A myriad of different expressions on the faces of all the guests below the stage could be seen. Many of them were discussing amongst themselves, too.

"This woman…is Mister Jeremy's fiancee? Why is she dressed like some random brat from the streets?"

"Shouldn't Mister Jeremy's partner be someone graceful and elegant? Who the heck is that woman?"

"Ahem! Mister Jeremy has quite a unique taste in women..."

Corinne deliberately dressed like a brat to scare off her blind date, but Jeremy did not seem to care at all that people were complaining about her image as his 'fiancee'.

More accurately, he seemed unconcerned that his taste in women was questioned, and he acted as if he was merely a spectator in his own show.

Despite the odd looks from many guests, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and exchange engagement rings with Jeremy.

It was a farce she had to maintain until the host announced the end of the ceremony.

Although everyone found it difficult to appreciate what Jeremy saw in her, they applauded Jeremy only for the sake of his dignity.

Corinne descended the stage and wanted to leave as soon as she could. Unfortunately, three beautifully dressed women came up to her and stood in her way.

"Which family are you from?"

"Why did you come here in that ugly-looking getup?"

"Did you think you were fit to stand by Mister Jeremy's side with that sort of conduct?"

Corinne evaded them and refused to entertain their questions, but the three of them continued to stand in her way. Corinne lost her patience and glanced at their fancy evening gowns. "In terms of fashion sense, the three of you are no doubt worthy of being Jeremy's equal, but let me ask you this: did he ever allow you to get close to him?"

"How dare you!"

The three women all came from wealthy families in New Capital City, and it was the first time they had been mocked in such a manner. They were adamant about demanding an apology from Corinne, or they would not let her go!

Some distance away, Zeke Callen, the Callens' second youngest son, came over and raised a toast to Jeremy.

"Where'd you get that girl from, Jeremy? I imagine your grandfather is going to be pissed if you bring her back to meet him."

"He just wants to have a granddaughter-in-law," replied Jeremy nonchalantly. "It's fine as long as it's a woman."

Zeke clicked his tongue. "Of all the women in the world you could choose, why her?"

Jeremy lowered his charming gaze and raised his glass to take a sip of the wine. It looked as if he was reminiscing about something.

"Because her lips are sweet."

Jeremy had always been a non-indulgent person, so one could imagine how stunned Zeke was to hear that. He stared at Jeremy in disbelief and uttered, "I never realized you had such unique preferences!"

A splash was heard, and it turned out that a glass of wine had been splashed on Corinne.

Zeke looked over and cocked an eyebrow. "Your little fiancee is being bullied, it seems. Aren't you going to help her?"

Jeremy narrowed his eyes. "That won't be necessary."

Zeke was still trying to figure out what Jeremy meant when he saw Corinne grab the first woman's hair with her left hand while her right hand reached for a second woman's hair. Then, Corinne smashed the two heads together.

The two women collapsed unconscious to the ground while the third was stupefied. "You… Y—Y—You… You!"

Corinne remained expressionless as she kept quiet and gently waved her hand, gesturing for the woman to move aside. The woman complied immediately and did not dare to stand in Corinne's way anymore.

Zeke's lips twitched. "I think I know why you chose that bratty girl now."

There was a certain pensiveness in Jeremy's expression as he sipped his wine in silence.

She had earlier approached him with such lightning speed, not to mention use only one hand to make a tall man like him bend down for a kiss.

Her strength was nothing short of amazing, and she had guts and brains to go with it too!

"Tommy, bring her to the room and let her have a change of clothes."

"Yes, sir!"

Rather than following Tommy to get her clothes changed, Corinne walked over and glared unhappily at Jeremy.

"You're being unreasonable, mister! All I did was give you a peck, and now you want me to pledge myself to you. Don't you think your request is a bit too disproportionate to my actions? Can't I take responsibility for what happened in some other way? Like financial compensation, for example?"

Jeremy narrowed his charming eyes, and a cryptic smile unfolded across his face. He looked at Corinne and said, "Hmm… How much do you think a kiss from me is worth?"

Corinne first observed his face and then at his thin and handsome lips, as if she was genuinely appraising his value.

"I can't say for sure. It'd be better for you to name your price! You're not young, and it's probably not your first kiss, so the price better not exceed thirty bucks! It's not like I can fork out more anyway!"

"Ridiculous!"

Tommy felt that she was digging her own grave by saying that a kiss from his boss was only worth 30 dollars. It was supposed to be her good fortune to be engaged to Jeremy, yet she seemed to thumb her nose at him!

Jeremy raised his hand, signaling for Tommy to back away. He then reached out and hooked Corinne's pointed chin with his slender fingers.

He did not exert much strength, but an air of danger abounded.

"Bold of you to disrespect me in public. Might as well go all the way and bear the consequences, eh?" he said.

Corinne frowned, thinking that the man must have had a screw loose. After all, she couldn’t wrap her mind around why he chose to have her play the role when she looked terrible today.

The corners of Corinne's lips twitched. She then said in a mischievous tone, "Fine! Can I go to the bathroom now?"

