Pei Jiayou smiled sinisterly. “Don’t worry, I won’t regret it.”
The one who would regret it would only be her.
Pei Jiayou took Lu Wanmian’s hand and stepped onto the dance floor. Seeing them approach, the crowd tactfully stepped aside to watch.
As the melodious waltz began to play, Pei Jiayou wrapped his arm around Lu Wanmian’s waist and started moving to the rhythm. But no sooner had he taken the first step than Lu Wanmian suddenly stomped on his foot, the pain turning his face bright red.
Lu Wanmian looked at him with an innocent expression. “I’m so sorry, I stepped wrong. Are you okay?”
Pei Jiayou endured the pain and forced a smile. “I’m fine. Just follow my lead.”
Lu Wanmian nodded and obediently followed him. Just as the two were getting into the swing of things, Pei Jiayou began to stir up trouble. He sped up the tempo and increased the difficulty. Lu Wanmian couldn’t keep up, and she wasn’t about to indulge him—she started doing her own thing.
So, when she swung her arm, she slapped him across the face. When she lifted her leg, she kicked him in the rear. When she bent backward, she grabbed his arm, her nails digging into his flesh. When she did the splits, she kicked him in the waist…
Pei Jiayou, suffering a chain of brutal attacks, couldn’t stir up any more trouble. He let out a series of strange, pained cries—”Ah! Oh! Eek!”
This wasn’t dancing; it was torture.
Oh my god—others dance for money, but she dances for your life.
Strangely enough, despite all this, the two’s dance was surprisingly harmonious, oddly in sync.
At the final note, Pei Jiayou was sent flying by Lu Wanmian’s throw. With a thud, he crashed to the ground, face-planting in the dirt.
The crowd was startled, then burst into snickers.
Pei Jiayou had lost all face.
Standing nearby, Lu Ruoruo’s face turned green with anger.
Pei Jiayou scrambled to his feet and pointed at Lu Wanmian, fuming. “Lu Wanmian, is this what you call dancing? This is attempted murder!”
Lu Wanmian looked at him with a helpless expression and explained, “I told you before that I don’t know how to dance, and you said you’d teach me. But you were dancing too fast. I had to use more force to keep up with you. I didn’t expect to hurt you. I’m really sorry—it’s my fault.”
Even though she apologized, Pei Jiayou remained furious. Pointing at his face, which was swollen like a braised pig’s head, he cursed angrily, “Is this just ‘using more force’? This is clearly assault! I think you did it on purpose—you’re taking revenge for personal grudges!”
Lu Wanmian shook her head, playing the innocent card to the fullest. “I really didn’t mean to. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’ve already apologized—what more do you want from me?”
Seeing Lu Wanmian’s pitiful, aggrieved expression, the surrounding guests stepped forward one after another to speak up for her.
“Miss Lu doesn’t know how to dance. It’s only natural that she accidentally hurt her partner while dancing. There’s nothing to blame her for.”
“It was Young Master Pei who invited her to dance in the first place and said he’d teach her. If anyone’s to blame, it’s his poor teaching. What right does he have to blame Miss Lu? Is he just being unreasonable?”
“I saw him speed up the tempo earlier. Even someone who knows how to dance would struggle to keep up, let alone Miss Lu, who doesn’t know how to dance at all. Her improvising later was simply out of necessity.”
“It’s all Young Master Pei’s fault. Getting hurt like this is just him reaping what he sowed. If he keeps being unreasonable and blaming Miss Lu, he’ll be shaming the Pei family’s reputation.”
Facing the crowd’s accusations, Pei Jiayou tried to defend himself with a mix of guilt and irritation, but no one listened to him. The more he argued, the more criticism he drew, and the scene grew increasingly awkward.
Seeing the situation turn against them, Lu Ruoruo was too frightened to speak up for him and could only shut her mouth with a look of suppressed frustration.
Watching the two of them get put in their place, a glint of cunning flashed in Lu Wanmian’s eyes.
Little pests, trying to scheme against her—no way.
