Chapter 2

A few days later, Pei Ci returned from a business trip, and I tried to gossip with him about that so-called aunt.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know much either.

He had no interest in gossip. He was, however, extremely interested in me.

He took off his gold-rimmed glasses and tempted me in a husky voice. “Wanwan, I was gone for three days. Didn’t you miss me at all?”

So I pushed him onto the bed and did this and that to him all night.

At the first hint of dawn, he finally let me go. Sated, he kissed my cheek. “If you really want to know, ask Aunt Ming. She’s been with the Pei family for years.”

My eyes, dull with exhaustion like those of a dead fish, lit up instantly.

Pei Ci chuckled under his breath.

The next day, Aunt Ming told me the sordid family history the Peis kept hidden.

Back then, Pei Yingying wasn’t Pei Yingying yet. Her name was Chen Yingying.

Her father had been Old Master Pei’s trusted right-hand man for many years.

When Chen Yingying was ten, one of the Pei family’s rivals hired killers. Her father gave his life protecting Old Master Pei and, with his dying breath, entrusted his wife and daughter to the family.

There was no greater debt than one owed for a life.

Driven by guilt and a desire to compensate them, Old Master Pei took meticulous care of mother and daughter and denied them nothing.

Chen Yingying’s mother was gentle and beautiful. After looking after her for long enough, the old master eventually started looking after her in bed.

He was divorced and she was widowed, so they made a fitting pair and simply registered their marriage.

The old master adored her. Afraid his new wife would be looked down upon, he spent lavishly on an extravagant wedding to demonstrate her importance. He also made a public show of changing his stepdaughter’s surname from Chen to Pei, adding her to the family register, and raising her as his own daughter.

Pei Yingying was fifteen that year.

In an instant, the fatherless girl became the Pei family’s most pampered little princess.

But one person was deeply unhappy about the whole arrangement.

Old Master Pei’s only son, Pei Fuli.

Pei Fuli was two years older than Pei Yingying. A rebellious young heir with a wild, arrogant temper, he showed his father no respect and picked fights with everyone under the sun, making life miserable for his stepmother and stepsister.

Pei Yingying understood the precarious position she and her mother occupied.

Her mother had been injured giving birth to her and would never have another child with her new husband. Pei Fuli, meanwhile, was the family’s only son. He would one day control the Pei family, which made him the most important person for her to win over.

Once Pei Yingying worked that out, she began deliberately currying favor with him.

She packed him elaborate homemade lunches and didn’t get angry even when he tossed them straight into the trash in front of her. Whatever he liked, she learned, all so they would have something in common.

Gradually, the walls Pei Fuli had built around his heart began to crumble.