"It really is you, Lin Feng!" After the initial shock, Cao Quan's face quickly contorted with exaggerated contempt and a sense of superiority.
"I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me! Weren't you in a car accident three years ago, lying in a hospital bed waiting to die? What, the King of Hell wouldn't take a penniless loser like you?"
The woman beside him, Liu Xinhuan, chimed in with a coy giggle, "Quan, is this that pathetic classmate you always talk about?"
"Dressed like that, and you dare to come to Qiao Family Manor? Do you even know what kind of place this is? The floor tiles here are worth more than everything you own put together."
Lin Feng's gaze remained indifferent; he ignored their jeering.
Yet the moment Cao Quan appeared, deep within the fragments of the original owner's memories, a sealed-off scene was suddenly triggered, becoming crystal clear!
Three years ago, on that rainy night, he was walking on the pedestrian crossing when a runaway truck had barreled toward him, its blinding headlights making it impossible to keep his eyes open.
And just as he instinctively tried to dodge, a hand from behind him had given him a heavy push!
He never saw the face of the person attached to that hand, but the cheap wristband worn on it, engraved with the character "Quan", had flashed by in the glare of the headlights!
It was Cao Quan! A flash of icy murderous intent crossed Lin Feng's eyes. So that car accident hadn't been an accident at all.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Did I hit a nerve? Feeling inferior?" Seeing Lin Feng stay silent, Cao Quan assumed his own imposing aura had cowed him, making him even more smug.
"Well, it's true. Someone like you could never get into a place like this in a lifetime. Getting to stand at the entrance today just to catch a whiff of it is like smoke rising from your ancestors' graves. Now get lost, don't be an eyesore here and offend everyone else's eyes."
He draped an arm around Liu Xinhuan's waist like he was showing off a trophy, turning to head inside, when he heard a cool voice from behind.
"Jealous?"
Cao Quan paused in his tracks, turning back to look at Lin Feng in puzzlement. "What did you say?"
"I asked, are you very jealous?" The corners of Lin Feng's mouth curled into an ambiguous smirk as his gaze swept over Cao Quan and Liu Xinhuan.
"For four years in college, you were inferior to me in every way. Now, by clinging to a woman, you've managed to scrape together an invitation card. Do you finally feel like you can hold your head high and salvage a shred of pathetic self-esteem in front of me?"
Cao Quan's expression changed instantly, as if someone had stripped away his fig leaf in public. He roared with rage, "What the hell are you babbling about?!"
"I am a project manager at Huanyu Group now! Xinhuan's family is none other than the renowned Liu Family of Haicheng! What the hell are you, that you dare point fingers at me?"
Lin Feng's words not only stung Cao Quan, they made Liu Xinhuan's face darken as well.
"Quan, why waste your breath on him!" Liu Xinhuan pushed Cao Quan aside, stepping forward with her chin held high.
Like an arrogant princess, she ordered Lin Feng around imperiously, "I'll give you three seconds to kneel right now and apologize to my boyfriend! Otherwise, just one word from me, Liu Xinhuan, and you'll completely vanish from Haicheng!"
Though the Liu Family might not rank among the absolute top tier in Haicheng, they wielded considerable clout among the second-tier families. Crushing a powerless, penniless nobody would be easier than squashing an ant.
She figured pulling out her family background would be enough to scare this ignorant and arrogant man out of his wits.
Other guests who had not yet entered noticed the commotion and cast amused glances, preparing to watch a good show.
Yet far from showing any fear, the mockery on Lin Feng's face only grew more pronounced.
"Oh? The Liu Family?" He dug into his ear as if he had heard something terribly amusing.
Then he turned his gaze back to Cao Quan, his tone dripping with pity. "Did you hear that? She's telling you to kneel and apologize to her boyfriend. You sure make a mighty fine 'boyfriend'."
"You!" Cao Quan was so angry his face turned green.
Ignoring him, Lin Feng continued to address Liu Xinhuan. "Miss Liu, your taste leaves a lot to be desired! You picked a kept man with quite a temper. Are you really certain you want me to kneel for a piece of trash like this?"
The words "kept man" hit Cao Quan and Liu Xinhuan like three resounding slaps across the face!
Cao Quan's greatest taboo was being told he climbed up by relying on women, while Liu Xinhuan felt her dignity had been ruthlessly trampled into the dirt by Lin Feng!
"You're asking for death!"
Driven to absolute fury, Liu Xinhuan shrieked at the security guards at the entrance, "Are you all dead men?! Why haven't you broken this trash's legs and thrown him out yet?"
The guards exchanged glances, looking troubled. Their only job was checking invitation cards; they had no authority to beat people at will.
"I'd like to see who dares lay a hand on him!" Just then, a cool and commanding female voice rang out from within the manor.
At the sound, everyone looked over to see an exquisitely beautiful woman approaching gracefully, dressed in a moon-white haute couture evening gown, her figure lithe and her bearing noble.
Her appearance seemed to dim the brilliance of the surrounding lights—it was Qin Ruyan!
"Qin... Miss Qin?" The arrogance on Liu Xinhuan's face instantly froze, replaced by a trace of apprehension and wariness.
Qin Ruyan's reputation in Haicheng's upper circles far outshined her own! Both her family background and her looks were enough to utterly crush her.
The moment Cao Quan caught sight of Qin Ruyan, his breath caught, his eyes flashing with awe and greed.
Wasn't she the campus belle and goddess of Jiangcheng University back in the day, a woman he wouldn't even dare to look up to? Why was she coming out here?
Amidst the stunned gazes of everyone present, Qin Ruyan walked straight up to Lin Feng and did something that made the jaws of everyone in the audience drop to the floor.
With complete naturalness, she extended her fair arm, looped it intimately around Lin Feng's, pressed her soft body against his, and only then cast an icy glare toward Liu Xinhuan, her red lips parting slightly: "Miss Liu, whose legs did you just say you were going to break?"
This intimate posture, this utterly possessive gesture, silently declared their relationship!
Completely bewildered, Liu Xinhuan pointed at Lin Feng, then at Qin Ruyan, and stammered, "Miss Qin, you... you two?"
"I forgot to introduce you."
The corners of Qin Ruyan's mouth curved into a cold, proud arc, her chin lifting slightly like a queen asserting her sovereignty: "This is my husband, Lin Feng."
Husband?! The two words struck Cao Quan and Liu Xinhuan's minds like a thunderclap! The onlookers watching the spectacle were completely dumbfounded!
Haicheng's number one iceberg beauty, Qin Ruyan—the Qin Family eldest daughter who had remained chaste for three years for her comatose boyfriend—was actually married?!
And her husband was none other than Lin Feng, the broke nobody in street-market clothes who had just woken up from a vegetative state! This was easily the most explosive piece of gossip of the year!