Volume One, Chapter 27: The Enchantress vs. Innocence and Desire

“Mom...” As soon as she saw Sun Yueqing, Sang Wan broke into a smile.

Sun Yueqing was taken aback, her eyes instantly turning red. “Xiaowan, what’s happened to you? Is something wrong?”

It had been three months since mother and daughter last met.

In just three months, Sang Wan looked like a different person—gaunt, reduced to half her former self.

As if a mere breeze could blow her away.

Not wanting her mother to know about her divorce yet, she planned to wait until after her release to tell her.

Sang Wan grinned, “Mom, I’m great, really! Look—”

She showed off her manicured nails.

Then she stood up and twirled to display her new dress.

“Isn’t it pretty? See, you really have to be thin to look beautiful!”

Sang Wan chattered away happily, all the while carefully studying Sun Yueqing. “And you, Mom? How are you?”

Sun Yueqing relaxed and smiled warmly. “I’m good, really good... Mom’s doing just fine.”

Except for those first few months after being imprisoned, when she was utterly worn out, Sun Yueqing had gradually pulled herself together.

Especially after Sang Wan gave birth to Lu Xiaomu, Sun Yueqing seemed to find new hope, longing for the day she could come home and help care for her grandchild.

Her hair was cropped short at the ears.

Her skin was fair.

Thanks to regular routines and moderate work, her complexion looked quite healthy.

In these past years, it was as if time had stopped.

Sun Yueqing had barely changed at all.

“Mom, I’ve started the countdown...”

Sang Wan beamed. “Just 88 days until you come home. Then we’ll be together again!”

Sun Yueqing nodded repeatedly.

Sang Wan hesitated a moment, then asked gently, “Mom, now that it’s come to this, can you finally tell me what really happened back then?”

Sun Yueqing’s expression shifted ever so slightly. “Xiaowan, why are you asking about that?”

“Mom, I’m your flesh and blood, the daughter you raised. No one knows you better than I do. Unless you were utterly desperate, you would never kill anyone! You must have had your reasons!”

Sang Wan’s tone was resolute.

Sun Yueqing wavered.

Back then, there had indeed been reasons.

But Su Baohui had said that even if the truth came out, Sun Yueqing would still go to jail for murder—at most, the sentence would be lighter.

And by then, the Lu family would surely suffer, their stocks plummeting.

Both sides would lose.

Su Baohui had also said that if Sun Yueqing took the blame, the damage to the Lu family and their business could be minimized.

As compensation, she would cover all of Sang Wan’s tuition and living expenses during university, and treat Sang Wan as her own daughter.

At that time, Sang Wan and Lu Jinnian had been together for two years.

Sun Yueqing had witnessed, time and again, how well Su Baohui and Lu Jinnian treated Sang Wan.

She hesitated only briefly, then agreed.

And as it turned out, she hadn’t put her trust in the wrong people.

Lu Jinnian married Sang Wan right after her college graduation, and their child Lu Xiaomu was born the following year.

Except for the late stage of pregnancy and the half-year after the baby’s birth, when Sang Wan couldn’t visit, she never missed a single monthly visitation all these years.

Even when she’d been sick with a fever, her face waxen, she’d come.

She knew Lu Jinnian was good to her, unwilling to let her work.

She knew that Lu Xiaomu was a sweet, thoughtful boy.

Even Su Baohui and Lu Zhiyi treated her well.

Since Su Baohui had kept her word, the whole affair could be considered settled.

Even if she still felt wronged, the outcome was a good one.

All the good things ultimately landed on her beloved daughter.

So, it was worth it.

“Since it’s all in the past, let’s not speak of it anymore,” Sun Yueqing said with a smile. “Xiaowan, as long as you’re well, that’s all I wish for.”

A heavy weight settled in Sang Wan’s heart.

So there really was another side to the story.

The hour-long visit ended with mother and daughter reluctant to part.

As she walked out of the prison gates, bathed in glaring sunlight, Sang Wan clenched her teeth in hatred.

Something must have happened!

She’d reviewed the evidence collected by the lawyer. On the night of the incident, only her mother, Su Baohui, and Lu Zhengsong had been at the Lu family villa.

Did Su Baohui kill Lu Zhengsong and her mother take the fall?

No, that didn’t add up.

The evidence and crime scene reports submitted by the police—fingerprints and blood DNA at every spot—matched her mother’s confession.

But her mother and Lu Zhengsong had no feud. Besides, Lu Zhengsong was a grown man, and the physical difference between a man and a woman was obvious; her mother, a frail woman, couldn’t possibly have killed him.

Or was Su Baohui an accomplice, and her mother protected her?

The bus jolted along the winding mountain roads, and Sang Wan’s thoughts were in chaos.

It was dusk by the time she returned to the attic.

She opened the door, and the stifling heat that had built up all day hit her like an exploding balloon.

Sang Wan stepped forward and flung open the window.

A cool breeze swept in. Sitting on the floor, her mind kept circling back to her mother’s calm, joyful face.

Her mother said, let it be.

But to Sang Wan, it wasn’t so easy to let go.

She would find out the truth!

Her phone chimed. It was a message from Xu Yiyi: [SOS!!!]

This sort of thing had happened occasionally over the years.

Sang Wan, well-practiced, immediately called her.

“Hello, darling...”

On the other end, Xu Yiyi launched into improvisation. “I’m having dinner with colleagues—you don’t need to pick me up... Ah, you’re already on your way? Okay, call me when you get here!”

After hanging up, Sang Wan received the address.

A bar, a few kilometers away.

Female colleagues wouldn’t invite each other to a bar.

If it was a male colleague, the purpose of meeting at a bar was far from simple.

Sang Wan decisively set out for the bar.

On Saturday nights, the bar street was dazzling, with an endless parade of handsome men and beautiful women.

Inside a private room at the bar called Alone, Lu Jinnian sat brooding, staring at his phone.

Half an hour ago, he’d posted on his moments, even with his location tagged.

In the past, even if Sang Wan didn’t call, she’d at least comment, half joking, half serious, to ask who he was at the bar with, and to tell him not to drink too much.

But tonight, so much time had passed, and the comments were all friends teasing him—Sang Wan had made no move at all.

Thinking of those two slaps, he felt sure Sang Wan truly didn’t care about him anymore.

She didn’t care what he did.

Didn’t care who he was with so late at night.

And yet, remembering all those years of love and affection, Lu Jinnian couldn’t believe Sang Wan had stopped loving him.

“Brother Lu, are you going to hide, or just go out and confess?”

Someone pushed open the door, grinning teasingly at him. “I saw your wife—she’s here looking for you.”

Lu Jinnian’s previously gloomy face brightened at once. As he stood, a flash of pride crossed his eyes. “Where is she?”

The newcomer gestured casually. “Just came in, she’s in the main hall...”

“Women, they’re just a pain! Guys, don’t rush into marriage. Once a man gets married, there’s no freedom left!”

Shaking his head and sighing, Lu Jinnian walked out.

At a glance, he spotted Sang Wan in the hall, looking around.

Amid the crowd of gaudy, flamboyant women, Sang Wan, with no makeup, stood out—her beauty and figure accentuated by the elegantly tailored chiffon dress, at once pure and alluring.

All the pent-up anger and resentment he’d suppressed that night suddenly transformed into desire.

Lu Jinnian strode forward, seized Sang Wan’s wrist, and pulled her into his arms. “Can’t let go, can you? Chased me all the way here?”