This Mid-Autumn Festival had been, without question, peaceful and tranquil for both Lu Yicheng and Jiang Ruoqiao.

But it was a different story elsewhere.

Early that same morning, Jiang Yan’s mother had been in the kitchen of the side building, simmering chicken broth. She packed it carefully in a thermos, intending to bring it to her son. She had also prepared a few daily necessities. Just as she was about to head out, the housekeeper Auntie Qin came in and said: “You’ll never guess who just showed up.”

“Who?”

Auntie Qin was a devoted enthusiast of gossip, and leaned in close: “It’s Wang Cuizhen — you know, Wang-jie, the one who used to look after the young miss. She left a couple years ago when her daughter-in-law had a baby and she couldn’t manage both sides. Anyway, she showed up today. Says she wants to see the mistress, but the mistress and sir have gone out, so Wang-jie looks like she’s prepared to just sit and wait. What do you think she wants?”

Jiang Yan’s mother had worked alongside this Wang-jie for several years.

She had never thought much of Wang-jie — after all, Wang-jie was just an uneducated country woman who’d been hired to help in the Lin family’s kitchen because she was quick and capable with her hands. Before Jiang Yan’s mother had joined the Lin household, Wang-jie had even been given a promotion of sorts — put in charge of looking after Lin Kexing. But Mrs. Lin had never been comfortable with her daughter growing too close to a domestic helper. Still, since young Lin Kexing adored Wang-jie, Mrs. Lin had made an exception and let Wang-jie join the others in caring for the girl’s daily life.

Once Jiang Yan’s mother arrived, Mrs. Lin had clearly placed far greater trust in this old friend. Compared to Wang-jie, Jiang Yan’s mother was highly educated by any measure, and her manner of speaking was refined and cultivated. Over time, Mrs. Lin began putting her in charge of more important matters. Lin Kexing, who had no playmates her age in those early years and no children around the house, had taken to seeking out Jiang Yan — two years her senior — for company. And through all those visits, Lin Kexing had naturally grown fonder of the gentle, soft-spoken Jiang Yan’s mother.

So between Wang-jie and Jiang Yan’s mother, there had always been a trace of rivalry. Jiang Yan’s mother, for her part, found this beneath her dignity — comparing herself to an uneducated village woman was simply lowering herself.

Wang-jie was the sort who had a booming voice. Jiang Yan’s mother felt that this woman was like a toad — couldn’t kill you, but could certainly ruin your day.

After Wang-jie had left, Jiang Yan’s mother had finally been able to breathe a little easier.

Now, it wasn’t just Auntie Qin who was curious — even Jiang Yan’s mother had her suspicions. Someone who had been gone for nearly two years — why show up now? Trying to squeeze a handout?

As Jiang Yan’s mother headed for the door, she caught the tail end of a conversation between the security guard and the household manager: “Wang-jie said she had something very important to tell the mistress. But she’s not a resident here anymore, so we couldn’t very well let her in — she left her number and asked us to pass word along when the mistress gets back. Wang-jie always had a good heart. She used to look out for us.”

Jiang Yan’s mother took it in with half an ear, smiled briefly at the security guard and the household manager, then left the Lin family home.

On her way, she felt, for reasons she couldn’t explain, a creeping unease.

There was a persistent sense that something was about to happen.

That feeling lingered even when she met up with her son Jiang Yan outside — she couldn’t quite get herself into the right state of mind.

Jiang Yan wasn’t in particularly good spirits either. A few days ago, a ticketing app had sent him a text reminder: he had previously purchased two tickets. He’d had plans once — to take Ruoqiao out for a drive when the weather turned cooler. But now…

Neither mother nor son was truly present in the moment. The meeting ended up being cut short. Jiang Yan picked up the thermos and was about to say goodbye to his mother at the restaurant entrance when someone suddenly rushed toward them. The voice was sharp and grating: “I’ve finally tracked you down!”

Jiang Yan looked at the newcomer in surprise.

The face seemed faintly familiar. He looked more carefully and it came back to him — this was a woman who had once worked for the Lin family, though she’d left her post a couple of years ago. He’d heard she went back to her hometown. What was she doing here?

Jiang Yan’s mother felt her right eye twitch violently.

She had a terrible premonition. Especially since this person was Wang-jie.

She had always had a feeling that Wang-jie turning up at the Lin family home today had something to do with her — something significant.

Jiang Yan’s mother made every effort to appear composed. “Wang-jie, is that you?”

