Chapter 20. I need a minute. The way the author describes Zhaodi running toward her father in the dim night light, thinking she's finally free, and then—there he is. With Pian Tou behind him. The mountains that trapped her for ten years, the village below, and her smiling like a fool because she thought her dad loved her enough to let her go. "Her own father tied her hands and feet, leaving her unable to move." That sentence. Just that one sentence. No elaboration, no dramatic music, just cold brutal facts. The author doesn't even need to describe what happens in that cave. We know. We understand. And that restraint is what makes it so devastating. Then there's the contrast of the warm scenes—the firecrackers, Dabao rushing in with his excited face, Xiaobao hiding in the straw pile with his chubby bottom sticking out. These little moments of rural warmth make the darkness hit harder because we know what kind of world this is. A world where a girl can be sold for a few hundred yuan and the family thinks they're being kind compared to infanticide. The ox cart, the snow, the cave, the wedding day where they tell her she must sew clothes or be beaten—it's all so vividly rendered that I could smell the woodsmoke and feel the freezing wind. "The world kissed her with pain—why should she be expected to repay it with a song?" This line though. This line is everything.
Okay so let me just say - the plot setup here is absolutely delicious. You've got this viral scandal that basically forces two families together, and the father's reaction? Classic. He doesn't even ask if his son wants to marry the girl. He just announces it like it's already decided. The line 'Even if you tear a hole in the heavens today, this marriage is happening' is such a perfect father move - stubborn, traditional, completely unyielding. But here's what really got me: Lu Yannan's refusal. He doesn't just say no, he offers an alternative - PR cleanup, compensation, personal apology. He's taking responsibility without giving up his autonomy. That's such a smart character choice. He's not running away, he's handling it his way. And then cut to Meng Shuling's house, where her dad is literally humming while telling her she's trending. The dramatic irony is killing me. He thinks they're a couple. She has no idea what's happening. Meanwhile, the internet is tearing her apart with comments calling her a gold digger and a scammer. She's the victim of a mistake and everyone's treating her like she planned it. That scene where she shows her dad the comments and he just laughs it off? I wanted to scream at the page. The parallel structure between the two family reactions is brilliant. One side sees marriage, the other sees scandal. Both are completely missing the actual people involved.
The stakes in this novel keep escalating and I am physically unable to stop reading. Let's talk about what we know: a young man with possible intellectual disabilities was killed six years ago, his body encased in cement, and his death coincides exactly with Liang Wei's disappearance. Two missing persons. One victim. And Amin — the girl Liang Wei ran after that night — is somehow connected to ALL of it. The external conflict is straightforward: the police are hunting for truth in a city that specializes in hiding it. Li Heng is the engine of this investigation — she doesn't sleep, she doesn't let go, and she has this almost predatory instinct for connections. The scene where she sees Wen Zhibang's photo on the staff wall and memorizes it without even stopping is the kind of detail that makes you realize she operates on a completely different frequency than everyone around her. But the INTERNAL conflicts are where this novel really hurts. Liang Wei's father — God, the man is drowning. He found medical records from twenty years ago, confirmed his son had a brow scar, and now he's clinging to the possibility that his son is still alive. 'Sir, if the dead person isn't Xiao Wei... then is he still alive?' This isn't just a plot point. This is a father's entire emotional world balanced on a single question mark. Shen Zhicheng's conflict is more insidious. He's arrogant, yes, but he's also carrying the guilt of a child who watched his family destroy itself. When Li Heng asks him about 'wealthy families with sons not quite right in the head,' he interprets it as a personal insult. But what if she's RIGHT? What if the victim IS connected to his world? The tension between what Shen Zhicheng knows and what he reveals is a minefield. And Amin — her conflict is the most tragic. She had a whole other life before the nightclub. A family. Innocence. And then she became someone else. Vivi's line about her needing a 'lifebuoy' and then tossing it aside once she reached shore — is that what happened? Did she use Liang Wei, use the victim, and then abandon them both? The dinner. That damn dinner. Liang Wei ran after the girl, drank himself into a stupor, and something happened that night that changed everything. I need to know what happened at that dinner more than I've needed anything in a book.
This chapter is absolutely drowning in symbols and I can't stop thinking about what they mean. The Chastity Sand. Jiang Zhaoying rolls up her arm and points to it like it's evidence, like it's proof of her innocence. But the whole concept of chastity as a measurable, visible thing is itself a symbol of how women's bodies are treated as currency in this world. Her father immediately assumes she's been "wanton and shameless" because Song Chengyu's blood isn't pure—he tastes it himself, dramatically, like some kind of grotesque judge. The silver needle, the taste of blood. This is a world where a woman's virtue can be tested with a needle and a tongue, and where the test itself is absurd but treated as absolute truth. Then there's the Heart's Blood itself. Song Chengyu's blood—his life force—offered to save the Emperor. But whose blood is really being spilled here? Madam Song's dream. Clan Leader Song's loyalty. Mingji's childhood. All of it drained like blood from a body, sacrificed on the altar of ambition. And the candy Xu Zhiyan gives her—small, fragrant, sweet. In a world of poison (Madam Song poisoned her husband), fake death (Song Chengyu isn't really dead), and blood tests, that candy is the only real thing. It's sweetness without agenda. Pure, simple, wordless. No one is trying to gain anything from that candy except to give it. The text keeps returning to the idea of purity and contamination—impure breath, unclean body, wanton shamelessness. But the real contamination isn't physical. It's the corruption of every relationship in that house.
Okay, let's talk about what's actually at stake here because I think people are underestimating how tense this could get. An Juexiao just got a miracle—someone with serious power arranging an audition for Director Zhang's film, which even top actors kill for. But then she asks the most important question: 'Could you make sure my role will not be inexplicably taken away again?' That line hit me like a truck. The word 'again' is doing SO much work there. Something happened before. Someone tried to take her opportunity away, and it worked. She's been stepped on before. She's a 'little plant that always grew toward the sun' but she's also been trampled, and now she's asking this guy with unlimited power to protect her from whatever comes next. The stakes aren't just about getting a role—they're about whether she'll survive the industry once she's in it. And Gu Zhanran's response—'And it will not happen again in the future'—is supposed to be reassuring, but it also raises the question: who is the threat? Who took her role before? The author is setting up a conflict that's going to escalate, and I'm already worried. Because in this kind of story, when someone has that much power on your side, there's always someone else with power who wants to fight back. The suspense isn't whether she gets the part—that's already guaranteed. The suspense is what happens AFTER. And honestly, that's way more interesting.
good, good stories. Good characters. That is all
it's an amazing book ??, the adventures are Awesome . the author is a Genius.
Is it recommended to read the original before reading the rewrite?
Very engaging!I kept telling myself to take a break and put the phone down - I could read more later - then twelve chapters went by~
Hello ? everyone. This is the Author here. Volume 1 of EGO is now finished, and Volume 2 will be starting very soon. I hope you are ready, and I hope you enjoy my story. Thank you very much for your support
so far its been awesome I love these kinds of books and there hard to find but getting the same information 3 different times just worded slightly differently in either the same chapter or the very next is really annoying especially when I'm paying for the chapter other then that loving it so far and I'm gonna stick with it and hopefully the author improves and keeps with it cause I would hate to spend money on this just for it to be dropped like so many other books
I'll give it a 5 star rating, because I put a lot of effort in this novel