Even though the original novel described Liang ZhiQuan as one who had bravely lost the shackles of "political marriage", pursued her own freedom, and was a strong and defiant little white flower, Xu WanZhi, nonetheless, found her behaviors distasteful.
Liang ZhiQuan had been betrothed to Mu ZhenYu since she was "still in the womb", but she had fallen in love with Qin Sheng, the male lead, in college. Up until the point when Qin Sheng went overseas and the two had broken up, she had never expressed to anyone that she wanted to call off the betrothal.
Then, when the Liang's went bankrupt, she had the audacity to come crawling back and asked Mu ZhenYu to follow through with their betrothal so that the Mu's could help save the Liang's. What was wrong with her? And who did she think the Mu's were?
On top of that, the betrothal was something decided by Mu ZhenYu's father, and Mu ZhenYu did not have a good relationship with his father.
No wonder he was so upset that he decided to hire an actress to insult her.
Liang ZhiQuan was prettier in person than in pictures. She looked like the pure and naïve kind of girl – the typical type one would find in a CEO novel.
In her fragile way, she stood in front of Qin Sheng, covering her mouth and smiling from time to time, she couldn't look more delicate and bashful.
Bai FeiChen, a good friend of Mu ZhenYu, was the host of this birthday banquet. What Xu WanZhi didn't understand was why Bai FeiChen would invite those other two to come and ruin their moods.
Perhaps the Bai's and Qin Sheng were business associates, so he must invite them to be polite? She wasn't entirely sure.
But… her arm in Mu ZhenYu's, she was trembling a little as she leaned against him – running into their enemy face to face, this was the first scene of her 50 million yuan show. She must do her employer justice.
Shortly, Liang ZhiQuan and Qin Sheng had also noticed them. The two smiled at each other and walked toward them.
It was obvious that they were there to drive the point in.
Xu WanZhi knew full well that the majority of the reason that brought about the original owner's tragic end was because of her desire to marry into the prominent family. It didn't have much to do with this female lead. So, if she only avoided all the unnecessary contacts with Mu ZhenYu's young brother, most likely she'd be able to complete her assignment and bow out safely.
So she wasn't afraid of Liang ZhiQuan. She was annoyed now and wanted to be confrontational with her.
By now, Liang ZhiQuan had walked over to the two of them.
For the pure reason that same genders naturally repels each other, Liang ZhiQuan gave Xu WanZhi a very hostile look before she looked up at Mu ZhenYu and said, "Hi, Mr. Mu, it's been a while."
Mu ZhenYu smiled in disdain. The fierce aura radiating from him was still suffocating. Holding his wine glass with his long and slender fingers, he took a small sip before he asked, "And you are?"
Qin Sheng immediately took half a step forward and shielded her from him. "Her surname is Liang and she is my girlfriend. Boss Mu, your reputation precedes you, but now that Huanyu had gone bankrupt, perhaps I should refer you to Mr. Mu instead of Boss Mu?"
The male lead was delicate and pretty. He was of the white, skinny, and tall type. But standing in front of the very masculine Mu ZhenYu, he just couldn't quite measure up.
"Oh, it's Miss Liang." Mu ZhenYu curved one side of his lips, gave Xu WanZhi a pampering look and said, "I apologize, I have always had a hard time remembering plain-looking people."
Xu WanZhi curved her eyes to play along.
Hearing that, Liang ZhiQuan frowned. Her droopy eyes looked very pitiful. She said softly, "That wasn't necessary, Mr. Mu. Even though our betrothal was called off, the Mu's and the Liang's still have a good relationship with each other. If… If you need help financially, just come to me. I promise I will help with whatever I can."
Faced with her nauseating pretentiousness, Xu WanZhi just wanted to vomit. She couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Ask for your help?" Looking unaffected, Mu ZhenYu snickered. Giving Qin Sheng a sideward glance in contempt, he said, "Miss Liang wants to help me out with Boss Qin's money? I am certainly envious of the relationship between you two."
