Chapter 67 Xie Muchen Is Such a Scumbag

Chapter 67: Xie Muchen Is Such a Scumbag

“Come here.”

Ling Jue waved Qin Shuyi over, his displeasure unmistakable.

He’d told her to stay put—yet she’d followed out alone.

What if that woman had snapped and brought a weapon?

The rest of this was none of her concern. Qin Shuyi obediently retreated to Ling Jue’s side.

Ling Jue scanned her from head to toe before feigning nonchalance and looking away.

On the other side, Zhao Jinyu shot Xie Muchen an impatient glance. “This is your mess.”

Xie Muchen’s gold-rimmed glasses glinted under the lawn lights. “I’d say it was aimed at you.”

Qin Shuyi offered a gentle reminder. “Is it possible you’re *both* in trouble?”

She gestured toward the two glasses of spiked red wine on the table.

Xie Muchen / Zhao Jinyu: “…”

Xie Muchen conceded first—after all, Xu Yan had explicitly stated she sought revenge against *him*.

“Have the glasses tested and take her to the police. Let the law handle it. Any objections?”

Zhao Jinyu: “Whatever.”

As long as her engagement party today proceeded without incident.

Hearing she would be taken to the police station, Xu Yan panicked. “No, no, Muchen—I can’t go to jail! Please, let me go! I haven’t done anything yet!”

Xie Muchen looked at her with undisguised disgust. “I warned you long ago not to be so greedy.”

Xu Yan crumpled to the ground, tears streaming down her face, her eyes brimming with mockery and hatred. “Ha! *Me*, greedy? You’re the one who made me that way! If you hadn’t entered my world—shown me things that didn’t belong to me—made me mistakenly believe I was loved too—would I have ended up like this, step by step?”

“Xie Muchen, you ruined me!”

He was the true villain, yet carried on as if nothing had happened.

How could he treat her pain with such utter contempt?

Xie Muchen stared at her coldly. “The money I gave you far exceeded your worth. Moreover, you had a better path ahead—but you let it slip.”

Back at the seaside, upon discovering Xu Yan’s ulterior motives, he’d severed ties immediately.

But Xu Yan couldn’t accept it—unwilling to believe all those sweet, beautiful moments from the past had been nothing but performance.

Especially after witnessing how cherished Qin Shuyi was by Ling Jue, she’d decided to try her luck too.

Afterward, she’d gone to Xie’s company several more times to find Xie Muchen.

After repeated incidents, Xie Muchen finally issued a stern warning—by having her removed from the lead role in a dance production.

Xu Yan was terrified.

Dance was her livelihood, her foundation. She dared not risk it.

Yet when she returned to her original life, she found everything already in shambles.

She couldn’t adjust to saving for months just to buy a handbag; she loathed the cramped shared apartment; she hated the greasy takeout flyers cluttering her mailbox…

She was like a canary that had flown from its cage—only to realize it could no longer survive in the wild.

Worse still, without Xie Muchen’s financial backing, she lost her position as principal dancer.

Learning is like rowing upstream—if you don’t advance, you fall behind. The same applied to dance.

Her equally talented peers had surged far ahead while she’d been lost in the superficial romance of a wealthy man.

No one ostracized or mocked her—but the proud Xu Yan couldn’t bear such failure.

She’d even lost the will to catch up.

Only then did Xu Yan grasp how terrifying Xie Muchen truly was. His gentleness was fake. His glorious crown was fake. His extravagant lifestyle was fake.

Everything she’d seen and experienced belonged to *him*—not to her.

If he chose to take it all back, she had no recourse.

His life remained unaffected—save for an extra romantic entanglement—while she, who should have been diligently forging ahead, had become utterly lost in this *radically different world*.

“No need to work hard” was the biggest lie.

She regretted it. When Xia Zhiyue reminded her that money and resources were the most tangible assets—and urged her to wield them as weapons to adorn herself—she hadn’t listened.

Xu Yan stared at the coldness in Xie Muchen’s eyes behind his lenses—crying and laughing at once.

