Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Song Yajing: “…”
Those old things saw her young age and took the opportunity to direct sharp questions at her. But she was neither flustered nor thrown off, and she was calm and collected as she answered those questions.
Song Yajing took a deep breath ,and she knew that Ning Qing was definitely doing it on purpose!
In this situation, under such circumstances, could she have any alternative answer?
Song Yajing smiled graciously and said, “Everything is a misunderstanding. Our Shaoming and Ning Qing are married already. Ning Qing is also my…daughter-in-law. I am very satisfied with her.”
The elder’s expression went plain in their eyes, and the mother-daughter pair of the Zhou family almost could not understand and channelled their dazed gazes towards Song Yajing. That questioning look that they had in their eyes was as if they were saying — Could it be that we are not battling on the same side?
Song Yajing’s emotions were tumbling all around. On normal days, she would praise the Zhou mother-daughter duo, and they did not think she would make them feel so uncomfortable at such an important occasion.
“Madam Zhou, Zhilei, have some tea.” Song Yajing showed slight irritation in her tone.
Kong Lan still wanted to say something, but Zhou Zhilei had already sensed Song Yajing’s attitude, and she tugged on her own mother’s sleeve.
Ning Qing saw the subtle actions between the mother and daughter happening before her eyes, and she laughed heartily. “Madam Zhou, Miss Zhou, it seems that after you stepped in the doors, you have addressed me as Miss Ning. The way you are addressing me is not too appropriate. This is my house, and I am Mrs Lu.”
Zhou Zhilei and Kong Lan were furious as they gritted their teeth. They glared at Ning Qing. But their gazes were hesitant because of the man standing behind Ning Qing. The man placed one hand in his pocket, and his deep eyes had a chilling tone while he looked at them plainly.
This man could not take others looking at his wife with evil intentions.
The mother-daughter duo were stumped. They saw everyone was present, and there was no one protecting their actions so they clenched their teeth and said, “Mrs. Lu.”
“Yes, both Madam Zhou and Miss Zhou are too polite,” Ning Qing carelessly replied and lay back lazily on the sofa.
Kong Lan, Zhou Zhilei: “…”
At this moment, sounds of laughter were followed by a round of applause. Someone had arrived at the door. Ning Qing recognized him; it was Song Jin.
“Older brother, you are here!” Song Yajing saw her own older brother and was jubilant. This was someone from her own family, and she went forward to welcome him.
“Yajing, I have been here for a while. When I was at the door just now, I saw a great performance go on.” While Song Jin was speaking, he turned his gaze to Ning Qing and said two words, “Great job.”
Ning Qing stood up and said with a shy smile, “Thank you, Uncle, for your compliment.”
The crowd engaged in small talk again, Song Jin possessed high status in the industry, so the moment he arrived, he sat directly beside the elder who was the most senior — the second most important seat.
Lu Dinghua smiled as he said, “Big Brother, it seems that you have met Ning Qing before. You guys know one another?”
Song Yajing also looked in their direction.
“Not only do I know Ning Qing, we are in a partnership right now.”
The elders were taken aback and said, “President Song must be joking, Ning Qing is so young now. On top of that, what does she know about financial investment and speculating on share prices? How would she collaborate with you?”
Song Jin waved his hands and said, “You all do not know, although Ning Qing is young in age, she is the first person in the entertainment industry to achieve a box-office record of one billion five hundred million dollars. She is also an A grade director now. In the short time of half a year, she has created her own studio, invested in an entertainment company, and shot a movie. She has done well both in the entertainment industry and investment sector. She did not overlook any factor, and today, she has skyrocketed to the Forbes list of wealthy celebrities in China, and she is the top millionaire among them. Don’t you think this girl is amazing?”
The elders all turned their shocked gazes towards Ning Qing, and they were taken aback. “Hehe, we still did not know that Ning Qing was so capable. She looks so young and is only around 20. President Song, don’t try to mess with us.”
No one believed him.
To be honest, wealthy families all judged someone by their family background. Ning Qing’s family background was something they had investigated beforehand. At that time, they still laughed at her privately, and the Lu family had been blemished with such a daughter-in-law who lowered down their social standing by so much.
Any daughter-in-law or granddaughter-in-law that they picked among their class could crush Ning Qing easily.
The elders did not think that Ning Qing would have such great accomplishments, and they still stuck with that one line. She was only a young girl around 20. She was way too young and tender.
Song Jin laughed and said, “If you all don’t believe me, you can go verify it yourself. I, Song Jin, will not make up false news. To be honest, at the start, I really admired this young girl, so I wanted to open an entertainment company with her. But did you know how Ning Qing, this girl, replied to me?”
The elders were excited and asked, “What did she say?”
“That girl Ning Qing said, ‘With my popularity and footing in the entertainment industry as Ning Qing today, if I open an entertainment company, it will definitely be popular. What do you possess to talk about partnership with me?’”
“…” The elders froze, and then followed up with their laughter. “Such a bossy tone!”
“That’s right, at that time I was upset. So that girl Ning Qing said that she wanted to follow behind me to learn about investment and speculation on stock prices. I snorted and had the same outlook as everyone here. I said that she did not know a single thing. What do you have to be talking about a partnership between us? But I did not expect her to say, ‘President Song, the focus of your investment and speculation of stock prices are all centred in the entertainment industry. There is nothing that I, Ning Qing would not know about regarding this industry.’”
“…” The elders glanced twice at Ning Qing and commented, “How savage!”
She was so young but so savage.