Wang-jie let out a cold laugh, then looked at Jiang Yan. “You probably have some idea of why I came to find the mistress, don’t you?”

Jiang Yan’s mother: “That’s between you and the mistress. How would I know what it’s about?”

She turned to her son. “Yan, go back to school — I’ll catch up with your Aunt Wang.”

Jiang Yan hesitated. He wasn’t sure whether to go or stay. Even he could see that this Aunt Wang had not come with good intentions — could he just walk away like that?

Before Jiang Yan could say anything, Wang-jie seized him by the arm. “Where do you think you’re going? You and your mother, scheming and plotting — when the time comes, you’ll both be coming with me to face the mistress and sir! Let them see exactly what sort of people you are!”

Jiang Yan’s mother’s heart lurched at those words.

But her face remained perfectly composed. Her voice was sharp and stern: “Let go of my son. If you want to cause a scene, go cause it somewhere else!”

“Did I hit the mark?” Wang-jie sneered. “I won’t bother listing all the times you tripped me up over the years — but it seems heaven does have eyes. I’ll admit I liked a bargain — when I left the Lin household and the mistress was generous and told me to help myself to things, I did take a few odds and ends. Well, not long ago my little granddaughter was rummaging through my things, and what do you know — she turned something up.”

The bottom fell out of Jiang Yan’s mother’s stomach.

Looking at Wang Cuizhen’s smug, utterly self-assured expression…

Her unease deepened by the second.

Jiang Yan frowned. “Aunt Wang, if you have something to say, just say it. There’s no need to make a scene like this on the street.”

“Why don’t you ask your mother what it is I found.” Wang-jie rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell you, little Jiang — your mother is something else. You’d never be able to tell by looking.”

Jiang Yan’s mother cut her off: “Wang Cuizhen, don’t go filling my son’s head with nonsense!”

“Did something wrong and afraid to have it said out loud?” Wang-jie laughed. “Well, it’s a funny thing — old sister, I never actually meant to get in your way. It’s just that my little granddaughter is growing up fast and I want to find work again, give my son and daughter-in-law a hand. So here’s the deal — one straight price, thirty thousand. Thirty thousand is more than fair, isn’t it? Give me thirty thousand and I won’t breathe a word of it to the sir and mistress.”

Jiang Yan had heard enough. He stepped in front of his mother. “Aunt Wang, I respect you — but please don’t do this. If you keep this up, I’m calling the police.”

Wang-jie scoffed. “Go right ahead — let’s see if your mother dares let you.”

“I’ve got nothing to lose,” Wang-jie said, patting her chest. “Let everyone see what your mother has been scheming all these years, what she was trying to…”

At that, Jiang Yan’s mother cut her off sharply: “Wang Cuizhen, that’s enough!”

Wang-jie smiled. “Thirty thousand, not a cent less. At the latest, tomorrow by five in the afternoon — if I don’t have it by then, I’m going straight to the mistress. With the history I have with her, she’ll at least see me.”

Jiang Yan’s mother kept a smile on her face as she turned to her son: “Yan, listen to your mother — go back first. I’ll explain everything later.”

The truth was, she had simply panicked.

All these years of careful planning — even she made mistakes, and no one was immune. She wasn’t even certain what Wang Cuizhen actually had on her. But looking at Wang Cuizhen’s shrewd and unsettling expression, it was entirely possible this was real evidence of something.

She had to keep this woman calm.

But Jiang Yan was no longer a child.

He had heard the words scheming, plotting, and ulterior motives. He looked at his mother’s face in this moment, and said: “Let her talk. What she’s doing is extortion — I can call the police any time. Mom, we have nothing to hide from…”

Wang-jie pressed a hand over her mouth to smother a laugh. “Nothing to hide — listen to him. Take a good look at what your mother has been up to all these years. She’s been pouring heart and soul into getting you into that Lin family as a son-in-law!”

If a look could kill, Wang-jie would have died a hundred deaths. Jiang Yan’s mother’s gaze went ice cold. “Reckless words can cost you dearly — watch what you say.”

Wang-jie held her ground. “Why don’t we compare what evidence we have, and see whether my words are so reckless after all.”

Lin Kexing’s feelings for Jiang Yan were known to very few people.

Someone like Wang Cuizhen should have had no way of knowing.

And yet Wang Cuizhen had said it. Jiang Yan’s mother’s mind was in turmoil. Without knowing what evidence Wang Cuizhen actually held, she couldn’t understand how the woman had the nerve to open her mouth and name a figure as high as thirty thousand.