Jeremy did not make any comment but merely gave Tommy a look and signaled to them that they were allowed to take her to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Tommy came back with a solemn expression as he approached Jeremy. "Sir, Miss Corinne jumped out of the bathroom window and ran away. I've already sent someone to chase after her."

Jeremy, dressed in a suave suit, leaned lazily on the sofa as if he had anticipated she would do so. His handsome yet cold face showed little emotional fluctuation, and he merely swirled the glass of red wine in his hand. "Don't bother. Just find out where she lives and send someone to deliver the betrothal gifts."

"Yes, sir!"

Zeke had seen enough of the drama and could not help dissuading his good friend. "Are you sure you want to marry a woman who has nothing to offer you? To tell you the truth, I—"

Jeremy said meaningfully, "Only someone like her will be up to the task."

-

It was already in the middle of night when Corinne returned home.

As soon as she entered the house, her father Marvin swung his palm toward her. "The nerve of you! How dare you come back home!"

Corinne stepped back nimbly and avoided the slap with ease.

Marvin was brewing with anger as his palm stiffened mid-air.

"Your mother chose a good man for you, but you dressed up like a clown for the blind date? You even kissed some random man in public. Our family's reputation has now completely ruined! The person in charge of introducing you to the man scolded your mother because of your actions! I want you to kneel, admit your mistake, and apologize to your mother!”

Corinne put her hands into her coat pockets and stared coldly at her father. "She's not my mother."

'She's just a stepmother who's trying every possible way to marry me off as soon as possible so that I'll lose the right to inherit the family assets!'

Lilliana feigned kindness and said, "I'm fine, Marvin. Don't take your anger out on Corinne. Her ignorance and naivete are all signs of my failure as a stepmother..."

Marvin was even more distressed when he saw his wife interceding for his ignorant daughter at such a time. He turned around and scolded his daughter, "Ungrateful! Utterly ungrateful! Lilliana treats you well all the time, but you won't even call her mom!"

Lilliana wiped away her bitter tears and persuaded her husband as if she had been wronged. "Forget it, Marvin! I don't mind if she calls me Aunt Lilliana!"

Corinne was not surprised at all to see Lilliana's performance, for the latter was an expert at playing the victim and showing people only what they wanted to see. It was such a shame that Marvin was smitten by her beauty and could not see Lilliana’s true colors.

Corinne passed a stack of documents to Marvin and said, "These are the actual information of all the blind dates that Aunt Lilliana set up for me. Why don't you have a look? If you find anyone you like, I'll be happy to marry them."

Marvin was taken aback for a moment. He picked up the file, looked through it, and his expression gradually soured

The information that Corinne provided Marvin clearly showed that all the men were good-for-nothings. On average, their age was around 40 years old, and most of them did not even have a decent job!

Marvin glared at Lilliana unhappily. "Some of the men here are just as old as me. How could you introduce such old men to Corinne?"

Lilliana's expression froze a little. She had gotten someone to doctor the photos and information of those men in advance, so it came as a complete surprise to her that the always-quiet Corinne could find out the true information behind those men.

In an instant, Lilliana played the victim and said, "I have no idea how that happened, Marvin! The men I chose for Corinne were all the cream of the crop! The matchmaker must've given me false information!"

Corinne, however, found it laughable. "Look at you harping on about how they're the cream of the crop without even bothering to verify whether or not the information was accurate. Marriage is a significant part of a person's life, yet you don't seem to take it seriously when it comes to me. Is it because I'm not your flesh and blood? Dad, I don't think you'll feel proud if you saw your daughter marrying someone as old as that."

Lilliana hurriedly tried to get it straight. "No... It's not like that..."

However, Marvin did not want to hear any of it and smacked the deck of files onto Lilliana's face in disappointment.

"Enough! You no longer have to deal with anything involving Corinne's marriage. Your credit card will be suspended this month too. I expect you to stay home and reflect on your actions instead of going out and squander my money!"

Lilliana's face turned pale. "Marvin, this was a misunderstanding..."

Marvin stopped talking to her and looked guiltily at his youngest daughter. "I'm sorry you had to meet all those old men, Corinne. You don't need to go on blind dates anymore."

Corinne smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

After Marvin went upstairs, Lilliana's expression turned fierce as she glared viciously at Corinne.

Sensing Lilliana's burning gaze, Corinne said calmly, "By the way, Aunt Lilliana, I forgot to mention something. I thought that those 'cream of the crop' men whom you chose for me were probably your ideal son-in-law, so I gave them Sherlyn's number when they asked for my contact information. Hopefully, she'll marry one of them!"

Lilliana gritted her teeth angrily. "What? H—How could you have done that?!"

Her darling Sherlyn was a famous celebrity who was far above the level of those losers. They should not even be calling her in the first place!

Corinne could not stand to talk to Lilliana anymore, so she yawned and went upstairs to sleep in her bedroom.

After Lilliana cursed Corinne in a low voice, she planned to head to her bedroom and coax Marvin not to deactivate her bank card when the doorbell rang all of a sudden.

She wondered who could possibly pay their house a visit when it was already late at night.

