Chapter 8#

Lu Yinbing never spent his time pondering how to make the whole world revolve around him — that was the sort of thing only brooding, unhappy people couldn’t help but dwell on. He only thought it was natural when the whole world did revolve around him.

It was natural that everyone liked him. It was natural that everyone feared him. Even that everyone hated him was natural. As long as he controlled everyone’s emotions, that was simply how things ought to be.

He had never tried to like anyone, nor did he need to like anyone.

If he developed fondness for a person, then without fail, it was because that person also harbored feelings for him, drawing his attention in the way he liked to be drawn.

He had applied this rule for twenty-two years without a single exception — until today, when it failed on Man Yu.

The man hadn’t even been trying to seduce him; he was simply, wholeheartedly devoted to his useless husband.

Right, normal, okay, no problem.

Man Yu had the right to dislike him, the right to reject him, and the right to love Sheng Lin. As a law-abiding citizen of the new era, he shouldn’t deprive others of their freedom to like or dislike. That was illegal, immoral, not to be encouraged, and should be stopped. On the contrary, he should encourage Man Yu to freely pursue love and send him his blessings.

That said — why? On what grounds?

Lu Yinbing didn’t understand.

There was no possible way he was inferior to Sheng Lin.

On what grounds did Sheng Lin get to marry the person he liked?

On what grounds did the person he liked have to love Sheng Lin?

He couldn’t figure it out. Had the world gone mad? Sheng Lin had gone mad too — why insist on stealing the thing he liked?

Man Yu shouldn’t be Sheng Lin’s wife. He should be in his arms, on his bed, gazing at him with unfocused, pleading eyes.

Lu Yinbing leaned against the desk, his gaze drifting toward the window, fingertips tapping lightly on the desktop — tap, tap, tap. Downstairs, Man Yu’s figure had already boarded the shuttle bus, eager to flee this castle.

If Man Yu had so much as turned his head halfway, he would have taken it as Man Yu coming to his senses and showing good judgment.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t.

Lu Yinbing withdrew his gaze.

It was just a nose, a pair of eyes, and a mouth. From this distance, there was no difference between him and anyone else.

Lu Yinbing had been surrounded by adoration since childhood, yet he possessed a rare virtue: his obsessions weren’t deep. He was free, easygoing, and did as he pleased. If there was something he wanted, he would get it. And what if he couldn’t? Well, the only thing he couldn’t seem to get was Man Yu.

If he couldn’t get him, so be it. Was he really going to stand on a rooftop, dying and wailing over someone he’d only met twice? Shamelessly begging them?

That was just crazy.

Splash—

“Cough cough cough, cough cough, help — help! Someone! Help me!”

Lu Yinbing braced both hands against the gleaming railing of the ferry, the night sea breeze gently brushing the black hair above his forehead that hadn’t been fixed with pomade. Full forehead, deep-set contours, narrow, long eyes — even the creases of his eyelids were perfect, like the proudest masterpiece of the most elite plastic surgeon.

Ink-black sky pouring down like a waterfall, stars blazing brilliant. On the sea, the ornate luxury ferry cut through the dark blue, tranquil waters. A handsome man leaned against the railing, gazing out — sharp suit, broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs. It was nothing short of a breathtaking, eye-cleansing sight.

It would have been wonderful if the person struggling in the water weren’t the one he’d pushed down.

Hearing the cries, the lifeguards rushed over and hurriedly hauled the floundering Sheng Lin out of the water.

Every banquet, there were nearly always one or two guests who fell overboard — like those scenes in melodramatic dramas where someone pushes someone in, or frames someone, and so on and so forth. Endless examples. The relentless drilling had already trained them with the proficiency of melodramatic-drama NPCs.

With so many guests at today’s wedding, they’d long been prepared.

Sheng Lin was drenched head to toe, his carefully groomed hairstyle a complete mess. Still in shock, he sat gasping on the deck, his eyes full of fear as he looked at Lu Yinbing.

He remembered having just come out of his susceptible period and couldn’t recall where he’d offended Lu Yinbing.

Lu Yinbing had his hands casually shoved in his suit trouser pockets, gazing down at him with a condescending look. Then he suddenly offered a faint smile and advised, “Be careful next time. If you accidentally drown, your wife will be a widow — how pitiful.”