Just as the commotion was at its peak, a stern rebuke came from behind: “What’s all this noise about?”
Everyone turned to see Lu Siyuan approaching hurriedly.
Uncle Yang immediately stepped forward and gave him a brief rundown of what had just happened.
After listening, Lu Siyuan quickly walked over to Lu Wanmian, shielding her behind him, and glared at Pei Jiayou with a dark expression. “Pei Jiayou, you’re the one who’s out of your league and brought this on yourself. How can you blame my sister? Are all you Pei family members this shameless?”
He despised the male lead, and since Pei Jiayou was the male lead’s nephew, he naturally disliked him too.
Pei Jiayou clutched his swollen, reddened face and protested pitifully, “I’m already hurt this badly—how am I being shameless? It’s your sister who’s bullying me.”
Lu Siyuan let out a cold snort and fiercely defended his sister. “You’re a grown man, and you get yourself hurt like this just from dancing with a woman. You still have the nerve to say such things—how embarrassing.”
Struck by his retort, Pei Jiayou was left speechless and mortified.
“We didn’t invite anyone from your Pei family. You showed up uninvited and caused trouble here—how rude. Guards, throw him out and make sure he never sets foot in the Lu family villa again.”
Two bodyguards immediately stepped forward, grabbed Pei Jiayou by the arms, and dragged him out, thoroughly humiliating him.
Lu Ruoruo’s face turned pale with fright, and she tried to slip away while no one was paying attention. But Lu Wanmian wasn’t about to let her off. She glanced at her and said, “Ruoruo, you seemed to arrive with Young Master Pei, didn’t you? Are you leaving now to see him off?”
At those words, everyone’s gaze snapped to Lu Ruoruo.
She suddenly felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. Just as she was about to explain, Lu Siyuan shot her a cold glare and scolded, “You dared to invite someone from the Pei family without my permission? You’ve gotten bold, haven’t you—siding with outsiders against your own family.”
Lu Ruoruo trembled in fear and quickly tried to defend herself. “Big brother, I didn’t invite him—he followed me here on his own.”
Lu Siyuan’s gaze was sharp. “Even if he followed you, you’re the one who brought him. Guards, take her away and discipline her according to family rules.”
Two bodyguards immediately stepped forward and dragged the sobbing Lu Ruoruo away.
The crowd was too terrified to make a sound.
Lu Wanmian marveled inwardly—Lu Siyuan truly lived up to being the Great Villain. The moment he appeared, he cowed everyone. Pei Jiayou and Lu Ruoruo were nothing but clowns before him.
After that little episode, the banquet continued. Lively dance music began to play, and everyone resumed dancing, the atmosphere warming up again—though no one dared to invite Lu Wanmian to dance anymore.
Bored, Lu Wanmian stood off to the side eating desserts. She noticed Yun Manyin was nowhere to be seen, so she walked over to Lu Siyuan and asked, “Brother, why don’t I see Sister Manyin? Did she leave early?”
Lu Siyuan nodded. “She has a livestream scheduled tonight, so she went back early to prepare.”
Then, thinking of something, he said to her with a beaming face, “In the lounge, Manyin talked to me a lot. She’s finally not angry with me anymore—we’ve made up.”
Lu Wanmian thought to herself that Yun Manyin reconciling with him probably meant she had squeezed quite a bit of benefit out of him again.
She asked, “How much did you invest in Sister Manyin’s new drama this time?”
Lu Siyuan told her truthfully, “About a hundred million.”
Lu Wanmian clicked her tongue.
A hundred million!
Good grief, that much.
What a spendthrift.
She pursed her lips. “Brother, you really don’t hesitate to spend money on Sister Manyin.”
Lu Siyuan’s lips curved upward with a doting expression. “Yinyin is different from others. Spending money on her is worth it.”
Lu Wanmian let out a dry laugh. A green tea female lead, what’s so different about her? It was just that her hopelessly lovestruck brother was blinded.
Since he was such a spendthrift, throwing so much money at that green tea, she’d have to find a way to fleece some wool off him too.