C4 Chapter 4

Evening, the Bai estate.

The manor sprawled across an impressive stretch of land. Weathered brickwork and a tastefully aged design gave it an old-world elegance. A European-style main house sat half-hidden among layered trees and manicured landscaping, every detail broadcasting wealth and grandeur—the kind of place you’d expect a fairy-tale princess to live.

But Bai Nuochu stood at the front gate with her bike, head lowered, looking painfully out of place against all that luxury—like an orphan who’d wandered up to the wrong doorstep.

“That competitor has gone way too far. I’m the head of Bai’s Pharmacy, and I’ve gone over there again and again, offering to develop the market together, but their person in charge still won’t even show his face!” Bai Jinda’s roar shook the living room. “And today I finally found out why—they’re trying to swallow Bai’s. They want us wiped out!”

Nuochu walked into the living room in silence, hugging her backpack. Bai Jinda’s rage had twisted his features, wiping away any trace of the refined, gentlemanly image he liked to wear. She wasn’t surprised—not even a little. The man she was supposed to call “Dad” had always looked at her like this.

If anything was different, it was that tonight his fury wasn’t aimed at her.

“Dad, what are you so worried about?” a sweet, syrupy voice chimed in.

A graceful figure stepped out from a room. Her makeup was flawless, her dress straight off Chanel’s latest runway, and her long, wavy hair fell like dark seaweed—sexy, magnetic. Even at home, one glance at her felt like watching someone on a screen: glamorous, seductive, impossible to ignore.

Bai Ni’an—the Bai family’s second daughter—was none other than the red-hot Vivian.

A reigning star who dominated both film and music, the very definition of sexy and high-class. Even at an elite school like Yingrui, she was the woman everyone chased and envied.

Nuochu, low as she ranked in this house, had been forced to carry a filthy rumor just because “the corners of her eyes kind of look like Vivian’s”—a stain that said, “Fifty bucks and Bai Nuochu will let you grope her,” all so no one would ever dare admit that even a tiny resemblance to Bai Ni’an could be striking.

It was obvious how wildly popular and untouchable Bai Ni’an had become. But no one knew that Bai Nuochu—the broke, “low-class” girl who couldn’t even pay her school fees on time and spent her days being mocked and insulted—was actually Bai Ni’an’s little sister, the Bai family’s Third Miss.

“As long as I become the Gu family’s young madam, Young Master Jue won’t have to do anything but lift a finger. That Qinnuo Company? He’ll wipe it off the map in Ningcheng.”

“Qinnuo Pharmacy!?” Father An had been fine a second ago, but the moment he heard that name, he suddenly yanked a leather whip off the wall and snapped it through the air. “Even the name is disgusting—just like certain trash!”

The tip of the whip lashed across her arm. The very end hit the hardest; even through her clothes, it felt like it could tear a chunk of flesh away.

“Sir, why are you hitting Third Miss again?” Mrs. Qin heard the crack and hurried out of the kitchen.

“This jinx is useless all day long,” Father An snarled. “Now the Bai’s have a mortal enemy—and it’s got the same name as hers!”

The whip landed again and again on Bai Nuochu’s slender body. Before long, blood seeped through the fabric—yet it was as hollow as beating a lifeless rag doll.

She was used to this.

When she was little, Bai Nuochu used to ask, Dad, I’m your daughter too. Why do you treat me like this? Why is it never the same as Ni’an?

“Take a good look. That’s why it’s not the same. Splash some water on your face and see what you really are!”

That time Nuochu nearly drowned, she never asked questions like that again.

Later, Nuochu slowly grew up. She watched Ni’an—spoiled rotten, treated like the sun rose and set on her—and then there was her.

If her mom hadn’t sent her to the fast-track program at Yingrui Academy before she died, and if Mrs. Qin hadn’t been slipping her meals whenever she could, Nuochu could’ve died in the Bai household and no one would’ve even noticed.

“Jinda, why are you talking about Nuochu like that?” Another voice chimed in, soft and syrupy in a way that made your skin crawl. “How can you say your own daughter is completely useless?”

Aunt Mei’s voice.

She didn’t want to see that face. She didn’t want to remember the look in her mother’s eyes as she lay dying—staring at Jiang Wanmei, who stood there smug and triumphant, that mix of despair and unwillingness to give in. And even if Nuochu had never caused the Bai family any trouble, her mere existence had been enough to irritate Jiang Wanmei all these years—so there was no way she’d be speaking up for her now.

“Boss Tong, the one who’s interested in investing in Bai’s, really likes Nuo,” Jiang Wanmei said, her tone winding and sugary. Her eyes raked over Nuochu the same way she used to look over her so-called best friend’s mom. “As long as Nuo marries into his family, he’ll invest in Bai’s. Nuochu’s always been such a good girl—she’ll agree to it, won’t she?”

Boss Tong?

Nuochu’s brow tightened as she suddenly remembered. A couple days ago, a greasy, heavyset middle-aged man had come by. In the past, whenever there were guests, Nuochu was ordered to stay out of sight—anywhere Jinda and Jiang Wanmei couldn’t see her. But that day, Jinda had actually told her to come closer.

Boss Tong was bloated, but his eyes were filthy and hungry. The kind of man who’d spent too many years indulging himself and had a nasty temper to match—like he’d nearly burned through whatever health he had left.

And at Yingrui Academy, she’d heard plenty about Tong Weisen, the real-estate guy. He wasn’t famous for how many apartment buildings he’d put up—he was famous for how many young models he’d chewed up and ruined.

Jiaang Wanmei actually wanted to marry a man like that just to get Bai’s an investment?