In the living room of the Sheng family villa, the crystal chandelier illuminated the floor in a bright, dazzling glow.
Ji Mingyu sat upright on the sofa, her back straight and the corners of her lips curved into a perfectly measured, obedient smile as she listened to the two women beside her spar back and forth.
“I simply adore your Mingyu,” Huang Huixin said, holding Su Wanyun’s hand. Her tone was so warm that she sounded like an old friend of many years.
“She’s clever and beautiful, and so filial, too. Wanyun, you really are blessed.”
Su Wanyun smiled demurely. “I can’t compare with you. I heard the project Tianqi recently took over has brought Shengshi Group quite a substantial profit? Among our children, who can compare with Tianqi?”
The pride at the corners of Huang Huixin’s eyes was impossible to suppress, though she still offered a few modest words. Then she smoothly changed the subject.
“Tianqi is indeed quite good, but he’s still lacking in one area. People always say that one must establish a family and a career. He’s done rather well with the latter, but now he’s only missing an excellent partner.”
Su Wanyun understood immediately, and a trace of casual bragging entered her voice.
“Oh, then you really ought to hurry. There aren’t many outstanding young women around. By the way, my Mingyu is already a teacher in the Chinese Department at Nanda University.”
“Oh!” Huang Huixin widened her eyes in surprise. “That’s wonderful news! Wanyun, your Mingyu is following in her mother’s footsteps. Before long, you may have another Professor Ji in the family.”
“It’s not that easy.” Su Wanyun waved her hand, though her smile deepened.
Huang Huixin seized the opening. “The old master’s birthday is in a couple of days. Bring Mingyu with you when you come over and let the two young people spend more time together.”
Su Wanyun nodded with a smile.
Ji Mingyu maintained her gracious smile, while inwardly she was already calculating where she should go shopping later, what style of dress she should buy, and which makeup artist she ought to book.
Suddenly—
a violent dizziness struck without warning.
It was as though someone had detonated a bomb inside her mind. Fragments carrying densely packed words and images surged madly into every corner of her consciousness.
The living room before her began to warp and overlap. Huang Huixin’s smiling face and Su Wanyun’s profile blurred together, then separated again.
She saw it.
A book.
She, Ji Mingyu, was the vicious younger sister of the heroine in the story—and, in the end, the fake heiress whose identity would be exposed.
Her mother, Su Wanyun, was the vicious stepmother. She was also the woman who had put a green hat on Chairman Ji, Ji Zhiyuan.
Meanwhile, Ji Mingyue, who had always been in Jianghai City, was the Ji family’s only true daughter and the kind, beautiful, and pure-hearted heroine of the book.
As for Ji Mingyu, the Ji family’s fake heiress—she had no idea what methods her mother had used to deceive Ji Zhiyuan into believing that she was his child.
She saw that after Ji Mingyue returned, she herself had behaved as though she had lost her mind, targeting Ji Mingyue at every turn. In the end, her identity was exposed, and she and her mother, Su Wanyun, were driven out of the Ji family together.
The person who joined Ji Mingyue in dealing with her was Sheng Tianqi, the prospective marriage partner sitting at the center of the engagement before her eyes. He was also the heroine’s destined match in the original story—in other words, the male lead.
As for her, from beginning to end, she had been nothing more than a ridiculous pawn in the male and female leads’ ambiguous push and pull, an accelerant for their relationship.
Just as Ji Mingyu tried to investigate further, the scene abruptly stopped.
The dizziness receded.
Back in the living room, a servant was pouring tea for Su Wanyun and Huang Huixin. For the moment, no one noticed the brief pallor that had crossed Ji Mingyu’s face.
Ji Mingyu lowered her eyes and clenched both hands, pressing her fingernails hard into her palms.
The sharp pain brought her bewildered, uncertain heart back to reality.
A fake heiress?
A fake heiress whose identity would eventually be exposed and who would be driven out of the Ji family? Although the book had only said that she and her mother would be expelled from the Ji family, their ending surely would not be a pleasant one.
