Chapter 1: Ma Gu’er

Jinyuan No.1, Jin'an District, Fujing.

"Yi Anran actually thinks I'm too old?"

"I haven't even complained about her aging and fading looks, yet she dares to look down on me first. Without so much as a heads-up, she brought back a 20-year-old student girl, pointing at my nose and calling me the mistress..."

"Talking about some treasure she dug up from the school... How amusing. It's the exact same sweet talk she used to charm me back then... Seven years, and she's still using the same old tricks. Isn't that just lame?"

Ma Gu'er held a bright yellow phone, the cord twirling around her finger, her legs crossed and swinging, as if she wanted to kick her toes up to the sky. With a lift of her slender, scallion-like fingers, she directed the moving company on where to place the furniture. "Be careful, set it down gently, that mirror's pretty expensive..."

On the other end of the phone was Zhou Yun, a contemporary still struggling in the entertainment industry. Her benefactor... no, now her official partner was just a small-time screenwriter.

In this industry, those who manage to settle down with someone are rarely big shots. After all, big shots are surrounded by too many fresh temptations, and few can resist.

"Getting bored with the old and chasing the new is human nature. Look around this industry, who gets pampered and supported for seven years like you have? Be content... So many people are saying behind your back... Even if Director Yi really wants to move on, Ma Gu'er can still claim she was loved. Isn't that the highest honor? A villa in Jinyuan is worth 500,000 per square meter now. I'm certain Yi Anran truly loved you..."

"Loved? The highest honor..."

Ma Gu'er let out a scornful laugh, her fingers toying with a pointed comb, poking at the hair beneath her bun. If her eyes could roll any harder, they’d do a backflip two miles out of her head.

“Who cares about that? My love was already shattered at 22 by her so-called 'great lover' with a single slap. It’s only because I’m after her money and looks that I could put up with this humiliation. If I were still that innocent college girl, I’d have been too stubborn to stick around and would’ve dumped her long ago…”

A buzzing sensation tickled her backside. Ma Gu'er pulled out her vibrating phone and saw the caller ID: 丄丄*. She clicked her tongue into the receiver, “I have to go, Director Yi is calling to schedule another scene for me. Treat me to dinner another day, bye.”

*old variant of 上 (shàng), - up, above/first/to climb

Click, she hung up the phone.

Clearing her throat, she answered the new call, deliberately lowering her voice to a husky, restrained tone with a touch of feigned politeness and distance: “What’s the matter?”

“Gu’er, are you okay? Xiao Sang didn’t mean it. She thought I was dating her, so she said those harsh things… I’ve been swamped the past couple of days and only now found time to explain to you…”

Ma Gu'er rolled her eyes. Xiao Sang called her a mistress, she put up with it. Yi Anran, that flirtatious butterfly, casually sent her assistant to tell her to move out, she put up with it. It had already been two days before Yi Anran came to comfort her, fine… But the important thing is, does Yi Anran still want to keep going or not…

All the anger she took from Yi Anran, if just one “I once loved you” could make up for it, then how cheap would that make Ma Gu'er?

She sniffled. Her acting was known to be great. As soon as she spoke, her voice trembled a little. She forced down her feelings, “I’m not okay...”

The person on the other end of the phone let out a long sigh, sounding a bit emotional, “We’ve been together for seven years. I really don’t want to let go either... You know, young people these days don’t know how to be flexible. Let some time pass. Once she figures things out, I’ll bring you back... This time it really was my fault. I didn’t handle it right. I’ll make it up to you later…”

Ma Gu'er leaned back on the sofa. Her feet stepped on a soft, smooth carpet. Her eyes followed her expensive vanity table, but her voice suddenly turned tired, “Anran, I’m a bit tired. I think this is fine too... I don’t have many more seven years to waste. I can’t just keep following you forever. Am I supposed to follow you till I grow old?”

Ma Gu’er gave a self-deprecating laugh, “Sometimes I really feel cheap. Our love has already changed, hasn't it? Since you’re sick of me, wouldn’t it be better to let me leave with some dignity?”

On the other end of the phone, Yi Anran fell into a long silence. She seemed to be thinking, maybe weighing her words. In the end, she slowly spoke, “Alright. That villa will be changed to your name. If you run into trouble later, you can still come to me. After all, you’ve been with me the longest. You’re different. There’s always a place for you by my side.”

“These years have been hard on you. Running around for me, handling this and that. In a blink, you’re already twenty-eight…”

Talking about age again. She’s already thirty-eight, yet she’s calling her old.

