Chapter 3

Almost three years ago, just before Cheng Yushan was about to become a primary school student, Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu sold their old, dilapidated apartment in the city, which was not in a key school district and whose mortgage was still outstanding. They then borrowed a down payment from Cheng Shi's older brother, Cheng Guo, and used installment payments to buy this detached villa in Napa Valley, Central Park Phase III.

Chengshi's older brother, Chengguo, was a full twelve years older than him. Tall and burly with a fierce-looking face, he was known as "Chairman Cheng," but clearly not a respectable businessman. When Huang Ruoyu first visited the Cheng family, she even suspected that the two brothers were half-brothers, as Chengshi resembled his mother and Chengguo his father—meaning they shared only similar height. Besides their different appearances, the brothers' personalities were also completely different, not to mention their enormous age difference. This was something Huang Ruoyu, an only child, couldn't understand—what were her in-laws thinking, having another child so long apart? The saying "A dragon has nine sons, each different" only came to her understanding much later, after she herself became a mother of two completely different children.

What Huang Ruoyu couldn't understand even more was that Chengshi and Chengguo, despite being a full twelve years apart, had a very good relationship. To be frank, Chengguo treated Chengshi better than their father did. When Chengshi was in college, it was the easiest time for Chengguo to earn money, so his older brother would give him money every few days, and buy him whatever he wanted. This is why Chengshi was able to rent a place to live before graduating from university, and why he didn't look for a job after graduating with a master's degree.

However, Chengshi was now married and had established a career, and buying a house in Beijing wasn't a small expense, so he felt it wasn't appropriate to ask his older brother for money. Although three to five million was a small sum for Chengshi, who worked in the "financial and entertainment industry," and he was willing to lend his brother the money, Chengshi still showed his pride by writing an IOU for his older brother in front of Huang Ruoyu. However, Chengshi tore up the IOU the very next day, but he understood perfectly well the importance of giving his brother face in front of his sister-in-law—he was a true Northeastern man.

Now let's talk about the Central Park where Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu's villa is located.

Central Park is located in a town in Changping District. Although its advertising slogan is "A sweet dreamland for Beijing's new middle class," that "dreamland" probably refers to Beverly Hills Phase 1. As for Palm Beach Phase 2 and Napa Valley Phase 3, each phase is worse than the last. Napa Valley Phase 3, in particular, has many vacant houses due to its unreasonable spatial design, causing resale prices to plummet. Now, the price per square meter in Napa Valley is less than half that of school district housing in the city, not to mention the free garden! This couldn't help but tempt Huang Ruoyu.

Huang Ruoyu possesses the shrewdness characteristic of Shanghai women, and therefore has realistic plans for life. Her theory is that since she can't afford a house in a top-tier school district, and can't afford private schools, what difference does it make where her child attends? In that case, living in a larger house is obviously a better choice for the whole family!

Huang Ruoyu had lived in cramped attic rooms in Shanghai since childhood, and had never lived in a comfortable house since growing up, which she deeply regretted. In her entire life, she had only ever lived in attic rooms, a four-person dormitory, a small apartment Chengshi shared with classmates in Shucun, and the old, dilapidated apartment Chengshi bought with a loan after starting work, surrounded by "Chaoyang residents" (a term referring to residents of Chaoyang District, Beijing). Huang Ruoyu felt she had had enough of these living conditions!

Indeed, such a cramped and confined living environment is completely mismatched with Huang Ruoyu's beauty, especially after she and Chengshi returned to their hometown of Shenyang and saw Chengguo's large villa and Chengshi's nominal sister-in-law who was far less attractive than her. The mismatch became even more pronounced, so it is not hard to understand why she only wanted to live in a big house.

Moreover, Huang Ruoyu's father owns a large house with a private swimming pool on The Peak in Hong Kong, which should be the natural living environment that matches her status.

In fact, Huang Ruoyu had only been to that big house once—perhaps that big house was just a temporary villa, the least noteworthy of her father's many properties? Huang Ruoyu couldn't say for sure.

To be more frank, Huang Ruoyu had only met her father once in her life, because she was not only an only child, but also an illegitimate child without any status or identity.

Therefore, if we want to explain Huang Ruoyu's background, we can only start with her mother, Huang Lizhen, a Hong Kong actress who was very popular in the 1990s.

Nowadays, few people mention Huang Lizhen anymore, because she committed suicide by burning charcoal more than a decade ago after dating a gambling addict. Occasionally, Huang Lizhen appears in nostalgic Hong Kong celebrity photos online, which always elicits sighs and lamentations from a few people who aren't afraid to reveal their age, saying that she was truly a beautiful woman with a tragic fate.

