Shi Yue crossed over at the exact moment of the engagement party between the male and female leads. She wore a long red dress and sat at the dressing table. As she lifted her eyes, she saw the delicate and innocent face of the "sweet wife" in the mirror, resembling a deer who had yet to experience the world.
In the next moment, she flicked her long hair, and the fragile impression of the beauty in the mirror dissipated completely, giving way to a charm that arose in her innocent brows and eyes.
Someone opened the door and came in, her tone impatient: "What are you dazing out for? Hurry up and come with me to greet Young Master Leng at the entrance!"
Shi Yue propped her chin with her hand, not turning her head, merely watching the figure in the mirror.
"Cousin," she said leisurely, "you have a piece of vegetable stuck between your teeth."
"Huh?" Shi Fang instinctively retorted, "Impossible. I only had a bowl of bird's nest today."
Despite her words, she still walked quickly to the mirror, baring her teeth to inspect them. After a thorough look without finding anything, she shouted in frustration, "Shi Yue, are you messing with me?!"
Shi Yue stood up, giving up her spot to her cousin. "Better check twice." She casually pushed Shi Fang's head toward the mirror. "You're so eager to fawn over Leng Mingchuan, but if you don't clean your mouth properly, you'll embarrass our Shi family."
Shi Fang was stunned for two seconds before she realized what had happened. Staring at her little cousin, who had suddenly changed personalities, she stammered, "You, Shi Yue, did you... take the wrong medicine?"
Her little cousin was the most naive and easily bullied. On a regular day, she wouldn't say anything remotely sarcastic to anyone, let alone this sharp retort. If it weren't for that familiar innocent face, Shi Fang would think the person in front of her was someone else.
Shi Yue smiled without responding, leisurely walking out of the room with light steps.
Passing by the corridor's glass window, she glanced outside and coincidentally saw a brand-new indigo sports car parked in front of the hotel. A tall, long-legged young man got out, closing the car door with a casual flick, his movements exuding irritability.
"Snap—" Shi Yue clapped her hands and mentally chanted, "Action."
"The Cold CEO's Delicate Wife" was an ABO overbearing CEO novel. The male lead, Leng Mingchuan, had someone in his heart but was forced by family reasons to marry the naive and sweet female lead, Shi Yue. Shi Yue would go through three hundred chapters of heart-wrenching abuse before Leng Mingchuan would suddenly realize that he loved his delicate wife. From then on, he would give up his "white moonlight" and live happily ever after with his wife.
In this chapter of the engagement, Leng Mingchuan arrived late, and during the banquet, he received a phone call from his "white moonlight," leaving his fiancée behind in front of all the guests, making Shi Yue utterly humiliated.
"Yue Sister" As she was lost in thought, a young boy of about ten walked toward her from the end of the corridor.
"Wow, you look so beautiful today!" Shi Nan exaggeratedly exclaimed, "Is it a new makeup look? You look completely different from before!"
Shi Yue smiled, put her arm around his shoulder, and brought him to the window. "Xiao Nan, can you do me a favor?"
"What kind of favor?" The high school freshman seemed to have boundless energy.
"Do you see that car?" Shi Yue pointed at the blue sports car, then whispered a few words into Shi Nan's ear.
Shi Nan's eyes widened. "Huh? Why?"
"This is an important opportunity to improve my relationship with Young Master Leng." Shi Yue winked at him. "You'll understand later."
Shi Nan's eyes darted around, and he nodded in agreement.
He waved at Shi Yue and then turned around, running directly downstairs.
After watching him leave, Shi Yue also tidied up her hairstyle and dress, then proceeded to the engagement venue.
In the banquet hall, relatives from both the Leng and Shi families had gathered. Leng Mingchuan and Shi Yue, being the most prominent younger members of both families, drew considerable attention even at an engagement party. Leng Mingchuan was twenty minutes late, and as soon as he appeared, he was surrounded by people asking about his whereabouts.
A loud-mouthed, nosy middle-aged man teased, "Young Master Leng, where's your fiancée? She hasn't shown up yet either. If she's this inconsiderate at the engagement banquet, it'll be harder to handle her when she becomes Mrs. Leng."
