Wu Jingmeng was straightforward and bold, but she was not particularly intelligent. She had a bit of cleverness, perhaps, but she was extremely easy to provoke and manipulate.
For example, a few words from Jiang Yiyan were enough to trigger her into recklessly confronting her without thinking things through. She had never carefully considered whether she was truly in the right regarding that incident.
Now that Jiang Yiyan had hit the key point with a question, she was suddenly stunned. It only then seemed to occur to her that she had originally gone to Jiang Yiyan for Shu Yao, and that her tone at the time had not been very pleasant either.
Deep down, she did not feel there was anything wrong with her tone. But now, in front of the Jiang family, especially Jiang Cheng and Jiang Xu, she had to maintain the image of being the wronged party.
Cai Wenqing also realized something was off. If this continued, it might drag Shu Yao into the matter. So she quickly stepped in with a smile to smooth things over.
“These are all minor matters. There’s no need to hurt the harmony of the family. Today is a happy occasion. Let’s enjoy the meal together, alright?”
Wu Jingmeng immediately took the cue and went along with it. “I’ll listen to Aunt Cai.”
Jiang Yiyan, however, deliberately complained in a spoiled tone. “Aunt Cai, you’re taking sides. You’re clearly protecting Madam Jiang. When she was confidently lecturing me earlier, why didn’t you step in to speak up for me? Now that she’s in the wrong, you’re the one who comes forward. That’s clearly unfair.”
Cai Wenqing’s expression stiffened, but she forced a smile. “You child… Aunt Cai dotes on you the most, how could I not stand up for you? It’s just that these are all minor matters. If we continue, I’m afraid it’ll damage the harmony between everyone.”
Then she added deliberately, “Today is supposed to be a joyful occasion, and your father is in a good mood. Why don’t we let bygones be bygones and stop holding Jingmeng’s momentary rudeness against her? Alright? Consider it a favor to Aunt.”
Cai Wenqing knew exactly what Jiang Cheng cared about most. At a critical moment like this, she brought up the idea of “family harmony” to try to silence Jiang Yiyan.
Or at least, even if it could not silence her, it would remind Jiang Cheng that it was his daughter who was causing trouble and disregarding family unity.
Jiang Yiyan naturally saw through Cai Wenqing’s intentions and was determined not to let her succeed. So before Jiang Cheng could speak, she looked at him with wide, innocent eyes and said pitifully, “Dad! I’m really not making trouble without reason. I just feel wronged and want to seek fairness.”
“I know today is Shu Yao’s celebration banquet, and I also want everyone to get along peacefully. But this wasn’t something I started. I shouldn’t be the one forced to swallow this grievance. I don’t need you to take my side, Dad, but you can’t let outsiders wrong me either.” All she wanted was fairness.
Before Jiang Cheng could respond, Jiang Xu was already extremely displeased.
He had reached the limit of his patience. Frowning deeply, he said with obvious annoyance, “What are you feeling wronged about? You’re the one talking the most here! Everyone else has already said it’s not a big deal. Why can’t you just let it go instead of clinging to it?”
What nonsense was that? Jiang Yiyan really wanted to snap back at him.
At first, she had no intention of responding to him, but since he had stepped forward on his own, she would not hold back.
So Jiang Yiyan questioned him directly. “Brother, do you know why I insist on pursuing this and won’t let it go?”
Jiang Xu pressed his lips together, his expression stern and full of disgust.
He could not even be bothered to respond.
But since he remained silent, Jiang Yiyan continued on her own.
“Because Aunt Cai, this so-called stepmother, and you, my so-called older brother, would rather help outsiders than stand by me.”
As she spoke, she took out her phone, opened WeChat, and showed the previous conversation where Wu Jingmeng had questioned her to Jiang Xu. “Brother, take a good look at how confidently she questioned me.”
She added, “Madam Jiang is quite skilled at putting on one face in front of others and another behind their backs. In front of you all, she plays the innocent little white flower, but behind your backs, she speaks to me in a completely different tone. You all know I hate this kind of two-faced behavior the most.”
Jiang Xu reluctantly glanced at the phone screen Jiang Yiyan held out. However, being biased, he even seemed to see things askew.
So even after seeing the conversation, Jiang Xu still felt no sympathy for his sister and instead continued to find fault with her.
“You think this proves you’re right? Take a good look at yourself. You complain about her tone, but is your tone any better?”
