Love in the Midst of Mistaken Identities

“Sister Manni, what does Brother-in-law like?” Xu Shiyang asked again, pretending to be innocent. She blinked her big eyes constantly which truly made her look like an innocent and naive girl. However, one should pay special attention to the hidden meaning behind her words because she might not mean well.

The more naive they were, the more scheming they were; and the more they smiled, the more cunning they were.

In Li Manni’s opinion, Xu Shiyang was a walking scheming calculator.

Whereas in Xu Shiyang’s eyes, Li Manni was no simpleton, too.

Li Manni picked up her cup which was sitting on the table. As she ran her finger gently against the rim of the cup, that smile of hers exposed all the pretenses on Xu Shiyang’s face.

“Of course, he likes me the best.” Li Manni smiled as she showed off her loving marriage.

“That’s right.” Xu Shiyang pretended to be happy. “If Brother-in-law doesn’t like you, he wouldn’t have gotten a divorce and married you.” She sighed unknowingly. “Sister, I heard he has done some bad things in order to be able to marry you.”

“Did he?”

Li Manni denied. To hear someone bringing up her past was obviously a slap across her face, exposing her shortcomings. What scared her the most was hearing the name ‘Xia Ruoxin’; she hated it when other people brought up that name in front of her, too. Yet, the only thing that the blabbering Xu Shiyang kept talking about was what had happened in the past. She couldn’t help but feel irritated by the woman.

“Sister Manni, do you know how his ex-wife looks like?” Xu Shiyang tucked her chin under one hand as her red lips broke into a smile. Even her eyes were smiling in mockery—naturally, she must be laughing in her heart, too. She must have said something which hurt Li Manni so she should continue to poke around her a bit more. Li Manni would definitely be vexed from her probing, and Xu Shiyang must be sure to cause her maximum damage.

That was the exact sentence that successfully caused Li Manni’s expression to change. “Xu Shiyang,”—she lowered her voice as she issued her warning—”do you think I have no idea what you are up to? Take my advice: don’t think about it. You will never come close to my husband in this life.”

“Is that so?” Xu Shiyang stopped her pretense, too. The bridge had been burnt so there was no point pretending. The Li family, in her opinion, was all about pretense as well. She spurned them, but she was interested in Chu Lui.

She tidied up her hair and continued to smile. “Sister Manni, don’t you forget. You, too, had snatched your husband away from someone else. He was never yours in the first place. Since you were able to do it, why can’t I do the same?”

Suddenly, the sound of a slap echoed.

The men in the living room, along with the maid and Mrs. Li, were shocked beyond words. However, it was too late by the time they noticed.

Xu Shiyang was already covering one side of her face with her eyes wide open as though she was going to swallow someone whole.

“Li Manni, you bitch. You dare to hit me?”

“That’s right. I just slapped a bitch like you.” In order not to lose out, Li Manni became aggressive, too. “You dare to seduce my husband. To think that you graduated from a prestigious school, do you also think you are royalty? I think you are worse than a whore.”

Xu Shiyang saw red, and she shouted back in retaliation. “I’m a bitch, but you’re worse. You were a bitch; that’s why you had seduced Chu Lui. You have the cheek to say that to me? If you knew what it means to be another woman’s husband, why are you here talking to me right now with your current status? You’re a joke. You’re just a whore who wanted a plaque for yourself. Goddammit. You disgust me. Your whole family disgusts me.”

As she finished, she picked up her bag, intending to leave. However, she turned around and reached out to slap Li Manni across her face in return. Then, she gloated, “Gosh, I almost forgot. That’s so typical of me. When someone gives me an inch; I give a foot back. If someone had the gall to offend me, I will return the favor a hundredfold. Now, I’m only returning you what you just gave me. That’s your gain.”

After she slapped Li Manni, she sashayed her way to the door. When she walked past Li Manxuan, she paused; but her eyes were not on him. Instead, she was looking at Chu Lui’s face, flirting.

“I will be seeing you again.” With those meaningful words, she opened the door and left like a gust of wind. It blew at her audience, and they shuddered.

What was supposed to be a family gathering had turned into a scandal. That’s just great.

Mrs. Li was comforting Li Manni and, at the same time, cursing Xu Shiyang at full blast.

Li Manxuan felt as though a small field of glossy green had sprouted at the top of his head. He wished he could pull all his hair out and become bald. On the other hand, his father was trying to carry on a halfhearted conversation with Chu Lui in embarrassment. However, he soon gave up as he lost track of what he had been saying. It was so ridiculous that he found he couldn’t go on.

Chu Lui looked at the ceiling above him. It wasn’t a full tilt, and he wasn’t deep in his thoughts. He just felt exhausted.

When they went home, he was exceptionally quiet while Li Manni who had been slapped earlier was still fuming with a grievance.

“Chu Lui, I was slapped!” She suddenly started screaming at Chu Lui.

He stopped the car by the side while he took out his cigarette intending to light one. In the end, he tossed the cigarette away.

“You slapped her, too.”

“That’s because she deserved it.” Li Manni was holding her hands in a death grip. “Chu Lui, your wife had been slapped. Are you going to keep quiet about it?”

“Mmm.” Chu Lui merely raised an eyebrow. “What do you want me to do?”

“Crush the Xu family. Let her suffer for the rest of her life. I want her to sleep on the streets and be a beggar. Let’s see how arrogant can she be then.” Li Manni could visualize Xu Shiyang begging on the streets in broad daylight, living in poverty. She smiled at the crazy thought.

“They have business dealings with your family.” Chu Lui’s voice was emotionless like the dark and silent night.

“The collaboration for one contract is two years. If her family went down, so will yours. Do you still want to crush them?”

Chu Lui asked Li Manni. The contract from the Xu family had initially been his. However, the Li family had taken it away without informing him. Mr. Li had used everything to gain that two-year contract. A Xu family was nothing to Chu Lui, and he wouldn’t do anything rashly. If he were to take over their company, it would only benefit him. He wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. Yet, if the Xu family’s company really went bankrupt, they would be sending the Li family to him as a gift. It was ‘buy one, free one’ deal. Chu Lui wouldn’t suffer a loss, but would Li Manni and her family be able to?

True enough, that shut Li Manni up for good. There was no further mention of the Xu family. This was a loss that she would have to suffer in silence. Now, should she be hating Chu Lui for not taking her side or her parents and her brother for leaving themselves wide open to an attack? In fact, she couldn’t even lay a finger on that person.