Liang Family Home - Three Days After the Lu Rejection - Evening

Mrs. Liang paced the length of their modest living room like a caged animal, her face flushed with indignation. The humiliation of being dismissed by the Lu family's butler still burned in her chest, made worse by the polite but firm rejection that left no room for argument.

"I don't understand it," she said for the third time in ten minutes. "After everything we did for that ungrateful girl, they won't even grant us a simple introduction. The disrespect is unbelievable. We are her parents no matter what ."

Mr. Liang looked up from his newspaper with the weary expression of a man who'd learned to weather his wife's storms. "Perhaps we should leave it as it is ."

"What do you mean by saying leave it?" Mrs. Liang whirled to face him, her voice rising. "You mean our family raised that girl from nothing. We deserve recognition for that sacrifice."

"We deserve nothing from Mei," Mr. Liang said quietly, his tone carrying an unusual firmness. "And the Lu family clearly sees through whatever impression we're trying to make."

Mrs. Liang's face darkened further. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Mr. Liang folded his newspaper with deliberate care, "that wealthy families don't stay wealthy by being foolish about character. They've probably done their research on how we treated Mei."

"How did we treat her? We clothed her, fed her, gave her opportunities—"

"We used her." The words cut through Mrs. Liang's protests like a blade. "For years. And now you're angry because we can't use her marriage for social climbing."

Mrs. Liang stared at her husband as if he'd become a stranger. "I can't believe you're taking her side."

"I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm acknowledging reality and the consequences of what we did ." Mr. Liang stood, adjusting his glasses. "The Lu family has made their position clear. Pursuing this further will only make us look desperate and cruel.”

"So we just accept this humiliation? Let them treat us like we're nobody?"

"We are nobody to them," Mr. Liang said bluntly. "And frankly, after what happened at the hospital, I'm surprised they were as diplomatic as they were."

Mrs. Liang's mouth fell open. Her husband's pragmatism had always balanced her ambitions, but she'd never heard him speak with such a cold assessment of their situation.

"You sound almost happy that she married him instead of our Bai," she said, her voice dangerous.

Mr. Liang met her gaze steadily. "I'm relieved our daughter wasn't caught up in whatever toxic dynamic we created with Mei. Bai deserves better than to be part of our mistakes."

The conversation ended there, but Mrs. Liang's anger had nowhere to go except inward, where it transformed into something more poisonous than simple disappointment.

Later That Night - Bai Liang's Bedroom

Mrs. Liang knocked on her daughter's door, needing someone who would understand her outrage. She found Bai sitting at her computer, scrolling through social media with the distracted air of someone trying not to think about uncomfortable truths and had no power of fighting.

"Your father thinks I should just accept the Lu family's rejection," Mrs. Liang said, settling on the edge of Bai's bed uninvited.

Bai looked up from her screen, noting the brittle energy radiating from her mother. "Maybe he's right, mum. Maybe we should just... move on."

"Move on? After years of investment in that girl's future?" Mrs. Liang's voice carried the self-righteous tone Bai had learned to dread. "After everything we sacrificed to raise her properly?"

"We didn't sacrifice anything," Bai said quietly. "We used her talent and took credit for her work."

Mrs. Liang's face went rigid. "I can't believe you're siding with her too."

"I'm not siding with anyone. I'm just..." Bai gestured helplessly at her computer screen, where LinkedIn notifications showed her colleagues talking about Lu Rowan's mysterious wife. "I'm tired of pretending we were good to her. We weren't."

"She had a roof over her head, food on the table—"

"And we made sure she never forgot she was a charity case." Bai's voice carried years of suppressed guilt. "I took credit for her designs, Ma. For years. I knew they were better than anything I could create, and I let everyone believe they were mine."

The admission hung in the air between them.

"You were protecting your career," Mrs. Liang said, but her voice lacked its usual conviction.

"I was stealing from someone who couldn't fight back." Bai closed her laptop with a sharp click. "And now she's married to one of the most powerful men in Shanghai, he can even blow us away if he wants, and we're sitting here plotting ways to insert ourselves into her life. Don't you see how pathetic that is?"

Mrs. Liang's expression shifted from hurt to calculation. "You think she's better than us now?"

"I think she's free of us. And maybe that's what she deserves."Bai said with a bitter smile.