He hadn’t been stingy with her—but had those eyes ever truly held *her*?

For an illusory love, she’d forgotten her dreams—and the path she’d once walked.

…

Xu Yan rose from the ground, wiped her tears, and fixed her gaze on Zhao Jinyu. “Xie Muchen is no good. If you marry him, be careful—you’ll be swallowed whole, bones and all.”

Zhao Jinyu shrugged. “Who has the bigger appetite remains to be seen.”

Xu Yan studied her intently.

What she’d told Qin Shuyi wasn’t a lie—she *had* wanted revenge on Xie Muchen, but never intended to drag others into it.

Yet today, she *had* come for Zhao Jinyu.

Zhao Jinyu’s stepbrother, Zhao Mingcheng, had offered her a substantial sum and promised her a place as a disciple under a world-renowned dance master—as well as a position in their international dance company.

Xu Yan craved that opportunity.

Zhao Mingcheng’s original plan for today had been for Xie Muchen and Zhao Jinyu to each drink the drugged wine—then for Xie Muchen to end up in a compromising situation with his former flame, turning the engagement party into a public spectacle and sabotaging the alliance between the two families.

The only unforeseen variable was likely Xu Yan’s fragile nerves—and her sheer bad luck.

Not only was she inept at wrongdoing—but she’d also been unlucky enough to be seen through instantly by Qin Shuyi.

All their contingency plans had already been dismantled by Ling Jue.

Feeling she was about to go to prison and would no longer enjoy the conditions Zhao Mingcheng had promised, Xu Yan laid out his entire plot before being taken away.

Zhao Jinyu looked on mockingly—what a nasty, restless pest. She had always known Zhao Mingcheng wouldn’t just take this lying down.

Fortunately, Qin Shuyi’s sharp eyes kept them from walking right into the trap.

After dealing with Xu Yan, Xie Muchen still had to get back to the guests inside.

He glanced at Zhao Jinyu.

Zhao Jinyu waved her hand. “I’ll stay outside for a while.”

…

The lawn was quiet again.

Beside the flowerbed in the corner, Zhao Jinyu somehow produced a cigarette and a lighter.

In the night, her charming face, with its red lips and the faint glow of the cigarette, was especially striking.

Ling Jue went back inside with Xie Muchen, while Qin Shuyi walked over to her side, standing there quietly, not speaking or disturbing her.

Zhao Jinyu smiled. “Why aren’t you leaving?”

Qin Shuyi replied, “Just in case you wanted to talk and there was no one around.”

Zhao Jinyu chuckled but didn’t say anything.

Qin Shuyi was unfazed, just lowering her gaze to look at the flowers.

It wasn’t until the cigarette was half gone that Zhao Jinyu tapped the ash and said, “Xie Muchen is such a scumbag, isn’t he?”

While Xu Yan ended up where she did partly because she couldn’t keep her head on straight, how could Xie Muchen, the one who led her on, play innocent?

“Forget about prison—I plan to kick her out of the capital.”

Attempting to ruin her engagement party was unforgivable, but letting her off easy was her reward for exposing Zhao Mingcheng.

Qin Shuyi nodded. “That might be better for her.”

Deep down, Zhao Jinyu was soft-hearted.

Zhao Jinyu looked at her and smiled. “You’re not angry that I’m letting her off the hook? She blamed everything you’ve achieved on luck and even wished a miserable future on you.”

Qin Shuyi let out a confused “Ah?” before laughing.

“It was just words. Her interpretation of me doesn’t even make up a thousandth of who I am. I automatically filtered it out as soon as I heard it.”

She was twenty-five, not fifteen.

She had her own stable understanding of herself and interpersonal relationships. Whether someone was similar or different, had ulterior motives or not—none of that mattered to her. Comfort was her guiding principle in friendships and actions.

Zhao Jinyu had invited her to the engagement party and treated her well from start to finish, not as Ling Jue’s girlfriend but as an ordinary friend.

She couldn’t just stand by and do nothing, as Xu Yan had hoped.

Xu Yan’s words held no power over her.

They certainly weren’t worth getting angry over.

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