Chapter 37

Chapter 37 - 37 036 Kneel down and apologize to her Chapter 37: 036: Kneel down and apologize to her. Chapter 37: 036: Kneel down and apologize to her. Because she wasn’t wearing a formal dress, because among a crowd of dazzlingly dressed young socialites, she was the most ordinary and the easiest to trample on, and because she wore a hearing aid, she was “Little Dragon Girl”.

Therefore, she had to be treated as the loser’s punishment.

Xie Shang raised his head, his gaze sweeping through the crowd and locking in place upon sighting a familiar face.

At that moment, everyone’s attention fell on Wen Changling, filled with various kinds of enquiry and curiosity.

Jhiang Youyou was the first to rush over, wearing an expensive and exquisite dress, without regard for her image she cursed the instigator, “Shen Fei, are you sick!”

The person who used Wen Changling for the bet was called Shen Fei, whose family was in manufacturing. The Shen Family had raised this single seedling to act lawlessly.

“It’s none of your business.”

Shen Fei showed no respect for Birthday Boy whatsoever.

Xie Shang’s detachment from women was known to everyone in the circle; his deliberate actions were intended to humiliate Xie Shang.

Jhiang Youyou took a deep breath, trying hard to restrain herself from swearing, “She’s my invited friend.”

Shen Fei sneered, “You even make friends with ‘Little Dragon Girl’.”

“You—”

Jhiang Youyou wanted to slap him across the face.

Her father, Jhiang Zhenghao, stopped her with a shout, “Youyou!” Jhiang Zhenghao warned her with a look, “It’s none of your business, don’t butt in.”

Jhiang Family and Shen Family had business dealings, and they couldn’t afford to offend the precious troublemaker of the Shen Family. To put it cruelly, the Jhiang Family had money but no influence. Among the people who came tonight, there were few the Jhiang Family could afford to upset.

In every circle, there were unwritten rules, big fish eat little fish, little fish eat shrimp. And within this group of gold-rimmed surnames, Xie Shang’s Xie was at the top of the food chain.

“What’s the point of betting on someone else,” Xie Shang finally spoke, and everyone fell silent but for his voice, “Dare you bet on yourself?”

He was neither overbearing in his triumphs nor fearful in his adversity.

Xie Shang, in his everyday interactions, didn’t exert a strong assertiveness possibly because he grew up in a lawyer’s family; his composure in dealing with anything seemed etched into his genes.

Of course, he would go crazy in special circumstances, otherwise, why would he be jokingly called the elegant madman.

Xie Shang had once beaten Shen Fei when he was eighteen, on a stormy day. The reason was Shen Fei had kicked a sanitary worker’s trash can. He had just kicked a trash can, and Xie Shang suddenly went mad, beating him to a pulp.

Although the two families had superficially reconciled, that incident remained a thorn in Shen Fei’s side.

With so many people present, Shen Fei felt compelled to fight for some dignity, “Bet on what?”

As Xie Shang sat there, his gaze leisurely drifted into the distance; after a fleeting eye contact, he withdrew his gaze and didn’t pay much attention to Wen Changling, so much so that she was ignored, and no one else measured her up or stared at her ears anymore.

“If I lose, let’s say you take back the beating I gave you,” Xie Shang’s words were measured, as he redefined the stakes, “If you lose, kneel and offer a proper apology.”

This was Xie Shang; he wouldn’t use people as a stake, even if that person wasn’t his “acquaintance”.

“You can ignore rules, but you should at least have manners,” Xie Shang tilted his chin slightly up, standing or sitting, he was still the one in control. He suggested in an indifferent tone, “Otherwise, don’t act like a human, act like a dog.”

Shen Fei was furious with embarrassment, “Xie Shang, don’t push people too far.”

There was still one card in front of Xie Shang that hadn’t been turned over; he didn’t even glance at it, “Scared, are you?”

This man, who never swore, said flatly, “Coward.”

“You—”

Shen Fei’s friend promptly held him back, “Forget it, it’s just a hand of cards, if you lose, you lose, why ruin someone’s birthday party.”

Having lost face and genuinely wary of Xie Shang, Shen Fei threw down the cards in his hand and stormed off.

