Qin Shu frowned. “What’s the matter? Why did you suddenly want to see me?”

“Qin Ya was diagnosed with cancer. She said that as long as you save her daughter, she’ll tell you something relating to your background that would interest you.”

Cancer?

No wonder Mu Lan suddenly wanted to see her even though they had not spoken to each other in years. It turned out that she wanted to save her daughter.

Her background?

“Make the arrangements. I’ll go see Mu Lan.”

“Right away, Young Madam Fu.”

Qin Shu hung up. What exactly did Mu Lan know, and how was she so confident it would interest her?

“I’m going out. Keep the coconut milk cake; I’ll eat it when I come back.”

“Yes, Young Madam Fu.” Li Zhi bowed and kept the remaining coconut milk cake.

Qin Shu thought of asking Ye Luo to drive her to meet Mu Lan, but she could not find him. Neither he nor President Ba was around, so she retrieved her keys and drove herself.

The director of the mental hospital received her personally.

Qin Shu wore a mask and followed the director to Mu Lan’s room. Despite no air conditioning, the patients often shivered in the cold evening air thanks to their thin beddings and sparsely heated rooms.

Mu Lan fell off her bed when she saw Qin Shu at the door. The previously ill-natured young woman was now an adult with the bearing and poise to match her elegance.

On the other hand, Mu Lan’s beauty had faded, her charm a shadow of the past. At this moment, she had aged more than ten years, with deep wrinkles contouring her once radiant skin. Even if she met someone familiar, she might not be able to recognise her.

She crawled on all fours, not a trace of her past arrogance in her diminished form. Dignity was something Mu Lan no longer cared about as she cried, “Qin Shu, please save my daughter. She has cancer and needs money to undergo surgery. If you save my daughter, I will tell you a secret. Qin Hai has been keeping a secret from you.”

Qin Shu could not be bothered to listen to a madwoman’s drivel and got to the point, “What is this secret?”

Desperation was the face Mu Lan wore with tears streaming down her face and a choked nose. Anyone who saw her would feel pity. “If you don’t promise to save my daughter, I won’t tell you anything. If I told you before you gave me your word, what would I do if you decided against saving my daughter?”

Qin Shu looked down at Mu Lan and sneered, “Do you have the right to negotiate with me? If this so-called ‘secret’ is nothing more than some common triviality, it’d be a waste of my time and effort listening to it, let alone saving your daughter.”

Mu Lan nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Her daughter had cancer, and time was of the essence. If she dragged things out, her daughter could die.

Grinding her teeth in dismay, Mu Lan caved. For her daughter’s life, she would risk it all!

“Qin Hai is not your biological father.”

Qin Shu felt like she had received a slap to the face. She must have misheard. “What did you say? Say it again.”

“Qin Hai is not your biological father,” Mu Lan repeated.

Qin Hai was not her father… Qin Hai was not her father! An inexplicable sense of relief washed over her as she learned the impossible. So Qin Hai was not her biological father… Although he had never treated her well, he never abused her.

But… If Qin Hai was not her biological father, then who was?

Qin Shu cast her sights on Mu Lan’s grovelling form and asked, “If you know Qin Hai isn’t my biological father, you must know what transpired between him and my mother. Who is my real father?”

“It was not something I knew off immediately. Before joining the Qin family, Qin Hai often came to my place. Remember, this happened almost 25 years ago. From what I know, Qin Hai saved your mother by some stroke of luck. When your mother woke up, she believed she had had sex with Qin Hai. Meanwhile, Qin Hai was lovestruck. He did not bother correcting your mother’s misunderstanding because he thought it would jeopardise his chances with her.”

“Qin Hai loved your mother and took good care of her. Sometime after, your mother learned she was pregnant, so she married Qin Hai. Not once did your mother or Qin Hai sleep together in the same bed. Even after she gave birth to you, she continued with this practice.”

Mu Lan paused, a wry smile hanging loosely on her lips, “Your mother was an amazing woman. I don’t know how she managed to scrunch up enough to start a business, but she did, and she was successful. Everyone lauded her for her ability… Qin Hai could not take it. He felt like your mother was trampling on his pride since he was not as capable as she was. Your mother’s continual refusal to sleep in the same bed was a point of contention for him.”

