Before attending Anya's birthday banquet, Xun Xinyi couldn't keep still.
"Anya, help me book a high-end gown that will shine in the crowd."
Anya's voice on the phone was full of confusion, "A gown? What's up? Are you going to some event recently? Why haven't I heard about it?"
"No," Xun Xinyi's voice was filled with hidden joy and laughter, "Yiyang said he's taking me to a banquet the day after tomorrow. I want to dress up nicely, and not embarrass him."
Anya asked in surprise, "A banquet? Yiyang is taking you? Didn't you two announce your engagement yet?"
"It's the birthday banquet of a friend of the Yi family, and the guests are all well-connected industry people, no outsiders."
Anya was silent for a moment, her tone full of disbelief, "I say, Miss Xun, do you have some deep-rooted grudge with the birthday girl? You want to outshine her at her own birthday?"
"How can you say it's outshining? This isn't the first time I've attended an event with Yi Yang. I have to dress up nicely, and not embarrass him."
"Well... Are you serious?" Anya suddenly couldn't gauge Xun Xinyi's intention, "You're showing off at a girl's birthday party?"
"So what?" Xun Xinyi retorted.
"Xun Xinyi, if you're not doing this on purpose, I really doubt your emotional intelligence, but you're not like this usually, are you?" Anya sighed, "Could it be true that love makes people stupid? Oh no, with you as an example, I don't think I'll ever get married in my life."
"Don't worry about me, just tell me, can you make this happen?"
"Yes! Of course! Work on it, I'll make the gown arrangements, and have it sent over to you the day after tomorrow."
"Go, as soon as it's ready, bring it to me!" Hanging up the phone, Xue Xinyi let the beautician in to continue her beauty maintenance for her.
"Miss Xue, your skin condition is really good, just like an 18-year-old girl's." Fair and flawless, without any blemishes, smooth cheeks with even tiny hairs visible, the moist eyes shining brightly, even more lively than an 18-year-old girl.
This is exactly the effect Xue Xinyi wanted.
Qin Yan likes Yi Yang, it's fine, she doesn't mind, and even wants to match them up. But, from head to toe, not a single hair out of place, she cannot lose to Qin Yan!
Moreover, being the center of attention at the banquet, even An Ya could see it was inappropriate. Don't tell her that others can't see it?
Qin Yan's little white lotus would certainly be generous and say it's okay. In comparison, the degree of affection for her from that dog Yi Yang would definitely be shooting straight up.
Following this, their feelings grew stronger, and when their love intensified, for the sake of love, they were unfaithful, vowing to be together forever and form a lifelong union!
And she, hurt by love, no longer believed in love, heartless, only talking about money not love, having a huge fortune, living in the world of games, living a plain life for the rest of her life.
Great.
An Ya is reliable and knows her preferences well. In the end, what was delivered to Xue Xinyi was a Prada deep V-necked blue sequined haute couture dress.
Standing in front of the full-length mirror, looking at the beautiful woman in the mirror, the graceful curve under the long neck is perfectly in place, the waist under the dress seems as if it is within a grasp, the blue dress highlights her fair and translucent skin. When silent, it exudes a noble and glamorous aura, and with a faint smile, it becomes charming and diverse. With a slight blush on the corners of her eyes and eyebrows, a gentle blink, the long and dense eyelashes seem to be enticing, the more you look, the more stunning.
"Is it okay now? It's time, we should go." Yi Yang was impatiently waiting downstairs and urged her when he entered the room. Pushing open the door, Xue Xinyi was standing in front of him, holding the hem of her gown.
The sunlight outside the window was good, and golden particles floated in the air, shining brightly in the sunlight.
Yi Yang's feet paused, and he looked at her from top to bottom, a rich color filling his eyes, and a look of amazement flashed in his eyes.
After looking for a while, Xue Xinyi walked up to him, holding the hem of her gown.
"Yi Yang, am I beautiful?"
"If this bastard dares to say I'm not beautiful, I will smash his head in with a hammer right here!"
