Chapter 1

Li Mo’s expression was calm as the executioner pushed the sodium pentobarbital into her veins.

It was as if the person being put to death wasn’t her at all.

In her mind, one scene kept replaying—the last words Lu Jichuan spoke to her as he lay on the operating table:

“If I survive… will you marry me?”

He had been covered in blood, pulling a ring from his pocket, the diamond slick with it.
She had slipped it into her coat pocket for safekeeping, promising him the surgery would succeed—that when he opened his eyes, she would place it on her ring finger.

But in the end, he died in her hands.

He had waited for her for thirty long years, only to end up with nothing…

“Madam, she has three minutes left for final words.”

The door opened. A woman in luxurious clothes stepped inside.

It was Bai Jinzi—the Bai family’s adopted daughter.

“Grandfather heard you were sentenced to death. He couldn’t take it, passed away, and is being buried today. Mom and Dad are with him, so they won’t be here to see you off.”

Bai Jinzi looked down at Li Mo like an artist admiring her finest masterpiece.

“Truth is, Lu Jichuan and I were never childhood sweethearts. He never even spoke to me first. That story? Just something I made up to trick you into leaving the country. Didn’t think you’d actually stay abroad for thirty years.”

Li Mo’s face was blank.

“Wondering about the bed photos? He was injured, drugged by me, and unconscious. I didn’t even have time to take off his pants before Grandfather caught me—and kicked me out of the capital for it.”

“If you’d bothered to ask about it back then, you and he could have grown old together. But no—you were the untouchable ice queen. Even with your life falling apart, you kept that serene, indifferent mask. I loved that about you. I really did.”

Seeing Li Mo’s composure crack, Bai Jinzi’s eyes gleamed with malice. She leaned closer and whispered:

“Lu Jichuan didn’t die because of you. I told your assistant to inject anesthetic into his antibiotics. He was already allergic—one dose and he was gone.”

Li Mo’s pupils trembled. Her voice was hoarse with fury:
“Bai Jinzi, he never even married you! You already have a husband and daughter—why kill him?”

“Because the person he loved was you! No matter how I chased him, he wouldn’t budge. He’d rather wait thirty years for you than look at me once! Doesn’t he deserve to die?”

“And it wasn’t just him. Your grandfather, your uncle, even that younger brother from your adoptive mother’s family—everyone who loved you… I killed them all.”

“You vile woman! I’ll kill you—”

Li Mo screamed and struggled, but with her limbs bound, she couldn’t touch her.

Her vision dimmed.

In her fading consciousness, she heard Bai Jinzi sneer:
“So what if you’re the real daughter? Everyone who loved you is rotting in hell. I may be the fake one, but I have everything the Bai family owns!”

A loud smack jolted Li Mo.

The blurry figure before her grew clearer.

“Li Mo, be reasonable! It wasn’t Jinzi’s fault she lived your life for eighteen years. When she found out she wasn’t the Bai family’s real daughter, she was devastated! And she still picked out a gift for you, came here with your uncle to welcome you home. Even if you didn’t like it, you didn’t have to throw it on the floor and trample her sincerity!”

“Mo Mo, it was your parents who lost you. We were heartbroken. That’s why we adopted Jinzi. If you must blame someone, blame us.”

Li Mo stared at Du Huaizhou—the man scolding her—and her birth father defending Bai Jinzi.

Finally, her gaze fell on Bai Jinzi, kneeling on the floor and frantically picking up the gift.

She had been reborn.

Her eyes darted to the wall calendar—1993.

She was back thirty years ago, to the day her father Bai Zhibo brought her home.
Back then, he had come alone—but Bai Jinzi had insisted on tagging along, bringing her ex-boyfriend Du Huaizhou just to spite her, and gifting her a fake trinket.

In her past life, she had kept silent when Du Huaizhou scolded her on Bai Jinzi’s behalf, even in her own home.
Not this time.

A cold smile tugged at her lips.
“I refused her gift, she threw it on the floor herself, and now I’m the one trampling her sincerity? Du Huaizhou, did a donkey kick your brain and a dog chew out your eyes?”

The room went still.

Bai Jinzi and Du Huaizhou both stared at her in shock—this wasn’t the quiet, submissive Li Mo they knew.

Last time, she had been docile, avoiding conflict, even enduring bullying without a word.
That was exactly why Bai Jinzi’s pitiful act had worked so well.

Not this life.

She grabbed the gift box from Bai Jinzi’s arms, pulled out the contents, and sneered,
“This? This is your ‘sincerity’?”

“That’s beeswax! Just started trending in the capital! Worth thousands!” Du Huaizhou barked.

“A piece of cheap plastic pretending to be beeswax? Bai Jinzi, are you trying to make yourself look generous in public or make me look like a greedy fool?”

Bai Jinzi froze—how did this country bumpkin know it was fake?

Feigning innocence, she said, “Sister, I paid 4,700 yuan for that!”

“Receipt? Proof? Warranty?”

“She’d never buy a fake! You’re making trouble for nothing!” Du Huaizhou snapped.

“Ask her, not me,” Li Mo shot back.

Du Huaizhou urged, “Jinzi, show her the receipt. You bought it at Fu Jintang, right?”

Bai Jinzi’s eyes flickered. “I bought it over a year ago. Lost the receipt… didn’t think you’d check…”

“You hear that?” Li Mo said flatly. “Three-no product.”

Her birth father tried to smooth things over. “Jinzi never buys counterfeits. This is just her sincerity—take it. We give her plenty of pocket money. Spending 4,700 on her sister is only right.”

Li Mo didn’t bother arguing. She grabbed the beeswax bracelet from his wrist and held the two side by side.

“Real beeswax is priced by weight, so the holes drilled are as small as possible. Fake plastic cracks if drilled small, so they grind it smooth and make the holes bigger. And real beeswax has natural, cloudy patterns—only fakes are evenly mixed and brightly colored.”

The crowd leaned in.
Well. She was right.

“If you still don’t believe me, I’ll prove it. Li Shuo—get me a glass of water and some salt.”

Li Mo’s eyes locked on Bai Jinzi’s—this time, she would ruin her.