Hua Yao stared at Ruan Jiaqi with her eyes wide for quite a while.
In the end, she came to one conclusion: this woman must have soaked in the bathtub for so long that she had literally boiled her brain.
Clearly, every day, even in her dreams, she had been praying for Big Brother to come back and see her just once. Now that Big Brother had finally returned to the country, she was actually saying she didn’t want to go to his welcome banquet?
Who was she kidding?
Heh. Hua Yao wanted to see how long this woman could keep it up.
The corners of Hua Yao’s red lips curled upward, and the mocking words were already on the tip of her tongue when she suddenly stopped herself.
Uh, she had almost forgotten.
All the socialites in the city would be attending tonight’s banquet.
In front of her besties, she had vividly described how Ruan Jiaqi, this “sister-in-law,” usually acted timid and servile, practically fawning over her at every opportunity.
They were all waiting to witness the show in person tonight!
What if Ruan Jiaqi really went crazy and refused to go? Where would that leave Miss Hua’s dignity?
Hua Yao could only suppress her displeasure and impatience, putting on an affected, arrogant air as she cleared her throat.
“Hey, Ruan Jiaqi, do you think I’m particularly eager to take you with me? There’s a mirror right there. Do me a favor and take a good look at yourself when you have the time, okay?”
“I’m only thinking of you because today is the day Big Brother returns home, and everyone is supposed to go welcome him. That’s why I thought of you.”
“You don’t want to go? Fine. Then stay here and keep soaking. Let’s see who gets thrown out of the Hua family tomorrow morning!”
Ruan Jiaqi felt utterly hopeless.
He was just coming home… Why was everyone making such a huge fuss as if a new emperor were ascending the throne?
Even an emperor wouldn’t have this much pomp and circumstance. The male lead clearly wasn’t a good person.
Staying here and soaking in the bath was much more comfortable.
The system hurriedly shouted, stopping her attempt to slack off.
【Tonight is the very first time you’ll meet the male lead after he returns to the country! Your first impression is extremely important!】
【Don’t you remember your mission?】
【Hurry up and get yourself involved with the male lead! Otherwise, you’ll die a horrible death at the end of the story!!!】
Ruan Jiaqi silently sighed.
Fate had such a wicked sense of humor.
Yesterday, she had still been a widow.
Today, she had been dragged here by something called the “System” to sell herself.
【Hurry up and do your makeup and get dressed! If you don’t make yourself beautiful, how are you supposed to make the male lead intensely interested in you?!】
【As a vicious supporting female character in an R-rated novel, have you caused trouble today? Have you gotten naughty today? What? Neither? Then hurry up!】
【Our slogan is: A new day, a new round of trouble! As long as life goes on, the hanky-panky never stops!】
The system kept chattering incessantly inside her head.
Ruan Jiaqi still hadn’t fully adapted to communicating with the system through her thoughts. She opened her little mouth and directly said what she was thinking.
“All right, all right. Stop nagging.”
She resigned herself to her fate and lowered her eyelashes, her tone dejected.
“If you insist on making me go, then fine. I’ll go, okay?”
……
Hua Yao, standing nearby, thought Ruan Jiaqi was complaining to her. Her almond-shaped eyes widened in shock.
This woman actually dared to speak to her in that tone?
Had she gone completely insane?!
Hua Yao was just about to explode when another thought abruptly suppressed her anger.
Who knew what exactly this woman was up to?
What if she yelled at her a few more times and Ruan Jiaqi really got upset and refused to go to the banquet no matter what? Wouldn’t that ruin the stage she had so carefully set?
Hua Yao forcibly swallowed the fury that had nearly reached the top of her head, then stormed out of the bathroom with an angry flick of her hand.
Her footsteps suddenly halted at the doorway.
Wait a minute… Why?!
Why had she become the one who had to watch that woman’s mood?
Clearly, it should have been Ruan Jiaqi kneeling down, kowtowing ten times, and tearfully begging her to take her to Big Brother’s welcome banquet!!
The more Hua Yao thought about it, the angrier she became.
Especially when she remembered how Ruan Jiaqi used to obey her every command—if Hua Yao told her to go east, she would never dare go west. That pathetic yet obedient appearance made Hua Yao feel extremely unbalanced now.
Wait… Could that woman have been possessed?
What exactly was she pretending to be?!
Hua Yao was just about to charge back inside and confront Ruan Jiaqi when a WeChat message suddenly popped up on her phone.
[Yaoyao, everything you asked for has been arranged. We’re just waiting for our leading lady to make her entrance~]
[Hehe, tonight we’re definitely going to teach that little bitch a lesson. ( ͡°ᴥ ͡° ʋ)]
Hua Yao put down her phone, lifted her chin arrogantly, and revealed an insidious smile.
Fine, then. She would let Ruan Jiaqi put on her act for a little while longer.
After all, it wouldn’t be long before she had plenty of reason to cry.
The Hua family had booked out the entire most luxurious hotel in Shanghai for the welcome banquet.
Inside the banquet hall, guests exchanged toasts amid glittering lights. The air was thick with the intoxicating scent of wealth and power.