Shi Yue stood outside, hearing the entire remark. She didn't want to argue with such a gossip, but his words gave her a new idea.
Yes, she could be absent from the engagement party and only show up when the real drama started.
With that realization, she quickly lifted her skirt and prepared to leave.
But plans never keep up with changes. Just as she turned around and hadn't taken two steps, she almost ran into someone. Shi Yue didn't want to cause trouble, so she stepped around the person to leave, only to be grabbed by the wrist and called back.
"Shi Yue?"
She looked up, her breath catching.
The woman who stopped her was tall, with long black hair tied into a high ponytail, and only a few playful strands of hair falling onto her beautiful cheek. Although the face was exactly her type, the woman wore a pair of gold-rimmed, frameless glasses, which only added to her already high-pressure presence even when she just stood there without speaking.
During the time Shi Yue was under her gaze, she could only hear her own "thump-thump" heartbeat.
The next moment, the woman retracted her hand, crossing her arms over her chest, looking at her with a scrutinizing gaze.
Instantly sobering up, Shi Yue finally remembered who she was.
Leng Mingchuan, a good-for-nothing scumbag, could act so recklessly in the novel not only because he was the young master of the Leng family but also because he had an invincible backer—Leng Yanmi.
Leng Yanmi was Leng Mingchuan's aunt, only six years older than the male lead, but she was already the actual head of the Leng family.
She was proud and protective, like a noble Norwegian Forest Cat, always looking down at others with a natural disdain in her eyes. In the novel, Leng Mingchuan's atrocious behavior towards the female lead wasn't something Leng Yanmi was unaware of. But to protect her little nephew, she would always ignore Shi Yue´s patience and perfectly clean up Leng Mingchuan's mess.
Every time Leng Mingchuan acted up and got away with it thanks to Leng Yanmi, Shi Yue, as a reader, grew more and more disgusted with this aunt and nephew pair.
But there was nothing she could do. Leng Yanmi had a deadly condition. Although she was an Alpha, her pheromones had no scent. This situation was no less than modern male impotence. Therefore, she stayed away from both men and women and had decided to remain single for life. Naturally, she took extra care of her only nephew, Leng Mingchuan.
In short, as long as Leng Yanmi was around, even if Shi Yue managed to make Leng Mingchuan suffer, it could only be in some trivial matters. She could never truly shake his interests.
But what Shi Yue hadn't expected was that Leng Yanmi would turn out to be this good-looking in person. Although the novel often mentioned her stunning beauty, the impact of those plain words was far less than the direct experience of seeing her.
Facing the fact that the biggest villain boss had such a breathtakingly beautiful face that hit her weak spot.
This journey through the world had just become more interesting.
While she was silent, Leng Yanmi glanced into the banquet hall, questioning her, "The engagement ceremony is about to start. Where are you going?"
Shi Yue curved her lips, showing a smile she deemed flawless, leaning in closer to her. "I came out to find you."
Leng Yanmi was momentarily stunned. "Why were you looking for me?"
"I noticed you hadn't arrived yet, so I felt uneasy." Shi Yue rested her chin on her shoulder. "Aunt, why are you so late? Did someone hold you up?"
Sure enough, Leng Yanmi took two steps back.
"You don't need to worry about my whereabouts. Just keep an eye on Mingchuan." After saying that, she turned and walked toward the banquet hall's entrance, not forgetting to command, "Follow me."
Having her plan to disappear disrupted, Shi Yue wasn't angry. She leisurely followed her into the engagement banquet.
As expected, her appearance rescued Leng Mingchuan, who was surrounded. The relatives from both families immediately turned their attention to her, the prospective fiancée, gossiping among themselves. Shi Yue was no longer the innocent and pitiful little white flower; dealing with these people was no trouble at all. During the conversation, she could even effortlessly take in Leng Mingchuan's disdainful gaze and return it with a polite smile while throwing a flirty look at Leng Yanmi standing beside him.
Leng Yanmi frowned, deliberately tilting her head to sip her wine.
With both the male and female leads in place, the engagement ceremony quickly began.
Shi Yue, holding the mentality of watching a good show, kept a smile on her face throughout, scrutinizing Leng Mingchuan with a keen interest. Leng Mingchuan, unsettled by her gaze, lowered his voice after stepping onto the red carpet, "Are you sick or something?"
