The Moonlight and The Madwoman: Jiang Ning’s Game of Survival

My name is Jiang Ning. I was born with an incurable condition: mania—an intense, extreme need to retaliate against anyone who dared to displease me. My life was a series of shocking incidents: beating my cousin until he literally “transformed”; exposing my dishonest project manager, accepting a permanent ban from the industry. People called me “the heartless, lungless mad dog.” And gradually, no one dared to cross me anymore.

Until the day my family forced me to marry Fu Hanzhou, the powerful crown prince of Beijing’s financial elite. This marriage was a transaction for my failing family’s logistics company, and I was the commodity. He despised me, for his heart belonged to one person: Su Man, his pure, fragile “Moonlight.”

In the luxurious back room of the engagement party, fate pushed the three of us into a game of survival. Su Man, in her sharp high heels, stood tall before me, her voice dripping with disdain, digging into my dark past: “Jiang Ning, I heard you spent three years in a mental hospital… Does a madwoman with a criminal past like you deserve to enter the Fu family’s gates?” Fu Hanzhou’s friends erupted in laughter, their eyes full of interest, waiting for my “breakdown” to enjoy the spectacle.

But they forgot one thing: the mad rarely follow the normal script.

Without a word, I casually grabbed a fruit knife from the table and pressed it against Su Man’s pale, delicate neck. A cold smile curved my lips: “Fu Hanzhou, you have so many confidantes, one less won’t hurt, right?”

Su Man’s sharp, strangled scream filled the room, only increasing my annoyance. If my hand trembled even slightly, this fragile heiress would bleed out on the spot.

Fu Hanzhou sprang from the sofa, his handsome face twisted with disgust and fury: “Jiang Ning, are you crazy? Put the knife down immediately!”

“Yes, I am crazy.” I tilted my head, increasing the pressure slightly. A trail of blood immediately seeped from Su Man’s neck. “Ah! Hanzhou, save me! This madwoman will actually kill me!” She cried, trembling like a leaf.

Fu Hanzhou took a deep breath, trying to coerce me with logic: “It’s our engagement party, the media and guests are outside. Have you considered the consequences? Let Man Man go, and I’ll pretend this never happened. Otherwise, your family’s bankrupt logistics company will disappear completely tomorrow!”

I sneered. The same old trick. I looked straight into his cold eyes, eyes that held the arrogance of a man above all others: “It’s better if that rotten company goes bankrupt. I’ve long wanted to light a fire and burn it down. Are you underestimating my madness by using that to threaten me?”

Fu Hanzhou’s expression stiffened. He hadn’t expected me to care so little about my family’s interests. “Then what do you want? Cash? The position of Mrs. Fu? I’ll give it to you, just release her!”

I dropped the smile, my eyes as cold as if I’d just stepped out of three years of hell in the mental hospital: “I want you to kneel. Let me enjoy the feeling of superiority for a moment. Apologize for my condition.”

The room fell into absolute silence. To make the crown prince of Beijing’s elite kneel before his friends? That was worse than killing him.

“Jiang Ning, don’t push your luck! What is Hanzhou’s status, and what are you?!” one of his friends yelled.

“I am the madwoman,” I replied matter-of-factly, and my wrist suddenly pressed down hard.

Su Man shrieked in agony, fresh blood staining her expensive gown.

“Kneel or not? I’m counting to three. Two…”

Fu Hanzhou clenched his fists, veins throbbing on his hands. He glared at me, his hatred palpable. He knew I was uncontrollable. He knew the madwoman would drag everyone down to hell with her.

Just as I prepared to draw more blood from Su Man for my pleasure…

“Thud!”

Fu Hanzhou’s knees hit the floor.

“I apologize,” he ground out the words, each one heavy with blood. “I failed to control Man Man, causing you distress.”

I looked at Fu Hanzhou kneeling on the floor, the raging fury in my heart finally subsiding slightly. “Before I even got to two, your knees went soft like a parasite. Fine, I’m a reasonable person. I’ll spare you two pathetic creatures.” I released Su Man, shoving her like trash into Fu Hanzhou’s arms, and stuck the bloody knife back into the fruit plate.

I took the blood-stained apple, bit into it, and said calmly: “Remember this, Fu Hanzhou. I am a legally certified madwoman. Next time you plan to upset me, you’d better ask yourself if your lives are tough enough.”

