"Chapter 18: Kneel Down and Apologize to Me"
When Ye Huan and Lin Xi arrived at the Superface bar, they saw a crowd of people gathered in the distance near the entrance, discussing something animatedly. Su Lei was among them.
"Are those the people attending tonight's birthday party?" Ye Huan asked.
"Yeah!" Lin Xi nodded, looking puzzled. "That's strange. What are they all doing hanging around outside the bar?"
Ye Huan couldn't answer that question, but it finally dawned on him why Lin Xi hadn't worn an evening gown: everyone attending the birthday party was dressed in casual clothes. Not a single girl was wearing a formal gown.
"Lin Xi is here!"
At that moment, someone in the crowd at the entrance of the Superface bar spotted Ye Huan and Lin Xi.
Instantly, the buzzing conversation cut off abruptly. Everyone turned to look at Ye Huan and Lin Xi, and then all eyes locked onto Ye Huan, staring at him as if he were some sort of exotic beast!
"Xixi, you're finally here! Everyone's been waiting just for you!" Shen Huamei took the initiative to greet Lin Xi, stepping forward to give her a hug.
"I went home after work to change my clothes, so I'm a bit late," Lin Xi explained with a smile. Seeing Shen Huamei sizing up Ye Huan, she was about to introduce him as her driver.
Instead, she heard Shen Huamei sneer, "Lin Xi, is this the husband Grandpa Lin arranged for you? He looks decent enough, but he doesn't look like a butcher at all."
While Shen Huamei was sizing up Ye Huan, Ye Huan was sizing her up too. The girl had a nice figure and decent looks, with a hint of classical charm, but compared to Lin Xi, she was a bit lacking!
"How do you know about that?" Lin Xi asked, completely taken aback. She couldn't for the life of her figure out how Shen Huamei had found out about Ye Huan's existence.
"What do you mean, 'how do I know'? By now, I'm afraid everyone in Pengcheng knows. You got tricked into getting a marriage certificate with a butcher, and you've already become the laughingstock of Pengcheng," Shen Huamei said, glaring angrily at Ye Huan as if looking at a piece of dog shit.
"Did you spread this?" Lin Xi asked, turning an angry glare on Ye Huan.
Ye Huan shrugged. "You'll have to ask that guy named Su Lei about that question."
Su Lei had just walked over when he heard Ye Huan's remark. Seeing Lin Xi turn to look at him, he awkwardly stammered, "Auntie Li told me."
Furious, Lin Xi demanded, "And then you told everyone?"
"I've been wronged!" Su Lei panicked, rushing to explain. "After Auntie Li told me the news, I didn't tell a single soul. When I got here, everyone already knew. I was even wondering who leaked the news myself."
Lin Xi's expression grew even uglier. By now, she had already guessed who the culprit behind the leaked news was, knowing her mother Li Meiya's tendencies. Her mother had probably told every single one of her suitors about her relationship with Ye Huan, and then one of those suitors had spilled the beans.
"I'm going to make the front page of the financial section tomorrow morning!" Lin Xi sighed.
Other people had fathers or mothers who dragged them down, but in her case, she was sabotaged by her own biological mother!
"Xixi, don't be mad. If you want to blame someone, blame this butcher," Shen Huamei comforted Lin Xi, glaring fiercely at Ye Huan.
Ye Huan looked at Shen Huamei as if she were mentally handicapped, thinking to himself that if this girl had even managed to graduate from kindergarten, she wouldn't say something so idiotic. To attack someone blindly without understanding the situation—just how stupid could a person be?
"I'm not mad. Actually, this was well within my expectations; I just didn't expect it to happen so fast!" Lin Xi didn't blame Ye Huan. After all, she was the one who dragged him to get the marriage certificate; there was no one else to blame. She added, "Since everyone already knows, let me introduce you."
With that, she said to Ye Huan, "This is the star of tonight's birthday party, Shen Huamei. Huamei, this is Ye Huan."
