Chapter 37
As soon as Xu Yinyin got off the car, Zhou Jingjing saw her. The gentle and friendly smile she was smiling at and greeting others instantly turned into resentment and dissatisfaction.
"Sorry, I have to excuse myself for a moment."
After saying goodbye to everyone in a hurry, Zhou Jingjing walked towards Xu Yinyin.
"What are you doing here? Do you have an invitation?" Zhou Jingjing looked down at her.
Zhou Jingjing's grandfather's generation could barely be considered old-money, but by the time the business was passed on to her father's generation, most of it had been lost. Coupled with the scandal caused by her younger brother, the stock market plummeted instantly, and the family was on the verge of decline.
In order to save face and to present herself to the jury as a family of upright gentlemen and philanthropists, her father asked her to find a way to gild herself at the auction held by the head of the Yan family.
She could only ask her fiancé's family for help to be eligible to participate.
As for Xu Yinyin, a rich family's daughter who was recognized halfway, she never took her seriously. After all, there were too many scandals in the rich family, and who knew if she was a bastard. The old man seemed to be respecting her, but in fact he was just using the recognition of her as a relative to build a social platform.
Therefore, she naturally thought that Xu Yinyin might be like her, hooking up with some rich man and asking him to bring her wealth.
And given her embarrassing status, the man she found must be inferior to her, so she questioned her so arrogantly.
"Invitation?" Xu Yinyin was puzzled. "I don't have one."
Zhou Jingjing was amused by her fearless and frank attitude, and said sarcastically, "That's right, this is probably your first time at such an occasion, so it's normal that you don't know."
She pretended to look around her and asked worriedly, "You didn't come here alone, did you?"
"What's wrong with being alone? Is there something wrong?" Xu Yinyin continued to pretend not to know, wanting to see her little tricks.
"It's fine for others to be alone, but not for you. Do you know who hosted this dinner? With your Xu family's status, you're not qualified to participate. If you really want to use this platform to gild yourself, you have to find a high-ranking official to curry favor with first."
Xu Yinyin nodded in sudden realization: "Oh, you mean to find a wealthy and foolish man as a springboard, right?"
Zhou Jingjing's smile froze. Although her words were a bit vulgar, she really meant it. "You speak so vulgarly. Are you always like this?"
"No, I only say this to you because you are the only one who deserves such vulgar words. Don't you think it's very kind?"
"you--"
"Jingjing." Zheng Gang walked towards Zhou Jingjing, his eyes gently sweeping over Xu Yinyin, and asked her, "Is this your friend?"
Zhou Jingjing changed her arrogant look and smiled gently, "Not really, just an acquaintance."
Out of courtesy, Zheng Gang introduced himself: "Hello, I'm Zheng Gang, Jingjing's fiancé."
Xu Yinyin nodded, said "Oh" in a tone of sudden enlightenment, and then said: "Jingjing mentioned you to me, nice to meet you!"
Zheng Gang's eyes shone with pride. Zhou Jingjing was indeed marrying above her station by dating him, so it was only natural for her to brag about her all day long. "Really? Jingjing always likes to mention me in front of her friends. I feel embarrassed."
Xu Yinyin smiled and comforted him, "You don't have to feel embarrassed. After all, she didn't say anything good about you."
"By the way, do you know what she thinks of you? She said you're a fool with lots of money, and she told me to find one myself so I can climb the social ladder faster."
Zheng Gang's smile faded, and he looked at Zhou Jingjing coldly. The latter's cheeks and ears were red at this moment, half because of embarrassment and half because of anger.
"I didn't, she's talking nonsense."
"Yeah, I'm talking nonsense. Don't believe me. Her family is about to face a lawsuit. How could she have the time to hook you?"
Zheng Gang's forehead was throbbing. He had indeed heard a lot of rumors about the Zhou family recently, but he had never taken them seriously. It was time to find someone to investigate.
He lowered his eyes to look at Zhou Jingjing and warned in a low voice: "You'd better give me a reasonable explanation."
"I'm not, I didn't, she did it on purpose."
Zhou Jingjing explained while chasing after the man with her skirt lifted up. It seemed that it would take some time to appease the man.
[You're still a little naive to try to play tricks on me.]
Umbro, you have a lot of tricks up your sleeve. That's awesome.
[It's just so-so. To deal with a bitch, you have to use a bitch.]
"Yin Yin."
