After dinner.

  Fu Tingyu accompanied his grandmother on a walk around the garden.

  Qin Shu strode by his side.

  To the old matriarch’s left was Xu Wei.

  The lamps in the garden were brighter than those in Sheng Yuan. Each lamp was only a few metres apart from the last. This was to reduce the risk of the old woman falling because of poor lighting.

  Turning towards a pavilion nearby, the old lady said, “Little Yu, walk with me for a bit. We haven’t had a good chat in a long time.”


  “Okay.” Fu Tingyu responded. Seeing that Grandma wanted some time alone with Fu Tingyu, Qin Shu offered her husband a brief smile, indicating that she would be fine by herself. Nodding to his wife, Fu Tingyu helped the old woman to the pavilion not a distance away.

  Quietly, Qin Shu slowed her steps and made for an adjacent garden.

  Xu Wei followed her.

  “Qin Shu.”


  Qin Shu heard Xu Wei call out to her. She turned back and saw Xu Wei stalking over on her seven-inch heels.

  The path cutting through the garden was paved with cobblestone. It was not as easy or as comfortable to walk on as an ordinary cement road.

  Xu Wei stopped in front of Qin Shu and asked, “When did you meet Fu Tingyu? Why hasn’t he ever mentioned you before?”


  “I met him two years ago” Qin Shu laughed. “All of Tingyu’s friends know me. Aren’t you a friend of Tingyu’s, Miss Xu? I’m not sure why you wouldn’t have heard of me before.”


  Xu Wei felt stifled by Qin Shu’s words. Chewing on her lips, she fought to regain her composure. “Tingyu and I have known each other for many years. I know everything about him. I also know that he used to have someone he liked.”


  Fu Tingyu used to have someone he liked? Qin Shu stopped in her tracks. Was Xu Wei saying this to sow discord between them?

  Playing along, Qin Shu replied tepidly, “Even if he used to have someone he liked, that’s in the past. The person he loves now is me.”


  “I didn’t realize that you were so magnanimous. Aren’t you bothered that he used to have someone he liked?” Smirking, Xu Wei murmured, “I’ve heard that Fu Tingyu has been cultivating ginkgo trees for that special girl for at least six years. I wonder how many he’s managed to cultivate already……”


  Under the light of the moon, Xu Wei peered at Qin Shu hoping to glean some sort of response in her expression.

  No sooner had Xu Wei mentioned ginkgo trees than the image of Fu Tingyu presenting her with one came to mind. Fu Tingyu had cultivated it for several years before giving it to her as a present.

  She had not known Fu Tingyu some six or seven years ago.

  Was the ginkgo tree he had given her meant for someone else?

  Qin Shu sent Xu Wei a questioning look. How did she know these things?

  “The ginkgo tree you mentioned…… Does it have golden leaves all year round? If so, then the one you saw in Sheng Yuan was it.”


  “Was it now? I didn’t expect it to be the one I was thinking of. Indeed, it’s very beautiful.”


  Xu Wei feigned surprise.

  Curling her lips into a sweet smile she agreed. “Yes, it is very beautiful. I like it very much.”


  A figure approached them from the direction of the gazebo. Catching sight of who it was, Xu Wei needled Qin Shu deliberately. “I have heard that you once had a boyfriend – a boyfriend whom you loved so much that you did anything and everything he asked of you. Did you ever…… kiss him?”


  Xu Wei heaved a long, dramatic sigh. “It is said that one’s first love is unforgettable. I’ve never had a boyfriend before so I don’t know how true the saying is.”


  “I was young and ignorant, then. I thought he was different…… He always spoke to me kindly, knowing just the right words to comfort me whenever I felt down. I thought he liked me, in the same way, I liked him but I was wrong. What we shared was not love. It was just my selfish belief that he would reciprocate my feelings for him. When he rejected me, I understood – I understood that he never thought of me in that way. It made me rethink my love for him, and I realized I never really loved him in the way I thought I did……” Qin Shu whispered faintly, her words weighing heavily in the cool night air.

