Shen had his eye on a young girl and asked me to personally handle her graduation party. “Young girls love to look beautiful. You have experience attending many banquets, so help her dress up nicely,” he said. That day, I picked out no less than a hundred dresses for Lily, but she immediately fell in love with the mermaid wedding gown Shen had designed for me years ago. “Let’s go with this one, sis. I want to wear a wedding dress for Mr. Johnson too,” Lily said playfully, looking at me. Out of selfishness, I refused her request. As a result, Lily ran to Shen in tears to complain. I was forced to endure the Johnson family’s harsh punishment, kneeling on a hard wooden floor all night. Later, to make up for his little lover, Shen auctioned off my family heirloom without warning. He sent my grandmother’s jade bracelet, which she had left me before she passed away, to the auction house. He spent a fortune on it for Lily, throwing money around carelessly. That day, all the guests who entered the venue watched with red eyes, knowing it was my most treasured possession. I begged Shen not to give the bracelet away, but he just held Lily and said mockingly: “I told you before, anything Lily wants, you have no right to compete for!” On the day of the graduation party, Lily wore my mermaid wedding dress and the jade bracelet worth over a hundred million dollars, instantly becoming the center of attention. Everyone was guessing if I would sulk alone like I had in the past. But this time, I calmly handed divorce papers to Shen’s assistant. After suing the two for theft, I left for abroad.
When Shen brought his little lover home, I wasn’t surprised. He despised the relationship between our families and hated even more that I had used family connections to secure our marriage. In seven years of marriage, Shen had brought over a hundred lovers home to provoke and humiliate me publicly. This time, the girl he brought back looked younger and more beautiful than ever before, making my heart suddenly tighten. “Lily is graduating from college in a few days and needs to prepare for the party in advance,” Shen said. “Young girls love to look beautiful. You have experience attending many banquets, so help her dress up nicely,” he ordered, raising his handsome eyebrows and holding Lily closer. I couldn’t refuse Shen’s demands, so I could only resign myself to serving each of his lovers well. “I understand,” I nodded numbly, forcing myself to swallow the bitterness in my heart as I went to pick out suitable dresses for Lily. During this time, Shen had to go to the company for something, leaving Lily alone to face me. “Oh my, these dresses are all so outdated. There’s no thought put into them at all. Rachel, you’re not deliberately being careless, are you?” Lily said with a frown, clearly intending to make things difficult for me. I was already used to how hard to please each lover was, so I calmly asked her what she liked. “I heard Mr. Johnson used to give you lots of custom-made dresses. Can I take a look?” she asked, though she didn’t wait for my opinion before heading upstairs. I couldn’t help but frown, the words to stop her caught in my throat. I saw Lily take out the mermaid wedding dress from the glass cabinet and smile smugly at me: “Let’s go with this one, sis. I want to wear a wedding dress for Mr. Johnson too.” “He said before that my looks aren’t inferior to yours. I’m sure I’ll look even better in it!” Lily looked at me with a strange hostility. The moment I saw the mermaid wedding dress, my heart skipped a beat and my hands clenched into fists. This wedding dress was personally customized for me by Shen from abroad. The labor costs alone were over a million dollars, not to mention the tens of thousands of expensive diamonds on it. “No, this one is very important to me. You can choose any of the others,” I said, my gaze heavy. Lily naturally noticed my unusual reaction. But with Shen’s favor backing her, she didn’t take my refusal seriously at all. “Mr. Johnson said that whatever I like, no one can take it from me!” Lily said, picking up the dress to leave without even bothering to give me a glance. As she turned to brush past me, I grabbed the hem of the dress and pulled it back. Lily wasn’t prepared and stumbled, her knee hitting the stair railing hard. “I said, this one is very important to me!” It wasn’t just that Shen had personally selected and designed it. More importantly, my grandmother had watched me wear it as I walked down the aisle before she passed away. Grandma said I looked beautiful in the mermaid wedding dress and hoped I would always be happy. I wouldn’t allow anyone to easily ruin this beautiful wish, no matter how many times Shen humiliated me with his lovers. This was the one thing I absolutely wouldn’t compromise on. Lily glared at me with tears in her eyes, looking like she wanted to tear me to pieces. But in my territory, Lily didn’t dare to cause too much trouble. In the end, she ran out crying. I didn’t expect Lily to be so narrow-minded. That evening, she ran to the company to complain. When Shen came back with a dark face, I was lost in thought looking at my grandmother’s belongings. I was suddenly pulled up and given a hard slap. Just like all the times before when I had angered his lovers, he gave me another warning. “Rachel, don’t you think you’re taking yourself too seriously!” “Haven’t I told you what happens when you upset them?”