“Ah Yan, your sister-in-law is here.”
Amid the laughter and conversation, someone teased him.
The man reclining on a velvet sofa lazily lifted his eyes at the sound and glanced toward the graceful figure in the distance.
His gaze was deep and cold as frost.
His features were sharply defined, intensely masculine, and inherently intimidating. He wore a perfectly tailored white suit with a light-silver shirt, the top two buttons casually undone, revealing his sexy collarbones.
At that moment, the corners of his long, narrow eyes were slightly raised, radiating a naturally arrogant and flamboyant air.
Hua Yan idly toyed with the lighter between his fingers, his tone utterly indifferent.
“Her? She deserves to be my sister-in-law?”
“She’s nothing but an unsophisticated nobody.”
The people around him covered their mouths and laughed.
The ones laughing most happily were the socialites and wealthy married women who secretly dreamed of marrying Hua Feng.
Everyone in their circle knew about the marriage between the chairman of Hua Corporation and his “wife” from the slums.
Everyone knew Hua Feng had not the slightest bit of affection for that woman. If he felt anything toward her at all, it was only disgust.
On the second day of their marriage, Hua Feng had taken his first love, Ling Yuxi, to Los Angeles, where he stayed for two whole years.
As for who the real wife was, Hua Feng’s attitude had made it perfectly clear.
Naturally, none of them regarded Ruan Jiaqi as the true Mrs. Hua.
A lowborn nobody from a fallen family had finally schemed her way into the bed of a top-tier wealthy family, only to spend every day alone in an empty room.
Living as a widow, becoming a resentful wife.
What a satisfying fate.
Only by seeing Ruan Jiaqi living such a miserable life could they gain even the slightest bit of comfort.
Otherwise, how could a nobody like her possibly marry Hua Feng?!
It was enough to make them green with envy.
The women present fixed their venomous gazes on Ruan Jiaqi, secretly sizing her up. A flash of amazement passed through their eyes, quickly replaced by even deeper jealousy.
“So that’s her? You really can’t tell just by looking at her…”
“How could you tell? Who would write ‘shameless’ across their forehead?”
“Isn’t she a fashion editor? How can she have such terrible taste in clothes?”
“Pfft, what is she even wearing? When she first walked in, I thought she was a hotel waitress.”
“How could she come to an occasion like this dressed that way? This is hilarious!”
……
Hua Yan stared at the graceful figure in the distance, his expression dark.
A pale-green qipao outlined her slender, curvaceous figure. The skin revealed at her neck and calves glowed with the warm, lustrous sheen of fine jade.
Her black hair was twisted into a simple bun at the back of her head. Even with no makeup and not a single piece of jewelry, she was still breathtakingly beautiful.
Objectively speaking, from a man’s perspective, Ruan Jiaqi’s looks and figure were both exceptional.
But the more beautiful and alluring this woman was, the more disgusted he felt by her.
Because not only had she coveted something she had no right to possess, she had also used despicable means to bring shame upon the elder brother he respected most.
Anyone who dared profane a god was a sinner and deserved to remain nailed to the pillar of shame forever.
Hua Yan’s eyes darkened. The fingers gripping his crystal glass suddenly turned white at the knuckles before he tipped his head back and downed the whiskey in one gulp.
When Hua Yao walked over, she happened to hear the group of socialites mocking and ridiculing Ruan Jiaqi.
Already feeling irritated, she curled her lips unhappily.
“What fashion editor? It’s nothing but a gold digger’s way of dressing herself up.”
One of her besties immediately chimed in.
“Still, she is you and Ah Yan’s sister-in-law in name. Isn’t she afraid of embarrassing the Hua family by coming to the banquet dressed like that?”
“She’s just a shameless wretch.”
Hua Yao accepted the champagne handed over by a waiter.
“The little allowance my big brother gives her every month? She saves every penny and secretly sends it all to her uncle’s family of poor relatives.”
She deliberately drew out her words as her gaze swept over Ruan Jiaqi’s qipao.
“Even that tacky dress probably came from squeezing every last penny out of her budget~”
After hearing Hua Yao’s words, the smiles on the socialites’ faces became even brighter.
Sure enough, she was born poor. So what if she had managed to marry into a wealthy family?
The Hua family’s mountain of gold and silver could only be looked at, never spent. It was practically the perfect torture designed specifically for a gold digger!
And that wasn’t all. She also had to endure the bullying of the Hua family’s spoiled daughter, her sister-in-law, while constantly worrying about being kicked out of the family.
What could possibly be more satisfying than watching someone claw their way up through sheer scheming, only to suffer an even more spectacular fall?
Hua Yan lit a cigar and frowned at Hua Yao, a hint of reproach in his tone.
“This is Big Brother’s welcome banquet. Why did you bring that woman here? She’s bad luck.”
Hua Yao mischievously rolled her eyes, looking like a sly little fox.
“It would be so boring if it were always just us~ I brought her here to add a little entertainment.”
The people around them exchanged knowing glances, realizing that there would be a good show tonight.
With that, Hua Yao waved toward the pale-green figure in the distance.
“Hey! Ruan Jiaqi, come over here!”