11.
I let out a sigh of relief, too.
Everyone surrounded us as we got into the elevator, went upstairs, and returned to the company.
Diệp Mộng Hoan and I were treated like celebrities, ushered into the general manager’s office.
As soon as we sat down, Phó Minh Châu bowed to us again. “Miss, I’m very sorry you had such an unpleasant experience at our company.”
“What do you want to do about Vương Minh Tân and Bạch Tuyết Anh?”
Diệp Mộng Hoan looked at me. “Babe, what should we do?”
Why was she asking me again?
I felt like I was sitting on pins and needles.
I thought for a few seconds, then said, “Those two are awful. Who knows how many subordinates they’ve bullied or how much commission they’ve taken from other people.”
“People like that are a cancer in the company. Why don’t we investigate how much money they’ve embezzled over the years, make them pay back the employees who were cheated out of it, and then fire them?”
Diệp Mộng Hoan’s eyes lit up. “You’re the one with the good ideas. Deputy General Manager Phó, let’s do what she says.”
Phó Minh Châu went to take care of things, while Diệp Mộng Hoan and I lounged around in the spacious office, sipping milk tea and eating fruit as we continued chatting.
“Hoan Hoan, what does your family actually do?”
She took a sip of milk tea and smacked her lips. “Well—I’m not really sure, either. My parents are always overseas mining, and my brother’s in the military in Beijing. They don’t come home often, so we only see each other a few times a year.”
“I’ve always lived with my grandmothers back home. They’re best friends, and whenever they have nothing to do, they travel all over the world together. I’m really the only one at home.”
“Huh? I think I told you all this before, didn’t I?”
Um, she had told me, sure. But at first I thought she was a lonely kid left home alone, and I felt sorry for her. What good was all that money if her family was never around? That was why I often brought her home with me, so she could feel the warmth of a family.
Turns out, I was the real clown all along.
“Hoan Hoan, what kind of mines do your parents work at? And your brother—what branch is he in? What does he do in the military? It’s been four years. Why hasn’t he been discharged yet?”
My gut told me I’d misunderstood something all these years.
The truth was about to come out. This was so exciting!
12
Diệp Mộng Hoan shifted in her seat, took out her phone, looked at it for a moment, then held it out in front of me.
“Look, these are the mines my parents own, but they don’t mine them themselves. They like buying mines and watching other people do the digging. When they have time, they send me pictures of their work. Looks like they have all kinds of mines.”
I picked up her phone and nearly passed out.
Gold mines, oil fields, diamond mines, jade mines…
“Oh, right. My grandmothers bought a mine here in the country, too. I think it’s in Xicheng. Let me find it for you. I’m pretty sure they sent me a picture.”
She swiped through her phone and opened a picture. I looked closely and felt like I needed a heart-saving pill.
A coal mine…
Judging by the banner behind the two old ladies, it looked like the biggest coal mine in Xicheng, too…
“Honestly, this mine looks familiar. I think they gave it to me as a birthday present when I turned eighteen.”
Me: ……Girl, how many more surprises do you have in store for me?
I’d thought her parents were working as miners overseas. Now I realized my poverty had really limited my imagination.
“Hoan Hoan, what about your brother? What does he do in the military?”
Her parents and grandmothers were already extraordinary. Her brother had been in the military for four years, so surely he was extraordinary too, right?
Diệp Mộng Hoan narrowed her eyes slightly, as if trying to remember something. A minute later, she gave up and made a WeChat video call to her brother.
He answered right away. “Hoan Hoan, what do you need? I’m in the bathroom.”
Um… at least this seemed a little more normal.
Diệp Mộng Hoan didn’t think much of it and asked outright, “Brother, what do you do in the military in Beijing?”
“What do I do? I’m a lieutenant general now. Why?”
Diệp Mộng Hoan turned to look at me, and the man on her phone screen looked at me, too.
He froze for a second, then quickly hung up the video call.
“……”
“Hoan Hoan, does your brother have some problem with me?”
Diệp Mộng Hoan looked just as confused as I felt. “Probably not. I don’t know what got into him.”
Setting that aside, a lieutenant general…
Fine, fine, fine. There wasn’t a single ordinary person in this family!
I was lost in thought. When Diệp Mộng Hoan saw I wasn’t saying anything, she poked me, and just then her phone chimed.
A message from her brother:
[Diệp Mộng Hoan, could you pay a little attention to the situation? I was in the bathroom just now. Why didn’t you tell me someone was there with you?]
[But that girl looks familiar. For some reason, I feel close to her.]
[I can’t tell for sure over the screen. I’m off next week, so I’ll come visit you.]
We read the messages together. We hadn’t felt awkward before, but now that he’d pointed it out, we were a little embarrassed.
“That’s so strange. My brother’s always busy, so being able to take leave is practically a miracle.”
“But he was right about one thing: you do feel familiar. What do you think? Could we be long-lost sisters?”
I shook my head with a laugh. “How could that be? I’m my parents’ biological daughter!”
13
We were perfectly comfortable in the office, waiting for Phó Minh Châu to bring us the results.
Near quitting time, the office door was shoved open, and a group of strangers stormed in.
