Hard to Escape Chapter 13.1

Candle: When I was deciding where to split the chapter I wanted to choose a good ending point for part 1, but unfortunately this means that once again this release is a bit on the short side. Please enjoy nonetheless and look forward to a long-ass release next week 😉

When I woke up the next day I felt the effects of my hangover. I had a slight headache, but I could still faintly recall last night's events. Remembering my shameless behavior, I really felt like I didn't have the face to go back out in public. Luckily, Yin Li didn't bring up my misdeeds to poke fun at. Thus, I used the classic excuse, "I really drank too much! I can't remember anything from last night!" to cover my ass.

The newspapers also hadn't published anything in their gossip sections about how Yin Li had called me his fiancee last night. There was, however, plenty of sensational news about Mo Xing Zhi.

And in the afternoon, this leading man of the celebrity mags managed to squeeze in a call to me in the middle of his packed schedule.

"Yan Xiao! I have good news for you!" His voice was full of excitement but I somehow always misheard it as delirious. "It's like this! I found some clues about your past identity! I'll come pick you up in a bit and bring you to take a look. You definitely won't believe it! It really is an uncanny coincidence."

After taking a seat in Mo Xing Zhi's car, I realized that my mind was in a muddle. It was highly likely that I would soon be facing my past, making me feel a bit panicked. Mo Xing Zhi, who was in the drivers seat, sighed, "Ahh, you don't know how much of a coincidence this was, Yan Xiao. My girlfriend Lilian manages an art gallery. Recently she brought a few reproductions from Europe to exhibit here. It really boggles the mind but lo and behold, one of the models in the paintings looks exactly like you!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "No way, how could I turn into an artist's creation, and a European artist at that. That's too ridiculous. Maybe we just resemble each other. How could it be me?"

However, once I stood in front of that piece, I was shocked beyond words.

In terms of portraiture, it was larger than life. It took up over half of the wall and on it, shockingly enough, was my face. Those features were undeniably mine. In front of that painting, I could no longer joke that it was “just some lookalike.”

As I looked at that painting I stammered, "But I, I couldn't have shown this kind of expression." Then I dazedly turned to Mo Xing Zhi, as if I had a hope that he'd have a definite answer. Rubbing his chin with two fingers, he was currently looking back and forth between me and the painting. As his gaze moved to and fro, a suspicious expression emerged on his face.

"That face and body is definitely yours. But the facial expression… ," he shook his head, "You would never make this sort of expression. It really seems out of place."

The artist used a very flattering angle and lighting for the piece. The girl in the painting was dressed in a snowy white gown, with a train that meandered down the stairs, cascading beautifully to the floor. She wore a pair of gloves as white as snow, and casually lifted the hem of her dress with one hand. Her limbs were slender and lithe, and her arched neck had a beautiful curve. She looked like a European socialite of old about to descend the red-carpeted staircase to her debutante ball. As for her face, rather than describing her expression, it'd be more apt to say that she lacked one. Her elegant and noble look held the faint traces of icy aloofness. It was difficult to look away from her. She had a tightly controlled kind of beauty.

Standing before the painting, I felt my blood run cold. This was clearly an identical face to mine, yet there seemed to be a giant gap between us because of her expression and demeanor.

"Or maybe… I think you could have a twin? Or a long lost sister?" Mo Xing Zhi suggested, trying to sound me out. Then he thumped his head. "Let me call Lilian and ask."

While Mo Xing Zhi called Lilian, I stayed behind still staring at the painting before me in disbelief. Maybe I really did have a twin sister, because even if that really was an exact copy of my face, I would never have been able to appear with such an expression and such grand attire.

Mo Xing Zhi hung up the phone and said with a rare seriousness, "Lilian said that the artist didn't actually just paint this one portrait. He has a whole studio full of paintings of this woman, when Lilian saw it, she was stupefied. The painting exhibited here is just an  authorized reproduction and the artist keeps the real one in his possession. Oh, and the artist is a Chinese expat with French citizenship. Lilian only knows that his name is Louis, and apparently his Chinese surname is Li."

I felt a bit helpless. "I'll go back and ask Yin Li about it. Perhaps I have a complicated life story. With some effort, maybe I can even discover a sister."

Mo Xing Zhi glanced at me. "Yan Xiao, I feel that there's something off about this. It's best for now that you don't tell Yin Li everything. Lilian said that the artist told her the woman in the painting is someone he loves deeply, who has been missing for 14 months already. It's like she has entirely vanished from France into thin air." Then he took a deep breath. "If I remember correctly, it's been more or less over a year since your car accident, right? And your French, it doesn't even have an accent."

Mo Xing Zhi's gaze seemed to penetrate right through me. I suddenly felt a chill run down my back. I'd always felt like I had left behind something, and now it seemed to come closer and closer. But where I had once longed for what I'd lost, I now grew fearful, hoping that the time to face them would never come.

"I can ask Lilian to get you in touch with the artist. I think it'd be very worthwhile for the two of you to meet and have a chat."

I forced a stiff smile. "No need, no need. There's no way that person is me." Then I hastily fumbled for something to check the time. "Let's just call it a day now. Thanks for bringing me here. I still have class later so I'll leave first."

Under his scrutinizing gaze, I bolted.

Candle: btw recently I've been reading the raws of . Ngl I kinda love those kinds of transmigrated/reincarnated innocent lil fangirl/boy x lowkey insane obsessive ML… if anyone has any similar recommendations pls comment below and I'll try to get to them in the next century… *laughs* Srsly though, my reading speed in Chinese is so slow in comparison to English it takes me like TEN HOURS to get thru 1 measly lil chapter sobsob

LAOZI CAN READ 50 CHAPTERS EASILY IN A NIGHT, YET THIS 80 or so CHAPTER NOVEL IS SUCH A CHALLENGE asdfdsgkjsdfjdsk im still only on chapter 11 send help pls also I have finals soON why am I such a potato

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