After she opened the door, she saw a man in a suit and leather shoes. Behind him was a row of more men in black suits. They were all carrying a bunch of stuff, and it was quite an intimidating sight.

Lilliana could not help but get her guard up when she saw all those strangers appearing suddenly at her door in the middle of the night. "Who are you looking for?"

Tommy said, "Hello, ma'am. Our employer has instructed us to present you with betrothal gifts to your daughter!"

"Betrothal gifts? What betrothal gifts? Who is your employer?"

"His name is Jeremy Holden."

Lilliana's eyes widened, for Tommy's answer was like a bolt in the blue for her.

"J—Jeremy Holden?! The Jeremy Holden? From the Holdens? The first-tier family?"

"Exactly."

"You mean, Mister Jeremy has taken a fancy to my daughter?"

Tommy had a rather convoluted expression on his face. He hesitated for a second before saying, "You can look at it that way if you like."

Lilliana was instantly reminded of her daughter, Sherlyn. Being such a popular female celebrity, Sherlyn was a beautiful woman, and it made sense for a wealthy young man to have his eyes on her.

However, the suitor was too powerful this time, and he even sent his men over to deliver betrothal gifts out of the blue!

Upon seeing Lilliana's silence, Tommy asked, "Do you disapprove of the marriage?"

Lilliana came back to her senses and shook her head right away. "No, no, it's just… My daughter isn't at home right now. This is huge news, and it might be better for us to wait until she comes back before discu—"

Tommy interrupted her, "Ma'am, your daughter has accepted the engagement ring from Mister Jeremy. All you need to do now is accept the gifts."

'What?! If Sherlyn has already accepted the ring from Mister Jeremy, could the two of them have been in a relationship for some time now? I can't believe Sherlyn didn't tell us that she had such an amazing boyfriend!' Lilliana thought to herself.

Lilliana did not want to seem discourteous to her distinguished guests, so she hurriedly invited Tommy to come in and have a seat.

Instead of entering, Tommy merely signaled his subordinates to carry the betrothal gifts in. "Mister Jeremy will pay your family a visit in three days to demand your daughter's hand in marriage."

Lilliana was shocked yet again. "What? In three days? Isn't that...a little too quick?"

Tommy assured her, "Not to worry, ma'am. Mister Jeremy has already made preparations for the ceremony. Your daughter deserves only the finest and most luxurious."

'Only the finest and most luxurious?' That was a sure sign that Jeremy was head over heels in love with Sherlyn. When Sherlyn took the Holden surname, Lilliana would be the mother-in-law of the Holden family's young master!

She no longer had to worry about having all the riches and glory in the world; anyone who saw her would have to bow to play up to her!

At the thought of that, Lilliana was overjoyed.

"Alright! We'll use these three days to make the necessary preparations for our daughter's wedding!"

Tommy nodded and bade her farewell. "I'll excuse myself. See you."

Marvin came out of the room when he heard the noise. "Was there a visitor? What are all these?"

Lilliana caressed those expensive gifts as her heart raced speedily.

"Marvin, I've got good news! Jeremy, the Holdens' young master has taken a fancy to Sherlyn. These are all betrothal gifts for Sherlyn from the Holdens, and the quality of these items is just extraordinary!"

Marvin's mind went blank. "What? Jeremy? You mean Jeremy Holden, the president of Holden Group? Who just returned to the country?"

Lilliana nodded frantically. "Yes, that's him!"

Marvin clutched his chest, fearing that his heart would stop beating all of a sudden due to the sheer excitement.

"Oh, gosh! I never expected him to fall for our Sherlyn!" Lilliana could not hide her pride. "You've got to give her mother some credit too, you know!"

"Thank you for giving me such an amazing daughter, Lilliana!"

"Humph, you're praising me now? I thought you said you would suspend my credit card this whole month!"

"Come on, Lilliana. I said that only because I was angry with what you did. Corinne might not be your own daughter, but you can't let her go on a blind date with those old men!"

"But I didn't do it on purpose! Corinne grew up in the countryside, so she's a wild and bad-tempered girl. I only looked for an older man in the hopes that he might be able to tolerate her tantrums! I didn't know the matchmaker would lie about the information!"

"Alright, Lilliana. I'm sorry for blaming you."

Lilliana was feeling particularly smug after successfully swaying Marvin to her side with only a couple of sentences.

A naive little girl like Corinne would never be a match for her!

With Sherlyn about to marry into the Holdens, Lilliana would soon share the good life with her daughter in the future. Corinne would then become an insignificant speck in her life!

Early the next morning, Lilliana called her darling daughter Sherlyn and insisted the young lady return home immediately.

Sherlyn complained unhappily as soon as she entered the house, "What happened, Mom? Why were you in such a rush to ask me to come home? I still have a scene to shoot this afternoon!"

"It's about your marriage with Jeremy Holden!"

"Marriage? What marriage? I don't even know him personally!"

Lilliana's heart sank when she saw her daughter's clueless expression, but she immediately told Sherlyn about the betrothal gifts that had been sent over the previous night. "So, how is it that you don't know him personally? Haven't you already accepted the engagement ring he gave you?"