Chapter 1: The Signature
At the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau, Lin Wan slapped the marriage certificate against the man's face.
"Fu Chenzhou, one year. I'll play the part of Mrs. Fu, and you give me three million to save my brother's life."
The man didn't even glance at the certificate. His gaze fell on the birthmark at her collarbone—butterfly-shaped, pale pink.
"Move into Lushan Villa tonight." His voice was cold as ice. "Remember, you only need to appear in public. Otherwise—"
"I know," Lin Wan cut him off. "No interference."
She turned and walked away, missing the way he crushed the coffee cup in his hand.
Blood dripped between his fingers, but he smiled.
"Finally found you, little butterfly."
Chapter 2: Living Together
Fu Chenzhou's villa was terrifyingly vast.
Lin Wan had been there three days and had only seen him once, at breakfast. The man, dressed in a suit, looked at her like she was a piece of furniture.
Until the fourth night, deep in the night.
She woke up thirsty, went downstairs for water, and ran into Fu Chenzhou standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a photograph.
Under the moonlight, she made out the girl in the photo.
It was herself.
Sixteen years old, wearing a blue-and-white school uniform, turning her head to smile under a cherry blossom tree.
"You—"
Fu Chenzhou spun around, a panic in his eyes she had never seen before.
"You know me?" Lin Wan's voice trembled. "Have we met before?"
The man hid the photo behind his back, his expression turning cold again. "Just background research. Mrs. Fu, curiosity killed the cat."
He went upstairs, walking quickly, as if fleeing.
Lin Wan stood there, suddenly remembering that year when she was sixteen.
That rainy night, returning from cram school, she was cornered by a few thugs in an alley. A boy rushed out, fought them four to one, beaten until he was covered in blood but still shielding her with his body.
She called an ambulance, but in the hospital corridor, her parents—who had just closed a business deal—dragged her away. They had a flight to catch to another city.
She didn't even have time to ask his name.
She only remembered that before losing consciousness, the boy held her hand, a scar on his finger.
Exactly the same as the one on Fu Chenzhou's left hand.
Chapter 3: The Trap
In the fourth month of their contract marriage, Lin Wan became "pregnant."
It was fake. Fu Chenzhou's grandmother was gravely ill and wanted to see a great-grandchild. She played along with the act, which earned her an extension of the contract for another six months' pay.
On the day of the prenatal checkup, Fu Chenzhou unexpectedly accompanied her.
Inside the ultrasound room, the doctor pointed at the screen. "The fetal heartbeat is very healthy."
Lin Wan was about to relax when she noticed Fu Chenzhou's eyes were red.
He turned away, his shoulders shaking.
"Fu Chenzhou?"
"It's nothing," his voice was hoarse. "Just remembered something."
That night, Lin Wan got up to use the bathroom and heard him on the phone in his study.
"...Yes, she's doing well, the baby is doing well too... Mom, I know what I'm doing... No, I won't tell her the truth. She can't handle it..."
She pushed the door open. "The truth about what?"
Fu Chenzhou froze.
A woman's crying voice came from the receiver: "Chenzhou, just tell her! That child was never part of the contract! That's your—"
Fu Chenzhou hung up.
"You're pregnant," he looked at Lin Wan, enunciating each word. "Three months ago, the night you got drunk. It's not fake. It's real."
Lin Wan's mind went blank.
Three months ago? She only remembered having a wet dream, and it was Fu Chenzhou's face in it. When she woke up the next day, she thought it was just a dream.
"Why..." her voice shook. "You said no interference—"
"Because I couldn't help it anymore." Fu Chenzhou stepped closer, a kind of madness in his eyes she had never seen before. "Ten years, Lin Wan. I looked for you for ten years. I finally trapped you by my side, and you only treat me like a benefactor."
He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his heart.
"This heart, starting from the year I was sixteen, has only ever beaten for you."
Chapter 4: The Truth
There was a safe in Fu Chenzhou's study.
Lin Wan took advantage of a business trip to open it—the passcode was her birthday.
Inside, there was only one medical record and one death certificate.
Patient: Fu Nian, female, 24 years old, died of acute leukemia.
Relationship to patient: Sibling.
Signatory: Fu Chenzhou.
Lin Wan felt a chill run through her body.
She remembered the way Fu Chenzhou sometimes looked at her, that vague expression as if seeing someone else through her. She remembered why he was so fixated on the butterfly birthmark—Fu Nian had one too, on her collarbone.
She remembered why he insisted on her "pregnancy."
Fu Nian's final wish before dying was to see her brother married with a child.
"So I'm the substitute?" Lin Wan slammed the death certificate against Fu Chenzhou's face. "You found me because I look like Fu Nian?"
The man's face turned deathly pale.
"No," he grabbed her hands. "I was looking for you. It was always only you."
"Then what about Fu Nian—"
"She's your twin sister."
The world went silent.
"You were adopted by different families when you were three," Fu Chenzhou's voice sounded like it was coming from far away. "She found me five years ago. She said she had an older sister with a butterfly-shaped birthmark on her collarbone. She had searched for years but couldn't find her."
"She begged me, if she died, to keep searching. To... take care of you for her."
Lin Wan remembered the boy from the rainy night.
Remembered the warmth of his hand, and the words he hadn't finished saying.
"What did you want to say back then?"
Fu Chenzhou looked at her, his eyes rimmed red.
"I wanted to say, my name is Fu Chenzhou. I will find you, protect you, forever."
Chapter 5: The End
Fu Chenzhou's grandmother passed away the day before Lin Wan gave birth.
On her deathbed, the old woman held Lin Wan's hand and said, "That child has been stubborn since he was little. He searched for you for ten years, refused every arranged marriage, risked the entire family business... I disapproved at first. Now I understand."
"He wasn't fulfilling his sister's last wish."
"He was fulfilling his own obsession."
The day Lin Wan went into labor, Fu Chenzhou knelt outside the delivery room for six hours.
A nurse came out and said, "Mr. Fu, your wife asked, is the contract still valid?"
Trembling all over, he pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.
It was their original contract. On the back, densely packed with handwriting, was written:
Contract Supplementary Terms
Article 1: Party A, Fu Chenzhou, shall love Party B, Lin Wan, forever.
Article 2: Validity period: A lifetime.
Article 3: Penalty for breach: Party A's entire fortune and life.
...
Article 520: Party B, Lin Wan, if you are reading this, it means I can't hide it anymore. I love you, from sixteen years old to eternity.
The nurse took the paper inside.
Ten minutes later, the delivery room echoed with a baby's cry, mingling with Lin Wan's sobs.
Fu Chenzhou rushed in to find her face streaked with tears, yet she was smiling as she threw the paper at him.
"Fu Chenzhou," she said. "You broke the contract."
"What?"
"The contract said 'no interference,'" she pointed at Article 520. "But you interfered with my heart."
Outside the window, the sunlight was just right.
The sixteen-year-old boy finally found his butterfly.
This time, no one could ever tear them apart.
[The End]