Mengmeng was jailed first.

  There was no dramatic arrest—no screaming, no struggle. Just handcuffs, procedure, and a door that closed behind her with a final, echoing sound. The weight of inevitability pressed down immediately.

  Jason had already abandoned her.

  Before the investigation concluded, he filed for separation. Clean. Efficient. Emotionless. His lawyer delivered the notice. One line of text followed:

  “I was innocent. I want no further involvement.”

  No visit. No explanation. No guilt.

  Meanwhile, the Liu Group collapsed quietly but catastrophically.

  Banks refused loans. Partners withdrew contracts. Shareholders whispered over conference calls, fear edging every sentence. The media smelled blood. Headlines mocked the family even before official bankruptcy filings went public:

  “The Fall of Liu Group: From Fortune to Folly”

  “Heiress Scandal and Family Ruin Shake Industrial Giant”

  “A Dynasty Built on Borrowed Power Crumbles”

  Mr. Liu moved frantically, calling old friends, former associates, anyone with influence. Pride swallowed, desperation bare.

  “Do you have any contacts left?” he demanded of his secretary. “Anyone who owes us favors?”

  There were none.

  Yun Wantang watched silently, jealousy and bitterness simmering.

  “He built this from nothing,” she muttered under her breath. “From nothing—and all because of Mengran. He can’t do it again.”

  When Mr. Liu confronted her, the tension finally boiled over.

  “You’re leaving?” he asked sharply, eyes narrowing.

  “I—” Yun Wantang faltered, caught off guard by his intensity.

  “You won’t take a single cent,” he said, seizing her hidden accounts, the cash she had been stashing for months. “Everything is mine now.”

  Yun Wantang’s face twisted with disbelief.

  “You stole my future!” she screamed.

  “You already spent mine,” he shot back coldly. “And I’ll survive. You’ll stay. You don’t get to run.”

  She tried to leverage contacts, private favors, old dinners with acquaintances, but each attempt was cut off. Mr. Liu intercepted them all.

  “You’re my daughter-in-law,” he reminded her sharply each time. “You caused this mess. You stay. You want trouble? Take her.”

  Yun Wantang’s jealousy toward Mengran flared uncontrollably. She seethed quietly, imagining how Mengran had opened doors effortlessly, how Zhuqing now walked through the world untouched while she, Yun, was trapped.

  She ground her teeth, thinking of her contingency plans—escape money, hidden jewels—but Mr. Liu had neutralized everything.

  “Do you think about Mengran?” she finally spat, frustration and envy boiling over. “And Zhuqing? They’re successful, happy… everything I can’t be!”

  Mr. Liu’s gaze hardened. “If you had the same connection as Mengran, you could blow my money however you wanted. You don’t. So shut up. Behave.”

  Neither moved, neither yielded. Silence stretched, heavy and accusatory. Both knew their mutual resentment had finally reached a breaking point.

  Jason fared no better.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Months of casino visits, easy women, and desperate attempts to regain his lost confidence had left him hollow. By the third month after Mengmeng’s arrest, his winnings evaporated, replaced by mounting debts. He avoided the apartment, avoided calls, avoided himself.

  When Mengmeng’s absence became permanent, he realized that the person who had once been his anchor—or his leverage—was gone. The truth hit him quietly, like water filling a cracked vessel: the future he’d imagined would never exist.

  Mengmeng, in prison, had no illusions left.

  The visiting room was stark, cold, divided by thick glass. She stared at Zhuqing as if willing her sister to feel a fraction of her humiliation.

  “So you came,” she spat. “Satisfied to see me like this?”

  Zhuqing’s calmness was infuriating. “You called for talks,” she replied softly.

  Mengmeng laughed bitterly. “Satisfied now?”

  “No,” Zhuqing said. “Just finished.”

  Mengmeng leaned closer to the glass. “You stole my life.”

  “You gave it away,” Zhuqing corrected evenly.

  Mengmeng slammed a fist on the glass. “If you hadn’t interfered, everything would have gone according to plan!”

  “Your plan,” Zhuqing said flatly, “was clinging to men.”

