Whoever Is Tempted First Is A Dog - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In that moment, she felt her sanity completely dissolve.

Chen Yanxing had been brought back this time to replace Chen Xingxing in a marriage alliance.

The Feng family of Jiangcheng and the Chen family had long-standing ties. The eldest son of the Fengs had just returned from abroad recently, and both families intended to deepen their relationship through marriage. So they decided to marry the suitable-aged Chen Xingxing to the Feng heir.

While the Feng heir was not bad compared to others in his generation, Chen Xingxing simply didn’t like him. She flat-out refused the arrangement, causing a scene and insisting she wouldn’t marry. With no other option, Chen Zhiyu had to retrieve her forgotten second daughter, Chen Yanxing, from the mountains to replace Chen Xingxing in the engagement with the Feng family.

The two families had planned to dine together last night and settle the matter formally, but Chen Yanxing never showed up. Her phone was even unreachable.

This was a major embarrassment, especially in such formal settings. So today, Chen Zhiyu didn’t even go to the office and instead stayed home, waiting for Chen Yanxing to return.

But to her surprise, Chen Yanxing didn’t offer any decent explanation and even made up some lie about losing her phone and getting lost?

Seeing her like this made Chen Zhiyu furious. She stood up and grabbed Chen Yanxing’s arm, saying angrily, “Everyone was there. You were the only one missing! What makes you so special?”

“You think you’re such a big shot you can show up the Fengs?”

Chen Yanxing frowned—Chen Zhiyu’s grip was strong. The unexpected pinch made her nerves jolt from pain.

Still, Chen Yanxing quickly composed herself and replied, “Chen Xingxing was there too, wasn’t she? Let her marry him then…”

Before she could finish, a slap landed on her face.

Her head was knocked to the side, her hair falling messily to cover the red mark on her cheek.

She clenched the soft fabric of her hat tightly in her hands, using it to suppress the anger surging in her heart.

With her eyes lowered, she hid her disgust and loathing beneath her thick eyelashes.

“You’re the elder sister—if you don’t marry him, who should?”

“Didn’t our oldest sister also avoid marriage…?”

Chen Zhiyu raised her hand again. Chen Yanxing instinctively flinched.

Noticing this, Chen Zhiyu’s hand eventually dropped, though her voice was still sharp: “You… you’ve really grown wings, haven’t you?”

Chen Yanxing said nothing. Her silence, in Chen Zhiyu’s eyes, was just another form of defiance.

Still angry, Chen Zhiyu raised her hand to strike again, but fortunately, the Chen family’s eldest, Chen Yanqing, returned home just in time to intervene and pull Yanxing away from their mother’s wrath.

She was ordered to go kneel in the ancestral hall.

After hearing the general story, Chen Yanqing looked up at the second floor—where Chen Xingxing stood.

Chen Xingxing scoffed coldly and turned back into her room, smug.

She didn’t understand why her eldest sister always seemed to defend Chen Yanxing, but she certainly didn’t care for that help herself.

Sitting on the sofa, she looked at the photos on her phone. She wasn’t sure why someone else ended up in Chen Yanxing’s hotel room last night, but at least she had something on her now.

Still…

The fire downstairs was already burning bright—there was no need for her to throw more fuel on it.

Meanwhile, Chen Yanxing knelt in the ancestral hall, staring at the old memorial tablets. She pulled her black hat back on.

Her hand brushed the side of her neck.

Last night, Shen Mengke had bitten her there—hard. It still hurt now, but more than pain, it left a lingering tingling sensation.

The truth was, she had never intended to go to the dinner. Chen Xingxing’s group of troublemaking friends had shown up at just the right time.

They shouted things like “new generation youth” and “rejecting arranged marriages” and dragged Chen Yanxing to a party with them.

Chen Yanxing knew exactly what they were up to—but she still went.

Later, they got her drunk. She had been drugged.

Though she hadn’t drunk more than two glasses—since she wasn’t a drinker—she’d taken advantage of the moment to eat and rest. But just when she tried to leave, her body went weak.

It was so sudden that Chen Yanxing even suspected the entire room had been drugged—the food, the drinks, maybe even the air.

Her consciousness blurred, and someone helped her onto a hotel bed. In a daze, she heard voices.

She couldn’t make out the words but knew the situation was bad. Soon, someone’s hand was touching her.

