"How shocking. This Ye Qing was willing to rob her younger sister of her husband in order to marry into a rich family."

"Truly, I wouldn't have been able to see through her myself. Ye Qing is normally such an outstanding woman, but she did something like this because of her greed for wealth. What a disgrace!"

"You can say that again! I think Zhenzhen is quite good. She's been an honest and kind-hearted since she was a child. She's blessed with good fortune too!"

"I knew something had to be wrong. Zhenzhen has always been an honest person. How could she do something like steal her older sister's husband? We almost misunderstood Zhenzhen. Ai, I watched Ye Qing grow up too. She didn't seem like this type of person either. How could she have turned out this way?"

"You can know a person a long time without knowing her true self! Look at how unfairly Shen Ru treats her two children. Anything that's good, she'll give it to Ye Qing first. She acts like Ye Zhen isn't her daughter. Now that Zhenzhen has achieved success in life, it'll be fine if she doesn't want such a biased mother like Shen Ru!"

"How can she break free from her mother? Ye Zhen married into the Lu family. I'm sure there won't be any lack of Shen Ru and her husband trying to curry favor with their daughter in the future!

"Even if they want to curry favor with Ye Zhen, they won't be able to. In my opinion, this is baseless."

"..."

Listening to the surrounding discussions, Ye Qing was so angry that her entire body was trembling.

She hated Ye Zhen to the death! If it wasn't for her, she wouldn't be the target of everyone's ridicule today!

Even though Lu Beichuan's words were only partially true, she couldn't refute him. If she dared to stand up to refute him, she would never be able to have any sort of relationship with the Lu family for the rest of her life!

Mother Ye obviously knew the value of this relationship too, so the only comfort she could offer to Ye Qing was to hold her hand.

Her favorite daughter had been bullied to such a point. Mother Ye felt as if her heart was trampled and bleeding.

In a flurry, Shen Jing got down from the stage. When she sat back down in her seat, she was admonished by a beautifully dressed young woman that was seated next to her. "Mom! What are you doing?! I'm going to die of embarrassment."

"Embarrassing? Can it be any more embarrassing than Ye Qing?" There was no trace of blushing from shame on Shen Jing's face. She scoffed, "Wanwan, mom is getting revenge for you. Think about how much you've suffered since childhood because of Ye Qing. Now that Ye Qing's true face has been exposed, we can hold our heads high. There's no one that will dare to marry Ye Qing in the future!"

"Mom, you humiliated Ye Qing in front of so many people. You're not afraid that Uncle and Aunt Ye will..."

"Why would I be scared of them?" Shen Jing sneered. "Now that Ye Zhen married Lu Beichuan, she's the one that everyone will pay attention too. Ye Qing is a nobody. Besides, with how biased Shen Ru treated her daughters, Ye Zhen is sure to hold some sort of grudge. The human heart is made of flesh. People know who's good to them and who's bad to them. Let's just watch the show."

Who didn't know how the Ye parents had treated their daughters unequally?

Mother Ye had given birth to two perfectly good daughters. One became outstanding and prideful, and the other one became mediocre and timid. It was the difference between a pearl and grit.

And now, someone was treasuring that grit as if it was a diamond while the pearl was tossed away like it was trash. How satisfying!

On the stage, Ye Zhen silently pulled Lu Beichuan's sleeve and quietly said, "CEO Lu, your actions will make her even more jealous of me."

She looked at Ye Qing's fierce gaze that looked as if she wanted to swallow her whole.

Looking at the widening gap between her soft, red lips, Lu Beichuan narrowed his eyes. He leaned over and gently kissed her. "It's okay. You have to get used to it. In the future, there will be even more people jealous of you."

This wedding has the guests has said their most sincere-sounding blessings to the married couple, the venue was gradually emptied of guests as the wedding reception came to an end.

It was growing dark outside by the time the Lu's had sent off their relatives and friends, and they were preparing to go home.

At the hotel's entrance, Father Ye was waiting in front of a car. It was obvious that he had been waiting for a long time.

As soon as he saw Lu Beichuan coming over, he walked forward with a smile. "Beichuan, our Zhenzhen will be given to you to care for. You have to treat my precious daughter well."

Lu Beichuan didn't show his thoughts and feelings about those words. He only slightly nodded and said, "You don't have to worry. I will."

Father Ye awkwardly laughed and continued, "That's good. I'll be leaving first then. Zhenzhen ah, you don't ever need a reason to come visit us. Come home often."

Father Ye really want to take advantage of this opportunity to talk about a business collaboration between their companies with Lu Beichuan. But, he was aware that after the farce that had occured at the wedding, Lu Beichuan would be feeling unhappy towards the Ye's. He could only put his hopes on Ye Zhen.

How could Ye Zhen not know what Father Ye was thinking about? From the start, this man had sold off his daughter for his self-interest. How could he possibly possess any fatherly affection?

She superficially smiled. "Okay."

Father Ye watched on the side as the Lu's got into their cars and drove away. He secretly sighed. Seeing Ye Zhen's attitude, he regretted not showing more care towards this daughter.

Thinking of this, Father Ye felt very displeased that his wife and his older daughter were still complaining about Ye Zhen.

***

After they returned to the Lu's villa, Ye Zhen brewed tea and presented it to Mother Lu and changed to addresing her as mom.

Mother Lu slipped a jade bracelet that was almost transparent with a vibrant emerald-color onto Ye Zhen's wrist. "You're our Lu family's daughter-in-law now. This bracelet has been with me for many years. I'm giving it to you today. I hope that you and Beichuan will have a harmonious and wonderful life together.

Ye Zhen didn't put on a show of shyness. She calmly accepted the gift. "Thank you, Mom."

She brought a cup of tea to Old Master Lu, "Grandpa, please drink tea."

Old Master Lu didn't give her a precious and sentimental gift like Mother Lu. He merely handed Ye Zhen a red packet. The red packet looked light as a feather, and she couldn't tell what was inside.

"Grandpa can see that you're a kind-hearted child. With you by Beichuan's side, Grandpa can put down his worries. Grandpa is old. It's time for me to step down and retire." Old Master Lu sighed. "Beichuan, I'm giving you the Lu family over to you. I'm going back to our ancestral home tomorrow. I hope that you won't disappoint me."

Lu Shaoren was in jail, and Lu Beichuan had control of the majority shares of the Lu's family business. He had already taken over the Lu family's business.

At this point, there was nothing that Old Master Lu could do about that. Although he was angry that Lu Beichuan had secretly taken action, he also understood that in Lu Beichuan's generation, this grandson of his was the only that could bear this responsibility. Since that was the case, he might as well as unload the heavy weight of responsibility off his shoulders and return to their family’s ancestral home to enjoy his golden years. He didn't want to bother with taking charge of these troublesome matters anymore.

The older generation could only do so much. In the end, children had to be responsible for their own lives. He was giving Lu Beichuan free reign now.

Lu Beichuan said in a solemn voice, "Grandpa, you don't have worry. As long as I'm around, the Lu family's enterprise will never collapse."

Old Master Lu nodded. "That's exactly what grandpa wants to hear. Alright, it's been a tiring day for everyone. You can all go to your rooms to rest."

Mother Lu was smiling as she looked at Ye Zhen and Lu Beichuan. "Right, go rest. Mom is eagerly waiting for the day I can hug my grandson. I hope it happens sooner than later."

The meaning behind that smile was self-evident. Ye Zhen was embarrassed enough by that smile that she blushed. She lowered her head.

In contrast, Lu Beichuan was thick-skinned. With an arm around Ye Zhen's waist, he led her upstairs to their room.