The bloody scene stunned everyone.
Screams rose one after another. Other staff members hurried over to intervene. Some reached for Song Liang, while others tried to help the injured waiter.
Song Liang was entirely unaffected.
He kicked the man to the floor and looked down at him.
“What were you trying to do?”
Pale with pain, the waiter cried and pleaded, “I didn’t do anything…I didn’t…Please let me go…”
Song Liang clicked his tongue and was about to kick him again when someone abruptly dragged him back.
“Have you lost your mind, Song Liang?!”
Annoyed at being pulled around, Song Liang turned and discovered it was Xiao Ji, the man he was currently in the process of marrying.
He could only point at the waiter and explain patiently.
“He was going to kill your uncle.”
Xiao Ji’s face went from livid to pale and back again.
Song Liang frowned.
“You look like you’re wondering whether I’m insane.”
Xiao Ji gritted his teeth.
What do you think?
Freeing himself from Xiao Ji’s grip, Song Liang explained, “I saw him standing beside your uncle, reaching into his jacket to take out—”
“Take out what? This?!”
The young man crouched beside the waiter angrily pulled his jacket open.
He took out a palm-sized velvet box and held it up for everyone to see.
Song Liang regarded it thoughtfully.
“That looks familiar.”
“Of course it does. These are your wedding rings.”
The young man stood with a cold sneer and opened the box, revealing the matching rings.
“Second Young Master Song doesn’t even remember his own wedding rings. Yet during his wedding, he has time to notice who’s standing behind his partner’s uncle? And then injure an innocent person over it? Isn’t that ridiculous?”
“…”
Expressions shifted throughout the room.
Most had heard at least something about the improper rumors involving Song Liang and the Xiao uncle and nephew.
They had assumed those rumors were false.
Apparently not.
With the lights so dim and the occasion so solemn, everyone’s attention had been on the ceremony.
Who would notice what a guest and the waiter behind him were doing?
Especially one of the grooms.
Song Liang must have been watching that direction from the beginning.
Who could believe there was nothing improper between those two?
Xiao Ji’s expression was equally grim.
By now, Song Liang knew perfectly well that he had been set up.
He looked at the young man before him, recognized his face, and smiled faintly.
“No wonder you looked familiar. Xu Huan, right?”
Xu Huan’s gaze shifted.
“Yes.”
“What happens between Xiao Ji and me is none of your business. What’s this performance you’ve come rushing out to put on?”
“I’m a doctor. I can’t stand watching you hurt people indiscriminately.”
Xu Huan glanced at Xiao Ji, his tone restrained.
“Nor can I stand watching you betray Xiao Ji’s sincere feelings.”
“Oh~ I’m betraying his sincere feelings. I’m not worthy of him. And if I’m not worthy, you are, is that it?”
Still smiling, Song Liang turned aside.
“Someone. Who gave him an invitation? Throw him out.”
Xu Huan’s expression changed. He immediately looked toward Xiao Ji.
Livid, Xiao Ji snapped, “Song Liang! When are you going to stop?”
“I’m not.”
Song Liang looked at him casually.
“Are you protecting him because he’s your childhood friend, or because he’s your ex?”
The guests’ eyes widened.
Every expression practically said: Now this is a show.
Xu Bowen had been uneasy ever since Xu Huan first spoke.
Now sweating profusely, he hurried over to pull his cousin away while apologizing to Song Liang.
Xu Huan stubbornly refused to leave.
“I need to save him! Let go, Brother! This is someone’s life!”
Xu Bowen was frantic.
If you don’t leave, Song Liang’s going to have another life under his foot!
Noticing his apprehension, Song Liang smiled.
“Relax, Young Master Xu. It’s my wedding day. I won’t kick him.”
Xu Bowen forced a laugh.
“…He’s only just returned to the country. He doesn’t understand how things work.”
Song Liang smiled without answering.
Instead, he gave Xu Huan a meaningful look.
“I hear you once saved Xiao Ji?”
Xu Huan’s face instantly stiffened.
“What a coincidence. I saved him once too. About ten years ago, I think. He’d been kidnapped, and I secretly got him out. We ran into his parents’ car accident along the way, so I never managed to get him back to the Xiao family. We were separated, and he lost his memory.”
Song Liang’s lips curved.
“When was it that you saved him?”
Xu Huan went utterly pale. His fingertips trembled.
Beside them, Xiao Ji’s mind had gone blank.
He stared at Song Liang in shock.
“…What did you say?”
“I was the one who saved you. I was also the one who begged my mother to take you back to the Xiao family in secret. But we came across your parents’ crashed car on the way, and you rushed out of ours. As for how I was able to rescue you, it’s because you were with me the entire time you were being held.”
Song Liang tilted his head and smiled at Song Zhicheng in the crowd.
“Isn’t that right, Dad? You were the one who ordered Xiao Ji’s kidnapping.”
A deathly silence filled the ballroom.
Song Zhicheng went white. His legs gave way, and only Song Xinglang’s quick support kept him upright.
“Y-You’re lying! That’s nonsense! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t!”
His voice shook.
