Today is the day I marry Zhao Benyuan.
Some say that marriage is the grave of love, but I don't view it that way.
Marrying someone you love, even if it is a grave, is still blissful.
I look at the man slowly walking towards me, my heart brimming with happiness. This is the man I have loved for seven years, finally stepping into the marriage hall.
At this moment, I am full of anticipation and longing for our life after marriage. However, some things simply do not go according to my wishes...
The master of ceremonies is going through the proceedings on the stage, Zhao Benyuan stands beside me, firmly holding my hand.
"Now, let's look back at the love journey of our new couple!"
The big screen lights up, displaying photos of Zhao Benyuan and myself. In the pictures, my smile is radiant.
I tilt my head to look at Zhao Benyuan, my heart filled with sweetness.
A gasp from the crowd brings me back to reality.
"Isn't that Mrs. Xia?" a tiny voice asks, stirring up a commotion among the audience.
Down the stage, my dad's face turns ashen. His chest heaves, as if he's received a massive shock.
Zhao Benyuan turns to look at the big screen. His face is pale, and he lets go of my hand.
The whispers become louder. I turn my head back.
The screen is still displaying pictures, intimate ones, so intimate that no clothes are left to cover our bodies.
However, the female protagonist in the picture is not me, it's my step-mother, Qi Shan!
The host clearly didn't anticipate this sudden issue, he hurriedly asked the staff to stop the display, yet the equipment malfunctioned and couldn't be turned off.
My father stood up, his face flushed red with anger, he roared: "Shameless creature, you've brought the wolf into the house!"
I stood on the stage, dazed, like a soulless puppet, exposed to the mockery of the crowd below.
On the day of my wedding, I was cheated on, and the person who deceived me was my step-mother!
Humiliated, ashamed, and filled with an indescribable rush of emotion, I couldn't help but want to burrow into a hole and hide from the world.
My father was so furious he started shaking. His eyes rolled back, and he could no longer stand, he collapsed straight backward.
"Miss Xia, Mr. Xia had a heart attack, he needs to be taken to the hospital immediately!" Someone from the crowd shouted and started dialing for an ambulance.
I struggled to breathe, lifting the hem of my wedding dress as I staggered off the stage.
My father lay there on the ground, his face turning purple. I knelt by his side, my eyes dry and stinging, wanting to cry but unable to.
The ambulance arrived, and I followed the medical personnel, rushing to the hospital in my high heels.
Just yesterday, I was fantasizing about a happy life with Zhao Benyuan. But now, reality had slapped me in the face, waking me up.
Fortunately, my dad was rescued in time, and his life was no longer in danger.
I sat on a long bench in the hospital corridor, wearing my white wedding dress, which made me look even more like a defeated clown.
Since my father's illness, Zhao Benyuan never showed up again.
I've dialed his number several times, but he didn't answer any of my calls, almost as if he's completely vanished from my world.
The mere thought of Zhao Benyuan triggers a dull pain in my chest.
Zhao Benyuan didn't come to the hospital until the next noon, Qi Shan came along with him.
Qi Shan is an unusually attractive woman, a graduate from a prestigious university with a good figure and a flair for being coy. She is my dad's fifth wife; the fact that she could chase away all the other women by his side shows her competence.
"Why... Why would you do this to me?" I tugged at my wedding dress, tears welled up in my eyes as I stared at Zhao Benyuan.
I hadn't slept the previous night. My voice was hoarse; I even felt a piercing pain in my throat when speaking. But as painful as my throat might be, it was nothing compared to the agony my heart currently bears!
Qi Shan leaned weakly into Zhao Benyuan's arms, her eyes reflecting contempt as she looked at me, taunting: "Xia Zhen, you really believed Zhao Benyuan had feelings for you? If your family didn't have all that dirty money, do you think he'd even spare you a glance?"
Her words detonated like a bomb in my heart.
My hand trembled as it gripped Zhao Benyuan's. My eyes were moist with unshed tears as I asked him, in a choked voice: "Tell me, are her words true?"
Zhao Benyuan irritably shook off my hand, his voice icy as he replied: "Do you actually think I would fall for a used product like you?"
Suddenly, my face turned deathly pale. I couldn’t stop my whole body from shivering, large teardrops rolled from my eyes, ruining my polished make-up.
Zhao Benyuan once told me that he didn't care about my past, or the experiences I had been through.
In our seven years of dating, Zhao Benyuan never even touched a single finger of mine. Even our kisses were cursory at best, done as if out of mere obligation. I feared that Zhao Benyuan was bothered by my past, but he persuaded me with righteous words that he wanted to wait until our wedding night.
But who would have thought that Zhao Benyuan's unwillingness to touch me from the onset was because he found me disgusting?
I slumped despairingly into the seat like a prisoner sentenced to death. With my dull eyes fixed on Zhao Benyuan, I screamed hoarsely: "Zhao Benyuan, even if you don't love me, even if you don't want to marry me, you shouldn't have done such a thing with her!"
No matter how one looks at it, Qi Shan is my stepmother in name. Yesterday at the wedding, so many people saw the unsightly photographs.
How would others think of me? How would they think of my dad?
Qi Shan furrowed her brows, affectionately holding onto Zhao Benyuan's arm. With a shift in her gaze and a coquettish tone, she said: "You'd better spend more time on public relations than playing the pity card here."
Her words gave me chills.
"I came here just to tell you, since the wedding didn't happen, let's just forget it. After all, I don’t want to marry you anyway." Zhao Benyuan cast a glance at me, dropped those words, and left with Qi Shan.
Even though it was midsummer, I felt a cold chill, a bone-deep coldness.
"Miss Xia, please come to the company quickly. There’s a big issue." The call came from Assistant Lin.
Upon receiving the call, I hurriedly left the hospital. The company was what my dad built up with his own hands, it was the fruit of his life's hard work, I couldn’t let any mishaps occur during this crucial time.
"Boss Xia has transferred all of his shares to his wife, and now that Boss Xia is in a coma, his wife is going to take over as the CEO." Assistant Lin urgently mentioned, "Miss Xia, this is Boss Xia’s lifetime of hard work, so what if…”
I was panicking, pulling at my hair. The scandal from the wedding hasn't been suppressed, and now the company's in trouble. Problems are surfacing one after another, leaving me at a loss.
"What should I do?" I looked up, my eyes reddened, staring at him.
The company was always run by my dad. I knew nothing about running it. Even if Qi Shan is really going to take over as the CEO, what can I do?
"You and Mr. Zhao were supposed to be husband and wife, it’s only right that the Zhao family helps when the company is in trouble."
I force a bitter smile. I bet Zhao Benyuan also played a role in Qi Shan's attempted corporate takeover.
In Zhao's family, Zhao Benyuan has no real power. For him to set foot firmly in the Qi market, the Xia corporation could be his best stepping stone.
Seeing me in despair, the assistant pacing anxiously suddenly had a light-bulb moment: "Zhao Tianyi!"