Chen Yanxing grabbed that hand and, with the last bit of her strength, shoved them away.

She got to her feet and braced herself against the wall, relying on its cold surface to anchor her dwindling sanity.

Using the excuse of calling the police, she forced the girl to leave. But when she looked up—there, leaning against the door, was Shen Mengke.

Shen Mengke smiled faintly, her eyes like a fox—seductive and captivating.

In that instant, Chen Yanxing lost all rational thought.

Foxes are agile predators with a strong sense of territory. They often mark their domain with urine or scent glands.

Thinking about how obsessed Shen Mengke had been with leaving marks on her last night, Chen Yanxing involuntarily laughed.

“You’re laughing? So the slap wasn’t hard enough?”

A voice came from behind. Chen Yanxing instinctively sat up straight on her knees.

“It’s me.” Chen Yanqing sighed and walked toward her.

Seeing it was her eldest sister, Chen Yanxing visibly relaxed. She sat back on her heels, staring up at her but saying nothing.

Chen Yanqing squatted beside her with a jar of ointment in hand.

“Where’d you get the hat?”

Chen Yanxing didn’t answer.

Chen Yanqing was used to her sister’s quiet nature and continued while opening the ointment. “If you had just gone along with Mom, would it really have been that bad?”

“Go along with her?” Chen Yanxing stopped her sister’s hand from applying the ointment and took the jar to examine it. “Go along by marrying myself off? Why didn’t you do it?”

Chen Yanqing wasn’t offended by her tone. In fact, she chuckled. “When did you get so sharp-tongued? How come you never talk back to Mom like this?”

“There’s nothing to say to her.” Chen Yanxing closed the jar and toyed with it in her hands.

Chen Yanqing’s gaze dropped to her neck and asked curiously, “Where were you last night? Did mosquitoes bite you?”

Chen Yanxing’s hand froze. She immediately covered her neck. “No…”

She was never good at hiding things. Chen Yanqing laughed again but didn’t press further. “The matter’s been shelved for now. Last night, the Feng guy turned out to be a real jerk—he brought his girlfriend right to the dinner in front of both families. The Fengs were so embarrassed they apologized repeatedly. So the whole thing’s off—for now. You can breathe a little easier.”

Chen Yanxing looked up at her. “For now?”

Chen Yanqing looked troubled. “Last night… Xingxing suggested…”

“That they send me back again?”

Chen Yanxing wasn’t surprised. She sneered—once she had no value left, she’d be discarded like trash.

“Yanxing, I’m saying—before Mom makes another move, hurry and find a job.”

“I originally wanted to bring you into the Chen Group, but…”

She didn’t finish, but Chen Yanxing understood. Chen Zhiyu didn’t want her touching anything to do with the family business. She wasn’t even allowed to stay in the house—how could she expect to be involved in anything important?

Looking down at the little jar of ointment in her hands, she turned it a few times before saying quietly, “Got it.”

The Chen family had always been a one-voice household. Their success came from one person’s ruthless decisiveness.

Chen Zhiyu was like a monarch—tolerating no disobedience.

Even someone as accomplished as Chen Yanqing, who was outstanding among her peers and elders, still had to let her mother make many of the decisions.

Yanqing was far more capable than spoiled Chen Xingxing, but only the favored had real power in this house.

Yet…

Without Chen Yanxing, wouldn’t Chen Xingxing have been the one thrown into the marriage?

Chen Yanxing smirked. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

Let Chen Xingxing bask in her smugness. She was just waiting for the day she’d fall.

Chen Yanqing saw her sister still hanging her head and assumed she was upset.

She knew well how biased and dismissive their mother was, but there wasn’t much she could do.

So she gently patted Chen Yanxing’s shoulder and said, “Get up. Mom went to the office. Go rest.”

Chen Yanxing schooled her expression, handed the ointment back, and stood on her own, avoiding her sister’s help.

“I’m not coming back to live here,” she said, glancing up at the old memorial tablets. “She doesn’t like seeing me. If I hang around every day, it’ll just remind her to throw me out sooner.”

She smiled faintly and looked at her sister. “Thanks.”

With that, she turned and walked off.

“Where are you going?” Chen Yanqing asked quickly, stunned by that smile.

Chen Yanxing waved without looking back.
“Wandering.”