Song Jin was getting agitated as he spoke, he was actually a person who had been through much. He was clear and collected as he recalled a story, and he made others interested in what he had to say. “In the end, I decided to partner up with that girl Ning Qing. At this moment, Shaoming only came at that last moment. Shaoming opened his mouth and addressed me as Uncle, and this girl was in a daze from then on. Did you know what she said?”
“Oh, what did she say?” The audience appetites were whetted, and they anxiously waited for his reply.
“This young girl said, ‘I am so sorry, I did know you were his Uncle. What about this, let me open an entertainment company with Uncle, haha…’”
The elders laughed and said, “This girl Ning Qing is giving charity to President Song.”
“That’s right, we didn’t expect that President Song has gone through these years, and at last lost to his own nephew’s wife. Haha.”
The elders were all laughing, and while they laughed they use their gaze to scan Ning Qing again. Ning Qing did not speak. She was smiling as she looked down, and she looked girly and shy.
The tall, long-limbed man stood behind her and caressed her hair twice. She turned her gaze behind and smiled at him.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the living room got even more boisterous. Some elders laughed and said, “Dinghua, Yajing, look how good the relationship between Shaoming and this girl Ning Qing is. You guys didn’t even say anything and earned such a capable and obedient daughter in law in the family; your taste is very evil.”
Lu Dinghua glanced at Ning Qing. Although she was only 21, she was graceful and poised. She knew how to behave appropriately depending on the occasion; she was nimble and intelligent.
“Haha, we are not worthy of such praise. That is all because of my son’s good taste.” Lu Dinghua laughed loudly, and as he laughed he gave a push to Song Yajing beside him, who was behaving like a wooden block.
Song Yajing was embarrassed. To be honest, she did not believe that Ning Qing was so capable. If anyone else were praising Ning Qing like this, she would not have believed them. But this was not someone else; it was her own brother by blood.
The women in wealthy families all want to cement their statuses. Not only do they want to have strong capabilities, they also need their own families supporting them, so she was always docile and obedient towards Song Jin.
Throughout these years, both brother and sister have supported one another and made it to today. The relationship they had between them could not even be compared to what she had with Lu Dinghua.
Song Yajing could not help but look at Ning Qing formally, and she saw her son and daughter in law both casting amorous glances at one another. She laughed awkwardly and followed with Lu Dinghua’s flow and said, “Yes, it would be good as long they have a good relationship with one another.”
At this moment, both Kong Lan and Zhou Zhilei’s hearts were overturned, they were both full of jealousy and rage yet embarrassed. The moment Song Jin came, the entire scene overturned completely. The people in the living room were all full of praise for Ning Qing, and even made Song Yajing reconsider her view of Ning Qing.
Ning Qing had become the spotlight of the crowd, and the mother-daughter duo were seated at the corner of the sofa. No one was bothering with them. Everyone was a family, and they were like orphans who had been dumped. Everyone else was making them uncomfortable and ignoring them completely.
At this moment, Song Jin wiped his smile from his face. He squinted his eyes and turned his gaze in the direction of Kong Lan and Zhou Zhilei. He said vaguely, “This has to depend on the person; you can’t base everything on their family background. Some people come from great background but have bad personalities. It is like gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay on the inside.”
“Yes, yes. President Song makes sense with his words.” The elders agreed with him.
It was obvious that his words were directed at the mother-daughter pair, Kong Lan and Zhou Zhilei. These words were like a tight slap and made their faces crimson red. When he lifted his gaze to look at them, those elders could discern the mocking tone in Song Jin’s voice, and they were waiting for a great show to play out while observing the scene.
Kong Lan wanted to throw a temper tantrum on the spot, but Zhou Zhilei firmly tugged on her mother’s shirt. They could not afford to offend Song Jin. Once they did so, it would end all possibilities of her entering the Lu family.
At this moment, Ning Qing stood up, and with her graceful demeanour, she was gracious as she curved her eyebrows and smiled saying, “Uncle, you have been praising me from the moment you entered the door. You must be thirsty now. Let me go and make you a cup of tea.”
The elders heard her words and were not happy. They all teased her saying, “Ning Qing, this girl, why, once your uncle compliments you, you make him a cup of tea. We also complimented you, why haven’t you made any for us? Look at her; this girl is biased.”
Ning Qing winked and smiled cheekily saying, “I will, I will make tea for everyone. Even if I had borrowed 10 lives, I would not dare to forget all uncles here.”
Ning Qing turned to go into the kitchen.
Lu Shaoming looked at his own wife’s small shadow. His eyes were full of deep satisfaction, and he knew from the start that she was able to deal with all sorts of occasions, but coming to the Lu home today, he was still very wary. He was afraid that she would be wronged by them, but she was nimble. Not only did she make Song Yajing concede to her completely, she had also made all these sly foxes so happy.
Sometimes, doing something good was easy, but how to be a good person, that was completely based on knowledge itself.
At this moment, both Kong Lan and Zhou Zhilei stood up to bid farewell. The elders politely bid farewell to them. Song Yajing said goodbye, and she did not try to persuade them to stay further.
Neither of them had even made it out the door, and they heard the melodious chatter coming from the living room. They totally did not take the two of them to heart, and this mother-daughter duo were furious. It was as if they had eaten a bomb, and they rushed out of the door.
…
They ate dinner. The whole place was bustling with noise and excitement, and after they left the table, Lu Dinghua brought Lu Shaoming and Ning Qing to stand together by the door to send guests off. Song Yajing stood alone to send off her own older brother, Song Jin.
The driver opened the door, Song Jin sat in the back, and the windows rolled down. He withdrew the smile on his face, and there was a cigar in his mouth. His eyes were deep and sharp as he looked at Song Yajing, who was standing outside. He said softly, “Sister, Big Brother thinks that Ning Qing is really good.”
