Chapter 1 (Part One)

"Dear Nicole, see you tonight at 7 o'clock in the Presidential Suite number 5018 in Grand Mansion on XH Road. I have informed all our ex-classmates. Come on time!"

Staring at Samuel Zhang's text message, Nicole Lin felt annoyed. She didn't know whether she should accept the invitation or not.

Samuel Zhang was her high school classmate. She hadn't come to A City for many years and had lost contact with many of her classmates. Although she had returned home two years back, she had steered clear of any acquaintances. However, she had bumped into Samuel Zhang on her way back from work one day.

He had offered to drive her home and they got talking en route. Finally, before they parted, he had invited her to the reunion party. She couldn't refuse him outright. Besides, she did have some reasons to attend the reunion.

When someone was so poor that they couldn't even afford to eat, they couldn't afford to care about their dignity!

Armed with the credit card, Nicole Lin took the elevator to the Grand Mansion. She walked to the Presidential Suite number 5018. On the way, she overheard two familiar women chatting.

"Do you think Nicole will come to this year's reunion party?" asked a woman with long hair.

Her friend, who had curly hair, smiled and replied, "You seem to be looking forward to her arrival. Are you still competing with her after all these years?"

"Given her family's current situation, there's no way she can compete with me!"

"You're right. She was so arrogant back then as though she was a princess. But her father took a mistress and had an illegitimate daughter, who was about the same age as her. Her father chose his illegitimate daughter over her. Her family was destroyed. It was terrible. I heard that she returned to A City two years ago, but she didn't dare to contact her old classmates. If Samuel hadn't mentioned her tonight, we would have never known that she was back in the city."

"I don't know why Samuel still fawns over her! But I'm dying to see how she is now. I didn't know that she would dare to come tonight!"

"Don't worry. She'll be here for sure."

"How can you be so sure?"

The woman with curly hair gave her a meaningful look and made a snarky comment. "Who do you think will pay for the dinner tonight?"

The long-haired woman was stunned.

She was the class belle back in high school. She was originally Nicole Lin's bestie, but later she had become inexplicably hostile towards her. And she always turned everything into a competition with Nicole Lin. The woman with curly hair was the class belle's best friend. Nicole Lin had severed ties with them after she went to college. She had assumed that nobody would find out the truth about her family, but it appeared that these two gossip mongers knew everything!

Nicole Lin clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath to draw some strength. Holding her head up high, she walked towards the room. This was life. No matter how bad things got, one had to move on.

When she pushed open the door of the Presidential Suite, she saw a group of people dancing crazily. Samuel Zhang was about to start singing, but as soon as he saw her, he yelled, "Dear Nicole is here!"

All of a sudden, everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

Nicole Lin put on her bravest smile. The men returned her smiles with enthusiasm, while the women turned their noses up at her.

Nicole Lin used to be one of the popular kids in high school. Everyone who had heard of her was intimidated by her. Samuel liked to call her "Dear Nicole".

She found an empty chair and sat down. Samuel came over with a glass of wine. "Dear Nicole, you're finally here! It's so great to see you. Nobody believed me when I told them that I had invited you to the party."

"Nicole, I'd like to propose a toast to you. I haven't seen you in so long and you have become more and more beautiful!" said another man cheerfully.

"No, no, don't offer her red wine. Dear Nicole only drinks hard liquor. A bottle of liquor is acceptable."

Nicole finally waved her hand and said, "Samuel, don't bother. I have quitted drinking a long time ago."

"Oh, Dear Nicole, have you stopped your bad habits? Or have you adopted a low-key style of luxury?" Samuel exclaimed exaggeratedly.

"You are so low-key that your GUCCI bag is outdated!" Suddenly, a cold female voice cut through the conversation.

The crowd turned and saw the class belle. The woman eyed Nicole's handbag, while the men were quiet.

The Foreign Language School that Nicole attended was locally known as an "aristocratic school". Its population was made up of rich kids, who liked to compare each other's wealth and social standing. Eight years ago, Nicole was also one of these affluent kids, but then her father had fallen into the mistress's trap and had an illegitimate daughter. Since then, her life was turned upside down. Nicole didn't expect anybody to recognize her old handbag. When she came to the reunion party, she knew she was going to meet all her posh classmates again. She was carrying the branded handbag to fit in. But her old nemesis had called her out on it and embarrassed her in front of everyone.

Nicole raised her head and stared at the class belle quietly, while the latter looked back at her arrogantly. There was a gleam in her eyes, just like when she used to compete with Nicole in school. 'I never thought that she would still be hung up on the childish enmity even after eight years! Was it all because of a man?'

But when she thought of that man, Nicole couldn't help laughing.

The girl with curly hair fixed a pleasant smile on her face and walked over to Nicole. She sat down and held Nicole's hand. "Don't be mad at Jenny. After she married Mr. Ford, the second son of the Fu family, and gave birth to a healthy boy, her husband, father-in-law, and mother-in-law favored her so much that her priorities changed. Although your handbag is outdated and not a customized style, you have used it for several years. So it must be meaningful to you, right?"