Gu Qingjiao was wearing a white hoodie and a pair of gray sweatpants, the stray hair at her temples pinned behind her ears with two hair clips. Her fair face was bare without any makeup, and at first glance, she looked just like a pure high school student. Looking further down, the shoes on her feet were not the high heels Shi Lijin had prepared for her, but a pair of cute cotton slippers.
The servant was dumbfounded, not expecting Miss Gu to be so plain. This felt completely different from the impression she gave in the gym yesterday!
Amidst her surprise, the servant could not help reminding her, “Miss Gu, won’t you look a bit…”
Gu Qingjiao knew what she wanted to express, curved her lips into a smile, and replied, “It is fine. After all, it is a family banquet, so it is best to dress a bit more relaxed and comfortable.”
“But these slippers are really…”
Really too impolite.
Before the servant could finish her sentence, Gu Qingjiao left her behind and walked away on her own.
As soon as she stepped through the gates of the villa, she saw the legendary aunts and uncles sitting in a circle on the sofas in the first-floor living room, cracking melon seeds while chatting and laughing.
Gu Qingjiao’s scalp suddenly went numb, her social anxiety acting up instantly. She prepared to turn around and run, but the servant following behind directly raised her voice and shouted, “Miss Gu…”
At that cry, the aunts and uncles in the living room all gathered toward the entrance to take a look, eager to see what Second Young Master Shi’s fiancée actually looked like.
As a result, what everyone saw was a simple and pure high school student.
Shen Kewen was truly ruthless! In order to seize control of her husband’s inheritance, she actually spared no mercy even for such a young niece!
When dinner time arrived, Gu Qingjiao finally learned that these people were originally distant relatives of the Shi family who were barely connected by eight poles.
The moment the head of the Shi family passed away, they used the excuse of paying their respects to first cry a bit at the North Estate while taking advantage of free food and drinks for a while. Later, hearing that the inheritance was very likely to fall to Shi Lijin, they flew over overnight to cry a bit at the South Manor.
After a round of polite pleasantries, everyone began to judge and discuss Gu Qingjiao.
“This child looks gentle in character and delicate in appearance, but it is just a pity she was born into the Gu family. To be sent over to be our Second Young Master’s wife at such a young age, she is truly pitiful.”
“When auntie was as young as you, I was still studying abroad. Such a wonderful youth should be spent exploring and adventuring out there. Oh right, have you two signed your marriage agreement yet?”
“Isn’t the young lady still underage? Oh my, signing these things when underage is illegal!”
Gu Qingjiao sat isolated and helpless on a single-seater sofa, surrounded entirely by chattering aunts. Looking beside her, the accompanying servant stood frozen like a stone sculpture, offering no help or explanation. Gu Qingjiao let out a secret sigh and decided she had better handle it herself.
First, she said to the aunt who claimed she was pitiful, “Aunty, I am indeed pitiful. My father does not love me, my mother does not care for me, and my eldest aunt even sent me here. Aunty, do you have a daughter? How about letting her marry in first so I can leave?”
Next, she said to the aunt who had studied abroad, “Aunty, I dropped out of high school and stayed at home, wasting my wonderful youth right away, only to be arranged to come in here and be some kind of wealthy tai-tai. It is truly terrifying. Does aunty have a daughter? If she marries in, I want to go abroad to explore.”
Finally, she gave an overall summary to the aunts gathered there: “I am young and my future is bright, but I was sent by my family to a place like this. What is written in that marriage agreement, I cannot understand either. Second Young Master Shi thinks I am too young; he does not like me, nor is he willing to sign the agreement with me. He would rather marry a chicken than marry me, and usually refuses to even lay eyes on me once. I do not want to live days like this anymore. Do aunts have daughters? Marry them in, marry them all in.”
The aunts: [ ]
This… is this the young lady of the Gu family?
What was it that people said in the group chat before? They said she only knew how to act pitiful and stir up trouble, that she deliberately seduced the Second Young Master, lacked honesty and propriety, and failed in both character and appearance. Yet upon actual contact, everyone discovered that she was actually just a pure and kind little pitiful thing.
How could such a sensible child possibly be like what was said in the group! Sure enough, rumors cannot be trusted!
In the blink of an eye, the entire atmosphere of the hall changed completely. Every single aunt began praising her for being good and obedient, handing her red envelopes and passing her candies, saying that although the young girl’s background was pitiful, fortunately, she was magnanimous and open-minded, willing to share her heartfelt thoughts.
Following that, the aunts successively opened their photo albums on their phones, showing their daughters to her one by one and actively asking for her advice on what kind of girls the Second Young Master actually liked and whether he had any special preferences.
