Xie Qisheng was born with a hunchback.
He hid in the shadows on the second floor, watching his second older brother lose his temper with Jiang Yao in the living room below. Jealousy grew wildly in his chest like a vine.
Why? What right did his second brother have to boss Jiang Yao around? His father had called this man an "ambitious schemer" who was "unworthy of the Xie family," but he was the first person who had never treated Xie Qisheng like a "disabled young master."
He began secretly collecting everything that belonged to Jiang Yao: a fountain pen he had used, half a bottle of water he had left behind, even a single hair that had fallen in his second brother's study.
At night, he curled up in bed, hugging his pillow and imagining it was Jiang Yao's arm. He wondered if he could stand by Jiang Yao's side if only he could straighten his back like his second brother.
At dinner that day, his father threw down his chopsticks and called Jiang Yao a "phoenix man" who was "trying to marry up." Then he glanced at Xie Qisheng and said with disgust, "Even if a son of the Xie family is a hunchback, we can't let a man like that have him."
Xie Qisheng clenched his fist beneath the table. If Jiang Yao couldn't be given to his second brother, then... could he be given to me?
