Jiang Yu helped Zhao Huiru and her daughter polish off the two large shrimp-filled dumplings among the six, chewing away while giving a thumbs-up and praising their excellent takeout choice. She ended her breakfast by finishing off another slice of crystal glutinous rice lotus root.
Zhao Huiru: “…” At this point, even I can’t help but feel like cursing.
Qin Huaiyu bluntly said, “Jiang Yu, you really have some nerve. This breakfast was something I had to queue up and reserve with great effort. What gives you the right to dig in? Are you some starving ghost reincarnated who’s never eaten before? Why don’t you just eat yourself to death?”
Jiang Yu extended two fingers, plucked a tissue from the box in front of Qin Huaiyu, wiped the corner of her mouth, and then touched her own face. “Visually speaking, it seems like Sister’s face is still a bit bigger.”
Then she turned to Zhao Huiru, who clearly wanted nothing to do with her, and said, “Does Mom also think I’m not worthy of eating this meal? But just now, Mom invited me…” to have breakfast together!
“It’s just a breakfast. What’s all this talk about being worthy or not?” Zhao Huiru quickly cut her off, feeling that letting her continue would only make herself and Qin Huaiyu look even more foolish. She changed the subject, “Speaking of which, you and Qin Yan, I’ve never seen the two of you sit down and eat together before.”
“Before… he hardly ever came back to Bincheng.” She pouted slightly, taking the opportunity to complain, then immediately stood up, ready to make her escape. She suspected Zhao Huiru was bringing this up again for some ulterior motive.
Sure enough, Zhao Huiru’s next words were: “When are you planning to have a child? You’ve been married for half a year now, and Qin Yan isn’t getting any younger. It’s time to have a child. A man only truly matures and settles down after getting married and having children.”
Jiang Yu’s steps away from the dining table halted.
For men, marriage and having children are just about going through the motions and participating. What does that have to do with whether they settle down or mature? If you said women go through a life-and-death ordeal giving birth and thus gain the steadiness of motherhood, that would be more believable.
Besides, ever since she got married, Zhao Huiru had been nagging her about having a child every single day, like a broken record, as if bearing Qin Yan a child was her sole purpose in life. If not for that, she wouldn’t have desperately resorted to that unsightly “battle attire” of hers, only to end up completely defeated.
But the key point is, can she have a child all by herself? Well, Qin Yan’s “participation” is indeed indispensable, isn’t it?
Seeing her remain silent for so long, Zhao Huiru frowned. “Having a child is a serious matter. You…”
Jiang Yu turned back and gave Zhao Huiru a sweet, obedient smile. “Mom is right. We should have a child. I’ll notify Qin Yan later. We’ll have one this afternoon!”
Zhao Huiru: “???”
Qin Huaiyu, not quite understanding but utterly shocked, said, “Jiang Yu, have you truly lost your mind? A child isn’t something you can just decide to have on a whim!”
“Oh~” Jiang Yu seemed to have a sudden epiphany. “So it’s not something you can just decide to have on a whim.”
With that, she went upstairs.
In the past, she had respected Zhao Huiru as an elder and Qin Huaiyu as an older sister. Now, she felt that listening to them talk any further was simply draining her life force.
Returning to the secondary bedroom she usually stayed in, she took out her phone and saw that the luck points she had just gained had dropped significantly.
Jiang Yu: Seriously, being around them really drains my life, doesn’t it???
The system replied helplessly: 【Actually… is it possible that the luck points were consumed when you ate those large shrimp dumplings just now?】
Jiang Yu: ???
Just two big shrimp, and they cost me all the luck I worked so hard to save up? Are those shrimp even worth it?!
Her fragile heart was deeply wounded by the two outrageously expensive shrimp. Now, she was lying on the bed, recovering, while casually opening an app to browse “Gossip and Fun News”.
Her fingers slid across the screen at a steady pace, her interest waning. But she still found time to complain to the system—
“What is all this? Did someone in the village lose a pair of old underwear, and they had to write about it?”
“And this one—’Big Huang from the east side of the village seriously injured Wangcai from the north side’. Are Big Huang and Wangcai part of the Paw Patrol or something?”
