But what about the name Shen Li? How should that be interpreted?
If one doesn’t know Shen Li’s true identity, it’s just an ordinary name. However, once it’s revealed that he is Yu Fuli, the name Shen Li becomes quite intriguing.
When the Yu family was searching across the world for Yu Fuli, they never imagined he was hiding away in the remote Qingzhou, living as an ordinary and busy firefighter. No one can blame the Yu family—trying to figure that out would be beyond anyone’s imagination.
The white jade plaque of Qing Kingdom was Sang Ziming’s private possession, something widely known to the families that had fawned over the Sang family’s power.
Mei Lvge envied it terribly. So, when Sang Ziming drew her last breath while bedridden, Mei Lvge urgently set out to snatch the jade plaque.
But despite searching from top to bottom in Sang Ziming’s boudoir, she could never locate the jade plaque.
As a result, Mei Lvge’s gaze fell upon Yu Yisen, who was merely seven years old at the time. Yet no matter what tricks she tried, the child remained immovable. Coupled with Old Sir Yu’s guilt toward this son, he even lashed out at Mei Lvge, accusing her of her shameless greed.
From that point forward, Mei Lvge restrained herself somewhat—but she never truly gave up her ambition to seize the jade plaque.
Because that plaque was a symbol.
A symbol of stepping on Sang Ziming to fully and completely become the victor.
This reasoning was well understood by the Xiang family, one of the Yu family’s trusted confidants, and even more so by the Helian family, former Sang loyalists turned traitors.
Thus, at Mei Lvge’s grand birthday celebration, when Helian Yu brought up the news of the jade plaque resurfacing, Mei Lvge’s strong reaction was unsurprising.
No one knew whom Sang Ziming had ultimately passed the jade plaque to, but the widespread speculation was that it was given to Yu Yisen, turning it into a token of love between him and Shen Qiunong.
When Shen Qiunong had just returned to the country, having grown up abroad, though clever, she lacked understanding of the convoluted schemes within large families. During a casual conversation with Mei Lvge, she accidentally let slip some vital information.
This slip made Mei Lvge certain that the jade plaque was in Yu Yisen’s possession.
And that was when Mei Lvge fully developed the intent to kill Yu Yisen.
At the time, Yu Yisen was a renowned physicist, significantly contributing to scientific research. Mei Lvge couldn’t touch him and had to bide her time quietly.
For years she conspired, waiting for the perfect opportunity...
With Yu Fuli’s disappearance, the jade plaque also vanished without a trace.
If not for Shen Li’s wife’s younger brother’s greed, leading him to secretly steal burial items from Zhang Yun’s grave and pawn the jade plaque, Shen Li—and the jade plaque meant to be buried forever—might have disappeared from this world without a shred of evidence to speak of.
Xiang Chenyu found herself overwhelmed, thinking back to everything related to Yu Fuli over the years. It was all so perplexing, as if obscured by a veil, impossible to see clearly.
His disappearance, his reason for ending up in Qingzhou as a simple firefighter, his decision to settle down, marry, and have a daughter, and his classified records—all of it was a tangled web of mysteries.
She even sensed, with sharp intuition, that the fire in which he had sacrificed himself years ago might have carried undisclosed secrets.
She had to uncover the truth behind it all.
And the girl in front of her, with eyes so clear and innocent—they reminded her so much of him from back then. Xiang Chenyu didn’t want those innocent eyes to be tainted with even the slightest speck of impurity.
Those eyes deserved to stay perpetually pure and unblemished.
But the vipers of the Yu family certainly would not let her go.
Could Yu Ruohuan’s repeated ruthless attempts to kill her be from sensing her identity and wanting to eliminate her at all costs?
But she—she was Yu Fuli’s daughter, Yu Yisen’s granddaughter, Sang Ziming’s great-granddaughter. The blood of the Sang family ran through her veins. She was destined to rise and could never remain inconspicuous.
She bore a heavy responsibility—a burden too cruel for any fifteen-year-old girl. Yet there was no choice; this was her fate, one she was born to confront.
"Your father was an old acquaintance of mine."
This matter was too significant; Xiang Chenyu needed time to carefully contemplate and figure out how to explain it all to Shen You’an.
Turmoil surged through Xiang Chenyu’s heart. She required a tranquil space to think deeply about the path forward.
Shen You’an’s eyes lit with curiosity as he was about to ask further, but Xiang Chenyu’s demeanor suddenly changed. Her face darkened in an instant as she grabbed Shen You’an and pulled him behind her. At the same moment, she drew the handgun from her waist, aimed it at the bedroom, and commanded coldly, "Come out right now!"
Shen You’an stood behind Xiang Chenyu, gazing at her cold yet striking profile. His eyes gradually turned deep and enigmatic.
The world knew well that the Xiang family and the Jing family were the Yu family’s most trusted allies—especially the Xiang family, renowned for their integrity yet submissive in the face of the Yu family.
The reason lay in Mei Lvge’s daughter, Yu Hongzhu, who had married into the Xiang family, becoming the wife of the Xiang family’s patriarch—Xiang Chenyu’s uncle.