However, when he realized that it was Chi Yang who was sitting in front of him, he calmed the seething anger in his heart.
Old Master Chi, who had been sulking silently, suddenly spoke up. “Old man Guo, please take this seat. My Chi Yang doesn’t want to sit next to another woman. If he sits next to a woman for too long, his skin will have an allergic reaction.”
The eyes of the retired executive hall official, who was still concealing his anger at the moment, suddenly lit up. He immediately stood up and said, “Okay, okay, okay.”
While Lan Huifang stood up and beckoned for a chair, the executive hall chief, old man Guo, promptly moved over to the chair that Lan Huifang had just been sitting on.
Although the lingering warmth of Lan Huifang’s butt on the chair made him feel nauseous, he had always held a grudge against her. Lan Huifang once used the Chi family’s name to make the Guo family suffer a great loss, so Chief Guo was happy to be able to make Lan Huifang suffer now.
When Lan Huifang saw that Old Master Chi did not plan to give her face, she instantly felt a sense of gloominess.
Ever since Old Master Chi cut relations with the Pei family over 10 years ago, the Pei family’s wealth had declined drastically despite the best efforts of their eldest son, Pei Jitong. Their wealth declined irreversibly from the class of a second-rate wealthy family to the bottom rungs of that. Even though the Pei family was still ranked as a second-rate wealthy class due to Chi Yang’s biological mother, Zhou Ruxue, they themselves knew that the Pei family would not be able to hold on for much longer.
Without Old Master Chi’s help and support, the Pei family would not be able to get far even if no one came over to kick them while they were down.
Therefore, over the years, Grandma Pei had seized every opportunity to try to improve her relationship with Old Master Chi. She had even proposed to Old Master Chi that Pei Jitong and Chi Yang’s mother could get a divorce.
However, Old Master Chi had completely ignored her. If not for Chi Zeyao saying that even if Pei Jitong and Zhou Ruxue divorced, his father would not change his mind, when Old Master Chi officially announced that he was severing ties with the Pei family, Grandma Pei chased Zhou Ruxue out.
In her opinion, Zhou Ruxue was the root cause of the Pei family’s decline. If not for Zhou Ruxue, the most Old Master Chi would do would be to scold her regardless of how she used the name of the Chi family to cause trouble in the outside world. He might threaten to do so, but he would still never truly sever ties.
In the blink of an eye, 17 years had passed. Regardless of whether she begged for mercy, cried, threatened suicide, or recommend Old Master Chi improve his public reputation, he always ignored her. He neith praised nor belittled her—truly treating her like any other stranger.
This was the first time Old Master Chi was attending such a banquet in 17 years. It was also the first time in 17 years that she had the opportunity to sit with her brother.
However, she had not even sat for five minutes when Old Master Chi proved his disdain for her. He asked old man Guo to sit beside him, Chi Yang, and Nangong Nuannuan, while Grandma Pei had to sit beside old man Guo herself.
Initially, she had been seated close to her brother. All of a sudden, there were now three people between them. This made Grandma Pei, who always prioritized others’ perceptions of her, lose face even though it had been 17 years since she last had any relation to the Chi family. She still kept calling her brother Chi Yuansheng.
“Big Brother, how could you do this? I’ve raised Chi Yang since he was a child. He used to call me his great aunt! Hasn’t he grown up into a lovely young man? I know you’re mad at me, but it’s already been 17 years. Can you get over it already?”
