Chapter 1

The twelve wedding cars had just driven onto the sea-crossing bridge when every single one of them stalled.

My brother and parents hurried out to look for help, not forgetting to remind me several times, “A bride’s feet mustn’t touch the ground. Stay in the car and don’t move around.”

I immediately pulled back the foot I’d been about to step down with and sat obediently in the car.

But after four long hours, the heat trapped in the sealed vehicle had nearly given me heatstroke. I hurried to open the door—

only to find it locked from the outside.

I threw all my strength into breaking the window to escape. The skin on both my hands was scraped away until they were a bloody mess.

Just then, the car’s Bluetooth speaker suddenly played my brother’s voice, along with that of my fiancé.

“Jian Xin is locked inside the wedding car. I told the rescue team to wait another hour before coming. She can’t ruin your wedding with Xiao Qi.”

My parents patted Fu Sinian on the shoulder, their voices full of reassurance.

“Xiao Qi’s ex-husband keeps harassing her. She lives in fear every day. Only if that man sees her remarry with his own eyes will he finally let go.”

Xu Qi was Fu Sinian’s female assistant.

Fu Sinian gave a quiet “Mm,” his tone indifferent.

“By the time she’s rescued, the wedding will be over. She won’t have a chance to make a scene.”

“The priority is helping Xiao Qi get away from her ex. At worst, I’ll make it up to Jian Xin with another wedding later.”

Under the scorching sun, my whole body turned cold. I trembled uncontrollably.

So the wedding cars stalling hadn’t been an accident.

Once again, they had sacrificed me to help Xu Qi escape her ex-husband.

If that was how it was, I no longer needed this wretched, tattered relationship.

1

The road off the bridge had been closed.

I lifted my wedding dress and knocked on the scorching metal barrier. The impact made the back of my hand throb with pain. At last, I waited until traffic police arrived.

An officer glanced at me. “The bridge is closed to traffic after noon. All these wedding cars are stuck up here. Didn’t you check before the wedding?”

My dress was crumpled in my fists. My throat tightened.

“My family left me behind on the bridge.”

The officer looked sympathetic and handed me a bottle of water.

“It’s so hot, and they left a bride locked in a car? That’s outrageous. Have some water. Once you’re off the bridge, take a taxi home. We’ll deal with these cars.”

Even an outsider knew how wrong this was. Yet my own family and the man I trusted most had done it with their own hands.

I thanked him quietly, unscrewed the cap, and drained the bottle.

After getting off the bridge, I hailed a taxi home.

The driver’s phone was streaming another wedding in the same city.

Seeing that I was wearing a wedding dress too, he smiled.

“Little miss, are you getting married today? You’ve got the same date as the wedding of the Fu family’s young master.”

“Look how generous the Fus are—they’re livestreaming so people like us can grab a red packet and share in the good fortune.”

I looked at the livestream on his screen, and a sudden ache stung my eyes.

On the screen, the emcee announced that the bride and groom would exchange rings.

The ring box was brought forward. Fu Sinian reached out, removed the matching ring he had worn for the past seven years, and threw it to the ground.

Smiling, he knelt on one knee and slipped a new ring onto Xu Qi’s finger.

“I promise that once you marry me, all you’ll ever know is happiness.”

The wedding vow he had stayed up all night polishing for me was now being spoken to Xu Qi.

My brother happily tossed red packets toward the guests, then turned to the camera operator.

“Send out a hundred thousand yuan in red packets on the livestream, so everyone can share in Sinian and Xiao Qi’s happiness.”

My mother asked in a low voice, “If Xiao Qi’s ex-husband watches this wedding live, he’ll stop suspecting her, right?”

My father instructed the photographer, “Make sure you capture the most affectionate moments between Sinian and Xiao Qi. That ex of hers needs to back off.”

Everyone was worrying about whether this wedding would make Xu Qi’s ex-husband see her and finally let her go.

No one remembered me, locked inside the wedding car for four hours.

No one cared whether anything had happened to me.

I turned my gaze away from the phone screen and tried to hold back my tears.

“Your groom is Fu Sinian?”

The driver froze for a moment, then hurriedly turned off his phone.

“I’m sorry, young lady. At least it’s not too late to see someone’s true colors before the wedding.”

“Yes. Please take me to Yuexi Residential Community.”

When I pushed open the door to our home, the bright-red double-happiness stickers on the balcony glass stabbed at my eyes.

Fu Sinian had held me in his arms while putting them up, one by one.

The wedding bedding my parents had chosen for me was still neatly folded on the sofa.

I could still remember the morning of the door games before the wedding. My brother, reluctant to see me marry, had held my hand, his palm slick with sweat.

Just hours ago, in this very house, I had thought I was finally about to find happiness.

In the end, it had all been a cruel trick.

I went into my room, packed my things without hesitation, and left.

A child riding the elevator with me still had the wedding livestream playing on a phone.

Fu Sinian was leading Xu Qi in serving tea to his elders.

Mrs. Fu smiled and handed her a thick red envelope.

“Xiao Qi, you were always the daughter-in-law I wanted in my heart. No matter what happens in the future, we’re family.”

