Chapter 52 Part 3

Zhu Zhao ignored him completely, turning straight to Zhu Mingya. “For three years, don’t take a single cent from the Zhu Family.”

Every eye in the room swiveled back toward them.

If this had just been a spat between Zhu Mingya and Yan Mian, it probably would have blown over. But Zhu Zhao’s tea set was involved now, and there was no patching that up.

In that instant, everyone who’d ever been on the receiving end of Zhu Mingya’s barbs secretly hoped the drama would explode even bigger.

Zhu Mingya went white as a sheet.

If Zhu Zhao had demanded compensation, fine—but cutting off her money spigot entirely? No one else would dare step in. She’d grown accustomed to a life of luxury; the mere thought made her recoil in horror. “Auntie, Yan Mian was the one gripping Mimi and refusing to let go. Mimi was uncomfortable, so I reached out to pick it up—”

One sentence, and she’d lobbed the grenade straight into Yan Mian’s lap.

Even Jiang Yue—who’d been sitting calmly, convinced she could stay above the fray—furrowed her brow.

Yan Mian felt her phone buzz softly, but she didn’t check it. She hesitated, wondering if she should speak up, when Zhu Lexing cut in with a cold laugh. “If you can’t talk right, I don’t mind making sure you never talk again.”

That single line ignited several gazes around the room, turning them fierce and eager.

It was like a food chain: Zhu Lin forever at the bottom. He didn’t even wait for Zhu Yan to chime in before jumping to defend his face. “Lexing, how can you talk to your cousin Yaya like that? Apologize to her.”

Zhu Mingya pinched herself hard and finally managed to cry from the pain.

Zhu Mingyuan’s eyes reddened on cue. “Auntie, Yaya knows she was wrong. But even if she bears some blame, doesn’t Yan Mian carry the rest?”

Zhu Lexing figured the siblings must have trained in the same acting class.

Awful. Utterly ham-fisted.

“She said the words. She broke the items. And I’m supposed to apologize? Doesn’t make sense.”

Zhu Lin couldn’t endorse Zhu Mingya’s nonsense—it would slight Jiang Yue and Yan Mian too much.

Zhu Yan finally spoke up. “Regardless, you shouldn’t let an outsider fracture family harmony.”

“And besides,” he added with a sidelong glance at Yan Mian and a mocking sneer, “I don’t think Yaya was wrong. She’s not Zhu Family, so being here goes against the rules anyway.”

He hadn’t caught Zhu Lexing’s earlier words and assumed Zhu Zhao was equally cold to everyone, with no favorites. Perfect setup to fan the flames.

Zhu Yan saw himself as the elder here. No matter how cheeky Zhu Lexing got, she’d toe the line in his presence.

Zhu Lexing refused to give him the satisfaction. She shot back, “So what exactly qualifies as a ‘Zhu Family member’?”

She glanced at Jiang Yue, whose expression had turned distinctly sour. Clearly, she’d taken it personally, as if Zhu Yan were cursing her out.

“In Second Uncle’s eyes, is Aunt Jiang part of the Zhu Family?”

Zhu Yan hadn’t seen that curveball coming. He noticed Zhu Lin eyeing him too and replied as if it were obvious. “Of course. She’s dating your father, so—”

“By that logic,” Zhu Lexing said, “Yan Mian counts as Zhu Family too.”

The words dropped like a stone. The dining room went dead silent.

“What do you mean?” Zhu Yan demanded, brow creasing.

Yan Mian turned to her instinctively. “Xingxing—”

But sharper minds around the table were already piecing it together, eyebrows arching.

Zhu Lexing said evenly, “She’s my girlfriend.”

In that heartbeat, a flurry of alert tones chimed in Zhu Lexing’s ears.

Notifications for unlocked achievements. Alerts for rising Yan Mian favorability—

This time, Zhu Lin recovered first. “Lexing, you’re joking, right?”

He was one step shy of blurting that you could eat whatever, but words had consequences.

With everything out in the open, there was no hiding now. Zhu Lexing laid it bare. “Just the facts. I know it might be tough to swallow, but…”

Zhu Lin erupted in fury, cutting her off. “What does that make me? Zhu Lexing, you—”

Crack—

A porcelain plate shattered on the floor.

Everyone whipped around toward Jiang Yue.

Her face drained of color, as if she’d taken a gut punch. Her lips trembled. “I… my hand slipped.”

Everyone instinctively thought she was lying, but after pondering the tangled family ethics involved, they decided a trembling hand was perfectly understandable.

Zhu Lexing figured Jiang Yue deserved a solid eighty for her performance.

She turned to Yan Mian. As their eyes met, the other woman finally shook off her surprise.

Zhu Lexing gave a slight nod to the relatives. “Well then, that’s that. Happy New Year, everyone. Hope our paths cross again!”

The group could only nod awkwardly in silence, watching as Zhu Lexing headed for the door. They were just wondering how Yan Mian would react when the Omega rose to her feet and bid them farewell as well.

This time, the responses came much more warmly.

Zhu Lin, restrained by Jiang Yue, bellowed the classic line:

“If you walk out that door, don’t you dare come back!”

