Jingzhou Women's Prison.

"After being released, turn over a new leaf and start a new life. This is yours, check it thoroughly and if there are no problems, you can leave." The warden hands over a half-worn handbag.

Gu Muran takes the bag and opens it.

The items from five years ago were preserved exactly as they were. She stares at the wallet for a while, and after a few seconds, she takes it out and pulls a photo from inside.

It is a photo of her and her husband— no, ex-husband, in which she was only twenty years old, six years ago. He is the man who personally sent her into prison.

She still remembers, that photo came into being because she had begged him for it. But now...

How ironic.

With a blank face, Gu Muran throws the photo into the garbage bin, turns around, and leaves without looking back.

It is midsummer, the sunlight outside is dazzling and scorching. Gu Muran is somewhat unaccustomed to the brightness and lifts her hand to shield her eyes.

"Squeak—" A black sedan car stops right in front of her, the window slowly rolls down with a black tint. The side face of the man disclosed is extremely familiar.

Sharp eyebrows and beautiful eyes, with the black phoenix eyes being as deep and obscure as the ocean and stars. At a single glance, he has a commanding presence. His nose is high and straight, lips thin and tightly closed, emitting a severe coldness.

Gu Muran's heart contracts violently, her body involuntarily rigid

Bai Ningyuan!

The man she has adored since childhood, six years ago in order to marry him, she even resorted to drugging him, using their unborn child to force him into marrying her. She thought that as long as they get married, and have a child, they would eventually grow fond of each other to some extent.

But in the end, she realized it was all but a daydream!

This man married her all as part of his plot. He neither loved nor hated her. What he hated were her parents who caused the death of his family!

Marriage was just a means for him to have a better opportunity for revenge, an eye for an eye.

His parents died due to her family, and her father eventually died due to him!

But even so, he still thought it was not enough.

Five years ago, he ruthlessly put her unwell mother into a mental institution and forced her, who just gave birth, into prison for five full years. All this was just to make Gu Muran take the blame for his first love who caused someone's death by driving.

"What are you here for?" Gu Muran asked him coldly, after spending five years in prison, she had seen through everything.

She would no longer dream about him falling in love with her.

Baininyuan turned his head, his eyes cold as ice, and the only two words that came out of his mouth were, "Get in."

Still commanding, as coldly detached as he had ever been. It's just that she hadn't seen reality clearly, hadn't seen his true face.

At this moment, Gu Muran was on high alert, "If there's anything, just say it right here. I'm not getting in the car."

Baininyuan hooked his lip, a hint of sarcastic smile on his lips. "Regarding Guoguo’s custody…"

Suddenly, Gu Muran tightened her fingers. Guoguo is her son, the person who she missed every moment during these five years in prison.

Grinding her teeth, she still opened the car door and sat in.

The driver consequently started the car, the scenery outside the window rolled back, and the atmosphere in the car was as stagnant and oppressive as it could be.

"Where is Guoguo? I want to see him!" Gu Muran cut to the chase.

Bai Ningyuan did not respond to her words but leisurely pulled out a document, handed it over with a chillingly simple sentence: "Sign it."

Upon reading the document, Gu Muran was instantly filled with anger.

This was an agreement demanding her to completely give up her parental rights to Guoguo - and what was more outrageous, it even demanded that she could never see Guoguo again!

Gu Muran immediately tossed the agreement out of the window, the white pieces of paper fluttering in the air, drawing gasps from the onlookers.

"Bai Ningyuan, Guoguo is my son, my flesh and blood! By what right do you forbid me from seeing him?"

Bai Ningyuan regarded her coldly, his eyes filled with only disdain and mockery. "A woman who has been to prison is not fit to be my son's mother."

Her heart ached at his words.

"Sign the agreement, and I'll give you a house and a million. It's enough for you to scrape by for a lifetime." Bai Ningyuan withdrew his gaze, his profile as cold as stone.

Gu Muran's hand on her knee, clenched into a fist. "Whether I'm worthy or not, I'm his biological mother. I won't sign the agreement, and I won't accept a penny of your money!"

Bai Ningyuan's eyes darkened, and an intimidating aura erupted.

He turned his head, leaning slightly towards Gu Muran. Such a simple action was enough to make her heart beat wildly.

"Gu Muran, without money or a house, do you think you can last a month in Jingzhou?" He looked at her coldly, scornful and mocking. "Unless you resort to selling your body... otherwise, get ready to beg on the streets!"

Before her imprisonment, her family's company was bankrupt, all assets frozen by the bank. Her father committed suicide, her mother went insane, and she was left penniless.

"Even if I have to beg, I won't sign that contract! I won't let Guoguo grow up without a mother!" She glared at him, ready to do anything for Guoguo's sake.

Bai Ningyuan let out a soft laugh, looking down upon her condescendingly. "Gu Muran, who told you Guoguo doesn't have a mother? Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. The day after you were sent to prison, I remarried."

Gu Muran felt as if a knife was ruthlessly plunging into her heart, causing her body to tremble uncontrollably, her face pale with pain.

"Guoguo now not only has a mother, but Pan An is already four months pregnant. There will soon be a baby sister, and our perfect family has no room for eyesore like you," each word Bai Ningyuan said was like a blunt knife grinding against Gu Muran's tender heart.

Gui Muran, struggling to suppress the pain in her heart, didn't have the strength to speak.

"If you don't sign this contract now, next time..." his eyes glowed with icy ruthlessness, "I will have you begging me to let you sign it."

"Stop the car!" The vehicle screeched to a stop at his command.

Bai Ningyuan no longer spared Gu Muran a glance, as if looking at her was revolting.

"Get out, lest you dirty my car."

Gu Muran let out a bleak laugh, tears welled up in her eyes.

"Bai Ningyuan, how did I ever fall in love with a bastard like you?"

Bai Ningyuan turned to look at her, a devilish smile on his lips, "Yes, how lowly of you."

The last traces of color drained from Gu Muran's face.

Bringing up the past was self-humiliation.

Knowing all along, this man, from the very beginning, loathed her.

Any resilience Gu Muran possessed ultimately crumbled in front of this man she had loved with all her being.

Tears brimmed in her eyes threatening to fall. She didn't want to lose even this last shred of dignity. She fumbled blindly for the car door, once opened, she stumbled out.

The moment her feet touch the ground, the car roared to life and sped off, leaving her in the haze of exhaust fumes.

Gu Muran slipped, falling onto her knees on the coarse asphalt, her knees scraping the pavement, drawing blood. Yet, she felt no pain.

Because the real pain was in her heart.