Chapter 135: The Trap (Part Two)  

Ji Lili couldn’t help but laugh out loud, like a lunatic. She was happy that she had finally caught hold of Shangguan Ning’s weakness.

She savoured her victory for a few minutes and then said calmly,”Shangguan Ning, aren’t you a strong woman? Aren’t you married? Where is your husband? Why is he not here for you? Didn’t he have a convoy with all those fancy cars, a couple of days ago? Maybe he is someone who is nouveau riche and a coward too. He obviously did all that just to show off but where is his might, when you need him?”

Only Jing Yiran and Tang Yun knew who Shangguan Ning had married. Both of them looked at Ji Lili, but neither of them wanted to fill Ji Lili in on the details, because they both were vicious people who wanted to let Ji Lili learn of the reality, the hard way.

They were happy to see her tormenting Shangguan Ning right now which would eventually lead to her getting tormented by Jing Yichen, later.

Both of them stayed calm throughout the entire process, because Ji Lili had a hot temper and no brains. She couldn’t wait to avenge her insults.

Shangguan Ning looked at her and said, “It is not up to you to decide what kind of man my husband is. You are just jealous. If you really meant business, you wouldn’t have involved my cousin in this. You basically emotionally blackmailed me into coming here.”

Ji Lili hated how calm Shangguan Ning was. It was because of this pretentious behaviour of Shangguan Ning that attracted her cousin Ji Bo to Ning. Ning was responsible for Ji Lili not being able to win the heart of the man she loved so dearly.

Ji Lili’s eyes gleamed with anger. She sneered. “Bring Huang Xinyi to the third floor and if Shangguan Ning doesn’t follow my orders, then strip one more piece of Huang Xinyi’s clothes, from her body.”

Huang Xinyi was currently wearing only one white silk slip dress. Stripping one piece of her clothing would simply mean stripping her naked.

Ji Lili walked down the stairs onto the third floor.

Everyone followed her and came to the banquet hall on the third floor.

On the third floor, the guests were chatting amongst themselves and enjoying the party. All chatter stopped as soon as Ji Lili made a dramatic entry. All was quiet, as if the guests were waiting for Ji Lili to speak.

Ji Lili gestured at the violin players to leave the stage. She got onto the stage herself and grabbed the microphone. She went on to say, “My birthday banquet finally starts! The show begins soon, just wait and see!”

The guests all applauded loudly for her, which pleased Ji Lili no end. She had always enjoyed being the centre of attention, ever since she was a little girl.

“A friend suggested that hearing a melodious voice sing a few songs, would elevate the mood of the evening. Shangguan Ning, why don’t you get on stage and sing a song or two for all these ladies and gentlemen?!”

Shangguan Ning was startled. She didn’t expect that Ji Lili would make her sing a song!

She realized of course that Ji Lili was only trying to embarrass and humiliate her, by asking her to sing.

When Shangguan Ning saw the man who was holding Huang Xinyi at ransom, trying to strip off her dress, she had no choice but to go up to the stage because she knew what was at stake.

Although singing would have been fun under other circumstances, right now it was extremely demeaning for Shagguan Ning. Ning thought it was much better for her to be insulted than for Huang Xinyi to be stripped naked in front of so many people.

Besides, singing wasn’t such a difficult thing. She took a deep breath, took up the microphone and started to sing softly.

Ji Lili refused to give her any music to go along with, in order to embarrass her further. But Shangguan Ning’s voice was clear and clean, and even without music to help her along, her voice sounded melodious and dreamy.

Most listeners and guests had no idea of the problem between Ji Lili and Shangguan Ning. In fact, many of them had started to cheer for Ning by now.

Ji Lili was extremely annoyed . Shangguan Rouxue had said that Shangguan Ning sang off key, and her voice was worse than a frog’s, but the truth turned out to be totally different from what she was told.

She was trying to humiliate Shangguan Ning but her actions seemed to have the opposite effect. She had, instead, helped her gain popularity.