Qin Sheng's look froze on him. He lifted his hand and pulled Liang ZhiQuan into his arms. "She has a heart of gold; naturally, I will be supportive of her decisions. What goes around comes around. Back then, Mr. Mu had refused to help out the Liang's and now your company has gone bankrupt as well. Say, how did it feel when one's company goes bankrupt?"
By now, all the other attendees of the banquet had quiet down from their showdown. There was never a lack of scandals from prestigious families. And those that happened to others were the most attention-grabbing ones.
Everybody in the circle had long heard of the intricate relationship between the Liang's and the Mu's. Now that these two, who were once betrothed, each brought their own lovers to this "showdown", everybody was happily waiting to see how this would unfold.
Mu ZhenYu still wasn't affected by his words. He merely curved the corner of his mouth and said, "If you really want to find out, perhaps Mr. Qin can try it for himself. But I'd advise against that though. Should you really go bankrupt someday, Miss Liang will need to look for another target all over again."
Xu WanZhi couldn't help but chuckle. Mu ZhenYu had always looked like a cold man of few words. She hadn't expected that to just be his appearance. He wasn't half bad at dishing it out when he wanted to.
His words had perfectly aggravated Liang ZhiQuan, who immediately stood up to rebut him. "Mr. Mu should watch his words. There's true love between Sheng and I."
"True love?" Xu WanZhi finally couldn't hold back any longer. She giggled and said, "Huanyu had gone bankrupt and I am still standing by his side, believing that he'd treat me nicely. I haven't even mentioned anything yet and Miss Liang couldn't help to jump up and explain herself? Where were you when Boss Qin was down on his luck when he was young? As soon as Boss Qin made it rich when he returned from overseas, you couldn't wait to make up with him again. Could you have been any more obvious? Are you seriously talking about true love right now?"
There was giggling around them after she was done talking.
Everybody was well aware of how the Liang's was pimping their daughter out. If only Liang ZhiQuan would keep her mouth shut, nobody would say anything about it. But if she were to call that true love, that would certainly seem a bit laughable.
Even with her female lead halo, she was still a little white flower and still not well-liked in the circle.
Liang ZhiQuan, flustered from Xu WanZhi's speech, took a look at Qin Sheng wordlessly before she seemed to have finally made up her mind on something important. Her face dropped and she said, "I heard that Miss Xu is only staying with Mr. Mu for 50 million yuan…"
"Hey, just a minute ago you asked Mr. Mu how it felt to have gone bankrupt. How are you able to turn around immediately and say he has 50 million yuan." Xu WanZhi interrupted her loudly before she was done talking. "Miss Liang, I know you want to insult us, but how about something a little more logical? Your face is so big that if we are all sunflowers, you'd be able to produce 3 more pounds of seeds than the rest of us."
(T/N: "big face" = shameless.)
Everybody around them busted out laughing again.
"You…" Liang ZhiQuan was angry. She stared at Xu WanZhi for a long time but couldn't come up with anything else.
"ZhenYu, you are here." Came a young male voice.
Xu WanZhi turned around. It was Bai FeiChen, the star of the day.
Mu ZhenYu nodded slightly at him before he put his arm around Xu WanZhi's waist, pleased. He raised his glass to those around them and said, "Just some minor personal issues. Sorry to have bothered you all."
Everybody quickly looked away and the banquet quickly returned to its original cheerfulness.
The Bai's were also a pretty big family in the area. Qin Shen, as someone from the younger generation, must be nice to them as well. Qin Shen took a step up, lifted his wine glass, and said, "Happy birthday, Boss Bai."
"Why, thank you," said Bai FeiChen as he casually glossed over him.
Mu ZhenYu, walking behind Bai FeiChen, tightened his grip on Xu WanZhi. As they were walking, he lowered his head, looked into her eyes, and said, "Huanyu had gone bankrupt and you are still staying with me. True love, huh?"
"I only said that to Miss Liang, not to you." Xu WanZhi quickly explained herself. "I just want to give this job my best."
Her soft waist was pressed up tightly against his abdomen. His lips curved upward. Looking deeply at her, he said, "Miss Xu's acting was amazing. I almost believed you myself."