“Liang Xing! Quick, come on up, come on up!”

The moment Wang Tai caught sight of Liang Xing, she surged forward with great warmth to greet her, and without pausing for breath introduced her to the crowd: “The former President Liang of the Longquan Group.”

The word “former” was used with exquisite precision.

“Wang Tai, it’s been a long time.”

Liang Xing wore a polite smile and offered a courteous greeting.

Wang Tai immediately hooked her arm through Liang Xing’s in an intimate gesture and steered her inside.

As they passed Jiang Han and Lin Qing, Wang Tai deliberately shot a fierce glare and shouldered Lin Qing — hard!

“What sort of thing are you.”

The blow sent Lin Qing stumbling backward with a heavy lurch!

She was knocked clean out of the way.

Lin Qing steadied herself and rubbed her aching shoulder blade, then shot Jiang Han a look that was equal parts indignant and pitiful.

She mouthed the words at him: What sort of thing am I?

Jiang Han rubbed her shoulder and asked, “Does it hurt?”

“Of course it hurts,” Lin Qing squirmed and muttered under her breath. “Is this Wang Tai a wealthy socialite or a sumo wrestler? She’s got the strength to uproot a weeping willow by its roots.”

“You’ve had it rough,” Jiang Han said. “If it turns out to be a fracture, it counts as a workplace injury — the company will cover it.”

Lin Qing grumbled indignantly, “Are you even human?! No — tonight when we get home, you have to let me shoulder-check you back.”

“Childish.”

Lin Qing kept massaging her shoulder and lowered her voice in puzzlement: “Even if I am the ‘other woman,’ when did everyone’s moral standards get so elevated? This Wang Tai isn’t hosting an elegant gathering — she’s practically running the Women’s Federation.”

Jiang Han turned slightly, his voice low at her ear: “That’s why I say — you may be clever, but you’re still young, and you lack social experience. There’s a saying: laugh at the poor, not the promiscuous. Ever heard it?”

“I’ve heard it.”

“So — Wang Tai’s disdain for you isn’t just because you’re the ‘other woman.’ It’s even more because you’re poor.” Jiang Han unveiled the answer.

For Lin Qing, this was a double blow.

Fine, fine — the poor had no business breathing the same air in a place like this.

Jiang Han led Lin Qing into the main hall. There was still an hour before the event formally began, and everyone had gathered around the dessert table to chat.

“You see that Zhao Tai over there — the one with the jadeite around her neck. She’s the ‘other woman’ who climbed to the top. But so what? She has a head for business, helped her husband’s company through its IPO, pushed out the original wife, and now everyone still respectfully calls her ‘Zhao Tai,’ don’t they?”

Jiang Han’s gaze singled out a wealthy matron not far away.

Lin Qing glanced at the enormous jade pendant around the woman’s neck, then looked down at her own H-brand necklace.

For the first time, she felt that even Hermès could look this modest.

Wang Zaiwu and Liang Meng spotted Jiang Han and Lin Qing and came over to say hello.

Wang Zaiwu turned to Lin Qing: “You’re quite the… ugly duckling turned swan, aren’t you.”

Lin Qing replied with self-deprecating nonchalance: “Just new packaging, that’s all.”

Liang Meng and Jiang Han exchanged a glance.

Both of them, simultaneously, looked toward Liang Xing in the distance.

Although Liang Xing rarely came out to socialise these days, she still navigated this kind of occasion with effortless grace.

And what was more, she was now driven by nothing — and that made her unassailable.

“Liang Xing, you haven’t come out to join us in so long — what do you do, shut yourself up at home all day?” Wang Tai held a glass of champagne and asked.

Liang Xing smiled: “Nothing in particular. It’s just that after thirty-five, people start getting lazy. I’ve come to love staying in.”

At that, Zhao Tai chimed in unsolicited: “Liang Xing, it’s not good for you to keep living so reclusively. Even when there’s nothing going on, you should come out with us — shop, get some beauty treatments, breathe some fresh air. And as for your man — you really need to keep a closer eye on him. Look at what’s become of you, being bullied by outsiders.”

As she finished, Zhao Tai gave a meaningful jerk of her chin in Lin Qing’s direction.

Lin Qing saw it clear as day.

They were absolutely sizing her up and picking her apart.

Liang Xing said nothing, her face utterly expressionless as she raised the champagne to her lips once more.

Fearing an awkward silence, Wang Tai stepped in to smooth things over: “Never mind all that. Liang Xing, I haven’t had the chance to congratulate you yet. Our Wang tells me that with Longquan’s cash-out, you made quite a tidy sum.”