My head was spinning. It took a while before I found my voice again: “I told you your lovers can have anything, except things related to my grandmother!” Shen knew my bottom line very well. He also knew I had been holding back my emotions for a long time. But he didn’t care if I was angry or not. He just wanted to make his sweetheart happy. I was dragged by Shen all the way to the study on the third floor. When I saw what was inside the sandalwood and gilt box, my heart sank. “Shen, what are you going to do?!” Shen knew exactly what he was doing as he took out the punishment book inside. The so-called punishment book was a special iron book made by the Johnson family to punish descendants who stepped out of line. The raised characters on it warned family members to obey family rules and restrain themselves. Shen had once endured this family punishment to rebel against our arranged marriage. Kneeling on the densely raised nails of the punishment book was like kneeling on needles, causing pain and fear. But back then, Shen had knelt for a full five hours. It made me want to give up my feelings for him and cancel the marriage. But the elders on both sides wouldn’t agree no matter what, determined to make this family union happen. The hatred in Shen’s eyes as he looked at me that day was intense. I never thought that just for refusing one of Lily’s requests, Shen would subject me to this family punishment. “Only by suffering a little will you learn your lesson completely,” Shen said flatly, throwing the punishment book in front of me and ordering me to kneel on it all night. The housekeeper who had followed us couldn’t bear it and quickly tried to dissuade him: “Mr. Johnson, this punishment book is like torture. Madam is delicate, won’t kneeling all night ruin her knees?” Shen furrowed his handsome brows and sneered: “She should have thought about how I would treat her when she upset Lily.” As soon as he finished speaking, he had the butler press me down to kneel on the punishment book for reflection. Before leaving, Shen made a video call to Lily, their intimate words lingering in my ears: “Does your knee still hurt where you bumped it? Don’t worry, I’ve paid her back for you…” When he turned the camera towards me, a needle-like pain shot through my knees. It was almost deep in the bone, making my scalp go numb. “Mr. Johnson, you’re so good to me. My knee doesn’t hurt anymore. You don’t believe me? Come feel it~” “I’m glad it doesn’t hurt. After all, someone else is hurting for you.” “Oh right, didn’t you say you had your eye on something else?” “It will be in your hands very soon.” Shen played with the beads in his hand, smiling meaningfully. Hearing how much Shen cared for her, Lily was so happy she could barely speak, only able to coquettishly chide him. The two flirted on the voice call in front of me for a while longer before finally closing the door. Watching Shen’s departing figure, I felt inexplicably panicked, a cold sweat breaking out on my back. Two hours later, my knees were bruised and swollen, barely able to move at all. I couldn’t imagine how Shen had endured five hours back then. The housekeeper said Shen had taken over half a month to recover. It turns out not loving someone is so obvious. What a pity I was still naive enough to think I could soften him with love back then. I was wrong about everything. I gradually came to realize this. In the end, I collapsed to the ground with a “thud” that caught the attention of the housekeeper outside the door. Anna looked at my pale face and immediately wanted to call Shen. I didn’t have time to stop her before I heard a moan of pleasure leak through the phone. Followed by an angry rebuke: “Can’t you tell I’m busy?” “Unless she kneels to death, don’t disturb me!” I gave a bitter smile, my trembling body barely able to support itself as I tried to reassure her: “I’m fine, don’t call him…” But the next second, my heavy fall betrayed my true condition.
