He stepped forward. The girl’s rosy little face appeared delicate, young and appealing and there was a faint but consistent breathing sound from her.

Skimming through the contents of the exam papers, it was apparent that she did not complete them on her own.

Right then, she was somehow awoken and she rubbed her bleary eyes as she looked at him in fright.

“Uncle… you’re not asleep yet?”

He lightly tapped the papers on her head. “Who gave you the answers, huh? Google or Baidu? The standard is of a top student’s level.”

It got her frowning so hard as if she wanted to turn herself into an old lady.

Ugh… how did I get caught so soon?

As she peered at his stoic face, she thought, I’m doomed this time. Who knows, I might get a thrashing from him or worse, to copy the exam papers as punishment!

Five hundred times…

Even if I copied ten times a day, it’ll still take me fifty days!

Upon registering her crestfallen look, the man toned down on his harshness and injected hints of tenderness in his voice, instead. “Since you’re so sleepy, go to bed first and continue copying the papers tomorrow. You’ll have to do it on your own and without any help from others, got it?”

Her eyes were sparkling when she lifted her chin to look at him, and she nodded her head vehemently at that.

…

The next day, the domestic helper, for once, called her awake half an hour later than usual.

When she rushed downstairs for breakfast after changing her clothes, the man was sitting at the dining table leisurely drinking his coffee. He did not appear to be disgruntled in any way.

So, she wolfed down her breakfast in suspicion before the driver sent her to school on time.

…

During her lunch break, Mianmian continued working on her punishment with a pen in hand at her desk.

Her bestie’s face was filled with utter shock at that. “Have you gone mad? You’re so passionate about studying for once. It’s not discrimination, but I’m sincerely scared to see you like this.”

Hearing that, she got up and made a threatening move at her.

“Well, I got the urge to study today. Bite me!”

Gong Qiao popped his head out from behind and took a gander at her exam papers. “Isn’t this the papers you sent us last night? Didn’t I get the top student to give you the correct answers?”

Deep in rumination, Gong Xiaoqi narrowed her eyes and cackled in delight, “Ah, I got it. You must’ve been caught by General Zhan. To think he’s even meddling in Mianmian’s academic performance now. Tsk, tsk, tsk… Mianmian, if you come in last for your exams in the future, you’ll get smacked on your butt, right?”

This got their male friend cracking up. “Can I watch Sis Mian get hit while earning money from ticket sales by streaming it live?”

Jiang Mianmian finally exploded in anger and delivered a slap to his shoulder.

It was unknown when Jiang Li appeared in their class, but just when they were fooling around, with her socialite’s smile that she usually wore on her exquisite face with little makeup, she said, “Sis, it’s been a long time since you’ve come home. Dad misses you a lot.”

The former simply rolled her eyes and lay her head down on the table to continue her copying and ignored her.

Even her friends instantly played dumb and busied themselves with their own affairs.

The slight embarrassment and irk that surfaced on her half-sister’s face was quickly concealed as the latter used a gentler tone than before. “Sis, it’s Dad’s 45th birthday this Saturday. We’re holding a birthday party for him at home. He will surely be disappointed should you refuse to attend it. After all, Dad has all along… loved you the most.”

Her voice was so soft and low when she said that.

After all, other than her best friends, few in Prestige High School knew about Jiang Mianmian’s true identity.

She gripped her pen in frustration and began scribbling all over her foolscap paper.

Dad loves me the most?

Ha ha.

That was what she thought before she reached ten.

At that time, he had yet to become president, but he was still a man of high status.

He was like any other father back then; he would play games with her, tell her bedtime stories to coax her to sleep and buy her favorite doll as her birthday gift…

It was not until Mom killed herself by jumping off a building that she met Jiang Li who appeared much more like a princess than she did.

Only then did she discover that her father had another daughter just months after her birth.

Li Shengyuan gave birth to his second daughter.