chapter 3

It had been a day since Lu Ding Ning had taken up the identity of her brother.

Lu Guo Hua made arrangements for Ding Ning to sleep in, during the day, and take a much-needed rest before attending an engagement party in the evening.

However, instead of sleeping in, Ding Ning woke up early in the morning.

As soon as she opened her eyes, Lu Ding Ning examined the room that once belonged to her brother.

Initially, her father had prepared another room for her to stay in. However, upon entering that room and seeing the bed covered in lace and dreamy pink walls…

It would be for the best if that room were never mentioned again.

Instead, Ding Ning opted to stay in her brother’s room.

Compared to the exceedingly feminine room, Yi Ning’s room was much softer on the eyes.

It was a stark contrast to the room Ding Ning’s father had prepared, with its white walls, blue bedding that was popular amongst boys, and best of all, none of that awful frilly lace.

Ding Ning had pretended to be a boy for so long that she sometimes forgot she was actually a girl and found herself more interested in staying in trend with male fashion. Even the way she prepared for her day was exact and hasslefree.

After washing up, Ding Ning casually flipped through the books that lined Yi Ning’s bookshelf. Apart from the more interesting programming content, there were also books on classical poetry that gave her a headache just by looking at them.

Afterward, Ding Ning rummaged through Yi Ning’s drawers again, desperately hoping that her brother might have left at least some clues before he disappeared.

“I can’t believe he still has this,” Ding Ning mentioned as she pulled out an old Ziploc bag from the drawers.

Inside the protective covering of the Ziploc bag was a hairpin that looked brand new.

Ding Ning recalled their parents’ divorce that had happened during the winter. When her mother had taken her away in a taxi, her brother had frantically chased after them, begging them to wait.

It didn’t take long before her mother became increasingly exasperated and instructed the taxi driver to stop the car. Ding Ning had immediately darted off the taxi, and upon reaching her brother, exchanged her favorite hairpin for his favorite model car.

Even after thirteen long years, her brother still cherished that little hairpin and kept it in perfect condition. It was similar to how she had brought the model car to F country where, even now, it still sits on her desk.

Being apart from each other for thirteen years didn’t seem to have affected the close sibling relationship they had.

“Brother, we’ll be reunited one day, right?” Squeezing the Ziploc bag with the hairpin in her hand, Ding Ning turned to look at a picture frame placed on the desk. The man in the image had a gentle smile on his face, and the resemblance between him and Ding Ning was uncanny.

After breakfast, Lu Ding Ning approached Xi Yuan and asked him to take her shopping at a nearby mall.

As they made their way to the parking lot while leaving the mall, a wave of unease washed over Lu Ding Ning.

She pushed Xi Yuan aside as a huge gust of wind rushed by them!

A violently speeding Toyota had swerved past them, just barely missing the two!

If Lu Ding Ning’s reaction had been a fraction of a second slower, their lives would’ve become short-lived.

“What the hell is that driver doing? We’re still within the mall district, so why’s he driving the car that fast?!” Ruan Xi Yuan complained. After calming his accelerated heartbeat, he approached Lu Ding Ning. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. That car, though. I feel like it was targeting us…” Lu Ding Ning frowned, furrowing her perfectly shaped brows, as she stared at the Toyota that quickly disappeared into the traffic.

When she had been competing for the inheritance of the Smith Family, she had been the target of countless underhanded tactics, and she was sure that this event was not just an accident.

However, in Z country, there shouldn’t have been anyone that knew of her identity as the successor of the Smith’s inheritance.

Had the car been targeting her brother then?

“Now that you mentioned it, previously when I was with Yi Ning, we occasionally encountered similar situations! If you didn’t tell me, I would’ve never thought of that…”

Xi Yuan’s mumbled statement made Lu Ding Ning feel increasingly uneasy.

If what Ruan Xi Yuan said was true, then these assassinations attempts were aimed towards her brother and not her.

If so, then it’s likely that her brother’s disappearance was an abduction or an assassination.

But who, exactly, would have wanted to kill the honest and simple brother that she remembered?

Lu Ding Ning looked in the direction of the disappearing car; a dark look flashed in her eyes.