“Song Mianfeng’s Personal Letter:

To whom it may concern:

After giving it some thought, I’ve decided to tell you this story through a letter because I’m not sure if I can calmly talk about it, or how to approach the subject with you.

My surname is Lu, and I have another name, Lu Changming.

You’re clever, so you probably guessed it—I’m from the Lu family.

Although I’m just a distant relative.

My maternal grandfather said that “Changming” were the two characters my mother had chosen for me when she was alive.

Later, he changed “Yin Zhen” to these two characters for me.

As I’ve told you before, my mother suffered from postpartum depression and committed suicide.

My mother’s name was Meng Yaoguang, she was quite a naive girl.

My father—I don’t really want to call him that, so I’ll refer to him as Lu Shi from now on.

Lu Shi was quite influential when he was young, and he was successful in business. My mother met him at a chance banquet, admired him, and eventually married him.

However, not long after Lu Shi married her, he started an affair with Xia Chunjian, and even had an illegitimate child, Lu Changhao. In fact, Lu Shi was never short of women around him, but Xia Chunjian was clever and lucky, she used a child to tie Lu Shi down.

Later, when my mother became pregnant, Xia Chunjian had someone take my mother to the hospital to witness her and my father’s affection, as well as their newborn child.

My mother gave birth prematurely.

And because of the premature birth, I was immediately placed in an incubator after I was born.

This is all according to the doctor who delivered me at that time.

Under such a blow, my mother collapsed mentally and committed suicide by taking poison.

At that time, my maternal grandfather still had some influence in the political arena. Lu Shi was afraid that if my grandfather knew the truth, he would investigate further, so he handed Lu Changhao over to my grandfather, hid all the truth, and falsely claimed that it was me.

By then, Lu Shi had already given up on me.

He thought I was a child who couldn’t survive.

It was the doctor who delivered me who, out of compassion, contacted my maternal grandfather based on the phone number my mother had left her, told him the truth, and handed over my mother’s suicide note, which made my grandfather aware of my existence.

So Lu Shi fabricated another story to prevent my grandfather from experiencing the pain of losing a daughter and then losing a grandson, and he reluctantly told a lie.

In exchange for my custody, my grandfather compromised.

He promised not to pursue my mother’s death or the origin of the illegitimate child, as long as I was no longer related to the Lu family.

Later, my grandfather took me away, but Lu Changhao, still bearing my identity, stayed behind and remained in the Lu family.

As for Xia Chunjian, it was three years later, after all the rumors had subsided, that she finally married Lu Shi as she had wished.

At that time, I was very sick, and my grandfather and grandmother took me abroad for treatment, until I returned to China when I was seven years old.

After returning to China, my grandfather retired from politics and started his own business, paving the way for me.

My grandfather promised to let Lu Shi off the hook, but that didn’t mean I could let him off.

So, I came back for revenge.

I have a securities company in City B. Lu Changhao is also in venture capital, so I picked some stocks that looked promising but were actually bankrupt for Lu Changhao. Lu Changhao is still too young. Once he tasted some success, he started to speculate wildly in stocks, and as a result, he lost more and more, and the company began to accumulate debt.

I’ve been doing this for over half a year now, because I can’t show myself, so it took a lot of time to completely gain Lu Changhao’s trust in our company.

And then slowly ate away at Lu Shi’s company.

Lu Shi is not a fool either. When the company was heavily in debt and had to sell, he traced it back to me.

Of course, he didn’t want to sell the company to me. It would be too shameful to sell it to me. He would rather beg Lu Changting and sell it to the Lu family at a lower price, than sell it to me.

So, when you met me coming out of that restaurant with Lu Changting that day, we had just finished our business negotiations.

Lu Changting had just taken over the Lu Group, and there were many constraints. He wanted to give face to his elders, so he invited me out to negotiate, but in reality, we just had a meal together, and he expressed his unwillingness to get involved in the grievances of the older generation. Instead, he was more interested in cooperating with me.

And then I successfully acquired Lu Shi’s company.

As for Xia Chunjian, I think it will be interesting to watch her work hard to support her family, only to destroy it all later.

That’s the end of the story.

Perhaps you’ll think I’m cruel, scary, or vengeful.

But no matter what, I’m glad to have met you.

Meeting you was something I never expected before coming to City S.

At first, I just wanted to have some other pleasure besides work. It wasn’t love at first sight, but I felt it would be a pity to miss it, so we met again and again, and the more I knew you, the more I liked you, and the more I dared not to tell you what I was doing every day.