What a pity Sheng Lin wasn’t mute. Why did he have to scream so loudly? Afraid of dying, was he? If he was afraid of death, he shouldn’t have married Man Yu.

Did Man Yu know his husband was a coward who clung to life? Did he know he was infatuated with a coward?

Sheng Lin spat out the briny seawater and nodded dazedly. Looking at Lu Yinbing’s open, frank expression, he began to wonder whether he’d actually been pushed by Lu Yinbing in the first place.

Lu Yinbing gave a cold snort and turned to leave.

Inside the banquet hall, the bride and groom were beaming as they exchanged rings, happiness and warmth filling every corner.

Lu Yinbing rather liked this kind of atmosphere. He casually took a glass of champagne and strolled closer. After all, he wasn’t a gloomy person — he was quite a sunny individual.

Then the MC announced the newlyweds could throw their bouquet to the guests.

A time-honored tradition: whoever caught the bouquet would soon find a lifelong partner.

Normally, standing toward the back, it wouldn’t have reached him. But this couple clearly had a good relationship, and working together, they launched the bouquet with all their might toward the audience. It sailed straight over countless heads and landed squarely in Lu Yinbing’s arms. The entire venue erupted in applause.

The champagne in Lu Yinbing’s hand tilted slightly from the impact, a few drops splattering out — drip, drip — dotting the lily-of-the-valley petals, catching the light like a few glittering dewdrops.

Lu Yinbing wasn’t the type to spoil the mood at a moment like this. He set down his glass and rose to return a smile to the couple.

Lu Xingyun looked at Lu Yinbing, then at the bouquet in his hand. First he fell into a conflicted silence, then joined everyone in happily applauding.

That day, that Beta named Man Yu had stayed in his brother’s study for barely a short while before leaving. His brother hadn’t sought him out afterward. Everything returned to normal — apparently there hadn’t been any deep feelings after all. He’d let go the moment he decided to. Well, they’d only known each other a short time.

It had probably just been a passing whim.

At the time, Lu Xingyun had genuinely been afraid. With Lu Yinbing’s personality — willful and demanding, wanting whatever he wanted — he feared his brother might do something illegal or break with propriety. Like locking the person up directly, or trading money or land with the Sheng family to take him. How was that any different from their great-great-grandfather?

With the Su family backing him, Lu Yinbing could absolutely walk away unscathed.

Fortunately, he hadn’t gone that far off the rails.

Lu Xingyun’s birthday wish this year was to sincerely pray that Lu Yinbing would find a gentle, kind Alpha or Omega to marry, and that Lu Yinbing would be hopelessly, slavishly in love with that person — so that the light of his sister-in-law could illuminate the entire Lu family and end his ten-year miserable life of being worked like an ox.

When he was young, he’d often hear his mother tell him to strive harder, saying half the Lu family was his. As he gradually grew up, both he and his mother realized the gap between him and Lu Yinbing was a chasm — one he could never bridge no matter how hard he tried.

Although Lu Yinbing’s personality was reckless and domineering, he knew what mattered and what didn’t. In business, his talent and vision were unmatched by any of the young masters in the entire capital. His overseas investments alone in the past few years could buy three of the Lu family’s subsidiaries.

So unless Lu Yinbing died, the Lu family would never fall into his hands.

When the gap between people was small, jealousy naturally took root. But when someone was so far ahead you couldn’t even catch up, you simply stopped caring.

The ferry still had three days before it would dock.

Although there were professional doctors aboard, Sheng Lin had unfortunately caught a cold from the fright. It wasn’t serious — nothing that warranted sending a helicopter to fly him back to land for treatment.

He didn’t dare expose that his fall into the sea was Lu Yinbing’s doing. Whether there were even cameras there was still uncertain, and Lu Yinbing had the backing of both the Lu and Su families — there was no way to shake him.

His frustration simmered unresolved, and combined with his physical discomfort, he tossed and turned. Memories of the past kept surfacing, making sleep elusive.

Ever since Lu Yinbing returned from abroad, Sheng Lin’s insomnia had worsened. Nothing felt right anywhere. That hollow, anxious restlessness — he couldn’t even confide in a single person.

People everywhere were waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

He idly unlocked his phone to browse messages. His finger scrolled to the bottom, where a green app lay quietly among the rest — the audiobook software his doctor had recommended, something to ease emotional stress before bed.

