Chen Shuyuan swung Lin Quan’s arm, acting spoiled without any guilt, “I’m about to graduate, you know. Last month I bought so many clothes that I used up all the allowance Dad gave me.”

Lin Quan pinched her nose, “Don’t make excuses. You won’t be working after graduation, so why do you need to buy clothes? Besides, don’t you already have enough clothes?”

“Oh come on!” Chen Shuyuan frowned unhappily, “Mom!”

“Alright, alright, my little princess.” Lin Quan took a card out of her wallet and gave it to her, “Such a temper—making a fuss whenever you don’t get your way, just like when you were little.”

Chen Shuyuan took the card and immediately beamed with joy, hugging Lin Quan, “Mom, you’re the best!”

The two had arranged to get beauty treatments.

Lin Quan nodded toward the coffee shop, “Let’s get something to drink first.”

Chen Shuyuan nodded, but suddenly her eyes caught a familiar figure—Chen Die.

She froze, not wanting Lin Quan to see her, and hurriedly called out, “Mom!”

“What is it?”

“It’s almost time for our appointment. Why don’t you go to the beauty salon first, and I’ll buy two coffees and bring them up.”

Lin Quan didn’t refuse. She glanced at her watch and nodded, “Alright, but be quick. I want mine with milk but no sugar.”

“I know, I know.”

Chen Shuyuan watched Lin Quan take the direct elevator up before turning to enter the coffee shop.

No matter how much time passed, Chen Shuyuan still had a vivid impression of that scene at the train station when she was little.

She had grown up envied by others for being born with a silver spoon in her mouth, never having to lift a finger. Then suddenly she was told she wasn’t the Chens’ biological daughter, and her grandfather and father, upon finding out, immediately prepared to bring their biological daughter back.

Chen Shuyuan was young then, but she wasn’t completely ignorant.

She had especially overheard the family servants saying that once the real young miss returned, over time, the treatment between the biological and non-biological daughter would definitely be different.

They had even investigated her real original family, who were very poor and lived in the “slums” in the north of the city. She might even be sent back there.

Chen Shuyuan was terrified.

So that day, she desperately rushed to the train station.

She saw Chen Die, the real heiress.

She wore a wrinkled short-sleeved top and skirt. Her clothes were clean, but the inferior quality of the fabric was evident from a distance. Her pitch-black eyes seemed completely out of place in this city.

Chen Shuyuan felt contempt in her heart and sat at the entrance of the train station, crying and making a scene.

After all, Lin Quan had cherished her as a precious daughter for over a decade—how could she not feel heartbroken? She cried along with her and even thought about simply continuing as if nothing had happened.

But old Mr. Chen was stubborn and insisted that the Chen family bloodline must return to its ancestral roots.

Later, Chen Shuyuan thought that if Wen Liang hadn’t taken Chen Die away that day, she would eventually have been brought back to the Chen family.

Chen Die was taken away by madman Wen Liang. When the Chen family went to claim her, they were turned away. Old Mr. Chen was furious about this and nearly ended up in the hospital with high blood pressure.

Chen Shuyuan didn’t know what happened afterward, only that somehow the matter was eventually dropped.

Chen Shuyuan breathed a long sigh of relief, but Chen Die’s impact on her didn’t disappear.

They were classmates in high school and university. Chen Die was too beautiful, always surrounded by an aura of light wherever she went, and Chen Shuyuan began to feel insanely jealous.

At first, she thought that at least Chen Die had followed Wen Liang, who wasn’t favored in the Wen family, so she wouldn’t amount to much in the end. Who knew that after a couple of years, Wen Liang would use those underhanded methods to take control of the entire Wenyuan Group?

Even Lu Chuan, whom she had liked for four years, had a good relationship with Chen Die and was even willing to speak up for her on the school forum.

Someone like Lu Chuan, though gentle, was never the type to get himself involved in such matters. Sometimes Chen Shuyuan felt he was essentially very detached.

Yet he was willing to do so for Chen Die.

Chen Shuyuan ordered two coffees but couldn’t resist walking over to Chen Die.

She slammed the cups on the table, causing coffee to spill over the rim.

Sunlight spilled across Chen Die’s face as she leaned lazily against the chair’s back. She slowly raised her eyes and languidly lifted an eyebrow at Chen Shuyuan.

The way she did this was infuriating as if she had ground contempt and disdain into her gaze.

