Ji Mingyu sat up straight, her expression turning serious.
"Mom, don't you think Sheng Xiuwen is far better than Sheng Tianqi?"
Su Wanyun raised an eyebrow at her.
Ji Mingyu counted on her fingers: "That Aunt Huang is no pushover. If I became her daughter-in-law, it'd be rules today, tea-serving ceremonies tomorrow, getting put in my place the day after—who knows how she'd grind me down."
She paused, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly.
"Sheng Xiuwen is perfect. Marry into his family and there's no mother-in-law—and I'd be on the same generation as Aunt Huang herself."
At that last line, she couldn't help laughing out loud.
Su Wanyun didn't laugh along. Instead, she tilted her head, her eyes earnest: "You are the second daughter of the Ji family—"
Her tone was calm. "Our Ji Corporation may not compare to Shengshi Group, but we would never let you be mistreated.
If you're afraid of dealing with Huang Huixin, you simply won't live with her. A family like ours has plenty of properties. There's no need to crowd under one roof."
Ji Mingyu shook her head. "Mom, you don't need to persuade me. I've really made up my mind."
She paused, lowering her voice a few degrees.
"And besides… that Sheng Tianqi already has a woman on the side."
The smile on Su Wanyun's face froze instantly.
"How do you know?" She sat up abruptly, her voice turning sharply cold. "So this is how the Sheng family treats us?"
She clenched her handbag, her gaze turning razor-sharp.
"When we get back, I'm telling your father."
Ji Mingyu didn't respond. She lowered her eyes, her fingertips absently tracing the hem of her skirt.
The truth was, she wasn't certain.
Had Sheng Tianqi and Ji Mingyue actually gotten together by now?
She could only remember the original storyline roughly.
Meanwhile.
On the west side of the city, in a French restaurant.
In an exceptionally private room, warm yellow light fell across the white tablecloth, the silver cutlery gleaming softly.
Ji Mingyue raised her glass of red wine and swirled it gently, her gaze passing over the rim to land on the face of the man across from her.
Sheng Tianqi.
The eldest grandson of Shengshi Group—the marriage alliance the Ji family had struggled so hard to secure.
And now, he was sitting right across from her.
Ji Mingyue took a sip of wine, unable to suppress the smile tugging at her lips.
Wasn't Ji Mingyu supposed to be the one marrying into Shengshi?
Well, she'd just have to see.
This time, would Sheng Tianqi still be willing?
After all, this time Sheng Tianqi had met her, Ji Mingyue, first. Thinking of this, her early return to Nanzhou City hadn't been wasted.
At the thought, a flush of smugness flashed through Ji Mingyue's heart. This time, she'd like to see whether the marriage alliance with Shengshi Group would still fall to Ji Er.
Holding her wine glass, Ji Mingyue looked at the man across from her with a beaming smile.
"I hear your Shengshi is planning a marriage alliance with the Ji Corporation," she said, her voice carrying a teasing note. "I suppose the young master Sheng will have a beautiful bride by his side soon enough."
Sheng Tianqi's hands didn't stop, unhurriedly cutting the steak on his plate, the sound of knife and fork against porcelain crisp and restrained.
"The Ji family doesn't have only one daughter."
He raised his eyes, his gaze settling on Ji Mingyue's face.
"Isn't there one right in front of me? What do you say, Eldest Miss Ji?"
The smile on Ji Mingyue's face stiffened slightly.
She knew Sheng Tianqi was clever, but she hadn't expected him to know even this.
She had grown up in Jianghai City—surely most people in Nanzhou City didn't even know the Ji Corporation had an eldest daughter named Ji Mingyue.
Besides, the news of her return hadn't been disclosed to the Ji family. She didn't want to just slip back in—she wanted to return in style.
"Young Master Sheng really is well-informed," she quickly recovered her smile, her tone carrying a hint of playful reproach. "You found out all about me so quickly."
"Actually, I only found out these past two days." Sheng Tianqi set down his knife and fork and wiped his hands with his napkin. "After all, your name is so similar to the other two young ladies and young masters of the Ji family."
Ji Mingyue caught the casual understatement in his words and felt a twinge of discomfort.
She studied his expression—no anger, no questioning, not even much emotional fluctuation.
That calmness actually irritated her.
"Since you're about to marry into an alliance with my sister anyway," she set down her wine glass, her tone sharpening, "why are you still coming to find me?"
"You know perfectly well," his voice lowered, "that even if there's to be a marriage alliance, it's with you. Why bother using your sister to provoke me?"
The corners of Ji Mingyue's lips lifted slightly, a flicker of smugness passing through her heart.
She tilted her chin up slightly, her tone playfully coy: "You do talk sweet."
She paused, her eyes glinting, her voice softening.
"My sister is such a graceful, stunning beauty—doesn't your heart stir at all?"
Sheng Tianqi looked at her, the corner of his mouth curving slightly, but he said nothing.
The Maybach slowly drove through the gates of the Ji family villa, the wrought-iron carved gates closing silently in the dusk.
Ji Mingyu and Su Wanyun entered the house one after the other.
Wang Ma came forward to take Su Wanyun's handbag and remarked casually, "Madam, the young master is back."
At that, Ji Mingyu's eyes lit up.
"Where is he? Where did he run off to?" she asked while changing her shoes. "Wasn't he supposed to be away on a business trip with Dad? How did he get back so fast?"
Wang Ma hesitated. "It seems the young master came back… by himself. And as soon as he got home, he shut himself in his room."
Su Wanyun and Ji Mingyu exchanged a glance.
Ji Mingxuan, the future heir of the Ji family, had always been a sunny, cheerful boy—never once in his life had he "shut himself in his room."
Something was off.
Mother and daughter, in silent agreement, said nothing more and headed upstairs one after the other.
Ji Mingyu knocked twice on the door and, without waiting for a response, pushed it open and went in.
The room's main lights were off; only the bedside reading lamp was on. Ji Mingxuan was sprawled on the bed, phone held horizontally, fingers jabbing frantically at the screen as game sound effects crackled away.
Ji Mingyu walked over and slapped him twice on the back, not holding back.
"Ow—" Ji Mingxuan jolted, nearly flinging his phone away, scrambling to hide in the corner of the bed. "What was that for!"
While dodging, he shouted toward the door: "Mom! Look at your daughter! All she knows is bullying me!"
Su Wanyun leaned against the doorframe, watching her lively, bouncing son, and the stone in her heart finally settled.
"Serve you right for pretending, serve you right for pretending," she said flatly. "You had it coming."
"Pretending? What was I pretending?" Ji Mingxuan looked utterly wronged.
Ji Mingyu sat down on the edge of the bed and shot him a sidelong glance: "Shutting yourself in your room the moment you get back—isn't that enough to worry people?"
Ji Mingxuan's movements froze for a moment.
He set his phone face-down on the bed and sat up straight, fingers absently ruffling the hair at the back of his head.
"Mom," he began, his voice much lower than usual, "I… Dad, he…"
The words reached his lips but were swallowed back. He glanced at Su Wanyun, his lips moving slightly, but in the end he didn't say anything—he just rubbed his hair in frustration.
Su Wanyun looked at him, and she already had a pretty good idea.
She walked over and sat down beside her son, her voice soft and steady. "Mingxuan, did you see your dad getting close with another woman?"
Ji Mingxuan froze.
"How did you know?"