"Hello!" Out of politeness, Ye Huan took the initiative to extend his hand.
Shen Huamei, however, refused to shake hands with him. Instead, she curled her lip in utter disdain and sneered, "A butcher is hardly worthy of shaking my hand. Take your dirty paws and get out of my sight before you contaminate my eyes."
A flash of cold light crossed Ye Huan's eyes. This girl was practically asking to turn her birthday party into her own death anniversary.
"Yo-yo-yo, look at that face, looks like somebody's mad!" Seeing that Shen Huamei had already opened fire, Su Lei immediately chimed in with sarcastic mockery. "Did Shen Huamei say something wrong? You're nothing but a butcher. What qualifications do you have to shake hands with a high-society heiress like Shen Huamei? Your dirty hands are only fit for gripping pig trotters."
Ye Huan was laughed to anger by Su Lei's mockery and asked, "Does your face not hurt anymore?"
No one understood what he meant because nobody present had ever witnessed Ye Huan slapping Su Lei.
"You—" Su Lei bristled, flying into a rage from embarrassment.
At that moment, he wasn't afraid of Ye Huan at all. First, he had brought his bodyguards; second, with so many people around, Ye Huan was all by himself; and third, Lin Xi and Shen Huamei were close friends, so Lin Xi would never allow Ye Huan to start a fight here and ruin Shen Huamei's birthday party.
However, 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 Ye Huan had slapped him across the face.
"Did I say something wrong? Go take a piss and look at what you look like in the reflection. You're just a lowly butcher, completely beneath Shen Huamei's notice. What right do you have to shake hands with her? If you hadn't come here following Lin Xi, Shen Huamei wouldn't even spare you a glance." Su Lei continued his verbal abuse and attacks against Ye Huan.
"Sigh!" To save face for Lin Xi, Ye Huan forcefully suppressed the urge to backhand Su Lei across the face. He let out a sigh and said, "I really wonder what blood type your parents are, to have given birth to an absolute moron like you."
The subtext of these words was: You're publicly humiliating me right now and having your fun talking smack, but aren't you afraid that one day you'll run into me alone and I'll beat your face into a swollen pig's head?
No one on the scene understood the underlying meaning of Ye Huan's words; they simply took it as Ye Huan blindly insulting Su Lei as an idiot.
Su Lei, however, understood, but he wasn't scared in the least. He had already decided that from now on, he would bring his bodyguards everywhere he went.
"So this is Lin Xi's butcher husband?"
At that moment, the other guests at the birthday party crowded around, treating them like monkeys in a zoo and offering uninhibited, loud critiques:
"He looks pretty handsome though. I thought he'd be all rough around the edges and reeking of filth."
"A kept toy. You can tell at a glance he's the kind of loser who excels at living off women."
"God knows what kind of wrong medicine Old Master Lin took to forcefully coerce Lin Xi into marrying a man like this. He's got no background, no competence, and no money. Aside from butchering animals, he's completely useless."
"Poor Lin Xi, a fine flower stuck in cow dung."
Watching everyone launch into a "group beatdown" of Ye Huan as if they were holding a struggle session, Lin Xi didn't get angry. Since everyone already knew about her relationship with Ye Huan anyway, there was no need for her to hide or cover it up. She might as well use this opportunity to let this bunch of people help her put Ye Huan through the ringer.
To her irritation, however, facing the crowd's humiliating mockery and taunts, Ye Huan looked utterly calm, seemingly not angry in the least.
Do butchers all have this kind of steel-nerved psychological resilience...? 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 the dogpile of ridiculing and humiliating Ye Huan—Xiang Yingxin—walked up to Lin Xi and said with a sarcastic tone, "My, my."
Her target wasn't Ye Huan; it was Lin Xi!