Now I’ve told you everything, and the choice is yours.

If you… still want to be with me, then take this letter and go to my house downstairs to find someone named Meng Huai.

He will wait for you for a month.

If you don’t want to anymore, it’s okay. Then, I wish you, good morning, good evening, good night.

Yours sincerely,

Lu Yin Zhen.”

…

The Chongjin Manor in City B was located on the Chongjin Mountain. The trees on both sides of the mountain road cover the sky, and occasionally, a passing car startled the birds in the treetops.

A black Lincoln parked under the villa of Chongjin Manor, and a young man got out of the back seat carrying two gift boxes. There was a slight tiredness on his handsome face, and his gaze fell on the middle-aged man waiting at the door of the villa, pausing for a moment.

“You’re not…”

“Mr. Song.” The middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes took the gift boxes from him and smiled at him, “Long time no see.”

After hearing a call from Meng Huai walking towards the door, Song Mianfeng’s expression became even more strange.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself.” The middle-aged man nodded, “My name is Meng Ze, the steward of the Meng family, responsible for the young master’s daily life.”

“This is my son, Meng Huai.”

Song Mianfeng was taken aback. “So Mengji is fake, and all those takeout orders were made by you?”

Meng Ze smiled, “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding all this time.”

The formal address made Song Mianfeng feel uncomfortable, especially since he had eaten so many meals at their expense… Song Mianfeng cleared his throat and said, “It’s okay, Uncle Meng… Just call me by my name.”

“As for Yin Zhen…”

“Please come with me.”

Meng Ze gestured for him to enter, and Song Mianfeng looked at the gate of the Meng family, feeling as if he was about to face a trial by fire.

But even a trial by fire must be faced.

Lu Yin Zhen was inside.

From reading the letter, to finding Meng Huai, to taking the plane to City B, he hadn’t thought about anything, his mind was clear, his mood calm, and he even bought a gift for Lu Yin Zhen’s grandparents.

Having come this far, there was no reason to back down.

Song Mianfeng smiled, took a step, and walked towards the gate of the Meng family.

Sitting in the living room was an old man with graying temples, well into his seventies, holding a beautiful white cat in his hand. When he saw a stranger, the cat raised its head and meowed at him, its voice long and thin, as if welcoming or driving away a guest.

Song Mianfeng didn’t know how to address him for a moment, feeling a bit nervous, he twiddled his fingers and said, “Mr. Meng.”

Calling him Mr. was generally not wrong.

Meng Yushan poured himself a cup of tea and said without looking up, “Sit.”

Song Mianfeng sat on the small sofa on the side, sitting upright, with a straight back and proper posture.

Meng Ze brought the gift over and glanced at Meng Yushan, who said faintly, “Put it away.”

Meanwhile, Bai Sui jumped down from Meng Yushan’s lap, took two steps around Song Mianfeng’s feet, and then came over to rub against him affectionately, prompting Meng Yushan to smile and scold, “You’re just like your brother.”

Although the little guy was chubby, he was very agile.

Song Mianfeng thought to himself, Bai Sui’s brother… was he referring to Lu Yin Zhen?

Lost in thought for a moment, Bai Sui jumped onto his lap, wrapped his tail around his wrist, and softly meowed. Song Mianfeng couldn’t help but reach out and pat its head, and Bai Sui closed its eyes, obediently lying on his lap for him to pet.

Meng Yushan looked calm and unaffected by this human-cat interaction, pushing a check towards him.

“Sign it.”

The cliché of throwing a check was something Song Mianfeng had seen a lot on TV, but he hadn’t expected to encounter it in his lifetime.

Song Mianfeng sighed inwardly and signed a huge number on the check, then took out his wallet and put all the bank cards, credit cards, and cash he had on him in front of Meng Yushan.

Meng Yushan raised his eyebrows, the wrinkles on his forehead resembling the annual rings of a withered tree, rough and heavy, marking the traces left by time.

Looking into his eyes, Song Mianfeng said earnestly, “Please, let me see him.”

A young man with extremely beautiful eyes, when he earnestly requested something from others with such clear and calm eyes, few people could refuse him.

Moreover, Meng Yushan didn’t really intend to make things difficult for him, he just wanted to test him a bit.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Song Mianfeng could do so much.

Meng Yushan was slightly taken aback, dispelling the frost from his face and smiling lightly.

“Come with me.”

^[1]Author’s Note:

“Wishing you good morning, good evening, good night.” – “The Truman Show”