Yangcity, May, typhoon season.
They say Yangcity is a blessed land so favored that even typhoons veer away when they approach. But today, the wind howled, and the rain poured down mercilessly without a trace of courtesy.
When Lin Yanbei folded her umbrella, she felt the entire back of her shirt already soaked through.
She pinched and tugged lightly at her shirt collar. This was the most expensive shirt she owned, yet the damp fabric still clung to her back at times, making her feel thoroughly uncomfortable.
Who in their right mind attends an ex’s wedding in the middle of a typhoon?
She does.
She handed over the red envelope containing her monetary gift, signed the guestbook, and stepped into the banquet hall.
Packed round tables stretched out in numbers too great to count at a glance, under dim lighting. The bride and groom had just made their grand entrance, and the audio system buzzed and hummed as the master of ceremonies delivered a deeply sentimental speech.
“Over here! Over here!”
Lin Yanbei spotted Sister Shi waving at her from a table tucked in the corner of the banquet hall, and she slouched down, weaving her way over.
Sister Shi grabbed Lin Yanbei by the sleeve, pulled her down into a seat, and whispered right into her ear: “You actually came! I thought for sure you wouldn’t show up.”
“It took forever to hail a cab, and then the intersection got completely blocked by all the luxury cars coming to the wedding, so I had to get out and walk the rest of the way,” Lin Yanbei had just finished saying.
The master of ceremonies declared at the top of his voice: “May this lovely couple enjoy a hundred years of harmony, a match made in heaven!”
Hearing this, Lin Yanbei raised her eyes to glance toward the stage. Within her line of sight, the bride seemed to be looking right in her direction.
Their eyes met softly across the room packed with guests.
Lin Yanbei offered a polite, dignified smile.
The bride looked stunning today, wearing an exquisite gown shimmering with brilliant fire; the broad, magnificent train was paired with a fitted waistline intentionally raised half an inch higher to conceal a subtly bulging lower abdomen.
The woman standing on that stage was her ex-girlfriend, Shu Yang.
Who today was grandly marrying Li Shaoxian, the son of the deputy director of the prestigious Yangcity Architectural Design Institute.
The Wedding March looped continuously in her ears, over and over, an ear-splitting “Dun-dun-dun-dun” echoing endlessly.
Yet inside Lin Yanbei’s head, there was only the memory of the washing machine running that afternoon.
Agitated churning, violent spinning. Buzzing and humming like persistent, unceasing tinnitus. The ultrasound report confirming a pregnancy had been shredded to bits by the washing machine, and Lin Yanbei had spent an entire afternoon piecing it back together.
What she was piecing back together was misplaced affection and her own utter blindness.
The annoying noise buzzed on, showing no signs of stopping. Having extended her final piece of courtesy, Lin Yanbei stood up, intending to leave.
Sister Shi grabbed her sleeve once more: “Since you’re already here, at least toast a glass before leaving.”
Lin Yanbei looked into the distance and saw that the toasts were just starting at the front tables. She shook her head: “We’re at Table 58. How long would we have to wait?”
“Who said you had to wait for them? I mean, we go up and propose a toast to them.” Sister Shi stood up and lowered her voice: “Li Shaoxian’s old man used his connections to invite a bunch of top heavyweights from the architecture industry. If we go over to the front tables to propose a toast, we might at least network and make ourselves known.”
Lin Yanbei shook her head, looking entirely disinterested.
Without taking no for an answer, Sister Shi shoved a wine glass into her hand, saying: “You have to come with me. I just saw the seating arrangement for ‘Jingdu D&A Architectural Firm.’ Let’s go take a look; what if my idol Jiang Ran actually showed up?”
Lin Yanbei let out a faint scoff: “How could that be? That’s Jiang Ran we’re talking about.”
Who in the architecture circle hadn’t heard of Jiang Ran? Even in the current industry climate, she single-handedly propelled D&A Firm into the top ranks nationwide, establishing herself as one of the country’s most elite architects.
How could a wedding like this possibly pull someone like her here?
As Sister Shi dragged her through rows of round tables, she babbled: “What if! Even if it’s not her, getting to know a few other big shots won’t hurt us either!”