Jiang Yan’s head was throbbing.

He looked from Wang-jie to his mother’s cold, guarded expression.

Words from that day echoed in his mind — words Ruoqiao had spoken.

She had said: “Jiang Yan, I’ve said it before — Lin Kexing has feelings for you. And your mother definitely knows. Have you ever stopped to think — when she told you to bring Lin Kexing along with us that time, what was going through her mind? And when everything happened, she managed to drive all the way from the city center to collect Lin Kexing — what was going through her mind then?”

She had said: “You might not have understood before. You might not have been able to see it. But maybe going forward you should keep your eyes open a little wider — otherwise the next time something similar happens, it’ll end in a breakup again. And that’s harmful to everyone.”

More and more of it was becoming clear in his mind.

Jiang Yan’s head was splitting.

He didn’t want to believe it — and yet…

Jiang Yan’s mother hadn’t anticipated that things would become this complicated. But now, watching her son’s face, she felt with a sudden dread that the situation was about to grow far worse.

She had to keep Wang Cuizhen steady. And she had to keep Yan steady too.

The plans she had spent years building could not be allowed to crumble now.

All those years of effort — and she could see it all collapsing in front of her eyes. Jiang Yan’s mother could not accept it. The strain of fear and anxiety that had been building for days reached a breaking point, and in that moment she wanted nothing more than to launch herself at Wang Cuizhen.

“Lost your composure?” Wang Cuizhen stepped aside to avoid her, while Jiang Yan stood frozen and disbelieving nearby.

Wang Cuizhen leaned in quietly, lowering her voice to speak directly into Jiang Yan’s mother’s ear: “The mistress asked me to pass along a message: some dreams are best left undreamed.”

A moment ago, Jiang Yan’s mother had been ready to drag this woman down with her no matter the cost.

Those words stopped her as though a spell had been cast. She stood rigid, as if struck by lightning.

She looked at her son, standing to the side.

Losing the Lin family’s support — that was unthinkable, unbearable, a lifetime of careful work reduced to ash. But if she lost her son’s trust…

That was when real fear set in.

“Yan,” Jiang Yan’s mother said, trying hard to steady herself. She turned to him with a face full of tender warmth. “Listen to me…”

Jiang Yan looked at his mother.

In that moment, she felt utterly, completely like a stranger to him.

With everything that had happened, what was there left not to understand? He let out a sound that was meant to be a bitter laugh, but couldn’t form the shape of one on his face. So Ruoqiao had seen it all along. Or perhaps his friends had seen it too. Only he…

Images from the past flooded his mind, one after another. Ruoqiao’s voice — each sharp, clear question she had asked — rang in his ears. He stared at his mother with eyes that felt like they might tear open, unable to believe what he was seeing.

This is how people are: the moment a seed of doubt is planted, every ambiguous thing from the past becomes water and nourishment — feeding that seed until it sprouts, until it grows into something that towers and cannot be ignored.

Jiang Yan’s mother was consumed with rage.

She knew Mrs. Lin’s intention. She didn’t know how Mrs. Lin had found out — but she now understood that Wang Cuizhen was simply following Mrs. Lin’s orders. Wang Cuizhen didn’t have real evidence on her; it had been a bluff all along. She had panicked the moment Wang Cuizhen arrived, and then at Wang Cuizhen’s words had truly believed there was something concrete — and all of her confusion, her loss of composure, her inability to keep herself steady had played out in full view of her son’s eyes.

How vicious of Mrs. Lin.

Not only had all her years of scheming come to nothing — Mrs. Lin was also intent on making the only son she had grow to hate her.

In this moment, Jiang Yan’s mother’s mind was moving fast. She thought about how to recover. Losing the Lin family as a possibility was a blow — cutting off the foundation she had hoped to build her son’s future upon. It was devastating. But Yan was still hers. As long as he was still with her, as long as he still trusted her, there would still be a way to come back from this. But if her son lost faith in her… only now did Jiang Yan’s mother truly feel afraid.

“Yan — do you really not believe your own mother?” Jiang Yan’s mother was now certain Wang Cuizhen had nothing concrete. Her expression regained its composure. “Your mother would never harm you. And in this entire world, the one who wants most for you to be happy is me. Yan, how can you let a few words from an outsider make you doubt your own mother?”

Wang Cuizhen burst out laughing. “Yes, yes — the one who wants most for you to be happy. She wants you to be with Miss Kexing, to become the Lin family’s beloved son-in-law, to ride their connections and fortune and rise above everyone else.”