---

That very evening, under the order of the elderly Mr. Fu, I moved into Fu Hanzhou’s private villa—to foster affection, or rather, to be monitored.

I entered the living room, dragging my suitcase, and saw Su Man curled up on the sofa in Fu Hanzhou’s shirt, her legs bare, while he gently fed her grapes.

“Oh, Sister-in-law is here?” Su Man provocatively glanced at me. “Hanzhou said I was traumatized and couldn’t leave him for a few days, so he asked me to stay here to recover. I hope you don’t mind?”

Fu Hanzhou didn’t even look up, coldly pointing: “The second-floor guest room is yours. The master bedroom is for Man Man. In this house, you had better behave, or don’t force me to send you back to that place.” (The mental hospital).

“Mind? Why would I mind?” I dropped my suitcase, strode to the coffee table, grabbed the exquisite 30-million-yuan Ming dynasty vase, and “CRASH!”—smashed it onto the floor. A shard cut Su Man’s calf.

“Jiang Ning, what are you going crazy about now?!” Fu Hanzhou roared.

“Sorry, I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. I see something unpleasant, and I want to smash it.” I blinked innocently, my foot stepping on the broken porcelain. “Since Miss Su is in the master bedroom, I’ll take…” I glanced around and pointed to the maid’s room on the first floor, “…I’ll stay here. It’s close to the kitchen, convenient for me to sharpen my knife late at night.”

Fu Hanzhou’s face turned ashen. He carried the panicked Su Man upstairs, his voice strained: “Fine! Just don’t let me see you, or I won’t be polite!”

I watched their retreating figures, the smile on my face freezing. “Did they truly think I came here to suffer? This villa is my hunting ground, starting today.”

---

The next morning, I was woken by the jarring sound of construction. Su Man was directing workers to remove the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and replace them with… barred windows. “Hanzhou said it’s unsafe with a madwoman in the house. We need protection. Sister-in-law, don’t overthink it. It’s for your own good. If you decide to jump one day, the Fu family won’t be able to handle it.”

I laughed, not angry at all. Indeed, it was very safe. I went to the kitchen and opened the fridge full of expensive imported ingredients. Su Man followed, snatching a bottle of expensive Australian milk from my hand, and poured it directly into the bowl of Tiger, Fu Hanzhou’s Doberman. “Your stomach, used to gutter oil, probably can’t handle this. See? Even the dog knows better than you!”

I looked at the dog licking the milk, then at Su Man. “Is that so?” I put a pot of water on the stove.

Ten minutes later, the water boiled. I carried the steaming pot into the living room. Su Man was on the rug playing with the Doberman.

“Move aside,” I said softly.

Su Man didn’t hear clearly and turned her head: “What?”

“SPLAT!”

The entire pot of boiling water landed perfectly on the Doberman. A desperate howl echoed through the villa. The dog rolled wildly, its fur scorched, skin exposed and blistered like raw, peeled meat. Su Man, standing close, was splashed and burned on one arm, frozen in shock as she watched the dog convulsing.

“Oops, my hand slipped.” I dropped the empty pot. “This dog’s howling is so grating; it’s giving me a headache.” I looked up at Fu Hanzhou, who had rushed down from upstairs, his eyes contracting at the sight of Tiger—his champion dog.

“Jiang Ning, you killed my dog!”

“It drank my milk.” I pointed to the empty bottle. “I am protective of my food. Anyone who takes my things, I deal with them, even a dog.”

Fu Hanzhou was trembling with rage, raising his hand to slap me. I didn’t flinch. I moved closer, pressing my face against his palm.

“Go on, hit me!” My eyes widened with excitement. “Hit me right here! If you dare to touch me, I’ll call the police and report you for battering a mental patient! You calculate how many points Fu Group’s stock will drop then!”

Fu Hanzhou’s arm froze in mid-air. He lowered his hand, gritting out each word: “Lock this madwoman in the basement! No food until I say so!”

I was dragged by the bodyguards to the dark, damp basement, filled with old furniture, newspapers, cardboard boxes, and unused valuable calligraphy scrolls of Fu Hanzhou.

“Jiang Ning, rot in there!” Su Man’s vicious voice came from behind the locked door. “Maybe when Hanzhou cools off, he’ll be kind enough to give you some leftovers.”

