Yu Xinjie felt like the ground had slipped from under her feet. One moment, she was winning, and now, suddenly everything had turned. Yu Yaoyao had Shen Yichong listening to the call by her side. She even recorded her call. She had always been so careful about everything. She made sure she called Yu Yoayao after the transaction, so she didn’t leave any written evidence behind. But today, in her panic she had handed the evidence to Yu Yaoyao on a silver platter.

“Yu Yaoyao, you are absolutely shameless…,” she said, red-eyed, trying to hold back her tears. She had sold the news to the reporters trying to defame Yu Yaoyao and made sure to be careful about it, keeping her identity hidden. And now, suddenly, everything was spoilt.

Yu Yaoyao scoffed. “Me?” she said, “You blackmail me, you try to destroy my career and reputation and you call me shameless? From which angle am I the shameless one, sister?”

“You scold me like that,” said Yu Xinjie, “You threaten me and scare me.”

“By the way,” continued Yu Yaoyao, “I seem to have forgotten a bit. What evidence were you going to give to the reporters?”

What should I do? Yu Xinjie thought frantically. She felt goosebumps rise along her arm. She felt cold and scared. If Yu Yaoyao gave this recording to the reporters, she is done for. Her life in China would be like a street rat’s, spit and scorned by everybody. She was so numb and shocked that tears flowed from her eyes.

“I was just joking with you, sister,” she said, trying to placate Yu Yaoyao, “It was just a game like we used to play when we were young.”

Yu Yaoyao gave a snort. “A game?” she retorted vehemently, “Do you mean those games where we would play hide-and-seek and you made sure to quietly take your friends and leave me at the garbage dump, alone and scared? Or the ones where you had me pretend like I was your husband’s mistress and you would beat me for real? You used to say they were innocent games as well.”

Yu Yaoyao had thought that the original Yu Yaoyao in her body was really silly to the point of stupidity where she had let her stepmother and sister trample all over her. But looking back at her memories, she realized that original Yu Yaoyao had been so pitiful, thinking her stepmother and stepsister would love her if she did everything they wanted, to the point of being abused and hit by them.

Yu Xinjie swallowed in fear. She had treated Yu Yaoyao very badly when they were young, and now those memories would be her downfall. She couldn’t give any excuses because they weren’t children anymore.

“Sister…,” she said softly. She couldn’t form any more words that would refute her. She had nothing to say in her defense.

“Yaoyao,” said Zhao Mei into the phone, snatching it away from Yu Xinjie. “Listen to me. Even if Yu Xinjie has threatened you out of impulse, don’t you remember how well I treated you when I first came here? I have always loved you both equally. Your father didn’t trust me with money, so he would give me meagre allowance only enough to cover the household expenses. But I used money from my own savings to buy you gifts. For my sake, forgive Yu Xinjie. What she did today was very wrong. Please accept my apology on her behalf.”

Yu Xinjie looked at her mother, taken aback. Her mother was trying her best to save her. She was always so uptight and bowing to none, yet right now, she was apologizing to Yu Yaoyao just to save her. Tears flowed down Yu Xinjie’s face. Why would you bow down on my behalf?

Yu Xinjie reached a hand to get her phone back, but Zhao Mei slapped her hand away. Zhao Mei clutched the phone to her ears and wept. She no longer cared about her elegant image.

“Yaoyao, do you still consider me your mother?” asked Zhao Mei, “You always said you wanted me to be your second mother. I was so nice to you.”

“I remember you saying the same thing many times, Aunt Zhao,” said Yu Yaoyao without emotion. “Every time when you asked for money from me, or when you forced me to ask Shen Yichong for money, you would say the same thing. You always guilt-tripped me into asking for more money. I know your dialogue word for word.”

Zhao Mei looked shocked. “Yaoyao, I—”

Her sentence was cut short by Yu Yaoyao. “You said you were so nice to me that you would buy me gifts,” she said, “Tell me, the scarf you supposedly bought for me once. Is it not true that these ‘gifts’ you talk about were the leftovers or things disliked by Yu Xinjie. You always gave me the second hand clothes that Yu Xinjie didn’t like. That brooch that you always boasted about giving to me, wasn’t it old and you wanted to discard it and found me to give it to, so you could lament to my father on your ‘sacrifice’, wanting a new diamond one? Was that the ‘love and affection’ that you boast about as a mother to me?”

The corner of Zhao Mei’s mouth trembled. “Yaoyao,” she said, “What are you talking about? I never….”

On the other side of the phone call, Yu Yaoyao was sprawled on the big hotel bed and her slender arms were wrapped around Shen Yichong’s waist. As she heard her mother and sister’s words, she rolled her eyes.

In the original plot of the novel, these details were unknown. But towards the end of her life, Yu Yaoyao was humiliated by Yu Xinjie while in paralysis at the hospital. The original owner of the body had broken down upon realizing that she had always been alone, and her mother and sister had never loved her. Broken with so many emotions, the original Yu Yaoyao had taken her own life after hearing about her son’s death. Yu Yaoyao won’t let that happen here. She recalled the plot of the original story and her hand on Shen Yichong’s arm gripped tighter. He stroked her hair trying to soothe her.

Since the day she had possessed the original Yu Yaoyao’s body, she had sworn to help her. She wanted to give Yu Yaoyao her justice and reclaim everything she would have lost.

“Enough!” she thundered. They were trying to paint themselves as the victim. They were so shameless, indeed. If Yu Yaoyao wasn’t aware of the real plot she would have fallen for their cries and tears, but not anymore. “Your maternal love that you boast about is not even worth a fart. You have always exploited me. Who are you trying to convince right now?”