Haicheng, Prison.
"After you get out, don't look back. Live a good life."
Xu Yan turned around and bowed, trembling in end the bitterly cold wind.
Five years.
She was just twenty-one when she was imprisoned.
"Get in the car."
A black Maybach was parked by the curb. The voice of the man speaking was icy cold.
He was Xu Yan's brother, the "brother" she had called for twenty-one years, only to find out they were not related by blood.
"Brother…" Xu Yan's voice was hoarse, and she looked down somewhat awkwardly.
"I'm not your brother, don't disgust me." Xu Chen's face turned cold as he checked the time. "You stole twenty-one years of my sister's life and caused her to suffer endless humiliation in that family. What right do you have to call me brother?"
Xu Yan's chapped lips moved, but in the end, she couldn't say a word.
The only young lady of the Xu family in Haicheng, Xu Yan, was actually the child of a nanny. The real young lady of the Xu family had been secretly replaced by the nanny.
"I'm sorry…" After a long silence, Xu Yan apologized with her hoarse voice.
Falsely accused of extortion, she learned to back down and apologize during her five years in prison to survive. She would even kneel down and beg for mercy at any time and place if needed.
Once, she was the distinguished young lady of the Xu family, pampered and adored by her brother, doted upon by her parents.
One day, however, the real Miss Xu, ragged and shabby, barged into her life.
In one night, her biological mother became a criminal and she was deemed the culprit who switched their lives, making her the scapegoat that everyone in Haicheng despised.
No one cared that when she was swapped by her biological mother, she was just a baby in swaddling clothes. She didn't have a choice.
"Sorry? A mere apology can compensate for all the harm your family has done to Xuexia?" Xu Chen's voice was cold, and he looked at Xu Yan with disgust. "Get in the car."
He found Xu Yan repulsive, not even wanting to touch her.
Once, the brother who loved to hold her, commenting on how beautiful 'our Yan Yan' was, now wishes her dead.
"I… I’m dirty…" Xu Yan gave a bitter smile, took a step back, and dared not get in the car.
Xu Chen furrowed his brows, giving Xu Yan a once-over.
Once, Xu Yan, living a life of a wealthy lady for twenty-one years, was seen as a delicate gem in the palm, glinting brilliantly in everyone's eyes.
Now, she was covered in dust, pale and thin, as if meekness had seeped into her very bones.
Clearly, she didn't fare well inside.
“Don't make me a repeat, get in the car!" Xu Chen glared at Xu Yan. "Xueluo got into trouble, aren't you thrilled? Come to the hospital with me. Repay her what you owe!"
Xu Yan's gaze faltered as she dodged his, suddenly feeling a bit scared.
When she got out of the detention center, she thought she was hallucinating. How could her brother come to pick her up? Everyone in the Xu family was supposed to hate her.
But Xu Chen came.
He came, naturally not for her.
"What does that mean..." Xu Yan trembled a bit.
"Xue Luo had a car accident and needs a kidney transplant; it's what you owe her," Xu Chen rumpled his eyebrows and spoke in a deep voice.
Xu Yan took a deep breath and took a step back. The instinct to survive made her turn around and run.
"Xu Yan, you're as malicious as ever."
She hadn't run far when someone violently grabbed her wrist and threw her to the ground.
Splayed on the ground in an ungracious manner, Xu Yan's forehead hit the curbstones, blood gushing out.
This voice...cold, yet familiar.
She turned her head to look, and Xu Yan, out of fear, curled up her legs.
Gu Zhe Yu, her ex-fiance, was also one who fabricated evidence of extortion and personally sent her to jail.
"This is what you owe Xue Luo." Gu Zhe Yu pronounced each word, pulling Xu Yan back into the abyss of hell just as she stepped out of prison.
She thought that once she was out of jail, she would be free.
In court, she had no explanation, nor the strength to give one.
She thought that admitting guilt, five years in prison would redeem all her sins, but it was far from enough.
"Hurry up and get her to the hospital, Xue Luo is still waiting," Xu Chen said, a little impatiently.
"What if she refuses?" the driver asked.
"Refuse? Her life should be Snow Luo's to claim. What right does she have to refuse?" Gu Zhe Yu sneered, roughly grabbing Xu Yan's chin. "Your wicked birth mother still lays in prison. If you wish for her to survive, you best behave yourself and trade one of your kidneys in exchange."
Xu Yan's trembling body began to stiffen. As expected, the hell was just beginning once she left jail.
If she wanted to survive in the clutch of these demons, she had to tirelessly claw her way up.
In all of Sea City, the only man who could protect her was the President of Gu Corporation, Gu Chen Yan, Gu Zhe Yu's elder brother.
