Chapter 57

The clear and delicious green vegetable and fried egg noodle soup was light and tasty, perfectly suited…

When Ming Jiayao arrived home, he happened to run into his father, Ming Zhixuan, coming downstairs.

Seeing Ming Jiayao, Ming Zhixuan was somewhat surprised. “Why are you back?”

Ming Jiayao sneered, “Can’t I come back?”

Ming Zhixuan frowned. “Is that any way to speak? Is this your upbringing?”

Ming Jiayao replied, “You’re absolutely right, I really have no upbringing.”

Ming Zhixuan grew angry. “You—”

Ignoring him, Ming Jiayao turned and went upstairs.

Ming Zhixuan covered his chest, took a deep breath to calm himself, then left with a dark expression.

The Ming Family’s ancestral home was a castle-style manor villa.

The first floor was the domain of the family head, Ming Jingxing.

The second floor was divided into the East Wing and West Wing. Ming Zhixuan and Xu Wenrui lived in the West Wing, while the East Wing was empty and unoccupied.

Ming Jiayao lived in the East Wing on the third floor.

But at this moment, Ming Jiayao rushed straight to the rooftop.

He stood on the terrace, waiting,

until he personally watched Ming Zhixuan drive his sports car out of the manor.

Only then did Ming Jiayao hurriedly go downstairs and head to the West Wing on the second floor.

Xu Wenrui wasn’t there.

She rarely came to the manor.

Only during the New Year or holidays would she return;

or when she needed money, she would come back.

So, the West Wing on the second floor was almost entirely Ming Zhixuan’s personal domain.

Standing at the entrance of the West Wing, Ming Jiayao extended his wrist, first adjusting the timer function on his electronic watch to fifteen minutes,

then quickly slipped into the West Wing, locking the door behind him.

The West Wing was spacious.

Covering two thousand square feet (approximately two hundred square meters), it was divided into functional areas such as a leisure zone, bar, fitness garden, master bedroom, study, bathroom, and more.

Ming Jiayao paused briefly in the leisure area before heading straight to the study.

However, Ming Zhixuan was a complete second-generation heir who had no involvement in the operations of the Ming Family’s enterprises. His study was merely for show.

After spending three minutes in the study, Ming Jiayao confirmed that there was nothing of investigative value there.

So, Ming Jiayao went to Ming Zhixuan’s bedroom.

Come to think of it, this was his first time entering his parents’ bedroom, and he couldn’t help feeling a bit nervous.

Then—

He saw two luxurious double beds placed side by side in the spacious bedroom?!

Clearly, the bed with the intricate European retro style and lace curtains was Xu Wenrui’s;

while the minimalist bed in pure black, white, and gray was Ming Zhixuan’s.

“They actually sleep in separate beds?” Ming Jiayao muttered softly.

He had little attachment to family ties and usually avoided delving into such matters, but he could still sense that there was almost no affection between his parents.

Ming Jiayao continued to survey the room.

Looking around—

There was nothing particularly special about the place; everything was kept clean and tidy by the Filipina domestic helpers.

Ming Jiayao had no choice but to wander around the West Wing for a while, exploring the fitness area, the small bar, and even the bathroom and shower.

A strange thought surfaced in Ming Jiayao’s mind.

How should he put it?

The West Wing on the second floor, where Ming Zhixuan lived, was so clean and tidy… that there wasn’t a single item reflecting the owner’s personality.

It was as if this were a hotel room!

Most normal people have some hobbies.

For example, Ming Jiayao loved cars, so his living space was filled with various car models, car magazines, and he had even assembled some himself. Everywhere, there were car emblems and spare parts he had collected…

So, what were Ming Zhixuan’s hobbies?

Ming Jiayao truly had no idea.

After wandering around for a short while, Ming Jiayao felt a bit bored and decided to leave.

Then—

He suddenly realized something was off.

Before the age of thirteen, Ming Jiayao had hardly ever left the old mansion.

