Compared to the booming success of Su Huaijin’s “Gobi” fashion line, Su Wan’s life had turned as cold and miserable as the winter weather itself.
At the entrance of the Xu family compound in Beijing, Su Wan had already been standing in the freezing wind for over an hour.
The expensive wool coat she wore was stained with mud at the hem from days of neglect, making her look worn and pitiful. Her face was red from the cold, her lips dry and cracked, and her eyes were filled with anxiety and desperation.
Finally, the gate opened a crack.
Xu Zhiyuan walked out wearing a brand-new Zhongshan suit, a cigarette between his fingers. His brows were tightly furrowed. The moment he saw Su Wan’s bedraggled appearance, undisguised disgust flashed across his eyes.
“Su Wan, I already told you—we should put our relationship on hold for now. With your family’s current situation… my mother doesn’t approve.”
He exhaled a ring of smoke impatiently.
Ever since Old Master Su had publicly kicked Su Wan out of the compound, and Wang Fang had been arrested for suspected elder abuse—though temporarily released on bail due to insufficient evidence—her reputation had become completely ruined. In their social circle, Su Wan had become a laughingstock. A status-conscious family like the Xus wanted nothing more than to cut ties with her immediately.
“Put it on hold?” Su Wan screamed, lunging forward to grab Xu Zhiyuan’s sleeve. She glared at him like a madwoman.
“That’s not what you said when you seduced me into bed!”
“I’ve lost everything now! If you abandon me at a time like this, I’ll hang myself in front of your workplace! I’ll plaster big-character posters everywhere and expose every filthy thing you’ve done with me! If I can’t live, none of us will live peacefully either!”
Xu Zhiyuan’s face changed instantly. He glanced around nervously before lowering his voice.
“Are you insane?!”
“Yes! I am insane!” Su Wan’s eyes shone with desperate madness.
“Su Huaijin, that bitch, is already standing above me now, and even you want to step on me too? Xu Zhiyuan, I might already be carrying your child! You deal with it!”
At the mention of a child, Xu Zhiyuan’s hand trembled slightly.
Whether it was true or not didn’t matter. In this era, a scandal involving morality could destroy a person completely.
Grinding his teeth, he violently shook off Su Wan’s hand.
“Enough! Stop screaming! I’ll marry you, alright?”
Su Wan staggered from the force, but a twisted smile of victory appeared on her face.
“Not only are we getting married—we’re making it grand.”
She straightened her messy hair, malice flashing through her eyes.
“I want the engagement banquet held at the Beijing Hotel. I want everyone in the compound invited. And most importantly…”
“Su Huaijin and Cheng Beitang must receive invitations too.”
Xu Zhiyuan looked at her as if she were crazy.
“Are you asking for humiliation? They’re at the peak of their popularity right now. Why invite them?”
“At the peak of their popularity?” Su Wan sneered coldly.
Her fingers brushed the icy jade pendant hidden in her pocket—the token she used to contact desperate criminals on the black market. Though she wouldn’t need them today, she still had other tricks prepared.
“Xu Zhiyuan, you don’t understand. The brighter something shines, the more completely it shatters when it falls.”
She remembered the vicious scheme Wang Fang had discussed with her after being released.
Cheng Beitang was a war hero? A legendary soldier?
To some people, he was also a cursed star—a man fated to bring death and misfortune to everyone around him.
As long as they publicly ripped open that wound during the engagement banquet and pinned the label of “bad luck” onto them, the superstitious elites of Beijing’s high society would never dare associate with Su Huaijin again.
…
At the Su residence, a crimson invitation card trimmed with gold was delivered into Aunt Zhang’s hands before eventually landing on Su Huaijin’s desk.
She was sketching fashion designs when she paused at the sight of the names on the invitation.
“Su Wan and Xu Zhiyuan’s engagement banquet?”
Cheng Beitang walked in carrying a plate of sliced apples. He glanced at the invitation and frowned.
“They still dare show themselves after everything? Looks like the last lesson wasn’t enough.”
He picked up the invitation. With a slight movement of his fingers, the thick cardstock bent out of shape.
“Don’t go. Just looking at it annoys me. I’ll have the guards throw it away.”
“Don’t.”
Su Huaijin set down her pencil and gently pressed her hand against his, a meaningful smile curling on her lips.
“Since they invited us so sincerely, wouldn’t refusing make us seem guilty?”
She knew Su Wan and Wang Fang too well.
Those two were like rats hiding in the sewers. As long as they still breathed, they would never stop scheming. This engagement banquet was obviously another trap.
“They chose this timing because they want to regain face—or set me up,” Su Huaijin said as she walked to the window, looking at the pine tree standing proudly in the winter wind.
Then she turned to face her husband, her eyes blazing.
“Beitang, do you know something? I used to avoid them. I was afraid of everything. But now I understand.”
“Avoiding problems never solves them. Since they want to put on a show, then I’ll give them a performance they’ll never forget.”
“I want them to understand that the current Su Huaijin is no longer the weak little girl they could bully at will.”
Cheng Beitang looked at the fire in her eyes. The violence in his heart melted instantly into tenderness and indulgence.
He walked over, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her forehead gently.
“Alright. However you want to play this game, I’ll be with you. Even if the sky falls, your husband will hold it up for you.”
Su Huaijin smiled—a cunning, confident smile.
From the drawer beneath her desk, she pulled out two pieces of fabric she had prepared long ago.
One was deep black velvet.
