Dressed in a pink spaghetti-strap bodycon dress, the gorgeous Xiang Yingxin said playfully:
"Young Master Su, we all know you've liked Lin Xi and pursued her for years. Can you really just sit back and let her marry a pig butcher?"
As soon as these words dropped, everyone present cast mocking looks at Su Lei. They were all hoping Su Lei would use Shen Huamei's birthday party to put the pig butcher in his place and spice up the celebration for Shen Huamei!
At the mention of the pig butcher, a twitch crossed the left side of Su Lei's face. He replied:
"Of course I'm not resigned to it, and I'll never let that pig butcher off. But I won't ruin Shen Huamei's birthday party just to settle my own scores."
At that moment, Shen Huamei walked over and said:
"As Lin Xi's good friend, I will never allow her to lower herself by marrying a pig butcher. Feel free to use this opportunity to humiliate and put that butcher in his place—ideally until he loses his mind in rage and divorces Lin Xi."
***
When Ye Huan and Lin Xi arrived outside the Superface bar, they saw a crowd gathered at the entrance from a distance, deep in discussion. Su Lei was among them.
"Are those the guests for tonight's birthday party?" Ye Huan asked.
"Mmm!"
Lin Xi nodded, her face puzzled:
"That's strange. Why are they all hanging out outside the bar?"
Ye Huan couldn't answer that question, but he finally understood why Lin Xi hadn't worn an evening gown: everyone attending the party was dressed in casual wear.
Not a single girl was wearing a formal gown.
"Lin Xi is here!"
Someone in the crowd outside the Superface bar spotted Ye Huan and Lin Xi.
Instantly, the chatter died out. Everyone turned to look at them, and then all gazes locked onto Ye Huan as if inspecting a farm animal!
"Xixi, you're finally here! Everyone's been waiting just for you!"
Shen Huamei walked up to greet Lin Xi and gave her a hug.
"I went home after work to change, so I'm a little late," Lin Xi explained with a smile. Noticing Shen Huamei eyeing Ye Huan, she was just about to introduce him as her driver when Shen Huamei sneered:
"Lin Xi, is this the husband Grandpa Lin arranged for you? He looks decent enough, but he doesn't look like a pig butcher at all."
While Shen Huamei was sizing up Ye Huan, Ye Huan was sizing her up in return. The girl had a great figure and looks, with a touch of classical beauty, but compared to Lin Xi, she fell a bit short!
"How do you know about that?"
Lin Xi asked in shock, completely unable to figure out how Shen Huamei knew of Ye Huan's existence.
"What do you mean, *how* do I know? By now, half of Pengcheng probably knows. You got tricked into getting a marriage certificate with a pig butcher, and you've already become the laughingstock of the city."
Shen Huamei glared at Ye Huan as she spoke, wearing an expression that looked like she was staring at dog poop.
"Did you spread this?"
Lin Xi turned an angry glare onto Ye Huan and demanded.
Ye Huan shrugged. "You'll have to ask that guy named Su Lei."
Su Lei had just walked over and happened to catch Ye Huan's words. Seeing Lin Xi staring at him, he stammered awkwardly:
"Aunty Li told me."
Furious, Lin Xi demanded, "And then you told everyone?"
"I've been wronged!"
Su Lei panicked, hurrying to explain:
"After Aunty Li told me the news, I didn't say a word to anyone. When I got here, everyone already knew. I was even wondering who leaked it myself."
Lin Xi's expression grew even uglier. By now, she had already guessed who the real culprit behind the leaked news was. Knowing her mother, Li Meiya, she had probably told every single one of her daughter's suitors about Lin Xi and Ye Huan's relationship, and then one of them had spilled the beans.
"I'm going to make the front page of tomorrow morning's financial section!" Lin Xi sighed.
Other people had parents who dragged them down, but in her case, she was sabotaged by her own biological mother!
"Don't be upset, Xixi. If anyone's to blame, blame this pig butcher."
