolding, “You!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.” The slimmer one quickly pulled her back and shook her head at her.
The young person standing before them wore casual formal wear. Although the earphones clutched in their hand were tangled into a knot, the exquisite hand-tailoring subtly defined a slender waist through the loose fit, and a pair of thin, upturned fox like eyes hid a newly unsheathed blade.
She looked entirely like the young miss of a wealthy family.
Not someone to be trifled with.
The pair altered their path away from the beverage area and headed toward the lounge instead, their high heels clicking heavily against the corridor floor.
Expressionless, Nan Zhi tossed the squeezed-out tomato ketchup packet into the trash can, the scarlet, sticky liquid covering the thin calluses on her fingertips.
Two more of those noisy cicadas on the tree died.
What those two people had just been discussing was probably already spreading thoroughly throughout this entire banquet.
A teenager who grew up in the slums actually had a rich mother; slum-lit literature had overnight been upgraded to a wealthy-family novel. A trope Nan Zhi wouldn’t even deign to look at in fiction had actually happened to her.
And what’s more, it was a wealthy true-vs-fake daughter story.
Nineteen years ago, she had been switched at the hospital with an abandoned baby and was subsequently taken in by a nurse on duty. Unfortunately, the family wasn’t well-off, and her adoptive mother passed away when she was ten. She began working-study jobs until the Fu family sought her out last year.
She had transferred schools. Although she was still in Jiangcheng, her status had changed vastly.
She no longer needed to work as a waitress in a restaurant, nor did she have to worry about a few dozen yuan for living expenses, just as those people had said.
Her mother, Fu Yunci, would make her identity public in the future, making her a legitimate member of the Fu family.
Yet none of this mattered in Nan Zhi’s heart.
Reconnecting her earphones, the song reached its climax as her fingertip tapped into the chat interface.
Almost simultaneously, a message popped up.
[Share your current location with me.] [A dress has been prepared for you in the room. Remember to change before the banquet.]
A pinned chat with no display name, just like the sender’s blank avatar.
Ripples formed in her water-like eyes. Nan Zhi immediately began typing a reply, unconsciously turning up the volume on her earphones and changing her direction back toward her room.
The commotion in the front hall had reached a boiling point.
String lights arranged around the courtyard connected, illuminating the already darkening sky once more.
The crowd holding champagne glasses gathered into a cluster, craning their necks in eager anticipation of the car that had just stopped before them.
Her earphones blocked out the cheers, but the lights could not be ignored.
Nan Zhi, mixed in with the crowd, paused in her steps, looking toward the light.
Golden hairpins, moon-white satin.
A Shu-brocade cheongsam outlined a slender yet resilient waist. Most striking was the merciful red mole between her eyebrows, looking precisely like a gilded bodhisattva.
This was the star of tonight’s show, Fu Minglin.
The Fu family was a medical dynasty, dating all the way back to the imperial hospital of generations past.
An only daughter through generations of single heirs, Fu Minglin had been meticulously raised and was exceptionally brilliant.
She entered Beijing’s juvenile class at age twelve, independently completed a journal research proposal at fifteen, published an SCI paper at seventeen, and began clinical work upon turning adult. This year, having secured her direct Ph.D. slot, she was barely twenty years old.
Her appearance made people constantly edge forward, as if wanting to borrow a sliver of light from the bodhisattva.
Nan Zhi stood frozen in place, though her gaze could not help but follow.
The dark mountain-like ridge pressed beneath her thin skin protruded slightly. That hand must have just held a scalpel, perhaps still carrying a trace of antiseptic scent.
Chewing on her secret alone, she couldn’t help but lower her head and curve her lips.
At that exact moment, Fu Minglin, surrounded by the crowd, tilted her jaw slightly. The emotion in the depths of her eyes was ambiguous and obscure, shifting away almost instantly.
Nan Zhi, sensing the gaze, saw her newly formed smile freeze on her lips. Watching that already departing back, she didn’t hesitate for a second and immediately lifted her foot to follow.
In truth, banquets like this were terribly boring.
Under the guise of celebration, people actually gathered to socialize for their own self-interest.
The moment Fu Minglin stepped into the banquet hall, she was surrounded.
Nan Zhi, who had entered a few steps later, couldn’t squeeze her way in and couldn’t even catch a glimpse of her back. At that moment, she was still carrying her backpack. Her professional textbooks were somewhat heavy—they were her homework for later tonight—and the straps had already rubbed her shoulders red.
Yet she had no time to care, randomly grabbing a glass of something from a passing waiter’s tray.
“Hey!” The tray grew lighter, and the waiter immediately cautioned, “That’s—”
Before the words finished, the person holding the glass had already walked away.
