Chapter 1

Chapter 1

While scrolling through my social media feed, a single photo caught my eye.

Looking past the crowd of glamorous people in the foreground, my gaze landed on a young man in the back. He was leaning lazily against a sofa, head down as he toyed with his phone.

One hand rested on the sofa, partially obscuring his face, yet his high-bridged nose and deep-set brow were still visible.

After a moment of hesitation, I opened my photo gallery to find a picture of Zhou Jinyan and compared the two several times.

Then, I opened a chat window with Chen Jiani-a university classmate I barely knew beyond the occasional social media like-and sent her a message.

[Hi, sorry to bother you, but is this person a friend of yours?]

I sent her the photo with the man specifically circled. For some reason, Chen Jiani seemed to have applied a blur effect to that exact spot in the original post.

To my surprise, Chen Jiani replied almost instantly.

[Why are you asking about him? You’d better stay away from people like him.]

I replied: [No reason, I just thought he looked a bit like my boyfriend.]

He looked incredibly similar. No one knew Zhou Jinyan better than I did; I could even sketch the exact curve of his brow when he frowned.

Soon, a flurry of messages from Chen Jiani came popping up.

[Jiang Ran, are you daydreaming in broad daylight? My husband can’t even get a word in when he’s around that guy. How could your boyfriend, who makes a few thousand a month, have anything to do with him?]

[What’s the matter? Finally come to your senses and planning to dump that deadbeat boyfriend of yours who has nothing to his name?]

I cut through her sarcasm by sending a sticker of a student bowing in thanks. [I was just curious. Never mind.]

Chen Jiani had always been competitive. Ever since she lost to my makeup-free photo in an unofficial campus beauty poll during our freshman year, she had tried to one-up me in everything.

Later, she married the son of a listed company’s CEO, while I devoted myself to a relationship with Zhou Jinyan, a poor young man.

Only then did she deign to unblock me from her social media feed so I could admire her life.

Switching to my chat with Zhou Jinyan, I asked: [Are you coming back soon?]

My pinned contact, “AAA Baby Zhou,” replied quickly.

He sent a photo of a desk in a conference room, along with a sticker of a kitten tilting its head and wiping away tears.

[Still working overtime. Go to bed early, don’t wait up for me.]

[Hard work! Love you~] I sent back a hug and two kisses, then tucked my phone into my pocket, feeling at ease.

That was more like it.

This was Jiang Ran’s boyfriend-a corporate drone who woke up every day to earn a few thousand a month.

How could he possibly have anything to do with people in Chen Jiani’s circle?