“It’s Shen Xizhou again!” Shi Ning exclaimed, her voice laced with annoyance as she gripped the microphone. “I declare, I don’t like Shen Xizhou anymore. Anyone who tries to pair me with him again, I’m breaking up with them!” Her expression left no doubt she was serious, not just speaking in a fit of pique.
Mu Tiantian was the first to applaud, enthusiastically supporting her friend. “It’s about time! Shen Xizhou is no good, a two-timing scumbag!” she declared. “Qin Heye is much better; he’s a perfect match for my baby Ningning!”
Yu Yuexi offered a faint smile, opting not to interfere in Shi Ning’s personal affairs. Lin Jingyao, however, gave a stiff tug at the corners of her mouth, a worried look crossing her face. “Master Qin is overbearing and always has a cold expression. He looks fierce, like he might commit domestic violence,” she cautioned. “If Ningning is abused, with Master Qin’s power and status, we won’t be able to save her.” She then raised her head, offering advice to Shi Ning in a somber tone: “Marriage isn’t about looks or money. You have to marry the man you love to truly be happy.”
Still sensitive after Shi Qingyin’s betrayal, Shi Ning frowned, looking directly at Lin Jingyao. “You seem to want me to divorce Qin Heye very much ?”
Lin Jingyao was one of the students Shi Ning’s father had sponsored, starting from elementary school all the way through college graduation. Shi Guoqiang had carefully selected Lin Jingyao from many sponsored students, even enrolling her in Shi Ning’s exclusive high school so they could attend it together. The plan was for them to join the same company after graduation. In essence, Lin Jingyao was a carefully cultivated confidante, chosen from thousands, intended to stay by Shi Ning’s side for life. Yu Yuexi was in a similar position, cultivated by the Mu family for Mu Tiantian. Wealthy and noble families often groomed their own trusted companions for the next generation. By supporting and training them from childhood, helping them change their destiny, and then offering them high salaries, such a favor was expected to ensure loyalty, provided they weren’t ungrateful.
Lin Jingyao offered Shi Ning a strawberry, explaining with a smile, “I don’t want you to divorce. But I do support you in pursuing your happiness. Don’t succumb to the power of money; choose only the person you love, and don’t do anything you’ll regret for the rest of your life.”
Shi Ning observed Lin Jingyao intently, scrutinizing the sincerity of her words. Lin Jingyao seemed a little unnerved by Shi Ning’s gaze and quickly added, “If Ningning loves Qin Ye, then I support you not to divorce.” Without the usual “barrage” of inner thoughts, Shi Ning began to doubt Lin Jingyao. “Really?” she asked.
Lin Jingyao hummed in affirmation, then smoothly changed the subject, asking conspiratorially, “Ningning, why did you sleep with Qin Ye? Don’t you hate him the most?”
Mu Tiantian, overhearing, immediately joined the gossip. “What kind of guts did Ningning eat? Give me some too! When If I meet a male god in the future, I’ll take the initiative to pounce on him!”
This was precisely why Shi Ning had gathered them all tonight. “Because on the night we celebrated the divorce, I was drugged in this very box, and that’s how I ended up sleeping with Qin Heye.” As she spoke, Shi Ning calmly observed the reactions of the three.
Mu Tiantian’s voice turned shrill, and she stood up from her seat , gripping a wine bottle as if ready to strike. “What?! You were drugged? Who’s looking for a death wish?!”
Lin Jingyao, in a sudden movement, spilled her wine glass. “Is there such a drug? Who would drug Ningning? That’s too vicious! Call the police and catch them, so they don’t harm anyone else!”
Yu Yuexi looked genuinely surprised and worried. “Is Sister Ningning alright now? Will this poisonous drug harm your body? Did Sister Ningning go to the hospital for a check-up?”
Shi Ning knew she could trust Mu Tiantian, so her attention remained fixed on Lin Jingyao and Yu Yuexi. Lin Jingyao wore a delicate white dress, her hair tied with a green bow headband, and small high heels. She appeared gentle, pure, and beautiful. Yu Yuexi, in contrast, wore a denim T-shirt and sneakers. She wasn’t strikingly beautiful, but her features were regular, giving her the appearance of a girl from a modest background—tough and honest.
Appearance alone was deceiving. But Shi Ning instinctively suspected Lin Jingyao.
[Lin Jingyao is too good at pretending! She was the one who drugged Shi Ning, and she’s pretending to be stupid here, and she even said she’s going to call the police to arrest her! Shi Ning, this stupid female partner, was fooled around by her!]
