CH 3

Even with around 30 people in the room, it did not feel crowded. But it was quite noisy and smelled strongly of wine and perfume.

Shen Ming probably didn’t seem to like this scene very much. He put his pair of long legs on the table and half lied down on the sofa while smoking. He doesn’t come here as much as Qin Lei, but he should be used to this kind of scene. He didn’t show any discomfort. People only occasionally came over to say hello and toast him respectfully. He arrogantly nodded, while the other party drank the wine. He didn’t even touch the cup. No one actually felt that there was anything wrong with it.

Jiang Nian was sitting next to him. When she felt tired, she habitually leaned  down on his shoulder. Because of this action, she seemed to hear a lot of loud gasps from people around them. Especially Yang Huiling, she still continued to talk and laugh but it could clearly be seen that her eyes were not as calm as before.

Yang Huiling was really unhappy. Shen Ming has always been  proud and self-sufficient. When did he ever let a woman lean on him? This woman does not know her place yet, and she is bold enough to treat Shen Ming just like any ordinary man!

What’s more, Jiang Nian is too ordinary, except for her beautiful face, there is no other special feature, (T/N: tsk tsk, it all comes down to the female aura. Sorry!) and the family is is so poor. How could she ever be worthy of Shen Ming? How can Shen Ming even look at Jiang Nian, who is nothing in comparison to him?!

Furthermore, he actually refused to marry her, the young miss of Yang Jia for that woman!

Is she not as good as Jiang Nian? of course not.

Although Yang Huiling was not happy with Jiang Nian, she did not really put Jiang Nian in her eyes. Jiang Nian could never enter the Shen family.

Jiang Nian was also having fun, brushing enough hatred and jealousy around Shen Ming. She acted if it was nothing special to play with his hands. Shen Ming’s hands are particularly good-looking, the bones are well-proportioned, the fingers are slender, and the fingernails are also clean. She took his hands and kept turning them over and over playfully. Then he impatiently held her smaller hands and said, “Don’t make trouble.”  

Jiang Nian leaned on his shoulder, especially obediently: “Okay.”

Yang Huiling comforted herself on the inside, Jiang Nian was just a jumping clown. She wouldn’t win at the end. She couldn’t help but secretly grit her teeth. She took a sip from the glass of wine and listened to her friends whisper. Not only could she win over the flower of Gaoling, but she could still be so brave! Acting just like an ordinary little couple, it seems that Shen Ming is not anything special for Jiang Nian. They even heard that he almost fought with his father for her.

Yang Huiling  coughed to get their attention. She said coldly: “Shen Ming’s things are something you can casually talk about?”

Their family is not as good as Shen Ming’s or Yang Huiling’s, naturally they have no right to speak about Shen Ming’s matters.

They exchanged a few glances. One of them was Qin Lei’s latest girlfriend who said “Huiling sister, you should look at how Jiang Nian has Shen Ming under her spell! Just like a fox!”

“Yes, where is she worthy of Shen Ming?”

Someone suggested “Would you like to call Jiang Nian to play with us…?”

This “play” definitely had some other meaning. Yang Huiling took a sip from glass of wine silently. Not saying anything was the same as saying yes.

She is not willing to act against her or take her seriously, but that does not mean that she will stop others from dealing with her.

Jiang Nian overheard their conversation and could basically feel their jealousy stabbing into her back. She got excited imagining  the dramatic scene  that could go down.  

Perhaps she got too excited so Shen Ming noticed. He looked down at her: “What is making you so happy, I wonder?”

Jiang Nian replied: “I am just very happy to be with you.”

Shen Ming raised his eyebrows and smiled. His palms covered her soft back and gently rubbed it. He said, “I will take you back to the dormitory before ten o’clock.”

Jiang Nian: “…so early?”

Shen Ming chuckled lowly, and looked at her meaningfully: “You don’t want to go back?”

“…I do.”

“Yeah.”

Jiang Nian then thought that if she stays with Shen Ming all the time then when will the others get the opportunity to make a scene?!

She quickly found an opportunity to go to the bathroom, but also deliberately loitered for some time, hoping at least Yang Huiling and Shen Ming would be alone for a while, or someone would come over to her to start a fight.  

Sure enough, as soon as she got out, she saw few beautiful women who came over and smiled at her. “Hello, we hear about you all the time. I didn’t expect to meet you today, you really are as beautiful as the rumours say!”

