Translator: Flying Lines
Proofread by Claire.KK
Mr. Xia walked close to Xia Xingcheng, then turned to the person aside and began introducing her to him, “This is my elder daughter, Xia Xingcheng.”
Su Haisheng followed Mr. Xia’s indication and sized up the woman in front of him. His hands were clasped behind his back and, with a broad smile, the creases in the corners of his eyes appeared. “Mr. Xia, you’re a lucky father. Both of your dear daughters are outstanding beauties. I’m so envious of you.”
“You are flattering us.” Xia Xingyan overheard what Su was saying and hurriedly pulled over Xu Hao and strode to join them. “I’m not half as pretty as my elder sister. I’m far from being that beautiful.”
Xia Xingcheng saw her father’s face lighting up and the bad feelings in her heart began increasing somewhat.
“I only have two daughters.” Mr. Xia coughed and then continued. “Now my younger daughter has found happiness, so now I’d like to take my elder daughter’s future into consideration.” He then turned to Xia Xingcheng and nodded. "Xingcheng, why don’t you accompany Mr. Su and have a chat?"
Mr. Xia’s hideous manner of acting like a loving father made Xia Xingcheng feel sick and bitter. She finally understood why he had decided to call her back on this occasion. It was just one of his many ways to set up her with a man. As far as her father’s intentions were concerned, she would let it be for now. Just taking one look at that barrel-bellied Mr. Su with his greasy face, she knew that he was not bearing decent intentions. Even when he was standing next to Xu Hao, the comparison between two of them was cruelly sharp. Initially she had still held a tiny ray of hope that her father had asked her to return because he had finally realized his mistake and wanted to make amends, but now it seemed that all was just her fantasy. Her father had never felt that he didn’t do her justice, let alone feeling apologetic.
Meanwhile a tall and firm figure stepped into the hall and became the center of attention.
“Sorry, I don’t think I would have anything to talk about with Mr. Su.” Xia Xingcheng’s lips curved and smiled coolly. “Now that I have already attended the ceremony, if there is nothing else, I may take my leave.” She then put the glass in her hands on the table in a natural and graceful way and got to her feet, intending to leave.
“Sister!” Immediately Xia Xingyan turned around anxiously, instead of holding the arms of her father and Xu Hao to assume a harmonious and happy air, but reached out her hand to grab Xia Xingcheng’s wrist. “Don’t be angry. Dad did everything for your own good. Actually he had been thinking about your future happiness for all these years.”
Xia Xingyan was the greatest actress ever in acting so pitiful, and now, more than ever, she was trying to squeeze a tear from the corners of her eyes. “This is Su’s Group’s CEO, Mr. Su. He is also a magnate of the real estate business. If you were to be with him, you would surely have a satisfying and blissful life.”
Xia Xingyan kept nagging for a while but Xia Xingcheng didn’t feel a thing; she simply frowned and shook Xia Xingyan’s hands off her. “You’re telling quite the story. Why don’t you marry him yourself?”
“Sister, you must not mean that.” Xia Xingyan put on a wronged look and bit her lip.” I have Xu Hao already. How could I marry someone else?!”
"Xia Xingcheng." Hearing what she said, Mr. Xia scolded her harshly in an instant, "How could you say something like this!"
Their stepmother Song Qiong brought herself into their conversation too, knitting her brows with a look of pity. “Xingyan respects you so much, but who would have expected that you could say something like that...”
“Respect?” Xia Xingcheng felt very amused. “You can deceive some idiots with such words but don’t bring this up to disgust me!”
While they had been talking, no one noticed that a tall figure standing not far away from them had looked up and laid his eyes on her.
“Mr. Su, maybe there’s something you don’t know.” Xia Xingcheng folded her arms and turned to Su Haisheng beside her. “Although I’m the elder daughter of the Xia Family, I had actually been exiled abroad for years and I’m even less respectful than a common servant in this family.
“You couldn’t get any benefit from me at all. Why don’t you choose that bastard who was delivered by the homewrecker there? She is the most favoured in the Xia family, unlike me, and in any case I already have a son. You see, my story has been the talk of the whole Jing City. If you marry me, you’ll marry nothing but a laughing stock. Frankly speaking, I don’t deserve you.” Xia Xingcheng had not so many worries as her father did. Since they had forced her to go this far, she didn’t mind going further. As soon as she finished, everyone's expressions changed, especially Mr. Xia and Song Qiong who were standing beside her at that moment. Horror and embarrassment were written across their faces, for their lies had been exposed to everyone.
“Alas, who could imagine that the eldest daughter of the Xia Family’s lineal descent has been treated this way?”
“Tell me about it. She is also his birth daughter after all. How could he favour one and mistreat the other and how could a father be cruel like that?”
Almost all of the guests present were standing on Xia Xingcheng’s side and defended her against the Xia family.
“President Xia!” Su Haisheng couldn’t control his composure as well. He was so angry that he began to laugh and turned to Xia Xingcheng’s father who was also in a rage and filled with shame. “You never mentioned that she had a child!”
“How could I possibly ever lie to you, Mr. Su…?” Mr. Xia hurried to explain to Mr. Su but the damage had already been done, and no matter how hard he was trying to cover it, it remained in vain.
Xia Xingcheng’s move was a double-edged sword which hurt herself and meanwhile destroyed the other side as well. There was no way to resolve it. Mr. Xia was so worried that his brain was burning. Suddenly he heard a cold sneer coming from behind him.
"Since when does someone I’m attracted to have to be disgraced like that? Like some bargain that needs promoting by others?" Just as the words were coming out of his mouth, everyone’s attention was pulled towards him. And then they saw this man walking steadily towards them with a playful smile on his lips and his eyes staring at Xia Xingcheng, as if she was his prey. “Ah, the quirks of fate. I did not imagine that I would see this woman here.”