His familiarity with this estate far exceeded that of the butler and even his grandfather.

And the East Wing and West Wing on the second and third floors were actually about the same size.

So, the West Wing shouldn’t feel this small.

Ming Jiayao grew suspicious.

Relying on his memory, he walked over to where a space should have existed but had inexplicably vanished…

It was a wall.

Ming Jiayao paced back and forth along the base of the wall, examining it carefully, and finally noticed something unusual—a faint crack in the wall?!

He reached out and felt around,

and soon, Ming Jiayao detected an inconspicuous indentation.

Pressing down—

A soft click sounded, and the door opened.

Oh ho, a secret room!

Ming Jiayao entered the pitch-dark secret room and fumbled around for a while before finally finding the light switch.

Once the lights were on, Ming Jiayao finally got a clear look at the room… and couldn’t help but sneer.

Who said this waste, Ming Zhixuan, had no aspirations?

He seemed quite ambitious after all!

It turned out that one entire wall of the secret room was covered with densely packed small shelves.

The shelves were stacked with piles of banknotes.

Ming Jiayao did a quick mental calculation and found that there were about a thousand small shelves, each holding a stack of banknotes.

But all those banknotes were in denominations of 10 yuan.

In other words, this wall of shelves held a total of one million yuan.

Ming Jiayao sneered, thinking how stingy his father was—

poor, yet trying to show off.

Each shelf compartment held only a stack of a hundred ten-yuan notes, leaving it looking sparse.

But then again, Ming Zhixuan’s only source of income was the fixed 200,000 yuan from the family trust fund,

plus whatever he might have earned from stock trading or small investments…

It must have been quite a struggle for him to save up a million yuan!

Ming Jiayao continued exploring the secret room.

Next, he saw something that made him blush.

Aside from the wall of banknotes, the entire room was plastered with posters of various beautiful women.

Posters of female celebrities from almost half the entertainment industry—some faded, some currently popular, some relatively unknown.

The explicitness…

was so extreme it defied all limits!

And beneath each poster, dates were written in fancy calligraphy with a marker.

It almost seemed like…

like he was recording the days he encountered these beauties.

Ming Jiayao lowered his gaze, calming himself down.

He continued exploring.

The secret room had a sofa, a bed, a table, and chairs,

with women’s stockings, underwear, and other items scattered everywhere,

and even all sorts of strange toys…

Ming Jiayao slowly began to flush with anger.

He steadied himself and kept looking.

Then—

Ming Jiayao found a photo album by the bed.

This photo album was special.

After all, the walls covered in posters of barely clothed female stars had already fully exposed Ming Zhixuan’s tastes.

But this photo album featured various refined women dressed in little suits and knee-length skirts.

They all wore high heels, held books or documents in their hands, had long hair flowing down, and some even wore glasses.

Moreover, the photo album was so well-worn that the edges had frayed…

proving how much its owner cherished it!

“Buzz buzz—”

The electronic watch on his wrist buzzed with a timed alarm.

Ming Jiayao tensed.

He knew the time had come.

So he quickly put down that photo album, carefully surveyed his surroundings to confirm he hadn’t disturbed anything, then swiftly left the second-floor West Wing and returned to his own territory on the third-floor East Wing.

Ming Jiayao began organizing the information he had just gathered.

So,

Ming Zhixuan was quite lustful—probably had been with most of the female stars in the entertainment industry.

Ming Zhixuan loved money, but he was genuinely poor.

Ming Jiayao calculated in his mind.

—If he really wanted to deal with this father of his, it seemed easy enough.

Find a femme fatale to deceive him, then burden him with massive debt… and he’d be finished.

But that wouldn’t work either.

Because Ming Zhixuan was the son of shipping magnate Ming Jingxing and also his own father. If Ming Zhixuan incurred any huge debts, the Ming Family wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility.

So, it would require careful planning.

Ming Jiayao thought again:

What were Xu Wenrui’s weaknesses?

And what were Ming Jingxing’s weaknesses?

