No. 25 Melon

Lu Yanche... really didn't find out.

But it did not prevent him from knowing everything from Lin Cha's thoughts.

Lu Yanyan, on behalf of Lu Yanche, listed out the evidence that Lin Cha had just mentioned one by one.

——Even if they don’t have evidence, Lu Yanche’s special assistant has already gone to collect information, and it is only a matter of time to obtain the evidence.

Wei Xinyi slumped in the chair, her originally straight back hunched.

In order to confirm her identity as "Wei Xinyi", she paid a lot.

Her face is a little squarer than the real Wei Xinyi, and her cheekbones are more prominent. She had surgery to remove her cheekbones and mandible, and also had osteotomy to move her chin forward.

The real Wei Xinyi was half a head taller than her. So Wei Xinyi had another bone-breaking surgery to increase her height, which involved sawing off her leg bones.

During the recovery period, Wei Xinyi felt that she was living a life worse than death.

But Wei Xinyi was attracted by her identity as the eldest daughter of the Wei family, her brilliant resume, and her huge inheritance.

She gambled everything for her future.

But a person has lived in this world for eighteen years, and those traces cannot be erased so easily.

After all, there is always a loophole.

After all, she is not the real Wei Xinyi.

Netizens who watched the live broadcast pieced together the truth of the matter based on the conversation between the guests.

If the previous gossips were mostly melodramatic, then the news we got tonight was explosive!

Things like impersonation are only found in movies and novels, but now it happened in front of everyone, and the person involved is actually a female celebrity!

Netizens immediately dug into Wei Xinyi's social media accounts and discovered a clear turning point six years ago, when she was 18. Before 18, Wei Xinyi's comments were full of poetry and literature, and her style was graceful and demure. After 18, Wei Xinyi's social media accounts showed a clear tendency to show off her wealth, and her style also tended to be vulgar.

Moreover, when she was 18 years old, Wei Xinyi was supposed to go to college, but she took a year off.

It is obvious that the real Wei Xinyi died in a car accident with her mother when she was 18 years old. The fake Wei Xinyi then had plastic surgery and dropped out of school, and then went to college in place of the real Wei Xinyi!

More importantly, the real Wei Xinyi is an absolute academic master, and she was admitted to one of China's top 985 universities!

[I have to say, Wei Xinyi is such a ruthless person! A plastic surgeon just analyzed Wei Xinyi and said she's had at least her cheekbones and jawbone shaved! She's so hard on herself!]

[Some netizens even dug up Wei Xinyi's Zhihu account and discovered she had answered questions about bone-breaking height-increasing surgery. Could she have done it? Severing her leg bones is so cruel!]

How can I replace the real Wei Xinyi without being ruthless? The real Wei Xinyi is such a wonderful person, beautiful and well-educated. Her family assets, if not hundreds of millions, must be tens of millions! These few surgeries could buy her a lifetime of wealth and glory, so why wouldn't she want it?

[Fuck, that makes me excited! I studied hard every day, but I only managed to get into a top university. After graduation, I worked overtime every day, 996 hours a day, and my monthly salary was less than 10,000 yuan! But Wei Xinyi has reached the pinnacle of her life!]

[Who's broken? Me!]

[She replaced the real Wei Xinyi and even received educational resources that were originally on par with hers! Why?!]

[“According to Article 280-2 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, anyone who steals or impersonates another person’s identity to obtain higher education admission, civil service admission, or employment placement benefits shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, detention, or controlled release and a fine.” Wei Xinyi’s actions are clearly a crime! ][Note 1]

[Police uncle, come and catch this bad guy!]

Wei Xinyi's endorsements have all been dropped, and she faces a huge penalty for breach of contract. Furthermore, netizens have discovered that the Wei family runs a maternity and baby business, and was recently exposed for adding harmful substances to milk powder.

At that time, Wei's father spent money to suppress this news. The mainstream news media did not even report it, and merchants still recommended their own milk powder.

Now that the truth has been revealed, the news can no longer be suppressed!

Netizens are becoming increasingly angry towards Wei Xinyi. Impersonation may have only harmed the interests of some people, but what the Wei family has done is truly unbearable!

