Both Mu XueLin and Xu Tian attended Xu WanZhi and Mu ZhenYu's engagement ceremony. Xu Tian, sitting at the very front, gave Xu WanZhi a complacent look.
Xu WanZhi understood that Xu Tian was still dreaming about receiving a large sum of money from Mu XueLin after they had destroyed Mu ZhenYu. She returned Xu Tian with a smile and thought that once she had Chen Jin and Qin Sheng taken care of, Xu Tian would be her next target.
The second part of the engagement ceremony was the exchange of blessings from the parents of both parties. Old Madam Mu was the first to go up on the stage. She had represented the Mu's in the business realm for most of her life and her words were sonorous and powerful. Standing in her gown, Xu WanZhi smiled sweetly as she waited for her pictures to be taken. At the same time, she thought to herself that the Old Madam and Aunt Mu Ling were probably the only two persons there who truly wanted to see them married, and that was including herself and Mu ZhenYu.
The media didn't seem to care too much about what the old madam have to say. All of the reporters there were snapping pictures madly as though they wanted to document every single fancy details of this engagement ceremony, let it be a piece of candy or a drop of wine. They were probably planning on researching on the brands of each item afterward so they could readily create a clickbait article online.
Standing in a hiding corner, Xu WanZhi looked at all different sorts of people underneath and couldn't help but chuckled. "Look at the reporters taking pictures and taking notes. I have the title written up for them already – Priceless red wine that cost $30 million a drop? Engagement ceremony between Xu WanZhi and Mu ZhenYu in details."
Mu ZhenYu lowered his head and looked at her. There was a hint of displeasure in his eyes. "Xu WanZhi, are you really that carefree or just heartless? Today is the engagement ceremony, your own one. It's not the opening or wrapping of your filming. Why is it that all you can think about is the entertainment circle?"
Noticing that he was displeased and that she had misspoke, Xu WanZhi asked him softly, "Are you mad?"
Mu ZhenYu did not respond to her but stood up straight and ignored her.
"Oh, c'mon. I was wrong." Xu WanZhi squinted and boldly reached out to his lower arm and shook it back and forth slightly. "I'm sorry, fiancé~~"
She dragged out on the "fiancée" part purposefully. Her voice was sweet, pretty, soft, and sticky, sounding very coquettish.
Mu ZhenYu couldn't resist that. His heart crumpled under her voice. He forced himself to curve his lips slightly, showing that he was no longer mad at her.
Xu WanZhi smiled complacently and let go of his arm. After a little while, she said in a serious tone, "It wasn't that I was thinking about the entertainment circle. It's just that people like us, we appear glamourous to others as though we are standing at the apex of the pyramid. But the more glamourous we look, the better our lives are, the more others wanted to see some sort of misfortunes happen to us. Preferably if we'd fall straight from heaven to the deepest of hell. Take today for example. Why is it that Chen Jin hasn't done anything with the pictures that she had gotten her hands on? She was waiting for today. As luxurious as this engagement ceremony seems, there were surging storms and murderous intent hidden behind everything – under each crystal on the chandelier and every petals of the blooming flowers."
Xu WanZhi had always been an optimistic one and would rarely lament like she did today. Looking at her long lashes that was vibrating slightly, Mu ZhenYu also had felt an odd sensation.
He let out a long sigh and said, "Don't worry. I am taller than you. Should the sky come crashing down, I'll be there to prop it up first."
By now, the blessings from the old madam and both fathers were over. The host said a few words and invited the couple to the center of the dance floor.
Xu WanZhi had a bouquet of flowers in one hand and the other one around Mu ZhenYu's arm. With her sparkling sliver wedding shoes on her, she was just about to take a step forward when she felt a tug from Mu ZhenYu.
Then she heard his voice coming from above her head. "Be careful what you say out there."
Xu WanZhi had no idea what he meant by that even after she walked to the center of the dance floor.
She finally figured it out when the host said the next part was the "proposing" part.
Mu ZhenYu, in his greyish silver suit and a very delicate jewelry box in his hand, knelt down on one knee. Lights reflected off of the glass chandelier and casted on his chiseled face. At this very moment, he was handsome like a prince. Xu WanZhi could even hear girls screaming from below the stage.
When the jewelry box was opened it, it was a very exquisite ring. Xu WanZhi had seen it the old madam's photo. It was most likely a family heirloom of the Mu's and the mistress of the household would only wear it at important occasions.
"Xu WanZhi, will you marry me?"
Mu ZhenYu's volume wasn't loud but it was very decisive. Looking into his eyes, for that very second, Xu WanZhi almost had the illusion that she was about to marry for love.
This was probably what he was talking about when he told her to "be careful what you say".
Pursing her lips, she nodded seriously and said, "Yes, I will."
The luxurious ring was placed onto her delicate left ring finger. Mu ZhenYu stood up and wrapped his arms around her.
Wedding March that'd make others envious started to play in the ballroom. Pink balloons rose up in the air and Xu WanZhi could hear a soft voice whispering next to her ear, "Don't worry. I will be right here."
After the engagement ceremony, #Xu WanZhi Mu ZhenYu engagement# took the top three spots on the most trending list.
Xu WanZhi had a lot of guesses as to what they were saying about their engagement on Weibo. Unexpectedly, the most talked about one was a few pictures that was taken of them during the old madam's speech when she was wooing Mu ZhenYu at a hidden corner.
Mu ZhenYu looked unhappy in the first one and refused to look at her.