She slowly raised her eyelids, her gaze shifting from Huang Huixin’s smiling face to Su Wanyun’s elegant profile.
Her mother, Su Wanyun, was an associate professor of history who had spent her entire life plotting and calculating. Could she really be defeated so easily?
Su Wanyun rose to her feet. “Huixin, we’ve troubled you enough today. Mingyu and I should be heading home. I still have classes at the university this afternoon, so we won’t stay any longer.”
Ji Mingyu lifted her head. The obedient smile remained on her face, and it was even a little more sincere than before.
“Auntie Huang,” she said softly, “thank you for inviting me.”
Huang Huixin smiled and waved her hand. “What are you thanking me for? Come by often in the future.”
Come by often? She certainly would.
She would not give up on this marriage alliance with the Sheng family.
After all, if her identity really was exposed, the Sheng family would be her protective umbrella. They could ensure that the Ji family would not make a move against her too easily.
What was more, no one had said that the marriage alliance had to be with Sheng Tianqi. There was more than one unmarried man in the Sheng family.
Of course, she was not the only daughter in the Ji family, either. She had to speed things up. If she married into the Ji family by then, she had no idea what methods the heroine and the male lead would use to get married.
After all, it would hardly look good for two sisters to marry into the same family.
Now that Ji Mingyu had entered this world and learned the contents of the book, it was impossible for her to remain a sacrificial pawn.
The Maybach moved steadily along the elevated highway. A faint fragrance drifted through the car as Ji Mingyu leaned against the window, her mind still replaying the information that had appeared moments earlier.
Su Wanyun turned her head, her gentle voice carrying a hint of cautious probing.
“Mingyu, I’m not forcing you. It’s just that the Sheng family really is a rare good choice. Their household is peaceful, without all sorts of messy complications.”
In families like theirs, many men kept one woman at home and several more outside, with a whole pile of illegitimate children.
Ji Mingyu looked at her mother.
In the original story, this woman had been written as a vicious stepmother—calculating and scheming. In the end, she had been driven out of the Ji family alongside Ji Mingyu, leaving them both in a sorry state.
Yet the woman sitting before her at this moment was nothing more than a mother carefully planning her daughter’s future.
No matter how other people described her, and no matter what crimes the original story had pinned on her—
Ji Mingyu would do everything she could to protect Su Wanyun.
With that thought, Ji Mingyu suddenly reached out, hooked her arm around Su Wanyun’s, and gently rested her head on her shoulder.
“Mommy, I love you so much.”
Her voice was soft, like that of a child acting spoiled.
Su Wanyun was slightly stunned. Then the smile on her face became impossible to hide.
“Do you not want this marriage alliance? Or do you dislike Sheng Tianqi?” She patted her daughter’s hand, her tone immediately softening. “It’s all right. I’ll go home and talk to your father. We can choose someone else.”
Her daughter was so outstanding. Was there any need to worry that they would not find her a good family?
Ji Mingyu raised her head, clarity shining in her eyes. “The Sheng family is very good, but I don’t want to marry Sheng Tianqi.”
Su Wanyun froze for a moment.
“If you don’t want to marry Sheng Tianqi, then who do you want to marry?”
The moment the words left her mouth, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind, and her eyes widened slightly.
“Could it be… that you like the Sheng family’s second son?”
She lowered her voice, disbelief filling her tone. “Sheng Xiuwen, Sheng Tianqi’s younger paternal uncle? When did you two start interacting?”
Interacting? What interaction could they possibly have?
Ji Mingyu had chosen Sheng Xiuwen because he was one of the only two unmarried men in the Sheng family. Besides, he controlled the real power within Shengshi Group.
That was right. The president of Shengshi Group was neither Sheng Tianqi’s father, Sheng Xiuwu, nor Sheng Tianqi, who had only just entered one of the subsidiaries.
It was Sheng Xiuwen—the man whom the book had barely mentioned at all.