Chapter 1 “Da Fa, Jin He is out…

Busan, a certain coffee shop.

Sunlight streamed through the wooden lattice window, casting bright spots of light on the walnut-colored floor.

On a table draped with a light blue velvet cloth sat a bouquet of blooming freesias, a white porcelain plate with a slice of strawberry cake, a cherry ice cream parfait, and an orange latte.

A gentle-looking young woman sat at the table. Her skin was fair, her figure slender from behind, and her long, smooth black hair hung obediently down her back.

The desserts were enticingly presented, yet she seemed to lack interest, resting her chin on her hand and gazing lazily out the window.

A row of hydrangeas, in shades of blue and purple, was planted outside the wall. They peeked in by the window, swaying with the wind.

After watching the flowers for a moment, her phone on the table suddenly vibrated, spoiling the mood.

She picked it up and saw that someone had just posted on the school forum.

It was an anonymous post containing a few candid photos. In the pictures, a man and a woman were sitting and chatting at a streetside dessert shop. The girl was pretty but unfamiliar, someone she hadn’t seen before. The man was Jin He, the young master of the well-known chaebol, the Hanlin Group.

This Jin He had another identity: her fiancé.

This was also the reason why everyone was now constantly tagging and questioning her.

She swiped her finger, casually scanning the comments on the forum.

“Da Fa, Jin He has another woman?”

“Does Xia Mi La know?”

“It seems like Mi La isn’t in Seoul recently.”

“So he’s cheating while his fiancée is away?”

“Isn’t their relationship really good? They’re always seen together, and they’re childhood sweethearts.”

“Not really. The way they interact seems just so-so, like they’re just being polite and respectful to each other.”

“Jin He doesn’t seem to like Xia Mi La. If it weren’t for her family background, Jin He would never have gotten engaged to her.”

“Will there be news of them breaking off the engagement soon?”

“Impossible. Everyone knows Xia Mi La likes Jin He the most. Even if Jin He has another woman, with her personality, she’d probably just turn a blind eye.”

Xia Mi La read up to this point and indifferently closed the page.

She pretended not to see all the inquiries, whether in private messages or group chats, and replied to none of them.

Someone, growing anxious after a long wait for a response, called her directly.

“Mi La, where are you now? Didn’t you see the pictures I sent you?” Xu Lian Yi’s anxious voice came from the other end of the line.

This was Xia Mi La’s best friend, calling out of genuine concern.

“What on earth is going on with that guy Jin He?” she continued, firing off questions like a machine gun. “How dare he go on a date with another woman?”

In contrast to her friend’s urgency, Xia Mi La, the one passively caught in the incident, appeared composed and serene.

She unhurriedly picked up the orange latte and took a light sip. Only after Xu Lian Yi’s last word had fallen did she slowly reply, “I don’t know, Yi Yi.”

Xu Lian Yi was momentarily speechless. “That’s true. You’re not even in Seoul, what would you know? But hasn’t Jin He explained anything to you? I questioned that guy, but he didn’t reply at all.”

“No,” Xia Mi La answered.

At that moment, a commotion outside the window caught her attention.

The chaotic sound of footsteps and shouting came from a distance, followed by a group of people running past the window. Several people were chasing one person, accompanied by shouts like, “Let’s see you run!”, “You’re dead today, kid!”, and “Shibal!”

Xia Mi La was slightly distracted but still heard her friend’s complaints. She comforted her in a soft voice, “They were just candid photos. We don’t know the truth of the matter. Let’s wait until I get back.”

Xu Lian Yi was helpless. “I guess that’s all we can do. Come back quickly.”

She was furious on her friend’s behalf.

In the past, Mi La would always spend her holidays with Jin He. This time, on a rare trip away, her fiancé was caught on camera on a date with another pretty girl. It made her want to scoff internally—men were truly unreliable!

Though she found Jin He utterly displeasing, she didn’t mention it to Xia Mi La, because Xia Mi La really liked Jin He. Hearing such words would surely hurt her feelings.

Yes, hurt. Xu Lian Yi had called precisely because she was worried Xia Mi La would be hurt. But it was only after hanging up that she realized she hadn’t sensed any sadness from Xia Mi La during the call.

Her attitude and tone were very different from usual. Though just as gentle, she was a little too calm.

In the end, it was she who had been comforted by Xia Mi La during the call.

What was going on… Xu Lian Yi thought she must have been too agitated by the incident, that Xia Mi La was so hurt she had become numb. Yes, that must be it.

With her soft personality, she would probably feel helpless and lost in a situation like this.

So, she had to find out the details first, then wait for her to come back and comfort her properly.

