When Quan Heng woke, it was already dusk.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a man sitting at her bedside and instinctively rasped, “Ah Zheng…”
Hearing this, Shen Zhengyu immediately grasped her hand and asked nervously, “Ah Heng, how are you? Is your body still unwell anywhere?”
When her gaze moved to his face, she suddenly noticed the red mole under his eye was gone.
Her heart sank.
Of course. This was Ah Zheng—this was the real Shen Zhengyu.
The one who had stayed by her side all that time was no longer here. He must have already returned to the palace.
A wave of deep sorrow welled up in her chest, and tears fell uncontrollably.
She was about to wipe them away when Shen Zhengyu beat her to it, gently drying her cheeks with a look full of distress.
But even though she hated Wen Zheng—she had truly loved him, deeply.
Now, facing Shen Zhengyu’s face, she couldn’t feel at ease.
Taking a deep breath, she turned her face away, unwilling to meet his eyes.
Seeing this, Shen Zhengyu felt a stab of pain in his heart.
After all these years… she didn’t even want to look at him?
He clutched her hand tightly, unwilling to let go. His voice was low: “Ah Heng, it’s been years. Are you still angry with me?”
“I left without saying goodbye… I had no choice. Back then, someone was trying to kill me and my father. We were running for our lives. I also didn’t want to implicate you, so I had to leave in the middle of the night. I didn’t even leave a word or a letter. That was my fault. If you want to hit me or scold me, I won’t complain. Just… please, don’t be angry anymore, alright?”
Seeing the sincerity on Shen Zhengyu’s face, Quan Heng knew he wasn’t lying. But now, none of it mattered anymore.
She shook her head and said softly, “No, I’m not angry with you. It’s just… too many things have happened recently. I need some time to be alone.”
Sensing the implied dismissal in her words, Shen Zhengyu became anxious. “Ah Heng, since you still remember me, then you must also remember the promise we made, right?”
“When we were kids, we said that if I ever made the top of the imperial exams, I would come and marry you. Don’t you remember? Now I’ve done it! Look, I really did it—I didn’t let you down!”
Hearing this, Quan Heng finally turned her head to look at him seriously.
“Brother Ah Zheng, I haven’t forgotten that promise. But we were so young back then, we didn’t understand what love meant. It was just childish talk—it doesn’t count. Please don’t bring it up again.”
Although he looked almost identical to Wen Zheng, with just one glance she could tell the difference between them.
It was almost laughable—how could she have mistaken Wen Zheng for Brother Ah Zheng that day at the foot of the cliff? That ridiculous mix-up led to everything that followed.
Even in the months after, she never once suspected anything. She only thought they’d been apart for too long and that people changed—nothing more.
But she never imagined… they weren’t even the same person.
She remembered clearly—when Wen Zheng first woke up, he had truly lost his memory. Even if he were pretending, he couldn’t have faked it.
Sometimes his eyes revealed an unusual innocence. Other times, they were wild and dangerous like a beast from the mountains.
He was like a newborn child, just beginning to explore the world.
Back then, she even believed he had no normal human emotions at all. If anyone wronged him—or even just annoyed him—he would retaliate immediately.
Later, under her constant companionship, he gradually developed the emotional responses of a normal person.
She remembered, back in Changle County, when he saw the destitute people on the streets, there was even sympathy in his eyes.
She was the one who took him in, cared for him, taught him, treated him as a friend. In the end, it was all her doing.
But in the days that followed, she could no longer be sure whether he had recovered his memory.
He learned quickly and was naturally good at pretending.
Not just her—no one in the Gu family or the Quan family ever suspected a thing. And that was what scared her the most.
Maybe he had regained his memory long ago and was only pretending to forget. Maybe he was playing a long game—like a hawk waiting to strike—biding his time by her side until she had nowhere left to run.
Thinking of all this sent chills through her bones.
But now, things had come to this. She couldn’t face Wen Zheng anymore—but neither could she face Shen Zhengyu like before.
“Brother Ah Zheng, since we were young, I’ve always seen you like an older brother. Between us, there’s only sibling affection and friendship, not the feelings between a man and a woman. Please, don’t do anything that will make things difficult for me.”
Unexpectedly, Shen Zhengyu burst into tears. His tears kept falling, landing heavily on the back of her hand.
“Why, Ah Heng? Do you not love me anymore because you’ve fallen for Wen Zheng? But that man only found a place in your heart by stealing my place. Everything he has—he stole from me!”
Quan Heng suddenly felt suffocated. Her chest was tight, and she could hardly breathe. She didn’t want to face any of this.
She didn’t even want to admit that she had once fallen for the fated nemesis from her dreams.
It made her feel like a joke.
But Shen Zhengyu refused to back down. He insisted on having her listen.
“Ah Heng, if you love him, then in some way you must also love me, right? After all, without me, how would he have ended up by your side? I beg you—please, love me too, just a little, alright?”
Quan Heng closed her eyes in frustration and leaned back against the bed frame. “Brother Ah Zheng, none of this matters anymore. Don’t bring it up again. As for marrying you—that’s absolutely impossible. I’ve already been promised in marriage, a betrothal arranged back when the late empress was still alive. I cannot defy it. Soon, I’ll be wed to the eldest son of the Xie family. Once that happens, neither he nor you will have anything to do with me anymore.”