His friend followed after him, and as he passed by Wen Changling, he offered an apologetic smile, “Sorry, my friend had too much to drink, I’ll apologize on his behalf.”

The apology was primarily for Xie Shang to hear, because he knew Xie Shang was someone who held grudges.

Jhiang Youyou snorted, “What too much to drink, I think his brain’s shot, he’s sick.” She pulled Changling along, “Come on, let’s go to my room.”

Wen Changling was led away by Jhiang Youyou.

Xie Shang withdrew his seemingly casual gaze and continued chatting and laughing with the people around him. The card game had lost its appeal; there was no need to shuffle the cards again.

The bottom card Shen Fei had slammed onto the table shone brightly, revealing a heart ace. At that moment, someone couldn’t resist flipping over the card in front of Xie Shang, a spade five.

In this round, if it had continued, Xie Shang would have lost.

The person who flipped the card didn’t understand, their expression complicated.

Jhiang Youyou’s room was on the second floor.

“I’m sorry, Changling.”

Jhiang Youyou sincerely apologized.

“It doesn’t matter.” The furnishings in the room looked very expensive, and Wen Changling chose the most inconspicuous chair to sit down, “What’s going on? Why are there so many people here?”

Speaking of this, Jhiang Youyou also felt a headache: “I don’t know how it turned out like this, besides you and Yan Cong, and a female friend of mine, none of those guests were invited by me.”

“Then who invited them?”

“My dad.” For the first time, Jhiang Youyou talked to Wen Changling about her family affairs in a very ordinary tone, as if she was talking about someone else’s business, “The birthday is just an excuse. A while back, my dad got a high-quality piece of jade, and the old master of the Guan Family likes to collect jade, so he sent the piece to the Guan Family, and that’s how he forged the connection. This time, he used my birthday as an excuse to send an invitation to Guan Sixing, the Guan Family’s young grandson, never expecting that Guan Sixing would really accept the invitation. Since Guan Sixing and Xie Shang are close and Xie Shang has significant influence, a bunch of influential people my dad wanted to network with ended up coming.”

The Jhiang family became wealthy through fish farming and later shifted to real estate, but although they had money, they lacked fame, status, and network connections. Some people would say behind their backs that her family were upstarts.

“What about Yan Cong?” Wen Changling had briefly looked around earlier and hadn’t spotted Yan Cong.

“I gave him a heads-up, and he didn’t come,” said Jhiang Youyou, “I also called you just now, but you didn’t pick up.”

Wen Changling checked her phone and discovered she had forgotten to turn off silent mode.

She took out a prepared gift from her bag, “Happy birthday.”

It was a mugwort neck wrap; Jhiang Youyou had cervical spondylosis, and had even been to the hospital for X-rays a few days ago.

“Thank you.”

Jhiang Youyou accepted it, tried it on, and smelled it, finding a faint scent of medicine, “This is exactly what I need.” She took off the neck wrap and set it aside, then went to the closet to get a dress, “I haven’t worn this one. It’s new. You try it on.”

“There’s no need.”

Wen Changling wanted to leave.

Jhiang Youyou looked disappointed, “Today I’m Birthday Boy.”

Well, okay.

Thinking of how Birthday Boy had mentioned she didn’t have many friends, only an ex-boyfriend, Wen Changling felt quite sorry for her. Therefore, she took the dress, deciding to do as Birthday Boy wished.

“I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

Jhiang Youyou went out first.

Wen Changling put her glasses on the table and went to the bathroom to change into the dress.

There was a pink standing mirror in Jhiang Youyou’s bedroom. Wen Changling stopped as she passed by and looked at her bespectacled reflection in the mirror.

Little Dragon Girl.

Yes, she was Little Dragon Girl, but even the Little Dragon Girl originally had ears.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, the first tap gentle, followed by two more forceful ones. Now, there were very few people who understood such traditional door-knocking etiquette.

Wen Changling put on her glasses.

“Come in.”

She thought it was Jhiang Youyou.

“Are you ready?”

It was Xie Shang’s voice.

Xie Shang didn’t push the door and enter, probably because it was a girl’s boudoir. He was always someone who understood propriety, which is why when Shen Fei inexplicably dragged her into the gambling situation, she knew Xie Shang wouldn’t actually bet on her because regardless of winning or losing, it would show a lack of respect for her.