“You two…” Zhu Shanshan hadn’t expected to run into these two the moment she stepped outside. She hadn’t noticed them when she first came out—maybe she should have waited a little longer. Was it too late to turn back now?
In the end, Zhu Shanshan didn’t actually turn around. She’d have to keep living here, and there was no telling how often she’d have to run into Qiao Yitong.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Qiao Yitong said hurriedly, clutching Murong Yuchen’s hand. “I just meant that since Murong Brother has plans tonight, there’s no need to force yourself to stay for dinner with us. Come another day—there’s no rush to do it today.”
“Yeah, I’ll come another day,” Murong Yuchen nodded.
“……” Zhu Shanshan watched the two of them like this and chose to remain silent.
“Sister-in-law, let me take you out to dinner.” Qiao Yitong let go of Murong Yuchen’s hand and turned to take Zhu Shanshan’s hand instead. “Sister-in-law, his name is Murong Yuchen. I don’t know if you’ve met him before, but he’s my older brother’s friend. ”
Zhu Shanshan rarely interacted with people in Qiao Xudong’s circle; previously, the Zhu family had arranged for her older sister, Zhu Jiaojiao, to handle those connections.
“You can call him…” Qiao Yitong glanced at him again. “Just call him Murong. When my older brother talks about him, he sometimes just calls him Murong.”
“Okay.” Zhu Shanshan felt a little nervous; she thought Murong Yuchen had an overwhelmingly strong presence.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. We don’t need to worry about him—he’ll leave on his own.” Qiao Yitong pulled Zhu Shanshan along. “Sister-in-law, I’ll have the butler give you a map. Our house is a bit big, and each branch of the family lives in a different area. Grandpa has three sons and one daughter: my eldest uncle, my second uncle, my third aunt, and my dad. My second uncle runs a business on the mainland, and my third aunt got married a long time ago. She comes back every now and then—you’ll figure it out once she’s here.”
Qiao Yitong explained a little to Zhu Shanshan. Since Zhu Shanshan hadn’t visited the Qiao family very often before, Qiao Yitong wasn’t sure if she was familiar with the layout, so she figured a brief explanation would suffice.
Murong Yuchen followed behind Qiao Yitong as they went downstairs together. Since Murong Yuchen was leaving, he naturally had to say goodbye to Old Master Qiao; it wouldn’t do to leave without a word.
Earlier, Old Master Qiao had invited Murong Yuchen to stay for dinner, and Murong Yuchen had agreed. If Murong Yuchen left now without saying anything, it would be a slap in the face to Old Master Qiao.
When Old Master Qiao heard that Murong Yuchen had to leave, he didn’t try to stop him. “Come back another time when you’re free,” he said.
Old Master Qiao didn’t mention whether Qiao Yitong had upset Murong Yuchen. He figured that since Murong Yuchen was a few years older than Qiao Yitong and had long been in charge of his family’s company, he wouldn’t stoop to quarreling with a young girl like Qiao Yitong. That’s just how it is for those in power—all sorts of things come up all the time, and a single phone call can send them rushing off to handle business.
At the dinner table, everyone in the Qiao family had their assigned seats. Zhu Shanshan didn’t know where to sit, so she decided to wait for the others to take their seats first. Zhu Shanshan didn’t find the situation particularly awkward; she wasn’t exactly favored in her own Zhu family to begin with, so coming to the Qiao family, things couldn’t possibly be much worse.
“Big Sister-in-Law, sit here,” Qiao Yitong said, pulling Zhu Shanshan to her seat. “This is where Big Brother usually sits. You’re supposed to sit right next to him anyway, so just sit here for now.”
Seeing Qiao Yitong’s gesture, Old Master Qiao thought to himself that this granddaughter was quite decent—she even knew how to seat people properly.
“Xiaotong is right—let’s sit like this,” Old Mr. Qiao nodded.
Qiao Yitong quickly took her own seat. It was just a meal, so everyone finished eating in no time. During the meal, everyone spoke very little, mostly waiting until after they’d finished to talk.
Zhu Shanshan noticed that no one was talking much, so she didn’t dare speak either.
After the meal, Lady Qiao walked over to Zhu Shanshan; she had something to discuss with her.