Jiang Yiyan took her phone back, but continued to argue. “Then may I ask, how did Madam Jiang know I liked one of Yao Yao’s social media posts? Brother, you should know I’m not friends with Madam Jiang on WeChat. She wouldn’t be able to see any of my interactions with Yao Yao. So isn’t it strange and irritating that she suddenly questioned me out of nowhere?”
Jiang Xu understood the implication perfectly. But without even pausing to consider, he instinctively chose to side with Shu Yao.
“You’ve had enough. It’s just a small matter, yet you’ve dragged it out this far. Look around, because of you, no one can even finish their meal. When are you going to act more sensibly?”
Jiang Yiyan stared at him in stunned silence, then suddenly let out a bitter laugh. She knew exactly what kind of person he was. Why had she bothered explaining so much? Why had she expected anything from him?
What a disappointing brother. Forget it.
Jiang Yiyan sat back down and said nothing more.
As for Shu Yao, she could not sit still after seeing this. She stood up and personally stepped forward to explain.
“This matter started because of me. It was me who told Jingmeng about Jiang Yiyan liking my post. Jingmeng went to find her because of me. So this all began with me. I’ve caused trouble for everyone.”
Jiang Yiyan no longer cared, so she remained silent.
Seeing Shu Yao take the initiative to shoulder responsibility, Jiang Xu shot his sister another irritated, cold glance. In his eyes, his biological sister was simply someone who caused trouble without reason.
She was always the one finding ways to bully Shu Yao.
Cai Wenqing had no choice but to step in and reprimand her own daughter.
“You too. You’ve caused such a big misunderstanding, making both Yiyan and Jingmeng feel wronged.”
She continued, “In truth, everyone had good intentions. It’s just that misunderstandings arose and were not clarified in time, which led to so much dissatisfaction. Now that everything has been explained, it’s fine. We’re all family, so how could there be lasting grudges? Let’s all sit down and eat.” Cai Wenqing did not want the situation to escalate further and did her utmost to calm things down.
Jiang Cheng had watched the entire scene in silence. In the end, he simply said, “Eat first.” His expression remained neutral, revealing nothing of his emotions.
The meal was eaten in complete silence, each person lost in their own thoughts.
Afterward, Jiang Cheng wiped his mouth and looked at everyone, saying only one sentence, “Since we’re done eating, let’s all head home.”
Everyone stood up quietly. After Jiang Cheng left the private room first, the others followed behind him.
At the open-air parking lot outside Xingyun Hotel, Xiao Chen was waiting in the car. Seeing the boss’s family come out, he immediately got out from the driver’s seat.
He opened the rear door for them, and once all three of them had gotten in, he closed it and returned to the driver’s seat.
The car started and slowly merged onto the main road outside the hotel. Sensing the unusual atmosphere inside, Xiao Chen glanced at the rearview mirror toward the back seat.
Miss Meimei sat in the middle, with Mrs. Wen on either side. From their expressions, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Knowing that Mrs. Wen had attended a certain banquet that evening, he could not help feeling even more curious. The atmosphere between the boss and his wife had been tense these past few days, all because of Shu Yao, who had returned to the country.
Now that old flames had finally reunited, surely something must have happened, some sparks must have flown?
Just as Xiao Chen assumed the night would remain uneventful, he suddenly heard Mrs. Wen speak from the back seat.
“Do you also think I was being a bit unreasonable earlier?”
There was gossip to be heard. Xiao Chen immediately perked up his ears.
Wen Mochuan had been resting with his eyes closed. Hearing his wife’s question, he slowly opened his eyes.
In all fairness, compared to her previous behavior, the earlier verbal sparring and justified confrontation were nothing significant.
Of course, he did not think she had been unreasonable.
Objectively speaking, today’s incident was indeed initiated by Madam Jiang. She stirred things up first, then failed to resolve them gracefully, which led the situation to escalate.
However, Jiang Yiyan also seemed to have come prepared, deliberately targeting her. If she had been more tactful and known when to stop, things would not have escalated to that extent.
But that was only from an objective standpoint. As her husband, Wen Mochuan did not think she had been at fault at all.
So he replied, “This matter today was not your fault.”
Jiang Yiyan let out a quiet, cold laugh, then sighed. “Even you can remain so rational and think I wasn’t at fault. It really shows how biased Jiang Xu is.”
She was merely speechless toward Jiang Xu, not heartbroken.
After a brief pause, she added, “Still, it’s better to see things clearly sooner. From now on, when we meet again, we won’t even be able to remain siblings.”
To this, Wen Mochuan responded only with silence.
As for Jiang Xu’s thoughts, how could he possibly not understand them?