Chapter 1

The day I found out I was pregnant, I was overjoyed and wanted to tell my fiancé, Pei Xun.

Then a news alert appeared on my phone.

The Su Group’s high-stakes gamble had failed. The company was burdened with hundreds of billions in debt, and its chairman had jumped into a river and died.

When my older brother heard the news, he rushed home through the night.

My fiancé went to pick him up. On their way back, an oil tanker struck their car and exploded. Both men were gravely injured and died.

Creditors surrounded the Su residence. They hurled obscenities at my younger sister and me, then laid hands on us.

My mother traded her life for the chance that we might survive.

My sister had the bearing of a pampered heiress, yet she had to kneel before an old enemy and endure endless humiliation just to pay off the debt.

A week later, she was brought home. There wasn’t an uninjured spot on her body. She would never open her eyes again.

I fell from the second floor while trying to escape the creditors. Blood kept flowing from me.

As my consciousness faded, I heard one of them laugh into the phone.

“Boss Pei said to keep this up for another week. We’ll close the net after he gets back from his honeymoon with his ‘white moonlight.’”

“The ‘white moonlight’s’ mother was the Su chairman’s first love. He and the young master of the Su family agreed in person that the ‘white moonlight’ was only taking back what had always belonged to her.”

“If we don’t scare the eldest Su daughter properly, why would she willingly break off the engagement and make room for her? This lesson has to be thorough!”

So there had never been a failed gamble. There had been no bankruptcy. My father and brother were still alive. Pei Xun was alive too.

They only wanted me to break off the engagement.

But they didn’t know that my mother was gone, my sister was gone, and my unborn child and I were gone too.

When they came back, all they could do was collect our bodies.

…

Blood seeped from beneath me, little by little absorbed into the dirt.

I collapsed in the bushes.

The living-room lights were still on. The creditor was making a phone call.

“Is Ranning still making trouble?”

Pei Xun’s cool, familiar voice came through the other end.

The creditor chuckled obsequiously.

“The eldest Su daughter is stubborn. She won’t give in no matter what. But the second Su daughter went to the Tang Pavilion today. They carried her back. I heard she got thirty million.”

Pei Xun was indifferent.

“She used to look down on the illegitimate son of the Tang family and insult him to his face more times than anyone can count. If she humbled herself to ask him for help and still got thirty million, she must have suffered quite a bit.”

“But that’s good. Ranning loves her little sister most. When she sees her hurt, it’ll break her heart.”

It was raining the day my sister was carried home.

She lay on a stretcher. I pulled back the sheet, my hands shaking so badly I nearly fell over.

She was still awake, staring blankly at the ceiling.

I called her name, but she refused to answer.

Then she fell asleep, and never opened her eyes again.

The call ended. The creditor stood up, knocked on our door, and set three bowls of congee on the floor.

It had gone bad. The rice was yellowed, and it smelled so sour we could catch the stench through the wooden door.

“Eat! This is all you deserve now!”

Three bowls.

One for me, one for Mother, and one for my sister.

Only this time, there was no one left who could come out and take them.

The first time they brought us congee was after they had starved us for two days and two nights.

Mother took one sip, then gave the rest to my sister and me.

We devoured it.

Mother sat across from us, her expression frighteningly calm.

“Don’t be afraid. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She went outside and said something to the creditors.

Suddenly, they started arguing.

Mother trembled all over. She reached out and slashed her own throat.

Blood sprayed. My sister and I rushed to stop the bleeding, and only then saw the small knife she had been hiding between her fingers.

The creditor was terrified. He pulled out his phone to call emergency services.

The man beside him stopped him.

“Chairman Su said his wife is very good at acting. This is probably just one of her tricks to win his favor.”

They said that, but in the end they were scared too. They brought us a few decent meals.

By the time Mother was carried back to our room, she was already dead.

My sister and I screamed and begged the creditors in a frenzy.

But after the ringleader took a phone call, he became even more convinced we were putting on an act.

Chapter 2

My vision began to blur. My spirit floated free of my body.

I saw my own corpse lying facedown in the bushes, my white dress soaked red with blood.

Inside the room, Mother and my sister lay side by side on the bed, their faces peaceful, as if they were sleeping.

I reached out to touch them, but my fingers passed through empty air.

Only a few days ago, we had still been sitting together, discussing the wedding.

Mother had insisted on a traditional wedding in an embroidered silk gown. My sister had demanded a Western-style wedding dress.

Neither would give in. In the end, they joined forces and pressured me into holding both ceremonies.

Those days had passed so recently, yet they already felt like another lifetime.

Outside the door, the creditor’s phone rang again.

This time it was my father.

“There’s a jade bracelet in the safe in my study. Bring it over.”

The bracelet was my grandmother’s legacy. She had once said it would be passed down to Mother, the next mistress of the Su family.

But my father had carelessly stored it away, saying he wanted to keep it as a memento of his mother.

Mother understood his filial feelings and had never brought it up.

So he had thought Mother didn’t deserve to wear it.

He wanted to save it for the daughter of his first love.

A young woman’s playful “thank you” came through the phone.