Xu Yanwen's voice came from behind her. Xu Yinyin turned around and saw three beautiful scenery lines rushing into her eyes.
The girl was wearing a bright red long skirt. The fishtail-like hem of the skirt made her already superior figure look more agile and sexy. With her loosely tied hair, she looked even more charming. Her smile was full of gentleness that could not be concealed.
Yan Yashan wore a black velvet long dress with a shawl of the same color. Her silver hair sparkled under the light, and her delicate and graceful makeup made her look elegant and generous.
Next to her, a tall and graceful man was wearing a black suit, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist and long legs. With his abstinent and otherworldly face, he showed his noble status and magnificent aura in his serious expression.
As soon as the three of them appeared on the stage, they attracted countless people's astonished gazes, occasionally mixed with low cheers.
[Oh my god, what a magnificent display of beauty! Each one is more beautiful and elegant than the other. That Huo Yan is even more handsome than in the photo.]
Xu Yinyin's thoughts immediately made the crowd exclaim again. It turned out that the man in front of them was the famous chairman of Lingsheng Group, who was ranked in the top three of the world's richest people, the darling of the past five years, and the devil of the business world, Huo Yan!
【Are you excited about Umbro? 】
[No, a man with both strength and charm like this is beyond the reach of a slacker like me. There are too many rivals for him, and I simply can't handle him.]
Xu Yinyin greeted them with a smile and greeted everyone one by one. When it was Huo Yan's turn, she still politely introduced herself, "Hello, my name is Xu Yinyin. It's our first meeting, please take care of me."
Huo Yan glanced at Xu Yinyin calmly, reached out and gently grasped her fingertips, and uttered two words with dignity, "Huo Yan."
[Look, one of Long Aotian's characteristics is his tsundere nature, a penchant for being frugal with words. Did he hit that mark?]
[I got it right, but he’s really handsome! ]
【hehe. 】
A chuckle made Huo Yan raise his eyebrows slightly. Was this meant to be a mockery?
Xu Yanwen invited everyone to come in, and took Xu Yinyin's arm and walked behind them.
Yan Yashan looked at Huo Yan with a smile and lowered his voice and said, "Isn't Yin Yin very interesting?"
Someone snorted, "So-so."
She actually mocked him, huh!
"Is the person who just spoke to you a new friend?" Xu Yanwen recognized Zhou Jingjing and was worried that her little niece would be bullied, so she asked carefully.
"No, she bullied Yaoyao at my family recognition party, and I just taught her a lesson."
Upon hearing this, Huo Yan sneered in his heart, "You are so vindictive and yet you dare to say that I am frugal with my words? Humph!"
"Yinyin did the right thing. When you encounter injustice, you should fight back. If you get into trouble, I'll support you. Don't be afraid."
"Yeah, don't worry, aunt, I won't let myself suffer any loss."
Huo Yan rolled his eyes silently in his heart. That's it? Her grandmother dared to say this girl was excellent. Wasn't she just a spoiled brat?
As if guessing his grandson's thoughts, Yan Yashan whispered, "Yin Yin's charm lies in her inner purity. You'd better not be too blunt in your attitude, otherwise you will be the one who suffers."
"Really? I don't think I'll suffer any loss." Huo Yan responded with great pride.
Yan Yashan smiled without saying anything. It was a good thing to suffer more in love, and she was not panicked at all.
After the group sat down, the staff handed everyone a document that listed detailed information about each item, with pictures and texts to provide a more intuitive understanding of the background of the items.
Xu Yinyin was flipping through the pages boredly, but her mind was on eating melons.
"Let me tell you, Zhou Jingjing was clapping for love in the lounge to appease her fiancé. She definitely won't dare to take too many photos later. You can only compete with her for one or two things, and it won't cost much."
"Yeah, I get it. Anyway, my goal today is to make things difficult for her. She can't even think of embellishing the family with her charity work. Her brother did something so shameful, so he should be punished."
[Of course not. I support you.]
It’s not a big deal in the upper class circle, but everyone has heard about the uproar that has been going on in the Zhou family in recent days. However, because the news has not yet fermented, many people only eat half of it. Now, after hearing the voice that came out of nowhere, they instantly perked up.
Everyone looked in Zhou Jingjing's direction in tacit understanding. They wanted to know more about what happened to her brother than the gossip about her and her fiancé applauding their love in the lounge.