The interface could only be described as rudimentary. It was divided into a few rough sections. He tapped into the sleep-aid section, randomly switched between several bloggers without finding anything satisfying, then randomly clicked into the forum. At the top floated a help post, requesting recommendations for a high-quality sleep-aid blogger.

The top comment recommended someone called “Practicing Standard Mandarin,” and below it, several people were chiming in.

LemonIsn’tSour@: Recommend! Mommy’s voice is super gentle! My mommy complex is flaring up!

WhyCan’tSaltedDuckEggBeJustTheYolk@: So happy this treasure blogger was discovered! Mommy came back recently and the platform gave a push — I wonder if they’ll keep reading books.

Sheng Lin fumbled his way over and casually opened an episode.

At first came the soft rustle of turning pages — slow and unhurried. After a second or two, the host’s gentle voice emerged, unhurried, much like their name suggested — it really did sound like someone practicing Mandarin. Each word enunciated with painstaking clarity, the trailing sounds carrying a slight stickiness that made the voice seem soft and sweet.

“Today we’ll read a prose piece — Butter Griddle Cakes…”

“Xiao Sheng followed his father to the northern frontier…”

It was very soothing. Sheng Lin let out a breath of relief, feeling some of the tension in his nerves loosen. His eyelids grew steadily heavier.

——

Man Yu had never encountered anything so enormous — someone was asking him to have an affair!

He hadn’t agreed, but he was inevitably unsettled.

Ever since he’d fled the Lu household, he sometimes still dreamed of that day’s scene: the dark red carpet, crunching underfoot, sinking almost to his entire body, the intricate patterns on the fine pastries visible even in his dreams.

Thinking back filled Man Yu with lingering fear. His life couldn’t weather a single ripple. His future development was not something he could control — he had no capacity to bear the consequences. Or rather, no change would ever push him in a good direction, which was why he feared upheaval most of all.

Lu Yinbing’s palm had been very hot, pressed against his forehead. Besides family, he was the first person to touch his forehead. And Lu Yinbing had spoken with a smile.

This matter was known by heaven, earth, himself, and the Lu family — except for his own husband.

He could no longer simply think of Lu Yinbing as his husband’s white moonlight, which gave him a complicated, hard-to-articulate feeling whenever he looked at Sheng Lin.

He had always been afraid of Lu Yinbing; now he avoided him at every opportunity, terrified of receiving a call from Madam Sheng asking him to attend various occasions and bring Sheng Lin home — where he was very likely to run into Lu Yinbing.

Man Yu felt that going back and forth on the matter wasn’t helping, so he put the part-time job idea on his agenda.

The thought hadn’t just come to him that day at the sanatorium — it had been budding ever since he watched the balance in his card slowly, bit by bit, decrease. The Sheng family wouldn’t give him money. He was nearly thirty and too embarrassed to ask his family for it. He needed to earn some himself, so he’d have a foundation to stand on, and his aunt’s life would be a bit easier too.

Ordinary part-time work required showing his face, and if Madam Sheng found out, a scolding was inevitable. Being a reading blogger was out of the question now, given his circumstances. After searching for a long time, he finally found a part-time job online that he could do.

Man Yu had studied literature in university, and his essays had been decent in high school. So he took writing commissions at ten yuan per thousand characters — original character fanfiction and fan fiction.

Man Yu had been out of touch with society for a while. He even had to look up what “OC” meant. Most of his commissioners were very young Omegas, a full zodiac cycle younger than him, and communication took some effort.

The commissioners weren’t quite satisfied with his work — they complained his writing was too clean.

No matter how hard Man Yu tried, he couldn’t meet their requirements. All he could do was apologize, and commissions were few and far between.

Still, earning money made him happy. Ten thousand words was a hundred yuan; twenty thousand was two hundred. The Sheng family might not give him money, but he ate and lived at the Sheng household, so his expenses were minimal. This way, he could still save.

Before the ferry docked, Man Yu never contacted him. Lu Yinbing confirmed at last that Man Yu truly wanted nothing to do with him and had chosen to cleanly and decisively banish him from his world.

Actually, he was busy himself and had no time to keep waiting for Man Yu’s message.

Even if Man Yu was genuinely trying the “play hard to get” approach, he had no intention of engaging.