Everyone assumes Huang Lizhen is a native Hong Konger, but few know she's actually a native Shanghainese. In the tumultuous late 1980s, a teenager, Huang Lizhen fled to Hong Kong with her boyfriend, a student movement leader, only to be dumped upon arrival by him after he became involved with a wealthy woman. Penniless and far from home, Huang Lizhen quickly began dating a wealthy young man. With his help, she participated in a sensational beauty pageant, and her stunning looks and figure made her an overnight sensation, a superstar.

However, Huang Lizhen, who is romantic by nature, has no intention of working hard in her career. She is obsessed with love and only wants to fall in love. As a result, she encountered her destined calamity - Pan Zhenwu, a playboy who enjoys dating female celebrities.

At the time, Pan Zhenwu had a wife and children, as well as countless celebrity girlfriends, which was common knowledge. Huang Lizhen, who was dating a young tycoon at the time, was certainly aware of this. However, she couldn't resist the rich, idle, and handsome Pan Zhenwu and his various romantic advances. Before long, she dumped the young tycoon and joined the list of female celebrities that Pan Zhenwu publicly kept.

Whether it was a sugar daddy arrangement or a romantic relationship, no female celebrity actually had a child with Pan Zhenwu. However, Huang Lizhen, blinded by love, insisted on having a child for Pan Zhenwu! As a result, the child was born as Huang Lizhen wished, but unfortunately it was a girl. Immediately afterwards, she and the child were kicked out of the house by Pan Zhenwu.

The news of their breakup was widely reported by Hong Kong media at the time. However, whether it was because the paparazzi didn't do their homework, or because Pan Zhenwu spent his money effectively, or because Huang Lizhen was very shrewd, Huang Ruoyu's birth was not revealed by the media. It's hard to say whether this was a blessing or a curse for her.

Later, some unfounded rumors circulated, saying that Huang Lizhen insisted on giving birth to the child solely to force Pan Zhenwu into the palace, and that if she had given birth to a boy, she might have actually succeeded; unfortunately, her womb was not fertile…

Whether this is the reason for Huang Ruoyu's birth is something Huang Ruoyu herself isn't entirely sure, because she didn't live with her mother. She was secretly delivered at a private hospital in Macau, and shortly after birth, her mother quietly sent her to her maternal grandmother's house in Shanghai. Her mother then returned to Hong Kong to continue her career as a star and her dating life, occasionally returning to Shanghai for a short stay to see Huang Ruoyu. However, Huang Ruoyu always stayed in hotels and never went back to that small attic room.

When Huang Ruoyu was nine years old, Huang Lizhen asked someone to bring her from Shanghai to Hong Kong, and then she took her to the big house on the Peak. There, Huang Ruoyu met her father, Pan Zhenwu, for the first and only time.

Although Huang Ruoyu was instantly captivated by the large house, she was even more drawn to Pan Zhenwu, who was speaking to Huang Lizhen in Cantonese, a language she couldn't understand—how perfect that man was! Despite Huang Lizhen's constant nagging, he remained calm and composed, seemingly unaffected. His elegant demeanor instantly mesmerized Huang Ruoyu, and she couldn't help but scrutinize her father: his trousers fell perfectly to his ankles, revealing delicate bones; his black smoking shoes landed gracefully on the carpet in front of the sofa, one foot slightly forward, the other slightly back. Huang Ruoyu's gaze followed Pan Zhenwu's trousers upwards, to his elegant knees, then to his relaxed posture on the sofa, his seemingly languid yet refined linen shirt, the gleaming watch on his wrist, and his long, slender hands. Pan Zhenwu held a wine glass in one hand, while the other gestured gently and slowly. Huang Ruoyu stared intently at Pan Zhenwu's handsome and composed face, looking... there was so much to see about him that her eyes couldn't take it all in at once.

During this time, Pan Zhenwu seemed to have only glanced at Huang Ruoyu once unintentionally, then nodded and smiled at her. It wasn't until Huang Lizhen got tired of arguing and wanted to take Huang Ruoyu away that Pan Zhenwu had a servant bring out a thin gold chain, saying it was just a little toy for a child, without acknowledging that Huang Ruoyu was his daughter.

Huang Ruoyu never saw Pan Zhenwu again after that. When she grew up, she learned to search for news about her father online, but most of the results were frivolous gossip. Only the news of Pan Zhenwu's death a few years ago could be considered the most serious news of his life—this old playboy died young at the age of 58 because he indulged too much in sensual pleasures.

Huang Ruoyu often felt that her parents did not live long and did not die peacefully, so she herself could not escape the misfortune of dying young.