"Chapter 19: Flirting with a Girl in Front of My Wife"
Upon seeing Xiang Yingxin, Lin Xi immediately wore a look of utter disgust and snapped, "What kind of man I marry is none of your damn business!"
"Because I'm happy for you!" Xiang Yingxin wore a smug look, deliberately trying to piss Lin Xi off. "Ever since we were kids, you beat me at everything—you studied better, got a higher degree, landed a better job, and had more ability. But when it comes to marriage, I'm afraid you can't hold a candle to me. Because even if I were blind, I'd never marry a butcher..."
Lin Xi's face turned green with rage. In this world, apart from Ye Huan, Xiang Yingxin was the only person who could cause her to completely lose her emotional composure.
Yet right now, she couldn't even think of a comeback against Xiang Yingxin.
She couldn't very well blurt out that her marriage to Ye Huan was just a contractual arrangement, and that she did it solely to exact revenge for the humiliation she suffered when Ye Bai had taken advantage of her back then.
If she said that out loud, Xiang Yingxin would laugh herself to death!
"Why aren't you saying anything? Isn't your eloquence supposed to be great? Aren't you good at debating? Whenever we used to argue in the past, I hardly ever won."
Seeing Lin Xi's face turn pale with anger yet left speechless and unable to refute her, Xiang Yingxin grew even more arrogant. "Oh, I get it. You married a butcher, so you must have eaten too much pork. The fat blocked your cerebral blood vessels and messed with your language functions, so you don't even know how to argue anymore."
At that, she sighed with exaggerated 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 to buy any anymore. Hahahaha..."
Lin Xi's face was livid with rage. In the past, she would have slapped her across the face long ago. But tonight, she was attending Shen Huamei's birthday party, and Xiang Yingxin was Shen Huamei's invited guest. If she hit someone here, it wouldn't be appropriate.
Xiang Yingxin's loud laughter drowned out the voices of the people who had been piling on and mocking Ye Huan. It was only then that everyone realized 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 group attacks the whole time, he had listened to the entire exchange between Lin Xi and Xiang Yingxin, figuring that this must be the person Lin Xi loathed.
He immediately walked over and asked knowingly, "And you are?"
"A bitch!" Lin Xi introduced her viciously.
"Oh!" Ye Huan proactively extended his hand toward Xiang Yingxin and said, "Hello, bitch!"
Those four simple words completely extinguished the rage burning in Lin Xi's chest, almost making her laugh out loud. She hadn't expected Ye Huan's counter-attack to be so razor-sharp.
Shen Huamei, Su Lei, and the others had originally intended to step in and play peacemaker when they saw Xiang Yingxin picking on Lin Xi—especially Su Lei, who was planning to play the hero saving the damsel in distress.
They hadn't expected Ye Huan to move faster than them, and he came out swinging with an ultimate move right off the bat.
"Interesting!"
Xiang Yingxin didn't get angry at all. In fact, she even took hold of Ye Huan's hand, but instead of shaking it and letting go, she fondled his hand and said, "Such thick calluses on your palm. These must have been ground out from sharpening knives and butchering pigs every day, right? But 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 stroked Xiang Yingxin's pretty face. "Didn't scratch her. Is it because the calluses on my hand aren't sharp enough, or because your skin is just too thick?"
*Nicely done...* Lin Xi cheered inwardly for Ye Huan.
Shen Huamei, Su Lei, and the onlookers around them were all stunned. None of them expected Ye Huan to pull a move like that—for a mere butcher to have the guts to stroke Xiang Yingxin's face was shocking enough.
And he did it right in front of Lin Xi, no less!
"Lin Xi, your man just touched my face..."
Xiang Yingxin still didn't get angry; instead, she exaggeratedly complained 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 completely, Lin Xi turned to Ye Huan and asked, "Do you?"
Ye Huan shrugged. "She's so pretty and has such a sexy body, an overnight stay must be really expensive. I can't afford her!"
