A single "Hmm," with the final tone slightly rising, was unexpectedly infused with a subtle seductiveness.
Yin Ruowei's heart inexplicably trembled.
Her fair and delicate face, as pristine as a lotus, blushed with a palette of vibrant colors like an overturned paintbox.
You—!
She angrily sat upright.
Yet her shoulder was silently pressed down by her mother's hand.
The fury in Yin Ruowei began to subside with this gesture.
Startled inside, she almost instantly concealed the teeth-gritting expression that had appeared on her small face.
Because she reined it in so swiftly, her facial nerves were awkwardly stretched, and Yin Ruowei had to slightly lower her head to avoid revealing her faintly distorted features in public.
Otherwise, that would really shatter her persona.
The woman softly holding Yin Ruowei's shoulder, offering a comforting caress, appeared to be in her forties. She wore a Chinese-style cheongsam that perfectly complemented her graceful charm, bereft of any ostentatious gold or silver jewelry, sporting only a jadeite bracelet on her pale, delicate wrist.
Her looks weren't breathtaking, but she possessed a composure and elegance reminiscent of orchids.
This woman's name was Yin Yilan, her step-mother.
Yin Yilan was an exceedingly clever woman. She scolded her own daughter, taking Ming Ge's side, "Weiwei, how can you talk to your sister like that! Apologize to Xiaoge immediately."
After urging her daughter, Yin Yilan Su Ya's face wore an apologetic smile as she looked toward Ming Ge, "Xiaoge, Weiwei has been upset by some baseless gossip from the entertainment reporters, that's why she is speaking nonsense. I hope you won't take it to heart; let me apologize on Weiwei's behalf..."
Ming Ge couldn't help but click her tongue twice in her heart.
The white lotus flower still needs more cultivation, but the mother of the white lotus, the old white lotus, has already mastered the art of evoking pity and forbearance in men, a move that could be described as utterly refined.
The pretense had soaked into her bones.
Look at those eyes, how earnest and intense they are, as if she genuinely fears that she would get angry.
However, Ming Ge understood all too well the malicious intent that lay beneath this "earnest and vulnerable" facade.
Although she was a step-wife who had climbed her way up with a burdensome daughter, she was still an elder.
For an elder to humble themselves before you...
In China, where filial piety is revered, such actions could lead to being scorned behind one's back.
In her past life, Ming Ge was not only plagued by scandals in the entertainment industry, but she also had a poor reputation in the circles of the wealthy second generation.
If it were her prior life, faced with the white lotus mother and daughter, Ming Ge would respond only with rage and annoying clamor.
But in this life, she had learned to maintain her calm—
To ignore her.
She may as well treat her like a head of cabbage.
Ming Ge's slender fingers twirled her long hair as she lamented, "Having such a troublesome daughter, Aunt Yin, it's not easy being a mother like you."
Yin Ruowei couldn't help but glare at her: "Ming Ge, you..."
"Hold your tongue." Yin Yilan Su Ya's elegant brows and eyes took on a chill, although this chill wasn't directed at Ming Ge, "Weiwei, your Sister Ming Ge is right. You truly are thoughtless."
...
Yin Ruowei's eyes reddened with anger.
"The way I see it, I generally don't bother with senseless people," Ming Ge said with an air of magnanimity, flashing a sunny smile with teeth on display, looking at her father and asking, "Isn't that right, Dad?"
Dad?!
That word took the room by surprise.
Ever since Ming Zhiyuan married Yin Yilan five years ago and Yin Ruowei and her mother moved into Ming's villa, the eldest daughter of the Ming family had not called him "Dad" for nearly five years!
Ming Zhiyuan was so stirred that he almost stood up, his voice trembling with uncertainty as he asked, "Xiaoge, what did you call me?"