Chapter 3 — The Wedding That Became a Goodbye

With those words, she hurled her champagne flute straight down onto the floor. The amber liquid splattered brightly under the brilliant lights, bursting outward like a miniature firework display. The grand banquet hall fell utterly silent for half a second before a roar of thunderous applause suddenly erupted. Lan’s inner circle of best friends led the cheering, and as the rest of the stunned guests collected their wits, they too began to clap along. It was a bizarre, surreal spectacle straight out of performance art—hundreds of dignitaries clad in high-end evening wear enthusiastically applauding a bride who had just dashed her wedding champagne to the floor, while the groom stood awkwardly off to the side like a discarded, useless stage prop.

Mother Lu could finally contain her fury no longer. She stormed up onto the stage, snatched the microphone away, and shrieked, "Lan! You have gone much too far! Even if Huai Chu made a mistake, you have no right to humiliate him publicly in front of so many people! Just where do you expect our Lu family to put our faces after a stunt like this?"

Lan glanced toward the woman who had narrowly missed becoming her mother-in-law, her tone polite yet steeped in an unbridgeable frost. "Aunt Lu, your son threw away his own dignity; I certainly didn't do it for him. As for where the Lu family should put their face—I suggest you go ask your dear son. When he rented out that hotel room behind my back, did he ever once stop to think about the Lu family's face?"

Mother Lu choked on her own breath, her face turning a violent, blotchy red.

Bypassing any further nonsense, Lan gathered the voluminous layers of her wedding dress and vaulted straight off the edge of the stage, her movement as crisp and decisive as someone taking a bungee jump from a two-meter platform. The delicate, tiered layers of tulle fluttered dramatically in mid-air, exposing her footwear to the crowd below. There were no glittering crystal heels to be seen; instead, she wore a pair of vibrant, bubblegum-pink rubber clogs.

The entire hall lapsed into total silence once more.

"Walking around in a wedding dress is too much of a hassle," Lan explained casually. "Slide-on clogs are much more comfortable."

Without another word, she strode purposefully toward the grand exit of the banquet hall, the heavy train of her gown dragging behind her across the polished floor like a cresting wave of white foam. As she passed Van, she paused for half a step.

"When the police retrieve the necklace, have them hand it over to me," Lan tilted her head slightly, dropping her voice to a low, intimate register meant for only the two of them. "Van, we have been friends for eight years, yet I have completely run out of patience and grace for you. When you first joined my family's company, it was I who arranged your position. When you couldn't afford a home, I lent you the down payment. Is this how you repay me?"

Tears finally welled up and spilled over Van's face. "Lan, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to, I—"

"Whether you meant to or not is of no concern to me," Lan cut her off coldly. "You had better think very carefully about this starting today—every single cent you owe me will be collected down to the very last penny. The money you borrowed for your house down payment, accrued with current bank interest rates, has already been calculated by my accountant. The invoice will be sent to your inbox tomorrow morning."

Van’s face drained of all color, turning as white as a sheet of paper. She knew all too well how exorbitant that down payment had been—a staggering one million two hundred thousand yuan.

Lan gave her shoulder a light, mocking pat. "Work hard, and pay it back slowly. After all, the income from your new career as a professional home-wrecker must be quite lucrative by now, shouldn't it?"

With her head held high, she swept out of the room.

Out in the hotel corridor, a late-summer breeze swept past, playfully tugging at the bridal veil pinned in her hair. Lan drew in a deep, cleansing breath, pulled out her smartphone, and recorded a voice message for her group chat: "Hey girls, I’m out. Tonight, we drink until we drop, same old place."

The moment the voice message sent, her phone buzzed vibrantly in her palm. She glanced at the screen: *Mother*.

Hesitating for a single second, she pressed answer.

"Lan!" Mrs. Lan's voice was a frantic mix of panic and incandescent rage. "Where on earth did you run off to? Do you have any idea that your father almost beat Lu Huai Chu to a pulp just now?"

"Mom, both of you should just head home and stop lingering there," Lan said, her voice softening. "Is Dad alright? Did he get hurt or take any unfair hits?"