Chapter 196 - 195: Play The Cards Right

"It was a smooth ride, right Li Lei?" Xiao Yun faced up and fondly smiled. 

"Yes." A crease formed on the corner of Wang Li Lei's eyes as he pulled a gentle smile. Lin Chang Lu stayed rooted at the spot. Her eyes fixed at the smile loosely painting Wang Li Lei's smile. 

'No way! Li Lei is smiling? There's no way... He never smiled before!'' Her eyes widened in disbelief. She had stayed by Wang Li Lei's side for more than nineteen years and there was never one moment where he saw him smiling gently like now. She turned her eyes staring at Xiao Yun with annoyance. 'Is it because of the girl? He could smile that way because of the girl?' Her hand balled into a clenched fist and regain back her composure. "Everyone has been waiting on the other side, let's go." 

Xiao Yun walked to follow Lin Chang Lu's kind escort and had her eyes traveling a little to the places they passed and when they stopped at the hall with many people inside it, Lin Chang Lu greeted her friends with a wave from her hand. 

"Lu- Lu!" Her friends called up but their faces stopped its movement as Wang Li Lei walked in with a young girl beside him while holding their hands lovingly.

The fact that Wang Li Lei attend the party was a shock itself but for him to bring a girl, they could feel the world shook from what they saw. 

"Mr. Wang." They all stood and greeted formally. The day that was supposed to be a merry one now felt tense.

"Now, now, don't wear that expression, Li Lei is here to enjoy the party." Lin Chang Lu brightened the mood. The people inside the room could only breathe out in relief that they have Lin Chang Lu beside them as there is no one in the room who could have eye contact with him. 

"I'm sorry, but the lady here is...?" A voice asked from behind, not to Wang Li Lei but to Lin Chang Lu. 

"She is Yu Xiao Yun, Li Lei's fiancée. Please take care of her today." Lin Chang Lu introduced and felt the residue of bitter aftertaste in her lips after introducing her own rival who took her precious place beside Wang Li Lei. 

Eyes moved from Lin Chang Lu to scan the little girl who looked akin to a small little hamster, a fragile and delicate one. The whisper traveled around like rapid fire. From one girl to another. 

"I thought Mr. Wang's fiancée had been already decided to be Lin Chang Lu?" She gave a disappointed face. To many young girls in the socialite's community, Lin Chang Lu was everyone's role model to have an unknown girl robbing her place, they showed their dislike plainly.

"Me too, who's that I never heard her before. Chang Lu is more suitable than that girl, right Xe Ru?" She frowned to the other girl who had the same upset expression.

"Of course! What made her so different? Just by the look, Chang Lu Jie-jive won!" Xe Ru hoarsely subjected. "Let's show that girl her place!" the other girls snickered at each other. Being the daughters of renowned cooperation, they believe Wang Li Lei would hold himself for the sake of his reputation. 

Lin Chang Lu clapped her hand to gather all eyes on her and suggested, "To lighten the mood, let's go to the garden and have some games there. What do you all say?"

Inside a room with Wang Li Lei they could hardly catch their breath and immediately agreed to Lin Chang Lu's suggestion. "Yes!" 

Lin Chang Lu feigned her soft smile and smirked at Xiao Yun as they all went out of the room. When everyone exited the place, Lin Chang Lu tugged her finger to call her maid and ordered in a whisper. "Bring everyone to the archery room and prepare all the equipment there." 

"Yes, milady." The maid received her order and went off quickly to usher the group of rich children to the archery room. 

"Chang Lu Jie- Jie." Xie Ru who left to wait for her called her name, her face stated her concern about the new moth that stayed on Wang Li Lei's side. 

Lin Chang Lu wiped off the evil smirk on her face and looked at Xie Ru with a troubled and sorrowful expression. "Xie Ru." 

Xie Ru's eyes pointed to Xiao Yun and whispered. "Jie- Jie, are you worried about your relationship because of her? I definitely thought Mr. Wang was single for a long time to wait for you until you came back from England. I will definitely not accept this!" 