“We have a caregiver at home, so you don’t need to go out of your way to bathe Xudong. Just set aside an hour each day to sit by his side and talk to him,” ” Lady Qiao said.
“Yes,” Zhu Shanshan nodded.
“You and Xudong are only engaged; you aren’t actually married,” Lady Qiao said. “If Xudong wakes up, whether you stay or leave will depend on him.”
Lady Qiao had originally intended to say that if Qiao Xudong remained unconscious after two years, she would adopt Zhu Shanshan as her goddaughter, and Zhu Shanshan would then marry as a goddaughter of the Qiao family. But Lady Qiao didn’t say that. She was afraid that if she did, Zhu Shanshan wouldn’t take Qiao Xudong seriously—she might even think it would be better if he were dead.
“Xudong is your fiancé; you must behave like a fiancée,” Lady Qiao said. “The Qiao family’s doors aren’t so easy to walk through.”
Lady Qiao took Zhu Shanshan to Qiao Xudong’s room to take a look. Zhu Shanshan gazed at Qiao Xudong, who lay unconscious on the bed. His complexion appeared haggard and pale, but Zhu Shanshan could still tell that Qiao Xudong had once been a very handsome man.
Zhu Shanshan had met Qiao Xudong before; she had even watched him from a distance on several occasions. Back then, Zhu Shanshan had thought that if she’d been the type to compete, she might have fought for this engagement herself. However, even though the Zhu family intended to give the engagement to Zhu Jiaojiao—and the Qiao family hadn’t yet decided which of their grandsons would marry a Zhu daughter—the Zhu family had already set their sights on marrying Zhu Jiaojiao to Qiao Xudong.
Everyone in the Zhu family wanted their daughter to marry the future head of the Qiao family; if that wasn’t possible, any of the other Qiao grandsons would do.
Lady Qiao had always been aware of the Zhu family’s maneuvers, but she hadn’t intervened because the time wasn’t right yet. Lady Qiao hadn’t anticipated that her eldest son would be involved in a car accident and fall into a coma. If they were to arrange a “lucky marriage” to ward off misfortune, most young women of equal social standing would likely refuse, so they’d have to look further down the family tree.
“All right, Lady Qiao,” said Zhu Shanshan.
“You must still call me ‘Mother-in-law,’” Lady Qiao said. “If you don’t, your grandfather won’t be pleased.”
Lady Qiao didn’t want to hear Zhu Shanshan call her “Mother-in-law,” but she couldn’t go against Old Master Qiao. Rather than wait for him to criticize her later, she decided to make the arrangements herself. Madam Qiao gave Zhu Shanshan some instructions; she simply didn’t want Zhu Shanshan to cross that line later on, nor could she allow others to say that the Qiao family treated Zhu Shanshan like a servant.
“Yes, Mother-in-law,” Zhu Shanshan nodded vigorously.
When Zhu Shanshan had first entered the room, she’d noticed there were many clothes in the closet, and there was also a small walk-in closet nearby. All the clothes and other items were brand new; there were several pairs of slippers, though there weren’t many other types of shoes. Qiao Yitong didn’t know Zhu Shanshan’s shoe size, so she asked a maid to find out and make arrangements later.
Zhu Shanshan was very pleased with the items in the room; this was better than her life at the Zhu household, where the Zhu family would never have provided her with so many new clothes. Sometimes Zhu Shanshan wore clothes that Zhu Jiaojiao had discarded. Zhu Jiaojiao loved buying clothes but rarely wore them; she even claimed those clothes were brand-new and just right for Zhu Shanshan.
Wealthy people generally wear the latest seasonal fashions rather than out-of-season clothes, but Zhu Jiaojiao was giving Shanshan unworn clothes from past seasons. Shanshan didn’t think this was such a big deal; she knew exactly what people in this circle were like.
Qiao Yitong followed her mother out to the small balcony to have tea. Qiao’s mother asked, “Why didn’t Murong Yuchen stay for dinner?”
“He had something to do, so he went back,” Qiao Yitong said, batting her eyes with an innocent, innocent look.