Investors who had previously made agreements with the Wei family called to withdraw their investments, and the Wei family’s stock price plummeted!

Wei Xinyi was too embarrassed to record the variety show again and returned to the Wei family in a mess.

Late at night, the Wei family villa was still brightly lit, its dazzling crystal chandeliers illuminating this sleepless night. Though it was a magnificent, warm yellow light, the reflections from the glittering crystals revealed an indescribable sense of grayness.

Before Wei Xinyi put down her luggage, she was slapped to the ground by her father.

"You're such a fool, you're always causing trouble!" Wei's father cursed. "I told you to hook up with Lu Yanche and get some funds for the company, not to destroy the Wei family. What have you done?"

Wei Xinyi fell to the ground, covering her red face, feeling extremely aggrieved.

After she had plastic surgery, she successfully inherited the Wei family's inheritance, and her father also successfully took control of the Wei family company.

However, Wei's father was just a son-in-law after all and had no management ability at all. The Wei family was able to join the wealthy class in Hai City thanks to the management and planning of Wei's mother back then.

The hundreds of millions of dollars of property that Wei's mother had inherited fell into the hands of Wei's father, and has been almost squandered so far. The Wei family's company is now just an empty shell.

So, when Wei's father learned that the real Wei Xinyi was Lu Yanche's sweetheart in high school, he was overjoyed. He made a desperate move and even spent a fortune to send Wei Xinyi to a training camp for wealthy ladies, just to make her marry Lu Yanche!

What a pity...

Wei Xinyi's face was clearly marked by palm prints, and her eyes were red. "Dad, you can't blame me for this! How would I know that Lin Cha..."

"Why do you have so many excuses?"

Father Wei interrupted Wei Xinyi without hesitation, "If you had pretended to be more convincing and made Lu Yanche completely devoted to you earlier, would all these unnecessary things have happened?"

"As long as Lu Yanche is willing to protect you, and the Lu family is willing to protect you, today's problems won't be a problem at all!"

The Lu family is one of the top wealthy families in Hai City. As long as the Lu family is willing to invest in the Wei family and is willing to guarantee the Wei family, the crisis of the Wei family will be over.

But Wei Xinyi thought of Lu Yanche's cold eyes when he left the variety show. The gentle rich man who once charmed thousands of wealthy socialites seemed to have a heart as cold as ice that had not melted for a thousand years.

Wei Xinyi couldn't help but shudder.

Can she control this kind of man?

"Lu Yanche has never been involved in any scandals. Except for being called to school by his parents nine years ago for premature love, there has been no news of him dating since then!" Father Wei pondered for a moment and said firmly, "He must still have feelings for you. Call him and try to beg him again!"

"Dad!" Wei Xinyi's eyes widened. "You're crazy! Lu Yanche has known for a long time that I'm not the real Wei Xinyi. The Wei Xinyi he loved is dead. I'm just an imposter. If I call him now, wouldn't I be courting death?"

"It's because she died that you have this chance! If she hadn't died, what would you have done?"

Wei's father snorted coldly, sneering at his daughter's stupidity. But after thinking about it, he helped Wei Xinyi up and said, "Don't forget, you have the same face as Xinyi!"

Men are also loyal to the same face, otherwise why would there be such a thing as a stand-in?

Father Wei sneered: "Lu Yanche doesn't need to love you, loving your face is enough!"

Wei Xinyi trembled. She didn't believe that Lu Yanche would really be moved by her face. But Wei's father forced her to do so. Wei Xinyi had no choice but to take out her phone and call Lu Yanche.

She originally thought that Lu Yanche would not answer.

But the call actually went through.

"Brother Yan Che..." Wei Xinyi's voice was trembling as she spoke, "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have kept it from you, I shouldn't have lied to you, I was just bewildered for a moment, I'm sorry..."

"Brother Yan Che, can you please help me again? Without you, the Wei family would be finished, and I would be finished! Please..."

Wei Xinyi spoke with great emotion, and tears as big as beans fell one after another.

The other party was silent and did not answer.

