The beloved but ungrateful girl is reborn: This time she has truly changed.

Tang Tiantian tried her best to make her voice sound wet and pitiful:

"Weijun, you've lost everything for me—your status, your daughter, your dignity, your future."

You've sacrificed so much for me, how could I leave you at this time?

She spoke with such sincerity that she almost believed herself.

Ding Weijun squinted and stared at her for a full minute.

There was nothing moving about those cloudy eyes.

He was scrutinizing her, like a seasoned hunter judging whether his prey was feigning death.

Tang Tiantian felt a chill run down her spine under his gaze, but she maintained her expression and her tearful eyes.

"it is good."

Ding Weijun waved the household registration booklet in his hand, then reached into his inner pocket and pulled out two neatly folded pieces of paper.

The paper was crisp and sturdy, the kind of thick paper used specifically for document processing, and it even had a fresh scent of ink.

He unfolded it, placed it on the table, and pushed it in front of Tang Tiantian. Marriage certificate.

The marriage certificate of Ding Weijun and Lü Xinhua.

The document was pasted with Ding Weijun's photo and a black-and-white registration photo of Tang Tiantian—she didn't remember when she had taken this photo, probably when she handed it to Lü Changhe while filling out a form.

A bright red stamp was placed next to the photo, the ink was plentiful, and the indentation of the stamp was clearly visible on the paper.

Tang Tiantian felt a tingling sensation on her scalp.

Her hand holding the marriage certificate was trembling slightly.

He has taken care of everything – household registration, property deed, and marriage certificate.

While she was squatting in the solitary confinement cell, lost in thought, while he was being investigated by the disciplinary committee, and when everyone thought he had been utterly defeated, he quietly tied all the ropes, waiting for her, like a grasshopper, to jump in on her own.

Although this man has fallen from power, his remaining connections and methods are still enough to keep her in his grasp, like crushing an ant.

Ding Weijun leaned in, his lips almost touching her ear.

His breath was warm, carrying a scent unique to the elderly, which gave her goosebumps.

"Wait for me, I'm going out for a bit." Tang Tiantian didn't ask him what he was going to do.

She simply gripped Lü Xinhua's household registration book and property deed tightly in her hands, her knuckles aching from the force, the pages crumpled.

Ding Weijun picked up the old jacket from the back of the chair, put it on, opened the tin door, bent down, and walked into the muddy alley outside.

His footsteps disappeared at the alley entrance.

Tang Tiantian sat alone in the main room, the surroundings eerily quiet.

She slowly raised the marriage certificate in her hand to her eyes, looking at the seal on it and the three characters "Lü Xinhua".

Her name is not Lü Xinhua.

Her name is Tang Tiantian.

But at this moment, the name Tang Tiantian has become an empty shell, an empty shell that is probably being wanted and destined to be forgotten.

She stared at Ding Weijun's photo on the marriage certificate, her heart churning with emotions she couldn't quite describe.

hatred.

Fear. And a hint of resignation to one's fate.

She rubbed her temples, closed the marriage certificate, stuffed it into the innermost part of her handbag, and pressed it down twice.

Ding Weijun walked out along the muddy alley, stumbling along, not even bothering to wipe the mud splashing onto his trousers.

He walked across two streets and found the post office.

The post office was the most respectable building on the street, with blue brick walls and a green plaque with white lettering hanging at the entrance.

There weren't many people inside; an old man wearing reading glasses was sitting behind the counter reading a newspaper.

Ding Weijun borrowed a public phone and dialed a number.

The phone rang three times before being answered.

"Feed".

Ding Weijun lowered his voice and a slight upturn of his lips.

"I've taken care of things here. Let's close up shop."

He didn't ask any questions after hearing what was said on the other end of the phone. He hung up and left a two-cent coin on the counter.

As he walked out of the post office, he looked up at the sky.

The August clouds are dispersing, revealing a corner of azure sky.

The air still smelled of mud, but he thought the weather was nice today.

Everything is proceeding according to plan, without the slightest deviation.

The municipal party committee compound.

When Lü Changhe drove his Volga sedan into the compound gate, the guards saluted him as usual.

The Volga was still the same Volga, its black paint gleaming in the afternoon sun.

With a smile on his lips, he parked the car steadily in the parking space, turned off the engine, and took out the key, turning it in his hand.

very good mood.

From today onwards, he has officially gotten rid of that fallen old man, Ding Weijun.

Old Fang had promised him that he would continue in his position as deputy director of the office, and that there would be better arrangements once the storm had passed. He thought of Ding Weijun's small, dilapidated courtyard and Tang Tiantian, whose feet were covered in mud, and the corners of his mouth curved upwards even further.

Old Ding's life is over. He's ruined himself for a woman.

He, Lü Changhe, would never make such a mistake.

He pushed open the car door, and just as one foot touched the ground, two policemen in white uniforms suddenly emerged from behind the car, blocking the door from the left and right.

Before Lü Changhe could react, both of his arms had been twisted behind his back.

With a crisp snap, the cold iron handcuffs tightened around his wrists.

Someone nudged me in the back of the knee with their knee, and I fell to my knees with a thud. My forehead hit the cement floor, scraping off a piece of skin, and it stung painfully.

"Comrade Lü Changhe, you are suspected of forging someone else's identity. The nature of your actions is egregious and the circumstances are serious. You are coming with us!"

Lu Changhe was stunned.

His face was pressed against the cement floor, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his glasses were askew, leaning to the base of his ears.

He struggled to lift his head and, through the gap between the legs of the two policemen, saw a window on the third floor of the municipal party committee building.

Old Fang stood at the window, hands behind his back, quietly watching down below. Three floors away, his expression was obscured; only a blurry figure could be seen, motionless, like a statue.

Old Fang raised his right hand and waved at him.

That gesture—it wasn't goodbye.

It's goodbye, but it means the exact opposite.

Like shooing away a fly, like dusting off a speck of dust.

Lu Changhe suddenly understood everything.

He'd been tricked.

A pledge of allegiance, a notebook, a pledge of loyalty, Ding Weijun's whereabouts—he sold everything he could to Old Fang, thinking he would gain a bright future in return.

But Old Fang had no intention of using him at all.

He never even considered it—

Who would dare to employ someone who betrays their former master?

He became a knife used and then discarded. All the forgery of official documents, abuse of power, and deception of superiors and subordinates were pinned on him alone.

He was the person in charge, he stamped the official seal, he delivered the materials, and he fabricated the fake identity.

Perfectly clothed.

"No--"

He let out a desperate howl, like a wild dog whose leg had been crushed.

His body twisted and struggled on the ground, his heels kicking against the cement floor. His leather shoes were worn off, his socks were torn, and blood was seeping from his toes.

But those two hands held him down like iron clamps, not moving an inch.