Chapter One: The Heiress Reduced to Zero

Tonight, every light in Haicheng seemed to shine for Shen Yanqiu. Thirty-six hundred crystals hung above the ballroom of the Yunjing Hotel, their reflections glittering in a tower of champagne. Every guest called her Miss Shen with precisely measured respect—not because she had just turned twenty, but because in half an hour, her grandfather was expected to announce her appointment to the board of the Yunjing Consortium. Yet when Yanqiu approached the head table, Shen Chongshan did not offer her his hand as usual. The old man sat in a wheelchair, his fingers trembling and his eyes strangely clouded. Behind him, Yanqiu's second uncle, Shen Weiyue, took the microphone.