She was holding onto Mu ZhenYu's arms swaying it back and forth acting coquettishly in the second one.
And in the third one, Mu ZhenYu's mouth curved upward looking like Okay-I-have-forgotten-you but refused to say it out loud.
Underneath the pictures were a series of little theaters with caption for each and single one of the pictures:
[Xu WanZhi: Aiya, we are getting engaged already? I haven't had enough fun yet!
Mu ZhenYu: What? It's not too late yet.
Xu WanZhi: Oh, I'm just kidding. C'mon, don't be mad.]
[Xu WanZhi: Look how cute that little big brother holding a wine glass is!
Mu ZhenYu: We are engaged already and you are still checking out other men?
Xu WanZhi: But none of them are as good looking as you!]
[Xu WanZhi: Darn. I should have invited my ex to my wedding. I forgot.
Mu ZhenYu: Why? You want them to fight for you on our wedding day?
Xu WanZhi: Of course not! I just want to show off what an amazing boyfriend I have found myself after I dumped him.]
Xu WanZhi had been quite stressed as she was working with Fang Lin on what to do with those other pictures. These little theaters from the netizens made her laugh out loud.
A few hours later, the most trended topic #Xu WanZhi Mu ZhenYu engagement# turned into # #Xu WanZhi party of three#.
It was also a set of three pictures. In them, Xu WanZhi was looking forward blankly with two men on each side of her groping her on all of her private areas.
All of a sudden, the atmosphere on Weibo had turned.
[Oh darn! I was just happily eating dog food earlier in the day and saying how cute the two of them look together and now there are pictures of Party of Three? This circle is so messy.]
[I can't even comprehend how tall Mu ZhenYu's green hat on his head is.] (T/N: green hat = green color on one's head = being cheated on)
[Who are those two men in the picture? Why did Xu WanZhi look like she was drugged in the picture?]
[Are you seriously still trying to defend her with pictures like this?]
[Well, looking at the decors in the pictures, they seemed to have taken a few years ago. Perhaps Mu ZhenYu was aware of it. Releasing photos like these right after their engagement, what was the poster trying to pull?]
Ever since she had come up with this last resort idea, Xu WanZhi had been mentally preparing herself. As such, when she actually saw these comments, they did not bother her too much – she had thought of much worse things coming from these netizens. Two hours later, she post a declaration that she had drafted previously onto her main Weibo account:
[About the few slanderous pictures of mine that was post today, the related departments of Silver Star Entertainment will be collecting evident and looking into the issue. I shall not tolerate anyone who had gone above and beyond in smearing my reputation.]
"Twists and turns" were very important when it came to gossips in the entertainment circle. The goal of her response was to goad Chen Jin to go even further in her effort of tainting her reputation before she made her final move on her.
Sure enough, the mood of the discussion online escalated instantly:
{Oh mi, is this a warning from a lawyer?}
[I can't believe this. With words like that she might as well had openly admitted to it. Nobody had said directly that it was her in the pictures.]
[The pictures were so clear how could it not be her? What else was there left to say?]
[Now it's time to start lower the hotness of the article. What's the point of making a declaration like that?]
[How could she possibly lower the hotness of the article? They just got engaged today. It is impossible to make this disappear now. Just the tearing between her loyal and black fans alone would keep this on the most trending list for a while.]
Xu WanZhi's loyal fans were split into two camps: one of them maintained that everybody in the entertainment circle would inevitably has some dark past and dirt and they were sure that the person who released the news has more skeleton in her closet. The other camp insisted that the pictures were blurry and one could not tell for sure that it was Xu WanZhi.
It was after 11 PM and Xu WanZhi was about to go bed before the other party acted again.
A fan who pretended to be neutral stood up: [I have always thought that with pictures that were of such high quality, even a blind person would be able to tell it was Xu WanZhi in the pictures. I can't believe that was still a point of content. If you have no use of your eyes, you can always scoop them out and donate them to the needy, okay? As many of you wanted to pretend that you are blind, I can proof this with technology. Have any one of you ever used the new software developed by the Qin's? It's still in its beta right now but it is already available for download. Its retina scanning technology was said to be better than any of its competitors on the market right now. Unfortunately, we cannot use two pictures but will need to compare the actual person in question with the picture. If Xu WanZhi maintained that she was not the one in the pictures then, great, she should arrange for a press release and show us in person whether she is or isn't the one in the pictures.]
Lying in bed reading this comment, Xu WanZhi was very pleased: If nobody else bring up Qin Sheng soon, she was going to have her own people do it.
Now that someone else had brought it up, it saved her the hassle of taking the conversation in that direction.
Xu WanZhi called up Fang-jieright away: Let's have a so-called "press-release" tomorrow.
After 11 PM that night, Mu ZhenYu arrived home smelling like alcohol but he wasn't drunk. He had a very solemn look on him. Xu WanZhi could tell that he was worried about her. He must have done a lot trying to suppress the news during his networking tonight.
12:30 AM, Xu WanZhi was about to go to turn in when Mu ZhenYu knocked and walked inside of her room. "I'll go with you tomorrow."
Xu WanZhi was a little surprised but she quickly shook her hands at him. "No, no, there is no need. You go take care of your own things. I am 120% confident that I can handle this."
Mu ZhenYu had an idea of what she had in mind but he was still worried: She was so skinny and petite and always have a smile on her. He wasn't sure if she was able to handle such pressure.
Standing by the door, he said in a low voice, "Xu WanZhi, I am your fiancée."