The courthouse looked exactly like I remembered—gray stone, cracked steps, crooked railing. Ten years ago, I’d held that rail with trembling hands, excited, naive, blind.Now I gripped it again, cold and steady.Lin Yue walked beside me, quiet since the taxi ride. She kept sneaking glances like she was trying to figure me out.“Why are you so calm?” she asked.“I’m not,” I said. “Just focused.”“There’s my mother,” she murmured.Tang Mei stood at the top of the stairs, pearls gleaming, posture perfect, face full of fake warmth. A lawyer waited beside her, and leaning against a black Mercedes was him—Chen Hao.My stomach twisted. The man who’d ruined everything looked younger but already poisonous.“Mom,” Lin Yue said carefully as we climbed. “I thought it’d just be us today.”“Don’t be silly, dear.” Tang Mei smiled like a witch. “This is an important day. I brought Lawyer Wang for a small formality. You know how your father is about... complications.” Her gaze slid to me. “I’m sure yo

The eviction notice was taped to our door at dawn.“Seventy-two hours?” Lin Yue’s voice cracked as she read. “She’s giving us three days to move or she’ll have us thrown out.”“She can’t legally do that,” I said, yanking the paper off. “She doesn’t even own this building.”“She owns the management company. Same thing.” Her eyes were dull from lack of sleep. We’d spent all day yesterday searching for a new place—every landlord mysteriously “just rented out.” Tang Mei’s reach was everywhere.“We’ll find somewhere outside her network,” I said.Lin Yue laughed without humor. “That doesn’t exist. My mother knows everyone.”My phone buzzed.[Mission Update: Find shelter outside Tang Mei’s sphere of influence. Hint: Old connections remember loyalty. Check your parents’ legacy.]I froze. My parents’ legacy. Of course, how could I have forgotten?“Old Zhang,” I muttered.Lin Yue frowned. “Who’s that?”“Zhang Wei. My dad’s old friend from the factory. My parents helped his family when his son g

The land bureau reeked of old files and stale coffee. Gray concrete walls closed in around us as Lin Yue, Liu Xia, and I stepped inside, documents clutched in my sweaty hands. My chest thumped so loud I was sure the deputy director could hear it from across the floor.“Deputy Director Wang Min’s office is on the third floor,” Liu Xia muttered as we climbed the narrow stairs. “We go through her. Avoid Chen Guowei entirely.”“Will that actually work?” Lin Yue’s voice trembled just a little.“It has to,” I said, keeping my tone steadier than I felt. “Wang Min handles eastern district. Chen Guowei? Central and western. Protocol's on our side. Technically.”We got to the third floor as Wang Min’s office door appeared. The door opened to reveal a middle-aged woman, with reading glasses, buried under mountains of paperwork. Her face had no emotion, just neutral expression. My heart sank. One wrong move and this auction—our chance—was over before it started.“Deputy Director Wang?” Liu Xia’s

Three days before the announcement, there was a knock at the door.I opened it and Tang Mei was standing there, impossibly composed in a designer suit and pearls. A bodyguard lingered behind her, expressionless.“Mrs. Tang,” I said carefully.“I’m here to see my daughter,” her voice cut like ice. “Alone.”“No,” I said immediately.“I wasn’t asking for your permission.” Her eyes narrowed on Lin Yue. “Yue? Are you hiding behind your husband, or are you going to face me like an adult?”Lin Yue stepped to my side, pale but steady. “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Li Feng.”Tang Mei’s eyes flicked to me once, then back to her daughter. “Fine.” She stepped forward. The bodyguard stayed behind. “I’m here to make you an offer. One final offer. After this, I wash my hands completely.”“I’m listening,” Lin Yue said.Tang Mei pulled a document from her bag. “Come back. Sign this revised agreement. It’s generous—much more than the prenup. You keep your trust fund, your positi

CHAPTER 10 The Tang mansion appeared exactly the way I remembered it–cold marble, too much glass, and enough space to remind you you were nobody. My pulse thudded in my ears the moment we stepped through the gate. Seven years of humiliation lived in these walls, and walking back in felt like pressing an old bruise until it bled again.Lin Yue squeezed my hand harder than necessary as we crossed the courtyard. The guard’s gaze slid over her with automatic respect, then landed on me with that familiar look of contempt.Like I was a stain someone forgot to clean.“Mrs. Tang is waiting in the east parlor,” he said. “Your father is in his study.”“We’re going to my father,” Lin Yue said.“Mrs. Tang ordered–”“I said we’re going to my father.” She didn’t even slow down as she yanked me with her.Inside, everything was polished, shiny and perfect. It was much bigger than our entire apartment, and yet it somehow felt suffocating. We moved up the stairs under rows of portraits–Tang ancestors