He Lan Xiang had seen everything in her life.

At fourteen, she went abroad to study alone. At twenty-five, she married and had children. She accompanied her husband through storms, endured hardships, and together they built today’s prosperity.

But she’d never felt any situation more difficult than the present one.

The wheel of “fate” seemed to roll over her at lightning speed, not even bother to hit the brakes.

After crushing her, it sped away, leaving her with a mouthful of exhaust.

The exhaust blurred her vision, making even the diamond necklace on Ruan Si Xian’s neck appear less sparkly.

“So she’s your daughter too,” He Lan Xiang felt as if she saw a lock, firmly fastened on her and Dong Xian, impossible to break free from. “No wonder she’s so beautiful.”

From certain angles, she looked exactly like Dong Xian.

After speaking, she looked at Fu Ming Yu, her eyes misty, “You have good taste.”

Fu Ming Yu smiled in acknowledgment of this compliment.

The banquet hall was brilliantly lit, music and the sound of clinking glasses complementing each other, a scene of opulence.

No one understood He Lan Xiang’s bitterness, no one understood.

Compared to He Lan Xiang, Dong Xian was genuinely happy. It had been a long time since she’d seen Ruan Si Xian smile at her.

Although she knew Ruan Si Xian was only smiling politely in public.

“I didn’t expect you’d come today.” Dong Xian stepped forward, extending a hand, “You haven’t met Uncle Zheng yet, have you? He’s here today, would you like to go meet him?”

He Lan Xiang, who had been wallowing in self-pity nearby, suddenly froze upon hearing this.

She looked up at Ruan Si Xian.

However, before Ruan Si Xian could speak, Fu Ming Yu slightly turned his body, blocking half of Ruan Si Xian’s face, “Auntie, we’ll go say hello to Uncle Yan first, and then accompany her over later?”

Dong Xian slowly withdrew her hand that had paused in mid-air, nodding with slight hesitation, “Alright.”

Fu Ming Yu’s every move gave her the feeling that he was declaring ownership, keeping her at a distance.

This feeling, Dong Jing naturally could sense too.

She discreetly observed Fu Ming Yu, then said, “Well then, we’ll go ahead first.”

At this moment, Ruan Si Xian finally smiled, “Sure, we’ll come over later.”

Dong Jing nodded, smiling as she walked away with Dong Xian.

Watching the two sisters leave, He Lan Xiang’s gaze toward Ruan Si Xian became more inquisitive.

Somehow, Ruan Si Xian’s attitude toward her “mother” seemed too polite, polite to the point of being distant.

He Lan Xiang flipped her hair and looked at Dong Xian’s back.

She had known Dong Xian for many years and had heard she had a biological daughter from her ex-husband, but she had never seen her.

It was understandable that she, an outsider, hadn’t met her, but even Dong Xian’s current husband hadn’t met her, which seemed inappropriate.

Just now, inadvertently, she thought she saw Ruan Si Xian’s face half-hidden behind Fu Ming Yu’s shoulder, imperceptibly twisting her mouth.

After Fu Ming Yu and Ruan Si Xian left, He Lan Xiang nudged her husband’s elbow.

“Don’t you find it a bit strange? I think Mrs. Zheng’s relationship with her daughter isn’t great.”

Fu Bo Yan calmly said, “You just noticed?”

Everyone present knew something about Dong Xian’s history. This daughter she had with her ex-husband had never appeared with her in public, so their relationship could be speculated upon.

But He Lan Xiang’s thoughts were more nuanced than Fu Bo Yan’s.

She was naturally sentimental and good at adding drama to herself and those around her. From the brief conversation between Ruan Si Xian and Dong Xian, she could sense that the former was unilaterally more resistant to the latter.

He Lan Xiang suddenly gave herself a shot of adrenaline.

I! Am! Not! Alone!

When Fu Ming Yu led Ruan Si Xian over, Yan An was no longer there.