“Rot in here, you say?” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a lighter I had stolen from the coffee table during the chaos.

I lit an old newspaper, watching the flame dance in the darkness—a beautiful color, much like the light of hope I saw five years ago when the mental asylum burned. I threw the burning paper onto a stack of documents. The fire immediately spread, and black smoke began to fill the confined space.

I went to the small ventilation window, shattered the glass, took a deep breath of fresh air, and screamed: “Fire! Help me! Fu Hanzhou is trying to burn me alive!”

Fire engines soon roared into the high-end residential area. The residents feared scandal more than anything.

The basement door was violently broken down. When the firemen rushed in, I was already “unconscious” in a corner, my face covered in soot, looking utterly miserable.

As I was carried out, I saw Fu Hanzhou and Su Man standing dishevelled in the courtyard. The first floor of the villa was blackened by smoke. Reporters swarmed, their cameras flashing at Fu Hanzhou.

“Mr. Fu, is it true you locked your fiancée in the basement to abuse her, leading to the fire?”

“People heard Miss Jiang screaming that you wanted to burn her alive. How do you explain this?”

Fu Hanzhou was speechless, his face black as the bottom of a pan. I slightly opened my eyes, winked at him, and mouthed two words: “Serves you right!”

---

I was brought back to the villa. Fu Hanzhou’s gaze had changed from pure hatred to wariness and scrutiny. He finally realized I was a ticking time bomb.

“Jiang Ning, what do you want?” Fu Hanzhou confronted me in his smoke-filled study.

“I told you, I hold grudges.” I played with a fountain pen. “Su Man insulted me, and you indulged her. This debt is not settled.”

“You already humiliated her, burned down my house, killed my dog! Isn’t that enough?”

“Not enough!” I abruptly stabbed the pen into the desk, breaking the nib. “I want Su Man out of here, and I want to work in the Fu Group.”

Ultimately, Fu Hanzhou, a businessman valuing profit over emotion, agreed to let me join the project department. But Su Man could not leave.

“Fine,” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Just don’t be surprised if one day you come home and find her head decorating the dining table.”

Fu Hanzhou’s face twitched.

“I’ll give you a huge surprise,” I smiled at him before leaving.

---

I officially joined the Fu Group as a department deputy director in the project division. I enjoyed my leisure, drinking tea and reading reports, conveniently gathering some interesting information. Su Man tried to spread rumors about me sleepwalking with a knife, but I paid no mind. Rumor-mongering? Too basic!

Two weeks later, the Fu Group’s key project—the South City Wetland Park renovation—entered the bidding phase. This was the project Fu Hanzhou was determined to win.

The night before the bidding, I stayed late at the office. Fu Hanzhou brought Su Man, taunting me. “Bidding is tomorrow, and you haven’t even seen the cover of the proposal, have you?” Su Man smirked, leaning on his arm.

“Understood, Mr. Fu.” I obediently left the office.

The next morning, the bidding started on time. Fu Hanzhou confidently stepped onto the stage. However, when he turned to the crucial pricing page, the entire hall erupted into chaos.

Instead of the detailed cost estimate, the page displayed a photograph. A clear, un-censored photo of Su Man and the CEO of the rival company, Chen Chong, entangled in a hotel bed.

Fu Hanzhou froze on stage, his mind blank. Below, flashes constantly went off. Reporters swarmed: “Mr. Fu, is this a special kind of relationship ploy? Is this your girlfriend, Miss Su Man? Is the Fu Group suspected of sexual bribery?”

In the back room, I watched the live stream, laughing until I doubled over. I had been waiting for this moment for half a month.

I had hacked into Fu Hanzhou’s computer and quietly replaced the presentation file. As for the photo, Su Man, in a bid to help Fu Hanzhou gather information, had seduced the rival CEO—and I had photographed it. She thought she was a spy, but she was simply handing me the knife.

My phone rang. It was Fu Hanzhou. I answered, my voice light and cheerful: “Hello, Mr. Fu, surprise?”

“Jiang Ning! I will kill you! I will kill you!” Fu Hanzhou’s scream nearly deafened me.

I smiled at his ashen face on the screen: “Don’t be so angry. This is just the beginning. The best part is yet to come.”

