Chapter 1

[July 17, 2017, Scorching Sun

Summer in Zhaocheng was as sweltering as ever, the sunlight so dazzling it made people dizzy. I stared at the woman entering the house, and at the girl following behind her.

I thought silently to myself, Since you want to become part of this family so badly, you’d better be prepared to stay here forever. Forever. Don’t even think about leaving.]

……

“…Cheng Yuan’ai.”

“…” The sound of slow, steady breathing continued dully after the voice fell silent.

“Cheng Yuan’ai!” Along with the shout came the sound of someone pounding violently on a desk.

The person with long black hair reaching her waist slowly pushed herself up from the desk. Beneath her lowered brows, her eyes carried an icy sharpness. Her eyelids were only half raised as she looked irritably at the person standing before her.

Half her face was concealed beneath her long hair, and with the light behind her, her features were difficult to make out. Even so, there was [Read on BaiLianTales]already something sinister about her appearance.

Especially when those pitch-black eyes stared so unblinkingly at someone, sending chills down their spine.

The class representative, clutching a stack of homework, immediately panicked. All his earlier bravado vanished in an instant. He hurriedly and carefully placed the homework on Cheng Yuan’ai’s desk, swallowed nervously, and stammered, “Y-you didn’t do your homework. The teacher… the teacher wants you to go…”

“I know.”

Cheng Yuan’ai interrupted him in a voice still tinged with sleepiness. Her muffled tone resembled the low rumble of thunder on a summer day, with anger rolling ominously beneath the surface.

She straightened up, her long hair slipping from her shoulders to fall down her back. Wearing a thoroughly unpleasant expression, she picked up the homework and flipped through it.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Cheng Yuan’ai let her brows and eyes droop in irritation. She sighed softly, picked up the blank homework notebook, and stood to leave the classroom.

Unexpectedly, someone happened to be entering through the doorway just then. Cheng Yuan’ai’s brows lowered even further, and the oppressive atmosphere surrounding her became almost frightening.

She quickened her pace, hoping to squeeze through the doorway before the person outside could come in.

Just as she was about to step out of the classroom, the person at the door suddenly reached toward her. Cheng Yuan’ai’s eyelid [read the original at bailiantales.com]twitched, and without thinking, she raised her hand to block it.

Smack.

The sharp sound of a hand being slapped away rang out, and the noisy classroom fell silent.

Cheng Yuan’ai froze for several seconds before raising her eyes and stealing a glance at the girl standing before her—Lu Wu, who had barged into her home without warning alongside her mother the previous week and taken over her room.

She hadn’t used little force when she slapped Lu Wu’s hand away. In fact, she had failed to control her strength, venting her frustration without restraint.

She saw the sudden flush spreading beneath Lu Wu’s eyes and the tears gathering in them. But the next moment, Lu Wu raised a hand to straighten her headband, using the movement to discreetly wipe away the tears that were about to fall.

Something caught in Cheng Yuan’ai’s throat. For no apparent reason, she recalled the disastrous family gathering the previous week, when her father had introduced Lu Wu to her with these words—

Cheng Yuan’ai, from now on, you will call her Sister.

*

“Si… Sister…?”

On the gray sofa before an enormous floor-to-ceiling window lay a woman dressed in a smart gray suit. Her decorative silver-rimmed glasses had slipped down her nose, and her long, jet-black hair lay scattered loosely around her.

It was afternoon, and sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling window, filling every corner of the room.

Cheng Yuan’ai opened her eyes in a daze, still groggy with sleep. Before she could even brush the hair obstructing her vision out of the way, a magazine came flying toward her and struck her body.

“Sister? What sister? Who are you calling Sister?”

Another woman’s angry voice rang through the room.

“Cheng Yuan’ai! Are you trying to drive me to an early grave?!”

The magazine left Cheng Yuan’ai momentarily stunned, but she quickly came to her senses. She swept the long hair away from her forehead and slowly sat upright.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of apology in her indifferent eyes. She even had the nerve to ask a question she already knew the answer to.

“Ren Zhong, what brings you here?”

Perhaps because she had been dozing on the sofa in direct sunlight, Cheng Yuan’ai’s voice was slightly hoarse when she spoke, carrying a lazy, indistinct quality.

She leisurely removed the silver-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, lowered her gaze, tugged at her tie, and undid the top button of her collar.