Sister Shi squeezed her way to the secondary main table, raised her glass, bowed slightly, and said: “Oh, hello, Director! I’m Shi Xiaoshi. Yes, an intern architect from the Yangcity Design Institute. Hello, hello! Let me propose a toast to you…”
Lin Yanbei stood quietly behind Sister Shi, acting as her designated wine pourer. She didn’t know much about socializing, so within a few minutes, her mind began to wander.
She idly flared her nostrils. Amid the complex smells of the banquet hall, a faint trace of serene, woody cedar fragrance happened to drift into her nose. Her gaze drifted outward until it landed on a quiet side profile seated right beside her.
The person had her head slightly lowered, casually brushing a few strands of hair back over her shoulder, revealing soft and delicate facial features. She wore a cobalt-blue silk blouse with sleeves loosely pushed up her forearms. A frost-gold watch accentuated her snow-white wrist, which rested lightly on the edge of the table as her fingers quietly flicked across her phone screen.
Lin Yanbei possessed keen vision and caught sight of two words popping up inside a green message bubble on the screen: 【Boring.】
She couldn’t help but smirk; it really was quite boring.
Lin Yanbei glanced over at the main table’s seating chart, but because she recognized so few names, she couldn’t figure out who this person was.
Lin Yanbei leaned closer to Sister Shi, looking at the figure, and asked in a low voice: “Who is…”
“Hey, hey! Who are those two sneaking over to the main table!” Interrupting her cautious inquiry, a harsh, loud voice carrying extreme clarity rang out from the opposite side of the spacious main table, pointing directly at Lin Yanbei and Sister Shi.
The elderly woman dressed in rich, luxurious clothing who was questioned threw a dismissive side glance at the two of them and replied: “Classmates from the bride’s side, nobody we know. They’re all the same, just desperate to suck up.”
Hearing this, Lin Yanbei knitted her brows. She looked at the corsage pinned to the old woman’s chest, which read: 【Mother of the Groom】.
Sister Shi saw it too. Pursing her lips, she held her wine glass and pulled Lin Yanbei away from the main table toward an adjacent table to continue her toasts.
The old woman watched their retreating backs out of the corner of her eye and let out a contemptuous snort from her nose. Continuing her conversation with the guests at her table, she launched into a passive-aggressive rant: “Girls from small towns get so desperate, always throwing themselves at men on a silver platter. Otherwise, what proper family’s daughter gets herself pregnant before marriage without a shred of self-respect, and doesn’t get her legs broken by her own parents?”
Her eyes rolled meaningfully toward the side. Seated at the same table, Shu Yang’s parents couldn’t keep a straight face, yet they didn’t dare to speak back. Fuming with humiliation, they left the table in anger.
Gossip was something everyone loved to hear. Especially intimate, scandalous secrets spilled directly by the mother-in-law herself.
Around the tables, some guests leaned in to listen while others cast discreet glances. Within a few exchanges, people were already pointing fingers at Shu Yang’s back with visible disdain. They then proceeded to embellish what they heard and saw, passing it along to others.
Lin Yanbei knew Shu Yang could hear every word, yet Shu Yang had to pretend to be deaf to it all, keeping her spine straight as a board, not daring to let it slump even a fraction of an inch. Lin Yanbei grew sick of watching the spectacle. Shoving the wine bottle into Sister Shi’s hand, she said, “I’m going to the restroom.”
She went to the restroom and splashed cold water over her face. She recalled how Shu Yang had sobbed bitterly during their breakup, pleading for dignity and closure.
Now, it didn’t look like she had gained much dignity after all.
Lin Yanbei suppressed her temper, no longer intending to stay. She wanted to say goodbye to Sister Shi and head straight out.
Yet when she returned to the banquet hall, she saw the old woman dragging Shu Yang to the edge of the table, pointing at her stomach like she was presenting an exhibit to the surrounding crowd, shouting: “Take a look, everyone, three months already! Over the years, plenty of women showed up at our doorstep with big bellies, and I kicked every single one of them out. If she hadn’t come to my son completely clean, I would never have agreed to let her through our doors!”
Lin Yanbei froze on the spot, watching Shu Yang stand in front of a crowd of strangers, her face plastered with a forced, painfully awkward smile. Shu Yang’s hand subconsciously reached up to cover her lower abdomen, only to be pushed away by the old woman.
