Chapter 4: Duobao Pavilion

For a moment, the room went utterly silent.

Then a particularly grating burst of laughter broke out.

It came, of course, from Lu Muxue and her parents.

“Lin Feng, give you an inch and you take a mile. Where do you get the nerve to claim you can win over Juntian Group?”

“Listen to yourself! A penniless nobody strutting around like some big shot!”

Lu Jianwei and his wife joined in with sneers. “It takes all sorts, doesn’t it? You open your mouth and announce you can secure Juntian Group. Do you think you own it?”

“Wanqing, do keep that pauper of a husband under control. Behind closed doors, we can laugh off his nonsense.”

“But if this gets out, what will people think of us? It’s our family he’ll be disgracing!”

Their laughter and taunts stabbed into Lu Wanqing like needles.

Her uncle’s family had rejected Lin Feng and foisted him on her. For the sake of Lu Pharmaceuticals, she had swallowed her anger and accepted.

She had thought it would be tolerable as long as he behaved himself.

Instead, he kept causing trouble, even boasting that he could secure Juntian Group.

How could anyone be so incapable of recognizing his own limitations?

“Enough!”

Lu Zhengguo, who had remained silent, suddenly barked the word.

He had concluded that Lin Feng was far too blunt and couldn’t tell advice from insults. If he let this carry on, they could argue for three days and nights without getting anywhere.

He looked first at Lu Muxue, then at Lu Wanqing.

“As far as a partnership with Juntian Group is concerned, I have no intention of favoring either side,” he said gravely.

“Any descendant of this family who secures that partnership, by whatever means, will become president of Lu Group.”

Lu Muxue opened her mouth, but a look from her father stopped her.

To Lu Jianwei, with the Zhang family’s help, the partnership was as good as secured. The presidency would inevitably go to his daughter.

Lin Feng and Lu Wanqing were no more than a joke.

“That’s enough. I’m tired. You may all go.”

After they left the old family residence, Lu Muxue addressed Lin Feng and Lu Wanqing with her chin raised.

“You think you can compete with me for the presidency, Lu Wanqing? You’ll only make a fool of yourself.”

Lu Wanqing clenched her teeth. She wanted to argue, but faced with her cousin’s confidence and the Zhang family’s support, she could only sigh, as though resigned to her fate.

Then Lin Feng’s lazy voice broke in.

“Keep dreaming. This isn’t over yet.”

…

“Where are we going, honey?”

After parting ways with Lu Muxue and her family, Lin Feng got into Lu Wanqing’s car.

“This marriage is just a transaction. Don’t call me your wife when there’s no one else around,” she said, clearly resenting the endearment.

Lin Feng merely shrugged and leaned back in the rear seat.

Things between them had certainly moved fast. One night together, then marriage registration the next day. Any normal person would need time to adjust.

What was it people in the city called this? Marriage first, love later.

No rush. They could get used to each other.

Something seemed to occur to Lu Wanqing, and her tone softened considerably.

“Since we’re married, what’s mine is yours and vice versa. The million yuan I gave you earlier is marital property now. You wouldn’t know how to handle such a large sum.”

“Give it to me. I’ll keep it safe.”

To Lu Muxue, a million yuan might be no more than a month’s spending money. To Lu Wanqing, it mattered enormously.

Her standing in the family had plummeted after her father’s death. She could no longer spend freely the way her cousin did. She had worked hard to save that money.

If she hadn’t needed Lin Feng to keep their secret, she would never have handed over all her savings.

But now they were married. Of course she had to get it back.

Unfortunately, things weren’t going to work out quite as she hoped.

Lin Feng folded his arms and answered with a perfectly straight face. “You just said this was a transaction. In that case, I earned that money by sacrificing my innocence.”

“Now you want it back? So you expect to get me for free?”

Lu Wanqing almost choked.

She had expected him to hand over the money without hesitation. Instead, he had turned her own argument against her and left her speechless.

She was about to give him a proper talking-to when her phone suddenly rang.

She answered, and her mother Chen Huijuan’s panicked voice came through.

“Wanqing, I’ve got myself into trouble!”

…

At Duobao Pavilion in Jiangcheng, several burly men surrounded Chen Huijuan. A heavily made-up woman watched her with a sneer.

“Ma’am, those mutton-fat jade bangles were the pride of our shop. They’re worth a fortune.”

“You broke them and now you want to walk out without paying? What do you think Duobao Pavilion is, a market stall you can wander in and out of as you please?”

Chen Huijuan went pale and pressed her lips together.

“I didn’t break them,” she protested. “You let go before I’d even touched them!”

She bitterly regretted coming in. She had only been passing on her way to buy groceries when a shop assistant had somehow ushered her inside.

She was their lucky ten-thousandth customer, they said. She could collect a free gift.

Once inside, she had learned that nothing in the world cost more than something free.

At first, they really did give her a small present, along with a scratch card.

When she scratched it, the assistant made a tremendous fuss. She had won the grand prize! For just one yuan, she could take home a pair of immensely valuable mutton-fat jade bangles.

Step by step, they had drawn her in. The bangles’ soft, lustrous color had tempted her, and she had decided to try them on.

But before her hands even touched them, they had fallen to the floor and shattered.

The previously friendly assistant had instantly changed her tune. Chen Huijuan had broken the shop’s most treasured piece. She had to pay for it.

The price she named was a million yuan.

Not a cent less, or Chen Huijuan wasn’t going anywhere.

The moment she heard the sum, Chen Huijuan realized she’d been trapped.

Back when her husband Lu Hongwei was alive, she wouldn’t have blinked at paying a million, or even five million.

But since his death, she and her daughter’s position in the family had collapsed, along with their finances.

A million yuan was an astronomical sum to her now.

“This is a scam! I’m calling the police!”

She took out her phone, but the assistant snatched it away before she could make the call.

“What exactly are you implying, ma’am?”

“Are you saying I deliberately smashed the bangles and blamed you?”

“What do you take Duobao Pavilion for? Some crooked shop that cheats its customers?”

“If you have no money, don’t come in here and embarrass yourself. You break our merchandise and think you can just walk away?”

“That’s not how the world works.”

“Either you pay, or you leave both your hands behind.”

The woman’s voice rose sharply. The burly men fixed Chen Huijuan with hostile stares, cracking their knuckles.

Duobao Pavilion was no ordinary jeweler. It hadn’t maintained its position in Jiangcheng without powerful backing.

With no other choice, Chen Huijuan had called her daughter Lu Wanqing for help.

The assistant looked smug. She had used these vicious methods successfully many times before.

Duobao Pavilion had a reputation. Most people chose to pay to avoid trouble. After all, they could tell the difference between losing money and losing their lives.

As time dragged on, the assistant grew impatient.

Her face darkened. “Didn’t you say your daughter was bringing the money right away?”

“How long has it been? She still isn’t here. Are you playing games with me?”

“You can’t afford the consequences of that.”

Chen Huijuan shook her head frantically.

“You saw me call her. She may have been held up on the way.”

The woman narrowed her eyes viciously. “Enough. I don’t have time to waste on you. Who knows who you actually called? Maybe it was all an act to stall for time.”