Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I practically fled in disgrace.

I had originally wanted to torment Xu Heyi a little, to make him watch me flirt with another man.

But in the end, I couldn’t care about any of that.

I could only hope Xu Xiaoyou hadn’t recognized me.

That night, I started dreaming again.

The year the mountains were buried under heavy snow, I finally managed to steal a bottle of pesticide.

As long as I drank it, everything would be over.

But just as I twisted off the cap, the cellar door suddenly slammed open.

Daylight poured in.

Xu Xiaoyou reached out to me. “Don’t be scared. I’m here to save you.”

He took off his coat and wrapped it around me, and a stranger’s body heat enveloped me.

He asked, “Little girl, what’s your name?”

I opened my mouth, my voice hoarse. “Tang Xuesheng.”

“Xuesheng. That’s a beautiful name. It’s snowing heavily today, and from today on, you’ll be reborn.”

After I heard those words, the nerves that had been numb for so long finally twitched back to life.

I couldn’t stop the tears from falling, soaking the collar of his coat.

Later, to ease my nerves, Xu Xiaoyou talked to me a lot.

“I’ve already notified your parents. Once the paternity test is done, you’ll be able to go home with them.”

“To be honest, this is my first trafficking case. You’re the first person I’ve ever rescued, so you have to live well, all right?”

“I believe a brand-new life is waiting for you.”

Looking back afterward, Xu Xiaoyou had only been in his early twenties then, newly joined to the police force and full of spirit.

And I had been at my ugliest.

He was my savior. But strangely enough, I didn’t want to see him at all.

I didn’t even dare to see him.

Because after that snowstorm, I was not reborn.

Instead, I slid into another kind of slow death.

There were countless people in the world, but he was the one person I least wanted to know.

Early the next morning, I woke to a barrage of messages.

“Shengsheng, what is going on with that sister of yours? She’s smearing you in front of the media! My phone is about to explode from all the reporters calling!”

My manager sent me a link with a glaring headline.

“Rising Supermodel Xuesheng Suspected of Coming Between Her Sister and Her Boyfriend.”

Tang Xiawen toured for performances all over the country, so she could be considered half a public figure.

Anything she exposed carried a high degree of credibility.

The post had been shared over ten thousand times, and the internet was having a field day.

My manager was frantic. “How could your sister do this?”

“But what she said is true.”

Though there were plenty of embellishments and exaggerations mixed in.

My manager said, “…Even if it’s true, we can’t just let them curse you out!”

I was perfectly relaxed. “What’s there to panic about? With this kind of popularity, we usually couldn’t buy it even if we wanted to. Infamy is still fame.”

My manager said, “You really do have a big heart.”

Not only did I have a big heart, I also loved riding the wave.

While the whole internet was cursing me, I posted a few selfies.

My follower count actually went up.

Someone commented, “Even though the sisters look identical, Tang Xiawen is a delicate little white flower, while Xuesheng is colder and more stunning. She has this breathtaking, dangerous beauty, like someone who knows she can get away with murder because she’s gorgeous.”

Excellent praise. I gave it a like.

Immediately afterward, my supposed accidental like made it onto the trending searches too.

So I specifically posted on Weibo to clarify: It was on purpose. Not a slip of the finger.

As a result, even more people cursed me.

But I also gained even more followers.

While I was still enjoying this wave of hate-fame, Xu Heyi appeared.

He deliberately started a livestream.

“This entire matter has nothing to do with Xuesheng. I was the one who pursued her first. From beginning to end, the person I liked was her.”

With one sentence, he washed my hands completely clean.

And slapped Tang Xiawen right in the face.