Wei Xinyi's heart sank little by little.

What's the point of her face being like Wei Xinyi? Not all men are as superficial as Wei's father, who only look at the face.

"Open the window and take a look."

Lu Yanche's voice suddenly came from the phone, as gentle and pleasant as ever, like the spring breeze that warms the earth and blows away the entire winter.

Wei Xinyi was stunned and walked to the window involuntarily and opened it.

It was pitch black outside, the night was hazy, the moonlight and starlight had disappeared, only the garden lights cast a faint light, illuminating the thin and tall man.

He seemed to be exhausted from the journey through wind and rain, with a hint of weariness at the corners of his eyes.

He looked at Wei Xinyi and smiled gently.

"Xinyi, I'm here."

Wei Xinyi was stunned.

She stared at Lu Yanche blankly, and for a moment she even forgot to open the door to let him in.

It was Wei's father who came to the window, looked at Lu Yanche outside, was overjoyed, and welcomed him into the villa.

Wei Xinyi couldn't remember what Wei's father said to Lu Yanche. After a long exchange of pleasantries, they finally got back to the point.

Lu Yanche: "Uncle, I can help you."

Wei's father's eyes filled with tears. "Mr. Lu, are you willing to invest in Wei Corporation? That would be fantastic! With Lu Corporation's investment, my company will surely be able to revive!"

Lu Yanche said, "Investment alone won't restore Wei's stock price. The most urgent task is to clear up the negative news and stabilize the stock price. Actually, I have a better idea."

Wei's father asked, "What's the solution?"

Lu Yanche looked at Wei Xinyi and said, "Get married."

"Xinyi, if you marry me, the entire Lu Corporation will have your backing. Lu Corporation will handle all public relations for any scandals, and shareholders will regain their confidence when they see that the company has Lu Corporation's backing. This is the best way to save you right now."

Wei Xinyi was stunned.

She even thought that her ears were broken.

Lu Yanche is actually willing to marry her?

After knowing so many truths... Lu Yanche still has feelings for her?

Wei Xinyi: "But I'm not the real Wei Xinyi..."

"But you and she have the same face," Lu Yanche said calmly, "I can't bear to see this sad face."

"Besides, Wei is also her mother's hard work. I want to keep it all."

Lu Yanche probably really loves Wei Xinyi.

Even love to the bone.

There can't be another Wei Xinyi in this world. Even if he has the same face as Wei Xinyi, he wants to preserve the traces of his past life.

“Okay, okay, okay!”

Wei's father didn't care about the petty love affairs of young people. He only cared about whether he could keep his money. "Mr. Lu, don't worry. As long as you marry Xinyi, how could Xinyi be sad? She will definitely be happy every day!"

"By the way, if you're getting married, shouldn't you announce it to the media first? That way, Wei's stock price won't fall any further!"

"Uncle, there's no rush," Lu Yanche said. "Before announcing the marriage, the milk powder incident at your company must also be resolved. Otherwise, the news of the Lu Group's eldest son marrying the daughter of a shady company will not be good for us."

Father Wei looked embarrassed. He didn't expect Lu Yanche to do this suddenly.

"Uncle, we are one." Lu Yanche gently patted Wei's father's shoulder and said soothingly, "Only by knowing the specific problem of this product can Lu's public relations team prescribe the right remedy, which is good for us all."

Father Wei gritted his teeth and said, "There's nothing wrong with our milk powder. We just added some protein powder! At most, it will cause some minor problems with their kidneys, but it won't kill them!"

"Parents nowadays really love their children too much! We didn't even have milk powder to drink back then; we only drank rice cereal! If there was something as good as milk powder, I'd drink it even if it had protein powder in it!"

The next day, Wei's father held a press conference.

First, to clarify the product issue, and second, to announce the marriage news of Lu Yanche and Wei Xinyi.

All the major news media outlets gathered there, cameras flashing. After a night's rest, Father Wei was no longer as depressed as before, but full of energy.

"The online rumors about problems with our Wei's milk powder are all nonsense fabricated by our opponents to suppress us!"

