Chapter 8

I couldn’t let everything I had worked for be destroyed here.

“Xia Miao, I organized this exhibition. I’ll give you an explanation. If this is my responsibility, I won’t evade it.”

“Anyone can say the right things. The cameras are broken. Are you hoping I’ll let you off because we went to university together? Who’s going to give me back my painting?”

I shook my head.

“I knew how important this piece was. When I inspected the venue, I secretly installed a hidden camera as a precaution. We only need to check its footage to find out what happened.”

Panic flickered in her eyes.

I gave my assistant clear instructions to retrieve the recording.

Xia Miao suddenly became magnanimous.

“Forget it. Why bother with the footage? We were roommates for four years. Would I really keep hounding you? Am I that heartless? Don’t check it. Let it go.”

I turned to Lu Chenzhou.

He caught the mockery in my gaze and seemed desperate to prove his loyalty.

“We’re checking the footage. If Wen Yu made a mistake, I’ll take responsibility for it. But if someone deliberately framed her, don’t expect me to show any mercy.”

“Chenzhou…”

Xia Miao sounded pitiful.

He didn’t even look at her.

Under the scrutiny of countless cameras, the recording played on the large screen.

To everyone’s astonishment, the person destroying the painting was Xia Miao herself.

She slashed at it furiously, muttering:

“Why? Chenzhou was mine! What right did you have to take him? Wen Yu, I’ll ruin you!”

She crumpled to the floor.

“No. No, that isn’t real!”

Lu Chenzhou stared in disbelief at the woman whose tears had smeared her makeup.

“How could you do this, Xia Miao? You destroyed the most beautiful memories we had.”

“Call the police,” I said coldly.

While we waited, Dongdong suddenly shouted, “Holy shit!”

Everyone jumped and turned to her.

She held up a handful of torn paper.

“I thought this painting looked familiar! Wen Yu, isn’t this the one you painted on our high-school graduation trip?”

Silence fell.

“Don’t believe me? Wait. I posted a picture of it back then!”

She scrolled back to a post from seven years ago.

[Look what my bestie painted on a whim! Apparently there’s a story about a boy behind it. Help me out here—where’s the boy?]

The attached photograph showed that very painting.

13

Xia Miao had exhausted herself crying and was waiting fearfully for the police.

Now dozens of cameras were suddenly aimed at her face.

“Ms. Xia, do you have any comment on the revelation that Wen Yu is the original artist?”

The light went out of her eyes.

With nothing left to lose, she became brazen.

“She sold it to me! Her mother needed surgery, and I was the only one willing to help. She sold it, so it’s mine. What’s wrong with that?”

Lu Chenzhou had been beside me all this time. At those words, his expression changed violently.

He strode forward and seized her shoulders.

“Didn’t you tell me you painted it? Didn’t you say you were the one who jumped into the water and saved me?”

Dongdong looked completely bewildered.

“Jumped in to save someone? Lu Chenzhou, how many times have you nearly drowned? Did someone else save you besides Wen Yu?”

He slowly turned to me.

“You saved me?”

Before I could answer, Dongdong spoke.

“Yes! On that graduation trip. Wen Yu jumped into the water and pulled you out. You wouldn’t wake up. She handed you over to the doctors and only left after she was sure your life wasn’t in danger.

“The water in Tibet was freezing. She came back with a fever.

“You didn’t know?”

He stared at me in disbelief.

Weak as I was, I was just about to sit down when Dongdong swore again.

“Holy shit!

“Holy shit! No way. This fucking snake didn’t just steal credit for Wen Yu’s painting—she took credit for saving your life too? She stole Wen Yu’s man back then, and now she’s come back to steal her husband?

“Holy shit. Holy shit!

“How can anyone be that shameless?”

Once again, the cameras turned to Xia Miao.

“Ms. Xia, did you really do all these appalling things?”

Lu Chenzhou’s eyes burned with barely contained fury.

“I asked you again and again back then whether you were the one who saved me. Every single time, you insisted it was you.”