The lily-of-the-valley in the bouquet had already wilted. Lu Yinbing didn’t bring it ashore — he simply tossed it into the sea.

With Lu Yinbing out of the capital, the weather across the entire city turned clear.

Gao Yurong invited a few young masters who were close to Sheng Lin and moved the gathering to the Sheng household.

" I went to Shengjia Company to do a project that day. ， Just in time for dinner ， I said A-Lin’s food is different from that in the cafeteria ， Why is it so fragrant? ， After a lot of questioning, I found out that it was my sister-in-law’s craftsmanship. ， The brothers came here specially to try it. 。"

“That day I went to the Sheng company for a project and happened to hit mealtime. I told Ah Lin that the food was different from the cafeteria’s — why was it so fragrant? After pressing him, I found out it was sister-in-law’s cooking. The bros came specifically to try it.” Gao Yurong kept saying “sister-in-law,” but his eyes raked over Man Yu without any restraint. He leaned against the sofa, not showing the slightest politeness.

With suddenly so many people at home, Man Yu was still a bit uncomfortable. Gao Yurong’s gaze made him uneasy too. He rubbed his hands together and asked nervously what they’d like to eat.

They weren’t picky — they told him to just make whatever.

So Man Yu messaged the Sheng household’s head housekeeper , asking them to send over more groceries today.

In the living room, the smell of cigar tobacco and cologne mixed together. Man Yu could barely breathe and ducked straight into the kitchen.

Sheng Lin didn’t understand why they insisted on eating at his house specifically.

But since they were willing, let them come.

Man Yu was in the kitchen preparing ingredients while they talked and laughed outside. Their voices carried loudly, and he faintly heard them discussing Lu Yinbing. His hands paused.

“If we’re talking about it, it’s still Young Master Lu who has the most skill. The moment his parents divorced, his stepmother brought Lu Xingyun and seized the throne, right? I heard his mother signed an agreement specifically so she wouldn’t have to take him. How old was he then — seven or eight?

All these years, Lu Xingyun has been kept firmly under his thumb, not daring to move. Ah Lin, on this front we have to say — we should learn from Young Master Lu.”

“Young Master Lu’s methods aren’t something we can learn. I don’t have hands that cruel. Look at how he orders people around — sure he does, but those are small-time moves.”

“Methods? I think they’re just so-so. I heard he went to Ningcheng? What projects are there in Ningcheng now? Infrastructure there stopped years ago — every local government is pinching pennies.”

“Who knows. I heard he’s going to buy out some local infrastructure toll projects outright.”

“He’s crazy, isn’t he? Ningcheng is already dirt poor. Why would they sell profitable government projects to him for pennies?”

Man Yu couldn’t follow the rest. He quietly sorted vegetables in silence.

Man Yu always felt that Lu Yinbing’s personality wasn’t as domineering as they made it out to be. At most, he was a bit young and a bit proud — and he was actually much younger than his younger brother and sister.

These rich young masters always spoke in self-interest. Anything they weren’t happy with, they blew up to the heavens.

Sheng Lin hadn’t even defended the person he loved. Was this perhaps the highest pinnacle of love?

Even though I think you’re selfish, domineering, and tyrannical — even though I agree with every flaw they say you have — I still love you?

Man Yu naturally assumed that when Lu Yinbing had asked him to divorce that day, it was purely to toy with him. He held no anger or resentment toward Lu Yinbing.

Lu Yinbing hadn’t hit him or scolded him — just a child playing mischief with a smile. The consequences that were unbearable to Man Yu meant nothing to Lu Yinbing.

When Man Yu had been in university, Lu Yinbing had still been in primary school. Thinking of it this way, Man Yu couldn’t stay angry.

But he never could have imagined that Lu Yinbing’s parents had divorced when he was very young — that his own mother hadn’t even wanted custody of him. He had assumed that kind of personality could only be cultivated in a happy family.

Man Yu had left his parents at the age of two. At fifteen, he returned home and had been in boarding high school ever since, seeing his parents only rarely. There were many children in the family, and he wasn’t the most favored one. He could somewhat understand Lu Yinbing’s feelings.

That small measure of shared sympathy eased Man Yu’s fear of Lu Yinbing by a few degrees.