"We're holding a press conference today to clarify everything! If there really was something wrong with Wei's milk powder, how could we possibly have received investment from the Lu Group—"

With a "ding!", the projection screen behind Wei's father suddenly lit up, interrupting his speech.

Everyone looked at the projection screen curiously.

The originally black screen now displayed the test report of Wei's milk powder. It clearly stated that melamine was added to Wei's milk powder, and the amount was quite high, in order to increase the protein content in the milk powder!

There was an uproar at the scene, and the media reporters immediately pointed their cameras at the projection screen and took a lot of pictures.

Wei's father panicked, "This is a frame-up! This must be a competitor who photoshopped this picture to deliberately frame our Wei family!"

"There's nothing wrong with our milk powder. We just added some protein powder! At most, it will cause some minor kidney problems, but it won't kill them!"

"Parents nowadays really love their children too much! We didn't have milk powder to drink before, we only drank rice cereal! If there was something as good as milk powder, I would drink it even if it had protein powder in it!"

The live broadcast suddenly played the recording of Wei's father, and the two paragraphs were played in a loop, echoing throughout the press conference hall.

Even though "melamine" was not mentioned in the conversation from beginning to end, everyone knew what the "protein powder" was.

Wei's father's expression changed completely.

The old man's face was filled with despair, and he subconsciously argued, "This is all a frame-up! Someone is trying to frame us! The Lu Group is about to invest in our Wei Group, and President Lu is even marrying my daughter. How could there be a problem with our products? Go find President Lu! Go find President Lu!"

Wei's father asked his assistant to call Wei Xinyi and Lu Yanche, but when the assistant ran to the backstage, he only saw Wei Xinyi nervously reciting the press release, and Lu Yanche had disappeared.

Wei Xinyi's head buzzed.

Lu Yanche didn’t come?

How is that possible!

She hurried to the front desk and helped up the shocked Wei's father. They were surrounded by flash lights from reporters and media, who rushed over and pointed the microphones at the two of them.

In the chaos, Wei Xinyi looked everywhere for Lu Yanche, but saw nothing.

Wei Xinyi felt her mind go blank, and she couldn't say anything when facing the microphone.

The world was almost dark.

Despair swept over me.

At this moment, the door of the press conference hall suddenly opened and everyone looked towards the door.

The man, wearing a neat suit, walked towards the stage against the light.

He seemed out of place, remaining calm and composed amidst the chaos.

——Lu Yanche, it’s Lu Yanche!

Wei Xinyi's eyes instantly filled with tears, and the big tears quickly slid down her fair skin.

Father Wei also saw Lu Yanche and instantly perked up, "I told you, Lu Corporation wants to invest in us! Lu Yanche is going to marry Xinyi! There's nothing wrong with our product!"

Reporters dispersed and flocked to Lu Yanche for interviews. But everyone seemed to have a consensus; even though there was no security guard around Lu Yanche, they all consciously kept two meters away from him.

"Mr. Lu, Mr. Wei said that Lu Corporation wants to invest in Wei Corporation. Is this true?"

"Boss Wei said you're going to marry Wei Xinyi. Is that true? Wei Xinyi isn't the girl you like at all. Why are you still going to be with her?"

"Are you here to help the Wei family? Could it be that you regard Wei Xinyi as a substitute for your Bai Yueguang?!"

The reporters' questions were more pointed than each other.

But Lu Yanche didn't mind and went straight to the microphone closest to him.

"I came here to clarify two things."

"First, our Lu Corporation is a legitimate enterprise. How could we possibly invest in a company that produces inferior milk powder?"

"second,"

Lu Yanche looked at Wei Xinyi.

There was a gentle smile on his lips, but his eyes were like ice in the far north.

"Ms. Wei and I are just ordinary high school classmates. To be more precise, her half-sister and I are classmates. As for this person in front of me, I don't know him."

"It's even more impossible to get married."

With a loud "boom".

Lu Yanche's words were like a slap in the face, hitting Wei Xinyi and Wei's father hard on the head, sentencing them both to death.

The taut string in my heart suddenly broke.

Lu Yanche was not so superficial as to forgive Wei Xinyi just because of her appearance, so he never thought about marrying Wei Xinyi.