When I woke up again, thick bandages were wrapped around my knees. Anna beside me looked like she wanted to say something but held back, her eyes red. “If you want to say something, just say it.” What else could I not bear at this point? Seeing my resigned expression, Anna held my hand sympathetically, trying hard to comfort me: “Madam, it was just a small miscarriage. You’ll have another chance in the future!” My heart skipped a beat. I instinctively touched my abdomen. After a long while, I moved my arm away. Tears unconsciously streamed down my face as I calmly instructed: “Don’t tell anyone, especially not Shen.” A few days before the graduation party, Lily finally got her hands on my mermaid wedding dress as she wished. Shen, who usually hated troublesome events, surprisingly attended a private auction that day. By the time I was invited over, the auction was nearly over. Lily was satisfied to receive my grandmother’s jade bracelet that had been passed down for generations, exclaiming: “I’ve only ever seen this on TV before. I never thought I’d be able to own such a top-tier jade bracelet. Thank you, Mr. Johnson!” Shen naturally put his arm around her shoulders, his gaze falling on the host as he smiled lightly: “Using it as your graduation gift is most fitting.” The people around admired Shen’s grand gesture, unable to help but applaud: “It’s rare to see Mr. Johnson splurge like this for his sweetheart. How extravagant!” “This display of affection, I bet someone is going to be insanely jealous!” “Hey, why does this bracelet look so familiar? Isn’t it the heirloom jade bracelet of the Johnson family’s daughter-in-law?” “Mr. Johnson, you didn’t auction off your wife’s belongings, did you?” People spoke teasingly, somewhat wanting to see some drama unfold. Shen didn’t bother to hide anything and admitted it right away. Everyone knew that was my most treasured possession, yet Shen deliberately auctioned it off in front of everyone to please his lover. I stood dazed at the doorway, watching as people continued to flatter Shen, surrounding him at the center. Lily had never seen such a grand gesture before and was instantly elated. Just then, Shen’s heavy gaze turned towards me. I bit my lip hard, my eyes reddening at the scene before me. The noisy, lively voices suddenly stopped. Everyone was looking in my direction. “Shen, why did you auction off the heirloom my grandmother left me?” “Do you hate this arranged marriage so much?” Besides that, I couldn’t think of any other reason why Shen would hate me so much. Hearing mention of old matters, Shen’s expression turned cold as he held Lily even closer. “Rachel, you should have expected this day would come when you married me.” “Just looking at you for a second after we got married made me feel sick!” After seven years, Shen once again spoke his true feelings. I smiled, feeling as if a weight had been lifted. But tears kept coming unbidden, pouring out endlessly. I begged him, almost pleading, to return the bracelet to me. I even offered divorce: “I promise you, I can divorce you and let you never see me again. Please, can you give me back my grandmother’s things?” Shen’s brows furrowed, inexplicably annoyed. The people around once again got their fill of drama, unable to help but comment: “Rachel has loved Mr. Johnson for over ten years. She even chose her university just to follow him. How can she talk about divorce so easily?” “Is this a ploy to get him back? This tactic is too old-fashioned!” “Trust me, she’ll cry and make a fuss at most. By tomorrow she’ll be begging to reconcile again!” People confidently guessed all my thoughts, as if they knew exactly what was in my mind. I couldn’t blame them for thinking this way. After all, every time Shen had a fight with one of his lovers, I was always the one to actively make peace in the end. But this time, I had no other intentions. I just wanted my things back. “Please, Shen.” I was almost about to kneel and beg him to agree, but he handed the choice to Lily instead. “I’ve said before, anything Lily wants, you have no right to compete for!” “Unless you’re willing to lower your head and beg her yourself!” Everyone’s gazes fell on Lily again, waiting for her decision. Lily just glanced at Shen before turning to me and saying: “This is the graduation gift Mr. Johnson gave me. Sis, can’t you let me have it just this once?” Lily seemed to be reminding me of the consequences of not letting her have the wedding dress last time. In an instant, I felt as if I had fallen into an ice pit. The words I wanted to say got stuck in my throat. In the end, I was mercilessly rejected by the two of them and driven out by security.
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