The other was a silver-gray fabric with a cold metallic sheen, perfect for a tailored suit.
“This battle needs proper armor.”
Running her fingers across the fabric, her gaze sharpened with professional focus.
“Beitang, I’m making you a new outfit. This time, I don’t just want them to shut up.”
“I want all of Beijing to see exactly how dazzling my man truly is.”
For the next two days, the lights in the Su family study remained on late into the night.
Su Huaijin devoted herself completely to the project.
Instead of flashy fashion, she designed a modified Zhongshan suit tailored specifically to Cheng Beitang’s temperament. She removed the traditional bulky silhouette and tightened the waist and shoulder lines. Along the collar, she embroidered a subtle silver cloud-and-thunder pattern—the ancient symbol once found on a general’s battle robe.
As for herself, she designed a matching black velvet gown.
It wasn’t revealing or vulgar. Instead, it was elegant and majestic. The neckline was high and dignified, but the back featured pearl-button cutouts that exposed glimpses of her delicate butterfly bones whenever she moved.
The night of the fitting—
When Cheng Beitang stepped out wearing the silver-gray outfit, Su Huaijin’s breathing stopped for a moment.
She was so used to seeing him in military uniform—intimidating and powerful, but lacking a certain aristocratic elegance.
But this suit perfectly emphasized his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and powerful physique.
The cold silver-gray color paired with the lethal aura forged through years of battle made him look like both an elegant gentleman and an unsheathed legendary blade.
Restrained.
Dangerous.
Irresistibly alluring.
“Wife, it’s a little tight,” Cheng Beitang muttered, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. He wasn’t used to such refined fabrics.
Su Huaijin walked over and stood on tiptoe, carefully adjusting his collar. Her fingertips brushed across his throat as she smiled softly.
“It’s not tight. It’s perfect.”
“This outfit is meant to tell everyone that you belong to me.”
Cheng Beitang’s eyes darkened instantly.
He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his chest.
“My life already belongs to you. Forget just the rest of me.”
…
The day of the engagement banquet arrived.
At the Beijing Hotel banquet hall, despite the Xu family’s efforts to keep things low-key, Su Wan’s relentless demands had turned the event into a sizable gathering.
Many families from the compound received invitations. Most attended purely to watch the drama unfold.
Su Wan wore a bright red qipao, her face heavily layered with makeup to hide the exhaustion of recent days. Arm-in-arm with a visibly unwilling Xu Zhiyuan, she stood at the entrance greeting guests, her smile stiff and unnatural.
Wang Fang was there too.
She wore a faded purple padded jacket. Though released on bail, the prosperous appearance she once had was gone. Her cheeks were sunken, and her eyes were vicious and sinister.
Standing in the shadows, she resembled a poisonous snake waiting to strike.
“Look at Su Wan—she doesn’t look like a bride at all. More like an actress in a cheap opera.”
“Keep your voice down. I heard she forced Xu Zhiyuan into marriage with a pregnancy scare.”
“How embarrassing. Old Master Su spent his whole life building a reputation, only to end up with a granddaughter like this.”
The guests’ whispers pierced Su Wan like needles.
She clenched her handkerchief so tightly her nails nearly broke skin.
Laugh all you want.
Once the real show begins, we’ll see if any of you can still laugh.
At that moment—
The banquet hall doors were suddenly pushed open.
A gust of icy wind swept inside, and the noisy hall instantly fell silent.
Every gaze turned involuntarily toward the entrance.
The first person they saw was Cheng Beitang.
Tall and straight as a pine tree, he wore the silver-gray modified Zhongshan suit that made him look like a young warlord from the Republican era.
Though he wasn’t in uniform, the overwhelming aura forged through countless battles still radiated from him naturally.
One arm was slightly bent, allowing the woman beside him to hold onto it.
And that woman—
Su Huaijin—
was breathtaking beyond words.
The black velvet gown hugged her graceful figure perfectly. As she walked, the skirt flowed like rippling water.
She wore no extravagant jewelry, only a smooth white jade hairpin in her hair.
Black and white.
Cold and warm.
Standing together, they looked like figures stepping out of a magnificent oil painting, instantly turning everyone else in the room into dull background scenery.
“Oh my God… is that really Su Huaijin?”
“That dress… it’s incredible! She looks even prettier than movie stars in magazines!”
“So that’s Cheng Beitang? My heavens, he’s unbelievably handsome! Who called him some uncultured brute?”
Gasps and murmurs filled the hall.
Watching the scene unfold, Su Wan’s jealousy burned so fiercely it nearly made her eyes bleed.
She had spent hours dressing up, only to become a ridiculous clown beside her “country bumpkin” sister.
Arm linked with Cheng Beitang’s, Su Huaijin walked calmly through the crowd without sparing anyone a glance.
Her chin was slightly raised, her smile poised and elegant—the posture of a victor.
“Looks like we arrived at the perfect time,” she said lightly.
Cheng Beitang swept a cold gaze over the stunned guests.
“A bunch of mediocre fools.”
The two walked toward the main table, where Su Wan and Xu Zhiyuan stood frozen.
“Congratulations, little sister,” Su Huaijin said with a bright smile as she looked at Su Wan’s twisted expression.
“Although this marriage came together rather hurriedly, being able to marry at all is still a good thing.”
That single sentence—“being able to marry at all”—was like a slap directly across Su Wan’s face.
Su Wan trembled with rage.
“Su Huaijin! Don’t get so smug! Who the real star of tonight is hasn’t been decided yet!”