Love in the Midst of Mistaken Identities

Mi Dongfeng simply sat on the spot and started counting the money note by note. His face was lit up with greed as he narrowed his eyes looking like a hungry wolf.

“Next time, remember to bring me more money. Or else, I can’t guarantee that I can keep my mouth shut.”

Li Manni’s hands were gripping tightly by her sides, refusing to say a word.

Everywhere was surrounded by the smell of garbage. She covered her mouth, unable to take in the smell any longer as she wondered if it was coming from the disgusting man or this place.

Shortly after, she stumbled out of that place. Her fingernails were sinking so deeply into her palms that it became a searing pain which only intensified her hatred. With whom? She hated Mi Dongfeng who had invaded her body forcefully, and Xia Ruoxin who always seemed to come back from the dead to destroy her life.

She leaned against the side and vomited again.

At the same time, she truly felt extremely helpless and with a grievance that she wanted to cry.

“Miss, are you alright?” A samaritan approached her and asked Li Manni worriedly.

“Get away from me!” Li Manni turned around and ordered. The samaritan jumped in fright, and he grumbled, “It doesn’t pay well to be kind; she has mistaken me for a bad person.”

Li Manni shut her eyes and exhaled hard. She opened her bag, took out her foundation pack, and began to apply it on her face. When she was confident that her complexion was better, she carried her bag and finally walked away with her head held high.

Once she reached home, she sat on the sofa without moving a muscle. It felt as though all her energy had been sucked out completely from her.

Suddenly, her mobile phone rang. It gave her such a fright that she jumped. Then, she took her phone out and wanted to instinctively throw it away. However, she was afraid that it was that man, Mi Dongfeng.

The mobile phone’s ringing sound resembled wild shrieks and howls. She was so unsettled by it that one of her hands began to claw at the surface of the sofa like a cat. As she clawed, the claw marks embedded themselves on her heart.

She held the phone tightly in her hand until to the extent that she wanted to crush its metal casing with her hand.

It wasn’t until the third ring that the grip on her hand began to loosen. However, her eyes remained tightly shut. Not him... not him... please do not let it be him. That man was the devil—the scariest devil she had ever met in her entire life.

The indicator light on the phone screen kept flickering. Once she saw the name on the screen, she finally breathed out a sigh in relief. No, it wasn’t him. It really wasn’t.

She placed the phone in her ear, and she could feel the tremor in her own voice.

“Mom, what is it?”

Mrs. Li sounded impatient at the other end. “Manni, what were you doing just now? What took you so long to answer the call?”

“I was busy.” Li Manni rested her hand on her chest. Her heart was still pounding in unease. Yet, she could finally breathe in relief as the suppressed dullness began to lift itself away from her chest bit by bit.

Mrs. Li’s rapid and thunderous voice roared from the other end of the phone. “Manni, you must come back with Chu Lui this weekend. Your future sister-in-law is coming for dinner.”

“Okay, I understand.” Li Manni might have agreed, but in her heart, she truly didn’t feel like going back. She knew what her mother was trying to say. Each time when her brother brought his girlfriend back, she would always want Li Manni and Chu Lui to be present. It was her way of showing off their superiority to the girlfriends to let them know that they have an outstanding son-in-law like Chu Lui. Although the Li family was considered a successful enterprise within the industry, in comparison with the Chu Enterprise, their difference was like heaven and earth. Their daughter, Li Manni, had married so well. How could their eldest son, Li Manxuan settle for someone lesser?

Her brother had so many girlfriends, and she had not bothered to keep track. Every time, her mother would find faults with his girlfriend and picked on them. Yet, this concerned her parental home. There was nothing much that she could say. If this continued, she was worried that her parents would offend all their business partners.

Now, their family status had elevated because of Chu Lui. One would weigh one’s consequences before one wanted to start a war with her family. However, what if one day they were no longer under Chu Lui’s protection? What would they do? At the thought of this, she shuddered and broke into a cold sweat.

At night, Li Manni made a cup of coffee out of habit and brought it to Chu Lui in his study. She knocked gently on the door.

“Lui, I’m coming in.”

“Okay.” Chu Lui replied from within. There wasn’t much emotion in his voice. Instead, it sounded cold so cold that Li Manni shuddered uncontrollably.

She pushed the door open and entered. Chu Lui’s fingers were constantly typing on the keyboard. Recently, he had been spending a lot of time on the computer. Li Manni couldn’t help but be suspicious. However, she didn’t think much about it as she put the coffee on the table and stood aside.

“Is there something else that you need?” Chu Lui asked, simply not bothering to look up. He knew Li Manni had not left.

Li Manni could feel her heart spasming. When had he become this cold and distant towards her? Did he know about the things she had done to Xia Ruoxin in the past? Was he disappointed with her? Did he pity Xia Ruoxin? Or was he in despair with himself?

Regardless of the reason, he no longer treated her like how he did in the past.

She smiled bitterly. There was no one she could blame.

“Lui, my mom wanted us to go back for dinner this weekend,” she said in a soft and pleading voice.

“Okay.” Chu Lui’s voice remained the same. He had been putting all his concentration on the computer screen. Li Manni’s face went pale as she bit on her lips and, at the same time, fighting the urge to smash the screen.

Her fisted hands started to relax by her sides, balled into fists, and then relaxed again. At last, she turned around and left the room. Yet, she was unaware that Chu Lui had chosen this second to look up from his computer screen. The look in his narrowed eyes was thoughtful.

Click. The door closed. Once again, his eyes went back to the screen.

His fingers ran around the keyboard typing speedily. The study was filled with the sound of his typing, and the rhythm of the keys being pressed sounded crisp.

A Sunny Day will Come: “If a man had done wrong, but he has repented now. Do you think he would be forgiven?”

Xia Ruoxin looked up from her sketchbook, and she moved the mouse to click on the message.

Summer’s Not Over: “Is this the theme for the next one?”

The other party took a long time to reply.

A Sunny Day will Come: “You can say so. What do you think?”

Summer’s Not Over: “That depends. Some people can be forgiven, but some are not.”

A Sunny Day will Come: “What about you?”

Summer’s Not Over: “Me? I won’t.”

She typed those words without a thought. She wouldn’t be able to forgive because there was a man who had done unacceptable things to her. He had resorted to unscrupulous ways to force her, a woman, into despair. Why did he deserve her forgiveness? That kind of man was not worth forgiving.

A Sunny Day will Come: “Do you hate him?”