Volume One Chapter 32: Concern

Gu Huaixu’s low, furious roar nailed Jiang Wan to the pillar of shame. The forceful slap he delivered turned half her face red in an instant. The pain burned her cheek as if scorched by fire. Reeling from the blow, Jiang Wan nearly lost her footing.

All this unfolded under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

Beyond the throng, she noticed Ji Jiali standing beside Lin Hongguang. Dressed in resplendent attire, Ji Jiali was a striking figure under the lights. The moment she witnessed Jiang Wan being slapped, she reflexively took a step forward. But after that first small step, her body halted. She bit her lip, then lowered her head to avoid Jiang Wan’s gaze and retreated behind Lin Hongguang, as if wishing she could burrow into the ground and disappear.

The pain in Jiang Wan’s cheek spread, seeping into her heart and battering the walls she had only just rebuilt.

Jiang Wan felt as if she had a fishbone lodged in her throat, unable to utter a word.

In this moment, she seemed like a mistress caught in the act, the wife stripping her bare and parading her through the streets for all to see. Meanwhile, the man responsible for it all remained safely in the shadows.

A deep, bitter hatred welled up inside Jiang Wan. Her body trembled, cold seeping into her bones.

Her silence pushed Gu Huaixu to the verge of losing control.

“Speak! Have you lost your voice?!” he roared again, his features twisted in fury.

Lin Luoyao, relishing the spectacle, looked on with malicious delight. “If she refuses to talk, then let’s check the surveillance cameras!” she declared loudly, determined not to stop until Jiang Wan was ruined. “This is a hotel under the Lin Corporation. Since you’re so shameless, let’s put everything out in the open and see which man has such nerve!”

She turned toward Lin Hongguang outside the crowd. “Uncle, you don’t mind, do you?” she said, sounding righteous. “Our Lin Corporation has always been aboveboard. The presence of someone like that taints our reputation. We can’t let a single rat spoil the whole pot!”

Lin Hongguang remained silent. The guests began whispering among themselves, the scandal too sensational to ignore. The bystanders were more eager than those involved to learn the truth.

Gu Zhiming and Yan Yan exchanged dark, uneasy glances, silently urging each other to intervene, but neither spoke up.

With tacit approval, Lin Luoyao grew even more arrogant. “Someone, fetch the surveillance footage!” she shouted from her moral high ground. “Find out exactly who was having an affair with Jiang Wan in the lounge!”

At her command, the staff on duty looked hesitantly at Lin Hongguang. Seeing no objection from him, they promptly moved toward the door.

The crowd seemed frozen, every movement conspicuously out of place.

Jiang Wan stood motionless, her heart sinking lower and lower. She was utterly unable to defend herself—the more she tried, the more hopeless it became.

And because of Lu Wenzhou’s identity, there was no question she would be made the scapegoat. It would inevitably be said that she had seduced him by any means necessary.

The path she had once envisioned was now not only blocked, but led straight into an abyss.

Her face was ashen with despair.

Just then, two figures entered from outside.

“What is there to check? That’s my shirt,” a deep male voice announced at the doorway, drawing every gaze in the room.

Recognizing Lu Wenzhou’s voice, Jiang Wan and the members of the Gu family all widened their eyes in shock.

Under the scrutiny of all present, Lu Wenzhou’s imposing figure stood tall—over six feet two, his presence overwhelming. He wore a black suit of the finest cut, a pale gray shirt beneath. His features were chiseled and sharp as a blade, his eyebrows like swords, black eyes keen and fathomless.

At the sight of him, Lin Luoyao involuntarily drew a sharp breath. She had never imagined that the Lin family could have such a breathtakingly handsome guest. Jiang Wan certainly knew how to choose her men!

Jealousy surged within her as she glanced at Lin Zhi, who had entered at Lu Wenzhou’s side. Lin Zhi’s already cold features seemed even more distant and frosty at that moment.

Lin Luoyao sneered, assuming Lin Zhi had brought Lu Wenzhou to confront the scandal.

“So you’re the adulterer,” she said, waiting to see a spectacle. “Well done, cousin, you really—”

She was cut off by Gu Huaixu’s shocked exclamation.

“Little Uncle...?” he whispered in disbelief.

Little Uncle?!

Those words exploded among the crowd like a bomb.

“That’s the Prince of the Beijing Circle?”

“The Lin family actually managed to invite him?”

“No, it can’t be! That’s the Prince of Beijing! The Gu family has hosted eight years of banquets and never seen a single member of the Lu family from the capital...”

The guests’ murmurs reached Lin Luoyao’s ears, and her legs went weak. She swayed, her face draining of color.

“Cousin...” she stammered, and as Lin Zhi and Lu Wenzhou approached, she cast a desperate, pleading look at Lin Zhi.

But Lin Zhi’s cold gaze offered no comfort—she simply ignored her.

Lu Wenzhou strode forward, his presence like a mountain, stopping directly before Lin Luoyao. The coldness in his eyes bore down on her. Everywhere his gaze fell, Lin Luoyao felt as if her flesh were being stripped away.

The shirt in her hands suddenly burned, and she shivered uncontrollably, silenced by his overwhelming aura.

Lu Wenzhou’s eyes were filled with contempt, his voice low and commanding. “So, you’re telling everyone that Jiang Wan and I are having an affair?”

“I wasn’t!” Lin Luoyao blurted, panic written all over her face.

“Then what were you doing?” Lu Wenzhou’s tone was calm but each word was a threat, as if an invisible net was closing over the room, ready to ensnare everyone.

“I—I—I just... I...” Lin Luoyao’s eyes reddened, on the verge of tears. Her arrogance had vanished, replaced by terror.

The crowd held its breath, the atmosphere stifling.

At last, Lin Zhi exhaled softly and explained for all to hear, “I invited Mr. Lu here. He came straight from Beijing this afternoon, so I arranged for him to rest in the lounge. The shirt was his, left there earlier. When Jiang Wan went to change, Mr. Lu was already gone—they never met.”

With the misunderstanding clarified, realization dawned on the crowd. Their appetite for gossip faded, replaced by a sense of unease.

Lin Luoyao shrank back, her composure crumbling.

“But there’s lipstick on the shirt...” she tried to defend herself, hoping her mistake would seem forgivable.

At that moment, Ji Jiali, standing outside the crowd, couldn’t restrain herself. “Is Jiang Wan the only one in the world who wears lipstick? If it’s not hers, it must be someone else’s...” she muttered bitterly, though only quietly.

Her words awakened the crowd. All eyes turned to Lin Zhi, whose lipstick today was almost identical to the shade on the shirt.

Did this not mean...