My older brother laughed indulgently. “You little thing, you’re not shy at all.”

Pei Xun’s voice joined in.

“You like jade bracelets? I’ll buy the entire Feicui Pavilion for you. You can pick anything you want from it.”

The creditor laughed along. “Miss Jiang is truly spoiled.”

Pei Xun’s tone turned cool.

“Chuyue and I are legally married now. From now on, call her Mrs. Pei.”

“Mrs. Pei! Mrs. Pei!”

The creditor lightly slapped his own mouth twice.

I was shaken to the core.

Chuyue. Jiang Chuyue.

Memories came rushing back like a flood.

Six months ago, Father brought a young woman home. He said only that she was the child of a close family friend he had known for generations, and that both her parents were gone.

Mother’s heart softened. She welcomed Chuyue into the Su home and provided her with everything she needed, on a par with my sister and me.

Whenever Chuyue saw me, she would timidly call me “big sister” in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s.

I took her to every major and minor business banquet, using the Su and Pei families’ influence to support her. I introduced her to everyone as my little sister.

Only my own sister disliked her. She would purse her lips and say Chuyue was a white lotus who loved to act pitiful and burst into tears.

But one time, at a party, a wealthy young lady poured a full glass of red wine over Jiang Chuyue.

My sister had stepped in front of her without a word to shield her.

Jiang Chuyue and Pei Xun almost never spoke to each other.

Whenever Pei Xun came to see me, she would immediately find an excuse to leave.

Even at a meal, if Pei Xun was at the table, she wasn’t; if she was there, Pei Xun wasn’t.

Pei Xun had also said that he couldn’t care less about any of the sisters around me.

I was the only one he cared about.

My heart had been sweet with the thought that Pei Xun knew how to keep proper boundaries, and that Jiang Chuyue was considerate and polite.

So they hadn’t been keeping their distance.

They had been secretly involved all along.

They were afraid I would notice.

My vision swam. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in the living room of the Pei residence.

The crystal lights were blinding.

Father, my older brother, and Pei Xun were all there.

They surrounded Jiang Chuyue protectively, like stars gathered around the moon.

Father peeled fruit for her himself.

Jiang Chuyue playfully tilted her head. “I want that one!”

Father smiled helplessly and reached out to pat her head.

“You little thing. Now you’re ordering me around?”

My older brother pulled a velvet box from his pocket and took out a necklace he had just bought for her.

The diamond sparkled like a galaxy beneath the lights.

Jiang Chuyue smiled sweetly. “It’s beautiful. I love it.”

My brother smiled too, gazing at her with affection.

“If I gave that necklace to picky Ranning, she’d definitely complain. Chuyue is so thoughtful. You’re more like my little sister.”

Chapter 3

Those words—“more like my little sister”—hurt so much I could barely breathe.

In the past, no matter how busy Father was, he would come into my room after work each night, pat my head, and say good night.

Wherever my older brother went, he brought me a gift. He even sent things across the ocean with a card he had written by hand.

I loved eating grapes but hated peeling them, so the two of them would sit on either side of me and peel them for me.

They used to tease me for being so spoiled my hands were practically going to atrophy from laziness.

Somewhere along the way, all that love had changed hands.

Hearing my brother’s words, Jiang Chuyue’s happy expression suddenly fell.

“What if Sister Ranning finds out and still clings to Brother Pei?”

Pei Xun stroked her head, his voice gentle.

“That’s why we have to teach her a lesson so deep she’ll never forget it. If she dares make trouble again, she’ll remember what she went through this time.”

My brother joined in.

“That’s why the failed gamble, the jump into the river, the oil tanker—all of it had to look real. Once she’s scared, she’ll learn to behave.”

Father sighed.

“Ranning is too stubborn. Unless we frighten her, she won’t let go.”

Pei Xun continued, “I told the creditors to keep an eye on her. They can scare her, but they mustn’t really hurt her.”

“Once Chuyue and I get back from Beihai next week, we’ll tell them the truth.”

“By then we’ll all come back from the dead. Ranning will be overjoyed.”

Father nodded with a smile.

“Your mother is sure to curse me out when we get back. That hot temper of hers hasn’t changed in all these years.”

My brother laughed too.

“And the little one’s first move will be to cancel our supplementary cards.”

I smiled bitterly.

Mother really was strong-willed.

That was why she would rather die than be humiliated.

My sister loved beauty so much.

When she came home, her body was covered in injuries.

She was so greedy for money, yet she had handed over the thirty million without hesitation to pay the debt.

When she received that money, she must have thought, At least Mother and my sister won’t have to suffer quite so much.

She never knew it had all been a performance from the very beginning.

Pei Xun told the creditor to turn on all the lights. He said I was afraid of the dark.

The creditor obediently agreed. After hanging up, the men exchanged glances.

“Why not leave the lights on? Better yet, throw all the doors wide open so we can see how these rich ladies and young mistresses bathe and sleep.”

I looked at them coldly.

These were the men Pei Xun had chosen to act out his little drama.

They thought the creditors would only shout through the door and, at worst, smash a few things.

They had no idea that on the very first day, the creditors had kicked the door in.