Ma Gu’er silently curled her lips, clicked her tongue. The bright yellow phone cord wrapped so tight her fingers turned pale. Across from her, Yi Anran’s voice was gentle from start to end. She comforted her softly, spoke like she couldn’t bear to say goodbye, gave her patient reminders, like she was the one being dumped.

This was the first time Yi Anran chose someone else between the two of them.

Saying she wasn’t mad would be a lie. She’d sat firm in that top spot for seven years.

“It wasn't hard.”

After acting along for so long, not a word about any other compensation, just tossing over a villa, Yi Anran really was stingy.

Ma Gu’er didn’t feel like listening anymore. She hung up the phone. With a twist of her wrist, the phone cord popped off from the handset. She stuffed both phones into her bag, turned around and went back to her room to sleep.

“You guys move lighter. Don’t go banging stuff around. Aunt Chen, I’m going up to sleep. Keep an eye on things. Don’t let them knock over and break any of those ornaments.”

Aunt Chen had been with Ma Gu’er for four years. She quickly agreed. The movers also started handling things a lot more gently.

Anyone who can live in Jinyuan is someone rich and not to be messed with. How many villas are there in the city center? Jinyuan is the only one. There are only fifteen houses here, all stand-alone French-style garden villas. Each one is over 300 square meters. Just the empty shell costs over a hundred million.

Ma Gu’er got over a hundred million out of her “retirement.” That’s a great deal. But it’s a shame, she can’t bear to sell the house. Everyone who heard the gossip is just waiting to laugh at her. But once this big house is shown off, all they can do is envy her.

She’s used to spending big—runways, limited editions, exclusives, gold and gems. Anything she likes, she has to have. Especially ornaments. She loves collecting gold and jade pieces. She fills a whole cabinet with them. If she sees a style she likes, she gets one melted and made just the same. Only when it’s packed full is she satisfied.

Money flows like water. The first week after leaving Yi Anran, her bank account is almost empty. She doesn’t have much left to begin with, and just buying a few collector handbags uses it all up.

“Gu’er.”

Zhou Yun carried an outdated designer bag. Her hair had not been washed for days. Even after braiding it, not a single strand stuck out. She was not some big celebrity, but she still came wearing a black cap pulled low over her eyes and sunglasses covering half her face, showing off like that.

Ma Gu’er rested her chin on her hand, lightly raising a hand at Zhou Yun. After she sat down, Ma Gu’er looked her over from top to bottom with a picky gaze. She curled her lip. “You really look tacky. So? This is your so-called love?”

“Life, get it?”

Zhou Yun was used to Ma Gu’er’s sharp tongue. Back when she was not in love, she was even sharper than Ma Gu’er. Now that she was happy, she toned it down a lot. She slapped her big bag on the table and kindly advised, “All this is just an IQ tax. I suggest you go test your IQ... You can’t even split a bill and made me pay for the meal. Aren’t you ashamed… Eight thousand yuan, you ate it all alone? That’s really wasteful... And still fighting with Director Yi? Honestly, so stingy. Even cutting your allowance…”

Zhou Yun was still the same as before, talking like a knife.

“Just eight thousand, why so noisy? Look at you, acting all petty. When you visit my place, pick a bag and take it.”

“Then do I have to pay off the price of the bag before we’re even?” Zhou Yun clicked her tongue, lowered her sunglasses, and lifted her eyelids. “Wait a sec… you’ve been real quiet these days. Not a single update. What’s up? Don’t tell me Yi Anran didn’t come to find you?”

“She did.”

Ma Gu’er lit a cigarette, then acted all gloomy on purpose. “The old woman kicked me out.”

“Oh...” Zhou Yun froze for a second, then realized. “What? She kicked you out?”

“What’s so shocking about that?”

Ma Gu’er pulled out her phone, dragged her chair forward, and showed Zhou Yun the photos the paparazzi had sent her. “See this? Moved into the main house. This time Yi Anran’s dead set on winning over that Yang Sang. She picked a twenty-year-old—just as expected.”

Zhou Yun glanced at her.

She used to have that movie face that went viral for a while. Even now, she still looked stunning.

Ma Gu’er had no makeup on. Her skin was fair and smooth, soft enough to pinch water out of. Her facial lines were smooth. Her nose was delicate with a thin bridge. Her brows were long and black. Her eyes were round and shaped like apricots. Her double eyelids were narrow, which made her look dainty.

