Her voice stiff as she replied, Chu Liangxia stood still.
"Chu Liangxia!"
Uttering the name coldly, Chu Yunxiao suddenly got up, his brows filled with even more rage.
"She is not my mother."
Chu Liangxia repeated each word deliberately, her expression resolute.
The atmosphere instantly froze.
Chu Yunxiao's face, at that moment, turned a dark shade of iron, his sharp eyes like cold knives scraping across her face.
Standing firmly, Chu Liangxia raised her eyes to meet his, not backing down an inch.
Lou Ruhui stood to the side, not daring to intervene or persuade.
"I told you to sit!"
After a long silence, Chu Yunxiao enunciated each word, every syllable edged with chillness.
Chu Liangxia's brows smoothed out.
After a slight pause, she took a step forward, walked past Lou Ruhui, and then moved to a single-seater sofa nearby.
She sat down.
Upright and proper.
Water drops trickled down from her hair tips, falling on the sofa and spreading slowly, leaving behind wet stains.
"Aren't we going to talk about serious matters?"
Chu Liangxia fixed her gaze on Chu Yunxiao, her attitude neither servile nor haughty.
Chu Yunxiao snorted coldly.
At that moment, Lou Ruhui approached Chu Yunxiao, tugged at his sleeve, and then Chu Yunxiao sat down again.
Aunt Chen also came over, handing Chu Liangxia a dry towel.
Chu Liangxia took it, draped it over her head, and casually rubbed it twice before nonchalantly withdrawing her hand.
"The Feng Family is demanding an annulment."
Shooting Chu Liangxia a cold glance, Chu Yunxiao uttered each word deliberately, biting off a bit of fury with each one.
Liangxia lowered her eyes, her expression unchanged.
She had rushed over from the TV station after receiving a call from Yunxiao.
Chu Yunxiao had only mentioned the annulment from the Feng Family but had given no explanation for the cause.
Gently biting her lip, Liangxia pondered briefly, then calmly asked, "Why?"
"Do you even need to ask?!"
Raising his voice slightly, Chu Yunxiao's tone was bitterly cold.
Liangxia furrowed her brows, "I don't know."
She hadn't stolen or robbed anyone, there was no issue with her personal conduct, nor any unclean relationships—how could she possibly know?
Besides, with the Feng Family insistent on annulling the engagement at this time, clearly they were looking for fault with her. Was Yunxiao so certain the fault lay with her?
"Think about your dear real mother!" Chu Yunxiao's face turned ruthless, "And that job you'd rather run away from home to take!"
Startled, Liangxia came to a slight realization.
Her mother, Lang Xiyuan, was an old-school movie queen in the entertainment circle, celebrated since she was eighteen and acclaimed in every work she has done.
However, her lifestyle and career were completely opposite—corrupt, vile temperament, poor character, a well-known "diva."
Recently, it seemed she was entangled in new scandals, and even in her free time from work, Liangxia frequently saw news about this movie queen.
As for herself—
Her side job was little known, and that's another story. Her main job was doing post-production work at the TV station; a common employee, not very famous or high-end, which had nothing to do with so-called military or wealthy families.
Thinking it through, if they really wanted to find fault with her, indeed there were plenty of reasons.
But—
If they really wanted to get married, what did her mother have to do with it? What did her legitimate profession have to do with it?
To put it plainly, they were just nitpicking, and she just happened to have more nits to pick.
Thinking this, Liangxia arched her brow and casually said, "If that's the case, then let's call it off."
A marriage that was never tied couldn't possibly determine her life.
Only—
Did he really care about those things?
"You make it sound so easy to call it off!"