Chapter 91
Chapter 91: Are You Sure She Invited You First?
After being interrupted by Du An Rao like that, the corner of Du Lian Shuang’s mouth twitched twice. She calmed down a little and showed Cui Dong Mei a gentle, mild smile as she said: “Thank you for the trouble, Big Sis. I didn’t know you were coming. I just ate, so I’m not very hungry yet.”
Cui Dong Mei nodded kindly and said: “Then remember to drink it later. This old hen was sent from our hometown by a relative. It was raised at home and is best for nourishing the body. Drink more and you’ll get better faster.”
Listening to her, Du Lian Shuang felt very complicated.
Even now, she still could not understand how someone could act so well, watching her own lover fuss over another woman with no psychological burden at all, even helping him care for and please that other woman, without a word of complaint.
Cui Dong Mei had only come to build up goodwill and make herself more familiar. After putting the chicken soup down and asking a few questions about Du Lian Shuang’s condition, she left.
As for the bucket of chicken soup she brought, Du Lian Shuang poured it into another thermos while Cui Jue Yan went out to make a phone call, and Mother Du took it away with her when she left.
When Xi Jing Yue came earlier, he had arrived along with Liao Yu Qian, but when he left, it was Du An Rao who personally walked him out.
“There is a lot for me to handle on this business trip to City S,” he said as they walked. “I might have to stay here for quite a while. I heard that you, your sister, and that young lady from the Li family were all born on the same day. That means your birthday is in a couple of days. Do you have any plans?”
Du An Rao was surprised that Xi Jing Yue even knew this. Then she remembered that he and Li Zhao Yang were cousins. In past years when Li Qian Xi had a birthday, he had probably been on the guest list too. So it was not strange that he knew.
“My parents are planning to hold a birthday party for me and my sister,” Du An Rao said. “They want to invite relatives and friends to come over, gather together, and get to know each other better.” She paused, then looked up and asked in a testing tone: “Mr. Xi, would you like to come?”
Xi Jing Yue did not answer yes or no. He only asked back: “Am I allowed to go?”
“Of course you are allowed,” Du An Rao said. “But didn’t Mr. Xi just say he was very busy lately?”
“Busy is busy,” Xi Jing Yue replied calmly, “but I can still spare time to attend your birthday party. Besides, some things don’t need to be rushed. Your birthday is more important.”
Du An Rao blinked. For some reason, she felt that the tone he used when he said this sounded a lot like Mother Du and Du Yu Xi.
But since he had already said so, adding one more invitation card was not any trouble.
So, after she went home, Du An Rao simply gave Xi Jing Yue’s name to Mother Du.
Mother Du had already guessed this might happen when she saw Xi Jing Yue in the hospital, but when her younger daughter personally came to bring it up, she still could not help feeling a bit sad inside, like her home-grown cabbage was about to be taken away.
“An An, are you very close with this President Xi?” she asked.
“Not really that close,” Du An Rao said after thinking. “We’ve only met a few times. But he has helped me a lot.”
He had brought her quite a few customers and helped her earn a lot of accumulated merit, like Li Zhao Yang and today’s Liao Yu Qian.
Mother Du was stunned for a moment. Her brows knit slightly as if she was thinking of something.
Seeing her expression, Du An Rao also felt a bit nervous and asked: “Is it not convenient to invite him?”
Mother Du seemed to wake up from a dream and quickly said: “No, no, there is nothing inconvenient about it. Since he is your friend, of course he can come. I’ll have someone send the invitation over later. Besides him, is there anyone else?”
“No,” Du An Rao answered.
When Mother Du heard that, she felt even more helpless. Baby, she thought, you spent so many days thinking it over, and in the end you only invited this one person. You really don’t feel like there is anything off about that?
Still, children have their own blessings. That Mr. Xi did not seem to have any bad intentions toward their girl either, so she could not slap him down all at once. She decided to watch and see.
Mother Du moved very quickly, and since Xi Jing Yue was in the city, he received the birthday party invitation by noon the next day. Then he snapped a photo of it and sent it straight to the still working-like-mad Li Zhao Yang.
Li Zhao Yang: ?
Xi Jing Yue: This is the invitation to your second miss and Miss Du’s birthday party.
Li Zhao Yang: !!!
Stung hard, Young Master Li called at once without a break: “How do you have that?”
“Yesterday when I went to the Third Hospital on an inspection, I ran into Miss Du,” Xi Jing Yue said calmly. “She invited me to attend her birthday party.”
“…Are you sure she invited you first?” Li Zhao Yang demanded. My god, what was with this heavy sense of showing off?
For once, Xi Jing Yue was choked speechless. It was true. If he had not been the one to bring up her birthday yesterday, that little girl probably would not even have thought of inviting him.
“That is not important,” he said lightly at last. “What matters is that the invitation is now in my hand. Unlike some people who have worked hard for so long and still have not even reached the doorstep.”
Li Zhao Yang was so angry he could not speak. After a long time, he finally sent Xi Jing Yue a middle-finger emoji in a muffled rage.
Xi Jing Yue did not care at all about his useless fury. He asked: “How are things going on your side? Other people’s coming-of-age ceremony is already over, and you still cannot come. By the time you want to recognize this relative, they might not even want you anymore.”
When Xi Jing Yue told Du An Rao before that Li Zhao Yang was now at his wits’ end and could not get away, he had not lied to her.
But for Li Zhao Yang, what really made him feel at his wits’ end was not the pile of problems at his own company, but the matter of Li Qian Xi.
After the dinner party that night, the Li family had people keep a close watch on Li Qian Xi. They obtained clear evidence that she had long been in contact with her birth father and, with his help, was secretly planning to harm Du Yu Xi.
But that woman was no easy target either. As soon as she sensed something was wrong, she immediately sacrificed a pawn to save the king. Using her birth father’s irritable, hot-tempered personality, she arranged a “bitter trick,” making everything look like she had been threatened by him and had no choice.
Right now she was still lying in the hospital, acting weak and pitiful every day in front of the “fish” who came to visit her.
If the Li family had truly only learned about Du Yu Xi’s existence at the dinner party and had not already found out about the little schemes behind the scenes, they might really have been fooled by her.
But the Li family had long since seen her true face through everything that had happened over the years. With this move, Li Qian Xi only shot herself in the foot. It made the Li family see even more clearly the cold and ruthless heart hidden under her weak appearance.
Someone who could so easily scheme against and abandon even her birth father could not complain that after raising her with care for over ten years, they still had not warmed her heart.
Maybe it really was just like Xi Jing Yue had said. Some people were cold in their bones.
Li Qian Xi had never truly cared about anyone. She only cared about herself. Anyone who might harm her interests was her enemy and could be cast aside without a second thought, even if that person was a blood relative, even if that person had poured their heart and soul into raising her for eighteen years.
When Xi Jing Yue brought up Li Qian Xi, Li Zhao Yang’s head started to ache again, but the words he spoke were very firm.
“In the next couple of days, my parents will pack up all her things and send her away,” he said. “From now on she has nothing to do with our Li family. She will no longer be allowed to use our family’s name to show off everywhere. I really want to see whether those brainless lapdogs of hers will still spin around her without caring about anything once she loses the status of the pampered Second Miss of the Li family, and whether they will still be willing to openly offend our whole family for her.”