Chapter 1

"Sis, if your husband won't come home, that still doesn't make it okay to video chat naked with some random guy!"

It was Christmas Eve in the countryside, and my aunt's gloating voice cut through the air like a knife.

That was when I saw it — a video of a woman in a naked video call, spreading like wildfire through the family group chat.

The lower half of her face, unblurred, looked exactly like my mom's.

And then there were the three moles on the woman's left shoulder, lined up in a row.

That had always been my mom's signature mark.

Except — my mom had those moles removed two years ago.

My phone went crazy with vibrations. Every call was from my dad.

The neighbors were loving every second of it.

I let out a quiet sigh.

It had been a long time since anyone dared to mess with my dad's family.

"That woman doing naked video calls is obviously her — even the gold necklace is the same style!"

At the holiday dinner table, several women glared daggers at my mom.

My aunt stood up, phone in hand, staring at the solid gold necklace around my mom's neck with barely concealed envy.

"Sis, Renee's already grown up — how could you do something this shameless?"

"Even if your husband's been living apart from you, that's no excuse to do naked video calls with some guy!"

I looked at the video circulating through the family group chat. The upper half of the woman's face was blurred out, but the lower half was identical to my mom's. Every piece of jewelry she wore was something my mom had owned for years.

The most obvious detail was the three moles on the woman's left shoulder, lined up in a row.

That had been my mom's birthmark since childhood.

But two years ago, my mom had decided she didn't like them and had them removed.

I frowned, studying my aunt's face. She shared about seventy percent of my mom's features.

In the video, the woman's breathy moans made my mom's eyes go red with humiliation.

"Does that woman have my name written on her face? Don't go throwing wild accusations!"

My aunt covered her mouth in exaggerated shock.

"Whether it's you or not, only you know the truth — yelling at me won't change anything."

My gut told me something was off. I stepped in front of my mom and held her back.

"Do you have any actual proof this is my mother?"

Mrs. Li cracked open a sunflower seed, clearly enjoying the drama. "Honey, the bottom half of that face is your mom's spitting image, and the necklace is the exact same one."

Mr. Yang's face was full of contempt. "Chloe, I'm not trying to be harsh, but when a man doesn't come home, it's on the wife. How could you just go looking for your own fun?"

"Exactly — everyone knows your mom has three moles on her shoulder. Same as that woman in the video."

My mom stared at the aunts and uncles she'd grown up around, disbelief written all over her face.

Her eyes turned cold.

My dad's business kept him busy, and he'd tried countless times to get my mom to move abroad with him. But my mom never liked the noise and flashiness of city life. She couldn't bring herself to leave the village she'd grown up in. Dad had no choice but to send a housekeeper to look after her back home. He and I didn't make it back very often.

Occasionally, people in the village would gossip about how he was never around. My mom would just smile and explain that he was busy with work.

But now, out of nowhere, rumors had spread that my parents' marriage was falling apart and that my mom had been doing naked video calls with some man. My mom was being dragged through the mud for something she didn't do.

Looking at the crowd of self-righteous faces around us, my mom and I exchanged a glance.

The necklace. The matching moles. The face.

It was obvious. Someone had been planning this for a long time, and they wanted to destroy my mom.

In a small town like this, a woman's reputation was everything.

Without flinching, my mom grabbed her neckline and pulled it open in front of everyone.

"That woman cannot be me. My moles were removed a long time ago!"

My aunt froze, her eyes going wide.

The people around us leaned in, craning their necks to see.

My aunt rushed forward and yanked my mom's collar back up.

"Have you no shame? Pulling your clothes open in public! You probably just had them removed recently because you were scared of getting caught!"

"How did someone like you end up with a man like Nathan? You couldn't even keep him home!"

"If it weren't for you getting in the way back then, Nathan would have married—!"

That hit me like a slap.

I suddenly remembered. The person who had been engaged to my dad back then was my aunt.

She'd looked down on him — thought he was all looks and no money. She'd broken off the engagement on her own and married a government worker instead.

My grandfather, not wanting the family to look bad, had given my mom away in her sister's place.

Then, not long after the wedding, my aunt's husband dropped dead unexpectedly.

Meanwhile, my dad had grinded his way up from nothing. His business grew bigger every year, and within a few years, he was the kind of man everyone envied.