For as long as Yu Yan could remember she had lived in a place where only the unloved, unwanted children were thrown to live and grow up together - an orphanage.
The large building was gloomy and lifeless no matter how it was cleaned repeatedly or coated with paint every few years. Its inhabitants were even more hopeless. It was as if the surroundings were capable of sucking out all the vitality of a person.
When she was still a young ignorant kid Yu Yan had a fantasy that she was this long lost daughter of some affluent family; that they had lost her in some unforeseen circumstances but she was never forgotten and unloved. That they had been searching for her ever since the moment she was separated from them.
Yu Yan always imagined that one day her parents would come to take her far away from this place but then she heard one of the matrons talking about how her mother had left her here when she was just a few days old. That was the day she forsakes all her childish fantasies about a happily ever after for herself and started living in a harsh and cruel reality.
The orphanage was governed by the law of the jungle - the weak would sooner or later fall prey to the strong. Slowly she started realising that it wasn't only the orphanage, even the big world outside ran on the same rules albeit on a larger scale.
Therefore, Yu Yan started observing things with a keen mind. By the time she was a teenager, she had also firmly grasped the fact that she could gain a lot more if she appeared powerless and frail in front of others especially, the opposite sex.
Henceforth, she started forming an image of herself in front of others akin to that of a lone blade of grass that could be swept away with just a small gust of wind.
This led her to gain many benefits from everyone since they all felt she was quite pitiful and needed someone to rely upon. Also due to the fact that she was growing up to be a beautiful maiden, it opened up even more opportunities for her, in particular, from the opposite sex no matter their age.
Thus she grew up and just as she was on the cusp of adulthood - a short few months from turning eighteen and leaving this dilapidated place, all of a sudden a middle-aged man came to the orphanage proclaiming to be her biological father.
He said his name was Yu Jian and that he was from the capital city. Before the kind matron allowed a meeting between the two of them without a supervisor, the man was asked to prove his claims which he readily did with a DNA report.
Afterwards, when she met him she realised that her naive fantasy from her childhood days had come true in a burst of unexpected good luck.
Yu Yan was ecstatic about it but she knew she couldn't portray her true self to this person so she showed a shy delighted expression on her face which also had some faint feeling of placing blame on the person in front of her eyes for all the years of hardships she had to face at this place but not having the heart to due to her happiness of at last having a sense of belonging to a family.
The man went into a daze for a few seconds after his first look at her. Thereafter, he explained the extenuating circumstances regarding her birth and how it was just a scant two months ago when he came to know about her existence.
He also explained how he had lost his first wife a few years after their marriage and how she gave him a beautiful daughter - Yu Yue and that she was her half-sibling who was older than her.
Listening up to here it was as if a raging inferno had been lit inside her heart which wanted to swallow everything in her vicinity.
Why was it that though both of them had the same blood flowing through their veins still one of them was brought up in the lap of luxury whereas she had grown up in a place which was as if forsaken by the entire humanity?
Why was her mother a spineless fool who didn't fight for her rights?
Why did her father never try to contact his drunken one night stand even though they had been friends prior to that?
Anyhow after that heartwarming and tear-jerking reunion, her father explained to her that he would bring her back with him to the main residence since she wasn't someone who he was ashamed to let the world know about.
Her father wanted to take complete and absolute responsibility for her. They would leave for the capital right away but she had thoughts that were different from him. She wanted to make the other girl feel absolute despair and misery just the way she had felt all these years.
She already knew from listening to him talking that a few days later it was Yu Yue's birthday and that there would be a lavish party to commemorate the occasion. She herself wanted to make that day a memorable one for her sister - so noteworthy that Yu Yue would remember it for the rest of her life.
Hence, she somehow convinced her father to let her stay at the orphanage for the next few days citing the reason that she wanted to bid goodbye to her handful of friends as well as the fact that it would take 3 to 4 days for the school to process her transfer request.
Her father readily agreed with her words and for the next few days, they stayed in a nearby hotel while he showered her with extravagant dresses and gifts. It was as if he was trying to make up for his absence in her life by lavishing upon her all these expensive things.
Meanwhile, Yu Yan wanted everything - his paternal love, affection, care and most of all his business. She wanted to trample upon his so-called legitimate heir and make her realise that she could take everything away from her if she so wished.
On the day of Yu Yue's birthday, her father brought her to the capital city in the wee hours of the morning. Looking at the vast estate while it was bathed in the glow of the morning sun Yu Yan wanted to wreak havoc at this spotlessly clean place. She wanted to tarnish these walls in tears and agony but it would have to come later with time.
Soon enough her father brought her to an enormous room coloured in pastel yellow. Looking around the room it was discernible that this was a guest room which was hastily prepared for her after the news of her arrival and subsequent stay was conveyed to the household staff.
This displeased her on a level she couldn't comprehend. It was as if the room was proclaiming that she was an interloper and no matter how hard she tried from here onwards she could never surpass the true owner of this house.
Agitated by such thoughts she couldn't help but ask her father when she would meet her elder sister. He told her that they would meet Yu Yue in the study as soon as she herself gets comfortable and ready.
She wanted to deal an emotional blow to Yu Yue while extracting herself from any blame and drive a wedge between Yu Jian and Yu Yue all the while maintaining her delicate and pitiful appearance in front of the father-daughter duo.
Therefore, she dressed in a white dress that she had always felt brought out her seemingly weak impression to the forefront. Getting dressed she followed after Yu Jian to the study marvelling in her heart at the decorations in the place.
Yu Jian ordered a maid to call his eldest to the study. While waiting for Yu Yue, she tactfully and intentionally stood by her father's side. She stood a bit behind his chair so as to easily observe the change of expressions when Yu Yue learned the inevitable truth.