Therefore, she had to bring out Mi Shan, and she had to be more severely injured than Mi Shan.
When Edmond arrived, he saw Lily lying limply on the ground. Her right cheek was as pale as snow, while her left cheek bore several bloody scratches. Her hair was disheveled, scattered messily on the ground, and the collar of her dress was torn to her collarbone, revealing two bloodstains on her neck. It was a miserable sight.
However, her eyes were bright, even more radiant than usual.
Edmond, restraining his emotions, quickly ran over. His body only began to tremble after he carefully cradled her in his arms.
"Does it hurt?"
Leaning against him, Lily gently shook her head, "No, I'm fine."
Mi Shan was still lying on the ground. She wasn't far from Lily and, upon hearing "I'm fine," felt a surge of anger and frustration. Fine? This woman indeed seemed fine, but it was Mi Shan who was really in trouble.
She knew Lily was Edmond's wife and had initially tried to avoid her. But this crazy woman had grabbed her hair, yanking a small handful viciously. The pain was unbearable, and Mi Shan had scratched at her in desperation.
Though Mi Shan's face was unscathed, Lily had kept one hand pulling her hair while the other formed a fist, hitting her repeatedly. Mi Shan might not show visible injuries, but her body was in severe pain, full of internal injuries.
A waiter, recognizing their boss, ran over to help Mi Shan up. Leaning on the waiter, Mi Shan saw Alistair approaching, clutching her aching chest as she called out to him.
"Alistair..."
Her voice was full of grievance. Alistair's face was extremely cold. He stood two steps away from her, his brow furrowed tightly as he questioned her.
"What happened?"
Mi Shan was about to speak when a figure appeared in front of her.
Slap! Aria delivered a harsh slap to Mi Shan's face.
When Lily had brought her to the private room, she mentioned they would frame Mi Shan in an area without surveillance. Lily had said she might get slapped but promised to find a chance to repay it, telling Aria not to worry.
Aria hadn't expected such a bloody scene. Trembling with rage, she raised her hand for a second slap, but someone grabbed her wrist. Turning around, she saw it was Alistair. For the first time, she glared at him with cold, angry eyes.
"Are you still protecting her?"
Alistair met her gaze, hesitated, and then instinctively said, "No, let's first hear what happened..."
"I'll explain."
Lily spoke up from Edmond's arms. As she began to speak, the blood from her wound flowed down, and Edmond's deep eyes grew cold and frightening. He lifted her horizontally and began to walk forward.
Lily quickly stopped him, "What are you doing? I have more to say."
Edmond knew that her injuries were part of her plan and that she needed to finish her performance, but the sight of the blood was too infuriating to control.
"Let's treat your wounds first."
His whole body was tense, his jawline sharp, his suppressed voice revealing a hint of irritable anger.
Seeing him angry, Lily tugged at his shirt collar, whispering, "Just a few words, just a few."
She couldn't let her blood be shed for nothing! Edmond, silent and cold-faced, was swayed when she bit her lip and leaned into his ear, "I'll go home with you tonight, and you can do whatever you want."
Edmond: "..."
He relented because of her coyness, which he could never resist.
Lily pointed to the left, signaling him to take a few steps in that direction, where more onlookers were gathered.
Once Edmond followed her instructions, she pointed at Mi Shan and addressed the crowd, "This is the restaurant owner, Miss Mi. She's a friend of my best friend's fiancé. We came here to dine, and she voluntarily came to our private room to toast. That should have been a good thing."
"But then Miss Mi brought up something peculiar. She said she opened this restaurant with money from Aria's fiancé, and she didn't need to repay it."
"Aria, being considerate, didn't cause a scene and just ran out. Her fiancé followed, and they argued at the entrance. Some of you might have seen it."
Someone in the crowd nodded and murmured in agreement, and Lily continued, "That silly girl cried for half an hour. I consoled her, saying it might be a misunderstanding. She agreed to hear Miss Mi's explanation, so I brought Miss Mi to our room."
"I don't know what Miss Mi was thinking, but I decided to ask her about it. And guess what? She said she and Aria's fiancé are truly in love."
"Lily!"
Alistair interrupted, "Stop spouting nonsense. Mi Shan would never say that."
"Alistair!"
Edmond tightened his hold on Lily, his stern gaze sweeping over Alistair, his icy voice laced with a warning, "Try raising your voice at her again!"
Alistair: "..."
He had only spoken a bit louder.
As Alistair was about to explain, Lily spoke first.
"Nonsense? Didn't you go on a trip during the holidays? With Mi Shan? She showed me your travel photos, where you were hugging and kissing..."
"Impossible!"
Alistair's voice grew even louder. He had indeed gone on a trip, but he had merely run into Mi Shan by chance and traveled together for a bit.
Hugging? He had only helped her when she sprained her ankle while hiking.
Kissing? That was out of the question.
As Alistair raised his voice, Edmond's face darkened completely, but before he could speak, Lily shouted, "Does a loud voice make you right? She did show me those photos."
Alistair looked at Mi Shan, who quickly shook her head, "No, I didn't show her any photos."
She had shown them to Aria, and the photos were already deleted, leaving no trace. She was certain Aria wouldn't speak up.
Lily glared at her, "You must have them on your phone. If not, you deleted them!"
Glaring at Mi Shan, Lily turned to Alistair, shouting, "Deleting the photos doesn't help. I remember them! In one photo where you two were hugging, you were wearing a grey hiking outfit, a grey hat, and black shoes. She was wearing a blue tracksuit..."
Lily had never seen the photos. When they were coming up, she had specifically asked Aria about it. Aria didn't want to confront Alistair, but Lily felt he needed to know.
Maybe there was some misunderstanding, as Alistair, though flirtatious, wasn't someone to cheat.
After Lily described the photos, Alistair's gaze shifted sharply to Mi Shan, causing her heart to skip a beat and cold sweat to break out on her back.
Lily's eyes moved between the two before she slumped against Edmond, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I heard this restaurant's theme is 'love.' It turns out the owner's idea of love involves ruining other people's relationships. Such a restaurant with skewed values will only attract people with equally skewed values. Dear, we have proper values. Let's leave."
The crowd: "..."
Should they leave too, to avoid seeming like they had skewed values?
Jiang Jing, who had witnessed the entire scene, wanted to shout a loud "Bravo" to Lily.
Lily had asked her to bring Mi Shan over, merely saying she wanted to teach Mi Shan a lesson. Jiang Jing had thought Lily was just going to vent on Mi Shan, maybe beat her up. She hadn't expected Lily to get herself beaten, and in the process, expose Mi Shan's misdeeds.
Jiang Jing had thought it was enough to let everyone know Mi Shan was in the wrong. She didn't expect Lily to also drive a wedge between Alistair and Mi Shan.
Just when Jiang Jing thought it was over, Lily revealed her ultimate goal: to ruin the restaurant.
A restaurant themed on 'love,' run by someone who destroys relationships, would undoubtedly affect its business.
Since Alistair funded the restaurant, its existence would always be a thorn in Aria's heart.
Lily was determined to bring Mi Shan's restaurant down.
Watching Mi Shan desperately trying to explain to Alistair, Jiang Jing sighed deeply.
Lily was notoriously crazy. Why did you provoke her?
As Edmond carried Lily out of the restaurant, Alistair hurriedly caught up.
"Lily, wait a minute."
He wanted to talk to Lily, but Edmond slightly turned to block him, his deep eyes shadowed, his low voice calm and indifferent.
"Move aside."
He was astonishingly calm, his tone indifferent, but Alistair knew him well and could tell he was extremely angry.