Shi Yue replied pleasantly, "If I weren't, could I be standing here?"
Leng Mingchuan was very surprised and took a step back, pulling away from her with a disgusted expression.
Soon, following the host's guidance, he took out the engagement ring. Just as he was about to put it on Shi Yue, the phone in his suit pocket vibrated violently. The ringtone was so loud that it even drowned out the romantic music playing at the scene, drawing the attention of many onlookers.
Leng Mingchuan irritably ran a hand through his hair and took out his phone, ready to turn it off, but froze the moment he saw the caller's name.
He shoved the ring, along with the velvet box, into Shi Yue's hands and answered the call, "Xiao Ling? What's up?"
The crowd immediately broke into murmurs.
"Who's calling at this moment?"
"Why is Young Master Leng answering the phone at such a critical time?"
"Wow, poor Miss Shi, being left hanging like this."
"..."
But what surprised them even more was that after Leng Mingchuan hung up, he actually left with a single "I have an urgent matter," striding toward the banquet hall's exit.
The guests were in such shock that no one thought to stop him. Or even if they knew they should, they didn't dare go against Leng Mingchuan.
So when he was forcibly held back by someone tugging on his clothes, the usually unrestrained Young Master Leng nearly went mad.
He glared at Shi Yue, his voice suppressing a storm, "Are you looking for death?"
"Today's our engagement banquet." Knowing the plot, Shi Yue feigned ignorance, "Where are you planning to go, Young Master Leng?"
"None of your business."
"So, you're planning to break off the engagement?" Shi Yue raised her voice, enough for both families' relatives to hear, "Since everyone's here, why don't we make things clear?
"Leng Mingchuan, do you want to cancel the engagement with the Shi family?"
Not far away, several Leng family elders were watching closely. Even someone as willful as Leng Mingchuan couldn't say anything that directly opposed them.
He took a deep breath, "I said I just have something to deal with."
Shi Yue wouldn't let him off so easily, "Take me with you." She shook the engagement ring in her hand, "As your fiancée, don't I have the right to know what's more important than the engagement banquet?"
Leng Mingchuan said nothing, throwing off her hand and quickly walking outside.
In this way, a group of people went pulling and tugging all the way to the hotel entrance.
Leng Mingchuan clearly had no intention of bringing Shi Yue along. He got into the indigo sports car, started the engine, and was ready to leave. But as soon as he set off, he realized something was wrong. Getting out of the car, he saw four flat tires.
Shi Yue crossed her arms, smiling confidently.
She pulled out a car key from her dress and unlocked a low-key white sedan nearby. "Let's go, I'll drive you."
Leng Mingchuan glared at her with hatred, his eyes almost spitting fire.
Just as Shi Yue was about to "comfort" him, the crowd suddenly parted to either side, leaving a wide passage.
Leng Yanmi walked from the other end of the passage and handed her car keys to Leng Mingchuan.
She spoke briefly, "Go."
"Aunt, thank you!" Leng Mingchuan's anger turned to joy as he found Leng Yanmi's car, then sped off with a "boom."
No one in the crowd dared to make a sound. At the hotel's entrance, only Leng Yanmi and Shi Yue stood silently facing each other.
Perhaps knowing she was in the wrong, Leng Yanmi took the initiative to speak, "Mingchuan is immature. Don't bicker with him."
"Is he immature, or does he have someone else in his heart?" Shi Yue lowered her gaze, trying to look sad.
Leng Yanmi had been about to leave but offered, "Regardless of whom he likes, you will still be the Leng family's young madam. Isn't that enough?"
Shi Yue quickly grabbed her wrist.
She moved closer to Leng Yanmi's chest, her voice soft, "Auntie, I don't really care who Leng Mingchuan likes." Her tone was seductive, even with just a few simple words: "Do you know why?"
Leng Yanmi paused, raising an eyebrow in expectation.
"Because..." Shi Yue looked at her, her eyes full of laughter, mischievous as a fox that had gotten its way.
She whispered softly in Leng Yanmi's ear, "I, too, have someone I like."
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Original Cover