Chapter 1: A Wrongful "Suicide"

“No! Impossible, I wasn’t faking a pregnancy, nor did I trick anyone into marriage!” Xia Rusheng snatched the newspaper from Su Xi’s hands, her voice hysterical. Bold headlines screamed across the front page: The Most Notorious Marriage Fraud in High Society!

“The heiress of Kaiyue International allegedly coerced the second son of the HIC Consortium into a shotgun wedding with a false pregnancy. After the lie was uncovered, she supposedly became pregnant by her former lover and tried to substitute the child for the consortium’s rightful heir…” Su Xi recited the article with a coy, deliberate smile, savoring every word. With each sentence, Xia Rusheng’s face grew even paler. Then Su Xi produced several sheets of paper—the prenatal examination reports from a few days earlier.

Today was the day Xia Rusheng was meant to collect her report. But when she arrived, the nurse told her it had already been picked up. Soon after, Su Xi called to arrange this rooftop meeting. Xia Rusheng had no idea how Su Xi had gotten hold of the report. She hurriedly snatched it back, but after reading only three lines, she staggered back three steps in shock. The report clearly stated: Five weeks pregnant…

Su Xi’s laughter chimed in the air. “Sister, it says right here you’re five weeks along. You married the HIC Consortium’s second young master about three months ago, didn’t you? Tell me, is what the paper says true? Will the Lu family accept a grandson that’s only a month old?”

Xia Rusheng instinctively shielded her abdomen from Su Xi’s malicious smile. She truly hadn’t faked a pregnancy nor deceived anyone to marry her. The marriage to the HIC Consortium’s second son was the result of a drunken night—Su Xi had taken her for a checkup afterward, and they’d unexpectedly discovered she was pregnant. She had no feelings for Lu Siyang, nor he for her, but her adoptive father had forced her into the marriage.

“It was you—both of you, wasn’t it?” Even the most naive person would have sensed that her adoptive father and Su Xi were behind all this. Xia Rusheng had always handled her liquor well, yet that night, after drinking a glass Su Xi handed her, she lost all control and woke up in Lu Siyang’s bed.

“You’ve always been clever, sister. It’s a pity—your cleverness was your undoing.” Su Xi’s sharp, lacquered nails hovered threateningly near Xia Rusheng’s abdomen. “When you started secretly investigating your drunken incident, my father and I realized you were too smart. With someone like you in the Xia family, Kaiyue International would never change its surname. That’s why we worked so hard to force you into marrying Lu Siyang. Do you want to know why you’re not three months pregnant?”

A chill crept over Xia Rusheng, almost buckling her knees, but she bit her lip and kept listening. She too couldn’t understand what had happened. Since their wedding, Lu Siyang hadn’t set foot in their so-called “home,” and she certainly hadn’t been involved with any supposed old flame.

“Do you remember the fainting spells you had? I laced your breakfast with a mild sedative. It gave me an excuse to take you for a checkup. And on the last occasion, I injected you with hCG, which is why you tested positive for pregnancy.”

So that was it!

She had been so shocked by the pregnancy news that she never doubted its authenticity. From the drunken night onward, everything had been part of Su Xi’s scheme!

“Then why am I actually five weeks pregnant now? Why?” Forcing herself to calm down, Xia Rusheng reviewed everything in her mind, still left with countless questions. Since marrying, she hadn’t been with anyone. If this, too, was orchestrated by Su Xi, then she must have been violated without her knowledge—

“You know perfectly well why you’re truly pregnant. Don’t you?” A flicker of surprise crossed Su Xi’s eyes, but the more Xia Rusheng protested, the more damning her situation became. Su Xi knew Lu Siyang had left the country on their wedding night and hadn’t returned since. No matter who this child belonged to, it could never be the Lu family’s, and so, the accusations in the newspaper would stick.

“What you’re doing is criminal! What have I ever done to deserve such betrayal from you?” Xia Rusheng had always respected Su Jing as if he were her real father, treated Su Jing and Su Xi like her own siblings, even making them board members of Kaiyue International. She couldn’t think of anything she’d done to wrong them.

Su Xi’s face twisted, her mask of false kindness dropping away, revealing jealousy and hatred. “Wronged us? The Xia family has always wronged us! Ever since my father married your mother, people have called him a freeloader. As for my brother and me, we’ve been mocked as frauds, imposters. Your friends never respected us. And when we were ridiculed, where were you? Flaunting your generosity in front of your friends, supposedly helping us, but really just using us to highlight your own virtue. Don’t think I didn’t notice. After your mother died, she left everything to you. My father got nothing after seven years of marriage, and don’t even mention my brother and me!”

Xia Rusheng felt she was talking to a madwoman. “I was her only daughter—of course the inheritance would go to me. Besides, her will left your father, brother, and you plenty of properties, funds, and cash—enough for a lifetime. Wasn’t that enough? After I inherited the company, didn’t I put you all on the board?”

“Properties? Funds? Cash? Those are nothing compared to Kaiyue International! You think we care about scraps? For four years, my father poured his efforts into the company, but in the end, it was just to make you look good. People praise your capability, not his. Now, we’re only taking what we deserve.”

Alarmed, Xia Rusheng watched Su Xi step closer and closer, forcing her to retreat. When she felt the edge of the rooftop at her heel, she realized she was trapped with nowhere to go.

“What are you planning? I warn you, if I fall from here, you’ll be implicated!”

“Oh, is that so?” Su Xi sneered, suddenly producing a copy of a medical certificate. “Four years ago, you suffered from depression for half a year. Did you forget?”

A foreboding chill settled in Xia Rusheng’s heart, weighing it down even further. After her mother’s fatal car accident, she had indeed spent half a year in deep mourning, eventually developing severe depression.

“Your former psychiatrist has written a statement: My dear sister Xia Rusheng, after years of treatment, you still show signs of mild depression. If you were once again crushed by public opinion and succumbed to despair, it wouldn’t be surprising if you took your own life.”

“You’re a monster! What you’re doing is a crime! And I’m not so foolish—if I go down, I’ll drag you with me!” With that, Xia Rusheng grabbed Su Xi’s sleeve in a death grip. If Su Xi tried to push her, she would make sure Su Xi didn’t survive either.

“You’re not foolish, and neither am I.” Su Xi’s expression remained cool. Suddenly, she kicked viciously at Xia Rusheng’s stomach. Instinctively, Xia Rusheng tried to shield her belly, and in that moment, Su Xi snatched back the pregnancy report. With a cold laugh, she pushed Xia Rusheng forward. Dazed and off-balance, Xia Rusheng felt herself falling, unable to stop her descent into the abyss below.

“Xia Rusheng, there can only be one of us in this world. If I don’t die, then you must.” Su Xi’s cold, venomous voice was carried by the wind as Xia Rusheng plummeted.

Hatred burned within Xia Rusheng—hatred for trusting this viper, for being blinded by false kinship, for allowing herself to be trapped by such treacherous bonds.

“Su Xi, even as a ghost I won’t let you go! If there’s a next life, I’ll make you wish you were dead!”