Shen Huamei tried to comfort Lin Xi while glaring daggers at Ye Huan.
Ye Huan looked at Shen Huamei as if she were mentally disabled, thinking to himself that if this girl had even graduated from kindergarten, she wouldn't say something so stupid.
Running her mouth and attacking someone without figuring out the situation first—just how stupid could she be?
"I'm not mad. Actually, I expected this sooner or later; I just didn't expect it to happen this fast!"
Lin Xi didn't blame Ye Huan. After all, she was the one who had dragged him to get the marriage certificate in the first place, so there was no one else to pin it on. She said:
"Since everyone already knows, let me introduce you."
She turned to Ye Huan and said, "This is the guest of honor tonight, Shen Huamei. Huamei, this is Ye Huan."
"Hello!"
To be polite, Ye Huan took the initiative and held out his hand.
Instead of shaking it, Shen Huamei looked at him with utter contempt and sneered:
"A pig butcher is fit to shake my hand? Take your dirty paws and get out of my sight before you offend my eyes."
A flash of cold light crossed Ye Huan's eyes. This girl was practically begging to turn her birthday party into her own wake.
"Yo-yo-yo, look at your face—looks like you're mad!"
Seeing that Shen Huamei had already opened fire, Su Lei immediately chimed in with a sarcastic sneer:
"What, did Shen Huamei say something wrong? You're just a pig butcher! What right do you have to shake hands with a high-society lady like her? Your dirty hands are only good for grabbing pig trotters."
Ye Huan was actually amused by Su Lei's taunts. "Does your face not hurt anymore?" he asked.
Nobody understood what he meant because no one had witnessed Ye Huan slapping Su Lei earlier.
"You..."
Su Lei grew enraged.
At the moment, he wasn't afraid of Ye Huan at all. First, he had brought his bodyguards; second, there were so many people here while Ye Huan was all by himself; and third, Lin Xi and Shen Huamei were close friends, meaning Lin Xi would never allow Ye Huan to start a fight here and ruin the party.
Even so, Su Lei didn't order his bodyguards to beat Ye Huan up, because the moment he gave that order, everyone would find out about the time he got slapped by Ye Huan.
"Did I say something wrong? Go piss and take a good look at yourself in the reflection. You're nothing more than a lowly butcher who's completely unworthy of Shen Huamei's attention. What gives you the right to touch her? If you hadn't tagged along with Lin Xi, Shen Huamei wouldn't even spare you a glance."
Su Lei continued his verbal assault.
"Sigh!"
To save face for Lin Xi, Ye Huan suppressed the urge to slap Su Lei again and sighed:
"I really wonder what blood types your parents are to have given birth to an intellectual deficit like you."
The subtext of his words was: *You're humiliating me in public right now and getting your kicks, but aren't you worried that if I ever catch you alone one day, I'll beat you until your head swells up like a pig's?*
No one present understood the underlying meaning of Ye Huan's words, simply taking it as him randomly insulting Su Lei's intelligence.
Su Lei, however, understood—yet he wasn't scared in the least. He had already decided to bring his bodyguards wherever he went from now on.
"So this is Lin Xi's butcher husband?"
The other guests at the birthday party crowded around now, treating him like a monkey in a zoo as they passed uninhibited judgment:
"He's pretty handsome, actually. I thought he'd be some big, crude brute reeking of filth."
"A kept man. You can tell at a glance he's the type of trash who's great at living off women."
"What wire did Old Master Lin cross in his brain to force Lin Xi into marrying a guy like this? No background, no capability, no money. Aside from slaughtering livestock, he's completely useless."
"Poor Lin Xi, a fresh flower stuck in cow dung."
Watching the crowd start a "group beating" on Ye Huan as if they were holding a public struggle session, Lin Xi didn't get angry. Since everyone already knew about her relationship with Ye Huan anyway, there was no point in hiding it anymore. She decided to use this opportunity to let these people help whip Ye Huan into shape.