A dinner for six, cooked entirely by Man Yu alone — it had to be delicious and refined, well-organized, without losing face for Sheng Lin. Man Yu spun like a top in the kitchen, not even getting a sip of water.

Four cold dishes and six hot dishes, none prepared in advance. All the same, they were on the table right on time after four hours.

There was no seat for him at the table, and he couldn’t get a word in. He simply stayed behind in the kitchen to clean up. Having no experience, he hadn’t saved himself a portion. There was still some old duck soup left in the pot from the prepped ingredients, so he drank a bowl to fill his stomach.

The kitchen looked like a battlefield. He’d used six pots alone.

Man Yu, wearing an apron, scrubbed the pots vigorously. Through the clear glass wall, everything was visible — the butterfly bones raised by his movements, his slender waist that seemed less than a handful, and his delicate arms exposed by the rolled-up sleeves, so white they dazzled.

Gao Yurong’s seat faced directly into the main kitchen. Though separated by seven or eight meters, his eyesight was good. He squinted for a while and said to Sheng Lin, “Your wife is actually quite good-looking.”

Sheng Lin had never treated Man Yu as a wife. Gao Yurong commenting on Man Yu — even though it was already extremely rude — didn’t provoke any displeasure from Sheng Lin. At most, Man Yu was an annoying servant in his eyes. He believed Man Yu’s family had already taken enough advantage of him. Even that little company Man Jin ran was surviving only because of the Sheng family. He owed Man Yu nothing.

He gave a cold laugh: “Then let me transfer him to you. You’re so kind-hearted — take him in. Let people gossip about your back and see what great taste you have.”

Gao Yurong laughed and shook his head. Sheng Lin had no sense of romantic style whatsoever.

The day Lu Yinbing had casually lifted Man Yu’s hair, he knew Sheng Lin had struck gold.

This kind of beauty — but conservative, honest, and naive — was the most interesting to train. Starting from trembling at a single touch, gradually broken in, until she would spread her legs of her own accord, speaking dirty words and begging for it.

Unfortunately Man Yu was a Beta. If he were an Omega, his body would be more sensitive — much more interesting to train.

“You really want to give him to me? You can bear to?”

“You’d better take him off my hands, save me the trouble.”

Gao Yurong might have the heart but not the guts. After all, they were a legally registered couple. He just wanted to play around. Marriage was definitely out of the question. Sheng Lin didn’t care, but he wasn’t about to mess with someone’s legal spouse.

“Forget it. Didn’t you say you’re getting divorced? When are you planning to do it?”

That topic immediately set Sheng Lin’s temper boiling: “He’s shamelessly dragging his feet, refusing to divorce. Forget it — don’t bring it up.”

No matter how Sheng Lin forced Man Yu to divorce — whether through Make things difficult or verbal abuse — Man Yu was like a soft persimmon, letting him press and mold as he pleased, not showing the slightest temper. He absolutely would not budge.

Realizing he couldn’t take on Sheng Lin alone, he’d whispered in his mother’s ear. The more Sheng Lin looked at him, the more he saw a scheming, calculating person — all to avoid divorce and continue leeching off his household. For that whole clan of his, he really had endurance — comparable to Goujian sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall.

Since he had that much endurance, then don’t blame him for making him suffer endless hardship.

Gao Yurong called him over for drinks — stop dwelling on these annoying things.

When everyone had left, Man Yu finally stepped out of the kitchen. Looking at the remnants and scraps on the table, he had no appetite.

Setting aside the character of Gao Yurong and the others, their social etiquette since childhood was at least not lacking. Cleaning up didn’t take Man Yu much effort.

He wiped the corners and edges with hot water and detergent, then polished them with chamois until spotless. The plates were set neatly one by one. It was already past midnight.

Through Man Yu’s thin eyelids, the faint blue of blood vessels showed. His lashes hung low, curtaining his gaze. A vague, decadent exhaustion clung to him. He leaned against the sofa — a thin, slight figure that nearly blended into the leather.

On the tabletop sat a cigarette case. He had been staring vaguely at his own nose tip, but through the thin strands of hair, he caught sight of that delicate metal box.

He pushed himself up from the sofa, leaning lazily against the armrest. He drew one out, held it clumsily between his fingers, lit it, and took a deep drag — immediately choking into a fit of coughs. His pale skin flushed a peachy pink. His slender white fingertips trembled continuously, and ash from the burning cigarette fell onto his forearm.

