Xu Jingyan's gentle smile vanished, replaced by a look of grievance and resentment: "Yanting, it's just a game, why take it so seriously? Qiu Mang didn't say anything!"

"I said, no!" Lu Yanting emphasized again, his voice so deep it seemed to come from the depths of hell, sending chills down one's spine.

"If everyone does this, how can we play the game? How about this, Wang He, don't choose Qiu Mang, choose me instead, okay?"

Xu Jingyan gritted her teeth, tears welling in her eyes, and looked at Lu Yanting as if she were defying him.

Wang He was clearly stunned. He had never expected things to develop this way. He stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do.

"Yanting, what do you think?" Xu Jingyan's voice was choked with emotion as she stared intently at Lu Yanting.

Lu Yanting looked at her, his eyes seemingly covered by a thick layer of ice, a chilling aura emanating from them. After a long while, he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence through gritted teeth: "Whatever!"

After the man finished speaking, he walked straight to Qiu Mang's side, grabbed her wrist without saying a word, and carried her away as if by a gust of wind.

Han Bing glanced at Hua Xiao, her eyes full of resentment: "This is exciting enough. Is this the scene you wanted?"

Hua Xiao stood with his hands hanging at his sides, pursing his lips and remaining silent.

As Xu Jingyan watched the two figures disappear into the distance, tears welled up and streamed down her face. This was the first time Lu Yanting had ever looked at her with such a cold, piercing gaze; it was like a sharp, deadly knife stabbing into her chest. And all of this was because of Qiu Mang!

Xu Jingyan clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging deep into her flesh, drawing blood, but she seemed oblivious to the pain, her heart and eyes filled only with endless agony and resentment.

"Jingyan, don't be sad, I'll always be on your side!" Han Feng walked quickly to Xu Jingyan's side, gently patted her shoulder, and tried to offer her some comfort.

Xu Jingyan turned her head, leaned on Han Feng's shoulder, and burst into tears.

"You shouldn't talk to her like that. How heartbroken Xu Jingyan will be if you do that!" As the two reached the corner, Qiu Mang forcefully broke free from Lu Yanting's hand, her eyes revealing a hint of dissatisfaction and resentment.

"Let's go! Go and bring Ali out, I'll take you home!" Lu Yanting leaned against the wall, his eyes showing exhaustion.

Qiu Mang looked at him, wanting to say a few more words, but Lu Yanting waved his hand, as if he had used up all his strength and did not want to argue anymore.

"Never mind, I'll call my sister and ask her to take Qiu Li downstairs!"

As Lu Yanting spoke, he called Lu Nian. Soon after, Qiu Li was brought down, and Lu Yanting drove the two sisters back to Qiushui Residence.

That evening, Xu Jingyan returned home and sat on the balcony, lost in thought.

Xu's mother took a coat and draped it over her daughter's shoulders, her words tinged with both reproach and tenderness, "It's the middle of the night, and you're sitting here alone in the wind without wearing an extra layer of clothing. You're already quite frail; what if you catch a cold?"

Xu Jingyan turned her head, her eyes already full of tears, which, under the moonlight, resembled pearls from a broken string, rolling down her cheeks.

Upon seeing this, Xu's mother's heart clenched, and she couldn't help but exclaim "Oh dear!" She hurriedly cupped her daughter's face in her hands and asked repeatedly, "My dear daughter, what's wrong? What happened? Did someone bully you? Tell Mom properly."

Xu Jingyan's pent-up emotions burst forth instantly. She buried her face in her mother's arms and burst into tears, as if she wanted to release all the grievances and sorrow in her heart.

She cried and cried out, "Mom, what should I do? I feel... I feel like I'm going to lose Yanting completely!"

Xu's mother stiffened and slowly pushed her daughter away from her arms. "Yan Ting? What happened? What happened between you and Yan Ting? Tell me quickly."

Xu Jingyan raised her hand with a sob, sniffed hard, and finally managed to calm herself down a little before telling Qiu Mang's story in fits and starts.

Upon hearing this, Xu's mother gasped, a glint of cold light flashing in her eyes, and her tone turned icy: "Qiu Mang? You mean, Lu Yanting has another woman outside?"

Xu Jingyan, her eyes red and swollen, nodded gently.

Suppressing her anger, Xu's mother pulled up a chair and sat down, quickly regaining her calm and composed expression.

She gently patted Xu Jingyan's hand and comforted her, "What are you afraid of? Our family and the Lu family have been friends for generations. How can our friendship of so many years be worth less than a young girl he just met?"

You need to understand, no matter how outrageous Lu Yanting may seem, he's still a businessman. Businessmen are always driven by profit, and he would never do anything to harm his own interests. That woman is of no help to his career; at best, he's just playing around with her for a while, for a fleeting thrill. There's absolutely no future for them.

Besides, even if he were truly infatuated with that woman, what about his father, Lu Hui, and mother, Xia Qiong? Would such a prestigious family tolerate a woman like that entering their home?

Xu Jingyan raised her head slightly, hesitating to speak: "But..."

Xu's mother gently patted her daughter's arm and said earnestly, "No buts, Jingyan. Mom knows you like Lu Yanting, and I know you're heartbroken right now, but you have to believe me. The last thing you should do right now is to get jealous and fight with that woman."

To put it bluntly, you are neither Lu Yanting's wife nor his girlfriend. You don't even have a formal title, so what right do you have to be jealous?

"You better pull yourself together right now. In a couple of days, we'll go to the Lu family and lay everything out on the table. I want to ask Xia Qiong, you almost lost your life saving her son back then, did she really just pretend she didn't know? We're willing to trade our lives for you becoming the young mistress of the Lu family, isn't that fair?"

Xu Jingyan looked worried. "Mom, what we're doing is forcing Yanting. I'm afraid he'll blame me later..."

Xu's mother took a deep breath, looking at her daughter with a mixture of helplessness and tenderness: "Silly daughter, what's there to be afraid of? We're pulling him back to the right path. Even if he can't understand it right away, he'll be grateful to you when he realizes it later!"

"This is a forced marriage. Even if we get married, I'm afraid Yan Ting will still treat me the same coldly," Xu Jingyan muttered, her voice trembling with tears and a sense of grievance.

Xu's mother reached out and gently picked up a stray hair from Xu Jingyan's shoulder, saying with exasperation, "I'm telling you, you're such a silly girl! How did I give birth to such a love-struck girl! You don't care about feelings or anything like that, the important thing is to get a man by your side first!"

You need to understand, if you had this legitimate status, you could do so much more. Not only could you help the Xu family's business, but even if you wanted to deal with Qiu Mang, you'd be the legal wife. Both the law and morality would be on your side. Do you even understand that?

"But I want Yanting to marry me from the bottom of his heart!" Xu Jingyan's eyes filled with tears again as she looked at her mother longingly.

Xu's mother was amused and tapped her daughter's forehead, saying, "Jingyan, you're 27 already, how can you still be so naive! Don't you often see those 'arranged marriages' and 'love after marriage' plots on TV and in novels? Get married first!"

Xu Jingyan's eyes were still red. "Then... are we just going to leave Qiu Mang alone?"

Xu's mother sighed softly, a resolute glint in her eyes: "Her younger sister goes to Yingcai Kindergarten, right? Don't worry, leave this to Mom, Mom will take care of it for you!"