Chapter 4  : The Past

I smiled.

Jing Tian, I’ll live up my promise to you. You’ve done so much for me, it’s time for me to make up to you. 

I will take my step one by one to become a woman worthy of your love. 

I bent over to pick up the math textbook. I touched the cover. M University, I will not give up this time! Since I can’t go back, then I shall turn over my life, for myself and for Jing Tian!

Father’s birthday was a banquet. All the important guests would be there. After all, the Nan Family was currently one of the more powerful families in the city. The chairman of the Nan Family, Nan Feng had all the power in his hands. After Nan Group was handed over to him, the empire grew bigger and bigger. There were many praises for him.

My grandfather only had 2 sons, the eldest son, Nan Feng and the second son, Nan Zheng.

My biological father was actually Nan Zheng. According to rumours, my grandfather split his family fortune among his two sons. However, my father got intermingled with the underground mafia. One day, he was killed alongside my mother by a gang.

I was there when they died in a car accident. Due to trauma, I lost my memory. My eldest uncle brought me home and adopted me. It was how I became the second young miss of the Nan Family, and why I called my uncle and my aunt, father and mother. Everyone had so much praise to sing when they talked about the top power couple at M City, Nan Feng and Li Yuan.

However, the praise didn’t extent to my generation, at least not fully.

The first young miss of the Nan Family, Nan Yang, was dignified, well-educated, courteous and virtuous.

In contrast, as the second young miss, I was far lacking compared to my elder sister. I had my looks and that was all. People called me a leech without any talent. Even the servants called me the black sheep of the family behind my back.

My aunt, Li Yuan’s maiden family was not particularly wealthy but at least Li Yuan graduated from a prestigious university, unlike my mother. People told me that my mother was a gang member who had seduced my father, tainting the Nan Family’s proud heritage.

Honestly I didn’t remember much from my childhood. Most of these were revealed to me by Jing Tian much later. To look into my past, Jing Tian had ruffled some feathers in the underworld.

The person who murdered my parents came after me to tie up loose ends. Jing Tian was often injured and almost lost his life because of me. This was the ‘inheritance’ my father left for me.

Jing Tian’s investigation did come up with something though. He found out that my father’s death wasn’t that simple. It was also quite curious how my uncle’s business had its biggest boom once my father died.

Sadly, Jing Tian still hadn’t found out the identity of the person who called the hit on my life.

Jing Tian helped me look into these things in order to ignite the hope of survival in hope, for me to find something to hang on to.

Unfortunately, I was simply uninterested. I didn’t care about the real cause of my parents’ death, nor was I interested in avenging them. It was because I had little to no memory of them.

Furthermore, I was being too selfish back then, immersed in my own pain. I muddled around for years, draining Jing Tian, my guardian both mentally and physically.

But Jing Tian, things have changed now. Since I’m given a chance to start over, I will not allow myself to slip into that deplorable state again! 

I wish to stand before you, pure and untainted. I wish to be your equal. I wish to become someone who you can be proud of. Only then can I live up to the responsibility of being your wife!

I entered the party. My fists clenched when I saw my eldest uncle, who was chatting and laughing with someone.

Perhaps I was given a second chance to settle accounts.

The cowardly Nan Xing had died in the sea. The naive Nan Xing had died in the past life.

This time, I would return to Jing Tian as the real and best version of Nan Xing.

“Nan Xing, why are you hiding here?” A pleasant voice rang out behind me. My heart trembled and my body chilled.

The plastic fork that I held snapped in half. The sharp ends cut into my palm. The pain jolted me awake.

Jing Ning! My ex-husband! No, wait, I haven’t married him yet. We’re still unrelated.

I slowly turned around.

The Jing Ning before me was only 23 years old. He was brimming with youthful energy. Jing Ning was the eldest grandson of the Jing Family. He was only 3 years younger than Jing Tian.

The Nan family and the Jing family were family friends. However, in terms of influence and wealth, the Jing Family was far superior to the Nan Family.

The reason the two families were friends was because my grandfather had once saved Old Master Jing’s life and since then the two families treated each other as relatives.

However, the members of the Nan Family always understood their place. Both my grandfather and my adopted father always treated the Jing Family with servile obeisance.

It was also due to this connection to the Jing Family that the Nan Family’s business expansion could be so successful at M City.