——

When Lu Yinbing arrived in Ningcheng, the government officials received him warmly. They had assumed he was here to invest — only to discover he was here to pick their pockets.

Seeing the rejection coming, Lu Yinbing told them not to rush and gestured for his assistant to hand over the proposal he had prepared.

His slender fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest as he spoke unhurriedly: “Ningcheng lowered its loan interest rates by two percent last year, and extended both mortgage and commercial loan repayment periods from thirty years to fifty. As of March this year, additional income as a share of city revenue has grown four hundred percent year-on-year. I believe this additional income should include fines collected from small and micro enterprises, as well as…”

He stopped at the right moment: “So I’m not here to profit from Ningcheng — I’m here to help solve its problems. My uncle served here for ten years and has deep feelings for this city.”

The officials across the table looked somewhat relieved as they carefully reviewed the brief proposal. Beyond the purchase of toll operation rights for certain projects at a set price, there was another clause — a separate company would invest an additional six billion into local cultural tourism projects.

It was a good-sounding method on paper.

Supporting tourism projects — when did a private enterprise ever need to invest that much?

It was merely an elaborate pretext to fill their funding gap.

Five years ago, when the local real estate market was booming, ordinary people scrambled to take out bank loans to buy homes, and banks kept issuing bonds. The economy could only be described as flourishing.

Until last year. The bonds matured, and real estate simultaneously took a nosedive. The once-healthy cycle was broken. Tightening belts didn’t help. They urgently needed to resolve their debts.

One side was willing but couldn’t swallow their pride; the other extended an olive branch. Ningcheng and the Lu family clicked immediately.

In truth, the long-term returns of this project weren’t that impressive. But on the surface, Lu Yinbing — under the Lu family’s name — acquired, at an extremely low price and at great speed, the toll operation rights for several segments of Ningcheng infrastructure that had belonged to the local government.

He had just returned from abroad. At his age, he needed precisely this kind of achievement to showcase, making it convenient for him to encourage his father to retire early.

Of the Lu family’s stock, thirty-three percent was held by Lu Yinbing, eleven percent by Lu Hui, and the rest scattered among various shareholders.

Although Lu Yinbing’s holdings far exceeded his father’s, the group’s operational control had always remained in Lu Hui’s hands.

Lu Yinbing needed a positive, influential presence within the company — one that couldn’t be constrained.

He had also taken a thirty percent stake in Ningcheng’s local tourism project, though that investment was entirely his own. Naturally, so were the shares.

When Lu Yinbing left, few had faith in him. When he returned, it was all cheers and fanfare.

He had been abroad for four years. His reputation had gradually faded, and then his dramatic return had made people remember him again. They had thought him a playboy, but this project acquisition was dazzlingly well-executed — it instead gilded him in an even brighter light. Many praised him for being unconventional, having character, and possessing the bearing of his ancestors.

The Lu family took the opportunity to throw a grand birthday banquet for Lu Hui, inviting political and business elites. The Sheng family was prominently among them.

The birthday banquet included a dance, and guests were required to bring their own partners.

If Sheng Lin weren’t married, he could casually find an Omega to attend with him. But he was married. Bringing an outside Omega instead of his wife would be rather disrespectful. Lu Hui’s current wife had not risen through proper channels and was always suppressed by the first wife’s son in the household. Her feelings were sensitive, and the Sheng family feared offending her.

Chen Yanning gave Man Yu an emergency crash course. Whether he could hold his own or not didn’t matter — he wouldn’t need to socialize at that kind of occasion, few would notice him. All he had to do was quietly dance and leave.

The birthday banquet was in the evening. Man Yu had barely eaten since noon when he was dragged to the vanity to get his hair cut.

The makeup artist lifted his chin and examined him closely: “Such good skin — just a bit of lip balm will do. Some blush would be nice too, your complexion isn’t great…”

Man Yu’s face reddened. His hands, resting on his knees, clenched tight.

One of his eyelids had a very shallow crease — slightly asymmetric when examined closely. The makeup artist adjusted that eye shape, defined his brows, deepened the contours around his eye sockets and the shadows at his outer corners. She tried mascara but wiped it off, leaving him to press his own lips together after applying lip balm.

