Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Everyone Is a Villain

When Du De Sheng heard this, he straightened his back without thinking, pricked up his ears, and waited to hear who exactly this “Lord” in Du An Rao’s mouth was, and whether that person matched any of the people he had guessed.

But Du An Rao did not keep talking about that. She pulled her attention back to him and to Qiao Yi Ting.

[Since ancient times, money has always moved people’s hearts. Even a rich only-daughter like Aunt can be targeted by people who want to swallow up her whole inheritance. Not to mention Granduncle, whose family business is huge, but who has no sons or daughters and no one to inherit. He is basically an old hen guarding a mountain of gold.]

The “old hen” himself: “…”

The Du family members: “Pff, hahaha…”

They usually did not laugh out loud, unless they really could not hold it in.

Du An Rao did not notice anything strange about the people around her. She thought for a moment, then frowned and shook her head.

[No, I should say he’s an old hen guarding a mountain of gold who also lays golden eggs!]

That certain someone who was not only the old hen but also laid golden eggs: “…”

So she really could not get past this, huh?

Compared with the two “Lords” who were also holding back their laughter but still managed not to laugh out loud, Du Yu Xi’s self-control was a bit weaker. Hiding behind Mother Du, who blocked her from view, she took out her phone and sent a message to the gossip group.

[Du Family Gossip Group]

????: “What do I do? I can’t hold it in much longer!”

boss???: “Hold it in. The old hen himself hasn’t broken yet. What are you getting so worked up for? Don’t let An An notice anything.”

????: “…Bro, can you please stop bringing up the old hen? I’m really about to burst.”

????: “What old hen? Are we making chicken soup at home?”

?????: “How are you this dumb? Isn’t it obvious? They’re clearly eating melon behind our backs again. With that IQ, I really don’t know how you became a superstar. Can you set any kind of good example for young people these days?”

????: “Third Bro! If you can’t talk nicely, shut up. No one will think you’re mute!”

????: “Damn, seriously, you guys… Why do you always pick the time I’m on a business trip? I hate this!”

With her brothers tossing jokes around like this, Du Yu Xi calmed down for the moment. She fanned herself a couple of times to hide the corners of her mouth that kept wanting to curl up.

Luckily, Du An Rao’s attention was all on Du De Sheng and the young care attendant, so she did not notice Du Yu Xi’s little movements.

[Speaking of it, Granduncle is pitiful too. Just because he has too much property and too many connections, at his age he doesn’t have a single person by his side he can truly trust. Every one of them has schemes in their hearts, each of them is sharp, and each of them is bad.]

If you looked across the whole book, from steward to friend, from relative to subordinate, from close confidant to coworker, it was almost a full cast of villains.

Even the Female Lead, who could barely be said to still have a conscience, did a lot of bad things at the start of the story. To save money for her seriously ill mother, she helped her scumbag boyfriend and Butler Du trick Ninth Master Du several times. In secret she even helped them, by accident, with a bunch of other wrongdoing.

Even if she had not meant to, and even if she finally woke up later, went to Ninth Master Du on her own to tell him the truth, and stood firmly by his side when everyone else bet everything on hunting him down and trying to steal everything in his hands, it still could not erase the many mistakes she had made early on.

In the end, she set a huge fire that burned everyone, along with that hundred-year-old house, so they could all die with Ninth Master Du.

Fame, power, money, reputation… they squeezed people into ghosts. It looked like they were gaining things, but they were always losing.

Du An Rao did not really dislike this Miss Qiao. She even admired the courage Miss Qiao had at the very end, when she dragged everyone down with her. She only minded one thing.

[Everyone knows that Ninth Master Du searched for his lover for half a century, but no one knows that Miss Qin also waited for her lover for half a century.]

“What?!”

The Du family members all widened their eyes in shock.

Du De Sheng’s whole body shook. He almost sprang up from his seat, but he could not stand up, not because he did not want to, but because he was shaking so much his legs had gone numb and he could not move at all.

Even so, his mind had never been so clear. His gaze on Du An Rao was so intense it was like it was going to burn a hole right through her.

Even someone as slow as Du An Rao noticed that something was wrong.

[What is going on? Why is Granduncle looking at me like he wants to eat me? How did I offend him? I didn’t, right?]

Her muttering was like a bucket of cold water dumped over Du De Sheng’s head, waking him up a lot.

He kept telling himself to calm down, to stay calm. The fact that his lover was still thinking about him and waiting for him was already the best result.

He was only one step away from finding the person he had waited his entire life for. He could not mess it up now, not at the very last moment.

Thinking this, Du De Sheng gritted his teeth, slapped his thigh hard, and said: “Look at my memory. How could I forget that box of Wuyi Snow Ridge Da Hong Pao in my car? Yi Ting, go bring it in so everyone can have a taste.”

Qiao Yi Ting froze and said: “Ninth Master, didn’t you say that tea…”

“It’s fine, go get it.”

Seeing that Du De Sheng was firm, Qiao Yi Ting stopped talking and turned to leave.

Watching Qiao Yi Ting walk away, Du An Rao moved to hide behind Mother Du. Using Mother Du as cover, she spoke in a low voice to Du Yu Xi: “Is that Snow Ridge Da Hong Pao tea really rare?”

“They say it’s a treasure among the new Da Hong Pao teas,” Du Yu Xi said. “You can’t even buy it if you have money.”

“Then compared to the two tins the Zhang family gave us before…”

“His is of course rarer, and I guess a lot more expensive too.”

With that comparison, Du An Rao had a better idea of what it meant.

[No wonder Granduncle looked so serious just now. He probably already knew Dad likes this kind of tea. When using the elder card to play on feelings didn’t work, he switched to bribery. After all, when you eat someone’s food, it’s hard to talk tough, and when you take someone’s things, your hands feel tied. In a bit he’ll probably let Dad drink a cup, then give the rest to him, so Dad will feel bad about refusing Granduncle’s request to stay over. Just thinking about giving away such good tea hurts. Hahaha, you can really tell Granduncle really wants to live with us.]

Father Du’s mouth twitched. In his heart he thought: Little ancestors, who do you think your Granduncle is trying so hard to stay here for?

But when he thought again, he felt that Du De Sheng had probably only pulled out this jar of top-grade tea to distract Du An Rao, and might not have actually planned to give it away.

Now that Du An Rao had said that out loud, he would have to give it even if he did not want to.

Because of Miss Qin, they had already decided they must let Du De Sheng stay the night. Otherwise it would not just be helping him lie low for a while, it would be cutting ties and turning into enemies.

Now they could agree and also logically trick a jar of top-grade tea out of him. In the end he would still be the one making a profit.

Thinking that, Father Du suddenly felt a lot better.

“Uncle, it is already good enough that you came. You really didn’t have to bring so many things,” he said.

“It is fine, they’re all outside things,” Du De Sheng said. “You can’t take them with you when you are born or when you die. Giving them to people with fate is just right. By the way…”

Du De Sheng suddenly changed the topic and introduced the middle-aged man he had brought to the Du family.

“This is Du Qi Chang. He is from our Du clan too. He is Bi Xiao’s supervisor, and he came with me this time because he has something urgent he wants to ask An An about.”