Of course, Bo Hanshi didn’t believe her. “Is your memory really that good?” “Yep! Mommy says I get my memory from my daddy! My daddy’s a genius, you know!” Bo Hanshi was taken aback for a moment. “Your father… he has a good memory?” “He does! What’s wrong, Mister?” He brushed it off, just a casual question. Besides, the kid was probably just bragging. The number of people in the world who could truly be called geniuses was small enough to count on one hand. But on a sudden impulse, Bo Hanshi decided to test her. He rattled off his phone number in a quick burst. “Got it?” The little girl nodded with surprising seriousness. “Got it! Mister, just wait, I’ll find you a pretty lady!” Bo Hanshi, naturally, didn’t take her seriously. He glanced at his watch. It was getting late. He’d just wasted twenty minutes on some random kid. He stood up and patted the little girl's head. “I have to go. You should head back to your room, too.” Xiangsi waved at him obediently. “Bye-bye, Mister!” The bodyguard followed Bo Hanshi into the elevator. Just as the doors were about to slide shut, Bo Hanshi looked up, his gaze falling once more on the little girl sitting there, still waving at him. A hook seemed to snag the softest corner of his heart. If Qiao Yu hadn't betrayed him back then… their child would have been this age by now. After all, he had planned to marry her right after graduation. He would have worked hard to give her the best of everything. But there were no ‘what ifs.’ And he and Qiao Yu could never have a child this cute and well-behaved. Not then, and certainly not ever. Bo Hanshi coldly averted his gaze from the child. The elevator doors closed. At that same moment, Qiao Yu finally found Qiao Xiangsi. Panting, she swept her daughter into a tight embrace. “Xiangsi! Why did you wander off? You scared Mommy to death!” “Mmmph… Mommy, you’re hugging too tight! I can’t breathe!” Qiao Yu loosened her grip, her composure slowly returning. “What are you doing sitting out here? Aren’t you cold?” Qiao Xiangsi pouted. “Mommy, what took you so long? I was so bored. Luckily, I met a handsome mister who talked with me for a long time!” “A handsome mister?” Qiao Yu frowned with worry. Could it have been a kidnapper? “Uh-huh! He just left! If you had come a minute sooner, you would’ve seen him! He was super handsome!” Qiao Yu had no mind for such things. She quickly carried her daughter back to the hospital room, admonishing her, “Don’t talk to strangers anymore. What if they try to take you away?” Seeing how worried her mother was, Xiangsi could only shrug her little shoulders. “Okay.” Back in the room, while Qiao Yu was in the bathroom washing her hands, little Xiangsi carefully wrote down the handsome mister’s phone number in her drawing notebook. Hmph. That handsome mister had underestimated her, thinking she couldn’t remember the number. Tomorrow, she would send him a message and prove that her memory was really, really good! When Qiao Yu came out of the bathroom, Qiao Xiangsi asked with a small frown, “Mommy, how many more days do I have to stay in the hospital?” “Not long. Once we do the small surgery, you’ll get better very soon. Then Mommy will take you to the amusement park to ride the carousel, okay?” That evening, she had begged the flamboyant manager at the Fleeting Life Nightclub to find her another job. The manager had a sharp tongue but a kind heart. When he learned she was a single mother with a sick child, he set her up with a big client. The tip alone, he said, could be sixty or seventy thousand bucks. The job was at Di Du’s most exclusive Count Brando Hotel. The people who did business there were either rich or powerful, and always tipped generously. If things went smoothly, she would soon have enough money for Xiangsi’s surgery. “Mommy, I’m scared of pain. Will the surgery hurt a lot?” Qiao Yu’s heart ached. She hugged her daughter tightly and kissed her forehead. “Don’t be afraid. Mommy will be with you the whole time.” After coaxing Xiangsi to sleep, Qiao Yu noticed a magazine on the bedside table. It was *Time* magazine, and the man on the cover was Bo Hanshi. Qiao Yu’s slender fingers slowly traced the sharp, handsome lines of his face in the photo. He was now an unattainable titan of the business world, his success unparalleled. Tonight, Nan Chu had sent her information about Song Yiyi on WeChat. She was a newly popular singer, but more importantly, she was the eldest daughter of the Song family. While the Songs couldn't compare to Bo Hanshi's current status in Di Du, they were still a prominent and respected family. Song Yiyi was beautiful, and she and Bo Hanshi looked like a perfect match when they stood together. Curiosity is a human failing. Qiao Yu couldn't help but wonder if Bo Hanshi doted on Song Yiyi the same way he used to dote on her. When Song Yiyi had her period, would he brew her brown sugar ginger tea? She found that the mere thought sent a sharp pain lancing through her heart. Qiao Yu tossed the magazine into a drawer. Out of sight, out of mind. ... The night in Di Du was a tapestry of glittering prosperity, the CBD glowing with a decadent golden light. Qiao Yu stood in a VIP suite at the opulent Count Brando Hotel, the cold air blasting from the vents above sending a chill through her entire body. She never expected to meet Bo Hanshi again so soon. And she certainly never expected that the man he was meeting with tonight would be Ye Chengze, her former fiancé. Six years ago, after Bo Hanshi was sent to prison, Qiao Fan had immediately arranged a marriage for her. The other party was Ye Chengze, the heir to the Huatong Group, the leading enterprise in Xizhou. Qiao Fan wanted to use her to secure an alliance with the Ye family and solidify his position as Governor. At the time, she was already pregnant with Bo Hanshi’s child. Qiao Fan had even ruthlessly tried to force her to have an abortion. She had escaped the Qiao family with everything she had, found Ye Chengze, and told him she was pregnant with some other man's child. As the heir to Huatong, a man of status and reputation, how could he possibly marry a woman who had lost her purity and was pregnant out of wedlock? Just like that, the engagement was broken by the Ye family. Having lost her value, she was cast out by Qiao Fan and Ding Xuemei, driven from the Qiao home and exiled from Xizhou. As she stood there, lost in the memory, Ye Chengze's mocking voice cut through her thoughts. “I heard that after the Ye family broke off the engagement, the great Miss Qiao was kicked out by Governor Qiao. But I never imagined I’d see you fallen so low.” Both times she had met Bo Hanshi again, it had been in such humiliating circumstances. Qiao Yu squeezed her clammy palms, a faint smile on her face. “Perhaps heaven is punishing me. Punishing me for rejecting Mr. Ye’s proposal all those years ago.” Her tone was light, but it drained the color from Ye Chengze’s face. He claimed the Ye family had rejected her, but she was saying she had been the one to refuse the marriage. Ye Chengze was a man who cared deeply about his pride, and he held a grudge. His eyes narrowed into a cold glare. “If we’re talking about punishment, it’s more like heaven is punishing you for being so blind back then as to betray a man like Mr. Bo!” Qiao Yu froze. Her eyes instinctively shot toward the head of the table, to the cold, aloof man who hadn’t said a single word.