There was not a single smile line. One look and you could tell she put effort into skincare. No way she looked old or faded.

Zhou Yun asked, “So are you going back to acting?”

“Act what? Even if I act for a lifetime, it still won’t add up to even a fraction of the Yi family’s money...”

The Yi family, known to the public as the Fenghe Group, had malls all over the country. Those Fenghe Malls were just the basic groundwork for the Yi family’s real estate projects. Wherever there’s a Fenghe Mall, no matter what it’s called, something Mansion, something Garden, something City. Those areas always have the highest property prices.

Ma Gu’er pressed out the half-smoked cigarette she hadn’t finished. She waved away the smoke between them, took a sip of cold water to clean her mouth, then got back to the point. “I remember clearly what happened to that big lover of hers back then. I can’t fall to that level. These past few years, I helped her handle so many things—three, four, five, six, I’ve lost count. Some worked out bad, but some worked out good… I made plenty of enemies. A lot of people are just waiting to laugh at me....”

Zhou Yun really worried for her friend. “So what are you gonna do? You can’t even afford an eight-thousand-yuan afternoon tea now.”

Eight thousand was nothing.

“She went for a twenty-year-old college girl, why can't I?”

Ma Gu’er leaned back in the chair. She already had her ‘rematch’ plan ready. “She mentioned it to me once. Said her daughter’s coming back from overseas, and she’s throwing a welcome party to keep up appearances... All Yi family people. I couldn’t hold onto a thirty-eight-year-old butterfly, but you think I can’t handle a twenty-year-old little white flower? I hired a private detective a few days ago to check her daughter’s flight information... I’m going to get there first and test the waters...”

“Sister, you’re playing such a big game…”

Zhou Yun took a sip of tea. She must’ve gone crazy to pull this kind of shady move.

“Her daughter…” Zhou Yun licked her lips and thought for a bit. “You mean that little girl from her old documentary? Dark and gloomy? Can she even look good now?”

“Who knows, that’s why I have to go check.”

“You’ve never seen her?” Zhou Yun asked. “Yi Anran doesn’t have her picture? I saw in the news, she really cares about that girl’s schooling. I thought they were close…”

“That’s all for show.” The first gulp of cold water made her teeth ache. Ma Gu’er sucked in air between her teeth and said, “Why do you think she only made the adoption official two years ago? Hiss... If she didn’t suddenly get a mini comeback, she wouldn’t have wanted that deadweight. The Yi family puts bloodlines above all. That bumpkin she adopted will bring her a whole lot of trouble... Hiss… this weather’s freezing, my teeth hurt…”

“Rich family gossip, huh… Keep talking…” Zhou Yun cracked sunflower seeds, not caring about her teeth, and urged her on.

“I can’t talk anymore.” Ma Gu’er snatched the seeds. “I’m scared she’ll get revenge…”

Zhou Yun stabbed a tiny piece of cake with her fork. “I remember back then she seemed to be called A’Wu or something… She should have taken the Yi surname by now, right?”

Ma Gu’er never watched that documentary. Yi Anran hated it. Back then she just saw the beginning, and Yi Anran suddenly blew up in anger. So she didn’t dare watch the rest… Later, she stopped watching anything related to Yi Anran.

The private investigator didn’t send her much info. All she knew was: “Yi Xianqi. Got sent abroad for school at thirteen. Skipped a few grades. Graduated at twenty. Still green.”

“Even a top student?” Zhou Yun raised her eyebrows in surprise, then frowned. “…If she’s doing well out there, and the Yi family doesn’t want her, and her mom doesn’t seem to like her either, then why is she coming back?”

“Who knows.” Ma Gu’er thought for a moment, then made a solid guess and said firmly, “If Yi Anran keeps messing around like this, she definitely won’t have an heir. That girl’s her only child. So won’t all her money end up going to Yi Xianqi?”

Then if she hooked Yi Xianqi, wouldn’t that mean she could spend Yi Anran’s money again?

Author's Note:

The synopsis will be rewritten and sent outside when the time comes.

Chapter 1 Mine Clearance:

It's not pure love.

Almost all of them are villains.

The protagonist has low moral character and is even a little crazy.

In the early stage (Volume 1), there are many parties pulling each other, and in the later stage (Volume 2), It is more about the struggle between the rich and powerful, with many parties pulling each other (a bloody stew). The main plot is about ordinary people bravely breaking into the rich and powerful.

Because the author is not from a wealthy family, and still cannot picture  the details of a wealthy family even after researching, some of the fictional and private settings will exist.