So they took out their phones and typed in Zhou Jun's name, but they were disappointed because they didn't find a single result.
Zhou Jingjing was so angry that she wanted to spit fire on the spot. She actually forgot that everyone could hear Xu Yinyin's thoughts. She turned around and glared at her angrily.
Xu Yinyin noticed it, looked towards the source of the gaze, smiled at her in a very annoying way and waved.
[Oh my, she still dares to glare at me. Does she think the lesson I just gave her was not enough?]
[Oh, it's just a helpless roar. After all, she's a pitiful person.]
How do you say it?
Xu Yinyin silently straightened her back and pricked up her ears.
The melon-babies also tacitly pretended to listen attentively.
Only Huo Yan was concentrating on reading the description of the auction items, standing out from the crowd around him.
How can she be called a lady from a noble family if she pries into people's privacy? The older my grandmother gets, the worse her judgment of people becomes.
[Actually, she was the illegitimate daughter of Zhou's father and the family's maid. The maid was only fourteen years old at the time. Zhou's father's behavior could be considered a crime.]
【ah? 】
The onlookers gasped, "Oh my God, is this something you can say?"
[The situation at the time was similar to Zhou Jun's. After the victim's parents found out, they threatened to sue the Zhou family, but the old man stopped them.]
[No need to guess, it must be paying to keep quiet again.]
[Not only did they take the money, but they also promised that the child would be included in the Zhou family tree and have the right to share the inheritance. However, the mother had to give up her custody of the child and leave. The child would be raised by the mistress of the household, Zhou Jun's biological mother and Zhou's father's legal wife.]
[The most important thing is that Zhou's father hadn't married yet at that time.]
[Oh, doesn't this mean that the new bride will become a mother as soon as she enters the family? Isn't that a shame?]
"Of course, the legal wife wouldn't agree to this. However, most wealthy families marry into one family. Just because you don't agree doesn't mean your family won't. To establish a solid partnership, the legal wife had no choice but to swallow her anger and accept Zhou Jingjing as a burden."
【But children like this who are not expected to be treated well are usually abused.】
No, no, no, the mistress of a wealthy family doesn't abuse people. She loves PUA, calling the maid, who should have been the victim, a despicable and shameless seducer. She also said that she has the blood of despicable people in her body. If it weren't for the Zhou family, she would be dead and don't know where she is now. She wants her to learn gratitude, break with her mother, be kind, and give back to the Zhou family.
[No wonder she would serve the devil herself. It turns out it was all the result of her adoptive mother's pua training since she was young.]
[Yeah, and also, her adoptive mother has always known about her son's perversion. She fired the maid out of fear that Zhou's father's sins would be repeated on her son. As for Zhou Jingjing's voluntary sacrifice, it was also orchestrated by her adoptive mother. She thought that if she was really pregnant, she could accuse her of seduction, making her as despicable as her biological mother. It would be a form of revenge to let the old man and Zhou's father see the sins they had committed.]
[But this is too cruel. Why should the next generation be held responsible for the grudges of the previous generation? Children can't choose their parents, so the ones who should be wronged are the children.]
【Who says it isn’t? 】
The melon-babies sighed silently and looked at Zhou Jingjing at the same time.
However, Zhou Jingjing was not as surprised or shocked as everyone thought. Instead, she had a smile on her lips and looked calm and composed.
[Wait, there's a twist here! ]
The system's exclamation suddenly lifted the gossipy spirits of the melon-badgeons to the top of their heads, and everyone turned into King Jiji and spoke quickly!
Huo Yan, who was standing next to Xu Yinyin, loosened his tie and subconsciously straightened his back. It wasn't that he wanted to hear the sequel, but it was just getting a bit heated.
Xu Yinyin has been watching gossips for many years, but she remained calm when faced with such a turn of events.
[What the adoptive mother thought was a mastermind was simply Zhou Jingjing's acting.]
[Wow, Umbro is indeed a seasoned melon fan. Ordinary melons don't pique your interest at all. But, you're only half right.]
【Hmm? What's the other half?】
Just as the system was about to speak, the auctioneer came on stage.
[Let's eat later. The auction has started. Aren't you going to confront Zhou Jingjing?]
【Oh, that's right, it's important to get down to business.】
The melon-eating badgers lamented silently in their hearts, isn’t eating melon a serious matter?
