Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Ever since the day we crossed paths again, my phone has been bombarded with harassment from various unknown numbers.
Friend requests of every kind flooded in incessantly.
I was even being followed from a distance whenever I stepped out of the house.
Ignoring these anomalies, I continued living my life according to schedule.
Early childhood classes, a stroll with the baby, and then back home-my life revolved around those three points every day.
I knew these were all Xue Chang’s tactics.
He had always been the type of person who wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted.
After a week of us trying to outlast each other, Xue Chang’s patience finally wore thin. He sent men to corner me at the entrance of the early childhood center.
Four hulking bodyguards stood before me, their tone respectful yet firm. “Miss Tang, Mr. Xue would like you to join him in the car for a chat.”
It looked like a polite invitation, but it was actually a silent coercion.
A Lincoln waited quietly by the curb. The four bodyguards “escorted” me into the car, two in front and two behind.
Xue Chang sat with his long legs crossed, elbow resting on the armrest. He was absentmindedly twisting a ring on his finger, his eyes never straying from Baobao.
I toyed with my son’s tiny hand. He lay in my arms with his clear, bright eyes wide open, letting out an innocent, toothless giggle. “A-pu…”
Xue Chang was inexplicably amused by the sound. He reached out toward me. “Can I hold him?”
I pulled the child closer and leaned back, eyeing him warily. “What kind of game are you playing now?”
His expression flattened. “I just want to see the child.”
“Ha,” I let out a cold laugh. “He isn’t yours, so what are you so envious of?”
“Not mine?” Xue Chang slowly chewed over those two words. A smile played on his lips, but his gaze gradually turned dark. “Is he really yours, then?”
“Can’t you see how much we look alike? Do you want me to get a paternity test and shove it in your face?”
I shifted my position to hold the baby more comfortably and said impatiently, “Stop playing these disgusting games with me. I never intended to go back and graze on old, rotten grass like you. Please, just show some mercy and stop bothering me.”
“Besides, you were the one who dumped me back then. We should remain strangers until the day we die. Why are you acting so pathetic, trying to crawl back and play daddy?”
Xue Chang’s face soured, and he didn’t say another word.
He drove me to the front of my apartment building.
Before getting out, I warned him once more. “Xue Chang, it’s best if we stay out of each other’s way. Let’s not meet again for the rest of our lives. Consider it a way to earn some karma for ourselves.”
My only response was his cold profile and the window rolling up.
Xue Chang and I were childhood sweethearts.
More accurately, he was my father’s foster son.
When our young hearts first stirred with love, I had been just a step away from walking down the aisle with him.
Unfortunately, it was all a meticulously constructed trap.
The heartbeat was fake. The years of deep love and care were fake. Even the way he used to look at me with eyes full of affection was the fakest thing of all.
He carried a burden of hatred, lurking in my home for years with calculated intent.
On the eve of our engagement, he pulled the net he had been casting for years, personally sending my father to prison on multiple charges.
On the day the court seized our house, I was tossed out onto the street along with a few worthless pieces of luggage.
At the time, I couldn’t accept such a cataclysmic change. As I sat in the rain, breaking down and sobbing, he walked over to my side with an umbrella.
I will never forget the look in Xue Chang’s eyes as he stood there, shielding himself from the rain.
His face was a mask of indifference, his eyes held a flicker of pity, and the words that left his mouth were more biting and malicious than anything I had ever heard.
He said, “Tang Li, you deserve everything that’s happening to you today.”
A woman stepped out of a car parked not far away, calling to him softly through the curtain of rain, “Second Brother.”
Only later did I realize that she was the one he truly held in his heart.