Before she finished a song, Ji Lili interrupted her. She ordered someone to pass a bottle of red wine to her. She was going to teach Shangguan Ning a lesson she’d never forget.

“I will count to ten and you must finish drinking this, or I will pour this wine all over your dress.”

People finally realized what was happening. Ji Lili was trying to humiliate the woman on stage, because she didn’t like her.

It wasn’t as if something like that hadn’t happened before. She did these things often and no one was surprised. They continued eating the hors d’oeuvres and sipping on the wine, while the drama unfolded.No one cared about Shangguan Ning anymore.No one recognized her. She was just someone who had turned up in casual clothes, at a formal dinner party. She obviously couldn’t afford a formal gown. She must be someone who came from a poor family. No one wanted to side with her and risk offending someone as influential as Ji Lili.

Shangguan Ning glanced at the red wine. The bottle said that its volume was 750 ml. Shangguan Ning knew that she would never be able to finish it within ten seconds.

Also, she had a very low tolerance to alcohol. She would definitely fall unconscious after finishing the bottle, that is, if she ever could.

Ji Lili was trying to hurt her on purpose. She could sing, because that was just something silly in comparison to getting drunk. If she chose to drink the wine, she wasn’t sure if she’d make it out of here alive, leave alone being able to save Huang Xinyi.

She looked at Huang Xinyi and then tried to gauge the distance from this place to the gate. She started to wonder if she and Huang Xinyi could make a run for it, somehow.

Seeing that Shangguan Ning didn’t start to drink as yet but had simply held on to the wine bottle, Ji Lili got so furious that she didn’t bother ordering the man to strip Huang Xinyi’s clothes. Instead, she grabbed the bottle from Shangguan Ning’s hand and started to pour it over her head.

Shangguan Ning stood there, eyes closed. Without moving an inch, she allowed the red wine to trickle down her head, face and body.

She was afraid that if she resisted, Ji Lili would harm Huang Xinyi even more. She was a crazy woman and she was capable of doing anything. JiLili must have done this many times before. It wasn’t a big deal for her to hire a few men and get them to humiliate another woman.

At this moment, Shangguan Ning was soaked in red wine, from head to toe, looking like a mess. Her clothes were stained by the wine.

Seeing her in this state, Ji Lili laughed happily. She still wasn’t satisfied with the humiliation she had caused Shangguan Ning. She said to her, “Get down on your knees now, Shangguan Ning!”

Shangguan Ning looked at Ji Lili, who looked like she had lost the plot.

“Didn’t you hear what I said? Get on your knees! Okay, so you don’t want to do it? Then don’t blame me for stripping your cousin naked. It is you, her cousin, who doesn’t want to save her.”

On the other end of the stage, the man who was holding on to Huang Xinyi tightly, stripped a part of her slip dress. Her thighs were now clearly visible.

Huang Xinyi screamed in fear, “Save me, Ning! I can’t take this any more!”

Shangguan Ning glanced at Huang Xinyi who was now almost half-naked. Ning was extremely furious but there was nothing she could do. She got down on her knees, with her teeth clenched in anger and helplessness.

She couldn’t allow Huang Xinyi to be humiliated in front of so many people. Huang Xinyi wouldn’t be able to live with it.

Jing Yiran who was sipping some wine in the corner, frowned. He wasn’t happy about what was being done to Shangguan Ning but he didn’t want to put a stop to it either. Shangguan Ning being humiliated meant that Jing Yichen was being humiliated too, to some degree. Seeing Jing Yichen lose face in some way, made him happy.

Seeing that Shangguan Ning had finally relented and gone down on her knees, gave Ji Lili immense satisfaction. She came to Huang Xinyi’s side and laughed. Ji Lili patted Xinyi’s bare shoulders and said, “Look, Xinyi, I have finally avenged you! How do you plan to thank me?”

Huang Xinyi, who had been crying and screaming all this while, pulled out her silk scarf from the man who was holding her, wiped her tears and smiled. “Sister Lili, I really need to thank you from the bottom of my heart.You are so clever to have thought of such a good idea. You really have taken a befitting revenge on my behalf.”