But he said yesterday that he would help them...

Wei Xinyi looked at Lu Yanche in despair and confusion, with those same gentle yet cold eyes, so cold that it chilled people to the bone.

Wei Xinyi suddenly understood.

——It’s revenge.

Because of the real Wei Xinyi's death, Lu Yanche is full of hatred and he is taking revenge on them!

Tell them they will invest, get married, give them a last glimmer of hope. Then give them a slap on the head, shattering all their hopes!

Seeing Wei Xinyi and Wei's father's desperate expressions, the pleasure of revenge in my heart could be fully felt.

Wei Xinyi and her father were handcuffed and taken away by the police.

She impersonated the real Wei Xinyi, not only pretending to be her to go to college, but also pretending to be her to inherit a large inheritance.

Wei's father was an accomplice. In addition, Wei's father was detained by the police for producing toxic milk powder.

Walking out of Wei's office building, Wei Xinyi saw Lu Yanche sitting in a low-key black Bentley not far away.

Lu Yanche got out of the Bentley, walked over to Wei Xinyi, and said to the two police officers next to him, "Can I have a chat with her?"

Considering that the evidence of Wei Xinyi's impersonation and the evidence of Wei's father producing toxic milk powder were provided by Lu Yanche, the police agreed.

It was a little after eight in the morning, and the warm sunlight shone through the towering glass buildings of the CBD, falling between the two of them.

Wei Xinyi raised her little face, her eyes red, and stared at Lu Yanche.

"Lu Yanche, I admit that I did take over my sister's identity and inherited everything she had... but I didn't do anything to hurt her!"

"My sister and aunt died in a car accident. It really has nothing to do with us! If you want to blame someone, blame my father. He cheated on me and killed my sister and aunt. What does it have to do with me?"

Wei Xinyi's voice was filled with tears. She fell to her knees with a plop. Her handcuffed hands grabbed Lu Yanche's trouser legs and pleaded pitifully, "Brother Yanche, please, please let me go, okay? I promise, I will return everything that belongs to my sister to her! I will never show up in the Wei family again! I will run away! Okay?"

She had no other options, and Lu Yanche was her last straw.

Lu Yanche leaned forward slightly and stared at Wei Xinyi, his eyes becoming increasingly cold.

"It's a pity, you shouldn't have hurt her."

"I didn't!" Wei Xinyi argued, "I didn't hurt her!"

Lu Yanche said coldly, "You hurt her hand."

"Impossible! I had never seen her before the accident! How could I have hurt her—"

The voice stopped abruptly, Wei Xinyi realized something and looked at Lu Yanche suddenly.

In a flash, she remembered Lu Yanyan who was scalded by a tinfoil bowl on the show, even though it was only a piece the size of a fingernail.

Lu Yanche had a blank expression on his face. "She is my bottom line."

All the dots were connected at that moment. Things that originally seemed irrational were also rationalized at that moment.

Wei Xinyi's eyes went blurry as she mumbled, "You didn't go to my class to peek at me back then... And now, you don't want to go on a blind date, let alone get married. You just need..."

Need a cover.

Both she and the real Wei Xinyi are just a cover.

Wei Xinyi suddenly laughed.

A self-deprecating smile.

Only now did she understand everything.

Lu Yanche is the CEO of Lu Group after all, how could he be so superficial and vulgar? She actually wanted to get Lu Yanche!

It was really that Lu Yanche's usual gentle and humble appearance was so bewitching.

Two policemen came over and said that the time was up and they wanted to take Wei Xinyi away.

"Yes,"

As they were leaving, Lu Yanche suddenly called out to Wei Xinyi, "You'd better be more self-aware about Lin Cha's situation."

Lu Yanche suddenly smiled, his smile as gentle and humble as ever.

"Yan Yan really likes to hear her talk about gossip. I don't want her to be unhappy because she can't eat gossip. So, I think you know clearly what you can and can't say."

Wei Xinyi suddenly felt a chill on her back, and she avoided Lu Yanche's gaze tremblingly.

"I, I understand."

Note 1: Quoted from the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China