But Mrs. Liang was no longer listening. Her daughter's words had triggered something defensive and vindictive in her chest. If her own family wouldn't support her quest for the recognition she felt entitled to, she'd find another way.

She'd find a way to remind the high-and-mighty Lu family that people like them couldn't just discard people like her without consequences.

Two Days Later - Internet Café Near the Liang Home

Mrs. Liang sat in front of a computer screen, her reading glasses perched on her nose as she methodically searched for information about Lu Rowan. If the family thought they could dismiss her completely, they'd underestimated her determination.

She started with basic searches on business articles, social media presence, any mention of his personal life. The results were frustratingly sparse. Lu Rowan maintained the kind of privacy that only money could buy, with carefully curated public appearances and no personal details beyond his professional accomplishments.But Mrs. Liang had learned patience during her years as a social climber. She expanded her search parameters, looking for older articles, university mentions, anything that might reveal a vulnerable detail she could exploit.

It was on the third day of searching that she found it a society blog post from two years ago, buried on the seventh page of search results. The headline read: "Eligible Bachelor Lu Rowan Seen with Mystery Woman at Charity Gala."

The accompanying photo was blurry, clearly taken from a distance, but it showed Lu Rowan in conversation with a beautiful young woman at what appeared to be a formal event. The caption read: "Sources suggest the woman is Carol Lin, daughter of prominent art dealer Lin Wei. The pair were reportedly close friends during university but have kept their relationship status private."

Mrs. Liang stared at the photograph, her pulse quickening. The woman looked familiar with elegant features, similar height and build to Mei. She enlarged the image as much as the low resolution would allow, studying the facial structure, the graceful posture.

The resemblance was striking.

More searching revealed additional mentions of Carol Lin's art gallery openings where she appeared as her father's daughter, university alumni newsletters from their shared program, and a few social media profiles that had been inactive for over a year.

But it was a deeper dive into the timeline that revealed the most interesting information. The last public appearances of Lu Rowan and Carol Lin together had been approximately eighteen months ago. After that, it was as if she'd simply vanished from his social circle entirely.

Mrs. Liang leaned back in her chair, pieces of a potential strategy forming in her mind. An ex-girlfriend who looked remarkably similar to Mei. A relationship that had ended abruptly with no public explanation. A woman who might have her own reasons for being interested in Lu Rowan's sudden marriage.

It wasn't much, but it was something. And in Mrs. Liang's experience, even small vulnerabilities could be exploited if you knew the right pressure points to target.

The question now was how to make contact with Carol Lin without revealing her own motivations too clearly. She'd need to be subtle, present herself as someone with information rather than someone seeking to cause trouble.She'd need to find the right person, someone connected enough to access Carol Lin's current contact information, but removed enough from the Lu family's sphere to avoid raising immediate suspicions.

That Evening - Liang Family Home

Mrs. Liang returned home with a sense of purpose she hadn't felt since the Lu family's rejection. She found Mr. Liang reading in his study, the picture of a man trying to ignore his wife's increasingly obsessive behavior.

"I've been thinking about what you said," she told him, settling into the chair across from his desk.

He looked up warily. "About leaving the Lu situation alone?"

"About being realistic about our position." She smiled, but there was something calculating in her expression. "You're right that we can't force a relationship with them directly."

Mr. Liang's relief was palpable. "I'm glad you're seeing the reason."

"But that doesn't mean we have to accept complete dismissal either." Mrs. Liang's voice carried a sweetness that immediately made her husband suspicious. "Sometimes patience and the right information can accomplish what direct confrontation cannot."

"What are you planning?" Mr. Liang asked, though his tone suggested he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Nothing dramatic. Just... keeping my ears open for opportunities." Mrs. Liang stood, smoothing down her skirt with false casualness. "After all, the Lu family isn't the only influential family in Shanghai. Building relationships takes time and strategy."

She left her husband sitting in his study, staring after her with the growing certainty that his wife's version of "leaving it alone" was going to cause problems he couldn't yet imagine.

But Mrs. Liang was already three steps ahead, her mind working through the contacts she'd need to cultivate, the favors she'd need to call in, and the careful approach she'd need to take to turn Lu Rowan's past into leverage for her present ambitions.

She'd been dismissed once. It wouldn't happen again.The photograph of Carol Lin was tucked safely in her purse, the first piece of ammunition in a campaign that would require more patience and subtlety than she had ever employed before in her life.