No one had thought that the third miss of the Sun family had an uncouth mouth. Some women didn’t have the same courage to insult another woman in such a way that was so unladylike for their social status. Lu Xinyi wanted to roll her eyes until she could see her brain from the hypocrisy of these women.
Come on, they had the guts to bully her but couldn’t take talk-shitting from her? They must be pulling her leg.
Lu Xinyi tucked her loose hair strands behind her ear and invited Tang Lilou to try the desserts on the menu. However, even before the two could depart, Sun Qiyan blocked their way.
“What else do you want, Qiyan?” Lu Xinyi still couldn’t comprehend why this cousin of hers was so dumb compared to Feiyan and Qiushan.
“Well, today. You’ve officially rejoined the Sun family. Some madams here wanted to hear you play a song. Xinyi, you should know that this is already a tradition in our family. Since Qiushan isn’t here and Feiyan already did hers during her birthday party, it’s your turn to play now.”
“Oh, right,” Lu Xinyi said as if she remembered something, “I forgot you aren’t allowed to perform to anyone as the last time you did you almost damaged everyone’s eardrums.”
“Huh? Really? Now that you mention it, Xin Jie, I’ve never heard Sun Qiyan play any musical instruments before.” Tang Lilou decided to add fuel to the fire, liking how it made Sun Qiyan flustered.
During the parties hosted by the Sun family before, it was always Sun Qiushan who entertained the guests. Once, Sun Qiyan had drunkenly pushed her sister aside while she was playing the piano. She hit the keys horribly which was enough for their guests to cringe from the sound it made.
Sun Qiyan sent a look of contempt to Lu Xinyi, her hackles rising as the little devil continued to taunt her. How dare this woman remind her of her sore spot?!
“Lu Xinyi! You could have just said you don’t want to perform for our guests, we’ll understand.” Sun Qiyan spat back.
After all, out of the four misses of the Sun family, Lu Xinyi was the only one who wasn’t raised as a miss. She’s a commoner’s daughter. How would she able to understand the music that the high society appreciated?
Her friends snickered behind her and threw mocking gazes towards Lu Xinyi.
Lu Xinyi kept her face blank. Her cousin was too obvious with her scheme that she was starting to wonder how she was able to keep her position within the Sun Corporation.
Seeing that she’d have a chance to get even with Lu Xinyi from the humiliation she suffered earlier, Chu Ting chimed in.
“I heard all the misses of the Sun family are well-educated and knows how to play instruments. Can we trouble Miss Lu to perform a piece for us?”
Her request gathered the attention of the Young madams and misses around them. They flocked around Lu Xinyi and Sun Qiyan, curious if Lu Xinyi would crumble to pressure and humiliate the Sun family.
Listening to other guests’ opinions, Lu Xinyi smirked inwardly and showed a shy smile as she looked around at the people present.
“I only know a little. I’m not as good as Qiushan or Feiyan,” she admitted.
Sun Qiyan clapped her hands together in glee! Lu Xinyi couldn’t escape this time! ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Great! That’s great! So you mean you’ll be playing a piece for us?” She turned her attention to one of their servers, “Someone! Take the guzheng (Chinese zither) that Grandfather kept in the music room. Our Chairman Sun is fond of listening and playing guzheng.”
Tang Lilou came over and pulled Lu Xinyi’s hand, laughing as she said, “Xin Jie, this cousin of yours is a scheming woman. I bet she’s planned this from the start.”
Lu Xinyi nodded. She knew her cousin well enough to know that she was always up to no good. Sun Qiyan had never shown her kindness and humility all these years. No wonder Sun Qiushan grew distant towards this elder sister of hers.
The commotion grew bigger as the other guest heard about Lu Xinyi giving a guzheng performance for the Sun Corporation’s founding anniversary. When Chairman Sun heard about it, he hurriedly went to see if it was true. He was aware that Lu Xinyi didn’t receive the same treatments as he gave to his other granddaughters and was worried that she’d lose some face if she messed up.
At the corner of the ballroom, Sun Feiyan and Li Qiao were sitting on a couch, watching the event with interest. Sun Feiyan was enjoying her drink while Li Qiao cupped her chin with a curious smile on her lips.
“Ah, Qiyan have managed to corner Xinxin this time. I wonder how Xinxin will deal with her,” Sun Feiyan commented.
“If Lu Xinyi can turn the tide against Qiyan, Qiyan would suffer a loss. Not only she’ll lose face today, but she’ll also lose your grandfather’s favor.”
Sun Feiyan scoffed. “Who cares what that old man thinks?”
“My, my, my little Feiyan is rebellious now?” Li Qiao grinned. “I didn’t know that there would be a day you’ll learn to say no to your grandfather.”
The Sun heiress lowered her gaze, hiding the hatred that flashed in her eyes.
“The Sun family deserves to burn in hell.”
Li Qiao said no more. She understood what Sun Feiyan felt for the Sun family. She couldn’t blame her. One would rather choose to become an orphan than to have a family and relatives from the Sun family.
The guzheng was brought in and was set up to the stage, giving everyone a good view of Lu Xinyi’s performance.
Shen Yi and Tang Shui went to where Lu Xinyi was and found her sitting in front of a guzheng with dignified grace. She removed the gloves on her hand and let someone attached guzheng nails on four fingers of each hand.
Keeping her face expressionless, Lu Xinyi’s eyes darted around the crowd and saw her husband standing beside her Uncle Shui. Tang Lilou walked towards them and whispered something to her father. Tang Shui grimaced, not pleased with what his daughter told him.
If the Sun family continued to bully Lu Xinyi, the Tang family would break their own promise with the Lus and take Lu Xinyi back to their family. The girl had suffered enough from her mother’s family.
If Chairman Sun was really concerned about the safety of her only legitimate granddaughter, he shouldn’t have brought Lu Xinyi back in his family. It was like, once again, another internal family feud between his granddaughters, just like what Sun Meixiu suffered.
Shen Yi knew that his wife was able to play the piano since she performed one during her middle school years, but a guzheng? His expression dimmed as he realized that Lu Xinyi was forced to play something she no idea about, or so he thought.
She smiled at him before gauging everyone’s expression. Some were looking forward to enjoying her beautiful performance while others were probably waiting for her to make a mistake especially those women who’d been shamelessly ogling over her husband. They must be excited to see how she’d make a fool out of herself.
Lu Xinyi lifted her arms and let her fingertips ran lightly and pluck some strings. The crowd instantly went silent, their gazes and attention solely focused over the woman sitting in front of a guzheng.
