My mind went blank. When I finally came to my senses, I gently took her wrist and pushed her away.
All the strength drained from her, and she rested her head on my shoulder.
I heard her ask me in a confused, anguished voice, sounding so pitiful: “Why?”
Why?
I didn’t know what she was asking, so all I could do was place a hand on her shoulder.
“Tư Nguyệt…” I racked my brain, not wanting to disappoint her. “You’re drunk… Let’s go to bed…”
“Do you love me?” She wouldn’t give up. It was as if some strange switch had flipped in the usually composed woman. She wrapped her arms around my waist and asked softly, “Giang Mục Dã, do you love me?”
“I love you,” I said softly, my mind in turmoil. “…I love you very much.”
With every passing day, I love you more than I did the day before.
“Why…………”
Why?
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Because you’re my star.”
“A star?” she murmured. “But there are so many stars.”
I came here because she was the star I needed to protect.
But—
“You’re the whole world’s star,” I said, looking down at her, my ears burning red, “but you’re my girl alone.”
I love you because you’re Mạnh Tư Nguyệt.
The brightest star in my life.
5.
When Mạnh Tư Nguyệt woke up, I was making breakfast in the kitchen.
Without a word, she came to stand in front of me. “Giang Mục Dã.”
I turned around and saw that her face was a little pale, with traces of yesterday still lingering between her brows.
“Huh?” I pretended not to know anything. “I’m making sandwiches today.”
“Yesterday, I…” Her voice was hoarse. “I got a little drunk.”
“I know,” I said. “Next time you want to drink, let me know beforehand. I’ll come pick you up.”
“I think I said a lot of strange things.” She rubbed her eyes, sounding as if she were fishing for an answer—or perhaps just saying it offhand.
“What did you say?”
Me: “……”
How was I supposed to answer that?
I turned away. “Actually, I said a lot of strange things too.”
She suddenly froze.
Mạnh Tư Nguyệt lowered her eyes. “You know what I’m doing, don’t you?”
“I know,” I hurried to explain. “I wasn’t investigating you. Someone downstairs found out…”
“Giang Mục Dã,” she interrupted. “You know what I’m doing, and you’re still helping me?”
Obstacles had been cleared away without my realizing it. What should have been a difficult process had gone smoothly, and none of the information had ever leaked.
She was a smart woman. Of course she knew that making a wish and having it come true wasn’t so simple.
I looked into her eyes. “Even if I didn’t help, you could still succeed.”
That was the truth.
She didn’t like to talk and seemed fragile and quiet, but when faced with adversity, she could endure and bide her time.
After breaking down and realizing that resisting was useless, she would temporarily accept reality.
That was how she acted when her acceptance letter was torn up, when she discovered her true identity, and when she was forced into marriage.
I knew perfectly well that her temporary concession wasn’t surrender. She was only playing the fool to catch the tiger, waiting to tear apart everyone who had once trampled on her.
If I hadn’t come, she would have been oppressed and humiliated. Her family didn’t love her, and after marrying her, Giang Mục Dã would have kept her under house arrest at the Giang family home, forbidding her from working or going out.
Her business partners would have been threatened into withdrawing their investments. After all, they were powerless, and how could the Giang and Mạnh families stand by while someone took their market share?
After his marriage, Giang Mục Dã would suffer from depression, mistake her for Hứa Nhuận Ninh, and sleep with her.
Afterward, Mạnh Tư Nguyệt would become pregnant.
Controlled by the Giang and Mạnh families, Mạnh Tư Nguyệt would seem to have all five senses shut off, unable to see or hear anything outside. She wouldn’t even have the right to an abortion, so she would carry the child and give birth in pain and despair.
Dad Giang and Mom Giang would take the child away, and Giang Mục Dã would discard her like a worn-out shoe.
Hứa Nhuận Ninh would live happily ever after, while Mạnh Tư Nguyệt would live alone in desolation.
But unfortunately, the ending of this story about the real and fake heiresses was devastating.
Every novel is a world in miniature. The protagonists of this novel were Giang Mục Dã and Hứa Nhuận Ninh. Yet in this chaotic world, a star was born.
Stars are brilliant people, born at just the right time and bound by no rules.
Unlike protagonists, who are always favored by fate, stars are destined to rise above it.
That star was Mạnh Tư Nguyệt.
So she couldn’t give up. She would never yield.
If she truly gave up, her star would lose its reason for being.
When Mạnh Tư Nguyệt, who had disappeared, reappeared, she had become incredibly wealthy and dominated the tech industry.
She had spent a long time finding weaknesses in the Giang and Mạnh family companies. First, she set traps that gradually brought them down, then reported them for tax evasion.
In secret, she made the Hứa family addicted to gambling and taught them how to extort Hứa Nhuận Ninh. They demanded more and more money from Giang Mục Dã, and eventually the family fell apart and turned against one another.
The person who drugged her back then, Hứa Nhuận Ninh drugging Giang Mục Dã, and the Hứa couple’s malicious baby swap had all been brought to light.
The evidence was overwhelming, and they were sent to prison.
Giang Mục Dã was among them.
She looked down contemptuously at the frightened man before her and sneered, “You lost.”
By then, ten years had passed.
And this world had completely strayed from its original course.
Because Mạnh Tư Nguyệt had fallen into the mire, then climbed out of the abyss, she pointed her spear at others without hesitation.
She had… long since lost her human feelings.
She watched the child she had given birth to be taken to an orphanage, then saw the child look at her with hatred.
Mạnh Tư Nguyệt suddenly felt utterly bored.
In a dull world like this, your status is already so high that you can have anything you want.
How boring.
Mạnh Tư Nguyệt watched as the people who had oppressed her were executed and the evil that had haunted her for decades was finally dealt with. Looking at them cowering in terror, she lowered her eyes and suddenly felt that their fears were nothing much.
Actually… it was all so dull.
This world had completely collapsed because a star had fallen into darkness.
—This is how the story ends.
A star cannot be killed unless she wants to die.
She closed her eyes and chose not to say goodbye to the world.
However, the star’s moment of collapse meant the apocalypse had arrived, so I was sent by “God” from another, distant dimension.
They had discovered that, despite being hundreds of millions of light-years apart, my frequency differed from hers by only a tiny amount.
As one of the culprits who had corrupted the star, Giang Mục Dã was sent elsewhere to rebuild his character.
To become a new person.
And I took his place—because only the male lead’s identity could change the fate that had already been decided.
“That star is going to be ruined… You have to protect her.”
That is my mission and my duty.
“I want to destroy the Giang family.” Mạnh Tư Nguyệt rarely looked at me with such a piercing gaze. Her expression was cold, and her voice perfectly calm. “You think I’ll succeed, too?”