The servant who had slipped outside to alert Zhou Yanli was caught and dragged back.
“What are you doing? This is Mr. Zhou and Mrs. Zhou’s home!”
Yu Yu raised her hand and slapped the servant across the face, making her see sense.
“The real Mrs. Zhou is standing right in front of you. Who else do you think Mrs. Zhou is?”
Mrs. Zhou saw that Wen Xin still had no intention of taking off the wedding dress. Her slender finger twitched as she pointed at Wen Xin.
“Hold her down.”
At last, a trace of malice cracked through Wen Xin’s unruffled expression.
“You have no right to do this. Your man doesn’t want you anymore. Making a scene here won’t change that. Whether he loved you or not was settled six years ago. If Zhou Yanli finds out you treated me this way, he’ll divorce you.”
Mrs. Zhou didn’t react. The bodyguards dared to lay hands on Wen Xin, pinning her to the floor in no time. They wouldn’t strike her, of course—Mrs. Zhou intended to deal with her herself.
Yu Yu rolled up her sleeves too. She had never seen a Third Sister this brazen. Who did she think she was?
The room erupted into chaos. Wen Xin couldn’t move, yet her eyes shone with triumph and defiance.
“Mrs. Zhou, you’re so pitiful.”
“Stop! What are you doing?”
Zhou Yanli stood at the entrance to the hall, with Zhou Shuang beside him.
So he had come after all.
When he went outside and saw that his car was gone, Zhou Yanli had felt something was wrong.
He didn’t know how Mrs. Zhou had found this place.
But—
There was no hiding it now.
The moment Zhou Shuang saw Wen Xin pinned to the floor, she ran over and even shoved Mrs. Zhou aside.
“Why are you bullying Auntie Wen? Mommy, you’re a bad woman!”
Mrs. Zhou was knocked off balance and fell to the side. Her head struck the corner of the coffee table, splitting her forehead open.
A child could only have so much strength, but Mrs. Zhou hadn’t been prepared for the shove. Zhou Shuang had clearly put all her strength into it.
“Yanli, Shuangshuang…”
When Wen Xin saw them, she suddenly burst into tears.
“I saw your car and thought it was you. I never expected Mrs. Zhou to come barging in like a madwoman and demand that I take off my clothes. She even tore my wedding dress.”
Zhou Yanli’s gaze passed over Mrs. Zhou and fell on the wedding dress Wen Xin was wearing. His anger faltered, and he froze.
Why was Wen Xin wearing this wedding dress?
“Madam, you’re bleeding!”
Yu Yu cried out and hurriedly pressed a tissue to Lin Shu’s forehead.
Lin Shu stared without expression at the father and daughter, and at the woman they were both so determined to protect. Her heart turned to ash.
“Zhou Yanli, you gave my wedding dress to your mistress? Just how much else have you been hiding from me?”
Zhou Yanli fixed his eyes on her forehead and stepped toward her—
“It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have worn this wedding dress, but I really didn’t know. Yanli, I’ll take it off and give it back to Miss Lin.”
Wen Xin got to her feet, swayed, and fell into Zhou Yanli’s arms. Her face flushed as she tremulously began to take off the dress.
Zhou Yanli had been about to check Lin Shu’s injury, but Wen Xin clung to him.
“Turn around and get out!”
Zhou Yanli took off his jacket and draped it over Wen Xin’s bare shoulders. His voice was cold as he ordered Lin Shu’s bodyguards to leave.
No one dared disobey Zhou Yanli.
“Yanli, don’t be angry. This isn’t Miss Lin’s fault. The bridal shop delivered the dress and said you’d ordered it.
“Miss Lin, I don’t have long to live. Yanli said he’d help me fulfill every item on my wish list before I die. There really is nothing between us.
“I don’t want to come between you and your husband, either. I’ll find a way to have the damaged parts of the dress repaired.
“I only ask that you don’t fight because of me. Shuangshuang is here, after all. She’s only a child. Please don’t frighten her.”
Wen Xin drew Zhou Shuang into her arms as well. Zhou Shuang stared at Lin Shu with a strange, repulsed look that tore at Lin Shu’s heart.
“Mommy, I’m so happy with Auntie Wen Xin and Dad. Why do you always have to bother her and bully her? I wish Auntie Wen Xin were my mommy instead. She’s so much kinder and gentler than you.”
Zhou Yanli helped Wen Xin steady herself. When he first saw the wedding dress, he had indeed felt sorry for Lin Shu.
But when he looked up and saw Lin Shu’s stubborn, unconcerned expression, his face tightened.
He remembered Lin Shu as a gentle, considerate woman. In all their years of marriage, he had never heard her speak sharply to anyone.
And Wen Xin had only a year left to live. Why did Lin Shu have to be so aggressive?
“Apologize.”
Even Yu Yu was stunned by the words.
Had Mr. Zhou lost his mind? Was he talking to Madam Zhou?
Lin Shu swayed. Yu Yu caught her in time.
“She’s the one who should apologize, isn’t she? She stole my mother’s necklace and wore my wedding dress. And now my husband and daughter are both taking her side. Zhou Yanli, is it really appropriate to demand an apology from me?”
The name of the woman on his marriage certificate was Lin Shu. How laughable that he would ask his lawful wife to apologize to the woman he kept on the side.
“Lin Shu, you did go too far today. Wen Xin didn’t steal your mother’s necklace. As for the wedding dress, I’ll find out what happened.”
Zhou Yanli lifted Wen Xin into his arms.
But for some reason, Wen Xin stumbled again, and the million-dollar wedding dress, covered in diamonds, suddenly tore.
The sparkling diamonds scattered across the floor, their dazzling brilliance stabbing Lin Shu’s eyes. They were like countless invisible knives, carving bloody wounds into her heart.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Lin Shu, I didn’t mean to damage it.”
Wen Xin’s eyes brimmed with tears. She looked as panicked as a helpless fawn, apologizing to Lin Shu with a pitiful expression—but her eyes were fixed on Zhou Yanli.
“I’ll take you upstairs. It’s cold; you’ll catch a chill.”
Zhou Yanli held Wen Xin protectively in his arms. His gaze passed over the diamonds on the floor, unreadable. “It’s only a wedding dress. It’s nothing important.”
His words rang through the room like a thunderclap.
Lin Shu stood perfectly straight. The whole house had underfloor heating; it was warm enough indoors to wear short sleeves. Yet her heart had plunged into an icy abyss, the cold biting to the bone.
She had spent half a year on the designs, pouring her whole heart into the fantasies and love they embodied. Tens of thousands of artisans had hand-sewn hundreds of thousands of diamonds onto it, all so she could wear it for a photograph with Zhou Yanli and preserve that moment forever.
The dress had cost her nearly half a lifetime’s effort. Zhou Yanli had paid for its creation.
He had said, “Lin Shu, you’ve been by my side all these years. You gave the Zhou family Shuangshuang, and you’ve worked so hard. I want you to be the happiest woman in the world.”
The diamonds reflected her pale face. At that moment, the word “happiness” from Zhou Yanli’s lips became the greatest joke of Lin Shu’s life.
Yu Yu watched her anxiously from the side and managed to choke out, “Madam…”
Then she could say no more.
Zhou Yanli carried Wen Xin upstairs, and Zhou Shuang followed them.
Her foot landed on the diamonds. When some were in her way, she kicked them far aside with a look of disgust.
Wen Xin’s servant had just been humiliated. Now that her mistress had won the master of the house’s favor, she too became unbearably arrogant.
“Honestly, all that talk about being the real Madam Zhou. Turns out she’s just a cast-off wife.”