Chapter 1
In the middle of the night, a message from Xu Sui lit up my phone.
[You really want to break up?]
I had ended things with her a month ago.
She had said nothing then, which I took as silent agreement to an amicable breakup.
A whole month later, she suddenly rose from the dead and bombarded me with messages.
1:23 a.m.
[I’m asking one more time. Do you really want to break up?]
1:25 a.m.
[Fine. Let’s break up. I forgot to answer you last time, so consider this my official response.]
[Happy breakup.]
[It’s over.]
1:37 a.m.
[Xu Nainai, I wasn’t even that serious about you.]
[You were the one who got drunk and insisted on kissing me. I just thought it might be fun.]
2:18 a.m.
[Why aren’t you answering?]
[Is your phone broken? Are my messages not getting through?]
[Then I’ll ask again. Xu Nainai, do you really want to break up with me?]
[If you do, send me a 1. We’ll delete each other right now.]
I pressed my lips together, typed “1,” and sent it.
The chat immediately showed: The other person is typing…
I blinked and waited for Xu Sui’s reply.
A few seconds later, the words vanished.
No message came.
I drew a deep breath and closed my eyes, my lashes trembling.
Maybe this really was the end.
Then my phone chimed again.
2:20 a.m.
[Why are you still not answering? If you don’t want to delete me, just say so. Stop playing hard to get.]
[Xu Nainai, if you can’t bear to let me go, tell me. I’ll pretend this breakup never happened, and we can go back to the way we were.]
2:35 a.m.
[Xu Nainai, I know you’re awake.]
[Please answer me, Your Highness.]
[You’ve already had your way with me. You can’t just dump me now. Can we talk?]
3:51 a.m.
[Fine, break up then. As if I care.]
[This is hilarious. I’ve wanted out for ages.]
5:45 a.m.
[Xu Nainai, I’m going back to the Xu family tomorrow.]
[Just you wait. When I get there, I’ll take very good care of you!]
A fortune-teller had once declared that the real heiress, Xu Sui, was destined to face a terrible calamity before she turned twenty. Someone with a strong enough fate had to bear it in her place.
If Xu Sui survived her twentieth year, the rest of her life would be safe and joyful.
That was why the Xu family had adopted me, the false heiress: to suffer her calamity for her.
I had only learned the truth a month ago.
Until then, I had always believed I was the Xu family’s biological daughter.
That day, my mother, Jiang Jing, had summoned me to the study with a grave expression.
She stood before a whiteboard and flipped it around.
A wall of green filled my vision—page after page of printed chat logs.
Panic seized me. I hurried closer and read them carefully.
They were my conversations with Xu Sui. Every last message had been printed, both the respectable ones and the ones no one should ever see.
“Mom, what is this supposed to mean?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“Break up with her or leave the Xu family. Choose,” she said without mercy.
I stared at her, stunned, then grabbed her hand and pleaded, “Mom, I know this is hard for you to accept, but didn’t you tell me love has nothing to do with gender?”
“You can love a woman. Xu Sui is off-limits.”
I froze. “Mom, how do you know her name? Did you investigate her?”
“Because Xu Sui is my daughter.”
For one breathless moment, I could only gape at her.
That was the night I learned the secret they had kept for twenty years.
Mom told me Xu Sui would be brought back to the Xu family in a month.
Every relative was required to be there to welcome her home.
Which meant all those relatives I despised would find out that I was not a true daughter of the family.
I did not care much about that. But why did I have to break up with Xu Sui?
As if reading my mind, Mom spoke first.
“Nainai, the Xu family has raised you all these years. I can’t bear to make you leave either.”
“So we never planned to send you away.”
“But—” She struck the whiteboard hard. “How could you date Xu Sui? Family rules say she must marry into the Bai family!” Mom let out a deep sigh.
I was silent for a long time before asking, “Does Xu Sui know? Does she know I exist?”
“Of course she does. She’s known since she was old enough to understand that she would return to the Xu family after turning twenty. She knows about you too. I’ve sent her plenty of your pictures.”
“That girl never gives me a moment’s peace. She knew exactly who you were, and she still let this happen…”
I stopped hearing the rest.
One thought consumed me: Xu Sui had known all along. Why had she never told me? Had she been playing with me?
Had toying with me been that much fun?
“Mom, I’ll break up with Xu Sui.”
“Thank you for raising me all these years. Once I finish college, I’ll leave the Xu family.”
That very night, I sent Xu Sui a breakup message.
For once, she did not reply.
I thought she had accepted it. Instead, on the night before her return, a month later, she lost her mind.
[Xu Nainai, I’ll be back at the Xu house tomorrow.]
[Just you wait. When I get there, I’ll take very good care of you!]
I stared at her last message.
Not one word about the Xu family’s secret.
Take care of me? Take care of me? Was that all she ever thought about?
I was blocking her right now.
After tossing and turning all night, I still did not answer.
And I added her to my blacklist.