She wore simple white sneakers.
Her footsteps made no sound on the ground.
But as she walked slowly closer,
Lu Man Qin felt her heart pounding with Ming Zheng’s steps.
Once, twice.
Her heart beat faster.
And Ming Zheng’s steps felt like they were on her heart.
Heavy.
As if they were going to crush her heart.
It was only two meters,
But Lu Man Qin felt as if an eternity had passed.
Her breathing grew more rapid, her heart beating so violently that she felt suffocated.
Ming Zheng stood before her.
Her gaze, noble and queenly, fell carelessly upon Lu Man Qin.
Her posture was lazy and relaxed,
Yet so arrogant that it instinctively stirred a desire to… kneel before her.
“Calling Ming Huai Zhi?”
Ming Zheng’s tone was lazy, betraying no emotion. “Go ahead.”
Ming Zheng’s nonchalant demeanor only fueled Lu Man Qin’s shame and anger. The fingers gripping her phone turned deathly pale.
“Fine! You can be stubborn all you want. Do you really think I wouldn’t dare call brother Huai Zhi?” Lu Man Qin propped herself up, tapped on Ming Huai Zhi’s chat window, and initiated a video call. “Just you wait, brother Huai Zhi will see exactly how rude and unreasonable you are!”
Perhaps Ming Huai Zhi had been waiting for Lu Man Qin’s message.
The video call only rang three times.
It was quickly answered.
Ming Huai Zhi’s defiant and handsome face appeared on the screen.
Ming Huai Zhi frowned slightly. He naturally exuded a rebellious aura, and this frown made his face even more sharp.
Just as he was about to speak directly to Ming Zheng,
He saw a face swollen like a pig’s head appear on his phone screen.
That pig-like face was covered in tears, smearing her makeup all over, making her look particularly laughable.
Yet, the person with that face was completely oblivious, thrusting her pig-like face closer to the screen, opening her mouth wide, and bursting into tears with a wail.
“Brother Huai Zhi, *sob sob sob*, save me…”
As she spoke, her breathy voice expelled bloody saliva, splattering onto the screen. A few droplets of saliva also escaped the corners of her lips.
Her speech was slurred.
Ming Huai Zhi: “…”
He felt a bit nauseous.
Disgusted.
He suppressed his displeasure and asked coldly, “Where is Ming Zheng?”
Lu Man Qin finally saw her brother Huai Zhi’s face, and with her heart full of grievances, she wanted to confide in him. She couldn’t bear to hand the phone over to Ming Zheng.
“Brother Huai Zhi, Ming Zheng is a bitch, a shrew! She bullied me! Look at my face, it’s all swollen from her hitting me!”
As Lu Man Qin cried, she turned her swollen cheeks left and right for Ming Huai Zhi to see how miserable she was.
“A wild child raised in the countryside truly has no manners. I only asked her a few questions for brother Huai Zhi, and she laid hands on me…”
“Brother Huai Zhi, you have to get justice for me!”
She cried as if the world was ending.
She kept calling out “Brother Huai Zhi,” as if she would cry herself to death right there if Ming Huai Zhi didn’t stand up for her.
Zui Xian Lou, the premier private kitchen in Xiadu, was frequented by the wealthy and influential.
The commotion here was too great.
To them, it was just a farce, a joke.
It disturbed their dining pleasure.
Someone immediately called the manager, wanting him to resolve the matter immediately.
But then they heard a woman’s sharp voice, crying out “Brother Huai Zhi.”
Huai Zhi?
Ming Huai Zhi?
Even those in high positions had heard of this name.
He was currently the hottest, most popular celebrity!
And the second young master of the Ming family.
Top-tier gossip?
And it involved a woman?
This immediately attracted many onlookers.
Ming Huai Zhi found the woman’s wailing on the phone extremely irritating.
Especially since her face was already unsightly.
Her crying made her look even uglier.
Especially…
She was at Zui Xian Lou.
And she had only managed to get into Zui Xian Lou through his status.
Her causing such a scene at Zui Xian Lou.
Wasn’t that embarrassing him?
Ming Zheng was unsophisticated.
But was Lu Man Qin any better?
If it weren’t for Lu Man Qin being Rou’er’s friend, and his constant travels for filming requiring him to get updates on Rou’er from Lu Man Qin, he would have absolutely no contact with this woman.
Ming Huai Zhi, thinking of important matters, suppressed his annoyance and said coldly, “Ming Zheng is there, right? Hand the phone to Ming Zheng, I want to speak with her.”
Lu Man Qin looked at Ming Huai Zhi almost greedily, whimpering and twisting on the ground, “Brother Huai Zhi, are you going to discipline Ming Zheng for me? You don’t know how she…”
Before she could finish,
Her body, twisting like a maggot, suddenly stiffened.
The aloof girl before her leaned down carelessly.
Then, with a foot, she stepped on Lu Man Qin’s wrist.
“Ah–”
Lu Man Qin screamed in pain.
The phone slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.
The girl’s eyebrows were arched, her crimson lips curved into a smile, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes, making her appear chillingly sinister.
“You talk too much. Annoying.”
Her voice, as cold and clear as water, was languid, like a cold venomous snake, coiling around Lu Man Qin bit by bit.
The phone camera faced upwards.
Ming Huai Zhi could clearly see the girl in the black hoodie, with her indifferent and noble expression, stepping on Lu Man Qin’s wrist and speaking those bone-chilling words.
This angle was a deathly angle.
Yet, the girl’s face, captured by the lens, remained incomparably radiant.
Her disdainful eyes, noble and clear.
Her pair of dark pupils, even through the screen, conveyed the coldness in her eyes.
Suddenly, those dark pupils fell downwards.
And met Ming Huai Zhi’s gaze.
Ming Huai Zhi didn’t know why, but his heart suddenly clenched fiercely.
Those dark pupils.
They were as beautiful as brilliant stars.
Yet, they made him… feel a chill, a prickle of fear on his spine.
This was a pressure he had never felt, not even in front of his elder brother!
Ming Huai Zhi’s pupils instantly tightened, his expression turning solemn and grave, making his defiant, handsome face even more sharp.
“Looking for me?”
Ming Zheng’s voice was as cold as when she faced Lu Man Qin, and her eyes showed no flicker of emotion.
She slowly squatted down.
She didn’t pick up the phone.
Instead, she maintained a condescending posture, looking down at the phone.
From this angle,
Ming Zheng looked like a queen looking down on her subjects.
Ming Huai Zhi’s eyes sharpened further.
In the year since Ming Zheng returned, he had been constantly away for work and had not seen Ming Zheng even once.
Only on the day Ming Zheng first returned had there been a family video call.
He vaguely remembered seeing Ming Zheng for the first time on video—