Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Fu Shiyu and I first met at our engagement banquet.

Actually, calling it an engagement isn’t quite accurate.

The more precise way to put it is: the Fu Family and the Meng Family were closing a massive business deal, and they tied the two of us together in a “strategic engagement” as a side note.

I was wearing a silver-gray slip dress with a back that dipped down to my waist.

I wasn’t trying to seduce anyone; the hotel’s air conditioning was just pathetic.

Fu Shiyu stood by the champagne tower, looking like a freshly polished blade.

Expensive, cold, and sharp.

My foster mother, Mrs. Liang, pushed me toward him.

“Shiyu, this is Lingshu.”

He spared me a glance. “Miss Pei.”

I smiled. “Just call me by my name. We wouldn’t want you to address the wrong person on our wedding day.”

He paused for a moment. “Pei Lingshu.”

Qiao Yuntang was also there that night.

White dress, white hair tie, innocent eyes, and a soft voice.

She clung to Fu Shiyu’s side, looking like the default female lead of the evening.

After the event, she intercepted me.

“Sister Lingshu, please don’t misunderstand. Brother Shiyu and I are just friends.”

I took off my earrings, looking her over slowly.

“Is that your standard opening line every time you approach a man who’s already engaged?”

Her face stiffened. Suddenly, she grabbed my wrist and whispered in my ear, “You’ll regret this.”

I flipped my hand and pried her fingers off.

“Miss Qiao, watch where you put your hands.”

As I walked out onto the terrace, my phone vibrated.

A text from an unknown number: *You shouldn’t have come back to the Meng Family.*

I stared at the words and suddenly laughed.

Everyone thought I returned to the Meng Family to enjoy a life of luxury.

Only I knew that I was back to settle the score.

On the day of the recognition banquet, I wore a black suit.

While everyone else was beaming with joy, I looked like I was there to deliver a death sentence.

Mrs. Meng held me and cried, saying how much I had suffered.

I handed her a tissue. “Don’t be in such a rush to cry. You might want to save those tears for later.”

The room went silent, then erupted into chaos.

That was because I had my lawyer present four sets of documents in quick succession.

First: DNA results proving I am the biological daughter of the Meng Family.

Second: Proof that Qiao Yuntang has no blood relation to the Meng Family.

Third: Restored hospital records showing that the identification bracelets were intentionally swapped back then.

Fourth: Bank transfer records for three hundred thousand, signed for by Mrs. Qiao.

Qiao Yuntang stood up instantly.

“It’s fake! All of it can be forged!”

I nodded. “That’s why I prepared four sets of evidence, not just one.”

The venue descended into total madness.

She clung to Mrs. Meng’s legs, sobbing that she was a victim too.

I didn’t look at her. I looked at Fu Shiyu.

He sat in the front row, his expression gradually darkening.

It was as if someone had publicly shattered the faith he had held for over a decade.

After the banquet, he blocked my path in the garage.

“You knew all along?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I leaned against the car door and looked at him.

“Tell you what? That your ‘white moonlight’ is a high-quality counterfeit?”

He gritted his teeth. “Pei Lingshu, do you have to be so biting?”

“I just didn’t see the point in saving face for you.”

He pressed his hand against the car door, his breathing heavy and low.

“Do you really care about me that little?”

I looked at his Adam’s apple, my voice flat.

“You’re very handsome, and very expensive.”

“But you aren’t worth my tears.”

Before the car drove off, I saw him through the rearview mirror, still standing in the same spot.

In that moment, I suddenly remembered many years ago.

A fire at the harbor. I had dragged a boy out from the smoke.

He had grabbed my wrist and said, *Don’t be afraid, I’ll come back for you.*

Later, a crescent-shaped scar remained on my wrist.

He never came back.