Hanging it like that with such a big hook is torture, isn't it?
Ahhh, we want to eat melon!
For this reason, when the auctioneer stepped onto the stage with a smile on his face, he was met with unhappy and resentful gazes from the audience.
Uh...what's going on?
The auctioneer was bewildered, and his professional smile immediately turned into a wry smile with a hint of grievance.
After he introduced the background of the first collection, announced the starting price, and bid one hundred thousand at a time, someone immediately called out a price of ten million, and then there was no further bidding, and the deal was done directly.
The first item was sold in less than a minute, setting a record for the fastest transaction in his career.
“······”Is everyone in such a hurry?
The host was also confused and rushed over to save the situation.
What I mean is that the second lot is not ready yet, and today's wealthy people seem a little anxious.
[Hey, that wasn't the case in the video we watched last night. Aren't there always people fighting over something? How come one person just bids and it's settled?]
[It seems the video is unreliable. Judging by the staff's inefficiency, I'm afraid they won't be able to get the second lot for a while. So, let's get started.]
Innocent staff members who were caught in the crossfire: “······” Blame us!
Rich people who have melons to eat again: Hmm~ o(*￣▽￣*)o
Didn't we say earlier that Mr. Zhou used the Zhou family's inheritance rights to buy out the child and, in doing so, sent the maid back to her hometown? The maid's parents took the money and decisively took their daughter back to the countryside. We thought that was the end of the story, but unexpectedly, the maid couldn't bear to part with the child, and she had no intention of letting Zhou's father go. So, she used the compensation money to get plastic surgery and re-entered the Zhou family.
The melon-babies gasped silently. Huo Yan, who was standing beside him, loosened his tie again and involuntarily moved a little closer to Xu Yinyin.
[Oh my, I'm going back to the Zhou family and I'm probably going to be a maid again, specifically serving Zhou Jingjing's brother, right?]
[Wow, you guessed it right again, you're so awesome, darling.]
Huo Yan glanced at Xu Yinyin with resentment in his eyes. How could she guess everything? This made him look like a fool!
[No, what kind of train of thought is this? Shouldn't they just remove Zhou's father's third leg and render him inhumane from now on? Why resort to such a roundabout approach?]
[You don't understand this, right? If she had just killed him, there would have been no need for plastic surgery. She wants the evildoer to suffer the consequences of his own actions.]
[Wait! Let me drink some water first.]
Xu Yinyin looked at the booth and reached out to touch the hot drink next to the seat. A pair of big hands handed the drink directly to her.
"?" Xu Yinyin glanced sideways in surprise, and happened to meet Huo Yan's cold and handsome face.
"I'm afraid you'll knock it over and spill it on me." He explained calmly.
He's not in a hurry at all :)
“······Thank you!” Xu Yinyin rolled her eyes in her heart.
【I’m not clumsy! 】
【Oh my, he's quite considerate. 】
【(Yin Yin sneers) Open the melon! 】
Zhou Jingjing's biological mother was originally an excellent student, but her family was extremely poor, so she couldn't complete her education. She was forced to seek employment outside her home. She heard that being a nanny for a wealthy family offered high wages, room and board, and that she could find time to study after work, and that she could take the adult college entrance exam and continue her studies. So, she decided to move to the Zhou family.
At first, life was uneventful. My master left early and returned late, rarely seeing me. After completing my daily tasks, I spent the rest of my time reviewing. I saved 5,000 yuan of my monthly salary for tuition and sent 5,000 yuan back to my parents. Life was ordinary yet fulfilling. I thought things were finally clearing up, but one night, the peace was shattered.
[I guess it must have been one night when the man came home drunk and all the servants were asleep, but she happened to see them. Out of duty, she went to take care of them, and then she got drunk and did that, right?]
Right, right, right.
[Heh~ I know men's nature all too well. A truly drunk person has no strength at all. He'll just fall asleep wherever he lies. Those who say he's drunk and has sex are lying. He just wants to stab someone with his dick!]
[Hahahahaha, my little brother wants to stab someone, I'm laughing so hard! ]
The melon-babies bit their lips to hold back their laughter, their damn little brothers were pricking people, please just laugh and hug!
Huo Yan: “…” Quite talented in languages!
After forcibly stabbing the woman, he saw that she was incredibly beautiful, and he began to have second thoughts, wanting to develop a romantic relationship with her. He feigned regret, knelt down, admitted his mistake, slapped himself in the face, and lied, saying he could tell his parents and marry her.