“This one’s even funnier. It says Qin Huaiyu and the Zhou family’s recently returned young master had a one-night stand… Wait, what???”
She abruptly sat up and reread the gossip several times.
No mistake. It was Qin Huaiyu. The same Qin Huaiyu in her household. The other subject of the gossip was the Zhou family’s recently returned eldest son, Zhou Zhiyang.
If the Qin and Zhou families were to arrange a marriage, it would indeed be a match of equal social standing. There was nothing particularly surprising.
But a one-night stand? In the intricate, business-entangled circles of the wealthy elite, that was downright explosive.
Everyone moved in the same circles. Gossip like this would inevitably be embellished and spread around. Without a reasonable explanation, both families would become the subject of gossip and lose face.
To preserve their reputations, situations like these in such circles usually ended in arranged marriages.
Not all the second-generation heirs in these circles might be diligent students, but they were all taught to prioritize the family’s interests. No matter what they wanted to do, they had to consider the impact on their families. No one would disregard their family’s dignity for a night of indulgence.
If someone claimed this was just an accidental coincidence, Jiang Yu wasn’t buying it.
She scratched her head, feeling as though her brain was about to grow from the effort.
So, was it one of the Qin or Zhou families who deliberately orchestrated this to force a marriage alliance?
Just as Jiang Yu was still speculating about what exactly had happened, the door to her room suddenly swung open from the outside. The gossip’s leading lady, Ms. Qin Huaiyu, made a dazzling entrance: “Jiang Yu, the seafood we ordered a few days ago has arrived by air freight. Mom said we’re having it for lunch today. It won’t stay fresh if we leave it too long. Hurry up and prepare the shrimp and crabs. Mom and I both have manicures, so we can’t handle this stuff.”
Jiang Yu: “Okay.” Seafood for lunch.
Seeing her unmoving, Qin Huaiyu’s voice grew sharper: “No one’s mopped the floors at home for days either. Hurry up and take care of it. What kind of state is this place in?!”
Jiang Yu: “Mm-hmm.” Maybe in the next lifetime. She had a meeting scheduled with a producer later to discuss a collaboration.
“Are you just brushing me off while I’m talking to you?” Qin Huaiyu took a few steps forward, raising her hand as if to slap Jiang Yu across the face. “Don’t tell me you still think you’re some kind of noble young lady? Stop acting like a princess when you don’t have the life of one! You’re nothing but a servant in our Qin household now!”
“Mm-hmm.” Jiang Yu nodded with a smile while casually catching the hand that was about to strike her.
“Jiang Yu, how dare you! What are you doing? Let go!” Qin Huaiyu’s wrist was twisted. She let out a sharp cry.
Jiang Yu paid her no mind, twisting her hand and shoving her out the door: “Don’t mess with me.”
Staring at the slammed door, Qin Huaiyu rubbed her wrist in disbelief.
Was this really the same Jiang Yu who had always been submissive?
But she couldn’t swallow this insult. She yelled at the door, “Just you wait! Once I become the young mistress of the Zhou family, everyone in the Qin family will have to look up to me! When that time comes, you useless, down-and-out trash can wait to be kicked out!”
—
“Ah, Mom! I really can’t go through with this marriage!”
At the Zhou family’s old mansion, Zhou Zhiyang was locked in a second-floor room, his ears stuffed with two wads of toilet paper, trying to convince himself that these two wads could block out the sonic attacks of his raging mother outside.
“Is this something you can solve with a simple ‘I won’t marry’?!” Madam. Zhou waved a feather duster outside, swishing it through the air with a whoosh.
This feather duster had been in the Zhou family for years. It was never used for dusting. It was specifically reserved for disciplining unfilial descendants. It was first used by the Zhou family matriarch. After Zhou Zhiyang was born, it was passed down to his mother.
“Anyway, marriage is impossible! If you like a girl with more schemes than a lotus pod, you marry her! Then my dad can be the main wife, she can be the concubine, and you can uphold the one-husband-one-wife system to the end!” After running his mouth, Zhou Zhiyang put on his noise-canceling headphones and turned on some music. The world finally fell silent.
