The sun rose lazily over Shuilan, spilling light through the mist-covered hills. The small town was already awake — chickens clucking, vendors setting up stalls, and women exchanging news like coins.
And today, the name whispered through every corner of the market was Xu Ling.
"She's the one Mr. Wang brought in, right?"
"They say she drowned and he saved her himself."
"A city woman, I heard. Must've been trouble for him to take interest."
"Trouble, or love?"
The words floated like smoke, sweet and poisonous all at once.
Xu Ling heard pieces of it as she walked past — the smiles that lingered too long, the curiosity in every stare.
She carried her small basket of vegetables as if it were armor, pretending the whispers didn't sting.
Wang Zheng had warned her: the countryside may seem peaceful, but it thrived on stories.
And now, she was one.
---
The Visit to Golden Spoon
Later that week, Wang Zheng insisted she visit the town's "social hub" — The Golden Spoon, a tea-and-cutlery school where elite wives gathered to gossip under the guise of refinement.
Xu Ling hesitated. "I don't belong there."
He only gave her a look. "You need to learn how they think. In the capital, this kind of place decides reputations faster than truth does."
He wasn't wrong.
So, dressed in a simple pale dress, she followed his housekeeper, Mrs. Zhao, into the Golden Spoon's shimmering hall.
The building was elegant — pale wood, flowing curtains, paintings of lotus ponds and calligraphy gracing the walls. The women there were all jewels and perfume, their laughter polished and sharp.
At the center stood Madam Lin, the Golden Spoon's owner — graceful, poised, and almost intimidatingly beautiful. Her presence silenced the room with a single glance.
"Ah," Madam Lin said, her voice smooth as silk, "you must be Mr. Wang's guest."
Xu Ling bowed politely. "Thank you for having me."
Madam Lin studied her quietly — the simple dress, the modest smile, the faint shadow in her eyes. Then she smiled.
"Beautiful, but untrained," she murmured to no one in particular. "We'll fix that."
The other ladies laughed — not cruelly, but with that familiar sharpness of women testing one another.
Xu Ling kept her expression calm, though her palms trembled.
They talked of art, etiquette, and the capital's latest scandals — names she recognized but dared not react to.
Then came the question that made the room fall silent.
"Tell us, Miss Xu," one of the wives asked with a smirk, "what does Mr. Wang see in you?"
Xu Ling froze.
Madam Lin's fan snapped shut. "Enough," she said lightly, though her eyes were cold. "In my school, we measure grace by silence, not gossip."
The tension eased, replaced by awkward laughter. Xu Ling exhaled slowly.
When the lesson ended, Madam Lin approached her privately. "You handled that well," she said softly. "You don't need to prove yourself here. Still…" — her eyes softened — "be careful. Women talk, and men listen."
Xu Ling bowed slightly. "Thank you."
As she left, she felt the weight of every gaze follow her. The rumors were already growing legs.
---
At Wang Zheng's Estate
When Xu Ling returned that evening, the servants were bustling.
The house had changed since she arrived — warmer, livelier. The staff adored her kindness, though some whispered behind her back out of habit.
The chef, Old Luo, a loyal man in his fifties, greeted her with a grin. "Miss Xu! You went to the Golden Spoon today?"
"Yes."
He chuckled, stirring a pot of soup. "They gossip more than they cook there. But you — you look calmer."
"I'm learning," she said, smiling faintly. "Slowly."
Upstairs, Wang Zheng watched her through the window from his study — not in secrecy, but in quiet curiosity.
There was something about her calm resilience that unsettled him. She didn't demand attention. She earned it by existing.
When she looked up suddenly and met his gaze through the glass, he turned away, pretending to focus on his documents. But his reflection betrayed a faint smile.
---
Meanwhile, in the Capital...
Li Wei sat in his private office, eyes bloodshot from sleepless nights.
He had replayed every conversation, every word Xu Ling had said before she disappeared.
The reports his investigators sent back gave no hope — no trace, no record, nothing.
"She's gone, sir," his assistant said carefully. "The current would have—"
"Don't finish that sentence," Li Wei snapped.
When the assistant left, Li Wei leaned back, covering his face with his hands.
He thought about the night she came to him, trembling and pale, whispering, I'm pregnant.
He thought about how he had laughed bitterly, accused her of lies, thrown her out in front of everyone.
Now the memory burned like acid.
He stared at the pendant lying on his desk — the one she'd left behind. A chipped jade piece, delicate and old.
"I'll find you," he murmured, his voice breaking. "Even if you hate me forever."
---
At the Chen Estate…
Chen Heo paced the study. "We've traced her to the Shuilan region," he said to his father. "After the hospital, there's no record. Someone's hiding her."
The patriarch frowned. "Or protecting her. That pendant wasn't given lightly. Whoever holds it is family."
Chen Heo hesitated. "Then what do we do?"
The old man's gaze hardened. "Bring her home quietly. Before the world realizes the Chen bloodline has returned."
---
Back in Shuilan...
That night, Xu Ling sat by the veranda, humming softly while sewing tiny clothes — ones she'd started making for the babies she carried.
Wang Zheng stepped out with a cup of tea, pausing when he saw her.
He watched the small, careful movements of her hands, the faint smile that touched her lips.
"You should rest," he said quietly.
"I'm fine," she replied. "It helps me forget."
He hesitated, then asked, "Forget what?"
She met his gaze. "Everything I lost."
For the first time, something in his calm expression cracked. He wanted to tell her that she hadn't lost everything — that some things, like second chances, find you when you least expect them.
But instead, he only said, "Then I'll make sure you never lose again."
Xu Ling smiled faintly. "You talk like a man who can fight fate."
"I don't fight it," Wang Zheng said, eyes softening. "I buy time until it changes its mind."
The words made her laugh quietly — the kind of laugh that felt like light returning to her chest.
---
Meanwhile…
The next morning, gossip spread like wildfire across Shuilan.
They said Mr. Wang had brought a mysterious woman into his estate.
They said she smiled at him under the moonlight.
They said she was carrying his child.
And as the rumors grew, so did the storm that fate was quietly preparing to unleash — one that would shake the entire capital.
---