Chapters
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Over the next three weeks, Diệu My and Thành Đạt had to meet more often to make the "contract" convincing: dinners with both families, appearances at social events, even planning a weekend trip at Mrs. Ngọc Lan's request. On that beach trip, a sudden downpour forced them to shelter under the awning of a small roadside café. The yellow light fell on Diệu My's rain-soaked face, her hair plastered to her cheeks. She looked flustered and strangely adorable. "What are you smiling at?" Diệu My…-
1.9 K • Oneshot
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Things got complicated when Lâm Khả Ái, Thành Đạt's cousin and his rival for the inheritance, began to notice something odd about his relationship with Diệu My. Suspicious and scheming by nature, Khả Ái investigated quietly and discovered that until three months ago, the two of them had barely been in touch. At the same time, Trần Quốc Huy, Diệu My's ex-boyfriend, who had cheated on her to chase a richer girl, suddenly came back looking for her, claiming he wanted to "rekindle the old…
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1.9 K • Oneshot
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Lâm Khả Ái struck first. At a family dinner, she brought her evidence straight to Mrs. Ngọc Lan: a few old messages between Diệu My and Thành Đạt from before the "contract" began, clearly showing how distant the two had been. "Grandmother, I think you should know the truth," Khả Ái said, her voice full of calculation. "Đạt and My have never really been in love. It's all an act so he can keep his inheritance." A heavy silence fell over the table. Diệu My felt her whole body go stiff,…
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1.9 K • Oneshot
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After the dinner, Lâm Khả Ái's schemes were gradually exposed to the whole family, while the bond between Diệu My and Thành Đạt only grew stronger, no longer tied to any terms of a contract. One evening at sunset, Thành Đạt took Diệu My back to the very café where they had signed their handwritten "contract." He pulled out the old, crumpled napkin and smiled. "Do you remember the terms we wrote here?" "Of course," Diệu My smiled back. "No genuinely liking each other. No jealousy…
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1.9 K • Oneshot
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Late at night, Shanghai always wore a thin layer of mist over its riverside streets, blurring the lights of its towers like fragments of memories that had never been explained. At exactly 2:17 a.m., the security cameras of a commercial complex captured a woman in a light-colored coat standing in front of the entrance to Building 17. The strangest part was that the cameras recorded her for exactly thirteen seconds. After those thirteen seconds, the footage returned to normal, and the woman seemed never…-
2.8 K • Oneshot
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The next morning, Fu Jingze took all of File 23 back to his private investigation room. The file was only a few dozen pages long, but the most important part was missing exactly one page. Ning Chulan noticed that the pages were numbered continuously from 22 to 24, with no sign that anything had been torn out. "Someone renumbered the entire file." Fu Jingze looked at the old writing and recognized his father's handwriting. Beneath one of the notes was a small triangle. He remembered that symbol…
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2.8 K • Oneshot
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Ji Chengyuan finally agreed to meet Fu Jingze. They met in a tea room on the top floor of a hotel. Ji Chengyuan no longer looked as composed as he did in the media. He placed a USB drive on the table and said he had kept it for eight years. "Your father came to see me before File 23 was closed." Fu Jingze waited in silence. Ji Chengyuan explained that back then he had been a young businessman who stumbled upon a data system being used to monitor the activities of many people across the city. The…
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2.8 K • Oneshot
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The next morning, Song Huaizhou came to the investigation team of his own accord. He calmly denied any connection to a secret data system. All the evidence went no further than showing that his company had supplied equipment. Fu Jingze didn't argue. He played a piece of footage. In it, Song Huaizhou walked into Room 23, eight years ago. Song Huaizhou watched the screen for a few seconds, then smiled. "You're looking at a doctored video." Ning Chulan cut in at once. "No. This video has never been…
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2.8 K • Oneshot
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Fu Jingze couldn't accept that explanation. He went back to the old archive and pulled every document connected to Fu Tingchuan. After hours of cross-checking, he found something odd. Fu Tingchuan had made a private copy of File 23. That copy wasn't stored in the city system. It was kept in an iron box at the family's old house. Fu Jingze went home with Ning Chulan. Behind the wall at the back of the bookshelf, they found the box. There were no case documents inside. Only a letter. It had been…
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2.8 K • Oneshot
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