Jiang Yan’s mother took a slow, deep breath.

Of all the moments, this was not the one to lose her temper.

She turned to Wang Cuizhen and said: “Wang-jie, what grudge do we have between us? Even if my coming here all those years ago took your place and your wages suffered considerably because of it — surely that’s not enough to drive you to this.”

But Wang Cuizhen wasn’t taking the bait. She looked at Jiang Yan and said: “Jiang Yan, Kexing has feelings for you. If you don’t believe me, you can go to the school and ask her yourself right now. I think you’ll be able to tell. Your mother has looked after Kexing for all these years — Kexing has feelings for you. Do you honestly think she wouldn’t have known?”

At this moment, everything came into sharp, undeniable clarity.

Jiang Yan thought of Lin Kexing’s quiet desolation in recent times.

He thought of Lin Kexing coming into his room that night, and then found himself dwelling on every detail of what had happened — Lin Kexing had not stopped him. Before he kissed her, he had said certain things. He had called Ruoqiao’s name. And Lin Kexing had cried. She had cried without making a sound.

What was there left to understand?

Perhaps somewhere deep inside, he had already known all of this, seen it clearly — but why had he been so slow? Why had it taken others pointing it out to him again and again before he finally, fully woke up?

Jiang Yan took one step backward. His face held disappointment, shock, and the drained pallor of someone who had turned to ash.

He looked at his mother and asked only one question: “Why did you do this?”

Jiang Yan’s mother’s heart lurched. She hurried forward to take his arm, still trying to explain herself.

Jiang Yan’s composure shattered. His face went rigid, and he said in a sharp, strained voice: “Don’t.”

He couldn’t bear it anymore.

He couldn’t bear his mother’s scheming and calculation. He couldn’t bear her frantic attempts at justification.

And more than anything — he couldn’t bear himself.

He couldn’t bear his own stupidity — that he had failed to see something so plainly obvious. If he had seen through it from the beginning, would things with Ruoqiao have needed to go this far?

Unable to tolerate himself like this, Jiang Yan turned and walked away — quickly, with something that felt almost like fleeing.

Watching everything fall apart this way, Jiang Yan’s mother felt as though the whole world had gone dark. She finally understood now: this simple scheme, so clumsy it was riddled with holes, had been aimed at her all along. And she had not a shred of power to fight back against it. Perhaps that was exactly what Mrs. Lin had wanted her to understand: no matter how many hundreds of calculations you make, no matter how many years you scheme — I can come at you with a trick that isn’t even particularly clever, and bring everything you built crashing down, leaving you utterly alone.

How bitterly ironic.

How ruthless.

Jiang Yan wandered aimlessly, numb and unmoored. He found himself almost longing for the earlier fog — the blissful ignorance, when he hadn’t needed to think about any of it.

The problem was, the more clearly he now saw everything, the more he thought.

The next day, the holiday continued. Most students were away from campus, and the normally bustling school grounds had grown quiet over these few days. With nowhere in particular to go, and his mother having called him repeatedly to no answer, Jiang Yan wandered without purpose and eventually found himself standing beneath the women’s dormitory building.

Jiang Ruoqiao had been very busy these past two days.

That year, Mid-Autumn Festival fell in the second half of September. With Golden Week just over a week away, crowds were everywhere. The owner of the hanfu shop decided to concentrate all of her planned photo shoots into these few days, and Jiang Ruoqiao could barely catch her breath. She’d been out of the dormitory before dawn, and by the time she’d changed into costume and had her makeup done, it was already just past seven in the morning. From seven in the morning until eleven thirty, she had been shooting nonstop — four full hours. She felt as though neither her face nor her body belonged to her anymore.

She was so exhausted she wanted nothing more than to go back to the dormitory and lie there until the end of time.

But there was a garden event with a lantern show that evening, so she had to be there again by around four in the afternoon to get ready, then shoot for another three or four hours.

Jiang Ruoqiao dragged herself back toward the dormitory like a worn-out dog, barely keeping herself moving.

Who would have expected to run into Jiang Yan at the foot of the building.

She didn’t even want to acknowledge him. She just wanted to get inside quickly.

But Jiang Yan seemed oblivious to the fact that the words “I’m dead tired” might as well have been carved onto her face. He called out to her anyway. And then he said something that hit hard enough to stop her feet —

“Ruoqiao, I’m sorry. I’m not apologizing for what happened before — I’m apologizing for misjudging people. What my mother did… I know all of it now.”

