After Mistaking My Stepsister’s First Love - Chapter 40

Hearing Rong Yunshu’s sudden question, Ye Wenjin nearly broke into a cold sweat.

But truthfully, she wasn’t entirely surprised that Rong Yunshu had noticed something amiss. After all, Rong Yunshu had always been perceptive.

Though Ye Wenjin had been keeping things under wraps, she hadn’t gone out of her way to hide them either. Rong Yunshu had seen her interactions with Jian Mo, and Ye Wenjin was self-aware enough to admit she wasn’t particularly good at concealing things so being found out wasn’t unexpected.

If Chu Yunsheng and Zhou Wuhua had met Jian Mo, they’d probably have the same doubts as Rong Yunshu.

Ye Wenjin hesitated. She and Rong Yunshu were close, and she didn’t want to lie but she wasn’t sure if she should say anything either.

Yet, in the brief moment of her hesitation, Rong Yunshu already understood.

The fact that Ye Wenjin didn’t immediately deny it was as good as confirmation.

A dull ache settled in Rong Yunshu’s chest.

For a while, neither of them spoke, and silence filled the dressing room.

But when Rong Yunshu saw the conflicted expression on Ye Wenjin’s face, she suddenly spoke up. “Wenjin, I—”

Before she could finish, Ye Wenjin turned to her with a questioning look.

Under that earnest gaze, the words Rong Yunshu had wanted to say stuck in her throat.

Deep down, she knew she shouldn’t say them. Ye Wenjin was already in a relationship, and no matter how hard Rong Yunshu tried, in Ye Wenjin’s eyes, she would only ever be a friend.

If she wanted to cross that line, she’d have to confess outright otherwise, Ye Wenjin would never even consider the possibility.

But at the last moment, Rong Yunshu faltered.

There was no denying that being friends with Ye Wenjin was comfortable.

If she confessed her feelings, she knew Ye Wenjin well enough to realize that even their closeness as friends would vanish. Their relationship would never be the same again.

But if she didn’t say anything, they could at least remain friends.

In the end, Rong Yunshu chose cowardice.

Softly, she said, “Never mind. I just wanted to say,  your girlfriend is very beautiful.”

The word “girlfriend” sent Ye Wenjin’s heart racing. She tried to steady herself, but she couldn’t stop the corners of her lips from curling up.

“Ahem, well she is really beautiful. But, Yunshu, there’s something I’d like to ask of you, could you keep this between us for now?”

Rong Yunshu frowned slightly, eyeing her suspiciously. “Why? Wenjin, don’t tell me she’s tricking you?”

She’d found it strange for a while now. If Ye Wenjin was really dating someone, why all the secrecy? It was hard not to suspect something.

Especially since Ye Wenjin was so naive, the chances of her being deceived were far from low.

Ye Wenjin’s eyes widened, and she quickly shook her head. “No, no, it’s nothing like that! I’m not being tricked. I just haven’t asked her yet if she’s comfortable with going public, so I’d like to keep it quiet for now. When the time’s right, we’ll tell everyone.”

Then, with an embarrassed smile, she added, “Besides, I don’t like making a big deal out of things. This is between the two of us, it’d feel weird if people started gossiping about it over tea.”

Rong Yunshu paused, surprised by how fiercely she was defending that woman, then responded indifferently with a faint “Hmm,” adding, “As long as you know what you’re doing.”

Truthfully, she still suspected Ye Wenjin might have been deceived. That woman clearly wasn’t simple, completely out of Ye Wenjin’s league. Though the two looked like a perfect match standing together, their auras were entirely different.

But Rong Yunshu also knew that pushing too hard might make Ye Wenjin uncomfortable, so she reluctantly let it go for now.

After a brief silence, she asked softly, “Are you going back to the dorm afterward?”

Ye Wenjin shook her head, no longer bothering to hide it this time. “No, my sister is sending someone to pick me up.”

Rong Yunshu lowered her gaze and nodded. “Alright, let’s go. The others have probably already left.”

Ye Wenjin blinked, suddenly remembering right, there was still that to deal with.

Technically, they could leave after their performance, but their teacher had insisted they stay to watch the entire show. Now, they had to hurry and get ready to join the audience.

Relieved that the awkward moment had passed, Ye Wenjin quickly packed up and followed Rong Yunshu to their seats. But as she watched the performance on stage, her mind wandered.

Had her sister arrived yet?

Meanwhile, the very person she was thinking of, Jian Mo, was speeding toward the outskirts of the city in her car.

Clearly, this wasn’t the way to the company or home.

Her destination was a mountain where an abandoned villa stood.

This trip was solely to deliver Jian Li to the villa at the summit.

Originally, she had kept Jian Li confined in the mid-mountain villa because of its personal significance. But since Jian Li had managed to escape, it was obvious there was a traitor among her people. Naturally, she couldn’t take her back there.

If the mid-mountain villa couldn’t hold her, Jian Mo had no qualms about choosing somewhere even more remote. After all, to the outside world, Jian Li was gravely ill and recuperating, just in a location of Jian Mo’s choosing.

Once she’d settled on the new site, Jian Mo had sent Butler Wu ahead to prepare.

The moment the car stopped, Butler Wu hurried over, but his expression shifted slightly when he saw the unconscious Jian Li in the back seat.

“Miss Mo, she—”

Jian Mo’s voice was cold as she glanced at the back seat. “She’s not dead. I know my limits just some sleeping pills, not enough to kill.”

Butler Wu exhaled sharply in relief, though his gaze remained complicated as he looked at Jian Li.

