Jiang Feng became even more pleased when he saw everyone siding with him.
“Zhizhi, be good. Listen to me. Come home with me. Tomorrow we’ll get the marriage certificate.”
Standing in the corridor, Shen Nanzhi swept a cold, scrutinizing glance over everyone before finally landing on Jiang Feng.
Seeing his affectionate expression, she felt nothing but cold mockery in her heart.
Her eyes were icy, and her voice was even colder. “I won’t marry you. You don’t deserve me.”
Then she looked at the crowd.
“I married Lu Xiangyang not because of his family background or status, but because we are alike—we were both abandoned. He comes from a powerful family, I am the daughter of a martyr. We… are well matched.”
Everyone immediately began talking over each other.
“Lu Xiangyang is from a good family and a factory director. How could you possibly be worthy of him?”
“You ungrateful girl! Old Master Jiang raised you like his own granddaughter. He even stayed here, away from his own children, just to take care of you. How were you ever abandoned?”
“You made a scene yesterday and married Lu Xiangyang on impulse. Jiang Feng didn’t even hate you for it—he still wants to marry you. How is that abandonment?”
“Old Master Jiang has treated you so well, even forcing Jiang Feng to stay here to build a relationship with you. And yet you still dare say you were abandoned?”
“You’re truly heartless!”
Everyone kept emphasizing how good Old Master Jiang had been to Shen Nanzhi.
Listening to them, a deeper emotion surfaced in her eyes.
Yes, Old Master Jiang had indeed treated her well—fed her, clothed her, paid for her education, even arranged her marriage.
How could that be called bad treatment?
But in her previous life, after her tragic death, she learned that Old Master Jiang was not as kind as she had once believed.
He…
Her chest rose and fell violently. She forcefully pulled herself out of those memories.
Taking a deep breath, she said firmly, “My husband is Lu Xiangyang. I don’t need anyone to support me—I can live very well on my own.”
“Zhizhi, stop deceiving yourself!” Jiang Feng suddenly raised his voice. “Lu Xiangyang doesn’t like you at all! He was just playing with you yesterday!”
“He’s using you because he’s disabled and frustrated!”
Shen Nanzhi snapped back, “If he didn’t like me, he wouldn’t give me a birthday gift, wouldn’t have Aunt Wang make me a cake, and wouldn’t have prepared a full table of dishes.”
She took out a small box from her bag and shook it slightly; a faint sound came from inside.
She looked at Jiang Feng provocatively.
“Jiang Feng, you always say you treat me well. It’s my birthday today—what did you give me?”
Jiang Feng’s expression instantly darkened. His jaw tightened.
He hadn’t expected her to humiliate him in front of everyone.
After two years in business, he had learned to control his emotions, and now he forced himself to stay calm.
“I did prepare your birthday gift,” he said confidently. “It’s the project I negotiated today.”
“Oh? Then you got it? Give it to me.”
Shen Nanzhi smiled faintly, as if she was actually pleased.
She knew Jiang Feng too well.
If he said that, it meant he had most likely failed.
But she was confused.
In her previous life, Jiang Feng had indeed secured this major project on this exact day. After they got their marriage certificate, she even accompanied him while he finalized it.
Yet in that life, he hadn’t given her a birthday gift—not even a “happy birthday.”
Jiang Feng stared at her outstretched hand, completely stunned.
How dare she embarrass him again?
Unable to contain himself anymore, he said angrily, “Zhizhi, can you be sensible? Once we get married, everything I have will be yours!”
Shen Nanzhi looked at the nearly furious man, a faint sense of revenge flashing in her heart—but she didn’t stop.
“I am Lu Xiangyang’s wife. I will not marry you, and I don’t want your gift.”
She pushed open the door and went inside.
Faint murmurs could still be heard outside—the servants discussing her, mocking her, and questioning what gift Lu Xiangyang had given her.
Shen Nanzhi also wanted to know.
Once inside the room, she immediately opened the box.
It was a silver bracelet.
Simple yet elegant, engraved with delicate patterns.
It was exactly the one she had once fallen in love with at the supply-and-marketing store a few days ago.
138 yuan.
Back then she couldn’t afford it and had given up.
She never expected Lu Xiangyang to have bought it for her birthday.
A warm feeling spread through her heart.
At that moment, she finally understood.
Love was never about words.
Shen Nanzhi put the bracelet on and admired it repeatedly.
Even when Aunt Wang gave her a cold look at dinner and deliberately placed an ugly cake in front of her, mocking her for not knowing her place, she didn’t care.
She glanced at the cake—it was truly ugly.
Full of uneven air holes and dents, as if mocking her worthlessness.
“She doesn’t deserve it.”
Those words echoed in her mind—words Jiang Feng had once used in her previous life when he promised his mistress that Shen Nanzhi didn’t deserve his billion-yuan fortune.
Did she not deserve it?
At that moment, every cell in her body screamed the answer.
She deserved it.
She deserved the best.
“Aunt Wang, the cake is too ugly.”
Shen Nanzhi stood up.
“I bought ingredients. I’ll make one myself.”
She left for the kitchen, buying flour, butter, and cream from her system supermarket.
Aunt Wang stood at the kitchen door, leaning against the frame, watching her with ridicule.
She expected Shen Nanzhi to embarrass herself.
But time passed.
No chaos, no flour-covered disaster, no pleading for help.
Instead, Shen Nanzhi looked completely at ease.
Aunt Wang’s chest tightened uncomfortably. Unable to stay any longer, she turned and left.
In the courtyard, the maids were gathered under the shade, eating and chatting.
Seeing her approach, someone asked, “Aunt Wang, what’s wrong?”
She wanted to vent—but then remembered Lu Xiangyang’s warning.
She swallowed her words and said instead, “Nothing.”
Just then, Shen Nanzhi’s voice came from the kitchen:
“Aunt Wang, the cake is ready. Come help bring it to the courtyard.”
Everyone was stunned.
“Is she throwing away Aunt Wang’s cake and making a new one?”
Impossible.
Shen Nanzhi had never even cooked before—how could she make a cake?