"Am I seeing right? Was it really Li Luxian? Li Luxian, the heir of Li corporation! Oh, big sister, hold me. I must have been hallucinating." One of the aunties suddenly shrieked with disbelief and fell onto a woman beside her.
"Who are you calling Big sister? We both know you are older than me." The middle-aged woman to whom she was leaning to humphed loudly and pushed her away angrily.
The crowd gasped collectively once again. The next moment, they all gaped at Chen Yi intensely.
Chen Yi knew that water was above her head now and the place was not safe anymore. So she dashed out of that place to the top to her safe haven.
Or she tried to.
"Chen Yi, would you like to have dinner at my place tonight?" She just as she had taken two steps, a mountain of aunties with flattering smiles blocked her path.
"I would love to but..."
Another auntie grabbed her.
"Forget about her. We all know that her cooking is shitty. Yi'er daughter you know that your this auntie cooking is famous in the whole society. How about having dinner at my place?"
"Auntie Huang actually I..."
"Chen Yi come with me. I made your favorite Sweet and Sour Pork!" Another one cried.
"Chen Yi she is lying. Come with me. I made Coconut Tapioca Pudding today!"
"Stop lying! You made that Pudding yesterday. It is old and unsavory. Come with me. I've got a fresh one at my place."
As those gossipy aunties looked at Chen Yi collectively like a hungry lion looking at raw meat, she gulped. "Dear aunties, I would love to but I already had my dinner." Chen Yi smiled sweetly.
When those aunties were contemplating what to say next to bait their prey, a girl spoke up.
"Why are you guys sucking up to her? We already know that Mr. Li already has a fiance. So what if he has anything to do with her? She would be nothing but a kept woman." That girl sounded particularly bad-tempered.
Liu Chao was quite jealous of the fact that that good-for-nothing Chen Yi got Mr. Li's attention. Li Luxian was her idol. And to see him here, in this poor area, was already something contradictory to expectation. On top of it to see that Chen Yi, whom she always used to look down upon, being kissed by her idol flared flames of envy and resentment in her heart. Those flames didn't take much to turn into jealousy and hatred.
What was so good about that Chen Yi?
She, Liu Chou, was so many times better than Chen Yi.
"You shut up Liu Chou! Do you know that man? Even being his kept woman is a thousand times better than marrying a commoner!" One of the aunties rebutted.
What that auntie said was right. Being his kept woman already had great prestige. Not being able to come up with a suitable response, Liu Chou felt infuriated. She lashed at Chen Yi directly to take out her frustration.
"Do you have any shame? You knew that he had a fiance and you still went for him? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to taint our society's good name with your wanton behavior?"
Chen Yi looked at Liu Chou. Strangely she felt no anger toward her. Maybe because now that she had signed the contract with Li Luxian, their marriage was sealed and bound to happen in the future. And the whole world would know of it sooner or later. So Liu Chou's words and she herself were harmless to her.
But that didn't mean that she wouldn't give Liu Chao a nice retort.
"We all saw that Mr. Li was the one who came to my apartment so how did it is me who is going after him and not the other way around?" Chen Yi's lips curled up. Her deep brown orbs flashed. "It's not like I deliberately went to his place to sleep with him as you did with Auntie Huang's daughter's husband." She laughed out loud. "Oops. I think I said it out too loud." Chen Yi placed a finger over her lips. "Sorry Sister Chao, now everyone knows."
Liu Chao was speechless. A hush of whispers surrounded them. Her affair wasn't something everyone knew about. But now, everyone knew. "Chen Yi! How can you be so shameless dragging others' personal life into public like this?!" Liu Chao almost gnashed her teeth.
"Weren't you doing the same just a few seconds ago?" Chen Yi feigned an expression as if she was contemplating. "Yes, you were. So how comes when you do it, you are not being shameless? While I do it, I am being shameless?"
Liu Chao was mortified.
"Shoo Liu Chao! Don't go on speaking bullshit about others. Don't you know that Mr. Li's engagement was annulled this morning?" An auntie suddenly said.
That new piece of information took anyone by shock, including Chen Yi. They all looked at the source of this new information.
"The engagement will be considered null fully once the elders of the Li and Wang families also call it off. This morning, Mr. Li called off the engagement himself and declared that he already had a girl he loved and intended to marry", The gossiper auntie of the society continued to provide her intel.
But right the next moment, everyone froze. The next second, they all stared at Chen Yi. Everyone was thinking the same thing.
The girl Mr. Li said he loved and was going to marry? Could it be Chen Yi?
Chen Yi realized that those aunties that were previously eager to invite her to dinner just for expecting that she was Li Luxian kept woman, were now about to go into a frenzy any moment realizing that Li Luxian was instead going to marry her.