The night after the gala burned into the city's memory like an unextinguished ember. Videos of Han Xinyao's public disgrace dominated every social media platform. Hashtags like #PhoenixReturns and #LiZeyanWife trended globally.
But for Feng Yuxi, the storm had only just begun.
She sat in the backseat of Li Zeyan's Maybach, eyes closed, head resting against the window as the city lights flickered past. Her scarlet dress had been exchanged for a sleek, dark velvet coat that cloaked her like the night itself. The events of the evening echoed in her mind — Tianyu's stunned expression, Xinyao's downfall, the crowd's rising awe.
It wasn't satisfaction she felt.
It was calculated advancement.
One pawn removed. One square forward.
"Are you pleased with your performance?" Li Zeyan's voice finally broke the silence, smooth like aged whiskey.
Yuxi opened her eyes. The man beside her hadn't looked at her, his gaze fixed on the tablet in his hand — perhaps reading financial updates, perhaps watching the replays of the gala.
"Which one?" she replied. "The scene I caused or the chaos I silenced?"
He turned slightly, his expression unreadable.
"Both."
Her lips curved. "Then yes. It was efficient."
Zeyan stared at her for a long beat. "You planned all of this from the beginning, didn't you?"
Yuxi met his gaze without flinching. "You knew I wasn't ordinary when you married me, Mr. Li."
He didn't reply immediately. Instead, he clicked off the screen and set the tablet down.
"You humiliated the Gu family in front of every major media house. You've made enemies tonight, not just in the Feng bloodline."
"Enemies," Yuxi said, her voice low and almost amused, "are only dangerous when you don't see them coming. I prefer mine out in the open."
He chuckled faintly. "You're dangerous."
She turned her head, expression soft but distant. "You have no idea."
Scene Shift: Feng Estate Ruins
While the elites whispered and media buzzed, far away from the glamour, deep in the mountains surrounding the outskirts of the capital, a forgotten estate lay hidden among vines and time.
Feng Manor.
Once the ancestral home of the Feng family. Now boarded, abandoned, burned.
But that night, someone returned.
A man dressed in black knelt at the charred steps. He brushed away the soot near the old phoenix emblem, revealing an engraved crest: half-phoenix, half-dragon.
He tapped his comm.
"She's back. And she's awake."
A cold voice answered, "Phase Two?"
The man hesitated, then said, "We proceed. Begin unlocking the vault. She's about to remember everything."
Scene Shift: Li Residence – Midnight
Back at Li Zeyan's private villa, Yuxi stood on the rooftop balcony, gazing into the city skyline. Her phoenix tattoo caught the moonlight, a glimmer of defiance etched into flesh.
She was alone, or so she thought.
"I never asked," came Zeyan's voice behind her, "why you chose me."
She didn't turn. "Because no one else could protect me from what's coming."
"And what exactly is coming?" he asked.
Yuxi's fingers tightened on the cold stone railing. She hadn't planned to reveal this yet. But something in his tone — cautious but sincere — made her speak.
"My family didn't just fall," she said slowly. "They were hunted."
Zeyan's eyes narrowed.
"Hunted?"
"Systematically. Erased. My parents died in a car crash that was no accident. I was framed. My fortune was buried. The heir was supposed to be me. And someone didn't want that to happen."
She finally turned to him, her eyes gleaming.
"I wasn't supposed to survive."
Zeyan took a step closer. The shadows of his power and hers collided in that small space between them.
"Then why come back?"
Yuxi stared at him, something fierce and heartbreaking burning behind her gaze.
"To find the one who wanted me dead. And end them."
Scene Shift: The Hacker's Game
Elsewhere, in a room filled with glowing monitors and lazy music, a young boy with obsidian eyes and wild hair was typing away furiously.
He was watching the gala footage. Again.
A digital image of Li Zeyan stood on one screen.
"Target Match: 89.4% Facial Similarity."
The boy frowned.
Again, he reran the code.
Same result.
He glanced at the photo of his mother — younger, smiling, holding a baby in her arms.
"Mom," he muttered, "who is he really?"
Just then, a new signal pinged in his code.
A cyber-snake trying to slither into his system.
He grinned.
"Nice try."
He cracked his knuckles.
And counter-hacked.
Scene Shift: Han Xinyao's Fallout
Meanwhile, Han Xinyao had been dragged out of the gala by security, humiliated and sobbing. She'd tried to salvage her career, but her agent had already abandoned her. The Gu family had pulled their name from every contract. Her social media had turned into a graveyard of hate comments and ridicule.
But it wasn't over.
Not for her.
Not yet.
Sitting in the dark of her shattered apartment, she stared at a small wooden box.
She opened it.
Inside was a single envelope with no sender. The paper was thick, textured, with a red wax seal.
She broke it.
Inside: a photo of Feng Yuxi as a child — and a note.
"You failed. But we never do."
— C.S.
Back at the Li Villa – Final Moments
Yuxi returned to her bedroom, the warmth of the rooftop still lingering in her blood. Zeyan hadn't pressed further after her confession. But she knew he would begin investigating now — in his own way.
Let him.
She needed him to.
But as she approached the bed, something caught her eye.
A white envelope sat neatly on the pillow.
It hadn't been there before.
She froze.
No sound. No footsteps. No signs of intrusion.
She picked it up.
It was unmarked.
Inside, only one sentence:
"The fire didn't kill your brother. We did."
Yuxi's breath stopped.
The ground under her tilted.
Her brother — the one she had mourned for six years — had been murdered?
By them?
Her hands curled into fists.
The phoenix wasn't done rising.
Not yet.