The air fell into complete silence.
Everyone around stared with wide eyes.
Wait, were they still dreaming? Otherwise, how could they be hallucinating? Someone please tell them what was happening.
Why was Sister Wan being so intimate with this illegitimate child?
Just then, a voice came through.
“Yu Wan?” The man’s cold voice carried a hint of annoyance. “What are you doing here?”
“You’ve been tracking my movements again.”
Yu Wan looked up and saw Xie Shiyuan standing not far away, her expression freezing momentarily.
After processing the situation, she turned to Jiang Zhe—was this the so-called surprise he mentioned?
Jiang Zhe clearly didn’t grasp her meaning, winking and gesturing exaggeratedly at her.
His face practically screamed, “Praise me!”
Well, Sister Wan? Didn’t I handle this perfectly?
Sister Wan had failed to run into Xie Shiyuan several times before and was furious.
This time, he finally seized the opportunity—thanks to that useless guy Sister Wan had just kicked out.
Though the guy was worthless, his intel was accurate enough.
And sure enough, Xie Shiyuan actually showed up.
Yu Wan laughed in exasperation. Right now, she wished Xie Shiyuan would stay far away from her, the farther the better.
Xie Shiyuan stared at Yu Wan, but when his gaze fell on Xie Mingyan sitting beside her, his brows furrowed deeply.
“Yu Wan, what scheme are you plotting this time?” Xie Shiyuan rebuked her sternly.
“I’ve told you countless times—I could never like you. Can’t you stop clinging to me like a dog-skin plaster?” His tone was dripping with undisguised contempt.
Upon hearing this, Yu Wan stared at him for a long moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.
“Xie Shiyuan, which eye of yours sees me here for you?”
Xie Shiyuan was taken aback by the distant form of address—the previous Yu Wan would never call him by his full name like this.
She always affectionately called him Shiyuan Gege.
Yu Wan paid no attention to Xie Shiyuan’s reaction and continued speaking.
“If I recall correctly, this club is my Yu family’s business. Is there a problem with me inspecting my own family’s property?”
Setting aside the plot, the old her might have genuinely cared about Xie Shiyuan.
After all, their families had arranged their engagement when they were very young. She had known since childhood that she would marry Xie Shiyuan someday.
And she had always lived by that belief.
But everything changed after Xie Shiyuan met Yu Xiayue.
He claimed the engagement was just the elders’ joke and that he had only ever seen her as a younger sister.
How ridiculous.
Without the Yu family, would the Xie family have flourished so much in recent years? Now he says he sees her as a sister? What was he doing all those years earlier?
Besides, what did she need an older brother for?
What she had always wanted was a person—someone clean, completely belonging to her.
Since Xie Shiyuan, the so-called male lead, wanted to fly off into the sunset with Yu Xiayue, the female lead, he was already tainted.
And Yu Wan did not pick up trash.
“Xie Shiyuan,” Yu Wan looked at him and said with a smile, “It’s better not to flatter yourself.”
Xie Shiyuan had just recovered from the shock of her address when Yu Wan’s words shut him down again, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Words like “flattering yourself” had always come from him before—he never expected to hear them from Yu Wan one day.
Even more unexpectedly, she was actually rebutting him.
The old Yu Wan was never like this.
Yu Wan was domineering and aggressive outside, but in front of him, she always pretended to be gentle and soft.
She went along with everything he said, as if afraid that any misstep would displease him.
What he despised most was her two-faced nature—it was unbearably fake.
But now…
This version of Yu Wan felt unfamiliar to him.
Xie Shiyuan couldn’t quite describe the emotion in his heart, as if something important had changed, slipping through his fingers beyond his control.
Suppressing the strange thought in his heart, Xie Shiyuan lifted his gaze to Xie Mingyan sitting beside Yu Wan, a flicker of disgust crossing his brow.
“Why did you bring him?”
Didn’t she despise Xie Mingyan?
Ever since the media exposed them lying in the same bed, the Xie family’s marriage candidate had shifted from him to Xie Mingyan.
Yu Wan had always held a grudge against Xie Mingyan.
She believed he was the root cause of everything.
During their marriage, verbal abuse and physical humiliation had become routine—so why would she bring him along today?
Watching the two sitting so close, Xie Shiyuan frowned slightly, an uncomfortable emotion flashing through his heart, gone in an instant.
“Yu Wan, if you’re trying to use him to provoke me, let me tell you—it won’t work.”
This wasn’t the first time she had used such tactics, attempting to make him jealous through others. He never expected her to choose Xie Mingyan this time.
“Provoke you?” Yu Wan chuckled. “Why would I want to provoke you?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” she added, as if just remembering, looking directly at Xie Shiyuan. “I don’t like you anymore.”
With that, she took Xie Mingyan’s hand beside her, completely ignoring the shocked expressions around them. “From today onward, I have a new favorite.”
Noticing Xie Mingyan’s slight resistance, Yu Wan tightened her grip.
Leaning close to his ear, she whispered through gritted teeth, “Keep your finicky cleanliness in check. Don’t ruin my plans. Remember—you were the one who reached for my hand first.”
Seeing Xie Mingyan cease his resistance, Yu Wan smiled in satisfaction.
Perfect. Not only could she use him as an excuse to break free from Xie Shiyuan, but she also gained more countdown time—killing two birds with one stone.
Especially watching the time on her wrist steadily increase, her smile widened further.
Xie Shiyuan observed their clasped hands and intimate gestures. Even though he knew it was likely another one of Yu Wan’s provocations, he couldn’t help clenching his jaw.
“Wanwan, don’t be willful,” Xie Shiyuan’s tone softened, as if helpless against her antics. “You can play around with anyone you want—just not him.”
“Why not him?”
Yu Wan lazily leaned back on the sofa, swinging Xie Mingyan’s hand gently as she spoke unhurriedly. “Isn’t he my husband? The one your Xie family delivered to me.”
Xie Shiyuan’s hands clenched at his sides, his lips tightening into a straight line as he uttered with utmost disgust, “He’s sick.”
Xie Mingyan sat silently beside Yu Wan throughout the exchange. Upon hearing Xie Shiyuan’s words, the corners of his lips even curled into a faint smile.
Though he smiled, it held no warmth—instead, it carried a chilling aura, like being watched by a venomous snake flicking its tongue.
The atmosphere in the room seemed to freeze instantly.
The next moment, only a soft chuckle broke the silence.
“What a coincidence, I happen to like sick people.” Yu Wan tilted her head up. “Right now, I simply must have him—can’t bear to be apart for even a step.”
This wasn’t a lie. That damned countdown—if Xie Mingyan were gone, wouldn’t that mean her death?
Besides, sick?
Did his ridiculously obsessive cleanliness even count as an illness?
Sooner or later, she’d cure him of it. Only she, Yu Wan, had the right to look down on others—who dared to look down on her?