Chapter 552: Nauseating
Chapter 552: Chapter 533: Nauseating
Sun Jiaming finished speaking and didn’t care if Zhang Lili was furious enough to die; it had nothing to do with him. He saw Gu’er’s hands behind her back and, on a whim, reached out and took one.
Gu’er was watching Zhang Lili’s expression when her hand was suddenly grabbed, startling her. But she knew it was Sun Jiaming, so she didn’t move. Then, he began to lightly trace circles on her palm with his finger. ‘This scoundrel, tickling my palm,’ Gu’er thought. ‘Just wait until we’re alone. I’ll get him back for this.’ Despite her thoughts, a sweet smile touched her lips.
Zhang Lili was already furious, and seeing Gu’er smile, she assumed she was being laughed at. This only made her even angrier.
“Do you still want to see Li Zhi?”
Gu’er asked Zhang Lili. She couldn’t wait for the woman to leave. ‘If she’d just go, I could spend time with Jia Ming, or we could go see our son together,’ she thought. ‘That would be so much better.’
“Of course I’ll see him. Why wouldn’t I? When it comes down to it, you’re just afraid of me seeing him, aren’t you?”
Zhang Lili shot back immediately. Even though Li Zhi had berated her at the mall that one time, she could tell during their time together that he had been quite taken with her looks. If she hadn’t been so hasty and had been willing to play her cards more carefully, she and Li Zhi might have already been a couple. She refused to believe Li Zhi was just like Sun Jiaming. All it would take was for Li Zhi to make one small misstep or show her the slightest bit of attention, and his new wife would become jealous and possessive. Then their relationship wouldn’t last.
‘After all, I can’t have come all this way for nothing.’
“Who’s afraid? And of seeing whom?”
Just then, the door opened again. The man of the hour, Li Zhi, walked in with Feng Ling right behind him. As soon as they were inside, Feng Ling casually shut the door.
“What are you two doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be making toasts?”
Sun Jiaming asked in surprise.
“I saw Gu’er come over with her, and then I saw you follow. We’re supposed to be making toasts, so I told everyone we’d start with the private rooms and told the staff to get things ready. That gave me a chance to bring Feng Ling over to check on things.”
It had been difficult for Li Zhi and Feng Ling to break away. After all, they were the main attraction today and were supposed to be surrounded by guests at all times. But he’d felt uneasy, so he came to have a look.
Zhang Lili’s gaze wasn’t on Li Zhi. She had never truly liked him. Back then, she’d only wanted to be with him because he was young, handsome, and came from a wealthy family. There were no real feelings involved.
Her eyes were on Feng Ling. The bride had a certain spirited charm, but in Zhang Lili’s opinion, she was no match for her. After sizing Feng Ling up, Zhang Lili shot her a provocative look. ‘Well, Gu’er already exposed my true intentions,’ she thought, ‘so there’s no need to pretend anymore.’
“What are you doing here?”
After explaining the situation to Gu’er and Sun Jiaming, Li Zhi turned to Zhang Lili. He had never imagined she would show up on his wedding day.
“No matter what, we were together once. You’re getting married, so it’s only right for me to come and congratulate you, isn’t it?”
Zhang Lili said to Li Zhi, her expression softening into a gentle look once more.
Li Zhi was at a loss for words. Could he say they were never really together? It was true they had dated. They’d gone out a few times, had meals, and he’d even bought her things. But who could blame him? Zhang Lili was stunning, and he had been captivated the moment he saw her.
But if he said they *had* been together, that wouldn’t be right either. Nothing had ever happened between them; their relationship had been completely innocent.
‘He didn’t like her as a person and definitely didn’t want her at his wedding. All this talk of blessings and congratulations was bullshit. He’d be lucky if she just refrained from making a scene.’
“I appreciate the well wishes, thank you. If there’s nothing else, you should head out. We still have to make our rounds, so we can’t keep you.”
Li Zhi pushed aside the question of whether they’d truly been together and simply urged her to leave, treating her as if she were the plague.
“Li Zhi, you weren’t like this back when we were together. You said you’d buy me anything I liked. You said you’d pluck the moon from the sky for me if I asked. Yes, we didn’t work out, and now you’ve married someone else, but can’t I even come to celebrate with you? Do you have to be so heartless?”
Zhang Lili looked at Li Zhi, tears welling in her eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment. She looked so heartbroken it was enough to make anyone’s heart ache.
Gu’er and Sun Jiaming both glanced at Li Zhi. Li Zhi cringed inwardly. ‘Did I really say that?’ He honestly couldn’t remember. When he first met Zhang Lili, she was so beautiful he’d thought she was a goddess. He was instantly smitten. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to have a wife like that?
She was so delicate and fragile, and her gaze seemed to hold a hint of deep affection. How could his young heart not be stirred?
When he learned her family wasn’t well-off and that she didn’t even own a decent set of clothes, he took her out to buy new ones without a second thought.
At first, Zhang Lili refused, but Li Zhi insisted. Watching her blush and thank him gratefully, looking at him with an adoring gaze as if he were her hero, filled him with a sense of satisfaction. ‘This might be my woman,’ he’d thought. ‘Of course I have to treat her well, to cherish her.’ Maybe that was when he’d said it—that he wanted to give her whatever she desired, that he wanted to be good to her.
But later, Zhang Lili slowly began to show her true colors. Her tone changed, a greedy light appeared in her eyes, and her demands grew. He couldn’t stand it. After the incident at the mall, he knew for sure he had completely misjudged her. He had assumed she was gone for good, that their paths would never cross again. Who would have thought that on this auspicious day, she would reappear just to stir up trouble?
Feng Ling was also watching Li Zhi. He remained silent, his expression a mixture of helplessness and irritation. ‘That means Zhang Lili wasn’t lying,’ she realized. Feng Ling glanced at the other woman again. She was, admittedly, gorgeous—probably the most beautiful woman Feng Ling had ever seen. Li Zhi was a young man; how could he not be drawn to such a beauty? ‘But they didn’t end up together, which must mean there’s something wrong with her.’ Looking at the act Zhang Lili was putting on, Feng Ling concluded she was a master manipulator. ‘Is she deliberately trying to provoke me?’
Though Zhang Lili was speaking to Li Zhi, her eyes kept darting toward Feng Ling. The bride just stood beside her new husband, still and silent, a faint smile on her face. She looked like a docile little bird clinging to its master.
‘Hmph! She has nothing going for her, just a pretty face to bewitch Li Zhi. I bet he calls all the shots, and she wouldn’t dare get angry with him. Maybe I should push a little harder.’
“What’s in the past is in the past. Besides, nothing ever happened between us, so why bring it up? If you’re really here today to wish us well, then I thank you. But if you have other intentions…”
As he spoke, Li Zhi shot Zhang Lili a look, a chill in his eyes.
“What other intentions could I have? I just wanted to congratulate you and see if your new bride is some kind of goddess. I also wanted to explain what happened back then. I know… that one time, you wanted to… and I said no. That’s why you resent me. But we weren’t married. I really couldn’t agree to it, I…”
Zhang Lili said, her words deliberately vague.
Gu’er was speechless. ‘Is she trying to cause a misunderstanding for Feng Ling?’ With words like that, how could anyone not read between the lines? It sounded as if Li Zhi had tried to force himself on her, and when she refused, he got angry and broke up with her. What was Feng Ling supposed to think after hearing something like that?