Clumsily imitating the social posturing of those around her, Nan Zhi held the cup and walked into the crowd.
“Ah, Senior Attorney Qin, I didn’t expect you to attend tonight. Long time, big name.”
“Mhm.”
“I heard you’re planning to leave the He Group? Lots of people are poaching you, and the one offering the highest price is Agent Cheng.”
“What, what? Which Agent Cheng… Ouch, who bumped into me?”
“Sorry—” Nan Zhi apologized out of habit, without even turning her head.
Her eyes remained fixed on that flash of white.
Fu Minglin, standing in the middle of the crowd, was poised and elegant. Whatever the person beside her had said caused her to smile softly.
Willow-leaf eyes, bodhisattva face.
When she smiled, the canine tooth at the corner of her mouth revealed a childlike playfulness.
Nan Zhi lost her focus in that smile, forgetting even to blink.
Everyone around her held drinks, but Fu Minglin held nothing at all. Her well-articulated fingertips rested casually on the table, requiring anyone wishing to speak with her to toast first.
“What are you looking at?” The person she had just bumped into leaned in, teasing, “Why the blank stare?”
Hearing the inquiry, Nan Zhi lowered her gaze and repeated, “Truly sorry.”
Her apology only made the person chuckle. “Apologizing again? Are you a waiter? Why are you still carrying a backpack?”
Faced with the questioning, Nan Zhi instinctively frowned. She had no desire to chat with strangers.
She disliked the feeling of everyone’s attention being drawn toward her even more.
Just as she turned to leave, Nan Zhi heard another voice.
“Nan Zhi?”
Hearing her name called, Nan Zhi frowned in disgust, a hint of hostility leaking out.
What came into view was a flash of red lips and long, wavy hair. The speaker was none other than the person referred to earlier as Senior Attorney Qin.
Before Nan Zhi could retort, she heard more voices from beside her.
“How did Senior Attorney Qin and Boss Luo start chatting?” A crisp voice cut in from the side. Fu Minglin had walked over at some point.
Clutching her cup, Nan Zhi buried her head very low, sneaking backward like a thief.
Hoping to hide back in the crowd.
Yet right as she stepped back, a glass of milk was extended toward her.
Long, well-articulated fingers supported the cup wall, exerting a bit of force. The fingertips straightened, and pale, jade-like blue veins wound like dark ribbons across the back of the hand.
Nan Zhi snapped her head up, her pupils widening into large, round, cat-like terror.
Before she could react, the weight in her hand emptied, and that lifeline was pulled away.
The liquid struck the glass rim, splashing a few drops of wine onto the back of her hand, making Nan Zhi realize she had been holding a glass of champagne all along.
And now, the champagne had been replaced with milk.
Still warm.
Carrying a hint of another person’s body temperature.
The terror of hearing her name called melted away in an instant. Nan Zhi carefully lifted her eyes.
Unbeknownst to her, she had been edged out of the conversational circle. The person standing right before her wore earrings today.
Plump, glistening pearls hung from pale pink earlobes, fitting her impeccably.
Cautiously sniffing the milk in her hand, the tip of her teeth pressed gently against the rim, feeling that lingering warmth.
Nan Zhi’s heart was gently pressed down into place.
“Well, you all go ahead and chat,” came Fu Minglin’s voice. “I must excuse myself for a moment.”
“Oh~” It was Dr. Luo, the one Nan Zhi had bumped into earlier, who replied with a smile. “Is it a date with the Gu family’s young miss? Go on, go on, I wouldn’t dare ruin a good match.”
As her voice fell, that circle of people burst into laughter.
Fu Minglin said nothing more. After gracefully finishing her greetings, she turned to leave.
Watching her figure recede into the distance, Nan Zhi didn’t dare linger this time and immediately followed.
She kept her distance, not daring to get too close.
Her gaze closely followed as she meandered through the crowd. Gu family’s young miss—those three words stung like thorns, keeping Nan Zhi on high alert.
Especially since the further she followed, the quieter the surrounding voices became. Fu Minglin even walked right out of the banquet hall and headed alone toward the tea room.
The cup of milk in her hand grew cold.
Nan Zhi’s suppressed heart began to float upward once more.
The corridor was empty, and night had completely fallen. Footsteps treading on the moonlight landed against the hardwood floor like the sound of rustling, shattered snow.
Just as Nan Zhi was about to take a full stride forward, someone grabbed her by the collar.
“Do not follow anymore.”
The familiar voice made Nan Zhi’s heartstrings taut, her hand trembling slightly.
Though given no command, she obediently turned around.
Under the moonlight, Fu Minglin’s expression was icy. Her crisp, clean voice was like June plum-ice, smooth as porcelain.
She spoke with a warning: “Stop bringing your slum tactics into this place.”