Jiang Ruoqiao, with her back still to him, was making an expression of pure anguish.

She was deeply torn.

On one hand, she was genuinely exhausted and wanted to go up and sleep. But on the other hand, she had to admit she was curious about this.

She had said just recently that she’d broadened her perspective and stopped caring about the original story — so why did Jiang Yan barely have to dangle that hook before she was already curious?

At the end of the day, what she was curious about wasn’t really Jiang Yan and Lin Kexing’s situation. Even if those two announced their wedding tomorrow and sent her an invitation, she wouldn’t feel the faintest ripple.

But she was very invested in watching Jiang Yan’s mother crash and burn.

How could she not be curious? She’d known Mrs. Lin would take action — she just hadn’t expected the downfall to happen this fast.

Absolutely as expected. She was rotten to the core — deep down, she was always most eager to hear this kind of disaster gossip.

It was so maddening. She should have kept her expression cool and detached. But what could she do — the moment she pictured Jiang Yan’s mother, who had schemed her way through the original novel without ever being caught, now getting hit hard by Mrs. Lin… she just… wanted to laugh. Wanted to revel in the disaster.

Jiang Ruoqiao found herself doing a bit of self-reflection: no wonder she’d been cast as the villainous supporting character in the original novel.

With a personality like hers, she was simply not cut out to be the female lead.

Could a female lead hear about someone’s bad ending and feel like clapping her hands in delight?

Could a female lead stand there while the male lead was in obvious pain, and be thinking “hurry up, hurry up, I want to know exactly how bad it was”?

Obviously not.

Jiang Ruoqiao stopped walking.

Jiang Yan was still lost in his own world, his voice low and dazed: “I only just found out about her plans, her intentions. I don’t understand — she always told me that the Lin family had done so much for us. So why this? Me and Kexing? How could that ever happen? I never once thought of her that way, not from the very beginning. Why would she impose her own wishes on me like that, controlling my life without restraint — throwing my life into complete chaos and then calling it for my own good? I can’t accept it. I can’t accept that every single word she ever said to me had those motives behind it. Am I actually her son?”

Jiang Ruoqiao very nearly let it slip out loud.

Is your life in complete chaos? You’re going to marry into a wealthy family, run your own company, and make it to the top — and occasionally get the chance to put a certain ex-girlfriend in her place. You call that chaos?

The one whose life is truly in chaos is me! Me!!

But she still held it in.

Now that she knew Jiang Yan’s mother had crashed and burned, the specifics were unlikely to come out anytime soon. He was too deep in his own shock. Even if he did describe what happened, he would only be describing how unbelievable it all was, and that kind of narration was next to useless to hear. That was the thing about gossip — you should never try to gather it from the main character while they were still caught up in the storm. Out of ten sentences, you’d be lucky if one had any real information in it.

Which was exactly the case right now. The only useful thing she had extracted from everything he’d said was: his mother’s schemes had been exposed.

How it happened, how much he knew — she hadn’t managed to pick out even the smallest clue.

Devastating. Absolutely devastating.

She had no desire to waste the precious time she needed for sleep.

She still had to go to work afterward and earn money…

Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, around midday, Lu Yicheng had been out that morning visiting a student’s home — mainly to drop off some of his old university entrance exam study materials.

He had never thrown any of it away.

The student’s parents were very grateful. Since it was the day after Mid-Autumn Festival, they presented him with a whole gift box of premium hairy crab in return.

He tried to decline and couldn’t, so he accepted it.

He brought it home and opened it to find that the crabs inside were even larger than the ones he’d bought at the market the day before.

Lu Siyan was practically drooling. Lu Yicheng steamed three of them right away — the gift box had six or seven in total, so he steamed half and left the rest in the refrigerator.

This time, as before, Lu Siyan ate exactly one hairy crab.

Knowing that Jiang Ruoqiao had a shoot today, Lu Yicheng packed up the two steamed crabs and headed out to bring them to her. He wasn’t sure exactly when she would be back at the dormitory, so he figured he would leave them with the dormitory manager, then send her a message — she could pick them up whenever she got back.

He carried the takeout container.

Inside, alongside the two hairy crabs, he had also added a selection of fruit.

He hadn’t yet reached the women’s dormitory building when he spotted her from a distance.

He also spotted Jiang Yan.

He stood and looked on. Perhaps it was the harsh glare of the sun — his eyes narrowed almost without him meaning to. And without thinking, the hand holding the takeout container tightened its grip.

—