He picked up a pair of scissors and cut open the exquisitely packaged large box in front of him, curious to see what grand gift Qin Yan had sent him.
After the homecoming banquet that day, all the gifts he received had been stuffed into the storeroom by the butler. Meanwhile, his mother, afraid he would run away, had people guarding him and keeping him confined to his room. It wasn’t until midnight, when the whole family was asleep, that he managed to negotiate with the bodyguard watching him and sneak into the storeroom to retrieve this box.
With great anticipation, he opened the box, only to be met with: ???
A whole box of certificates???
Refusing to believe it, he flipped through them one by one, only to confirm that they were indeed all the various awards and certificates that Qin Yan, that dog, had received since childhood!
Zhou Zhiyang gritted his teeth, a low, fierce growl rumbling in his throat like an angry puppy.
He and Qin Yan had attended the same international school since they were kids, from kindergarten all the way through high school. They were not only classmates but also bitter rivals, constantly competing for first and second place.
He could never beat Qin Yan. He was always one step behind!
Damn you, Qin Dog!
He kicked the box of certificates aside, as if he had just kicked Qin Yan in the rear, finally venting some of his frustration.
Then, he slung his already-packed backpack over his shoulder, opened the window, and looked down to make sure the backyard was empty. He tossed out the climbing rope he had prepared earlier, put on his anti-slip gloves, and climbed out the window.
It wasn’t until he escaped to the lobby of Hua’an Hotel that he patted his chest in relief. Everything had gone smoothly!
While checking in at the front desk, he called Qin Yan, intending to give him an earful, but instead found himself tongue-tied and nearly choked on his own breath.
Qin Yan laughed too cheerfully on the other end. Zhou Zhiyang couldn’t take it anymore. “Can’t at least one person in your Qin family act like a decent human being? I just got back to the country, and you sent me a box of worthless certificates to mock me. And your sister is even worse. She tried to tarnish my reputation?! Am I some kind of cheap person, huh? And here I am, calling you to promote cooperation between our families!”
—”Look on the bright side, at least she didn’t succeed, right?”
“But my reputation is still ruined!”
Zhou Zhiyang remembered what Qin Huaiyu had said to him that morning when they left the hotel together—
“Young Master Zhou wouldn’t want me to call the police or let this matter become public knowledge, would you?”
The military officer vibe is way too strong.
“Proof of your innocence is with me. Secure your position as head of the Zhou family, cooperate with me, and of course I’ll…”
Before Qin Yan could finish, Zhou Zhiyang’s mind had already been hijacked by his eyes. He stared intently at someone passing by: “Qin, I see a beauty! She’s really strong. Carrying a box even bigger than the one you gave me… and she just went into the hotel kitchen?” A chef here? He was curious and wanted to take a look, but it really wasn’t appropriate to follow her into the kitchen. He could only walk back dejectedly.
Qin Yan: ???
—
Hua’an Hotel is a high-end business hotel brand under the Jiang Group. However, in recent years, it has struggled to compete with the neighboring Stardome Hotel, and business has been somewhat bleak.
Jiang Yu had just carried a foam box filled with seafood into the kitchen.
The producer she had previously contacted happened to be in Bincheng, so she arranged to have lunch with them. She chose her own hotel as the venue, mainly for the convenience of bringing her own ingredients.
“Young Miss?” The head chef wiped his hands with a towel, looking quite surprised to see her.
Jiang Yu’s appearance was the type that left a lasting impression at first glance. The head chef had seen her a few times and naturally recognized her.
However, Jiang Yu usually didn’t involve herself in the Jiang family’s business and never came to inspect the hotel. She had never set foot in the kitchen, a place filled with grease and smoke, at most coming over for afternoon tea with friends or a casual meal.
Today was quite unusual.
“Chef Wang.” Jiang Yu lifted her face, revealing her eyes and brows that had been hidden under the brim of her hat. “I’ve reserved a table here. I’ll be having lunch with a friend later.”
After saying this, she opened the foam box she had just set down and pointed inside. “Someone gave me a box of seafood. Could you please prepare it for me? Just enough for two people will do. The rest can be shared among the chefs as a treat.”
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sarcastisaurus On CFRFGC Chapter 102