Her voice was neither loud nor soft, yet the three members of the Jiang Family heard every word with crystal clarity. Enraged and gnashing his teeth, Jiang Qianfeng pointed straight at Jiang Lai. "How could our Jiang Family end up with someone as shameless as you?"
With every mention of "seduction" and "shamelessness" coming from their mouths, Jin Shengshi placed a hand on Jiang Lai's slender waist, his gaze clouded with deep gloom. As he turned his head to sweep a glance over the three of them, the warning and chill in his voice were unmistakable. "Jiang Lai is my wife."
"You would all do well to show her some respect when you see her."
To Jiang Yi, hearing these words was more terrifying than the sky collapsing. Her exquisitely made-up eyes filled with sheer disbelief.
"Shengshi, are you joking with me?"
The battlefield had now been handed over to Jin Shengshi. Jiang Lai leaned against his shoulder and peacefully closed her eyes. She was so tired; she would just sleep for a little while.
Catching the gaze of Jiang Yi's swollen, red eyes, Jin Shengshi glanced imperceptibly at her flat abdomen, his voice pleasing to the ear.
"If I were joking with you, how else would you plan to take your child and reunite with Lu Wenzhou?"
Catching these crucial words, Jiang Yi's face drained of color in an instant, turning ashen white. A heavy sense of foreboding washed over her. Stammering, she tried to play dumb, "Shengshi, what are you talking about? I don't understand at all. Is there some kind of misunderstanding here?"
Jin Shengshi had never liked talking to people who lacked intelligence—people who so presumptuously took everyone else for fools.
Just saying one more word to her made him feel sick to his stomach.
Throughout the entire exchange, the look in Jin Shengshi's eyes toward Jiang Yi was one of pure disgust, which left Jiang Qianfeng somewhat baffled.
He frowned, his expression solemn.
"Xiaoyi, what child? What Lu Wenzhou?"
Jiang Yi had kept this matter tightly under wraps, not even telling her own mother, Qi Yuzhen.
Yet faced with Jiang Qianfeng's interrogation, she still wore a blank expression and shook her head. "Dad, I don't know what Shengshi is talking about either. How could Wenzhou have anything to do with me?"
What an innocent tone.
Hearing this, Jiang Lai almost wanted to laugh.
The two of them had already gone so far as to make a child together, yet she still claimed nothing was going on. She truly lived up to the title of a textbook white lotus—pure on the surface, while playing dirty behind the scenes.
This sister of hers was truly, remarkably brazen.
The Jiang couple had always believed their daughters. Hearing Jiang Yi say this, the two of them began to ingratiatingly flatter Jin Shengshi with forced smiles, asking him if there had been some sort of misunderstanding.
Jin Shengshi remained indifferent, his emotions detached as words went in one ear and out the other.
He didn't say a single word in response.
It wasn't until Jian Yue appeared that the atmosphere in the lounge shifted. Upon seeing Jiang Lai's badly swollen face, Jian Yue's pupils dilated in shock and disbelief. "Sister-in-law, who on earth did this to you?"
The moment that "Sister-in-law" was uttered, the three members of the Jiang Family nearly collapsed to the floor.
What on earth was going on here?!
Jiang Yi forced herself to remain calm. "Assistant Jian, did you recognize the wrong person? The one who is supposed to marry Shengshi is clearly me."
If Jiang Yi hadn't jumped out, Jian Yue might have treated her like air. But now that she had recklessly thrust herself forward, all of his pent-up emotions erupted. He raised his eyes and delivered a sinister, chilling remark.
"Eldest Miss Jiang, you should know that my Brother Sheng despises infidelity more than anything else, and it is the one thing he cannot tolerate, right?"
Naturally, Jiang Yi knew about this.
In fact, the entire Jingbei City knew it inside and out.
Jin Shengshi's intense aversion and disgust stemmed from his childhood: when he was very young, his father took a mistress abroad and subsequently divorced his mother. Ever since, he had grown up in a single-parent household. Unable to accept the betrayal of a husband she had loved for many years, his mother suffered a severe mental breakdown following the divorce and had frequently needed to see a psychiatrist over the years.
This was Jin Shengshi's absolute taboo.
And now, Jiang Yi had violated it.
