Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My older sister dumped her three-year-old daughter on us and went off traveling.

My mom caught wind of it in advance and ran faster than anyone.

By the time I realized what was happening, my three-year-old niece had already been delivered to my tiny single-person apartment. I opened my eyes, and there she was, staring right back at me.

The official excuse was: I worked from home, so looking after a kid wouldn’t get in the way.

Three-year-olds are so annoying even dogs can’t stand them.

My little niece had a pretty little face, but she was a tiny demon. Every night, she kept me up until I wanted to die.

At least when someone kills you, it’s over with one swing. She didn’t need a knife to murder me. She did it slowly, steadily, by “singing” in my ear.

At five-thirty in the morning, I dragged myself up with bleary eyes to make her formula and rice cereal, then fell asleep again and slept straight through to six in the evening.

And that damned class reunion started at exactly six.

It had been ten years since we graduated high school. I’d forgotten almost everyone in the class by now. Besides, reunions were only good for two things: seeing the teachers and comparing lives.

You showed off your luxury handbag, I showed off my fancy car.

Boring. Pointless.

A whole group of people sat around bragging about their jobs and comparing salaries. As for so-called classmate camaraderie, it was probably just an excuse to network, get referrals, or find someone to promote their useless husbands.

I sat blankly at my vanity for a while, then finally gave up.

I pulled out a plain white cotton T-shirt my little niece had already ruined, put on a pair of gray pants, couldn’t even be bothered to apply tone-up cream, and went out with dark circles under my eyes.

Oh, right. I also brought along my three-year-old niece.

Pay for one person, feed two. Brilliant!

The moment I walked into the private dining room, I saw luxury handbags placed casually on the table with the brand logos facing outward, and someone repeatedly tugging at his shirt cuff to reveal a tantalizing glimpse of a million-yuan watch.

As soon as I stepped inside, everyone already eating at the table turned to look at me, trying to dig my old appearance out of my current face.

“Xiao Xiao, you’re finally here! Come sit over here!”

The one who broke the silence was a pretty girl. She enthusiastically pulled out a chair for me.

Holding my niece, who was clinging to me like an octopus, I walked over without a trace of awkwardness.

The second I sat down, whispers started up at the neighboring table.

“Is this your daughter? She’s so cute. Her eyes look just like yours.”

The little thing was a tyrant at home, bullying every breathing creature in sight, but now that she was surrounded by strangers, she didn’t dare make a sound. She shrank into my arms, behaving herself perfectly.

“Yes.”

The moment I admitted it, the girl’s smile widened.

“You got married so young? Is your husband not at home? Why doesn’t he help you with the kid?”

I picked up a piece of lobster meat with my chopsticks and said indifferently, “Divorced. He started fooling around outside when the baby had just turned one month old. The lawsuit dragged on for a year.”

After I said that, I felt the chairs around me quietly shift a little farther away.

They turned their heads and started talking about some stock, some bank. No one was actually eating.

I spun the lazy Susan around and sampled everything I wanted.

A dish of lion’s head meatballs had just been served. This hotel’s lion’s head meatballs had always been my favorite. But before my hand could even touch the turntable, the girl in the black dress moved faster and spun the dish to the opposite side.

“Chen Shu, I remember you used to like lion’s head meatballs. This place makes them pretty well. Want to try?”

That name was far too familiar. So familiar that all the noise around me seemed to fade at once, and that was the only name I caught.

I poked at the shrimp in my bowl with my chopsticks and slowly raised my head. There he was-the ex-boyfriend I had supposedly “seduced and abandoned” back in high school.

He looked completely different from the innocent boy in the white shirt I remembered.

Chen Shu was wearing a black suit, looking so proper he seemed to have come straight from a company meeting.

Over the past few years, I’d vaguely heard my dad mention some new internet company and the name Chen Shu, but I had never taken it seriously.

Who would’ve thought that one day, that poor boy would really climb his way up step by step to this position?

“No need.”

Chen Shu’s fingers were long and slender, and the way they rested on the turntable was ridiculously pleasing to look at.

It wasn’t until the plate of lion’s head meatballs appeared precisely in front of me that I finally tore my gaze away from his hand.

The girl in the black dress probably hadn’t expected Chen Shu to do that.

Neither had I.

But I had thick skin, so I picked one up and started eating.

“Oh, right, Xiao Xiao-weren’t you two a little couple back then? So it turns out you both liked lion’s head meatballs.”

I stabbed a meatball with my chopsticks, brought it to my mouth, and pretended not to hear what the girl in the black dress had said.

The one who liked lion’s head meatballs had never been Chen Shu. It had always been me.

Back then, whenever he bought lion’s head meatballs from the cafeteria, they were for me. Because they were so popular, the cafeteria had set a purchase limit. And since I could eat several in one meal, I’d ask my boyfriend to bring me one too.

I didn’t pay attention to whatever Chen Shu said in response, because the Little Ancestor in my arms had started making a fuss.

Flustered, I pulled a bottle from my backpack and asked a server to show me where I could get hot water.

When I came back, the Little Ancestor was most definitely not sitting obediently in her seat waiting for me.

“She’s over here, Xiao Xiao!”

“Your daughter is so cute.”

Holding the bottle, I walked halfway around the table and finally spotted my little niece hugging someone else’s leg, her round face resting on their knee.

I gave an awkward smile, then lifted my head and saw who exactly the Little Ancestor had latched on to-my ex-boyfriend.

She really knew how to cause me trouble.