Only, she felt a subtle sense of depression when she noticed that, facing the group's scorn and insults, Ye Huan remained completely calm, not seeming angry at all.
Do pig butchers really have nerves of steel this thick...? Lin Xi thought to herself.
"Lin Xi, congratulations on marrying such a fine man."
At that moment, the only person who hadn't joined in on mocking and insulting Ye Huan—Xiang Yingxin—walked up to Lin Xi and said with a barbed, sarcastic tone:
Her target wasn't Ye Huan; it was Lin Xi!
***
Seeing Xiang Yingxin, Lin Xi instantly wore a look of utter disgust.
"What kind of man I marry is none of your damn business!"
"I'm just happy for you!"
Xiang Yingxin beamed smugly, deliberately trying to get under Lin Xi's skin.
"Ever since we were kids, you've beaten me at everything: better grades, higher education, a better job, more talent. The only exception is marriage, where I'm afraid you can't hold a candle to me. Even if I were completely blind, I'd never marry a pig butcher..."
Lin Xi was so angry her face turned green. In this world, apart from Ye Huan, Xiang Yingxin was the only person capable of making her lose her temper.
Yet right now, she couldn't even think of a retort against Xiang Yingxin.
She couldn't exactly blurt out that her marriage to Ye Huan was just a contract, and that she only did it to get back at Ye Bai for his past humiliation, could she?
If she said that out loud, Xiang Yingxin would die laughing!
"Why aren't you saying anything? Aren't you usually great with your tongue? Aren't you a debate champion? Back in the day, I rarely won any arguments against us."
Seeing Lin Xi's pale face and speechlessness, Xiang Yingxin grew even more arrogant.
"Oh, I get it. Marrying a pig butcher means you must've eaten too much pork. The fat clogged your cerebral blood vessels and messed with your language functions, so you can't even argue anymore."
With that, she sighed with feigned envy:
"I'm so jealous that you'll never have to worry about running out of pork. With pork prices so high these days, I can barely afford it anymore. Hahahahaha..."
Lin Xi's face turned livid. In the past, she would have slapped the woman across the face long ago. But tonight, she was attending Shen Huamei's birthday party, and Xiang Yingxin was Shen Huamei's guest. If she caused a scene and hit someone, it wouldn't look good.
Xiang Yingxin's loud laughter finally drowned out the voices roasting Ye Huan. Only then did the crowd realize that while they were busy attacking Ye Huan, Xiang Yingxin had already opened up a second battlefield.
"And who might you be?"
Though Ye Huan had been the target of the critique the whole time, he had overheard every word of the exchange between Lin Xi and Xiang Yingxin. Figuring this must be the woman Lin Xi hated, he walked over and asked knowingly.
"A bitch!" Lin Xi introduced with malicious glee.
"Oh!"
Taking the initiative, Ye Huan reached out a hand toward Xiang Yingxin and said:
"Hello, Bitch!"
Those four simple words instantly extinguished the anger burning in Lin Xi's chest, almost making her burst out laughing. She hadn't expected Ye Huan's counterattack to be so razor-sharp.
Shen Huamei, Su Lei, and the others had originally planned to step in and break things up when Xiang Yingxin started giving Lin Xi a hard time—Su Lei in particular, who had been hoping to play the hero saving the damsel in distress.
They hadn't expected Ye Huan to move faster than them, launching a devastating ultimate attack right out of the gate.
"Interesting!"
Xiang Yingxin didn't get angry at all. In fact, she actually took Ye Huan's hand—though instead of shaking it, she held onto it, rubbing her thumb against his palm as she purred:
"Such thick calluses on your palms. You must get those from gripping knives and butchering pigs every day, right? Tell me, if you stroke Lin Xi with hands like these, won't you scratch her delicate skin?"
Ye Huan pulled his hand back, reached out, and gave Xiang Yingxin's pretty cheek a light tap.