Fu Sinian patted Xu Qi’s hand. “Go on, take it. Thank Mom.”

Xu Qi accepted the envelope, her voice sweet. “Mom, from now on, we really are family.”

The words “we’re family” pierced my ears. I had to fight with all my strength to keep my hand from trembling around the suitcase handle.

When the elevator doors opened, I looked up at the blazing sunlight and forced the warm tears in my eyes back.

Then I called my supervisor.

“Manager Zhao, about the company’s transfer to the western region you mentioned before—I accept.”

“All right. Once the paperwork is done, you’ll leave with the other colleagues in three days.”

2

I found a hotel on a whim and slept until late that evening.

When I woke, my phone showed more than a hundred missed calls from Fu Sinian.

His name was still flashing on the screen.

I had meant to block him, but accidentally touched the answer button.

His anxious voice immediately came through.

“Xiao Xin, all your clothes are gone. Where did you go?”

“The wedding was just a performance for Xiao Qi’s ex-husband. There’s nothing between her and me!”

I wanted to laugh when I heard that.

Two years ago, after Xu Qi divorced her ex-husband, he began harassing her.

At first, around Lunar New Year, she asked Fu Sinian to pretend to be her boyfriend and act as a shield.

Later, she tearfully begged him to post a photo of the two of them on his social media to stand up for her.

Everyone around them began to think Xu Qi was the sister-in-law they were always talking about.

Now she had even taken my wedding so she could put on a show.

I used to sympathize with Xu Qi’s difficult circumstances and never said much.

But now, I didn’t want to hear a single word.

I asked coldly, “Are you finished?”

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before Fu Sinian spoke again.

“I called to make sure you were all right. Also, your parents are worried Xiao Qi’s ex might still be lurking nearby, so they asked her to stay at your house for three days.”

“Take care of yourself out there. Use my card and get a nice hotel. Come back after she leaves.”

So this call was to inform me that I had to give up my home to Xu Qi too.

I let out a couple of self-mocking laughs and said each word coldly.

“Fu Sinian, we’re over.”

Then I hung up without hesitation.

The next day, I went to the company to file for a transfer.

I realized I had left some work documents at my parents’ home and hurried back to get them.

When I opened the door, I saw that a family-adoption ceremony was underway.

Xu Qi was wearing the red qipao my parents had custom-made for me. She knelt on the floor and kowtowed to them.

“Father, Mother.”

My mother patted her hand, her face full of affection.

“Yes. I’ve wanted to hear you call me that for so long.”

My father put a bank card in her hand.

“This was meant for Jian Xin’s dowry. You can have it as a gift now.”

My brother held out the jade bracelet our grandmother had left me.

“Xiao Qi, now you finally have a reason to come over whenever you want.”

As for Fu Sinian, he stayed right by Xu Qi’s side, gently helping her to her feet.

I stared at the home I’d lived in for more than a decade, stunned.

The family photo of me on the wall had been replaced with a wedding picture of my parents and Xu Qi.

The piano they had promised I could play when I came home had been thrown out. Xu Qi’s paintings were stacked in its place.

My room had been cleared out and filled with Xu Qi’s belongings.

Every trace of me had been erased.

It was as if I—their own daughter—had never existed in their lives.

When my parents saw me, the affection vanished from their faces.

“Who told you to come back? What if Xiao Qi’s ex sees you and everything is exposed?”

I looked at them trying to drive me away and said coldly, “Don’t worry. I’m only here to pick up some files. I’ll leave right away.”

I hurried into the study to look for them.

My brother crossed his arms and said casually, “Xiao Qi offered to help you clean up this morning. She threw out those useless documents for you.”

I clenched my fists.

“Who told her she could throw them out? They’re mine!”

Xu Qi, who was about to enter the study, froze, her eyes turning red.

“Jian Xin, I was wrong. I’ll go find them for you right now!”

My brother immediately pulled her back, his expression turning unpleasant.

“This is Xiao Qi’s home too now. She can arrange and clean things however she wants!”

My parents shielded Xu Qi and snapped at me.

“If you can’t stand it, then leave! We never asked you to come back!”

“I’m worried Xiao Qi’s ex might find her. What if their fake marriage is exposed because of you?”

Even Fu Sinian stood beside Xu Qi, gently comforting her.

“It’s not your fault. You only meant well.”

Watching them defend Xu Qi, I could no longer hold back the hurt inside me.

“Right! In everyone’s eyes, everything is my fault! This place isn’t my home anymore! I’m leaving!”

I slammed the door and strode out.

3

The moment I left the residential complex, Fu Sinian ran after me.

He wrapped his arms around me from behind, breathing unevenly.

“Don’t go, Xiao Xin.”

“I didn’t tell you about the adoption ceremony because I was afraid you’d get upset.”

The tears I had been holding back finally poured out.

I wrenched his arms away.

“You locked me in a wedding car because you were afraid I’d get upset. You let my parents adopt someone else without telling me because you were afraid I’d get upset.”

“You say you’re doing it for my own good every time, but have you ever once considered how I feel?”