"She'll do no such thing."
Every head in the room snapped toward the voice. It was no other person than Wang Li Chang.
Xin Yi wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel, but the first thing that hit her was a wave of pure relief. She knew how rigid he was once he made up his mind, and even though he was the reason she was stuck in this mess to begin with, his presence felt like a shield.
He walked toward them with a cold, steady gaze. He looked remarkably like his younger brother, though he carried himself with an authority that Li Chen hadn't earned yet. His black suit was tailored to perfection, hugging his frame in a way that didn't just scream wealth, it screamed power.
"Brother Li Chang _" Liu Xia Hui started, her voice tight, but he didn't even give her a glance.
"Don't you think you're over stepping, Li Chen?" Wang Li Chang's voice was low, dangerous. "She's your fiancee. Who, exactly are you telling her to kneel to?" He looked around the room, his eyes moving past the crew as if they were nothing more than furnitures.
The entire crew went silent. Even Wu Chunhua knew better than to open her mouth now. A tense murmur rippled through the set, How did Wang Li Chang even find this place? And why was he jumping to Xin Yi's defense without even asking what had happened?.
"Stay out of this, Wang Li Chang," Wang Li Chen snapped, his voice tight with ego. "It's none of your business how I handle my fiancee."
"That's exactly what I'm reminding you of," Wang Li Chang replied. "She's your fiancee, not your slave."
Without another word, he walked straight to Xin Yi. He studied her for a few silent seconds, his eyes stopping on the raw red burn on her left leg.
Seeing her tears hit him harder than he expected. A sharp, violent urge to level his brother and every one else in the room flared up inside him, but he forced it down, his jaw tight.
He didn't ask for permission. He simply took Xin Yi by the hand and pulled her away from the scene, leaving the rest of them standing there stunned.
"Wang Li Chang, let go!" Xin Yi's voice went sharp as he pulled her towards the car. She glanced around frantically, thinking of the paparazzi lurking in the shadows and the nightmare this would ignite by morning if they were to be seen by them. He didn't seem to care. He didn't even look back.
He ignored her, his grip firm as he kept moving.
"I said, let go!" With a violent jerk, she finally wrenched her hand out of his grasp.
They came to a dead stop. Wang Li Chang turned to face her, his frustration finally boiling over. "What is going on with you, Xin Yi? Yesterday I showed up and you're in the middle of a scene. Today, it's the same thing. And Li Chen? He just stands there. He doesn't even lift a finger to protect you."
Before she could pull away again, he reached out and caught her wrists, holding her steady even as she fought him. "Xin Yi, look at me please, tell me what is happening, this isn't you."
The dam finally broke. Xin Yi didn't just cry, she snapped. Hitting him, her fists thudding against his chest with a fierce, shaking desperation.
"This is all your fault, Wang Li Chang!" She sobbed, each word catching in her throat. "It's all your fault. I shouldn't have tried to help you. I never should have done it!"
Wang Li Chang caught her hands, pinning them firmly to keep her from hurting herself or him. He looked down at her, his face a mark of confusion.
"What are you talking about, Xin Yi? Talk to me. How is any of this my fault?"
He started to demand more, but then he stopped. The air between them went still as a realization hit him like a physical blow. The dots connected in a way that made his blood run cold.
"Xin Yi..." His voice was barely a whisper now, stripped of all the previous anger. "Are you being forced to marry Wang Li Chen?"
"XIN YI!"
Wang Li Chen's voice cut through the air like a blade. He stormed towards them, his face twisted in a snarl as he reached out to yank Xin Yi away from his brother.
"What do you think you're doing?" Wang Li Chang demanded, his grip tightening as he pulled her back behind him, shielding her with his own body.
"I'm taking my fiancee home," Wang Li Chen snapped, stepping into Chang's personal space. "What do you think you're doing with someone else's finances?"
"The fiancee you couldn't bother to defend?" Li Chang's voice was dangerously calm now, the kind of calm that comes right before a storm. He finally let go of Xin Yi's hand, stepping forward until he was chest-to-chest with his younger brother. His shoulders squared, his weight shifting. He looked ready to tear Wang Li Chen apart.
"Mind your own damn business, Wang Li Chang!" Wang Li Chen exploded, his composure completely shattering. He balled his fists, refusing to back down.
"Stop it! Both of you!"
Xin Yi stepped between them, her small frame a barrier against the heart of their rage. She couldn't let this happen, she wouldn't be the reason two brothers drew blood. She looked up at Wang Li Chang's eyes, tired and pleading.
"I'll go with Wang Li Chen," she said softly, the fight gone out of her. "Don't worry about me."
Before Wang Li Chang could protest, Wang Li Chen grabbed her arm and dragged her toward his car. He didn't look back as he forced her inside and tore out of the lot.
Wang Li Chang stood frozen, watching the taillights fade as the sound of camera shutters clicked like gunfire from the shadows near the gate. The paparazzi has seen everything.