This was a side of Jian Mo completely unlike the one Ye Wenjin knew her truest self.

Yet Butler Wu still remembered that Jian Mo hadn’t always been like this. Thinking back on how things had unfolded always left him with a pang of melancholy.

When Wu Mingyu first became the Jian family’s butler, their business had been modest, nothing compared to now, with Jian Mo expanding their assets several times over and growing the company exponentially.

Back then, landing this job had been a stroke of luck for someone with his experience. So, Wu Mingyu had no complaints, especially since aside from certain family members, the madam had treated the staff exceptionally well.

Though it wasn’t proper for an employee to comment on their employers, Butler Wu often found the Jian family  difficult to describe.

The Jians had built their fortune on shipping. Back then, regulations were lax, and controlling a port gave them an advantage, allowing their transport business to flourish quickly.

But the Jian family always had an air of nouveaux riches about them, unlike those old-money capitalists who were extremely particular about their words and actions. The Jians carried a heavy underworld vibe, giving off the impression they were mixed up in shady dealings.

Jian Li, as the family head, stood out even more. She was naturally talented, and after differentiating into an Alpha, her rank wasn’t low either. In theory, if she had applied herself, the Jian family could have climbed even higher.

But in her youth, she played around recklessly, cycling through lovers one after another, all Betas, and none of the relationships lasted long.

It wasn’t until she met Shen Xiyun that she finally settled down.

And it was around that time that Butler Wu took up her position as the household’s steward.

As the butler, she couldn’t meddle in Jian Li’s personal affairs, so she simply focused on her duties, striving to avoid mistakes.

So when Jian Li began pursuing Shen Xiyun with great fanfare, Butler Wu assumed she was just another one of Jian Li’s many flings.

But Jian Li seemed like a completely different person not only did she cleanly break things off with all her other lovers, but she also treated Shen Xiyun exceptionally well.

Butler Wu was astonished. Even more shocking was the fact that Jian Li actually married Shen Xiyun.

Watching the happy couple become a happy family of three, Butler Wu couldn’t help but feel moved. Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last. Not long after Jian Mo was born, Jian Li reverted to her old ways.

The first time Shen Xiyun discovered Jian Li had a lover on the side, the two inevitably had a huge fight. Afterward, Jian Li cut ties with the other woman, full of remorse, swearing she would change and begging Shen Xiyun for another chance.

Shen Xiyun didn’t want to give it, but thinking of Jian Mo, she suppressed her pain and reluctantly agreed.

For a while after that, Jian Li was on her best behavior so much so that Shen Xiyun almost believed she had truly changed.

But one day, Shen Xiyun accidentally discovered a significant sum missing from the company’s accounts. After investigating, she learned that one of Jian Li’s lovers, placed within the company, had embezzled the funds by exploiting her position.

It happened during a critical period even if the money were recovered, it would take considerable time. And because of that missing sum, the company nearly went bankrupt.

If not for Shen Xiyun pouring all her savings into covering the deficit, the Jian family’s business would have ceased to exist.

Naturally, the two fought again, but this time, after being exposed, Jian Li dropped all pretenses.

Shen Xiyun watched helplessly as the last remnants of her love withered away, and she finally decided to file for divorce.

But Jian Li refused. In fact, when Shen Xiyun tried to leave, Jian Li took advantage of her inattention to inject her with sleeping pills and then imprisoned her.

Shen Xiyun couldn’t understand how things had come to this, nor could she fathom why she had never truly seen Jian Li for who she was.

She was a madwoman.

Perhaps, from the very beginning, Jian Li had only ever seen her as a possession. It wasn’t necessarily that she loved her too much to divorce, it was just that when something that belonged to her tried to escape her control, Jian Li convinced herself she had no choice but to act this way.

By then, Jian Mo was already fifteen. She was fully aware of what was happening at home and the dire situation Shen Xiyun was trapped in.

Time and again, she tried to help Shen Xiyun escape, but the villa was under Jian Li’s tight control, and every attempt was discovered.

Each time they were caught, Shen Xiyun would take the punishment for her, while Jian Li would only smile and brainwash her, insisting that she did all this out of love that loving someone meant keeping them locked firmly by your side.

But Jian Mo didn’t believe her. To her, Jian Li wasn’t a mother, she was a devil, the murderer who had killed her own mother!

This struggle continued until Jian Mo turned eighteen. She was a late bloomer, only presenting her secondary gender upon reaching adulthood.

When she realized she was about to present, Jian Mo instinctively wanted to find Shen Xiyun. But when she begged the servants to open that door, what she saw was Shen Xiyun lying in a pool of blood, a faint smile on her face.

After enduring prolonged torment, Shen Xiyun’s mental state had deteriorated severely. And so, on that ordinary evening, she took her own life 3using a shard of glass she had somehow hidden away and patiently sharpened to a fine edge.

Though sharp, it was no match for a knife, yet she drove the entire shard deep into her chest.

She ended her life with such finality, leaving nothing behind.

Jian Mo could no longer recall the events of that night. All she knew was that the sudden shock sent her pheromones spiraling out of control, their violent surge overwhelming the entire room.

Though an Omega, her pheromones carried an intense aggression, repelling anyone who tried to approach.

Hatred festered within her. She despised Jian Li so much that she couldn’t even bear to hear her name.

That hatred reached its peak when she saw Jian Li bring her lover to her mother’s funeral.

After that, Jian Mo began to plot her revenge.

And in the end, she succeeded.

Support