The maid’s eyes flew wide with terror, her voice catching in her throat. The courtyard gate swung open. Several bodyguards filed in first, lining the entrance with their heads bowed in deference. A tall shadow stretched across the ground before Li Tianque himself stepped into Qiang Garden, his long legs carrying him forward, his face a mask of indifference. He had taken only a few steps when a dark shape plummeted from above. The bodyguards instantly drew their weapons and surged forward. On pure instinct, Li Tianque raised an arm, and the frail girl fell right into it. The impact forced him back a step, the hem of his coat whipping through the air in a dark arc as flower petals rained down from the garden wall. He lowered his head, his gaze dark as he studied the girl in his arms. She was curled against his chest, wearing only a thin nightgown. Her pale face showed no trace of the terror one would expect from such a fall; her almond-shaped eyes simply stared at him, vacant and still. She gnawed on her thumbnail, the nail already a ragged ruin. “Oh, good heavens, you little terror! You really are touched in the head! That's no way to use a swing!” Two maids came rushing out of the villa, only to freeze at the sight of Li Tianque. The color drained from their faces, and they began to tremble. “Y-Young Master.” Chu Mian said nothing, just continued to gnaw on her nail with a placid, obedient air. She wasn’t sick. But until she understood why she’d been brought here from Feng Island, she had to maintain the act—just a few symptoms, enough to survive. Because if the man they called Young Master Li, the one they described as monstrously cruel, saw through her ruse, who knew what terrible end he’d give her. Three years in the slums had taught her more about survival than anyone. Still, it was strange. Li Tianque had actually caught her. Stranger still, he hadn’t immediately dropped her. She had been braced for the impact, fully prepared for a broken bone. “Is this how you look after her?” a cold, displeased voice rumbled from above her head. An instant later, Li Tianque’s leg shot out, kicking one of the maids so hard she went sprawling. His eyes were pure ice and violence. The maid didn’t dare to rise or make excuses, just lay there and apologized profusely. “I'm sorry, Young Master, I'm so sorry. It was our failure.” “Get these two useless pieces of trash out of my sight.” Every word from Li Tianque was dripping with revulsion. “Yes, I'll have them dismissed at once,” a voice said nearby. Chu Mian recognized it. Assistant Meng. His face grim, Li Tianque turned and carried Chu Mian inside. Meng Shu watched his boss’s retreating back, then turned to the bodyguards. “From now on, when Mr. Li is here, you stand guard out here. Don’t enter the house.” “Yes, sir,” the bodyguards roared in unison, the sound deafening. Chu Mian’s sharp ears caught every word. *When Mr. Li is here…* So, she was being kept here? But why? What could the head of a massive corporation possibly want with a mental patient? Gnawing on her nail, Chu Mian couldn’t make sense of it at all. Li Tianque carried her into the villa and set her down on a sofa in the main hall. He swept back his coat and sat on the edge of the coffee table, directly opposite her. It was only then that Chu Mian noticed the tattoo on the back of his right hand, in the space between his thumb and index finger: a startlingly lifelike deer’s head. A deer should have been a gentle creature, but against his pale skin, it seemed to snarl with untamable arrogance. His long fingers shot out, gripping her chin and forcing her to meet his gaze. His strange, gray-flecked eyes bored into hers, cold and utterly malicious. Chu Mian kept her expression perfectly blank, daring not to reveal a flicker of emotion. Just as she felt the bones in her jaw might crack, Li Tianque finally let go. His voice was a low growl. “You really do look just like her.” *Like her?* she wondered. *Who? An enemy? An old lover?*