After placing the magazine that had been thrown at her onto the coffee table, Cheng Yuan’ai glanced at Ren Zhong, who was so furious she was practically beating her chest and stamping her feet.

Then she lowered her gaze again, her eyelashes drooping and casting a shadow beneath her eyes.

“You must have rushed all the way here. Would you like some water?” With an expressionless face, Cheng Yuan’ai poured a glass of water and placed it in front of Ren Zhong.

Ren Zhong bent down, picked up the glass, and drained it in one gulp.

She shot Cheng Yuan’ai several more exasperated glares, looking thoroughly disappointed in her. Apparently preparing to give Cheng Yuan’ai a proper lecture, Ren Zhong slammed down the glass and began gathering up the long, curly hair cascading down her back.

She casually twisted it into a bun, pushed up her glasses, and leaned back against the sofa with an imposing air.

Ren Zhong had delicate, beautiful features. When her slightly tousled curls flowed freely around her shoulders, she possessed an air of noble, seductive elegance. Consequently, everyone who met her for the first time assumed she was stolen content the kind of woman who had climbed the ranks by relying on her looks, and they treated her with little respect.

That was until someone once stole a role that Cheng Yuan’ai had been set to play. Everyone in the company witnessed Ren Zhong twist her hair into a bun, take a deep breath, and proceed to berate the offending party from afternoon until evening. For hours, she tore into them without repeating herself once. Only then did everyone discover Ren Zhong’s true nature.

From that day forward, no one dared provoke Ren Zhong again. Even on the occasional days when she happened to tie her hair up before coming to work, it was enough to frighten people considerably.

Cheng Yuan’ai glanced to the side, then flicked her eyes toward the door several meters away.

Clatter.

Ren Zhong tossed a set of keys onto the table.

Cheng Yuan’ai recognized them. They were the keys to this room.

.

She sighed softly, took a sip of water, set down her teacup, and pinched the space between her brows.

“I thought you already knew.” Cheng Yuan’ai’s [bailiantales.com]expression briefly twisted with conflict, but she quickly returned to her usual unruffled appearance, her brows and eyes drooping listlessly.

As she leaned forward slightly, some of her long black hair slipped around her waist and fell across the front of her body.

Cheng Yuan’ai had always kept her hair long and jet-black. She had never dyed or permed it, and hardly anyone had ever seen her pay much attention to it. Yet that waist-length black hair always maintained a silky, satin-like sheen, its fine strands spreading out beneath the sunlight in a way that was exceptionally eye-catching.

“Knew what?” Ren Zhong glared at Cheng Yuan’ai irritably. Although she had long since grown accustomed to Cheng Yuan’ai’s icy expression over the years, she still couldn’t help getting worked up whenever she was angry.

“…” Cheng Yuan’ai said nothing. She picked up the silver-rimmed glasses resting on the table and toyed with them, turning them around once before gently settling them back onto her nose.

When she opened her eyes, the silver-rimmed glasses seemed to cast a faint gray veil of indifference over her deep, dark gaze. Cheng Yuan’ai always seemed to look like this, her pitch-black eyes heavy and clouded with thick, dark shadows that made it impossible to discern her thoughts.

Anyone who wanted to approach her would find themselves retreating the moment she lowered her gaze, driven back by the piercing coldness in her eyes.

Yet whenever she acted, those same lifeless eyes became dazzlingly expressive. Countless actors who had worked with Cheng Yuan’ai had been deceived by the contradiction between her eyes on and off the screen.

“Lu Wu,” Ren Zhong said again, letting down her hair as she spoke in a cool, quiet voice.

Cheng Yuan’ai’s fingers trembled slightly. As she pushed her glasses up, she accidentally used too much force and jabbed them painfully into the bridge of her nose. She narrowed her eyes briefly before pulling the glasses away a little.

Although her expression remained unchanged, the mere mention of that name was enough to send faint ripples through her otherwise tranquil, pitch-black eyes.

As she adjusted her glasses, countless emotions flickered through those dark eyes in the span of just a few seconds.

Panic, silence, resentment, disgust…

Until finally, they returned to their former calm.

“Go on, tell me. What on earth suddenly got into that head of yours this time, making you get someone to secretly sign you up for that ridiculous dating show behind my back?”

