As they had planned the night before, Ming Yue, Su Xiao, and Yu Qi all went outside together to hang out. The family driver drove them smoothly through the city traffic to a high-end shopping mall. The two doting aunties desperately wanted to buy a whole new wardrobe of beautiful clothes for Yu Qi.
They eagerly dragged Yu Qi straight into a luxury boutique. The various dresses and outfits on display inside the boutique were absolutely beautiful. The two aunties had already silently formulated a grand plan to let Yu Qi try on as many different clothes as humanly possible. After selecting a massive pile of outfits for Yu Qi to try, they comfortably sat down on the velvet sofa that was specially prepared for the boutique's guests.
Yu Qi was looking down at the heavy stack of clothes that her aunties wanted her to try on. She felt so overwhelmed that she wanted to cry right now. 'Can I please just run away now?' she thought to herself, desperately contemplating an escape. But then, she had to think about her aunties' feelings first.
They simply wanted to spend their precious time bonding with her. It would be incredibly rude and hurtful for her to run away like that out of nowhere. After a second thought, she just gave up and accepted her fate. Entering the fitting room with a helpless sigh, she began to change her clothes.
Meanwhile, Ming Yue and Su Xiao were chatting happily with each other while waiting for Yu Qi to emerge. They genuinely could not wait to see how Yu Qi would look in the specific clothes that they had chosen just now.
"Aunty Ming Yue, Aunty Su Xiao, what a pleasant surprise to meet the two of you here." A high-pitched girl's voice suddenly came out, greeting the two of them.
Ming Yue and Su Xiao simultaneously turned in the direction of the voice. A delicate-looking girl appeared before their eyes. Behind her stood two other girls of a similar age. Those two girls were just smiling faintly and politely at Ming Yue and Su Xiao.
"Are you also here to buy some clothes today?" The girl asked, trying to strike up a friendly conversation.
"I am terribly sorry, but I don't seem to remember who you are." Ming Yue said politely but distantly.
The girl's smiling face stiffened and changed a little bit upon hearing those words. However, a few seconds later, she quickly forced her pleasant smile back onto her face. "Auntie, I am Ling Zhu Yao. I am the granddaughter of Ling Man." She explained, trying to jog her memory.
"Oh, I see. So it's you. I am sorry for not recognising you right away." Ming Yue apologised perfunctorily.
"It is totally fine. Behind me, these are my close friends, Su Heng and Baili Huang." Ling Zhu Yao introduced her companions to the two prominent madams.
"Hello, there." Ming Yue greeted them with a simple nod.
"Hello, Auntie." The two girls greeted back respectfully.
"So, are you two out buying clothes today as well?" Ling Zhu Yao asked, smiling sweetly at Ming Yue and Su Xiao.
"Sort of." Ming Yue replied shortly, offering no further details.
Only Ming Yue bothered to talk with Ling Zhu Yao. Su Xiao did not pay any attention to the trio at all. The truth was, Su Xiao really did not like to waste her words talking with someone that she did not know and had absolutely no wish to know. Within the Tang Family, she was the one who firmly and consistently acted like this. She never saw the need to sweet-talk or flatter other upper-class madams.
Ling Zhu Yao began to feel deeply troubled when Ming Yue refused to speak more than that. She desperately wanted to enter the prestigious Tang Family in the future as either Tang Han Lee's or Tang Jin Wei's wife, so she knew she absolutely had to be on her best behaviour around Ming Yue, since Ming Yue was the mother of those two eligible bachelors. However, seeing that Ming Yue clearly did not wish to converse with her at all greatly troubled her scheming mind.
Just then, the fitting room door in front of them swung open. Yu Qi stepped elegantly out of the room. She was wearing a stunning, scarlet-colored qipao. The intense contrast of the bold colour between the qipao and her flawless, fair skin tone made her look absolutely breathtaking. Ming Yue and Su Xiao instantly got up from their seats, completely ignoring the guests, and approached Yu Qi with glowing faces.
"Oh, my dear, you are just so incredibly beautiful!" Su Xiao praised Yu Qi, her voice filled with genuine affection.
"I completely agree with you, Su Xiao. This scarlet qipao really suits you perfectly." Ming Yue also smiled warmly at Yu Qi.
Ling Zhu Yao felt a burning surge of anger inside her chest when she witnessed the two prominent women treating this random girl so nicely while they were completely freezing her out. She immediately wanted to find out who this girl was. If this girl was close to Ming Yue, she figured she could easily use the girl as a convenient pawn for her own goals. So, masking her annoyance, she approached them with a fake smile.
"Aunty Ming Yue, Aunty Su Xiao, if you don't mind me asking, who exactly is this beautiful girl?" Ling Zhu Yao interrupted their conversation smoothly.
Ming Yue turned around to face her, her expression cooling down. "This is our niece." She explicitly did not want Yu Qi to become friends with a girl like this, so she intentionally did not introduce Yu Qi by her full name to Ling Zhu Yao.
Ming Yue knew Ling Zhu Yao's true character inside and out. Ling Zhu Yao only ever wanted to become friends with people who could directly benefit her social standing. Ming Yue absolutely refused to let the innocent Yu Qi be used by a manipulative person like that.
Yu Qi looked quietly at the girl who was talking to Ming Yue. She felt absolutely no desire to speak to her either. That girl was smiling brightly with her mouth, but her eyes were completely cold and calculating. Yu Qi noticed that Ming Yue was intentionally putting a clear physical distance between herself and the girl, while Su Xiao was totally ignoring her existence. So, from what she could easily conclude, her two aunties thoroughly disliked this person.
Ling Zhu Yao stood there, feeling thoroughly embarrassed. Ming Yue had only given her a vague answer. 'Niece?' she thought. Suddenly, a memory flashed in her mind regarding what had occurred on Master Tang's recent birthday party. Her grandfather had told her in a fit of rage that Master Tang had brought back an unknown country girl from some random village to the Tang House and officially acknowledged her as his granddaughter. This girl standing here must be that specific granddaughter.
Ling Zhu Yao instantly hated this girl from the bottom of her heart. In her eyes, this girl had just ruined her golden opportunity to become the favorite, pampered granddaughter-in-law of Master Tang. Looking at the scene playing out right now, it was obvious that Ming Yue deeply liked this girl. Ming Yue probably even wanted this girl to become her daughter-in-law in the future. Ling Zhu Yao knew that if this girl ever became Ming Yue's daughter-in-law, Ming Yue would always love this girl the most. Even if she herself somehow managed to marry into the family later on.
***This novel is a contracted work with w e b n o v e l. c o m. If you do not read this novel on w e b n o v e l. c o m, that means it has been stolen. Thank you, from your shameless author, ZerahNeko**