An earthquake fifteen years ago took away my hearing and the lives of my biological parents.

My father's friends, that was, William's parents adopted me. I had a new family, so I rarely thought about that broken past.

Later, with my own efforts, I became the first hearing-impaired graduate since the founding of the University of Chevening of Political Science and Law and one of the few hearing-impaired people in Germany who passed the bar exam.

According to the original plan, I would give a speech on stage as an outstanding student representative tomorrow. In order to show the best speech state in front of the public, I had practiced speech for several months.

Just a sudden notice turned my efforts of these days into bubbles.

[Alice, the leader asked me to tell you that your speech at the graduation ceremony was cancelled and replaced by someone else.]

My right hand holding the phone trembled slightly and I typed frequently to try to reason, but after repeated entanglements, I still cleared it.

Then another line of words popped up in the dialog box.

[It was a person inserted by the school director, named Celine Murphy. There is nothing we can do when we encounter such a person with connections.]

On the day of the graduation ceremony, I met Celine for the first time.

She stood high above me in the position that should have belonged to me, covering up my existence with the identity of "outstanding alumnus".

Although I felt a little disappointed, I finally accepted it calmly. But my best friend couldn't stand it.

"Alice, you prepared for such a long time, but the speech was replaced by a relative who came out of nowhere. I'm worried for you!"

In fact, this speech had no other benefits for me except the opportunity to show my face. It was better to had less trouble than more. Besides, I could work in the Grey Family's law firm after graduation and I didn’t need the so-called "speech" to fill my resume.

The graduation ceremony ended with the principal's speech. At that time, my mobile phone received an unmarked text message.

[I am Celine Murphy, Felix's fiancée and I want to meet you.]

[Just go to the western restaurant at the back door of the school. I just returned to Germany and can't get used to the local food.]

I did not choose to change out of casual clothes, but just wore the simplest shirt and went to this "Fancy Banquet" alone. Opposite, Celine wore a high-end brand beaded suit, a brooch on her chest and exuded the scent of a thousand-dollar perfume.

Seeing me approach, she slowly put down the menu in her hand and smiled at me with a deep meaning.

She greeted me, "Hello, Miss Swift. Nice to meet you. I am Celine Murphy."

She started to explain, "We are quite predestined. Five years ago, I was also a student of the University of Chevening Political Science and Law. I just graduated from the London School of Economics this year. I am your predecessor."

I was unmoved. I had long understood the hidden meaning of this woman's words.

I looked at Celine's face calmly and then put on a polite smile. "Miss Murphy, you flew all the way from the UK, not to submit your resume to me, right?"

Celine's face changed and she was a little confused by my calmness.

I guess she might have thought that I would hysterically compete with her for the position of the main owner, but she never expected that I would be so unmoved by her appearance. Because I had seen through Felix a long time ago, I knew he didn't love me.

Celine frowned slightly, sneered and then said straight to the point, "I've heard that Miss Swift is very smart and is the first hearing-impaired graduate of the University of Chevening Political Science and Law. I think you should understand..."

"Felix is fickle-minded. He has many children outside. As his fiancée, I have always seen it. But I have lived abroad for a long time and I have not been able to eradicate him all these years. Of course, Felix will get tired of you one day. But we are about to get married. If you continue to stay with him, it will not be good for you or me."

In between the sarcasm, Celine looked up and down at my clothes and seemed to have grasped the key point again.

"I can compensate you for Felix. You just need to mention a number and I can add six zeros to the end."

After hearing these ridiculous words, I couldn't help but sneer.

"No, Miss Murphy, I'm not so poor that I need your money for help. You can keep this money for yourself and treat it as my wedding gift to you."

I turned around and left decisively. When I reached the door, a woman's scream suddenly came from the hearing aid.

After I turned around, I found that Celine had caught up with me.

"Alicia, you are really shameless. You have been with Felix for a long time and you really take yourself seriously!"

Celine found the hearing aid behind my ear at some point and she suddenly had evil intentions in her heart.

In order to vent her anger, she reached out and pulled the hearing aid behind my ear and then threw it to the ground and broke it into pieces.

The sound of the world instantly left me. The dizziness and insecurity instantly overwhelmed me, almost making it impossible for me to stand.

I forced myself to shake off Celine's hand and the strong recoil made me fall backwards, but I didn't expect to accidentally bump into a large and warm embrace.

I looked up in panic, only to see Felix's face dark, staring coldly at everything that happened in front of him.

I saw Felix's lips tremble slightly, so I tried to interpret them with lip reading, but I couldn't understand what he said.

Later, I realized that he and Celine were talking in French.

"Celine, why did you return home early?"