His terrified gaze darted somewhere in the room, then toward the stunned Xiao Ji and the silent Xiao Yi.
Finally, he pointed at Song Liang and shouted.
“You little bastard! How dare you slander your own father! Do you want to die? Don’t forget—”
“That my mother is still in your hands?”
Song Liang smiled without a trace of concern.
“Do what you like. If you’d properly silenced her back then, she’d have died long ago instead of spending all these years in a vegetative state.”
“You—”
Song Zhicheng stared at him in horrified fury, then turned to Xiao Ji.
“It wasn’t me! It wasn’t! Don’t believe him! He’s insane! He’s making it up!”
Song Liang smiled.
“I have evidence, old man.”
Song Zhicheng dropped to his knees with a thud.
“Young Master Song.”
Ye Yuan suddenly stepped forward.
“Since Mr. Xiao Yi raised Young Master Xiao Ji, the old master wished for him to witness your marriage and present the rings. I failed to communicate that in time. Please don’t be angry. Let us continue the ceremony first.”
“The ceremony?”
Song Liang pulled out the chair beside Xiao Yi and sat.
“Your master is still willing to let this wedding happen?”
Ye Yuan’s eyes darkened slightly, though his expression remained pleasant.
“Why would you think otherwise? The wedding was the old master’s suggestion.”
“Then why send someone to stage this little scene and deliberately make me interrupt it?”
“We intended to deliver the rings while the lights were dimmed, so as not to disrupt proceedings. We didn’t expect you to misunderstand. Nor did we expect you to notice what was happening beside Mr. Xiao Yi in such dim lighting. This was my oversight. Please forgive me.”
“Oh, your oversight? Why does that sound like you’re blaming me? Did your master tell you to say that?”
Song Liang looked directly across the table at Xiao Musheng.
“Are you afraid I’ll reveal what happened to Xiao Ying and his wife back—”
“Young Master Song appears to be feeling unwell.”
Ye Yuan abruptly interrupted him and looked toward the bodyguards behind him.
“Escort him to his room to rest.”
Several bodyguards immediately approached.
Startled, Xiao Ji snapped, “Ye Yuan! How dare you!”
Ye Yuan said nothing.
Xiao Ji immediately understood and turned toward Xiao Musheng.
“Grandfather?!”
Xiao Musheng didn’t answer.
The bodyguards had already reached Song Liang.
The guests watched the dramatic scene in bewilderment, unable to understand how attending a wedding had turned into this.
For a moment, no one moved to help.
Alarmed, Xiao Ji rushed forward to stop the bodyguards.
Before he could even touch one man’s jacket, however, Song Liang caught the man’s wrist, twisted hard, and spun into a kick.
The large bodyguard crashed to the floor.
The other swung a fist.
Song Liang slipped aside, snatched a fork from the table, and drove it into the bodyguard’s neck.
The man cried out and clutched his neck as Song Liang kicked him down.
Dark red blood poured out, staining his neck and collar. The smell of blood spread through the air.
“Ah!”
Someone screamed, but no one paid attention.
Watching both bodyguards fall in rapid succession, Ye Yuan finally lost his composure.
He drew a handgun from his jacket and aimed it at Song Liang.
Xiao Ji cried out in alarm.
“Song Liang!”
Duan Yan and Chen Jiahe panicked too, rushing to help, only to block Zheng Xin and Yang Zhengwen.
The four became tangled in momentary confusion.
Song Liang, meanwhile, didn’t panic at the sight of the gun.
An old friend, really.
Someone had pointed a gun at his head the moment he arrived in this world. He had been hypothermic then.
Right now, he was in perfect condition.
With practiced ease, he grabbed a plate and napkin and hurled them at Ye Yuan.
Ye Yuan scrambled to dodge.
His view was obscured for only an instant.
But that instant was enough for Song Liang to close the distance.
One hand caught the gun and forced its muzzle upward. The other struck hard beneath Ye Yuan’s chin.
A muffled grunt sounded.
The gun changed hands, and Ye Yuan collapsed into a sitting position on the floor.
He hastily looked up.
A dark muzzle greeted him, along with Song Liang’s mocking face.
“Terrible reflexes, Butler Ye. And you have the nerve to play with guns?”
“…”
Ye Yuan froze.
Only then did fear creep up his spine.
Fortunately, Song Liang didn’t fire.
Not because he didn’t want to, but because someone stopped him.
Xiao Yi, who had barely spoken all evening, suddenly said, “Murder is illegal.”
Song Liang laughed.
“Uncle, he’s spreading filthy rumors about us right in front of you. Aren’t you angry?”
“Isn’t he telling the truth? There is something between us.”
“…”
The smile faded from Song Liang’s face.
He looked at the man beside him.
“What did you say, Uncle?”
“I said he’s telling the truth.”
Xiao Yi’s dark green eyes were as calm as a still lake.
“There is something between us.”
The ballroom fell silent.
Song Liang turned the gun toward Xiao Yi, his expression hovering between amusement and something else.
“You’ve already accepted the shares, Uncle. Going back on your word wouldn’t look very good, would it?”
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