[Lin Jingyao is an ungrateful person who can never be tamed. The Shi family has supported her for more than ten years, but she doesn’t think about repaying the favor, but only about how to replace Shi Ning. When she first met Qin Heye, she was thinking about how to steal that man.]
[The female supporting role is naive and innocent. Lin Jingyao does nothing, but pays her 20,000 yuan and forces her to work in the Qin Group. She also gives her dozens of brand-name clothes, bags, and jewelry.]
[Lin Jingyao is not grateful at all, and she is jealous of Shi Ning. She tricked her into divorcing Qin Heye, did bad things, targeted the heroine, and then partnered with Shi Qingyin to sell her to Myanmar.]
[Lin Jingyao is obviously the vicious female supporting role, but she is with the heroine, so the ending is still good, marrying into a wealthy family and becoming a rich wife.]
[It’s a pity that there is no evidence that Lin Jingyao drugged ShiNing, otherwise Qin Heye would have found out and dealt with her long ago.]
Reading the barrage, Shi Ning wasn’t surprised that Lin Jingyao was the one who had betrayed her. What truly astonished her was the sheer depth of Lin Jingyao’s betrayal.
Lin Jingyao seemed startled by Shi Ning’s cold stare. She let out a nervous laugh, attempting to lighten the mood. “My skirt isn’t tucked into my underwear, and there’s no bruise on my face. Why is Ningning looking at me like that?”
Shi Ning fixed her gaze on Lin Jingyao and said slowly, “Actually, I already know who drugged me. I just wanted to give her a chance to admit it herself.”
Mu Tiantian slammed the table. “What chance? Just say it and send her to the police station! She’ll be in jail forever!”
Lin Jingyao looked hurt and indignant. “It’s definitely not me. I was sponsored and trained by your father. I’m supposed to follow you for the rest of my life. If Ningning gets into trouble, I’ll be ruined too.”
Both Mu Tiantian and Lin Jingyao then turned to look at Yu Yuexi. Yu Yuexi, feeling questioned, looked at Mu Tiantian with a pained expression. “Sister Tiantian, I would never do anything illegal, let alone hurt you or Sister Ningning!” she insisted. “What’s more, there were others present at the time, and you have no evidence. Why do you only suspect me?”
On the day they celebrated the divorce, besides the four of them, Shi Qingyin and Shen Xizhou were there, along with Mu Tiantian’s eight male models, and even the waiters who came to serve in the box. Any of them could have been responsible.
Shi Ning smiled at Lin Jingyao. “I don’t doubt Xixi.”
Mu Tiantian’s gaze sharpened as she stared at Lin Jingyao. Yu Yuexi also looked over. The suspicious eyes of all three were now fixed on Lin Jingyao. Lin Jingyao, who had been so confident that no one would discover her involvement, finally snapped. She stood up angrily. “What do you mean? You all suspect that I drugged Ningning?” she demanded. “If I drugged Ningning, my whole family would die, and I would be hit by a car when I go out!”
She looked more wronged than a falsely accused martyr, and if it weren’t for the revealing “bullet screen,” Shi Ning might have actually believed her. “I didn’t doubt you at first, but your extreme reaction makes me suspicious now ,” Shi Ning stated.
Lin Jingyao looked at Shi Ning with a sorrowful expression. “You don’t believe me?”
Shi Ning calmly nodded. “No, I don’t believe it.”
Lin Jingyao’s eyes welled up with tears, her voice choked with grievance. “Why don’t you believe me?”
Because the bullet screen said you drugged me, Shi Ning thought, but was too weary to invent a different reason. “Because you look like a bad person,” she simply stated.
“Is it only when I die that you will believe me?” Lin Jingyao cried, her voice trembling.
Shi Ning raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”
With a sharp bang, Lin Jingyao smashed a wine bottle. She held the jagged, broken glass, pointing the sharp edge at her wrist. “If you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it to you with my death.”
Shi Ning reached out and calmly took the broken glass from Lin Jingyao’s hand. “Don’t do this,” she said. Lin Jingyao exhaled in relief, confident that she still held sway over Shi Ning, who would surely listen to her in the future. “Ningning, I knew it…” she began, a flicker of triumph in her eyes.
Just as Lin Jingyao basked in her imagined victory, Shi Ning smoothly slipped a sharp fruit knife into Lin Jingyao’s right hand. Shi Ning then took Lin Jingyao’s right hand, placed the fruit knife against her left wrist, looked up, and smiled. “Be good,” she purred, her voice chillingly sweet. “This is the aorta. Cut it hard with the fruit knife and spray blood on my face, then you can die to prove your innocense.”