Fu Group’s stock plummeted. The project was cancelled, stained with the label of sexual bribery. The elderly Mr. Fu had a heart attack. Fu Hanzhou was suspended, and Su Man became public enemy number one.

In my office, Fu Hanzhou burst in, unshaven, eyes deeply sunken, no trace of his former arrogant demeanor.

“Jiang Ning, you are truly a vicious woman!” He lunged for my neck but was immediately pinned down by the bodyguards I had stationed.

“Vicious?” I squatted in front of him, gently patting his face. “Compared to what you did to me, what are my little tricks?”

“It’s not just that.” I threw a stack of documents at his face. It contained all the evidence of financial fraud by the Fu Group over the years, along with documents proving Fu Hanzhou used shell companies for money laundering.

“You! How do you have these things?” Fu Hanzhou’s hands began to tremble. If this were exposed, he would face prison.

“I want 51% of the Fu Group’s shares. Transfer them to my name now, immediately.”

“Impossible! That is the Fu family’s legacy!”

“Then go to jail.” I made to call the police. “Oh, and by the way, that idiot Su Man sold you out to save herself. She gave the police a recording of you instructing her to seduce the rival CEO.”

Fu Hanzhou looked as if he had been struck by lightning. His faith crumbled. Faced with jail or losing everything, he chose the latter.

As soon as I held the share transfer papers, I immediately convened the board, stripped Fu Hanzhou of all his positions, and kicked him out of the Fu Group. The once-proud crown prince became a stray dog overnight.

But I wasn’t done playing. There was still one person I hadn’t touched: Su Man. She thought selling out Fu Hanzhou would clear her name. I tracked her down to the high-end apartment Fu Hanzhou had bought her—her last hiding place.

“Jiang Ning, what are you doing? This is a lawful society!” Su Man was so terrified she dropped her Birkin bag.

I closed the door, pulled out a pile of photos, and scattered them before her. They showed Su Man’s time abroad: school bullying, drug parties, and documents detailing her work as a high-end escort. The “Moonlight” was merely gold-plated mud.

“You… how did you find all this?”

“If I want to, I can find out how many times you wet the bed as a child.” I sat down opposite her, crossing my legs. “Su Man, guess what happens if I post these photos online and send them to your elite social circle?”

“No! I beg you! Please don’t!” Su Man collapsed to the floor, clinging to my trousers, sobbing. “I’ll be your slave, your servant, anything!”

“I want you to do one thing. Do it, and I’ll burn these photos. Go to the mental hospital, the one I used to be in. Stay there for three years and endure what I endured. If you haven’t gone mad after three years, I’ll forgive you.”

Su Man wailed, but then she walked into the mental hospital herself. I ensured the director gave this special patient “meticulous care.”

---

Three years later, I am the CEO of a powerful conglomerate. Fu Hanzhou lost everything and was disowned. Someone saw him under an overpass, dirty, smelly, fighting a stray dog for a mouldy bun. I drove past, rolled down the car window, and saw him huddled in a corner. He saw my luxury car, his dull eyes flashing with a spark, and he struggled to crawl towards me. “Jiang Ning, Jiang Ning! It’s Hanzhou! Do you remember the old days?”

I slowly rolled up the window and told the driver to move on. The tires splashed through a puddle, spraying mud onto him. In the rearview mirror, I saw him sitting in the mud, crying like a child.

Before, he was high above, treating me like dirt. Now, I sit above the clouds, looking down at him as a speck of dust.

I visited Su Man in the mental hospital. She was skeletal, her head shaved, wearing a soiled patient uniform, muttering to the corner. She saw me, her lips spreading into a wide, drooling smile. “Heh heh, sister, want candy?” She pulled a dead cockroach from her pocket, offering it to me like a treasure.

“She’s truly mad, then?” I sighed softly. What a shame. It’s a shame she can no longer feel pain.

Stepping out of the mental hospital, the sunlight was blinding. I took a deep breath. The air felt exceptionally clean today. My phone rang. It was my assistant. “CEO Jiang, tonight’s celebration is ready. Everyone is waiting for you.”

I hung up, looking back at the gloomy building behind me. That place buried my past and those who had hurt me the most.

I am Jiang Ning, I am a madwoman. But in this cannibalistic society, sometimes the mad live better than the sane.

Anyone who dares to displease me, I will ensure their entire family can never know peace for the rest of their lives. I meant what I said, and I did what I said.