Covering it up, pushed away.
Covering it up again, pushed away again.
A surge of unfairness suddenly erupted inside Lin Yanbei’s chest.
So this was the so-called “unavoidable betrayal”? This was the so-called “match made in heaven”?
She couldn’t stand the sight of it. She couldn’t bear to watch Shu Yang act so meek and submissive, humbling herself just to climb up to a family of absolute trash. It felt as if the insult wasn’t just directed at Shu Yang, but was trampling over the genuine love Lin Yanbei had invested for an entire year.
She was done playing nice and saving face.
Lin Yanbei shouted at the top of her lungs toward Shu Yang: “Get out of the way!”
All the noise ceased at that precise instant. The piano melody of the Wedding March cut off, and the master of ceremonies stopped his sentimental commentary over the scrolling wedding photos.
Lin Yanbei shook her arm out; the force she had just used was a bit too great.
She had flipped the main table upside down.
Glasses, plates, dishes, sea cucumbers, abalones, shark fins, fish maw, lobsters, and braised pork knuckles- all of it rained down squarely upon that old woman, creating quite the colorful display.
As the old woman shrieked like a sky-rocketing firecracker, the pent-up resentment Lin Yanbei had been hoarding burst out from her chest and lungs, dissipating completely along with the old woman’s high-pitched screams.
The scene erupted into utter chaos; what was meant to be a happy wedding had instantly turned into a comical farce.
Except for that distant figure in cobalt blue, who remained seated firmly in her place.
She merely lowered her eyes, glancing at the few stray droplets of red wine splashed onto her snow-white trouser legs. Then, with a look of intriguing amusement, she turned her eyes toward the perpetrator, who looked thoroughly relieved.
Hundreds of eyes converged on Lin Yanbei; she was the central star of this commotion.
Everyone assumed she was throwing a drunk temper tantrum, but only Shu Yang knew the truth, yet she didn’t utter a single word.
When Li Shaoxian dragged Lin Yanbei by her shirt collar without a care for his image, demanding compensation, Shu Yang didn’t utter a word. When he threatened that no firm in Yangcity would ever hire Lin Yanbei again, Shu Yang still didn’t utter a single word.
The collar of Lin Yanbei’s shirt was stretched completely out of shape. This was her most expensive shirt…
Perhaps it wasn’t just the shirt. As she was escorted out of the banquet hall, her relationship, her job, and her savings were all wiped out simultaneously.
What did she have left?
She was left with a broken umbrella. Opening it up, she stepped out alone into the rain without a trace of lingering regret.
With the nuisance kicked out, the hotel staff rushed in to clean up the mess on the floor so the wedding festivities could continue.
However, the figure in cobalt blue lost all interest and quietly took her leave from the room.
Walking out of the banquet hall with measured steps, she answered her ringing phone: “Hello.”
On the other end of the line was the voice of D&A shareholder Qin Ji: “Jiang Ran, how is the wedding going?”
Out of habit, Jiang Ran tilted her chin up slightly and said: “I suppose it’s… intermission?”
Qin Ji chuckled: “What kind of wedding guest gets an intermission?”
Having just witnessed that chaotic drama, Jiang Ran thought back to the wrecked main table and the pair of eyes filled with pure satisfaction. A soft, quiet laugh escaped her nose.
Hearing her chuckle, Qin Ji asked out of curiosity: “You said it was boring just a moment ago. Did something unusual happen?”
“Unusual?…”
Jiang Ran’s eyes settled on a lonely, distant figure walking away outside the venue entrance.
The wet shirt clung damply to her back, yet she seemed entirely oblivious to it. Letting the wild wind sweep and swirl around her, she held her tilted, rickety umbrella straight, walking into the curtain of rain without ever looking back.
Jiang Ran looked up at the sky; dark, heavy clouds gathered deep within her eyes.
Strangely, she was reminded of herself years ago. It seemed to have been a very similar rainstorm back then, inaugurating more than a decade of continuous dampness.
She wondered: just how many years does it take to fully process and move past a storm?
“Yes, it was quite unusual,” she murmured back, her eyes fixed on that back.