As Mu Lan spoke, her voice grew softer, as if she feared recounting those events lost in the river of time.

“Qin Hai unintentionally saved Wen Xin, your mother. Wen Xin was the name Long Ziling took when she met Qin Hai. Your mother wanted a clean slate, a fresh start to a new life, from what I know. Wen Xin was only 19 then. She was young and beautiful. Some would have even described her as a country toppling beauty.”

It was love at first sight for Qin Hai. Wen Xin was drugged, and when she awoke, she found herself in the care of a strange man. She believed that the man had taken advantage of her while under the drug’s influence.

Qin Hai did not correct this erroneous assumption, and it served as proof in Wen Xin’s eyes that her belief was not unfounded.

Perhaps the fault ought to lie with both since neither Wen Xin nor Qin Hai spoke up to clarify the situation. Both were afraid, for different reasons, the other would walk out on them if they brought up what had occurred.

When Wen Xin learned she was pregnant, she immediately thought of Qin Hai. Meanwhile, Qin Hai capitalised on the situation by saying he would take responsibility and marry the love of his life. Wen Xin wanted to give her unborn child a proper family, so she reluctantly agreed to the marriage.

From the time they met to the birth of Qin Shu, they always slept in separate beds. Wen Xin wanted to start a new life – just not this life she had landed herself. She felt repulsed by the very sight of Qin Hai, refusing to accept his advances because she wrongly believed he had committed a wrong against her person.

Time passed swiftly, and it was not long before Qin Shu turned one. That was when Wen Xin proposed a divorce. She held no illusions; there were no romantic feelings between Qin Hai and her. Moreover, Wen Xin knew that her baby girl was not Qin Hai’s when she was born.

Wen Xin had thought her daughter would share her eye colour. Not in her wildest dreams did she expect them to burn a brilliant amber.

She would never forget those pair of amber eyes, those eyes that haunted her dreams.

Contrary to her hopes, Qin Hai rejected her. He argued that there was still time for love to bloom between them and that he could not let his daughter lose the only home she had ever known.

Qin Hai promised Wen Xin that he would never force her to do anything she did not want or touch her without her express permission.

Under these conditions, Wen Xin agreed. She did not want her daughter to become a joke or grow up not knowing a father’s love for their child.

Wen Xin turned her attention elsewhere since she had agreed to stay with Qin Hai. It was what led to the business venture she started.

Wen Xin wanted to give her daughter the best she could give and compensate Qin Hai simultaneously.

It was also why Qin Hai had shares in Wen Xin’s company.

When the company became famous and share prices soared, money was no longer a problem for their small family of three.

However, dissatisfaction brewed in the depths of Qin Hai’s heart. Why did he have a wife but could not touch her?

In a drunk induced haze, he barged into Wen Xin’s room and tried to force himself on her, only to be ruthlessly slapped sober by Wen Xin.

From then on, Qin Hai seldom drank at home, opting to drink in a bar. Qin Hai was by no means ugly. He was quite the strapping young man in his youth with sharp features, a slim physique, and plenty of money to go around. Many women eyed him hungrily, taking the initiative to hook up with this young man.

It was around then that he met Mu Lan. He even got her pregnant on their first night together. Mu Lan, the understanding, the affectionate woman she was, was much to Qin Hai’s liking. Thus, it came to be that she became Qin Hai’s mistress.

While Qin Hai was out partying, Wen Xin was busily planning business trips and meeting with potential partners with little to no time to rest.

Although Qin Hai was dissatisfied that everyone in the company praised Wen Xin and listened to Wen Xin, he still loved Wen Xin and wanted life to continue the way it was.

Still, not everyone was happy with the status quo. Mu Lan wanted more; she wanted to be more than just Qin Hai’s mistress. If it meant she had to depose Wen Xin as Qin Hai’s wife to achieve her goals… Well, Wen Xin could only blame herself for standing in her way.