"Shut your mouth! A marriage arranged by parents and matchmakers—is that something you can just call off as you please?" Jiang Zhenguo said angrily.
Li Xiumei, Jiang Yurou's biological mother, was equally baffled as to why they had to go through with this marriage alliance, and why she was supposed to let her daughter marry such a plain-looking little beggar who didn't even have half a cent to his name!
Chen Nuo chimed in to persuade them, "Uncle, maybe we should hold off for a bit? This is all happening way too fast, I literally just came down the mountain..."
Jiang Zhenguo brushed it off entirely. "It was already discussed and agreed upon four years ago. It's plenty slow as it is."
Jiang Yurou looked at Chen Nuo with a cold expression. "I never would've guessed! Not only did you manage to talk my sister into this, but you actually got my father on your side too!"
The two of them were simply not people from the same world. Even if they became husband and wife, what of it? The massive gulf between their worlds had already cast them into two entirely different social strata.
So what if he managed to latch onto the Jiang Family by sheer dumb luck? In the end, wouldn't he still find himself utterly humiliated and out of his depth?
Li Xiumei pointed right at Chen Nuo. "Zhenguo, you're marrying your own daughter off to a penniless, powerless little beggar! Do you have any idea what people will say behind your back once word gets out?"
"And look at him! Is this how he treats you on his very first time visiting? A bottle of seventy-year-old special-supply liquor—it's older than you are!"
"If you ask me, we should just hand him a wad of cash and tell him to get lost as far as he can!"
Jiang Zhenguo finally reached his breaking point. "Enough! That settles it once and for all. Nobody says another word about this!"
Throughout the entire meal, Chen Nuo remained completely at ease and natural, but Jiang Yurou's face never cracked a single smile from start to finish.
After dinner, Jiang Zhenguo spoke up. "Yurou, in a moment you'll head home with Chen Nuo. That villa was bought specifically as a new home for the two of you; now that the man of the house is back, you might as well move right in."
"Got it."
Jiang Yurou turned and walked away. Chen Nuo followed her to the doorway.
In front of the SUV, Jiang Yurou turned around and spat, "Chen Nuo, you ought to know by now that we aren't from the same world. I am the CEO of the Jiang Group, worth hundreds of millions, while you are nothing more than some low-class bumpkin from the sticks."
"Don't go thinking that just because our marriage was forced upon us by others, I'm actually your wife. Let me make this clear to you: the chasm in our social status is something you will never, ever cross."
"Here is a million bucks. Take it and go wherever the hell you want. Once my father comes to his senses, I'll divorce you immediately. Until then, keep your filthy, depraved thoughts to yourself. If you have any... urges, take care of them on your own time."
Jiang Yurou hurled the bank card at him, turned, hopped into the SUV, and sped off into the distance, showing not an ounce of regard for her father's face.
Chen Nuo was left somewhat bewildered. Did this woman have a screw loose in her head? He hadn't even said a single word, yet she went off like a machine gun, rat-tat-tats firing a whole string of nonsense.
Was she genuinely mental? He hadn't uttered a peep, and she'd already gone ahead and judged him guilty?
Just because she was pretty, that meant his thoughts were filthy?
Chen Nuo casually tossed the bank card into a trash can, turned, and walked out of the residential complex. That so-called massive fortune meant no more to him than actual garbage.
A million? The assets he held overseas made more than a million every single second. A single fake flower inside Pluto Palace was worth tens of millions—who did she think she was trying to fool with a measly million?
Huo Xiaoyu happened to follow him out. Standing by the entrance, she sneered, "Chen Nuo, playing the role of the live-in son-in-law isn't as easy as you think. You should know that all across Qingcheng, Yurou is a goddess. You've got at least eight or ten thousand guys lined up trying to court her, and the gap between the two of you is already as vast as earth and heaven."
"Of course, if you've got any sense in that head of yours, you'd go cozy up to those wealthy young masters. Who knows, if they're in a good mood, they might toss you a few hundred thousand—more than enough for a bumpkin like you to live worry-free for the rest of your life."
"What the hell does that have to do with you?" Chen Nuo had zero fondness for this woman. If she weren't Jiang Yurou's best friend, he would have had Klein put her in the ground long ago.
Huo Xiaoyu's face instantly darkened. "I'm giving you some advice, so don't be ungrateful. It's bad enough that you don't even have a job, but you need to realize something: if all those guys in this city who are crazy about Yurou find out she married a bumpkin like you, do you have any clue what they'll do to you?"
She might not know what others would do, but that circle of rich young masters pursuing Jiang Yurou was completely unhinged, every single one of them. Back then, an ordinary upstart family's heir had tried to woo Jiang Yurou; once those young masters found out, they literally tortured that upstart until he lost his mind.
If an upstart could end up like that, what hope did a little beggar have of surviving?
Besides, Jiang Yurou still had a white-moonlight childhood sweetheart who had returned from studying abroad. Though the two of them always addressed each other like brother and sister, Huo Xiaoyu knew damn well that their relationship wasn't something a nobody like Chen Nuo could ever wedge himself into.
Seeing the look in Huo Xiaoyu's eyes, Chen Nuo was certain of one thing: there weren't many people in this neighborhood with functioning brains. This bunch always loved poking their noses into other people's business; if you didn't curse her out, she wouldn't even feel comfortable.
"Put away your bullshit theories. How I manage to survive in Qingcheng is none of your damn business—just worry about yourself."
"And don't start preaching to me about wealthy young heirs. In this entire Qingcheng, and even across the whole of Long Province, those rich young masters are nothing more than pathetic clowns in front of me."
With that, Chen Nuo turned and strode out of the villa district.
Left behind, Huo Xiaoyu's mouth twitched with fury. "Fine, Chen Nuo, you've got some nerve. Let's just see how long you manage to stay alive in Qingcheng, and don't come crawling back to me on your knees when you're begging for help."
Originally, she had been willing to spend some evening 'chatting' with him purely because he wasn't bad-looking, but she never expected this bumpkin to not only reject her goodwill, but actually turn around and lecture her.
"Whatever! Let's just watch you get played to death!"
Out on the main street, Chen Nuo was just about to flag down a taxi when a Rolls-Royce Phantom glided right to a halt in front of him.
"Lord Pluto, let me give you a ride," Klein said, rolling down the window with a delighted smile.
Noticing it was Klein, Chen Nuo climbed into the passenger seat. "You punk—I'll let it slide this time, but don't trail me next time. Your tailing skills are atrocious; I spotted you from two hundred meters away."
Klein looked somewhat embarrassed. His tracking skills were so advanced he'd once infiltrated the White House in the US without anyone noticing, yet right here in front of Lord Pluto, he was still utterly inept.
"Lord Pluto, where to?"
"Home. To sleep."
Klein rolled up the window, slammed hard on the accelerator, and the engine let out a roar as they shot forward.
Huo Xiaoyu, who had just driven out of the residential complex in her car, naturally caught sight of that Rolls-Royce Phantom.
She rubbed her eyes, wanting to verify whether the person getting into the car was actually Chen Nuo, but by the time she looked back, the vehicle had already vanished, leaving only the roar of the engine echoing across the entire villa district.
"Chen Nuo left in a Rolls-Royce Phantom?"
"No, impossible. How could some ordinary guy from the mountains ever afford to ride in a car like that, let alone have someone pick him up?"
"I must be seeing things. Chen Nuo could never afford a ride like that."
At that thought, Huo Xiaoyu let out a self-deprecating laugh. "A wild chicken might turn into a phoenix, but how could a mudfish ever transform into a Flood Dragon? I must be blind to have even entertained the thought that Chen Nuo would get into a car like that!"