Ming Jiayao spaced out for a long while.

In the end, he couldn’t help but think of Bai Yuanzhi again.

Remembering that wonderful taste of cola mixed with Fanta.

= =

Meanwhile, after finishing night school, Bai Yuanzhi returned home utterly exhausted.

Seeing her look so worn out, Zhou Sier couldn’t help but laugh, “Studying that hard?”

Bai Yuanzhi groaned, “Sis, my brain hurts…”

Zhou Sier laughed heartily, then asked, “Then skip the exam next year, postpone it for a year?”

“No way!” Bai Yuanzhi firmly refused, “I must take it next year!”

Zhou Sier smiled, “Then there’s no choice—just have to push a little harder!”

Bai Yuanzhi collapsed on the sofa, moaning, “So hungry! So tired!”

“Then go take a shower first. I’m a bit hungry too… I’ll make noodles. By the time you finish showering, there’ll be food ready,” Zhou Sier said.

Bai Yuanzhi happily agreed.

After her shower, Zhou Sier had indeed prepared noodle soup.

It was just simple homemade noodles—

Pure white noodles resting in clear broth, complemented by a few green vegetable leaves, looking refreshing and clean;

On top lay a golden fried egg, with a small spoonful of shrimp paste beside it.

Bai Yuanzhi had been starving for a while.

She cradled the noodle bowl and slurped voraciously.

The refreshing and delicious noodles were just too good!

Soon, she finished the entire bowl of noodles, broth and all…

Then—

Bai Yuanzhi looked up and saw Zhou Sier’s hand holding chopsticks frozen mid-air.

A strand of noodles still dangled from the chopsticks.

“Sis, what’s wrong?” Bai Yuanzhi asked in surprise.

Zhou Sier snapped back to reality, her hand relaxing, letting the noodles on the chopsticks slip back into the bowl.

“Ah? It’s nothing,” Zhou Sier shook her head.

Bai Yuanzhi pressed, “What exactly happened?”

Zhou Sier let out a long sigh, “Today I went to Hong Kong University…”

Bai Yuanzhi immediately grew anxious, “Sis! If you wanted to go back to campus, you should have told me! I would have gone with you! Going alone… what if you felt unwell on the way!”

Zhou Sier comforted her sister, “It’s fine, I was careful! I didn’t go alone either—I called Qiao Sen and had him pick me up…”

Bai Yuanzhi finally relaxed, “So, was it at the university… that you ran into someone you didn’t want to see?”

Zhou Sier nodded.

She recounted everything that happened today to Bai Yuanzhi in detail:

Upon arriving at Hong Kong University, her advisor, classmates, and friends were all delighted to see Zhou Sier.

They asked her how the accident had happened and inquired about her recovery…

When they learned that Zhou Sier had lost some of her memories, they comforted her, saying that surviving such a disaster meant she was destined for good fortune.

Zhou Sier had decided to visit the university today precisely to clarify that she and Song Junshu were not a couple.

Soon, Song Junshu arrived upon hearing the news.

He poured out his heart, confessing his love and insisting she shouldn’t deny his feelings for her. He hysterically questioned whether Luo Jiaojiao and Bai Yuanzhi disapproved of their relationship…

In front of everyone, Zhou Sier rejected Song Junshu once again.

Hong Kong University is the most prestigious institution in Hong Kong City,

and those admitted are, without exception, individuals of high caliber.

The composed Zhou Sier stood in stark contrast to the distraught and frenzied Song Junshu.

Thus, everyone sided with Zhou Sier, telling Song Junshu that feelings couldn’t be forced and that a gentleman should not publicly berate an innocent lady.

Song Junshu left in a rage, his eyes red with fury.

Hearing this, Bai Yuanzhi was pleased. “That’s great! Sister, you really thought this through. Now that scumbag can no longer go around using the title ‘Zhou Sier’s boyfriend’ to deceive people!”

Zhou Sier smiled but still looked troubled.