Lin Chang Lu also thought the same thing at first. She one-sidedly concluded that Wang Li Lei had a feeling for her and has been waiting for her to come back from England and propose her when she came back. Instead, he brought a naive girl as his fiancee, she can't also accept it. 

Last time she admitted that she had underestimated Xiao Yun but today she will make sure not to let Xiao Yun exit this house without embarrassing herself. 

She has to play her card right, the girl in front of her Xie Ru is one of her fans and using her would be good to show Xiao Yun how unfitting she is to become Wang Li Lei's fiancee. She glanced up at Xie Ru with a slop-sided smile and gloom eyes. "I thought that too, I didn't know that I'm charmless against that girl. She's young and beautiful, I can understand why Wang Li Lei choose her."

Xie Ru felt her heart pained from the expression that she had never seen from Lin Chang Lu. Since the first time she met Lin Chang Lu, like everybody who met her for the first time, she had seen her as a role model. A tough woman who is both intelligent and beautiful with a soon-to-be fiancee who is very suitable for each other. 

In that fitting picture, there is only one person who stayed like a drop of stain, the young girl Yu Xiao Yun. 

"Don't be too down Jie- Jie, I'm sure it was that fox who bewitched Mr. Wang. I will make sure to show her place." 

Lin Chang Lu shook her head. "Don't, if you do this t would only ruin your reputation." her voice trembled pitifully. 

"No! Jie- Jie, for someone who steals your boyfriend, you shouldn't hold back and slap that woman upright! It's fine me and the others would be on it." Xie Ru convinced her and quick-stepped toward her friends, leaving Lin Chang Lu who pulled a spiteful smirk. 

The maid that was told by Lin Chang Lu to lead the group open a place with wooden flooring and an open wall on the right side from the door they came from. A few meters from the wall, three archery target was placed. Xiao Yun narrowed her eyes and heard the other girls speaking in a loud chatter. 

"Archery!" 

"It's been a long time since we played archery here but the beautiful place never change!" Xie Ru spoke to Lin Chang Lu. 

Lin  Chang Lu laughed softly and saw Xiao Yun beside Wang Li Lei to ask. "Do you know where we are, Xiao Yun?" 

Xiao Yun gave a long hum, turning her head she shrugged her shoulder. "I don't really know... perhaps this is a room to practice archery?"

Lin Chang Lu nodded, her tone was like a gentle older sister to everyone's ears except to Xiao Yun and Wang Li Lei she sounded noisy. "That's right, have you ever played one?" 

"There's no way she could play one, could she? It's a game that's not only hard but also rare to be practice for normal people." A woman beside Xie Ru chided. 

"Don't be embarrassed, we have another game for you if you couldn't play Ms. Fish?" Xie Ru mocked. 

"Thank you for your concern." Xiao Yun replied naively. "I do play but only for once. I know only the basic." 

"Is that so?" Xie Ru had a slightly startled expression but calmed down when she heard she only knew the basics and took a bow and archer from the person beside her and passed another set to Xiao Yun. "Should we play together? I'm also only a beginner at this. You can follow my lead."

The girls who heard Xie Ru's words laughed at each other. Xie Ru wasn't a normal person who studied archery nor was she a beginner at archery. She passed the preliminaries when she was eighteen and have been said to be one of the best people who could play archery in the socialite's community. But this fact other than the people who love archery and her friends no one knew. 

Xie Ru glued her eyes at Xiao Yun waiting for her comeback. 

Xiao Yun faced up at Wang Li Lei. "Can I play once?" she asked her permission with sparkling eyes excited for a game. 

Seeing those eyes, he could never reject her. Patting her head, he agreed with a warning. "Don't be reckless, remember." 

Xie Ru and the other girls looked at each other, questioning what Wang Li Lei meant. On the other hand, envy turned Lin Chang Lu's delicate face to an ugly expression from their PDA.