After the workmen finished ransacking the place and left, the once-magnificent villa lay in ruins. Even the pearwood doors had been torn from their hinges. An elderly maid hobbled into the house, dragging a suitcase. Inside were clothes and expensive jewelry. “Miss, when they came, I packed away the things you love most.” Seeing the maid’s leg, Rong Jin knew they had hurt her, too. Her eyes reddened. “Lan Yi…” Lan Yi had been her mother’s maid, the woman who had helped raise her. Fearing the men would return, Rong Jin drove Lan Yi to her own small apartment in an old residential community. It was a two-bedroom, and Lan Yi had prepared a clean room for Rong Jin. “Your mother helped me with the down payment for this place, right after I started working for her. If only the mistress…” A bitter smile touched Rong Jin’s lips. Look at this. A maid knows how to repay kindness, but Ning Yun, after everything I did for her, just bit the hand that fed me. Rong Jin carefully set down her parents’ memorial tablets. From the jewelry box, she took out a few pieces her mother had left her and gave the rest to the maid. “Lan Yi, I need to leave my parents’ tablets here with you for now. I have something I need to do.” “I heard the old mistress isn’t well,” Lan Yi said. “Perhaps I should go to the hospital to look after her.” “My grandmother has nurses. Your leg is hurt—you should stay here and rest.” After saying goodbye, Rong Jin drove back toward the hospital. Behind the wheel, her mind drifted. She had nothing left. How could she possibly get her revenge? And how could she ever win back Shen He? Suddenly, the sharp, cold features of a man surfaced in her mind. Rong Jin quickly shook her head, pushing the image away. She would go to the hospital, see her grandmother, and then figure something else out. Just then, a Bentley glided past her. The rear window was halfway down, and in her peripheral vision, she caught a fleeting glimpse of the person inside. It was Song Shi. Rong Jin slammed her foot on the accelerator, chasing the Bentley. The memory of Song Shi's cruelty, of her parents' memorial tablets smashed on the floor, flashed through her mind, and her eyes burned with hatred. This was her chance. If she could kill Song Shi now, she would avenge her parents. She wouldn't have to go begging to that other man. She could keep what little dignity she had left. The Bentley ahead changed lanes several times, and Rong Jin almost lost it. When she caught up to it again, a vicious smile twisted her lips. She floored the accelerator and rammed straight into it. The black Bentley was sent flying, flipping several times before landing upside down on the pavement. The impact threw Rong Jin’s own car out of control. It smashed through the guardrail and overturned. Thrown against the driver's seat, Rong Jin’s head was bleeding, her body pierced by shards of glass. Gasping for breath, she watched the Bentley burst into flames in the distance, a smile of relief spreading across her face. She had finally avenged her parents. But before the relief could settle in, she saw Song Shi walking toward her driver-side door, his suit perfectly uncreased. Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Rong Jin,” he said, his voice cold. “We lived together for twenty years. I know you better than anyone. I saw you following me, so I had my men bring another car. We switched at a red light.” “Song Shi…” Rong Jin seethed, the name a curse on her lips, but before she could say more, she collapsed against the steering wheel. Song Shi saw her, covered in blood, her face deathly pale. He remembered the way she used to cling to him, calling him ‘brother,’ and the ice in his eyes thawed, just for a moment. He had just started to reach for her when the wail of a siren grew closer. An ambulance. Doctors and nurses rushed from the vehicle. *Why did an ambulance get here so fast?* As the paramedics approached, Song Shi dismissed the thought, turned, and got into another Bentley waiting by the roadside. His voice was frigid. “Call the police. Charge Rong Jin with attempted murder. I want her in prison.” Soon after, Ning Yun, at home with her son, received a call from one of her informants. She was told how Rong Jin had tried to kill Song Shi, only to end up in the hospital herself. A thrill of malicious glee shot through Ning Yun. The last time Rong Jin had stormed the villa, her son had been accidentally dropped in the chaos, unconscious for a whole day. The memory still terrified her. “Arrange for a couple of people to get in there,” Ning Yun hissed with venom. “Take *good care* of her.” Who asked Rong Jin to be so friendly back in college? To take her on trips, buy her all those clothes and bags, and show her just how unequal the world really was? The fault lay with Rong Jin for being such a stupid, poor judge of character. She might have let Rong Jin go, but not after she’d nearly killed her son. That, she could not forgive.