Xia Mi La put down her phone. The ice cream in the cherry parfait had melted a little. She picked up a spoon and took a small scoop of ice cream.

Jin He probably knew he had been exposed on the forum, but no message came to explain.

However, Xia Mi La wasn’t as completely ignorant of the matter as she had just told Xu Lian Yi.

She knew.

She had transmigrated into a book.

This was actually a heart-wrenching campus romance manhwa set in a chaebol academy.

She had become the female lead, the heiress of the Xiahong Group, and Jin He was the male lead of this manhwa.

The two were childhood sweethearts and had been engaged early on. But in their second year of high school, a commoner girl appeared out of nowhere, and Jin He became infatuated with her, leading to a torturous love triangle. The female lead was emotionally and physically abused, and in the end, she had no choice but to give up, and the two broke off their engagement. Only after losing her did he learn to cherish her. At that point, Jin He had a sudden awakening, realized the female lead was the best, and turned back to desperately win her back. He eventually moved her, and the two reconciled.

It was a very standard “chasing wife in the crematorium” story.

Xia Mi La was a little troubled because she was a complete sucker for soft approaches and was truly the type to soften easily.

However, she had no interest in angsty romance, and pestering a man was not her style. Since Jin He was infatuated with someone else, she could totally let them be together.

Of course, now was not a good time to break off the engagement.

She could wait a bit longer, until Jin He came to beg her. Let him take the blame, let him trade benefits for it—killing two birds with one stone would be best.

This summer vacation was the beginning of the story. The girl in the photo was the second female lead in the manhwa, the commoner girl named Pei Duo Xing.

Originally, this incident was supposed to trigger the first intense argument between the female lead and Jin He… Given her character setting, it wasn’t really an argument. More accurately, Jin He would fly into a rage because of her questioning, while she would just sit aside, whimpering and crying.

Xia Mi La had no interest in this plotline, so instead of following the original story, she left Seoul and came to Busan for a family mission.

After drinking half her coffee, the department head called. She stood up and walked toward the door.

The family’s Maybach was waiting by the roadside.

After Xia Mi La stepped outside, she faintly heard the same noisy sounds from before.

She followed the sound and looked toward the end of the road. Under a wisteria trellis, a few hooligans were fighting.

More accurately, one person was taking on several others. The kid who had been threatened earlier wasn’t “dead” as they had claimed. He didn’t seem to be at a disadvantage even when fighting one against five.

His back was to her, so she couldn’t see his face. Xia Mi La could only see that he had broad shoulders, long legs, a tall frame, and agile movements.

“Miss.” The head of the secretarial department got out of the car and opened the door for her. He glanced in the direction she was looking and commented, “Wild kids with no future.”

Xia Mi La neither agreed nor disagreed, retracting her gaze and getting into the car.

*

Her destination for this trip was an orphanage sponsored by the Xiahong Group.

The director of the orphanage was waiting at the entrance with the children, along with two reporters.

As soon as Xia Mi La got out of the car, she started playing with the children.

Although it was a task arranged by her family, she wasn’t perfunctory. She patiently played with the children and earnestly followed the director on a tour. In the end, besides presenting the cash check from the group, she also personally promised to donate some practical furniture and appliances to improve the children’s living conditions.

The female director was beaming with joy, unable to close her mouth, and thanked her profusely.

“You’re welcome,” Xia Mi La smiled gently at her. “I can see you’re very dedicated and have taken good care of the children.”

The building was a bit old, but the rooms were bright and clean, and everything was tidy. The meals were simple but had a good balance of meat and vegetables. The children’s clothes were plain, but the smiles on their faces were not feigned, proving that they lived well here.

“It’s what I ought to do,” the female director said humbly.

Xia Mi La’s mission in Busan was complete, but she was in no hurry to leave.

“You can go about your business,” she said to the director. “I’ll just wander around on my own.”

The director exchanged a few pleasantries and didn’t disturb her further.

Xia Mi La didn’t wander far, just stayed on the first-floor corridor, standing in front of the bulletin board looking at the children’s drawings and activity photos.

She looked from one end to the other. In the very last section, she saw individual photos of all the children in the orphanage, neatly arranged in rows.

With nothing better to do, Xia Mi La casually scanned them one by one.

She could match several of the photos with the innocent faces of the children she had just played with.

As she looked through them and reached the very last photo, she froze slightly.

The photo was of a boy who looked to be about her age. He had a pair of heroic eyebrows, dark and deep eyes, and a straight, high nose bridge. He was wearing a high school uniform, his lips slightly pursed, his expression a little untamed.

The reason Xia Mi La froze was not because the boy’s appearance was more outstanding than an idol’s.

It was because the face in the photo was almost identical to her fiancé’s.

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