"Just because you're dressed up now, that doesn't make you worthy of being Jingwei's wife. You are not, and will never be part of my family!"
"Father! How could you - " Jingwei yelled from behind her, but Sun Haowei wasn't done with his hurtful statement.
"Get away from my son!" Sun Haowei demanded, flinging a cup of tea straight at Xue Ning's head!
Xue Ning's first reaction was to dodge it, then she stilled, remembering that Jingwei was behind her! If she moved away, he'd be the one hit by the cup.
So she stopped, deciding to let herself get hit instead. With how sharp the crystals on her outfit were, she had a feeling that she'd be fine.
What she didn't expect was Jingwei's hand to shoot out from behind her ear to bat it away like an annoying fly!
"Xue Ning, get behind me!" Jingwei demanded. She turned to stare at him incredulously - and she wasn't the only one, Tianwei, his father and the whole host of bodyguards couldn't believe their eyes.
Where was the sweet-tempered, weak-willed and good-for-nothing Young Master Sun?
The tea cup fell on the floor with a loud crack and shattered into smithereens. Warm tea spilled all over the cool marble floors, and Jingwei pulled Xue Ning away so that she wouldn't be hit by any stray droplets of tea.
Xue Ning's mouth fell open and she could only blink in surprise. Sun Jingwei looked like a man out for blood!
Meanwhile, everyone also turned to stare at Jingwei in shock. Tianwei was about to scold Jingwei for interfering, but he stilled at the look in his eyes. Jingwei's face was darker than a stormcloud, and his eyes had the look of a predator.
There wasn't the customary fear or hesitance Tianwei was used to seeing. There was no panic in Jingwei's eyes at the fact that the woman he loved could have been hurt.
Instead, his eyes were full of outrage.
At that dangerous look in Jingwei's eyes, Xue Ning felt a gentle warmth spread through her, similar to the first time when he defended her from Xiaohui's justifications, but now it settled deep into her bones, healing her from inside.
Sun Jingwei was undoubtedly on her side. He was hers, and she was his.
Xiaohui was just a waitress that was made to hurt her, but Sun Haowei was Jingwei's biological father!
It must have taken him a lot more courage to defend her against him, than to defend her against poor Xiaohui, who was merely acting on orders.
Even if their relationship was a mixture between best friends, employee and employer, and a strange arranged marriage in the public eye, at the heart of it, it was all very simple in the end.
Xue Ning had wasted her brain cells trying to compartmentalise it, only for her emotions to spill everywhere despite her best efforts, just like that cup of tea on the floor.
She could only let out a helpless huff of laughter at her own stupidity, shaking her head.
At Xue Ning's exhalation, Jingwei's focus shifted back to her. She gave him a slight smile and squeezed his hand.
"Idiot, I'm fine. Don't worry."
In that moment, he snapped out of his protective rage. The darkness in his eyes dissipated, and it was replaced with boyish nervousness as he hovered around her, fluttering like an anxious butterfly.
"Are you unhurt? Did the shards cut you? The tea didn't splash on you right?"
Xue Ning laughed and waved him off, which of course set off alarm bells in Jingwei's head.
Which woman would laugh after being insulted so terribly and nearly getting brained by a cup of tea?
Xue Ning must have been seriously hurt by his father's words to use humour as a coping mechanism! Internally he despaired further - now Xue Ning was going to dump him for sure!
Which sane woman would want to be saddled with a father-in-law that was so rude?
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't stress about it." Xue Ning repeated, looking at him fondly. She normally hated people fussing over her, but somehow, it was endearing when Jingwei did it. Possibly because he knew she could take care of herself, but wanted to do it anyway.
Because he could. Because she was important to him.
"Didn't you say frowning causes wrinkles?" She chided gently, flicking the centre of his forehead, causing him to blink in confusion. "Stop looking like you want to murder someone."
"I'm not!" Jingwei protested. "I was just worried."
"I'm more bummed about the tea honestly," Xue Ning pointed out. "Such a waste of good tea."
She could only internally lament at the waste of a particularly good tea cup, along with the loss of a particularly good tea! With how intricate the design was on the cup and how bright the colours were, that tea cup probably cost as much as a year's worth of her rent.
She could still smell the fragrance of the tea all over the floor. Such a waste from someone who had the world and still took things for granted.
"I'll buy you some afterwards," Jingwei promised dotingly, which was entirely not the point and it had the added effect of making his father mad enough to puke metaphorical blood all over the floor!
Sun Haowei knew this would happen when he let them live together! What did Tianwei say again - that they would hate each other and split? Nonsense! Now they were stuck together like magnets!
His death glare was completely ignored by his son and Li Xue Ning, for they were in their own world, so he could only glare at his oldest instead.
It was his fault for encouraging this scheme! Now he had to fix this!
Tianwei sighed, upset. Why was he blamed for this when his father had agreed on it too? He decided to keep silent for the rest of this spectacle, refusing to be dragged into this mess any more than he already had.
"Alright, will the both of you stop flirting?" Tianwei asked tiredly. "The rest of us are still in the room."
"It's not like I wanted you people in the room," Jingwei retorted dryly. "You're free to leave, you know."
"Hmph, the one leaving should be her," Sun Haowei spat out, shooting Xue Ning a venomous look. While this woman motivated his son to become less useless, she was also inciting his son to openly rebel against him!
She was a thorn in his side, a cavity in his tooth. And what did people do with thorns and decayed teeth?
They had them extracted, at all costs!
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