"Didn't scratch her. Is it because the calluses on my hand aren't sharp enough, or is your skin just too thick?"
*Well played...* Lin Xi cheered in her heart, waving a mental flag for Ye Huan.
Shen Huamei, Su Lei, and the onlookers were completely stunned. None of them expected Ye Huan to pull a stunt like that. For a mere pig butcher, he had some nerve—actually daring to touch Xiang Yingxin's face.
And he did it right in front of Lin Xi, too.
"Lin Xi, your man just touched my face..."
Instead of getting mad, Xiang Yingxin exaggeratedly filed a complaint to Lin Xi, asking:
"Your man touched my face right in front of you and all these people. Could it be that he likes me?"
Ignoring Xiang Yingxin, Lin Xi looked at Ye Huan and asked:
"Do you?"
Ye Huan shrugged. "She's so pretty and has such a sexy body—an overnight stay must cost a fortune. I can't afford it!"
*Brilliant answer...* Lin Xi gave Ye Huan a thumbs-up.
"I'll pay. Go ask her how much an overnight stay costs."
Ye Huan looked at Xiang Yingxin. "One hundred?"
*Pfft!*
Everyone failed to hold back and burst out laughing!
Lin Xi laughed the loudest of all!
Getting Ye Huan to ask Xiang Yingxin how much an overnight stay cost was already humiliating enough, but Ye Huan asking if one hundred was enough meant that, in his eyes, Xiang Yingxin was only worth a hundred bucks. That was a devastating level of humiliation!
"I'll give you ten thousand. Come with me as soon as the birthday party's over!"
Still refusing to get angry, Xiang Yingxin wrapped her arm around Ye Huan's arm and cooed coquettishly.
The expressions of everyone present shifted instantly. Xiang Yingxin's counter-move was vicious; she was openly poaching Lin Xi's husband and trying to slap a green hat right onto Lin Xi's head in public.
Yet Lin Xi didn't look upset in the least—she didn't even like Ye Huan anyway!
"Sure!"
Taking advantage of the moment, Ye Huan wrapped his arm around Xiang Yingxin's slender waist.
"No need to wait until the party's over. The bar has private rooms—we can head straight there right now."
As he spoke, his hand slid lower along Xiang Yingxin's back.
Xiang Yingxin's body instantly stiffened, and her mind went blank with a buzz. She had only wanted to provoke and irritate Lin Xi; she hadn't expected Lin Xi's pig-butcher husband to have the guts to go this far.
As for Shen Huamei, Su Lei, and the rest, they were struck collectively dumb!
They simply couldn't believe their eyes. Ye Huan, the pig butcher, had married into the Lin family as a kept-in son-in-law—a downward marriage where he should have been acting like an obedient grandson, never daring to do anything to wrong Lin Xi.
Yet the scene unfolding before them completely shattered their understanding of house-husbands. Especially when they saw Ye Huan's hand moving around behind Xiang Yingxin's back, it utterly reshaped their worldview.
Look at that!
Just look at it!
Is this what a kept son-in-law looks like?
Since when did a kept husband dare to flirt with another girl right in front of his wife, looking like he was about to check into a hotel room on the spot?!
"Alright then. The bar is rented out by Shen Huamei tonight, and all the private rooms on the second floor are empty."
Recovering her wits, Xiang Yingxin put on a seductive smile and took the initiative to pull Ye Huan by the hand toward the bar entrance.
By now, Xiang Yingxin had figured it out: everything Ye Huan was doing to her was just to help Lin Xi get back at her. Ye Huan would never actually dare to follow her into a private room, and Lin Xi would never allow him to do so either.
"They're just going in like that?"
Watching Ye Huan and Xiang Yingxin walk hand in hand toward the bar entrance, Shen Huamei looked at Lin Xi in shock and asked:
"Aren't you going to stop them?"
Lin Xi shrugged. "Why should I?"
Shen Huamei: "???"