After briefly greeting Yan An’s father, they exchanged pleasantries with the birthday celebrant, who quietly observed Ruan Si Xian a few times before being called elsewhere by his wife.

Afterward, Fu Ming Yu took Ruan Si Xian to get something to eat.

At this moment, some people appeared outwardly elegant and dignified but were panicking inside.

At the long dining table, Fu Ming Yu took a piece of cake, about to hand it to Ruan Si Xian, but was pinched hard by her.

Ruan Si Xian’s strength was truly considerable. Fu Ming Yu frowned, “What’s wrong now?”

“I feel like your mother doesn’t like me.” Ruan Si Xian discreetly turned her head to glance at He Lan Xiang, finally expressing what had been on her mind, “You didn’t notice?”

“It’s not that she doesn’t like you, it’s just that she doesn’t get along well with your mother normally.” Fu Ming Yu leisurely raised his eyes, “Their relationship isn’t that bad actually.”

After speaking, he fed a piece of cake to Ruan Si Xian’s mouth.

Ruan Si Xian wasn’t in the mood, turning her face away and frowning, “I understand, you’re tactfully saying your mother doesn’t like my mom, right?”

Fu Ming Yu lowered his eyes, essentially confirming it.

Ruan Si Xian sighed, “Then what should we do?”

“What do you mean what should we do?” Fu Ming Yu looked at her, chuckling lightly, “Are you my girlfriend or my mother’s girlfriend?”

As he spoke, he offered the cake again. Ruan Si Xian, pleased by his words, took a small bite.

Fu Ming Yu raised his hand to wipe off the cream at the corner of her mouth with his thumb, not bothering to get a napkin and lightly licked it off.

Ruan Si Xian watched his leisurely motion, her face unconsciously heating up.

“There are so many people here, can you act like a normal person?”

As she spoke, she nervously looked around, unexpectedly meeting gazes with the distant Zheng You An.

Zheng You An, who had been quietly observing the situation from afar, immediately turned around and walked in the opposite direction, pretending “I didn’t see anything.”

In reality, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and even developed a kind of gratification similar to that of a shipper.

Please show off your love all you want, as long as I see you’re doing well, I’m relieved.

“This isn’t normal? You have a high estimation of my moral baseline.”

“…”

Being able to say such things openly in public, Ruan Si Xian felt her estimation of his moral baseline might indeed be too high.

But Fu Ming Yu seemed completely unaware that there was anything wrong with what he said, taking another piece of cake and feeding it to Ruan Si Xian.

“Eat some more.”

Ruan Si Xian stared at him directly.

Fine, let’s all stop being normal then.

She opened her mouth, biting Fu Ming Yu’s fingertip from the side, “I’ll touch up my lipstick in the bathroom.”

With that, she turned and left.

Fu Ming Yu looked at his fingertip with a shallow bite mark.

She didn’t hold back.

Yan An’s father happened to pass by and saw this scene, smiling at Fu Ming Yu.

At the same time, he saw Yan An, who had changed clothes and come down from the second floor, slowly drinking a glass of wine, not engaging with people, his face clearly showing a “bad mood.” So he casually strolled over.

Father and son stood side by side, with the father also holding a glass of wine, chatting casually, “Just now Fu Ming Yu brought his girlfriend over to say hello. I heard from Zhu Dong that you pursued her before?”

Yan An swallowed a large gulp of wine, his voice somewhat low.

“He’s got quite a big mouth.”

“Never mind that for now, let me warn you about something first.”

His father moved to a less crowded area, gesturing for Yan An to follow, “I mentioned the matter with the Zheng family to you yesterday. Once it’s decided, no matter what, you need to rein in your temperament and not step on their face. And as for Fu Ming Yu, since they’re already boyfriend and girlfriend, you definitely can’t have any thoughts about stealing her away.”

He paused, then continued, “I know your bad habits. If you really can’t control yourself, then we’ll reconsider the matter with the Zheng family. Don’t make it too ugly, okay? What do you think?”

