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“I don’t like him at all. If not for his money, who would like such an immature and fickle playboy?”
The woman’s eyes carried disdain, and she let out a mocking laugh.
“He parades himself as devoted and faithful, claiming he already has someone he loves, yet doesn’t he still linger in nightclubs, lying in women’s beds?”
“Men like that are never any good.”
“Mm, thank you for the reminder.”
Xin Ling nodded but didn’t express any stance.
“Hmph, see to yourself then.”
The woman capped her lipstick, folded her arms, and gave her a sidelong glance.
“If not for the fact that you’re naïve and pitiful, and I feared you’d be deceived, I wouldn’t have bothered to remind you.”
With that, she picked up her little purse and leisurely walked away.
Xin Ling followed behind her, returning to the private room.
“Young Master Lu, what’s that thing on your fiancée’s ear?”
After the woman in the red dress left, others seized the chance to surround Lu Ziyao, feeding him wine and handing him fruit.
“What else could it be? A hearing aid.” Lu Ziyao was already drunk and said carelessly, “She’s just a little deafie, can’t hear a thing.”
“No wonder she doesn’t respond when you instruct her, Young Master Lu. Turns out she simply can’t hear~”
“Exactly, with a man as good as you, why should you be taken advantage of by a deaf girl like her?”
“By the way, Young Master Lu, I’ve never seen a hearing aid before in all my life. Can’t you have her take it off so we can see what it looks like?”
“Yeah, once the hearing aid is off, does she really hear nothing at all?”
“I want to know too.”
“…”
“Just wait, when she comes back, I’ll take her hearing aid off and let you all see it~”
Lu Ziyao, lulled by the noisy chatter around him, became muddle-headed and forgot every single word Old Master Lu had sternly instructed him before.
The moment Xin Ling stepped inside, the rowdy voices abruptly stopped. Lu Ziyao lifted his hazy eyes to her and beckoned her over.
“What is it…”
Xin Ling had just sat down and raised her gaze toward him.
At that moment, Lu Ziyao suddenly reached out, plucked the silver hearing aid from her ear, and tossed it onto the table.
With a sharp hum, the world around Xin Ling fell into dead silence.
She blinked, bewildered.
Before her, a group of people gesticulated wildly, their lips moving rapidly, clearly saying something—yet she couldn’t hear a single sound.
“Young Master Lu, look, she has no reaction to anything we’re saying!”
“Unbelievable, she really can’t hear a single thing. Doesn’t that mean no matter what we say, she won’t know?”
“Good idea, taking away her hearing aid. Let’s see how arrogant she can be now!”
Lu Ziyao raised his brows proudly, pulling the girl beside him into his arms and planting a kiss on her cheek.
Now that Xin Ling couldn’t hear anything and had lost her hearing aid, shouldn’t she be frightened and go crying to Grandfather, begging to switch her fiancé?
“How about we do something even more exciting?”
“…”
The expressions of the people before her grew more animated as they discussed, making Xin Ling feel unsettled. Just as she moved to get up and retrieve her hearing aid from the table, someone suddenly grabbed her wrist and yanked her back.
The hearing aid fell from the table, rolling until it stopped before a pair of polished black leather shoes.
“What’s so interesting? Why not let me hear it too?”
A man in a black suit bent down, picked up the hearing aid from the ground, and swept a cold gaze over the group of mischief-makers.
His deep voice carried a chill, sharp as the wind from an ice cellar, making everyone shiver involuntarily.
In that instant, not just Lu Ziyao but everyone in the room froze, their faces stiff, throats tight, unable to utter a sound.
Wasn’t this the Lu family’s living King of Hell?
Why was he here?
The one most terrified was, of course, Lu Ziyao. His mind went blank, his face filled with disbelief as he stared toward the doorway.
He’d actually been caught by Lu Jinzhi himself, bullying someone…
Would he end up dying a miserable death?
Since Xin Ling had her back to the door, with her hearing aid gone she hadn’t heard anything and had no idea what had just happened.
She only saw everyone’s expressions twist in horror, as though they had seen something terrifying.
?
What on earth were they doing?
The next moment, the hand clutching her suddenly released. That familiar sensation returned at her ear—her hearing aid was back in place, and sound returned.
When Xin Ling turned and saw who had put her hearing aid back on, her expression froze just like theirs.
Lu Jinzhi…
?
Why was he here?!
Before she could say anything, Lu Jinzhi had already pulled her to her feet, leading her away from that crowd of men and women.
“Uncle…”
Lu Ziyao’s eyes couldn’t help but follow Lu Jinzhi, his voice trembling as he called out.
“Don’t call me uncle. You’re not worthy.”
The man’s voice was cold and mocking, his glance sharp.
“So this is the Lu family’s so-called upbringing? In public, bullying a girl, disrespecting women?”
“No, we didn’t—”
Lu Ziyao stammered, panicked.
“We just wanted to take off her hearing aid for a look. They said they’d never seen one before…”
“We really didn’t do anything. If you don’t believe me, ask Xin Ling!”
“Didn’t do anything—or didn’t have time to? Lu Ziyao, you know full well yourself.”
Lu Jinzhi’s gaze fell on him, cold and oppressive, pinning him in place.
It felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar, chilled to the bone.
“You do whatever women tell you to? Lu Ziyao, did you lose your brains along with your pants while rolling around in women’s arms?”
“Uncle, it’s not like that, you misunderstood…”
Lu Ziyao still tried to defend himself, but Lu Jinzhi had already lost patience.
“Send him to Lu Qinghe. Tell him everything that happened tonight, word for word, and let him discipline his grandson.”
Lu Jinzhi ordered coolly. Under Lu Ziyao’s increasingly despairing gaze, he added, “Lock him up for half a month. If Lu Qinghe asks, tell him I said so.”
“Yes, Fifth Master.”
The black-suited bodyguard nodded and strode toward Lu Ziyao.
“Young Master, come back with us.”
“Uncle, I’ll change, I promise! Can you not lock me up?”
“Uncle…”
No matter how he pleaded, Lu Jinzhi ignored him.
When Lu Ziyao was finally dragged away by two bodyguards, the room fell into dead silence.
If even Lu Ziyao didn’t dare provoke this man, how could the rest of them? Not a single one dared to breathe a word.
Even Xin Ling shrank back quietly, trying to blend into the background like a quail.
As for why Lu Jinzhi had come here, Xin Ling already had a faint suspicion deep down—but it was a suspicion too terrifying to believe.
If even Lu Ziyao’s outcome was this miserable…