  Mengmeng’s face twisted. “At least I chose correctly before! Jason was supposed to rise!”

  “He never did,” Zhuqing replied calmly. “I did the work. You just misattributed the source of success.”

  “You can’t know what it’s like!” Mengmeng hissed. “I was reborn! I should have been able to take everything! And yet here I am—failing, humiliated!”

  “In two lives,” Zhuqing said slowly, “you never once chose yourself. You kept clinging to men and expecting them to carry you.”

  Mengmeng slammed her hands on the glass again. “And now? You’re happy, powerful, untouched. Why? Why can you succeed while I rot?”

  “Because I used what I had to secure my path,” Zhuqing said softly. “You… used it to chase illusions. In every life, you could have helped yourself—or your father—but you chose dependency. That’s why you failed. You brought this upon yourself.”

  Mengmeng’s chest rose sharply. “It’s your fault! You made me like this!”

  “I didn’t,” Zhuqing replied, rising. “I just stopped letting you ruin me. The rest? Your own doing.”

  She straightened, already thinking ahead: labs to finish, patents to file, influence to consolidate. I didn’t have to do anything. They did it themselves.

  Mengmeng slammed her hands against the glass one last time. “I’ll get out. I’ll make you pay. You think this is over?!”

  Zhuqing smiled faintly, almost indulgently. “You can keep trying. It won’t change what you’ve done—or what you lost.”

  “You can’t stop me forever!” Mengmeng shouted.

  “I won’t try to,” Zhuqing said evenly. “I just won’t let you stop me.”

  Outside, the Liu family continued to crumble.

  Employees resigned. Competitors snatched clients. Media columns dissected the bankruptcy with relish. The family name, once synonymous with influence, became a cautionary tale. Yun Wantang’s secret stashes had been seized. Jason’s fortune evaporated.

  ll while Zhuqing moved forward—labs humming, projects unfolding, influence expanding. She did not look back. She did not pause.

  A month after her final conversation with Mengmeng, the news arrived quietly: Mengmeng had died during a prison fight. A chaotic struggle, poorly supervised, ending with her life taken.

  The system panel appeared briefly in Zhuqing’s mind:

  Mission: Revenge Against Liu Mengmeng

  Status: Completed

  Time passed. One and a half years of quiet observation followed. Yun Wantang continued her games—manipulating, hoarding, testing Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu, in turn, retaliated with equal precision. The two tortured each other emotionally and financially, but Zhuqing watched from afar, letting her design unfold.

  Eventually, Yun Wantang collapsed entirely. Her escape plans failed. she accepted her fate.

  The system panel acknowledged it immediately:

  Mission: Revenge Against Yun Wantang

  Status: Completed

  Meanwhile, Zhuqing focused on her own path—university, research, projects. By the time she graduated, Yunyun had completed her studies abroad, ready to start her fashion design career with Zhuqing’s guidance. Zhuqing had ensured that her path aligned with the her dreams, making yunyun independent and capable. Yunyun stepped into her new life with a career in fashion design fully established, her future secured.

  The system panel appeared again:

  Mission: Change Yunyun’s Fate

  Status: Completed

  Zhuqing sat quietly in her private lab, the city lights stretching endlessly outside. The machines hummed softly. Her projects were complete. Her family’s futures were secured. Her plans had all been executed.

  The system panel lingered before her eyes, displaying

  [System Interface — Host Status]

  Host Name: Zhuqing Bones

  Current Identity: Liu Zhuqing

  Intelligence: 78

  Strength: 52

  Agility: 60

  Endurance: 55

  Appearance: 81

  Charm: 69

  Willpower: 88

  Luck: 41

  Skills: None

  Talents: None

  Golden Fingers: The Culinarist’s Eye

  Items:

  ? Golden Finger Draw ×1

  Worlds Traveled: 0

  Active Missions:

  ? Revenge Against Stepsister Liu Mengmeng — Completed

  ? Revenge Against Stepmother Yun Wantang — Completed

  ? Change Yunyun’s Fate — Completed

  Hidden Missions:

  ? Uncover the True Identity of Song Mengran — Completed