Chapter 1
I froze.
My boyfriend was only a few steps away.
A beautiful young heiress was talking to him.
Since Zhou Yuheng’s company went public, his net worth had soared.
Rumor had it that he’d regretted agreeing to marry me, which was why he kept putting off registering our marriage.
Women threw themselves at him in an endless stream.
Logically, this was the worst possible time for me to play with fire.
But I knew Zhou Yuheng.
He liked a challenge.
These past few years, he’d found me too obedient. He felt no threat of losing me.
And now his far-too-obedient girlfriend had been cornered by his best friend.
Lu Zheng lowered his eyes and pressed me.
“Song Enyi, why can he have you, but I can’t?”
His features were aristocratic and sharp, his expression cool and entirely untroubled by morals.
My gaze settled on the diamond stud in his ear.
Cheap.
Completely out of place on a man from his powerful circle.
I’d heard his ex-girlfriend had bought it for him. She was the only girlfriend he’d ever had.
What a coincidence. That was me.
I’d bought the stud at a night-market stall that sold them by the dozen for ten yuan.
Back then, he’d refused to wear it. Said it looked cheap.
Yet he’d worn it ever since we broke up.
Five years.
It wasn’t love. It was hate.
He needed to remember that a woman he looked down on had taken his heart, slept with him, and tricked him.
And left him waiting in a thirty-square-meter rental for that lousy cup of soy milk.
For an entire day.
I lowered my head and took a deep breath.
He hadn’t recognized me.
So was he about to fall for it a second time?
Back at university, a rich girl had bullied me. I’d taken a pair of scissors to her hair.
Furious, she’d begged Lu Zheng to teach me a lesson.
He’d taken one look at me from a distance and decided to have some fun.
He’d deliberately approached me, pretending to be poor, and we’d dated in secret.
I loved money, but I’d genuinely loved him.
Even when I was working several jobs to pay my tuition, I’d never considered taking a cent from him.
When I learned the truth, I chose to get my revenge by disappearing.
Looking back now—
I’d let him off far too easily.
A gold digger reaps the rewards when she makes men compete.
What else was a first love for, if not to help me get what I wanted?
Just imagining making him the other man made my scalp prickle with pleasure.
I pretended to blush and gave him a gentle, indignant push.
“Of course not!”
“My boyfriend would be angry!”
Lu Zheng couldn’t hide his contempt for my innocent little act.
One eyebrow rose slightly. His eyes were cool, his voice low.
“Then shall we do it in secret?”
“What are you talking about?”
An arm slipped around me from behind, drawing me against him.
I looked up and saw Zhou Yuheng.
Lu Zheng’s gaze passed over the hand on my waist.
Amused, he deliberately asked me:
“Why don’t you tell your boyfriend what we were just discussing?”
He couldn’t wait to expose me for the gold digger I was.
Zhou Yuheng and I had dated for five years, but he’d kept me well hidden.
Only on the night he took control did he announce that he would soon be marrying me.
A depth charge. The shock waves went everywhere.
Everyone in their circle said Zhou Yuheng had lost his mind.
As his longtime friend—and the best-looking one—Lu Zheng had naturally taken on the noble duty of sacrificing himself to save his friend.
At his question, both men turned their eyes on me.
Waiting for my answer.
But I said nothing.
Right in front of Lu Zheng, I took a small step back.
I hid behind my boyfriend, looking as though Lu Zheng frightened me.
Zhou Yuheng paused, then shifted to block Lu Zheng’s view.
Lu Zheng gave a derisive laugh.
His expression grew still more contemptuous as Zhou Yuheng led me away by the hand.
But we’d only gone a few steps when he saw me, still holding my boyfriend’s hand, seize the moment someone stopped Zhou Yuheng to talk.
I secretly glanced back at him.
Just once. Then I turned away.
Lu Zheng’s fingertips curled involuntarily against the railing.
He’d received my signal.