“That’s not like you. Are you the kind of person who would call him ‘Brother Murong’?” ” A mother knows her daughter best. Qiao’s mother didn’t believe Qiao Yitong would be so gentle and polite toward Murong Yuchen. “Haven’t you always hated him? And then, last night…”
“Stop!” Qiao Yitong hurriedly interrupted. “Mom, in front of Grandpa…”
“Don’t put it that way. Say that while your older brother was in a coma, you still went out to have fun?” Qiao’s mother said. “Do you want to upset your Grandpa and your eldest uncle?”
“It wasn’t exactly ‘fun,’” Qiao Yitong said. “Really, I wasn’t out having fun. I also wanted to find a good doctor for my older brother. I went there because I heard someone knew of experts in that field overseas.”
“I wasn’t joking with you, and I wasn’t trying to fool your grandfather on purpose. You really did come back yesterday with snot and tears streaming down your face,” Mrs. Qiao said. “You even said that as long as your older brother could wake up, you’d do anything. Otherwise, do you think your grandfather would have let it go after I said that?”
Old Master Qiao was a very traditional man who favored sons over daughters. Even though he had three sons and one daughter of his own, he still valued his sons more. By Qiao Yitong’s generation, while it was true that she was his only granddaughter, his grandsons were still the most important to him. On the surface, Old Master Qiao treated Qiao Yitong fairly well—he gave her a little money, but that was about it.
“Be careful when you’re out and about, and don’t upset your grandfather,” Mrs. Qiao said.
“Oh,” Qiao Yitong pouted.
“Are you sure your older brother can really end up with this Zhu Shanshan?” Mrs. Qiao frowned. “She doesn’t seem all that remarkable—she’s not nearly as pretty as you.” ”
“That’s because you’re so beautiful—I take after you,” Qiao Yitong said. “Not everyone is as beautiful as you.”
“You’re such a sweet-talker,” Mrs. Qiao laughed. “I’ll take your advice and not say anything about Zhu Shanshan. But what about you? You’re so close to her—aren’t you afraid your eldest aunt will be upset?”
“It’s not like I have to be that close to my eldest sister-in-law. They said I’m about the same age as her, so they asked me to keep an eye on her a bit,” Qiao Yitong explained. “Since everyone else in our generation is male, they can’t really talk to her much, so it falls to me.”
“That’s true,” Qiao’s mother nodded.
“Don’t worry,” Qiao Yitong said as she walked over to her mother’s side and gave her a gentle shoulder massage. “I know my place and how to handle things.”
“Actually, Murong Yuchen isn’t a bad guy,” Qiao’s mother remarked. “He’s his maternal grandfather’s only grandson—he has no other grandchildren. He takes his maternal grandfather’s surname; he’s the heir to their family. If you can win him over, you’ll be—”
Mrs. Qiao held up her thumb. “If I hadn’t been with your father, would you have been born into this family and lived such a good life? As for you, you need to be careful too—find a wealthy man who’s willing to spend money on you.”
Meanwhile, Murong Yuchen had already returned home. Murong Yuchen’s eldest sister, Murong Ya, was an older unmarried woman. She worked as a fashion designer and still lived in the Murong family home. Murong Ya owned an apartment elsewhere and sometimes stayed there.
“Are you really interested in that little girl from the Qiao family?” As the eldest sister, Murong Ya had always kept a close eye on her younger brother; she was well aware that he had a split personality.
Murong Ya had certainly heard her parents argue when she was a child, but she hadn’t turned out like her brother—he’d even developed a split personality. Murong Ya took extra care of her brother in her daily life; she couldn’t let anyone else hurt him.
“If you like her, let’s just go straight to their house to ask for her hand in marriage. I’m sure her parents would be more than happy to marry her off to you,” ” Murong Ya said. Mr. and Mrs. Qiao were notorious in these circles for being nothing but freeloaders. Mr. Qiao would often say he had to “ask his daddy” or “ask his older brother,” while Mrs. Qiao would fawn over Madam Murong, saying, “You’re the one in charge of the Murong family.”
“Love has nothing to do with power,” Murong Yuchen frowned slightly. His eldest sister was always so blunt; he worried she might scare off the woman he loved. He didn’t want his relationship with the one he loved to be based solely on money.