*Great answer...* Lin Xi gave Ye Huan a mental thumbs-up and said, "I'll pay. Ask her how much she charges for the night."
Turning back to Xiang Yingxin, Ye Huan asked, "100?"
*Pfft!*
Everyone failed to hold back and burst out laughing!
Lin Xi laughed the loudest!
Lin Xi asking Ye Huan to inquire about Xiang Yingxin's overnight rate was already humiliating enough, but Ye Huan directly asking if 100 was enough meant that in his eyes, Xiang Yingxin was only worth 100. That level of humiliation was off the charts!
"I'll give you 10,000. When the birthday party's over, come with me!" Xiang Yingxin still didn't get angry. Instead, she looped her arm around Ye Huan's and acted coquettishly.
The expressions on everyone's faces shifted instantly. Xiang Yingxin's counter-move was absolute viciousness—she was trying to poach Lin Xi's husband right in broad daylight and stick a green hat on Lin Xi's head publicly.
Yet Lin Xi didn't care at all; she didn't even like Ye Huan anyway!
"Sure!" Ye Huan smoothly wrapped an 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 to one right now."
As he spoke, his hand resting on Xiang Yingxin's waist kept sliding lower.
Xiang Yingxin's delicate body instantly stiffened, her mind buzzing. She had only wanted to provoke and anger Lin Xi; she never dreamed that Lin Xi's butcher husband would have the audacity to pull a stunt like this.
As for Shen Huamei, Su Lei, and the others, they were collectively dumbfounded!
They simply couldn't believe their eyes. Ye Huan the butcher had clearly married into the Lin family as a matrilocal son-in-law—essentially marrying downward. By all logic, he should be acting like a humble servant in the Lin family, never daring to do anything to wrong Lin Xi.
Yet the scene unfolding before them completely shattered their understanding of kept sons-in-law. Especially seeing the busy movements of Ye Huan's hand behind Xiang Yingxin's back, it completely reshaped their worldview on what a son-in-law marrying into a family could do.
*Look!*
*Just look at this!*
*Is this what a son-in-law marrying into a family is supposed to be like?*
*Since when does a son-in-law dare to openly flirt and mess around with another girl right in front of his wife, looking like they're about to head off to open a hotel room on the spot?!*
"Alright then, the bar has been completely booked out by Shen Huamei tonight, and all the private rooms on the second floor are empty." Regaining her composure, Xiang Yingxin flashed a seductive smile and took the initiative to grab Ye Huan's hand, leading him toward the bar entrance.
At that moment, Xiang Yingxin 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 go into a private room with her, and Lin Xi would never allow Ye Huan to do such a thing either.
"They're just going in like that?" Watching Ye Huan and Xiang Yingxin walk hand-in-hand into the bar, 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?!*
*Damn it, Ye Huan is your husband! He's about to go into a private room with your sworn enemy to play hide-the-salami, 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 entirely forced upon them by Lin Tai.
That was 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 fornicate with another woman.
"Chapter 20: The Jin Family's Revenge Arrives"
As Xiang Yingxin walked hand-in-hand with Ye Huan toward the bar entrance, she deliberately walked with an exaggerated sense of eagerness, swaying her hips seductively with every three steps.
She wanted to show Lin Xi that she was truly going to go into a private room with Ye Huan.
She firmly believed that Lin Xi would never allow Ye Huan to enter the bar with her; before they even reached the door, Lin Xi wouldn't be able to help herself and would shout for them to stop.
She also believed that Ye Huan would never dare to actually step foot inside with her.
And 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 intention of halting either. Xiang Yingxin suddenly started to panic.
*Why aren't they calling out to stop us yet?*
*Call out!*
*Lin Xi, you bitch, say something!*
Finally!
The two of them walked right inside the bar!
At that moment, Xiang Yingxin was tense to the absolute breaking point.
"Why are your palms sweating?" Ye Huan teased.