"...not bad."
She wanted to smash Yi Yang's dog head, but she saw that this dog man's eyes were seemingly on her the entire time, as if even he had not noticed himself.
"A man who says one thing and means another."
Yi Yang averted his gaze.
Xue Xinyi was satisfied and approached, holding Yi Yang's arm, with a smile in her eyes and on her lips, "Let's go."
As the only daughter of the Qin family, Qin Yan's birthday party was held at a mountain-hugging lakeside resort hotel, with beautiful scenery, far from the urban area, and also in order to ensure the success of the birthday party, the Qin family booked the venue.
When Yi Yang and Xue Xinyi's car stopped at the hotel entrance, Qin Yan greeted them with a smile.
It was her birthday today, and she had dressed up carefully, wearing a white long dress and bright high heels. With a pure appearance, a gentle personality, and graceful demeanor, even without makeup, she was still delightful to look at.
Qin Yan almost grew up together with Yi Yang, so she knew what kind of woman Yi Yang liked.
But when she saw Xue Xinyi, dressed extravagantly, her smile froze on her face.
The initial expectation plummeted to zero.
For this big birthday party, she had specifically sent an invitation to the Yi family. Mr. Yi was in poor health and wouldn't specially push himself to attend a junior's party, and Mrs. Yi wouldn't come to take care of Mr. Yi either. The only possible person to come was Yi Yang.
Over the years, she had not heard of Yi Yang bringing Xue Xinyi to any party, and their relationship as a couple had always been bad. Therefore, Yi Yang coming to her birthday party would definitely come alone, not with Xue Xinyi.
But unexpectedly, Yi Yang actually brought her along.
"Yi Yang, Xinyi, you're here?"
"Happy birthday." Xue Xinyi presented the gift, intimately linking arms with Yi Yang and almost sticking to him. "This gift was carefully selected by me for you. You'll definitely like it."
As a woman, Qin Yan knew that this was Xue Xinyi provoking her.
She looked at Yi Yang, her face showing no trace of disturbance, and accepted the gift. "Thank you. You guys go in first, I'll be there later."
"Then we'll go in first." After speaking, Xue Xinyi linked arms with Yi Yang and walked inside.
Those who could attend Qin Yan's birthday party were all people in their circle, knowing each other inside out, and were aware of each other's true nature. Therefore, since they were young, this group of childhood friends had firmly believed that Qin Yan would marry Yi Yang in the future.
After all, growing up together as childhood friends, it was known to everyone that Qin Yan liked Yi Yang. Unexpectedly, with a marriage contract, Xue Xinyi became Yi Yang's wife.
Xue Xinyi also grew up in their circle, but her parents died early, and the Xue family, relying solely on Mr. Xue, fell on hard times, and they could no longer fit into this circle.
At the table, four or five young people dressed brightly looked their way, chatted briefly, and then walked over to them.
"Wow, the show is about to start."
Yi Yang looked at Xue Xinyi and saw her smiling at a group of long-unseen friends walking towards them.
"People are birds of a feather, and Yi Yang's friends probably aren't that great either. I heard they grew up together with Qin Yan, and seeing me, they must be feeling sorry for her, right?"
"They're probably thinking, the childhood friends who grew up together were supposed to get together, but were taken by this woman who knows where she came from, or in their eyes, I'm still the third party in Qin Yan and Yi Yang's relationship."
"Sure feels like a man saying one thing and meaning another."
Yi Yang shifted his gaze.
Xue Xinyi approached happily and held Yi Yang's arm, her eyes and lips full of smiles. "Let's go."
-"Later on, these people will definitely put on an act and deliberately provoke, they'll have to tell me all those childhood things to my face, pretending to ask me, 'Hey, we're talking about these childhood things, you won't mind, will you?'"
-"If I say I mind, they'll say I'm narrow-minded, and if I say I don't mind, these people will definitely intensify and then definitely find a way to pull me aside alone, insulting and warning me in various languages. My hot temper definitely won't be able to take it, and then there will be a dispute. White lotus flower friends will also be white lotus flowers, and then they'll turn the tables and blame me, saying I'm an uncultured bad woman, with everyone blaming me. That dog of a man, Yiyang, probably will just stand by and watch coldly."