At those words, Shen Zhengyu’s eyes widened in shock.
“You mean Xie Fengyun?! That man’s a complete fool! How could you marry someone like him?!”
Quan Heng gave a bitter smile. “Marriage isn’t my choice. It’s decided by my parents and arranged by the matchmakers. What right do I have to say no?”
Shen Zhengyu grasped her hand tightly. “If that’s the case, then I’ll take you away. Let’s run far away together—never return to the capital! I’ll give up the top scholar title, the high offices, the wealth and power—I don’t want any of it. I just want you!”
At those words, Quan Heng truly became angry.
She pulled her hand back and scolded with a frown, “Brother Ah Zheng! Do you think we’re still in Changle County? Every word we speak now carries weight. We’re responsible not just for ourselves, but for others too!”
Seeing the anger on her face, Shen Zhengyu finally fell silent.
Quan Heng held her forehead and spoke in pain, “Do you know what you’re saying? To elope is to be a concubine, not a wife. Do you want me to become someone despised by the world?”
Shen Zhengyu quickly denied it. “No! I only want to give you the best of everything—how could I let you suffer?”
Quan Heng shook her head. “Besides, my parents gave me life. Even if they’ve only raised me for a short time, I can feel their love is genuine. I won’t hurt them for my own selfish desires.”
At this, she looked at Shen Zhengyu again and said solemnly, “And between you and me—there is no love between a man and a woman. I will never leave with you. Let go of this idea.”
“If you still see me as a friend, then please—don’t ever bring this up again.”
After hearing all this, the light in Shen Zhengyu’s eyes went out completely.
He pressed his lips together, as if wanting to say something.
But when the words reached his mouth, he swallowed them all. He couldn’t say a single thing.
Quan Heng turned her back to him and lay down. “I’m tired today. Brother Ah Zheng, please go back and rest.”
Since she had made it clear she wanted him to leave, he had no choice but to go.
“Alright… rest well, then. I’ll come visit again when you’re feeling better.”
With that, he stepped out of her room and gently closed the door.
But outside, he didn’t leave. Instead, he sat down beneath her window, leaning against the wall.
Before long, he heard quiet, broken sobs coming from inside the room.
At once, it felt as though his heart were being cut to pieces.
Back in Changle County, Ah Heng had her worries too—but she was kind, lively, and cheerful. Even when she was wronged, a little fun or a good meal would cheer her up.
She had never looked as heartbroken as she did now.
Thinking of this, he clenched his fists tightly, his heart full of rage.
It was all Wen Zheng’s fault.
If he hadn’t deceived Ah Heng so terribly, how could she have ended up like this?
What’s more, they were twins.
All these years, Shen Zhengyu had drifted in the common world. Only the decade he spent by Ah Heng’s side had been truly happy.
Afterward, he was hunted down again and again. Even his adoptive father had died protecting him.
He knew—his adoptive father had once been a lowly eunuch in the palace.
Back then, the emperor had wanted him executed. It was that little eunuch who pitied him and said it would be better to abandon him in a mass grave than to kill him with his own hands. That mercy saved his life.
The eunuch took him out of the palace but didn’t abandon him. Instead, he took him back to his hometown, disguised and hidden.
But the reason he had been sold to the palace in the first place was because his family was poor. Now he had returned with a burden and claimed he’d picked the child up on the road—how could his family possibly accept it?
Luckily, his adoptive father had saved some money from his years in the palace. His family, greedy for it, agreed to take them in temporarily.
Even so, Shen Zhengyu was still young and suffered constant beatings and abuse in secret.
To avoid troubling his adoptive father, he endured it for years.
When he was five, his adoptive father’s family, having squeezed all the money they could out of them, planned to sell him to human traffickers for one last profit.
When his adoptive father found out, he was furious. After being cursed and insulted by his family, he locked them all in and burned them to death.
After that, they took the remaining money and fled to Changle County, posing as merchants. They lived in peace for over a decade.
But later, the palace sent assassins after them again, and they had to flee once more.
During the escape, his adoptive father fell gravely ill and died, unable to be treated—leaving Shen Zhengyu all alone in the world.
His life had been one of hardship and loss. Everyone he cared about had left him.
But Wen Zheng?
He was born a crown prince. Even within the palace, his fame had spread across the land.
People said he was cruel and violent, took pleasure in killing.
To him, the lives of commoners meant nothing.
And yet, that man had stolen his identity—stolen Ah Heng’s heart.
Why?!
He swore that in this lifetime, he would make Wen Zheng pay the price.
If the heavens were unjust, then he would pierce through them.
Since Wen Zheng could be the crown prince, the heir apparent, and could one day have the world at his feet—then so could he.
As for that young master of the Xie family, he was nothing but an empty-headed fool. What virtue or ability did he have to deserve Ah Heng? The fact that he could even have a nominal engagement with her was already a favor above his worth.
Once he held real power and stood atop the world, no one would dare vie with him for Ah Heng again.
And if anyone did—he would slaughter every one of those with ill intent. He would never allow such a thing to happen again.