This was the first time Man Yu had been handled like this — even grander than his wedding day. He and Sheng Lin had never had a wedding. On the day they got their marriage certificate, he’d borrowed a hair tie from Man Tang to pull his bangs back, taken a photo, and uploaded it to the system. That was it.

Man Yu was a bit uncomfortable. Sitting beside her, he kept wanting to touch his hair, but Chen Yanning shot him a glare and he quickly pulled his hands back.

Nearly a month had passed since he’d met Lu Yinbing alone. Lu Yinbing hadn’t sought him out again. Man Yu gradually relaxed. Today the Lu family was the host, and Lu Yinbing was currently the man of the hour — surely even less likely to pay him any attention.

These thoughts of his were perhaps too much wishful thinking.

Man Yu thought, mocking himself.

Sheng Lin finished getting ready and came out from the walk-in closet, fastening his cuffs. The tiny, exquisite cufflink slipped in his fingers. Seeing this, Man Yu stepped forward and gently helped him secure it.

Sheng Lin naturally extended his arm, then his gaze drifted over — and his movements stilled. Man Yu had his hair done: the soft hair parted slightly, padded into volume, no gel — perfectly fresh. Fine, stray strands fell onto his straight, handsome bridge of nose with each movement.

After a moment, he withdrew his gaze. He even pulled his arm away with something like haste, fastening the other cuff himself.

Man Yu bit his lower lip gently, a trace of melancholy in his eyes.

The Sheng family arrived neither too early nor too late. Man Yu held Sheng Lin’s arm, walking behind the Sheng couple. They handed the gift to the butler, presented their invitations, and were escorted into the banquet hall of the side building.

Assistant Zhou’s status had risen considerably. Though his role was simply to receive guests, he was surrounded by madams and gentlemen, all trying to fish from him for hints about Lu Yinbing’s preferences.

Having been by Lu Yinbing’s side for so long, Assistant Zhou had a keen eye. The moment Man Yu walked in, he recognized him and gave him an imperceptible nod and smile of greeting.

Man Yu nearly jumped out of his skin.

Sheng Lin noticed Man Yu’s grip on his arm yank hard. Thinking it was just nerves from being at such a grand occasion for the first time, he frowned disapprovingly and reminded: “Don’t embarrass me.”

Man Yu took a deep breath and nodded quickly and lightly.

Lu Yinbing had gone through one susceptible period in the past month. Now the household inhibitors were getting increasingly ineffective. Sometimes he genuinely wanted to sue the pharmaceutical company under the Lu family’s umbrella as a consumer.

With so many people, the mingling of various colognes and hair gels was particularly grating. After dealing with a few important guests, he retreated to the second-floor railing to dodge his duties.

Lu Yinbing was a decisive person. When he said he wouldn’t think about something, he truly forced himself to stop. He thought his matter with Man Yu was simply over.

When the Sheng family appeared in the banquet hall, his gaze locked onto the one holding Sheng Lin’s arm instantly.

The room was filled with the rustle of elegant silks and perfumes. That person’s outfit wasn’t particularly striking — a simple white suit wrapped around a slender body. His legs were elongated and straightened further by the tailored trousers. Every inch of him practically screamed stiffness and tension, clinging tightly to Sheng Lin.

Lu Yinbing’s instinct had already preemptively sensed trouble, but the brain wasn’t bound by sentimental instinct — it independently identified the person for him.

The warrior who had rejected Lu Yinbing. Sheng Lin’s devoted, faithful wife. And the prime culprit behind Lu Yinbing’s desire to sue the Lu family’s pharmaceutical company — Man Yu.

Disliking him, yet dressing up so beautifully to walk into his house. Not even afraid there’d be no way out.

Lu Yinbing’s fingertips tapped rhythmically on the railing, his gaze resting on the joined arms of Man Yu and Sheng Lin.

Admittedly, pushing Sheng Lin into the sea that day had perhaps been a bit irrational. But looking back, it was human nature. He had only done what any man would do — fighting for one’s own happiness was beyond reproach.

The only one to blame was his own soft heart, which had never actually intended to taint someone’s happy wedding. And Sheng Lin’s voice was too loud, and his constitution too tough.

He didn’t make things difficult for himself. After a mere two-second struggle, he simply followed his own wishes and gave Assistant Zhou a look.

Rejected him, yet still wants to cling to dear hubby in front of him?

In your dreams.