The servant standing nearby was completely dumbfounded.
She knew Miss Gu was not simple, but she had no idea she was capable of such a feat. What kind of nonsense stories was she making up…
However, the servants had all undergone professional training and must never participate in conversations between hosts and guests unless it was an emergency, so she had no choice but to endure it.
Not long after, several men in black bodyguards entered one after another, and the noisy chatter in the living room came to an abrupt halt. Everyone shifted their gazes forward.
The person pushed in last was a man sitting in a wheelchair. He stared straight ahead with an upright and refined demeanor, resembling an otherworldly green pine.
The relatives present had actually all seen him; he was the Shi family’s extraordinary eldest young master, Shi Feng. It was just a pity that he suffered an accident in his youth resulting in paralyzed legs, meaning he might have to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Ever since then, he had reportedly never recovered his spirit. His academics were quite good, but he had no heart for marrying or having children.
As soon as Shi Feng appeared, a few aunts could not help furrowing their brows, wearing expressions of pity and heartache.
Shi Feng was pushed to the main seat facing everyone, but before he could even utter his first word, one of the aunts nearby eagerly grasped his hand and said with grief, “Child, my condolences. I am your second paternal aunt. I even held you when you were little. Do you remember? If you have any worries in the future, you can tell auntie.”
Shi Feng politely withdrew his hand, offered a brief greeting, and upon noticing that the floor was covered entirely with melon seeds cracked by them, his smile gradually faded as he said, “Respected elders, I am truly sorry. This building is Xiaojin’s private villa. Could everyone please refrain from cracking melon seeds here? He will not be happy if he sees this.”
The elders who were implicitly called out felt noticeably awkward, yet they did not dare to say anything.
The elevator door chimed, and everyone turned their heads to look, only to discover that Shi Lijin had come downstairs wearing a dark gray silk bathrobe.
The relatives: [ ]
The relatives were suddenly utterly flabbergasted. Why were this conglomerate young master and his fiancée dressed, one in a bathrobe and the other in student uniform?
When Gu Qingjiao and Shi Lijin’s eyes met, she was similarly astonished by the other’s attire.
She had not expected the master of the house to dress so casually, which instead made these guests dripping in gold and silver look rather uncomfortable.
Although Shi Lijin was dressed in such a relaxed manner, the innate nobility and chill in his bones could not be hidden. Among the many auntie relatives, anyone with the slightest experience in reading people knew he was like a piece of precious jade wrapped inside, with a very good core. Besides, men just needed to be wealthy and powerful, that was all.
Gu Qingjiao craned her neck to listen in on their whispered conversations.
Shi Lijin locked onto Gu Qingjiao among the group of aunts at a glance. He stared calmly at that head for a few seconds, and finally unable to help himself, he grabbed her and pulled her over to sit beside him.
“Fiancé, let me show you something good.” Gu Qingjiao quietly displayed the red envelopes in her hoodie pocket to him.
Shi Lijin was actually indifferent to such things, but as his gaze shifted, he happened to catch sight of the slippers on her feet.
His gaze froze.
Shi Feng, sitting nearby, sensed the situation first and gently touched Shi Lijin’s arm with his elbow, “Xiaojin.”
Shi Lijin recovered his wits, his first reaction being to fish the wooden carving out of his pocket, only to grab empty air. He then remembered he was wearing a bathrobe right now; the wooden carving was probably left behind in his room just now. As he was recalling this, a chilly hand tickled him, and the person covertly passed two red envelopes over.
Gu Qingjiao: “Fifty-fifty split.”
Shi Lijin: [ ]
During the banquet, the aunts could not stop even while eating, splitting a single sentence into multiple stories to tell. The large table of dishes spun around this way and that, completely treating the place like their own restaurant while ignoring the serving chopsticks provided right beside them.
Shi Lijin remained silent throughout, leaving by himself after staying for just five minutes. Looking back at Gu Qingjiao, that person was instead extremely popular among everyone. Yet these two families were clearly meeting for the very first time, so how was she able to chat so effortlessly?
Shi Lijin glanced at the red envelopes in his hand, discovering the name of one of the relatives written on the back. He immediately felt that things were not simple, so he walked outside and summoned a servant to ask about the situation.
The servant, who had witnessed the entire process firsthand, had been holding it in for a long time. Seeing that she could finally tell tales, she exaggeratedly reported to him, “Second Young Master, Miss Gu does not care about you at all! Just now, she told the guests she hopes everyone can marry their daughters in! She also said she is locked up here and cannot stand you! She wants to run away! She wants to go abroad!”