With Jian Yue pointing it out so bluntly, she knew that everything was now known to Jin Shengshi. In an instant, the composure she had forced herself to maintain completely crumbled.
Qi Yuzhen saw her sudden panic clearly. As she anxiously steadied her, she asked with a trace of trepidation, "Xiaoyi, what on earth is going on?"
Qi Yuzhen had always regarded her as her pride and joy. Admitting to infidelity right before her wedding was simply too difficult for Jiang Yi to utter.
She pressed her lips together and remained silent, but Jian Yue kindly stepped in to fill the gaps.
"It's very simple. Your daughter cheated on your stepdaughter's fiancé, and furthermore, she is currently pregnant with a child who is a month along."
Infidelity. Stepdaughter's fiancé. A child.
As these words hit Jiang Qianfeng and Qi Yuzhen's ears, both of them suffered a prolonged bout of ringing in their ears and panic in their hearts.
Impossible!
How could this be possible?!
Qi Yuzhen shook her head, her eyes red as she refused to believe it. "My daughter has been well-behaved, obedient, and self-respecting since she was a child. How could she possibly do such a scandalous thing? This must be a frame-up!"
"Assistant Jian, did you get it wrong? How could this possibly be? Xiaoyi is already in talks for marriage with Shengshi; she would never do anything so rebellious and disgraceful."
Jiang Qianfeng chimed in as well, "It couldn't be Xiaoyi!"
When it came to Jiang Lai refusing to marry, they didn't hesitate to slap her across the face. But when faced with Jiang Yi's infidelity, the two of them refused to believe it in every possible way and rushed to defend her.
What wonderful parents they truly were.
Jin Shengshi's hand rested casually on Jiang Lai's waist. He raised his eyes slightly, his gaze locking tightly onto the Jiang couple.
A coldness seeped through his refined face. "Impossible? Do you need me to throw out the evidence of them opening a hotel room, or the prenatal checkup reports?"
His words carried an inherent, unforced authority.
Jiang Yi was so frightened that her legs turned to jelly.
As she collapsed to the floor, her very first instinct was to instinctively shield her stomach.
Naturally, this subtle movement did not escape Qi Yuzhen's notice, and her heart instantly skipped a beat.
This time, she truly didn't dare to believe it anymore.
"Jiang Yi, is what Shengshi said... could it all be true?"
Jiang Yi slumped on the floor, not daring to speak. Her face was pale, and she bit down hard on her lower lip, fighting to control her terror.
At the same time, she knew Jin Shengshi's temperament well. Once he set out to investigate something, it meant he had figured out the entire sequence of events from beginning to end.
Therefore, even if she offered excuses now, there was nothing left to save.
So, abandoning all restraint and driven by sheer desperation, her eyes turned red as she glared at him with overflowing resentment. "Do you think I wanted it to be like this?"
"Jin Shengshi, we've been discussing this union for a whole year. I ask you, in this entire year, have you ever given me even an ounce of care?"
"Even when I made the first move toward you, you rejected me without a shred of mercy. Did you ever truly look at me like a woman? Could it be that marrying you meant nothing more than living as a widow while my husband is still alive?"
She was simply thrashing about blindly now.
Yet Jian Yue wasn't one to be pushed around either. "And whose fault is that?"
"Just because my brother has a low sex drive, does that mean you get to cheat on your own sister's fiancé? And then, while pregnant with another man's child, try to force my brother to swallow this bitter pill in silence? That's laughable. Do you really think you're the only woman in this world? Do you honestly believe my brother can't live without you? If word of what you've done gets out, let's see how your Jiang Family cleans up this mess!"
Jian Yue represented Jin Shengshi.
The moment he said this, Jiang Qianfeng panicked first. He stepped forward a couple of times, wearing a ingratiating smile. "Shengshi, it's true that Xiaoyi was in the wrong here, but your situation with Jiang Lai isn't all that glorious either. Look, let's just keep this from getting out. To the outside world, we'll just say the two families called off the engagement, alright?"
Hearing the word "unglorious," Jin Shengshi arched an eyebrow and chuckled. He narrowed his eyes to peer at Jiang Qianfeng, looking at him as if he were a pile of trash.
"Does an affair between me and my wife warrant your commentary?"
As soon as these words dropped, everyone was stunned.
And that, of course, included Jiang Lai.