“Brother, those are the two bitches! They’re even pretending to be heiresses!”
“I think they must have some kind of shady relationship with Phó Minh Châu!”
Bạch Tuyết Anh, wearing high heels, pointed at us arrogantly.
The man behind her calmly sat down on the sofa across from us, his appraising gaze shifting between Diệp Mộng Hoan and me.
“Which one of you is Diệp Mộng Hoan? I hear you’re an heiress?”
We said nothing. One look at this group told us they hadn’t come with good intentions.
Phó Minh Châu had disappeared, and this man seemed to have some clout.
“Bạch Tuyết Anh, where’s Phó Minh Châu?”
She covered her mouth and chuckled. “I thought you were an heiress. What’s wrong? Can’t keep pretending without Phó Minh Châu?”
If this had happened a few hours ago, I might have wondered whether Phó Minh Châu had mistaken her for someone else.
But now, I didn’t doubt it for a second.
Diệp Mộng Hoan really was the heiress of Mộng Huyễn Group. This crowd had failed to recognize their own boss, and they were about to pay dearly for it.
“That idiot Phó Minh Châu identified her as the heiress based on nothing but her face. What he doesn’t know is that the real heiress has been hiding her identity and working at headquarters in secret for ages!”
“I’m Bạch Dũng, Miss Diệp’s right-hand man. You’ve got some nerve pretending in front of me and bullying my little sister!”
“At first, you could’ve just quit quietly. But things aren’t that simple anymore. The heiress is on her way. You’ll see what happens to you in a minute!”
Well, well! So it was a real-versus-fake heiress drama. I wonder which idiot was putting on a show in front of the main character.
Diệp Mộng Hoan and I exchanged a look, excitement shining in both our eyes.
We watched so many short dramas that we couldn’t get enough of these real-versus-fake heiress stories. We’d always wished we could act out a few episodes ourselves.
“Heh heh heh. Just what I was hoping for!”
14
Bạch Dũng and Bạch Tuyết Anh stared at us like we were idiots. We pretended not to notice.
The heiress showed up pretty quickly. And she certainly looked the part.
Two lines of bodyguards stood at the door. The fake heiress came striding in, wearing some luxury brand’s dress, carrying an LV bag, and walking in ten-centimeter heels.
Bạch Dũng hurried to his feet to offer her a seat, then served her tea and poured her water, acting like a shameless sycophant.
Weren’t they supposed to be keeping a low profile?
This entourage didn’t look quite right, either.
“Which one of you is Diệp Mộng Hoan? How dare you pass yourself off as the heiress of the Diệp family? Are you tired of living?”
“You really think sharing the surname Diệp with me is enough to fool people? You dare impersonate me right in front of the real thing? Your good days are over.”
She had quite an imposing air about her, and she was pretty convincing, too.
Diệp Mộng Hoan and I exchanged another look, even more excited now.
[Girl, wanna play along?]
[If you’re playing, I’m playing.]
Once we’d silently agreed, I spoke first. “You say you’re the heiress of the Diệp family. What proof do you have?”
At that, she lifted her chin and gave me a scornful look. “For starters, my name is Diệp Bảo Châu! And I have proof that I’m the Diệp family heiress!”
As she spoke, she took a phoenix-shaped jade pendant from her bag and held it up for everyone to see:
“This is the jade phoenix pendant my father made for me by hand when I was born. There’s only one in the world, and everyone who attended my coming-of-age celebration knows it.”
I nudged Diệp Mộng Hoan with my elbow. This impostor had really done her homework.
Diệp Mộng Hoan stared at the jade phoenix pendant for a few seconds, then frowned. “Why do you have my jade phoenix pendant?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Diệp Bảo Châu burst out laughing. “Yours? That’s hilarious. What, you couldn’t produce any evidence of your own, so now you’re claiming mine is yours?”
“There’s a limit to how far you can take your act. My family isn’t yours to mess with!”
She sounded so convincing, as if the jade phoenix pendant really did belong to her.
Diệp Mộng Hoan’s brow suddenly relaxed. “Hey, sis, want to look at the initials engraved on the pendant?”
“YMH. Apart from the Y, which two letters have anything to do with you?”
Diệp Bảo Châu’s expression stiffened, and the people around her began looking at her differently.
“Miss Diệp, why don’t you show everyone? Let them see what letters are really engraved on the jade phoenix pendant—and put their doubts to rest.”
Bạch Dũng asked, bowing and scraping, his manner exceedingly deferential.
But Diệp Bảo Châu’s expression darkened even further. “What’s there to look at? It’s my personal property. How can I let you people paw through it?”
With that, she put the jade phoenix pendant back in her bag and turned to leave:
“I just remembered I have something to take care of. I’ll be going. As for you impersonating me, we’ll settle that later!”
She was panicking and trying to run, but she was just a little unlucky:
“Diệp Bảo Châu, where do you think you’re going?”
Phó Minh Châu appeared in the office doorway alongside another impeccably dressed man.
At the sight of them, Diệp Bảo Châu went pale and staggered back a step:
“B-Big Brother, what are you doing here?”