“My dear young miss, I’ve been with you all the way from university until now. Seven or eight years! You’ve finally won countless awards and become the youngest actress to win all three major Best Actress awards. Even when things were at their hardest, did I ever make you accept a third-rate, embarrassing variety show like this?”

“But look at you! You secretly signed up behind my back, and I only found out after the program released its official announcement!”

The more Ren Zhong spoke, the angrier she became. With a sharp smack, she snatched the magazine off the table again and slammed it down violently.

The teacup on the coffee table was struck and toppled over, falling at an awkward angle.

Cheng Yuan’ai glanced at the extent of the cup’s damage before bending down to pick it up unhurriedly. If the cup had fallen and shattered completely, it would mean Ren Zhong was genuinely furious. But if the damage was only this minor, then Ren Zhong wasn’t particularly angry.

Or rather, she wasn’t angry about Cheng Yuan’ai secretly signing up for the dating show.

Cheng Yuan’ai considered Ren Zhong’s words as she bent down, retrieved the teacup, and placed it back on the table.

“It’s not third-rate. They’ve changed directors. You know the new one.” Cheng Yuan’ai fell silent for a moment before asking, “Ren Zhong, when did you find out I was going?”

“…” Ren Zhong glanced toward the door, raised her voice, and shouted several more things. She proceeded to throw practically everything on the table that could be thrown before finally calming down, breathing heavily.

She brushed back her hair, took a small mirror and lipstick out of her bag, and carefully touched up her lips. Only after making herself look beautiful again did she speak.

“When Lu Wu signed up.”

“You certainly have plenty of time on your hands. I’ve arranged for you two to attend banquets together, all sorts of public events, private industry dinners, and drinking parties. But every time you showed up, you either gave her the cold shoulder or left early.”

“News of how badly you two get along has appeared [bailiantales.com]everywhere, from entertainment headlines all the way down to the little joke columns tucked away in the farthest corners of the newspapers. Everyone says you two are natural-born enemies.”

“And you, who’s always been famous for your acting skills, have never been able to stand those pretty faces who are completely useless apart from their looks.”

“…”

Cheng Yuan’ai tugged at the corner of her mouth, averted her gaze, and said softly, “I never said that.”

Ren Zhong let out a quiet laugh, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Of course you didn’t. You’re someone who never lets anyone use you for publicity, someone who’s always so quick to personally step forward and deny any romantic rumors about yourself. Yet when all those overwhelming reports came out, misunderstanding your feelings toward Lu Wu, you didn’t react at all.”

“Anyone who didn’t know better would think you hated her. Who would’ve guessed you were secretly keeping her in your heart, even dreaming about her in your sleep, saying you liked her…”

“I didn’t.”

Cheng Yuan’ai interrupted abruptly. Her face was almost scrunched up, and her voice sounded rigid.

She answered too quickly, too firmly. Ren Zhong was momentarily taken aback. She pursed her lips and decided not ​stolen content​to bring it up again, instead changing the subject.

“What are we having for dinner?”

Cheng Yuan’ai didn’t respond. She raised her eyes toward the vast floor-to-ceiling window before her.

The sun was gradually sinking toward the horizon, dyeing the sky a warm orange-red.

Ren Zhong glanced at Cheng Yuan’ai several more times before sighing softly. The footsteps outside the door were gradually fading into the distance. Presumably, the person had already gone back to report what had happened. Ren Zhong had known about this matter long ago and had never actually intended to stop her. After all, Cheng Yuan’ai was as stubborn as a mule. Once she made up her mind, not even nine oxen could drag her back.

“Do whatever you want. I won’t have time to look after you from now on anyway. You know how it is. Once the company found out you were leaving, they dumped quite a few more people under my management.”

Ren Zhong stood up. Looking at the silent Cheng Yuan’ai, she shook her head.

“I genuinely can’t understand what goes on inside that head of yours.”

Without paying Cheng Yuan’ai any further attention, she picked up her bag and headed for the door.

“Oh, right. Remember to reimburse me for dinner, Boss Cheng. That little assistant of yours was so frightened by you that she burst into tears. [read the original at bailiantales.com]She’s terrified I’m going to fire her.”

Cheng Yuan’ai nodded blankly.

The door closed, and the room fell silent once more.

Amid the quiet glow of the setting sun and the sound of long, uneven breaths, an unknown amount of time passed before a soft murmur finally broke the silence.

“I don’t… like her.”