“Yeah, I can see that your and Shen Ming’s relationship is really good. How did the two of you meet?”

Several women surrounded her. Everybody acted very familiar with her and also started making plans to go malls and beauty parlours. Jiang Nian smiled ignorantly but saw a woman deliberately stretch out her feet to make her stumble. Jiang Nian was immediately on fire- she wanted to make her fall on the dirty toiler floor?!

How can these women be so cruel?!

Of course, as the female lead, how could she ever fall in the toilet? The toilet is smelly and dirty. It would be a shame to her identity as the female lead!

So after taking two steps forward, she acted as if she could not control her legs and stepped on that woman’s foot. The other party suddenly screamed and almost fell herself. Her friends were surprised and shouted: “What’s wrong, Meimei? Are you okay?”

Meimei’s eyes were red and she turned to look at the innocent looking Jiang Nian. She could only shake her head and say, “Nothing…”

This person is not as simple as she looks.

After that, they still had to walk quite a bit. Jiang Nian was looking forward to another foot. She was a little annoyed. Is it because she stepped so hard that it scared people away? Sure enough, the female lead should be weak and bullied by others. Her pride as a clean and beautiful female lead is not important at all!

Jiang Nian profoundly reflected on herself the rest of the time, and when she had returned to the private room, she saw Yang Huiling sitting next to Shen Ming. She seemed to be talking about something. The room was too noisy so she couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Yang Huiling was smiling softly.

From afar, it really looked like a boy and a girl in love.

Jiang Nian walked quickly. Shen Ming saw her coming, his gaze was so strong in the dimly lit atmosphere that people could not ignore it. His sense of existence was too strong. She doesn’t know if it was just retribution for stepping on someone’s foot so hard, it is obvious that no one was trying to make her trip when her leg suddenly got a cramp. When she was about to fall, Shen Ming suddenly came over and so, she fell into his arms.

The world seemed to have stopped.  

Jiang Nian could smell the faint smell of mint and cigar in his arms. She was complaining in her heart. Why isn’t anything going according to her script ? ? ?

She was so annoyed that she didn’t even speak. Shen Ming hugged her and took her to the sofa to sit down: “What happened to your foot? Twisted?”

Qin Lei also came over to join in on the fun: “Did any of the girls bully you?”

Yang Huiling clenched her fists and lowered her eyes to cover the hatred in them. She clearly remembered that when Jiang Nian fell, Shen Ming’s face was nervous for a moment.

Jiang Nian felt very dejected: “… cramps.”

Shen Ming chuckled, and patted her head: “Stupid, sit down and don’t move.”

She can’t even move anymore…  TT_TT

Of course, Jiang Nian’s worries did not last long, because when they were about to leave, Yang Huiling finally couldn’t help herself, saying that she needed to talk to Shen Ming alone. Jiang Nian said that he can go if he needs to, she could just wait for him here. But when then left, she ended up secretly following them.

Yang Huiling was indeed somewhat unsettled. She likes Shen Ming and also understands Shen Ming. She thought that Jiang Nian was just an entertainment outside of marriage for him. Now he is treating Jiang Nian like this, how can she be willing to overlook this?

The two went to the balcony at the end of the corridor. The cool night wind blew, Shen Ming started first: “Miss Yang, I have said before that the meaning of the elders at home is not what I meant. I hope you won’t misunderstand anything.”

Yang Huiling was quiet for a while, and said with a smile: “I understand that. I have already seen it today, but you have to understand that you and her are impossible.”

Shen Ming frowned: “Yang Miss, this is my personal matter, it has nothing to do with you, please have some self-respect.”

Yang Huiling’s heart was slightly painful.

Shen Ming: “Since the words have already been said, then I will go first. Please, do not come to me regarding these matters in the future.”

He walked a few steps. Yang Huiling felt more and more heartache, and even more reluctant to lose to a woman who would never be as good as her. She finally couldn’t hold back. When Shen Ming was going to leave, she ran up from behind to hug him.

“Shen Ming, I am sincere to you.”

“Really!”

She emphasized her sincerity loudly.

Shen Ming looked at her coldly. He pulled Yang Huiling’s tight arms from around his waist. When he looked up again, he suddenly saw Jiang Nian standing in front of him.

She looked like she didn’t know what was happening.

“What are you doing?!”