The matter with the Zheng family had been settled yesterday, and Yan An had mentally prepared himself for it, but now his father was treating him like he wasn’t human, which was too much.

But before he could speak, a voice already sounded from the side.

“Uncle, you’ve got the wrong person.”

Fu Ming Yu walked over from behind, his wine glass nearly empty, “It doesn’t matter what Yan An thinks, what matters is that Ruan Si Xian is mine.”

Fu Ming Yu swirled his wine glass, glancing at Yan An, “No matter how much someone else wants her, it’s useless.”

Yan An, “…”

What the hell?

I didn’t even say anything.

Meanwhile, Ruan Si Xian was heading to the bathroom according to the direction signs.

There was no bathroom in the main hall of the banquet; to get there, one had to walk through a quiet long corridor.

The floor was covered with a soft carpet that swallowed all footsteps.

But some whispers were amplified by the design of the corridor.

Ruan Si Xian slowed her steps because she seemed to hear people discussing her.

The left front of the corridor extended out into an area for guests to smoke, and from a distance, she could already smell cigarette smoke.

“Who is that person? I’ve never heard of her before.”

“Isn’t she the female pilot from their World Airlines official blog a while back? I heard she used to be a flight attendant?”

“Really? Another flight attendant?”

“Why would I lie to you? Go ask anyone from World Airlines, they all know.”

“Another flight attendant? Didn’t his brother get engaged to a flight attendant before? Both brothers have the same taste, huh.”

“Her figure is nice, and her skin is so fair, who wouldn’t like that?”

“What’s the use of being beautiful? There’s no way she’ll pass the family hurdle.”

The first part was two men chatting casually, and then suddenly a woman’s voice joined in.

“I heard that when the older son was already engaged, his mother said if she didn’t agree, then it was not happening. Supposedly, she looked down on her background, and her attitude was even more resolute than Director Fu’s. In the end, the marriage didn’t happen, and the son was so angry he went abroad and didn’t return home for over half a year. She would rather not see her son than compromise, that’s how firm her attitude was.”

“Yes, who is Mrs. Fu? When Director Fu had a car accident and was hovering between life and death in the hospital for months, with both children still in school, she held the fort and tore apart several ambitious shareholders of World Airlines. Just because she’s focused on art in recent years doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about family matters.”

“But did you see the necklace she’s wearing? Leicester gave it to Mrs. Fu a few days ago, and Mrs. Fu loved it so much, now she’s given it to her. Maybe it’s Mrs. Fu’s intention.”

Ruan Si Xian reached up to touch the pendant on her necklace.

Did Fu Ming Yu snatch it from his mom?

That does sound like something he would do.

“Pfft—you’re so naive. That necklace is one of a kind in the world, but there are replicas everywhere. What jewelry store doesn’t have an identical one now? Walking down the street, nine out of ten women have the same model.”

“Maybe Mrs. Fu is secretly laughing, thinking, ‘What the hell, some little bitch from who knows where dares to show up in front of me wearing a knockoff.'”

“So getting past Mrs. Fu is nearly impossible.”

“There’s not no way.”

“Oh?”

“Quickly get pregnant. Mrs. Fu is getting older, reaching the age where she’d like to play with grandchildren. Maybe she’ll agree then.”

Everyone immediately burst into laughter.

Ruan Si Xian narrowed her eyes, feeling that the smell of smoke was somewhat choking.

She lowered her head to adjust her dress, tousled her hair a couple times, slowly raised her eyes, and coldly looked in that direction.

But just as she was about to step forward, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Ruan Si Xian turned around to find He Lan Xiang standing behind her, not knowing when she had arrived.

The weather outside was cold, and He Lan Xiang had wrapped a fringed shawl around herself when she came out.

She pulled her shawl up, raised her chin, and strode toward the smoking area. The fringe on her shawl swayed with her movement, creating an imposing aura like ten thousand battle flags ready to vanquish the King of Hell.