Chapter One Mother is both fat and ugly, with a frightening scar across her belly.

Christmas Eve. Rain poured relentlessly.

Ning City, Imperial Splendor Residence.

Shen Suining hurried through the villa’s front gate, still dust-laden from travel. The housekeeper, upon hearing the commotion, rushed out to greet her, wearing an awkward expression. “Young Madam, why are you home at this hour? There was no word you’d be coming.”

There was a trace of reproach in her tone.

Suining cast the housekeeper a cold glance, ignoring the complaint. “Where is Jiangjiang? I see the lights are still on in the dance studio. Is she there?”

It was already past ten at night. Jiangjiang was only four—well past her bedtime. She couldn’t understand what her husband was thinking, letting their daughter stay up so late.

“She is... but, Young Madam, perhaps you should change your clothes first,” the housekeeper suggested.

At this, Suining’s face grew even colder. She glanced down—her clothes were stained with mud, wrinkled and grimy. She had come straight from a tomb, after all. She should indeed clean up first.

Her daughter, Jiangjiang, never liked seeing her come home from work so dirty.

Suining climbed the stairs, but at the landing, she changed direction and headed for the dance studio.

The door stood wide open. Gentle music drifted out, accompanied by a soft female voice—Jiangjiang’s dance teacher, Lin Yinxi.

“Wonderful, Jiangjiang! You’re dancing better and better! Tomorrow you’ll shine brighter than anyone!”

As Suining reached the doorway, she heard her daughter’s childish, delighted voice: “That’s because you’re such a good teacher, Miss Lin!”

The exhaustion of an entire week seemed to melt away as Suining heard her daughter’s voice. Yet in the next instant, Jiangjiang spoke again:

“Daddy, can Miss Lin come with us to the kindergarten’s parent-child day tomorrow? I don’t want Mommy to go.”

“Mommy is fat and ugly, and there’s a scary scar on her tummy. Tomorrow the moms have to perform a cheerleading dance. I don’t want anyone to see such an ugly thing on my mommy. My classmates will say, ‘Your daddy must have weird tastes!’”

“Please, Daddy, let Miss Lin go with us! She’s so pretty, I want her to be my new mommy.”

Suining froze as if struck by lightning, steadying herself against the wall to keep from collapsing.

The daughter she had carried for ten months, nearly dying to bring her into the world, now rejected her so completely.

“Jiangjiang, don’t say that. If your mommy heard, she’d be terribly sad, and I’d have to stop teaching you to dance,” Lin Yinxi’s gentle voice interjected, turning choked and tearful toward the end.

Jiangjiang quickly comforted her. “Don’t worry, Miss Lin, you’ll always be my teacher as long as I’m here! Besides, Daddy won’t let Mommy send you away!”

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Suining’s heart turned to ice. Her fingernails scratched lines into the wall; one nail bent back, blood oozing, but she didn’t notice.

“Daddy, say something! Am I right?” Jiangjiang called, desperate for her father’s approval.

A few seconds later, Suining heard her husband, Jiang Runlang, his voice clear and mild: “Jiangjiang is right.”

“Yay!” Jiangjiang cheered, leaping with joy.

In the reflection on the door, Suining could see her daughter throw herself into Lin Yinxi’s arms.

“Miss Lin, stay with us tonight! Come to school with Daddy and me in the morning. I want everyone to know you’re my real mommy! I’ll finally have a pretty mommy!”

Lin Yinxi seemed deeply troubled, stammering for a long while before saying, “President Jiang, please don’t take Jiangjiang’s words to heart. I just want to teach her to dance...”

Jiang Runlang interrupted. “Jiangjiang’s not wrong. Her mother really is fat, old, and ugly now.”

Tears welled in Suining’s eyes.

She covered her mouth just in time to stifle a sob.

Ever since her pregnancy, Jiang Runlang had never touched her again. She’d thought it was because he sympathized with her difficult work, following her mentor into ancient tombs. Now she understood—it was disgust.

He despised her, too.

Jiang Runlang went on, “Jiangjiang likes pretty things. Since she’s invited you, Miss Lin, don’t refuse.”

Lin Yinxi hesitated a moment before replying, “Then I’ll accept your invitation. But what if Madam finds out...?”

“She’s always doted on Jiangjiang,” Jiang Runlang replied. “She’d understand that we only want what’s best for her.”

Suining’s tears streamed down as her hands fell limply to her sides. Her lips twisted into a bitter smile.

So, they knew she loved Jiangjiang.

Yet that love was now trampled underfoot.

Very well.

If her husband and daughter despised her so, she would oblige them.

Suining drew a deep breath, trembling with the urge to slap each one of them. But as she raised her foot, footsteps sounded inside the studio. They were coming out.

Her mind snapped clear.

She couldn’t do it.

She still needed the Jiang family’s money for her grandmother’s medical treatment. If she dared lay a hand on Jiang Runlang or Jiangjiang, the medication would be cut off at once. For her grandmother’s sake, she could only endure.

Realizing this, Suining turned and fled without looking back.

Luckily, since Jiangjiang had started walking, the villa floors were carpeted thickly for her safety, so Suining’s hurried steps made no sound.

She burst from the villa into the pouring rain.

There were no taxis here. After marrying Jiang Runlang, she’d seldom used her car, so it had long since been given to a servant.

She walked half an hour through wind and rain before reaching a place where she could hail a ride.

Turned down four times, she finally found a kind driver willing to take her.

Arriving in the bustling city center, Suining entered a bar called “Dancing Shadows.”

She found a prominent seat and ordered a table full of drinks, gulping them down.

Halfway through, sorrow overwhelmed her. Tears streamed down her face.

“Aren’t bars supposed to be good places for a fling? Why has no one come to hit on me?” she muttered, and the memory of her husband’s and daughter’s rejection made her sob all the harder.

She had no idea how long had passed before she hiccupped, got to her feet, and headed for the restroom.

Minutes later, she stood at the washbasin, splashing cold water on her face.

The chill cleared her mind a little.

She stared at her reflection—thick brows, large eyes, vivid lips and even teeth. How could anyone call her ugly?

And she didn’t even weigh a hundred and twenty pounds! How was that fat?

As she thought this, another face appeared in the mirror—so striking it took her breath away.