Chapter 3: The Murderer of My Mother

Lu Yao was silent for three seconds before slowly turning her head to look at the unfamiliar man behind her. She struggled out of his grasp and asked, “Do you know me?”

“The old residence always screens visitors with multiple layers of security. Every arrival is reported in the family group chat,” the man replied, peering at Lu Yao through his glasses with a look of intrigued curiosity.

Lu Yao nodded and asked again, “This is your mother’s tea room, so is that painting also your mother’s?”

The man followed her gaze to the painting of water lilies she indicated, a faint smile lifting the corners of his mouth. “You also think it’s beautiful, don’t you? As soon as my eldest sister finished it, my mother took a liking to it. It’s been hanging here for years. No matter how much I wanted it, she never let me touch it.”

Lu Yao glanced at him. “Your eldest sister painted it? Who is she?”

He nodded openly. “She’s one of the country’s top three masters of ink painting—Ms. Hua Ye.”

A sudden, sharp pain shot through Lu Yao’s mind as a flood of old memories surged forth.

When she was five, she and her mother had been imprisoned by a masked woman in a wooden house on an island, with guards stationed outside, leaving them no chance to escape. The villains used her life as leverage, forcing her mother to complete ninety-nine paintings. If her mother ever showed any sign of defiance or hope for escape, the villains would torture Lu Yao in front of her mother, nearly to death.

Everything from that time was seared into her memory. She remembered clearly that each painting from back then was signed with a single character: “Hua.”

Could Hua Ye be the masked woman who had tormented her and caused her mother’s death?

After her mother died, lost in utter despair, she tried to end her life by slitting her wrists, but survived and was instead taken in by a mysterious organization in Y Country.

She began a new life under a new identity, and before she knew it, more than a decade had passed. Four years ago, determined to find her mother’s killer, she risked everything—defying the organization, escaping death, and secretly returning to the capital under a false identity to investigate the truth. In these four years, she had tried every possible means, but not found a single clue.

Never did she imagine the murderer was hidden within the all-powerful Ye family.

The Ye family truly could cover the sky with one hand.

Tentatively, she asked, “Does your family have more of your eldest sister’s paintings?”

“There are quite a few in the studio by the Bamboo Garden. If you like, I could—”

Before he could finish, a familiar voice sounded from behind.

“Third Brother, who have you brought here this time, trespassing in Mother’s tea room?”

At the sound, Lu Yao turned. Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared before her eyes. She froze, her gaze fixed on the man who had appeared so abruptly—Ye Zehong. Her body felt rooted to the spot, thunderstruck.

Her heart pounded uncontrollably, not from excitement, but from fear.

Ye Zehong! A man from the capital, bearing the Ye surname. She should have realized sooner he was part of the Ye family.

Ye Zehong stood before her, their eyes meeting directly. His eyes were as deep and dark as the sea, calm on the surface but turbulent beneath—her appearance at the old residence had clearly unsettled him.

“And this is…” Ye Zema gave a warm smile and replied gently, “A new friend of mine.”

“I wasn’t aware. When did Miss Lu become friends with my third brother?”

“So you two know each other, Second Brother?”

“Not exactly well,” Ye Zehong replied coolly, though there was no hint of unfamiliarity in his tone. He glanced at Lu Yao. “She’s a lawyer from Wenjie Law Firm. She’s in charge of drafting the prenuptial property agreement between Wan’er and me.”

Their prenuptial agreement? Between him and Qiao Wan’er?

My God—Lu Yao’s eyes flashed with astonishment, her fingers trembling slightly.

The man wore an exquisitely tailored dark gray suit and exuded an air of nobility perfectly befitting the distinguished second son of the Ye family, the capital’s most prestigious clan.

No wonder he had been so eager to cut ties with her.

Rumor had it the patriarch of the Ye family planned to step down this year. The factions behind each of the three young masters had long been locked in a deadly, secret struggle to secure the position of heir for their chosen candidate. If Ye Zehong married Qiao Wan’er, his faction would gain a crucial advantage.

Indeed, life was a stage, full of calculation.

Ye Zehong gazed at Lu Yao, his eyes deep and sharp, as though suppressing some emotion on the verge of eruption.

The oppressive atmosphere made Lu Yao uncomfortable, and her gaze dropped involuntarily to her toes.

“Third Brother, Mother wants you to come and try the new snowflake tea she just received. If you’re late, the flavor will be lost,” Ye Zehong reminded him coolly.

Ye Zema looked at Lu Yao and graciously invited, “Miss Lu, would you care to join us?” There was a hint of ambiguity in his eyes.