“What’s wrong, sister?” Bai Yuanzhi asked, puzzled. “Do you still have feelings for that scumbag?”

Zhou Sier spat out, “Of course not!”

“Then why do you still seem so down?”

Zhou Sier sighed. “I… just before I was about to leave Hong Kong University, I saw Luo Jiaojiao.”

Bai Yuanzhi frowned. “Did Luo Jiaojiao try to cause trouble for you?”

Zhou Sier shook her head.

She picked at her noodles with her chopsticks, her mind in turmoil. “I don’t know if it’s just my imagination… but I feel like Luo Jiaojiao is imitating me.”

“Both Luo Jiaojiao and I went through very poor times. After entering university, I relied on scholarships and competition prizes to cover tuition and living expenses, while Luo Jiaojiao could only depend on odd jobs.”

“Back then, our tastes were quite different. I believed clothes were fine to wear as long as they weren’t torn or misshapen. She thought girls should dress beautifully to make the most of their youth.”

“I’m not criticizing her by saying this—after all, everyone is responsible for their own youth and life,” Zhou Sier said.

Bai Yuanzhi thought for a moment, vaguely recalling that when she first rushed to the hospital to visit her sister, who had just fallen into a coma,

she had seen Song Junshu, Luo Jiaojiao, and Qiao Yusheng visiting Zhou Sier together.

At that time, Luo Jiaojiao’s appearance was quite striking.

“Sister, did she used to dress like a lady, with her hair down and a wide headband, wearing a skirt and a cardigan, white ankle socks, and British-style round-toe black leather shoes?” Bai Yuanzhi asked.

Zhou Sier nodded repeatedly. “Yes, exactly like that.”

Then she let out another long sigh. “But Luo Jiaojiao has changed now. She, she…”

Zhou Sier seemed to find it difficult to say, but she finally spoke up. “It seems like Luo Jiaojiao is trying to act like me.”

Bai Yuanzhi was stunned.

Zhou Sier said, “You know how I usually wear jeans and dark-colored short T-shirts, and my shoes are just discounted sneakers.”

“I dress this way to save money—I buy two sets of off-season discounted clothes every year, and I wear them until they fall apart. Luo Jiaojiao once criticized me, saying my outfits had no femininity at all, and that girls wearing jeans could easily lead to gynecological issues…”

“But today, I saw her wearing the exact same blue jeans and black T-shirt as me! Even the shoes on her feet were identical to mine! Besides that, Luo Jiaojiao also wore her hair in a high ponytail, which I used to do often… Even my former roommates Jenny and Monica said that Luo Jiaojiao has been dressing like that for the past few months…”

“Ah Zhi, tell me,” Zhou Sier asked anxiously, “what exactly is Luo Jiaojiao trying to do?”

Hearing this—

Bai Yuanzhi was also stunned.

Yes, what was Luo Jiaojiao doing?

Zhou Sier continued, “Luo Jiaojiao even came specifically to find me—we’re not even on the same campus.”

“But when she saw me, she only said one thing.”

“She said, ‘Zhou Sier, I hate you so much! Why aren’t you dead yet?’… Then she ran away crying.”

Zhou Sier sighed, “I couldn’t run fast enough to catch up, so I asked Qiao Sen to help me chase after Luo Jiaojiao. But Qiao Sen said that since he brought me out of the house safely, he would make sure to send me back safely, and he absolutely wouldn’t leave me alone… So I had no choice but to watch Luo Jiaojiao run away.”

Zhou Sier said sadly, “I encouraged her to get into Hong Kong University—why would she hate me for that?”

“She likes Song Junshu, but I don’t. I didn’t ruin her relationship with Song Junshu—why would she hate me?”

“If she hates me so much, why would she dress up to look like me?”

“Ah Zhi, why is this happening?” Zhou Sier said sorrowfully.

Bai Yuanzhi also found it very strange.

The two sisters thought it over and over but couldn’t figure out why, so they had no choice but to let it go.