Su Lei: "???"
Everyone else: "???"
*Why should you?!*
*Dammit, Ye Huan is your husband! He's about to go into a private room with your sworn enemy to clap cheeks, and you're asking why you should stop them?!*
At that moment, Shen Huamei and the others suddenly realized that Ye Huan and Lin Xi didn't actually like each other at all. Their union was purely forced upon them by Lin Tai.
That explained why Ye Huan could flirt with Xiang Yingxin in public without caring about Lin Xi's feelings in the slightest;
And why Lin Xi didn't care at all if Ye Huan went off to clap cheeks with another woman.
***
When Xiang Yingxin and Ye Huan walked hand in hand toward the bar entrance, she deliberately walked with an urgent, wildly seductive sway, swinging her hips every three steps.
She wanted to show Lin Xi that she was really going to go into a private room with Ye Huan.
She was certain Lin Xi would never allow Ye Huan to enter the bar with her; before they even reached the door, Lin Xi would surely break and call them back.
And Ye Huan himself would never dare to actually step inside with her either.
Yet!
Just as they were about to reach the bar entrance, Lin Xi still hadn't called out to stop them, and Ye Huan showed no signs of halting. Xiang Yingxin suddenly started to feel nervous.
*Why aren't they calling to stop us yet?*
*Call out!*
*Lin Xi, you bitch, say something!*
Finally, the two of them stepped inside the bar!
At that moment, Xiang Yingxin's tension peaked.
"Why are your palms sweating?" Ye Huan teased.
"Huh? Sweating? Oh, well, the weather's just too hot, haha..."
Awkward and nervous, Xiang Yingxin stammered incoherently, suddenly thinking to herself:
*What am I nervous for? The ones who should be panicking right now are Lin Xi and Ye Huan. They're both waiting for me to stop first—well, I'm not stopping. Whoever stops first loses.*
She firmly believed that Ye Huan wouldn't dare enter a private room with her;
She firmly believed Lin Xi would never allow Ye Huan to step into a room with her either;
The only reason Ye Huan and Lin Xi hadn't called out yet was to play a game of psychological chicken with her, seeing who would lose their nerve first.
"Let's go. To the private room!"
Having reasoned it out, Xiang Yingxin recovered her previous seductive urgency and dragged Ye Huan up to the second floor!
Yet all the way up, she still didn't hear Lin Xi call out to stop them, nor did Ye Huan show any intention of turning back.
When they stood right outside the private room door!
Xiang Yingxin's psychological defenses finally collapsed!
Panic finally set in!
"Get in."
Ye Huan threw an arm around Xiang Yingxin's slender waist, pushed the door open, and pulled her inside.
The moment they entered and the door clicked shut, Xiang Yingxin's heart skipped a beat with a heavy *thud*.
Right then, the realization hit her: Ye Huan and Lin Xi were forced together by Lin Tai. They had zero feelings for each other, didn't care what the other person did, and might have even agreed to a mutual hands-off policy regarding each other's private lives. That was why Ye Huan had dared to flirt with her and grope her so shamelessly right in front of Lin Xi.
With that realization, Xiang Yingxin's heartbeat skyrocketed to 180 beats per minute. An unprecedented wave of tension and terror washed over her, making her spin around to try and escape the room.
She had lost!
She had to run—if she didn't run now, she was going to get violated by this pig butcher!
"Where do you think you're going?"
Ye Huan suddenly grabbed hold of her and asked.
"Ah..."
Startled, Xiang Yingxin shuddered violently. Putting on a mask of forced composure, she stammered:
"Oh... I just remembered I forgot to bring a condom. I—you wait here, I'll go back to the car and get one!"
"I've got them on me!" Ye Huan said playfully.
*Holy shit, what kind of weirdo is this pig butcher? Who carries those things around with them?!* Xiang Yingxin cursed internally, hastily saying:
"I—I need to use the washroom."
"There's a washroom right inside the private room!"