"Ah? Sweating? Well, the weather is just too hot, haha..." Xiang Yingxin stammered incoherently, a mix of awkwardness and panic. Suddenly, a thought hit her: *What am I nervous about? The ones who should be panicking right now are Lin Xi and Ye Huan. They're both waiting for me to back down first. Well, I refuse to stop. Whoever blinks first loses.*
She stubbornly believed that Ye Huan wouldn't dare enter a private room with her;
She stubbornly believed that Lin Xi would never permit Ye Huan to go inside with her.
The only reason Ye Huan and Lin Xi hadn't yelled for them to stop yet was simply a contest of psychological endurance to see who would crack first.
"Let's go, to the private room!"
Having rationalized it this way, Xiang Yingxin recovered her previous seductive and eager demeanor, pulling Ye Huan straight toward the second floor!
Yet all the way up the stairs, she still didn't hear Lin Xi's voice calling a halt, nor did Ye Huan show any sign of stopping.
When they finally stood right outside the door of the private room!
Xiang Yingxin's psychological defenses finally crumbled!
Panic finally set in!
"Get in." Ye Huan wrapped an arm around Xiang Yingxin's slender waist and pushed the door open, pulling her inside.
The moment they entered and the door clicked shut, Xiang Yingxin's heart skipped a beat with a heavy *thump*.
In that split second, the reality of the situation finally dawned on her: Ye Huan and Lin Xi had been forcefully thrown together by Lin Tai. The two of them had zero emotional attachment, didn't care what the other person did, and might have even reached a mutual agreement not to interfere in each other's private lives. That was why Ye Huan dared to brazenly flirt with her and grope her right in front of Lin Xi.
Realizing this, Xiang Yingxin's heart rate skyrocketed to 180 beats per minute. A wave of unprecedented nervousness and sheer terror washed over her, making her instantly turn around to try and escape the room.
She had lost!
She had to run—if she didn't get out right now, she was going to be ravished by this lunatic of a butcher!
"Where do you think you're going?" Ye Huan suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace, blocking her path.
"Ah..." Xiang Yingxin shuddered violently from fright, forcing a calm facade as she stammered, "Oh, um, I suddenly remembered I forgot to bring a condom. I—you wait here, I'll go get one from the car!"
"I brought my own!" Ye Huan said with a playful smirk.
*Holy shit, what kind of weirdo is this butcher?! Who carries that kind of stuff around with them casually...* Xiang Yingxin cursed internally, quickly pivoting: "I—I need to use the washroom."
"There's a washroom right inside the private room!" Ye Huan said teasingly. Before she could react, he scooped her up bridal-style and carried her straight to the sofa. Once seated, he dropped her onto his lap and leaned in as if about to plant a kiss on her lips.
"Ye Huan, Ye Huan, don't be impulsive! Wait, um, I suddenly remembered... my aunt is visiting..." Xiang Yingxin was practically scared out of her wits, frantically pulling out any excuse she could find.
"Your aunt? Where is she? Tell her to come over and join us!" Ye Huan said with a lecherous expression.
Xiang Yingxin: "???"
*Does this butcher have some kind of profound misunderstanding of what a period is?*
Then again, looking at him, this butcher really wasn't picky at all. In fact, he was a total pervert—he wouldn't even spare her during her time of the month!
"Um, you know, the vibe in here doesn't feel quite right. I—I should sing a song to liven up the atmosphere," Xiang Yingxin said, fighting back her sheer panic.
"Can you sing and dance at the same time?" Ye Huan asked.
"Yes, yes, absolutely!"
Xiang Yingxin looked like she was about to burst into tears of relief. She scrambled off Ye Huan's lap and bolted straight for the karaoke console.
Ye Huan lit a cigarette, leaned back against the chair, and watched with an amused smirk as Xiang Yingxin frantically fumbled with the song selection interface.
He had seen right through her bluffing game all along, which was why he had deliberately played along to scare this girl and toy with her to his heart's content.