Liang Xing, cool and composed, knowing full well the woman had come with ill intent, still responded with perfect courtesy: “Market price, nothing more. Wang Zong and I both felt it was entirely ‘fair.'”

“Fair is what matters. I don’t really understand the business side of things — Wang tells me when he comes home.”

“A cash-out? Liang Xing, why did you suddenly cash out?”

Several of the wealthy wives perked up at that phrase as though they’d heard a trigger word, and swarmed over in a cluster.

In this circle, it wasn’t enough to merely be rich — one had to be powerful as well, wearing rank and social standing like a badge. The moment Liang Xing cashed out, she was at most a small-scale rich woman with assets barely cresting a billion — less influential than a major online celebrity, and no longer the dignified female president she had been.

The distinction in prestige was palpable.

And so the assembled crowd began speaking to her with progressively greater boldness.

Zhao Tai was the first to stir the pot: “Oh my, Liang Xing, how could you be so foolish! No matter how messy things get in romance, you can’t take it out on company shares!”

“Exactly! Why make things hard for yourself and let that little vixen benefit for free?”

“You were doing so well as the president of Longquan. Such a pity. At least it was Wang Zong who bought it — imagine if someone else had taken the opportunity to squeeze you dry.”

Liang Xing listened to it all and offered no explanation, as though she hadn’t heard a word, entirely indifferent.

“If I recall correctly, you were the largest shareholder in Longquan, Jiang Han was the second largest, and after that came your sister,” said a wealthy matron adorned with sandalwood beads and dzi stones. “Now that both you and Jiang Han have withdrawn — your sister…?”

At that, Liang Xing involuntarily glanced over at Liang Meng, who was busy not far away.

She raised her champagne glass and, using the moment to her advantage in front of Wang Tai, smiled and said: “Liang Meng seems to be doing quite well with Zaiwu right now. As for the company’s affairs, I trust Wang Zong and Wang Tai will handle them appropriately.”

Wang Tai’s expression immediately stiffened. She lifted the glass rim to her lips, but her throat did not move to swallow.

Nearby, someone who was not aware of the situation chimed in cheerfully: “What a handsome couple they make! Wang Tai, when do we get to toast little Wang’s wedding?”

Wang Tai smiled — though the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes — and suddenly turned to Liang Xing: “Quite right. I’ve been urging our Wang to make arrangements for Liang Meng too, but… there are some complications that are rather difficult to sort out.”

“Such as?” Liang Xing asked.

“It’s true that right now Zaiwu and Liang Meng are utterly devoted to each other, inseparable. But I know my own son. I wouldn’t call him fickle exactly, but he’s still young, with an unsettled disposition. Last year alone he had no fewer than seven or eight girlfriends. I worry he’ll end up wasting Xiao Meng’s time.”

Liang Xing took a sip of wine, tasted the undertone, and quietly watched the performance.

“After all, women and men are fundamentally different. Men spend their whole lives preoccupied with their careers — but we women, we spend our whole lives preoccupied with our feelings.” Wang Tai talked herself into a sigh of lament, “I’m afraid that Zaiwu might end up hurting Liang Meng someday. And if she gets her heart broken and acts impulsively and ‘cashes out’ too — well, the Longquan Group would be left without a leader again! And by then, when our Wang tries to put someone new in place, his words won’t carry the same weight.”

The crowd, which had been talking over one another moments before, gradually fell into complete silence as Wang Tai spoke.

With Wang Tai’s analogy, Liang Meng and Liang Xing — a pair of sisters — were instantly recast, both of them, as women who let their hearts rule their heads.

One had to admit, Wang Tai was masterful at setting the tone. From the very start, she had guided everyone toward a single verdict on Liang Xing’s “cash-out” — heartbreak.

And the facts spoke louder than any argument.

Jiang Han and Lin Qing were standing right there on the other side of the room.

Liang Xing, having been walked into the trap, could only feign composure and press on: “Wang Tai, you’re really overthinking this. I know my own sister — Liang Meng is far stronger and more decisive than I am…”

Before she could finish, Wang Tai cut her off without mercy.

Wang Tai seemed to sense she had found a sore spot. She patted Liang Xing’s hand with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes: “After all, she’s not your blood sister — there’s a degree of separation there. Don’t be too confident.”

From across the room, Liang Meng noticed her sister appeared to be surrounded. Uneasy, she grabbed Wang Zaiwu and came over to see what was going on.

“Mom! Aunt Zhao! Aunt Wang! Liang Xing! What are you all talking about?”