  Hearing Qin Shu’s answer, Xu Wei frowned and probed further, “Then, didn’t the two of you hold hands, hug or kiss? It’s something lovers do all the time.”


  She had investigated Shen Yaohui. On the surface, he might have appeared gentle but that was just a cleverly constructed facade meant to reel in unsuspecting women. Even if he had not been privy to Qin Shu’s true beauty, he would not have left a meek woman like her untouched. Hugging and kissing were nothing to him.

  Being a germaphobe, Fu Tingyu would never tolerate a woman touched by another man.

  Qin Shu sneered in her heart. “Miss Xu, you probably never saw how I looked back then.”


  Xu Wei was perplexed. She did not understand the meaning behind Qin Shu’s words.

  “.…… I used to be disfigured. Everyone avoided me. Shen Yaohui was the only person willing to talk to me. I thought he actually loved me.” Qin Shu paused, reliving those memories were never easy. “But he didn’t. I was only lying to myself. When he finally got a good look at my face, you should have seen how he recoiled in horror. He was no different from everyone else. He stopped talking to me afterwards, avoiding me as if I carried the plague.”


  Her voice rose in a steady crescendo as she spoke but died down into a whisper just as quickly. It was as if the wind was taken from her sails. Staring Xu Wei in the eyes, she asked quietly, “Do you think a person like him would actually date me? Would he treat me the way lovers do?”


  Xu Wei stood where she was, bowled over by Qin Shu’s revelation. She never knew that Qin Shu had been disfigured in the past. No wonder she had always kept her hair down. It must have been so she could hide her disfigurement.

  Disfigured. No one would want to look upon an abomination. A freak. Who would even think of touching someone so hideous?

  Qin Shu surveyed Xu Wei sadly. “You’ve done your homework, Miss Xu.”


  “I-I just……”


  Before Xu Wei could finish, Fu Tingyu cut in from the side. “Let’s return.”


  Fu Tingyu strode past Xu Wei, without batting so much as an eye, and clasped Qin Shu’s dainty hand, escorting her away.

  Qin Shu did not resist. She allowed him to lead her away obediently. Fu Tingyu was always considerate of her and matched his pace with hers so that she would not be left behind.

  Xu Wei spun on her heels and glared venomously as Qin Shu departed with Fu Tingyu, her hand in his. She stomped angrily at the sight. Her heels, unwilling to bear further insult, snapped and she fell onto the cobblestoned path in a tangled heap.

  Her face flickered between several shades of green and white. Crying out viciously she howled, “Even my heels are against me. Qin Shu. Just. You. Wait. Fu Tingyu is mine. No one else may have him!”


  –


  –


  On the way back……

  A car sped down the highway late into the night.

  Qin Shu glanced at Fu Tingyu. In the dim light of the car, she could make out his sculpted figure, his high nose bridge and tightly pursed lips. Even now, she could not perceive his thoughts.

  At Chateau Fu, she knew from the very beginning that Xu Wei was there to stir up trouble. Not a single word of hers was truly genuine. They were traps, veiled with the malicious intention of stoking the embers of Fu Tingyu’s anger.

  Despite the time they had spent together, she knew that Fu Tingyu still doubted her love for him.

  She loved him. She always would. He was the only man residing within her heart. For him, she would do anything.

  As long as she still drew breath, she would remain by his side – to reciprocate the love and attention he showered her with.

  She had committed countless mistakes and his trust in her had long been worn thin.

  So when Xu Wei had tried to trap her, she played along. She turned the situation in her favour and used it as a convenient opportunity to convince him that she hadn’t been dating Shen Yaohui. It was simply a beautiful lie Shen Yaohui had crafted. Nothing more.

  Shen Yaohui had used Fu Tingyu’s anger against him, drawing her deeper into his subterfuge. He had strung them along like puppets and they were the fools who gave him the chance to do so.