"Rodney Ashford, the bitch is yours now. Hurry up and get it done. In another quarter hour, I’ll call all the neighbors in the courtyard inside. Once everybody sees it, raw rice will be cooked into a meal. By then, even if your parents want to object, it’ll be too late. Your engagement to her will be settled for good."
Crystal Langford stood there in a blue dress, white leather shoes on her feet, her eyes cold and full of spiteful calculation.
She cut a glance at the man beside her. His face was yellowish and greasy, covered in little bumps, with three big black moles stuck on it. His features were so ugly he looked like a toad in human skin.
The sight was too much. Crystal Langford quickly looked away.
Humph. This was the fine match she had carefully picked out for Serena Langford, that wretched girl.
Rodney Ashford’s father was a workshop director at the vacuum tube factory. His mother was a real piece of work, and above him were three fierce older sisters. Still, the family had money and lived well enough. For Serena Langford to get engaged to Rodney Ashford, she ought to be thanking heaven.
Yesterday, Crystal Langford had secretly signed Serena Langford up to be sent down to the countryside, to go tough it out in the villages and "contribute to national construction."
Anyway, Serena Langford had been dragged back from some poor mountain backwater in the first place. Planting fields and working the land was already what she knew best. Sending her down was perfect.
She had to leave in eight days, and the place Serena Langford was being sent to was far away.
Crystal Langford was afraid that once Serena Langford got out from under her nose, who knew what tricks she might still pull out in the countryside. So before she left, Crystal had to shove her straight into the mud and make sure she could never crawl back up for the rest of her life.
Otherwise, Serena Langford would still end up just like in that dream Crystal had seen—marrying a fine military officer, becoming a commander’s wife that everyone envied, and wearing one dazzling title after another over her head: top scorer in the college entrance exam, national model representative, the richest woman in Huaxia.
Since heaven had let her dream that prophetic dream, then every bit of good fortune meant for Serena Langford had to be snatched away. She absolutely could not walk the same losing road she had in that dream-life.
"Crystal, just watch me. That cheap slut dared upset you? I’ll make sure from now on she can only kneel and beg you. You can deal with her however you like," Rodney Ashford said, all eagerness and flattery.
As he watched Crystal Langford walk away, his eyes were filled with infatuation.
But the second he turned back, his face was packed with disgust. Serena Langford was not fit to compare with Crystal Langford—not even down to a single strand of hair. Crystal was the goddess he had been dreaming about day and night.
Rodney Ashford casually grabbed a towel from the pillow and tossed it over the face of the person unconscious on the bed.
Good thing his heart was full of Crystal Langford. Otherwise, there was no way he could even bring himself to do this.
"You should count yourself lucky. My first time, and I’m wasting it on a little bitch like you," Rodney Ashford said smugly, lifting a hand to undo Serena Langford’s buttons.
Right then, Serena Langford’s eyes flew open. Her whole body still seemed to carry the savage pain of being flung away by a car.
She ripped the cloth off her face in one sharp motion. And there it was in front of her—a hideous face, ugly beyond words, like a giant toad, inching toward her with naked revulsion written all over it.
Every pore on Serena Langford’s body seemed to scream at once. She didn’t even stop to think. She lifted her leg and drove a savage kick straight into the man’s crotch.
"Ah—!"
Rodney Ashford’s veins bulged from the pain. His whole face went white in a flash. Once he hit the floor, he curled up like a boiled shrimp, shaking all over.