This position was something many women coveted at all costs.

  Now, this woman was going to ride on her two sons to gain this status easily. How could these folks swallow this?

  Yun Shishi listened with clenched fists. She wanted to hear with her ears their biased opinions about her, so she could tell just how badly this family thought of her!

  Mu Shumin took her silence as a sign of guilt and tried to stoke it further. “Let me bring up another issue: You’re an actress and that’s a big problem! How many decent people can you find in showbiz? He he! They are called idols, stars, and even superstars, but these people are no more than lowly artists in the past! It’s wistful thinking for any entertainer to marry into a rich family!”


  Mu Yancheng frowned at this point and blurted out, “Aunt, are you saying that she’s an actress?”


  “Yes! There’s a popular movie recently that she acted in, and it’s a box-office hit!”


  The man shook his heart sarcastically. “This won’t do! Our family will never welcome an entertainer. No one in showbiz is clean! I was told that those actresses are materialistic and no longer chaste beneath their innocent façades. These women will sleep with anyone at the right price!”


  “That’s right! Only the upstarts will marry actresses! One can never tell how many men those women have before marriage. Any nouveau riche who marries this sort of woman only does so to help publicize their family name! Honestly, though, don’t they know that they will become a laughingstock once the word spreads? Those upstarts have unknowingly formed a brotherhood with all those men their wives have slept with before! This is why those men can never assimilate into high society!”


  “In reality, the true blue-blood will never accept entertainers as family! This craze of marrying an artist started only about a decade ago. For us, we want our wives to be virtuous, kind, knowledgeable, and pious.”


  “Strictly speaking, we aren’t looking for a girl from a compatible family. After all, how many families in the capital can be compared to ours? Still, I hope that the head of this household can marry a girl with a decent background. She doesn’t need to be rich, but she must have a clean background.”


  “That’s right! Yazhe is such an exceptional boy; he shouldn’t be trashed by a conniving girl.”
……

  All around her, whispers of gossip were ripe.

  She sat, expressionless, listening to these people vicious slurs which seemed to cut through her skin.

  Words cut deeper than knives—this saying was so true, indeed.

  Her eyes glinted and she moved her lips slightly. Pretty soon, her back stood straight and tall in a slight move.

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  Scanning her surroundings with her eyes, she commented leisurely, “I think there is a misunderstanding here.”


  Mu Linfeng asked with a start, “What do you mean?”


  “I don’t think…… I’ve ever said that I want a status in your family. I’m not in the least bit interested.”