Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The voice was not loud, but it was enough for everyone to hear.

Zhou Huaixu’s brows drew together slightly, as if he were a little stunned.

Mother quietly tugged at my hand.

She remembered it clearly. That night, after my elder sister learned she was not the Cui Family’s biological daughter, she had gone back to her room without even touching lunch.

It was not until evening, when the maidservants went in to attend her, that they said the eldest young lady was gone.

Afraid of damaging my elder sister’s reputation, Mother only sent a few trusted servants to search for her in secret.

I went out looking too, and did not return to the residence until daybreak.

When it came to my elder sister, Mother had always taken more pains.

The Cui Family’s eldest daughter was clever and lively, the sort everyone adored.

The second daughter, on the other hand, was as dull as a block of wood.

Mother did not understand why I would lie.

Zhou Huaixu was handsome, from a good family, and had already attained an important post at such a young age.

If I missed this chance, I would never find anyone better.

But Mother did not know that the person he was looking for was not me.

When Zhou Huaixu came to propose, he only said that he had happened to meet a young lady of our household in Yangliu Alley that night, and had fallen for her at first sight.

Since he had already ruined the young lady’s innocence, he could not ruin her reputation as well.

That was why he did not name the brothel where they had met.

Instead, he deliberately chose Yangliu Alley, near the brothel, as his cover.

I did not know the truth and believed him.

I took myself for the woman he had fallen for at first sight.

That was how all my resentment began.

I pressed my lips together and lifted my face. “Young Master Zhou fell in love at first sight with the woman from Yangliu Alley. Look again. Did she look like me?”

Zhou Huaixu studied my face carefully.

My elder sister and I looked completely different.

Her beauty was vivid and dazzling, the kind that made a man forget the vulgar world with one glance.

I, by comparison, was far more ordinary.

In Zhou Huaixu’s hazy memory, the woman that night had been delicate and alluring.

Not a trace of her could be found on my plain face.

Realizing he had found the wrong person, his eyes dimmed, and he prepared to take his leave.

Mother hesitated, but in the end, she still spoke.

“Our family has another daughter, the eldest. She should be the one you are looking for.”

I lowered my eyes and quietly withdrew from the reception hall.

As expected, Mother still loved my elder sister more.

Before the True Daughter’s adoptive mother died, guilt had forced out the truth: she had switched her own biological daughter with the Cui Family’s daughter.

When the True Daughter came to claim her kin, Mother only kept sizing me up.

After all, how could a daughter as ordinary and bland as me possibly be hers by blood?

Unfortunately, that fantasy shattered when the True Daughter stated her age.

My elder sister’s eyes reddened.

Mother only held her close and comforted her softly. “Whether you are mine by blood or not, you are still Mother’s daughter.”

The True Daughter watched it all coldly.

Her attitude was resolute. “Between the true and the false daughter, only one can stay.”

Mother was truly caught in a difficult position. She could not bear to part with the false daughter who had lived beside her day and night, the daughter she cherished so dearly.

But Father was unwilling to let his own flesh and blood wander outside the family.

My elder sister did not want to make things difficult for our parents, so she left of her own accord.

And now, Mother had given her answer.