Wang Zaiwu, nudged forward by Liang Meng, grinned and pushed his way into the group.

Seeing Wang Zaiwu arrive, Zhao Tai teased: “We were just asking your mother when we get to drink at your and Liang Meng’s wedding banquet.”

“Why does there have to be a wedding?” Wang Zaiwu feigned ignorance. “Marriage — just the sound of it, and you know it’s nothing good!”

He counted on his fingers for the crowd: “It’s a grave, a cage, and shackles! It’s… the product of a brain fog! I’m never getting married.”

Wang Tai, pleased yet performing displeasure, reproached her own son: “Then what about Liang Meng?”

Wang Zaiwu looked aggrieved: “The two of us are perfectly happy as we are. Which law says that if two people have a good relationship, they must get married? It’s not an arranged match.”

The wealthy matrons looked on as though watching a teenager, and at Wang Zaiwu’s “childish prattle” they exchanged amused glances all around.

“If you’re all going to insist that only people with genuine feelings should get married, then I’ll take that seriously,” Wang Zaiwu continued, unstoppable. “Take my Uncle Jiang Han, for instance — he got married and still…”

“Zaiwu!!”

The moment she heard her son bring up Jiang Han, Wang Tai cut him off urgently, then shot a meaningful glance at Liang Xing.

Wang Zaiwu caught himself, as though he’d said too much, and quickly apologised: “I didn’t mean it that way, Liang Xing, please don’t take it to heart.”

The more he urged her not to take it to heart, the more everyone’s thoughts naturally turned toward Liang Xing.

Liang Meng watched in silence. Putting herself in her sister’s shoes, she thought: if she were in Liang Xing’s position right now, how utterly humiliating and mortifying it would feel.

Yet Liang Xing simply remained calm, poised, and graceful, breaking into a gentle smile: “I won’t take it to heart. Besides, I’m not sure where any of this is coming from. Jiang Han and I have always been a practical partnership — we never registered a marriage certificate. So legally speaking, he currently has the right to choose his own happiness.”

At those words, the entire crowd was stunned into silence.

Even Liang Meng was taken aback!

The thing she had been chasing shadows of, trying all along to confirm, was tonight calmly and openly stated by Liang Xing herself, in front of everyone.

Liang Xing’s tone was even, her bearing neither servile nor haughty, as though she were simply issuing a public notice to the assembled crowd.

“You… you’re not married?”

Zhao Tai was the first to blink and stammer.

“But… you threw such a grand party at the time. My husband and I were both there to witness it.”

“It was nothing more than a pretext — an excuse to invite everyone to come and have a good time.” Liang Xing smiled.

“Liang Xing! So you mean to say that when you and Jiang Han parted ways, you walked away with absolutely nothing?” someone immediately cried out on her behalf.

“This man is so irresponsible. He’s just used you up and discarded you.” Zhao Tai said.

In their circle, divorce and separation were nothing to be ashamed of.

But to be abandoned without a name, without a title — to walk away with nothing, or worse, to have given and received nothing in return — that was shameful.

“No wonder that little vixen has been clinging to him so relentlessly! It turns out Jiang Han has been playing this game all along.”

“Tsk, tsk. When a man is calculating, he’s ten thousand times more calculating than any woman.”

Throughout the entire exchange, it seemed as though everyone first reproached Liang Xing for her devoted foolishness — and yet no one could hear the utter indifference beneath her words.

Their pity was, if anything, confirmation from the side — that Jiang Han was a coveted prize, a prize rich enough to be pressed for oil.

It seemed, somehow, that Liang Xing had no reason whatsoever not to love Jiang Han.

“Goodness, this new-fangled style of alliance your family has — I suppose I’m really just too old. I genuinely find it a bit hard to accept.”

Wang Tai shook her head with a click of her tongue.

She looked at Wang Zaiwu and Liang Meng, then deliberately turned to provoke Liang Meng: “Xiao Meng, what do you think? Surely you don’t share the same ridiculous ideas as that useless son of mine?”

Liang Meng fixed Wang Tai with a deep, steady gaze and replied without taking the bait: “Actually, I don’t think like Zaiwu — I think like my sister. And my sister is right: when there is love, people come together and share in life’s richness, without scheming for each other’s interests; and when love is gone, they part independently and freely, without entangling each other’s futures. The guiding principle is to part on good terms — not to disrupt another person’s life, and not to leave regrets in one’s own. If a marriage has no love left in it, and two people still cling to the relationship for the sake of status and gain — that is the real tragedy. Would you not agree, Aunt Wang?”