He stood there in the sudden silence, his blood still boiling. He hadn't even planned to be here. He'd been at the office with his father when he overheard the staffs talking about Xin Yi's location. He had missed her so much it felt like an ache in his chest, he just wanted to see her face, even if he knew she'd give him the cold shoulder.
He never expected to find her being humiliated. He didn't care about what happened or who was "right." As long as he was breathing, no one was allowed to hurt her.
He looked at the empty road, his jaw set in a hard line. He just needed proof. If he could prove she was being forced into this marriage, he would burn the whole world down to get her back.
The silence inside the car was deafening, broken only by the aggressive roar of the engine. Wang Li Chen drove like a man possessed, white-knucking the steering wheel as he pushed the car faster than the city streets allowed. He didn't look at Xin Yi, and she didn't dare to look at him. His anger was a physical load, filling the suffocating space until she could barely breathe.
When they finally lurched to a halt in the mansion's drive way, the silence followed them out of the car. Neither said a word as they crossed the threshold into the house.
They didn't get far.
Grandpa Wang Tian was waiting for them in the center of the massive living room. He sat perfectly still, his cane planted firmly in front of him, but the sheer weight of his anger seemed to darken the entire space. He didn't mean to say a word for them to know he had seen something worth raging at.
"What the hell is this nonsense?!" Grandpa Wang Tian roared.
The sound of the tablet shattering against the marble floor was like a gunshot. It echoed through the high ceilings of the living room, leaving an echo of the impact.
He didn't even look at the expensive glass shards scattered at his feet. His eyes were fixed on the two of them, burning with rage.
The sudden crash brought the rest of the household scrambling. Staff hovered at the edges of the room, and family members spilled out from the upper wings, their faces mixed with curiosity and fear.
"What on earth is the problem, Wang Tian?" Grandma Shen Mei asked, her voice trembling as she hurried to his side.
He didn't answer. He just slumped back into his chair, his chest heaving as he fought to catch his breath. He looked aged, but his eyes were still sharp with venom.
"Why don't you all check the Internet?" He rasped, waving a dismissive hand toward the room. "See for yourselves."
A heavy, frantic silence followed as everyone reached for their phones. Xin Yi's fingers shook so hard she almost dropped hers. A cold knot tightened in her stomach, she had known this was coming, had felt this disaster brewing the moment Wu Chunhua started her evil schemes. She prayed a desperate, silent plea that the cameras has missed the worst of it
The Headline was plastered across every major entertainment site, accompanied by a high defined shot of Wang Li Chang shielding her, his face inches from Wang Li Chen's in a serious argument.
The notifications didn't just pop up, they felt like physical blows. Each buzz of her phone was a new crack in the floor beneath her.
The headlines flashed across the screen in a dizzying blue of bold text and grainy high stakes photos.
"TENSION ERUPTS: WANG HEIRS CLASH OVER FIANCEE'S CONDUCT ON SET."
"FUTURE WANG DAUGHTER IN LAW FORCIBLY REMOVED AFTER HEATED EXCHANGE."
"PUBLIC HUMILIATION: WANG LI CHEN SEEN REPRIMANDING FIANCEE."
"SABOTAGE? XIN YI ACCUSED OF INTENTIONAL BURN INJURY TO COUNTRY L'S TOP ACTRESS."
"THE DIVIDED HOUSE: ARE THE WANG HEIRS AT WAR?"
She had thought all these would have been the next day, guess she was wrong. The comments were already rolling in by the thousands, calling her all sorts of names for hurting Wu Chunhua and trying to divide the Wang brothers. Is her life going to end like this?
"You ungrateful child!"
The words were followed by the sharp crack of Grandma Shen Mei's hand across Xin Yi's face. The force of the slap sent Xin Yi's head snapping to the side, her skin instantly blooming red.
"Grandma, that's enough! Please!" Li Chen stepped in, finally throwing an arm around Xin Yi to shield her from a second strike.
"She is going to destroy this family with her stupidity!" Grandma Shen Mei's voice yelped, echoing off the high marble walls. "If this scandal grows, Xin Yi, I will throw you back to the streets where I found you. Don't think for a second the Wang's name is permanently yours!"
Xin Yi cradled her burning cheek, the physical pain cannot be compared to the sound of her heart aching. The street. That was all she was to them, a charity project they could cancel whenever it became inconvenient.
She looked at the faces surrounding her. They didn't see a daughter, or a sister, or even a human being. They saw a PR disaster. She was the victim here, she was the one who had been humiliated and spoken I'll of, yet not one person has asked if she was okay.
A bitter, hollow question echoed in her mind. If they were going to treat me like a slave,why did they even bring me in? Why give me their name just to use it as a leash? She stood there, trembling and silent, realizing that in this house of gold and glass, she was the only thing that didn't belong.
Wuuuu. I'm so happy I'm able to finish 5 chapters. Like it's literally a big goal for me because the thinking and pacing was hard, based on I'm a beginner. I hope you all like it.