Zhu Lexing nearly burst out laughing halfway across the room. She turned to speak to Yan Mian—only to find her gone.

A glance at her phone screen revealed the message: heading upstairs to grab something.

Things had quieted down in the dining room. With Zhu Zhao there, no one from the Zhu Family would dream of holding Yan Mian back, so Zhu Lexing felt reasonably at ease.

Still, she couldn’t shake a twinge of dissatisfaction.

A dramatic exit like this deserved to play out in one unbroken sweep.

Going back midway for some item? Not nearly as cool!

That was her private gripe, though. Her reply read: I’m waiting outside for you.

Yan Mian sent back a simple “Good.”

Outside the old mansion, the servants were clearing away the snow and hadn’t caught any of the dining room drama. Spotting Zhu Lexing, one of them flashed a friendly smile in greeting.

Zhu Lexing paused in the snow as another servant handed her an umbrella. “Miss, don’t let yourself get chilled.”

She murmured her thanks. While waiting for Yan Mian, she dashed off a quick summary of the whole fiasco in the group chat—short and to the point.

The chat log exploded, scrolling through several pages in seconds.

Qiao Qiao fired off a sincere question: Why are you always so popular with the crazies?

Zhu Lexing mulled it over for a few seconds before typing cautiously:

-Protagonist halo, that’s just how it is.

Everyone took that loaded line as pure self-aggrandizement, of course.

Zhu Lexing thought to herself: You have no idea about Zhu Lexing’s sufferings!

It wasn’t long before Yan Mian emerged—empty-handed.

Zhu Lexing blinked in confusion and asked about it, only for Yan Mian to reply, “I’ve already got it.”

It wasn’t until they were clear of the Zhu Family Old Mansion that Zhu Lexing realized something was wrong.

What if Zhu Lin spilled everything to Liu Su, and Liu Su refused to let them be together? She might not even have a place in the Rong City branch of the Zhu Family anymore.

Zhu Lexing recalled Yan Mian’s earlier quip about getting “swept out the door”: ……

It couldn’t actually come true, could it?

She didn’t buy that her generally even-tempered nature would hold up in a real rage. Take Zhu Lin just now: all that pent-up frustration erupting at once had been downright frightening.

Lost in a haze of wild thoughts—plotting out half a dozen ways to scrape by after getting booted from the family—Zhu Lexing suddenly felt something icy brush her finger.

She assumed at first that Yan Mian wanted to hold hands and clasped it instinctively. But the texture felt strangely rigid. Glancing down, she saw it was a card.

Zhu Lexing had no clue what Yan Mian was playing at. She halted, staring blankly.

The street was nearly deserted, the streetlights’ faint golden glow half-buried in the snow.

Yan Mian drew a breath, looking a touch nervous, but pressed on anyway. She chose her words with care. “This is the prize money from that competition I won. I’ve been meaning to give it to you, but the moment never felt quite right.”

“You still remember last time—”

The words jogged Zhu Lexing’s memory of her offhand “copyright fee” joke. Embarrassment prickled her scalp. “I was only kidding, you—”

“This is the first money I’ve ever earned on my own,” Yan Mian said. “I want you to have it—not just to show you I’ll make good on what I promised back then, that I’d work hard to live up to my words. But more than that, because…”

“…Xingxing.” Yan Mian blinked slowly. “I want to be with you forever.”

Gazing at Yan Mian, Zhu Lexing felt as if a raw, beating heart lay exposed before her.

It pulsed with vivid, fervent life, brimming with…

…nothing but her.

Zhu Lexing reeled from the impact. A lifetime of scrolling through cheesy online romance lines couldn’t hold a candle to these few words from Yan Mian.

She couldn’t find her voice. Her fingers tightened around the card of their own accord, and she turned her face away. “You—you trying to turn me into a kept woman or what?”

Her tone came out draggy in a way neither of them quite registered.

Yan Mian replied with utter sincerity. “If that’s what you want, then sure.”

Zhu Lexing could picture it: even if she declared she’d never lift a finger again, Yan Mian would shoulder the burden with a smile.

“You’re such a hopeless romantic,” she said, sniffling. “Not scared of getting played?”

The amusement in Yan Mian’s eyes deepened. “If Lexing’s the one playing me, I wouldn’t mind.”

One heartfelt confession after another left Zhu Lexing utterly adrift.

She bit her lip, tempted to ask what would happen if she really did deceive her—

But those gentle eyes stopped the words cold.

After a few beats of silence, Zhu Lexing lowered her gaze to take the card.

Yan Mian watched her face, then abruptly drew her fingers back just a fraction, keeping it out of reach.

Still caught up in her melancholy, Zhu Lexing paused. “Didn’t you just say anything goes? What’s with the backpedaling now!”

Yan Mian smiled. “One condition.”

Guilt weighing heavy, Zhu Lexing leaned in attentively. “Name it.”

“Can you kiss me?”

“Not the finger. Not the cheek.” Yan Mian tapped her own lips with one fingertip, her voice rich with mirth. “Right here.”