-"Sigh, in this materialistic society, people nowadays are so scheming, can't they be a little more innocent and kind like her?"
-In this bustling hall, Yiyang heard every word of Xinyi's words loud and clear.
-Yiyang sneered in his heart. Xinyi's thick-skinnedness was truly extraordinary. She had never interacted with anyone, let alone understood anything, and yet she maliciously speculated about others in her heart. And she called that innocent and kind?
-His friends had grown up together from childhood, although they had lost touch after college, their personalities had already been determined, no matter how they changed, they wouldn't be as scheming as Xinyi said.
-"Yiyang, you finally came." Four people came walking towards Yiyang, holding glasses and talking to Yiyang. Two clean and elegant girls, each with a tall and handsome male companion, completely ignoring Xinyi, "Don't you know today is Qin Yan's 25th birthday? It's getting dark and you only just arrived."
-"Ms. Xun also came?" It seemed that they just noticed Xinyi there and said with a smile, "Yiyang, it's been several years since we last met, you're getting more handsome now, but I still remember, when we were kids, we used to play together, and you said something then..."
-"I know, when we were kids Yiyang said that if Qin Yan didn't get married by the age of 25, he would marry her," Xinyi interjected, "But alas, Yiyang got lucky and met me, and Qin Yan's luck isn't that good, she's still single."
-The group fell silent for a moment.
-"Ms. Xun also knows about this?" Xinyi seemed genuinely unconcerned, "Of course I know, but as for me, I'm not someone who nitpicks about the past. How can I hold grudges over things said in childhood? Hey, do you all have any interesting childhood stories to tell me?"
-The two girls looked at each other.
-"Oh, I bet you all played games like this in childhood, marriage games, bridal chamber games, where Yiyang was the groom and Qin Yan was the bride, right?"
-The two girls hesitated.
-"So everyone played these games in childhood? I thought I was the only one who played like that."
-Throughout, Yiyang remained silent.
-He suddenly felt that Xinyi was right, he would definitely remain indifferent because he was completely unnecessary.
-The two girls were at a loss for words due to Xinyi, but their men by their side chuckled, "Let's not mention childhood matters, Yiyang, let's go over there and talk."
-The two girls smiled faintly, "Ms. Xun, the men have their own topics, we women won't find them interesting, since it's Yan Yan's birthday this time, I'll introduce a few sisters to you to get to know."
-Their eyes lingered on Xinyi's dress, and a hidden undercurrent surged.
-"Ms. Xun, would you like something to drink?"
-"Here it is, here it is, I knew this trick would definitely come up, this scene, it's classic and never gets old!"
-"Eyes staring at my dress, seeing me dressed so beautifully and looking so pretty, they definitely want to accidentally spill red wine on me, making me embarrassed at the banquet, and then hypocritically saying 'I'm sorry, it's not intentional.' If I get angry, then they'll say I'm petty, it's just a piece of clothing after all. If I don't get angry, then I have to swallow my anger and humiliation on my own."
-"All foxes of a thousand years, what are they playing at?"
"Yiyang, come on."
-Yiyang tugged at his tie and stood still.
"Red wine, thank you."
-As the waiter shuffled through the crowd delivering a glass of red wine, as he passed by the two girls, he stumbled, and the three glasses of red wine in his hand were about to spill onto Xinyi's body.
-Seizing the opportunity, Xinyi, holding Yiyang's arm, suddenly exerted force, and as Yiyang's eyes were looking at the waiter, she took advantage of his distraction and pulled him in front of her.
-Bang!
-All three glasses of red wine were poured directly onto Yiyang's suit, not a drop spilled on Xinyi.
-"A dog of a man is just for taking the blow!"
-"..." Yiyang looked at the mess in front of him, cursed a filthy word in his heart, a really filthy word.