[Huh?! He's really good at diverting his gaze. I bet the woman wouldn't agree.]
[Of course I can't agree to this. He insists this is forced sex and I'm going to call the police.]
The bastard wasn't panicking. He dragged her to his parents that night to confess his guilt and threatened to marry her. Then the family began to play double duty. The mother played the good cop, humbly apologizing to the woman, offering comfort and heartache, and even promising to help her go back to school. The father then punished the unfilial son with family discipline, beating him half to death. The woman was only fourteen or fifteen at the time, naive and inexperienced. She had no idea this was all a conspiracy orchestrated by the three of them.
[Plus, the family usually had a good persona, treating their servants politely and often making headlines as philanthropists. The woman also thought it might be an accident, and she fell for it. After that, they really sent her to private school and pampered her. By the time she discovered she was pregnant, the baby was already five months old and an induced abortion was the only option. At this point, the cunning parents played a double act to calm her down, half-tricking and half-cajoling her into giving birth.]
[And then the part where they just grabbed the child and chased people away?]
[No, no, no, before that, there was an even more outrageous act! ]
Everyone pricked up their ears, and Huo Yan even breathed softly.
At this time, the auctioneer came on stage with the second collection.
[Ah, the second lot is up. Let’s get down to business, Umbro!]
The melon-eaters suddenly looked at the auctioneer, their eyes wishing they could skin him alive. Could they really let people eat the melon in one go?!
“······”QAQ, who did I offend today?
In order to make everyone have a good time, he even changed the order of the items and took out the items that had been kept at the bottom of the box, hoping to win some goodwill, but why did he only attract more hatred?
Woo! Baby is feeling wronged, sob sob T0T!
He forced himself to put on an enthusiastic smile and introduced the new lot. He had just announced the starting price of three million when Huo Yan called out, "One hundred million."
The wealthy people in the audience all said in unison: "We won't follow!"
Auctioneer: “…”
Zhou Jingjing, who was about to bid: "..."
Damn it, you all want to eat melons, right? I’ll choke you to death!
Xu Yinyin wondered: [Is this a special forces auction? Why is it so urgent?]
"Who cares about them? Zhou Jingjing can't afford this price anyway, so she just keeps eating."
The auctioneer left the stage again, but he had lost the courage to go on stage again. He was afraid that he would be glared at to death.
[Do you know why they induced her to give birth to the child? ]
[Hmm - I guess he wanted to bite her back, turning forced sex into active seduction, just to get promoted. After all, the Zhou family provided her with food, drink, and sent her to school, which was obvious to everyone. Even if she testified in court, the victim would have no way to defend herself, right?]
Bravo! Umbro, you're amazing.
The melon-eating civets secretly gave her an admiring look, and even the melon owner Zhou Jingjing had to admire her wise melon-eating spirit.
Huo Yan wanted to find an excuse to convince himself that it was just a gimmick, but when he thought about the twists and turns and hidden secrets of this melon, he lost hope.
It’s just that everyone has their own specialties, huh!
That's exactly what they thought. And this wasn't the first time. It's just that the previous times didn't have any hard evidence of a child. Most maids were illiterate and could be easily dismissed with money. But Zhou Jingjing's biological mother was different. She was educated and her first university aspiration was law school. However, she ultimately lost out to the cunning and shameless Mr. Zhou.
So, when she decided to have plastic surgery and start over, she wanted to give Zhou Jun a taste of his own medicine. She would exploit Zhou Jun's inherited lustful nature and lure his son into doing something despicable. Then, she would secretly film the evidence and establish the crime. Then, she would seek out the former victims and file a lawsuit, using her own tattered body to drag the Zhou family to hell.
[Don't you like to portray them as upright gentlemen and philanthropists? She insists on making them face public condemnation in a way that everyone despises, making them unable to hold their heads up for the rest of their lives, and also making them feel the frustration and resentment of being schemed against.]
[But this self-destructive behavior is still a bit too tragic. I always feel that this revenge is not very satisfying.]
【I didn't hurt myself. 】
[Hmm? What's the twist?!]
The melon-eating bastards held their breath again. Eating a melon is more exciting than watching a suspense movie. Don’t stop!
Huo Yan loosened his tie for the third time, and it was never so exciting at the negotiation table!
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