“The whole thing with Xu Zhiran and Fan Yan was all you’re doing, wasn’t it?” Chen Shuyuan stood before her and asked.

Chen Die admitted frankly, “What else?”

“Shameless. Don’t you still act like a white lotus in front of Lu Chuan? But hiding behind anonymity, you dare to backstab people? So two-faced!”

Chen Die smiled, her eyes curved, looking cunning and catty.

“Well, if I had handled it slowly, and Lu Chuan found out, wouldn’t he have waded into this mess for me again?” She blinked gently, her eyelashes fluttering. “That wouldn’t be good. Everyone would feel sorry for you again.”

Chen Shuyuan was so angry at her matter-of-fact, condescending tone that she couldn’t speak. Her chest heaved as she glared fiercely at Chen Die.

“Stop flattering yourself!”

Chen Die curled her lips and took a light sip of coffee.

Chen Shuyuan said, “You’re just Wen Liang’s little mistress, coming and going at his command. What right do you have to laugh at others?”

Chen Die’s fingers paused, unconsciously tightening.

“You’re just a girl from some broken village. These comfortable years you’ve been living—aren’t they just from sleeping with Wen Liang?” Chen Shuyuan gave a cold laugh. “Do you think you’re his girlfriend? Why don’t you see if Wen Huaiyuan would ever agree to let you into the Wen family—!”

Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly let out a shrill scream.

Chen Die had directly thrown her cup of coffee in her face.

The warm coffee dripped down her cheeks and hair, leaving mottled brownish stains on her clothes, making her look utterly disheveled.

Chen Shuyuan was completely stunned, her lips slightly parted, water droplets hanging from her eyelashes. She could feel the coffee sliding down her neck, sticky and uncomfortable.

She looked up in disbelief and suddenly screamed, “Chen Die!”

She lost all reason and lunged at Chen Die, but was pushed down into a chair.

Chen Die pressed her palm against her forehead, pinning her against the chair back, looking down at her with light mockery, “So what about these comfortable years you’ve been living? If Wen Huaiyuan doesn’t agree, I could always go back to the Chen family.” She laughed softly. “Don’t you think?”

Chen Shuyuan’s eyes were about to pop out.

At the same time, Chen Die was forcefully pulled back by someone gripping her shoulder.

She had been dieting hard these past few days, and with her unstable center of gravity and a sudden bout of low blood sugar making her vision darken, her arm scraped against a picture frame on the wall, instantly causing a painful cut.

Fortunately, someone caught her before she fell.

Chen Die turned her head to look. It was a man, and she thanked him quietly.

“Are you okay, Yuanyuan?” Lin Quan grabbed several tissues to wipe the coffee off Chen Shuyuan’s face.

Then she quickly walked over to Chen Die in her high heels.

Chen Die couldn’t remember the last time she had seen Lin Quan this close.

She wasn’t naive enough to consider Lin Quan her “mother” simply because of her blood ties. Over the years, she had hardly thought of this birth mother, but there were still some strange, awkward feelings that couldn’t be severed.

Chen Die watched steadily as she walked briskly over, her expression angry, and then raised her hand high.

When that slap came down, Chen Die didn’t dodge—she didn’t have time to, nor did she react quickly enough. Fortunately, it was intercepted by the man beside her.

The man held Lin Quan’s wrist, smiling somewhat disdainfully, and said leisurely, “Aunt, we’re still in public.”

Aunt?

Chen Die was taken aback.

Lin Quan also came to her senses and looked around, frowning.

She said coldly, “Chen Die, I hope you understand that you are not a member of our Chen family. My only daughter is Yuanyuan, and you don’t need to frighten her with those words.”

Lin Quan paused, looking her up and down, and sneered, “The way you are now, you’re just like that madman from the Wen family. Let me give you a piece of advice—know your place, or you’ll end up offending both the Chen and Wen families.”

Chen Die looked straight at her and asked mockingly, “Is the Chen family under your control now?”

“Whether I can return to the Chen family or not is not for you to decide. You should know very well that old Mr. Chen recognized me as the Chen family bloodline and later came looking for me, hoping I would return.” Chen Die stepped forward, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Besides, Wenyuan’s largest shareholder now is Wen Liang. Wen Huaiyuan has long been sidelined, so—”

Chen Die leaned close to her ear and said softly, “Both the Chen and Wen families—which one I want is up to me.”