Wei Yan's actions certainly made more sense now. He believed that he was truly in love with Xue Ning, but what he was in love with was besting Jingwei - and what better way to do that than to snatch the woman he loved from him right from his nose?
Who that woman was wouldn't matter - if Jingwei had moved on to Chun Fei, Wei Yan would have stolen her too!
Xue Ning scowled.
"You fucker! You have a lot of nerve treating me like a prize to be won!" Xue Ning hated it when she became an unwitting chess piece in someone else's game! Her foot flexed, itching to deliver another swift kick.
"You're terrible!" Chun Fei agreed, nodding her head fervently. "I could still forgive you for making a fool out of me if you honestly loved Xue Ning, but it turns out, you don't even like her enough to respect her!"
"Huh?" Xue Ning turned to Chun Fei and shook her head. "Nonsense, don't forgive him for making a fool out of you! He hasn't even apologised! Hold onto your anger!"
"Yes!" Chun Fei said, watching Xue Ning with barely concealed admiration as she tapped into the residual anger she felt at being fooled. She quickly wiped her eyes dry with her dirty shirt. Now all she wanted was to see her childhood hero make this scoundrel pay for his misdeeds!
"Scumbag!"
"Bastard!"
"Asshole!"
The crowd began to yell more insults, shaking their head in disgust. Xue Ning was also feeling similarly disgusted, both at Wei Yan and at the crowd. They switched sides so quickly as though they were a weather vane fluttering in the wind.
If Wei Yan had more sense, he would have known better than to involve them - but then, he probably thought everything would go according to his plan.
Ming Guang continued to address Jingwei. "Young Master Sun, perhaps it is my fault things got to this point. As his senior, I did not manage to curb his behaviour, hence he became this menace that created so much trouble. I did not have the foresight to realise how his immaturity could have such far-reaching consequences. If you must punish someone, punish me instead."
Ming Guang ended his statement with a deep bow of apology.
For the first time, Wei Yan felt the barest feeling of guilt curdle his intestines. He never expected Ming Guang to blame himself for his own mistakes! Wei Yan's face turned red.
"Senior! Don't apologise! You did nothing wrong!" Wei Yan yelled. The sight of prideful, determined Ming Guang lowering his head to Sun Jingwei out of all people sent fury coursing through him.
How dare Sun Jingwei push his senior into a corner! Wei Yan gnashed his teeth. Of course, he chose to ignore the fact that Ming Guang wouldn't have needed to do this if Wei Yan had just kept quiet and did his job.
He could handle the vitriol of townspeople who never knew him and who he would never meet again, but now he was smacked with the notion that he let down his senior who had every faith in his abilities, who wanted him to succeed, who believed he could do better.
"Senior, don't bow anymore! It's not your fault!"
"You idiot!" Ming Guang barked out, shooting death glares at Wei Yan even with his bowed head. "If I had kicked the shit out of you when you first decided to be a disrespectful brat, this whole mess could have been avoided!"
"I wasn't disrespectful!"
"You're still refusing to learn from your mistakes?" Ming Guang exclaimed, upset. "Young Master Sun, I'm sorry that this boy has caused you this much trouble. You should contact Captain Mu to ask for a replacement immediately."
Jingwei blinked - he certainly wasn't expecting Ming Guang to carry the blame! His personal opinion of Ming Guang rose higher - while his opinion of Wei Yan continued to plummet faster than the crashing stock market.
"Ming Guang, it's not your fault," Jingwei said, not liking the regretful look he saw in Ming Guang's eyes. "Wei Yan is a grown man who made his own choices. Admittedly, the choices were terrible and caused a lot of trouble for me, but you're not his father!"
As Jingwei tried to make Ming Guang stand upright, he could only feel more contempt towards Wei Yan - Wei Yan had someone that treated him like a blood-brother, that wanted to see him succeed and was willing to shoulder part of the blame when things went sour.
And what did Wei Yan do in the face of such faith? He spat it in the face without even thinking!
"Don't blame yourself," Xue Ning added. "Besides, it's not as though this man here appreciates your help. He still doesn't acknowledge that he did anything wrong!"
Yep. A quick glance showed that Wei Yan was still red-faced, gritting his teeth in anger. Even his eyes were looking redder than usual - Xue Ning would prescribe him a few bottles of eyedrops, but she wasn't feeling particularly kind towards him now.
"That's because I didn't do anything wrong! All's fair in love and war!" Wei Yan declared angrily. "And if your relationship did end because of me, then…" a wicked smirk crossed his face, "then it's not that strong to begin with!"
"Our relationship is plenty strong, thank you very much for your concern," Xue Ning said sarcastically. "Any last words before I kick you again?"
A wiser man would have gotten the cue to shut up. Wei Yan was not such a man.
"If it's not me, someone else will do it!" Wei Yan scoffed with smug superiority, never mind that he was outnumbered and in pain.
"In fact, remember Zhou Yu? I'll bet my life she's going to return for revenge!"
("Who is Zhou Yu? Is it one of Sun Jingwei's ex-lovers?" Tai Cheng whispered to his wife.
"How would I know?" Yue Niang complained. "I live here with you!")
"It's good to know that you care so much for my relationship. You know what, since you are so interested, I have the best idea!" Jingwei said, sounding oddly cheerful. "Ming Guang, call Captain Mu for a replacement, but I'm not going to fire Wei Yan! He can stay with me!"
"What?!" That exclamation came from at least five voices. There was being magnanimous and there was being a moron! This was tantamount to not only inviting a thief to your house, but also helpfully giving him the code to the safe and the location of your valuables!
"Since he cares so much about our love story Xue Ning, I vote that we keep him around so he can continue to watch us be happy and in love, until Captain Mu sends his replacement over. What do you think?"
"I think you're evil," Xue Ning said honestly, her face begrudgingly impressed at the sheer despicableness of Jingwei's idea. "I don't even know whether to be afraid or proud."
"Pick 'proud' please," Jingwei cajoled, batting his ridiculously thick eyelashes as he held her hand, staring at her with pleading, lovestruck eyes. In the crowd, women swooned and sighed.
Meanwhile Xue Ning could only roll her eyes. Jingwei certainly wasn't wasting any time enacting his new plan - which was basically to make Wei Yan die of jealousy by flaunting their relationship over and over, or to drive him into throwing his resignation letter!
"Fine, I'll be proud. You stupid man."
He leaned closer to whisper in her ear. From the corner of her eye, she can spot Wei Yan trembling like a bottle of coke with a mentos inside it, as though he was barely holding himself together at the sight of their heads bowed together.
As though their very happiness caused him pain.
"If he quits, I don't have to pay his severance." Jingwei murmured in her ear. "I like to save money."
"You're a billionaire's son," Xue Ning pointed out, crossing her arms in amusement. "You literally splurged millions of dollars for the world's ugliest branded suitcase."
"And if I don't need to pay his severance, I can buy you a matching ugly suitcase." Jingwei said cheerfully. "Wouldn't it be great?"
"You're a terrible man," Xue Ning said, shaking her head fondly.
"I'm your terrible man," Jingwei corrected gently, and pressed a kiss on her cheek in full view of everyone present. There was a chorus of hastily stifled gasps and squeals - now the crowd knew that Sun Jingwei and Li Xue Ning were theoretically an item, but seeing the proof in front of their eyes was something else altogether!
Li Xue Ning had really done the impossible. Out of all the girls in their tiny town, this girl had managed to snatch the heart of a billionaire's son!
It was a plot right out of a romance novel, and the crowd couldn't help but become starry-eyed, even as they watched with barely concealed jealousy.
"Look out!" Chun Fei screamed.
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