Jin Xia glanced back at Coco, her brows drawing together slightly as she said sharply, "This is my marital home with Lu Mingchuan. Please leave."
Her words were like a punch landing on cotton, weak and powerless.
The woman paid no heed to Jin Xia's words at all. The mockery and derision on her face only deepened. "Oh, so this is your marital home? Then I'm so sorry. You haven't even lived in Lanting Garden yet, Miss Jin, and I've already slept in your bed. You're famous in our circle for being magnanimous. Surely you wouldn't mind such a little thing?"
Jin Xia stood rooted to the spot, staring straight at Lu Mingchuan, hoping he would give her an explanation.
But the man merely leaned against the headboard and casually lit a cigarette, deliberately ignoring Jin Xia the entire time, treating her as though she were invisible.
Then Coco turned and opened the wardrobe beside her. As though putting on a display to show off, she casually picked up a long silk dress and held it against herself. "Mingchuan, you're taking me to the Lu Group's business reception tomorrow. Can I wear this?"
"Whatever you like."
He looked up at Jin Xia with a hint of impatience. "Is this fun for you? Grandma only asked you to marry me. She didn't hire you as my cleaner, did she? Are you standing there because you plan to help us get dressed later?"
Jin Xia strode forward, clamped a hand on the woman's shoulder, and swung her raised hand down in a heavy slap!
Smack!
At the crisp sound, Lu Mingchuan's smoking hand froze.
For three years, he had always thought Jin Xia was nothing more than a quiet little cat.
No matter how outrageous or out of line his behavior was, she would make excuses for him without even waiting for him to speak.
When he met up with an obscure model at night, she obediently cleared things up for the Lu family, explaining that the girl was a close friend of hers.
As for the girl who had caused a scene outside the Lu Group's building last time, Jin Xia had publicly announced that she had been hired by Lu Mingchuan's business rival to ruin his reputation.
Lu Mingchuan was the one doing wrong, yet Jin Xia was the one who took all the vicious abuse.
And today, the woman who had always obeyed Lu Mingchuan's every wish lost her temper for the first time.
Tears streamed down Coco's pretty face as she turned to Lu Mingchuan. "Mingchuan, you saw that. She actually dared to hit me!"
The woman covered her swollen, reddened cheek, sobbing, and still remembered to turn back and glare viciously at Jin Xia.
No matter what kind of scene she made, Jin Xia felt not the slightest ripple inside.
But what she found most unacceptable was what Lu Mingchuan was doing now!
Lu Mingchuan abruptly sat up and stared at Jin Xia in fury. "Jin Xia, you've got some nerve!"
"Today is our engagement banquet. By not showing up, you're disgracing the Lu family. Lu Mingchuan, do you have any idea what you're doing?"
For the first time, the usually docile Jin Xia was flushed with anger as she loudly demanded an answer from him.
A jumble of feelings filled Lu Mingchuan's heart, an indescribable emotion lingering within him.
Three years earlier...
Jin Xia had been brought home by the Lu family's matriarch, who had instructed that the public be told Jin Xia came from the Jin family of Hong Kong City, worth hundreds of billions, and was Hong Kong City's foremost socialite, whom she adored.
Once the shackles of a marriage alliance were fastened around someone, they lasted a lifetime!
Lu Mingchuan had tried to resist, but to no avail.
It was as though she had bewitched the Lu family. From top to bottom, even the household servants were thoroughly satisfied with Jin Xia, the future wife of the Lu Group's young master.
He began testing her limits little by little, first calling her "shameless" for following him around, then becoming increasingly outrageous...
Lu Mingchuan began bringing all sorts of women home at will, because he had discovered that Jin Xia had no temper.
Even a clay figure had some temper, yet she was like an AI, like Doubao!
Even when Madam Lu scolded him for fooling around, Jin Xia would only soothe him, telling him none of it was his fault and that the women out there were to blame.
The night before the engagement banquet, when Lu Mingchuan was about to bring Coco home, he had struggled inwardly too...
He knew what the outcome of his actions would be, yet he stubbornly insisted on taking the gamble, wanting to see just what place he held in Jin Xia's heart!
In fact, he had succeeded.
Yet as he looked into Jin Xia's bloodshot, phoenix-shaped eyes, a sense of irritation lingered in his heart.
Was this really what he wanted?
"So what if I disgrace the Lu family? Jin Xia, we aren't even married yet, and you already want to walk all over me?"
Lu Mingchuan rose angrily and walked straight toward Jin Xia, step by step.
The two stood face-to-face, mere inches apart...
Coco stood off to the side with a hand over her cheek, covering her face as she wailed. "Mingchuan, it doesn't matter if I suffer a little, but what she's doing now clearly shows she has no respect for you."
"Jin Xia! Apologize to Coco right this instant!"
Lu Mingchuan slipped an arm around Coco's waist, his smile filled with mockery.
Jin Xia stared straight at him, looking into those deep, fierce eyes.
She asked herself over and over in her heart...
Was everything before her really what she wanted?
Had she worked so hard only to receive this humiliation today? Had she gone to such lengths to squeeze into so-called high society and change her fate, all for this?
"If you don't apologize to Coco, I'll call off the engagement!"
Lu Mingchuan walked straight toward Jin Xia, step by step, utterly fearless, as though he had her firmly in his grasp, knowing she would never dare call off the engagement!
Yet after deep consideration, Jin Xia suddenly raised her head. "Then let's call it off."
She said it lightly, with even a hint of relief in her voice.
Jin Xia looked straight into Lu Mingchuan's eyes, enunciating each sentence. "If you weren't the Lu family's heir, do you think I would have tolerated you? Lu Mingchuan, a scumbag like you doesn't deserve my kindness!"
Hearing Jin Xia's words felt like having a thorn driven deep into his heart.
Lu Mingchuan released the woman from his arm and seized Jin Xia's fair wrist.
For three years, he had been waiting for Jin Xia to come clean.
To admit she was no socialite from Hong Kong City at all, merely a granddaughter-in-law his grandmother had carefully selected so he would settle down and marry.
But she never had!
The patience and restraint she had chosen were nothing but a joke in Lu Mingchuan's eyes!
Jin Xia looked back at Lu Mingchuan. "Calling off the engagement-isn't that what you've always wanted too?"
"Fine! Jin Xia, I'll grant your wish. Let's see what ability you have to make a place for yourself in Jing City without the Lu family!"
Lu Mingchuan suddenly lost his composure. Though he shouted those words, his hand remained tightly clasped around her.
It felt as though something were stabbing his heart, sending sharp pains through it again and again.
He had never seen such coldness and distance on Jin Xia's face before!
For some inexplicable reason, Lu Mingchuan had a feeling that if he let go now, Jin Xia really would get up and leave without a shred of mercy!
"Then let go."
Jin Xia spoke mildly, her expression betraying neither joy nor anger.
Lu Mingchuan pulled her into his arms, forcing her to meet his eyes. "We've only just held our engagement banquet, and now you want me to break off the engagement? What is this if not a deliberate attempt to humiliate the Lu family? Jin Xia, those creditors of yours have already come knocking. What are you still pretending for?"
Before you continue