But Celine was already furious at that time. She stared at me in Felix's arms with resentment and tried to step forward to punch and kick me, but she never thought that Felix would push me away.

Celine staggered to the corner of the table to stand steady, then pointed at me who was silent and scolded, "Felix, do you know what you are doing! You are bored and go to play with her, but don't fool yourself!"

In the fierce argument, I felt that my center of gravity was suddenly unstable and I fainted on the cold floor.

When I woke up, I was the only one in the huge VIP ward.

I took my phone off the table with difficulty, but after unlocking it, a series of pop-up messages dominated the screen.

It was a bombardment of messages from my bestie and a link to a forum.

[Alice, are you there!?]

[Now a group of people on the school forum are spreading rumors about you. It's so hateful, you should quickly refute the rumors!]

Clicking on the forum link, I was shocked by the explosive title.

[Frontline of gossip, Alicia Swift, a hearing-impaired beauty from the Law Department, was caught red-handed by the real owner and the man accused the real owner of moral corruption]

A video was attached to the post, which was the video of Celine and I arguing in the Western restaurant yesterday.

The comments below were full of abuses from friends and many netizens who didn't know the truth came to join in the fun.

Some people speculated that I was born in poverty and sold my body for four years in college to be supported by my sponsor. Some even posted my face photo and student ID, which "confirmed" the crime.

Later, even my mobile phone number was exposed and hundreds of harassing text messages were sent in just ten minutes.

When I was at a loss, the door of the VIP ward was pushed open without warning.

I saw Felix rushing in, dusty, followed by a few of his friends.

He hurriedly trotted to my bedside and squatted down, his face full of unresolved sorrow. Felix's big, bony hands tightly grasped mine, as if he was afraid that I would leave in the next second.

I took out my phone and directly put the overwhelming abuse in the forum in front of Felix.

Even though I already knew the truth, I still waited for his explanation expressionlessly.

"Alice, don't believe what Celine said to you. She is the marriage partner arranged by my father for me. I am not familiar with her and don't want to marry her."

Although I could only read his lips, I still pretended to be ignorant.

Those photos that were taken under duress and everything his brother said.

How could I not believe it.

What I paid and was forced to accept were all appetizers for Felix to serve Celine.

Now he pretended to be affectionate, what was his intention?

"Felix, Alicia's hearing aids are gone. She can't hear you even if you say so much."

The friend next to him kindly reminded him and this woke Felix up.

I laughed secretly in my heart. After all, I had never told outsiders that I could read people lips.

Later, Felix no longer insisted on making excuses to me, but still pretended to be worried about my health.

Seeing that he was getting more and more emotional, his friends couldn't help but sweat for Felix.

"Felix, we have already filmed the video you asked us to do. It was posted on the social forum yesterday. With the current level of discussion, Alicia's reputation is probably really bad."

"You said that in order to discredit Alicia, you did not hesitate to ask Celine to return home in advance and you also personally directed and acted in this drama. What if there is a problem in any link and Alicia knows it in advance, how are you going to explain it to her?"

Felix looked at me, who was pale on the bed, with clear eyes and then slowly said, "This matter is me testing her bottom line. Now it seems that she can't leave me at all. Even if she wants to make trouble, as long as I take out her photo to threaten her, she won't dare to do anything."

His friends around him looked at each other and seemed to understand something.

"Next week's wedding will be full of VIPs. If some of the photos are made public, Felix can not only find an excuse to break off the relationship with Alicia, but also take this opportunity to make William give up the Houston Group case for his sister's reputation."

"Felix, your plan really kills two birds with one stone!"

The originally quiet ward was suddenly filled with men's laughter.

Under the white sheets, my hands couldn't stop shaking. On the surface, I pretended to be calm, but I kept translating the lip language of Felix and his brothers in my mind.

The truth seemed to be more cruel than I knew.

At the beginning, Felix fell from the sky and step by step made me his captive canary... The most important purpose was to tame me as a chess piece. To deal with his closest family.

Since Felix wanted to use me, I could also turn the tables in secret. Using my status to find more evidence for my brother's case.

I tugged at the corner of Felix's clothes, my lips were slightly wet, as if I was going to cry in grievance in the next second.

"Felix, don't leave tonight, okay? Stay with me."

Felix was silent for a moment, his expression inadvertently relaxed and finally nodded slightly.

That night, Felix stayed in the ward.

Within just two hours, someone sent a brand new hearing aid for me.

Having been Felix's canary for three years, I knew his character too well. I only needed to act a little coquettishly to touch his soft spot.

"Be good, I'll go take a shower and come back to accompany you."

After Felix walked into the bathroom, I immediately got out of bed and took out the phone from his bag.