You Are My Legacy

Chapter 1 01

In Haishi, an ancient and famous port city, there is a villa area within the fourth ring road. The security guard at the gate saw the young woman registering and his eyes lit up.

The girl was wearing a trench coat and riding a shared bicycle. She looked to be around twenty years old, with fair skin and a beautiful face. She had long, black, curly hair cascading over her shoulders and a sweet voice that gave people a refreshing feeling.

Good-looking people have a natural advantage; at least the security guards treat them kindly. Security in the villa area is strict. After confirming her destination, the guard's expression changed, and he lowered his voice, warning her, "That woman in building 33 is really strange. She's been living alone for over a month, rarely goes out, and when I pass by on patrol, her doors and windows are always tightly closed, not even the curtains are drawn. Only a cleaning lady comes occasionally to clean her house. She doesn't interact with anyone else, and I don't know what she does. In short, she's very odd. You should be careful when you visit her. If you have any questions, you can call our security booth."

The young woman smiled brightly. "Thank you for reminding me. She's an estate administrator, and I'm here to work as her assistant. Today is my first day on the job."

The security guard was taken aback, scratching the back of his head. "An estate administrator? What kind of profession is that? This is the first time I've heard of it."

"Actually, I'm not sure either. Maybe it's similar to being a lawyer." The girl didn't talk much, parked her car at the parking spot at the entrance, locked it, and then walked into the villa area.

Arriving at the entrance of Building 33, there was no decoration on the door except for an electronic security doorbell. While other homes were decorated with flowers and plants, full of life, this one looked abandoned and lifeless.

After climbing three steps to the door and ringing the doorbell, a cold voice quickly came through the security camera: "The door is unlocked, come in."

"good."

Xinran pushed open the door and stepped inside. A cold voice rang in her ears again, "There are new slippers in the cabinet on the left." It meant she should change into slippers. She opened the shoe cabinet and glanced at it; this guy really had a lot of shoes, all kinds.

Sitting on the shoe-changing stool inside, he noticed the security camera in the upper left corner and frowned in displeasure. "You actually installed security cameras in your home? How many cameras are there?"

The other party did not reply.

After changing into my shoes and entering the hall, I saw a piece of paper on the rustic wooden table. It turned out to be an employment agreement—Party A was Xu Yan, and Party B was Zhou Luming.

Xu Yan had already signed his name. His handwriting reflected his personality; it was somewhat thin and elongated, yet also possessed a graceful quality. The girl who came to work as Xu Yan's assistant was naturally Zhou Luming. After signing, Zhou Luming looked up at the camera and asked, "Boss Xu, aren't you going to cover my room and board?"

"There are no vacant rooms." Xu Yan said bluntly.

Zhou Luming glanced around. It was a three-story detached villa, with two empty rooms on the first floor alone. Xu Yan was clearly lying through his teeth.

Although she had just returned to China, she was a local resident of Haishi and had already started arranging her own accommodation. Even if Xu Yan provided room and board, she wouldn't stay here. After all, this was only the second time she and Xu Yan had met. Their first meeting had been tense and chaotic, and this second meeting was also a test of each other's abilities, as they both wanted to find out more about the other.

Zhou Luming's grandfather had just passed away not long ago. Zhou Luming rushed back from abroad, but he didn't even have time to see his grandfather one last time before he was gone.

Meanwhile, in the Zhou family's old house, a group of relatives whom Zhou Luming didn't know very well had gathered. Due to her status, she had been sent abroad to live alone at a very young age and had almost no contact with anyone here except her grandfather. But at this moment, everyone was here, waiting for Old Master Zhou's will.

The lawyer arrived quickly with the will, but at the same time, another person also arrived—the estate administrator, Xu Yan.

Zhou Luming still remembered their first meeting. Xu Yan seemed like a quiet and reserved person, exuding an aura of unapproachability. At the time, she was wearing a well-fitting dark blue suit with an asymmetrical collar, sitting upright in her wheelchair, her quiet, deep black eyes silently observing everyone in the hall, as if trying to see through each and every one of them.

Old Master Zhou bequeathed his entire Zhou family business empire, worth tens of billions, to Zhou Luming, instantly transforming her from penniless into someone worthy of being listed among the richest people. However, Old Master Zhou had one condition—the inheritance left to Zhou Luming would be temporarily managed by Xu Yan, who would also be entrusted to take care of Zhou Luming. Only when Xu Yan felt the time was right could the inheritance be handed over to Zhou Luming.

Zhou Luming never understood the motives behind Old Master Zhou's arrangement, but given the circumstances, and facing a group of relatives dissatisfied with the distribution of the inheritance and eyeing her covetously, she had no choice but to join forces with Xu Yan, who seemed quite reliable. In a sense, she had no relatives or friends in the Zhou family, and the only one who could help her was Xu Yan, the estate administrator appointed by Old Master Zhou.

"I've already signed the contract. What work do you want me to do today?" Zhou Luming asked casually, arms crossed. "Boss Xu, aren't you going to come out and meet your new employee, me?"

Meanwhile, in a dark study on the second floor, only a few computer screens provided illumination. In front of these screens sat a slender woman, dressed in a custom-made red suit of fine fabric. To her left was a clear glass, and to her right, a mouse. She comfortably crossed her legs, leaning back in her chair, the light from the computer screens reflecting off her glasses.

However, her chair was unusual; it wasn't a normal chair, but a wheelchair.

She observed Zhou Luming from the shadows, using the mouse to zoom in on the signed contract on the table. After extracting Zhou Luming's signature, she compared it with a letter. The computer's processing and comparison results showed a 98% similarity in handwriting, preliminarily confirming that it was the same person's handwriting.

Then, a photo of Zhou Luming taken at the entrance was compared with her social media database, and the results showed that she was indeed Zhou Luming.

Xu Yan narrowed his eyes, still expressing doubt about the outcome.

A person who has lived abroad for over a decade, someone with virtually no social life and who rarely appears in public, suddenly becoming the heir to billions of dollars inevitably raises suspicions of impersonation. If such a thing were to happen under one's own name, wouldn't that ruin one's reputation?

The contents of Old Master Zhou's will are actually quite easy to understand. Zhou Luming is the Zhou family's illegitimate daughter; both her parents are deceased, and she was only found later, raising the possibility of identity theft. Xu Yan's task is to investigate Zhou Luming's identity and confirm that she is indeed a member of the Zhou family before entrusting her with the vast fortune.

Xu Yan couldn't allow herself to make a mistake, so she had been contacting everyone who had seen Zhou Luming for the past few days to confirm her identity. In addition to ID documents, handwriting, and facial recognition, she also needed to continue observing Zhou Luming.

"Actually, there's nothing wrong with your legs, right? You can clearly stand up, so why do you sit in a wheelchair and make people think you're disabled?" Zhou Luming, who was sitting on the sofa, was playing with a figurine on the coffee table when he suddenly asked.

Xu Yan asked, "What evidence do you have?"

Zhou Luming stood up and put the figurine back in its original position. "There are three steps at the entrance. How will you get in and out if you're in a wheelchair?"

"Because I don't usually go out."

"Then why are some of the shoes in your shoe cabinet covered in mud?"

"I got it on by accident."

Zhou Luming raised an eyebrow. The other party was still stubbornly denying it, but she had almost broken through her defenses. She silently recited the information she had found: "Xu Yan, 21 years old, from Haishi, graduated from the University of Chicago School of Law as an honors

……