“Xiaoya!” A man’s voice cut through the air.
It interrupted Wei Ruya mid-sentence.
Wei Ruya pressed her lips together in dissatisfaction. Out of respect for her brother, she didn’t continue, but she still cast a mocking glance at Ye Shaohua.
The woman standing beside Ye Shaohua fidgeted nervously under the gaze of the two siblings, not knowing where to put her hands.
Ye Shaohua, however, merely glanced at them with cool indifference.
Even so, she felt somewhat conflicted inside. From Wei Ruya’s words alone, it was clear the original host had been through quite a lot.
Let alone anything else—being abandoned at one’s own engagement ceremony by the groom was a nightmare in itself.
“Alright, I’m leaving.” Ye Shaohua hadn’t received the original host’s memories yet and didn’t know her temperament. She casually slipped her hands into her pockets, gave the mother a careless, faint smile, and headed for the door.
From start to finish, she didn’t spare her stepsister or stepbrother so much as a glance.
The smile on her face carried something unusual. It held a trace of mischief, a hint of chill—an almost bewitching quality that seemed entirely out of place. It was so unexpected that the three people left behind stood frozen for a long moment.
Not to mention Wei Ruya and the mother.
Even Wei Zhengxuan, who had been looking down at his phone, lifted his head. His gaze followed Ye Shaohua’s receding figure. This stepsister of his, who had always been invisible, suddenly seemed impossible to ignore. His eyes narrowed slightly. “Interesting.”
This stepsister had come from the countryside. He had never paid her much attention.
But last month, her sudden marriage to Xu Anyuan, the heir of the Xu Group, had made the name “Ye Shaohua” echo through Yunchéng’s elite circles.
Wei Zhengxuan had never understood why Xu Anyuan would marry someone so unremarkable. Apart from her face, everything about her was utterly ordinary.
But now, he had a feeling this stepsister held some secrets after all.
——
[Host, would you like to receive the storyline now?] 008’s voice rang out at just the right moment.
Ye Shaohua didn’t answer right away. Instead, she asked, “Has there been any explanation yet about that ‘Cosmic Deities’ scripture from the world before last?”
008 shook its head within the system space. [No response from the higher-ups yet. There’s a major system malfunction, and we’re still unsure of the cause. It may take more time.]
“Fine. Send me the memories.” Ye Shaohua spoke.
The moment the words left her mouth, her mind flooded with a rush of memories and plotlines.
She was now in a modern world.
The original host and her mother had come from an ordinary rural village. But her father had passed away from illness, and both her paternal grandparents were gone. So her mother had brought her to the city.
There, she married Wei Guofu, a businessman.
Wei Guofu already had a son and a daughter. He had only married the mother for her beauty.
But coming from the countryside, the original host had always struggled to fit into high society. Her mother constantly taught her to be tolerant, to yield to her stepbrother and stepsister—especially Wei Ruya. Over and over, she reminded her that Wei Ruya had a heart condition and had just lost her own mother. The original host must not provoke her.
The original host was an obedient daughter. She endured the Wei family’s mistreatment.
She didn’t like them. She just waited for the day she could leave for good. Finally, her boyfriend of three years proposed. They held an engagement banquet.
But that day, her fiancé received a message from the woman he truly adored—his goddess, who was studying abroad. Without hesitation, he abandoned the original host. He said he was going to find his one true love. That he had never truly loved her. He had only been with her because he was devastated when his goddess left.
Then he walked away without looking back.
Many from the Wei family had attended the banquet. The humiliation was crushing.
Yet, unexpectedly, Xu Anyuan, the young president of the Xu Group, was ordered by his grandfather to marry Ye Shaohua. Though they didn’t hold a wedding banquet, they registered their marriage at his grandfather’s command.
The original host wanted to move on. She wanted to forget her ex-boyfriend and live a quiet life.
She had no idea that this was only the beginning of her misery.
Why would a man like Xu Anyuan, the CEO of a massive corporation, ever truly care for her? He was nearly thirty and had never married. He followed his grandfather’s wishes, brought Ye Shaohua home, kept her around—but still indulged in his usual affairs outside.
Then, barely two months into the marriage, he demanded a divorce.
Because there had always been someone else in his heart. His first love, his pure moonlight.
He had thought she had married abroad and would never return. But it turned out she had remained single all these years, as elegant and unattainable as ever.
And yes—that white moonlight was the very same goddess from her ex-boyfriend’s heart.
Xu Anyuan pushed through every obstacle and forced the divorce through the courts.
The original host became the laughingstock of everyone around her. That alone was unbearable, but her mother only wept and said, “Your mother has it hard,” and “I’m only looking out for you,” before going to beg Xu Anyuan’s grandfather.
Her pleas only irritated Xu Anyuan further.
He sent people to teach the original host a lesson.
It was then that she finally learned her rival’s name: Murong Qiyue. A celebrated oil painter.
She traveled across the country for inspiration. Back in university, countless men had worshipped her.
She was the white moonlight in so many hearts. The indelible red mark.
No matter what country she visited, she had admirers everywhere.
And she was far more graceful, far more remarkable than the original host. Wherever she stood, she was the center of attention.
When the original host realized the sheer enormity of the rival she faced, her will crumbled entirely.
When Murong Qiyue’s fans learned of Ye Shaohua’s existence, some of them cruelly conspired to harm her—just to teach her a lesson. But the original host’s spirit was too fierce to endure such humiliation. She chose to end her own life.
Receiving this part of the story, Ye Shaohua couldn’t help but let out a quiet, scornful sound.
“Madam, you’re back.” The household servant at the Xu residence saw her enter. Her tone carried a hint of pity. Then she turned her head. “President Xu, Madam has returned.”
Ye Shaohua stepped forward casually, walking straight inside.
Her gaze met a pair of cold, sharp eyes.
“Ye Shaohua,” the man said, his voice like ice. “I thought you came from the countryside, that you might lack refinement but at least possessed integrity. I didn’t expect you to be so two-faced and calculating. I seriously underestimated you.”
Good night. See you tomorrow!
