Seeing that Old Master Feng was truly angered, Feng Liang softened his attitude. “Dad, don’t be angry. Aren’t you overthinking? She is just a female college student who is not related to our Feng family in any way. The Feng family has a huge family business and there are many things to do every day. Why do we have to waste our time, effort, and energy on someone that doesn’t matter? It’s not possible for me to have so much spare time to idle around and purposely make things difficult for her.”
He would, at most, retort his father with a few words. After all, he really could not agree with his father’s guess.
As a normal man, who would not like beautiful women?
However, an individual like Zhai Sheng was certainly not the type that would fly into a rage just because of a beautiful woman.
He was just refuting his father based on this reasoning. If he had the spare time to target a college freshman, he would rather spend more time and effort on his own political career.
“Humph!” Old Master Feng was slightly satisfied as he snorted. “You’re wrong. If Qiao Nan’s status in the Zhai family is really so high, actually, it is also the Feng family’s good fortune for Qing Qing to have such a friend.”
Qing Qing’s friend was akin to the Feng family’s friend.
Since they were relatives, after Qiao Nan was really married to Zhai Sheng, shouldn’t Qiao Nan provide some help to the Feng family if they encountered any issues in the future?
Moreover, if there were good things, shouldn’t Qiao Nan also help and persuade the Zhai family to give the Feng family support?
To put it bluntly, the Feng family was also drooling after the power of the Zhai family.
Earlier, the Feng family heard that Qiu Chenxi had been engaged with Zhai Sheng.
The Feng family was clearly aware that Shi Qing liked Zhai Sheng but they had never intervened in this. Why? That was because the Shi family was the Feng family’s in-laws. When the granddaughter of their in-laws family was married to Zhai Sheng, wouldn’t the Feng family benefit from it?
Of course, if the one whom Zhai Sheng were to marry was Shi Qing, the Feng family would naturally become even closer to the Zhai family, who would be a huge backing for them.
However, there was also another problem that would come with it.
At most, Shi Qing was only the maternal granddaughter of the Feng family. There was a layer of connection separating them. The marriage of the maternal granddaughter was as good as the marriage of the paternal one.
Unfortunately, there was a lack of female offspring in the Feng family. Shi Qing was their only maternal granddaughter.
If Zhai Sheng had expressed the slightest feelings for Shi Qing many years ago, then the Feng family would have taken a gamble to snatch over Zhai Sheng for Shi Qing.
However, the most annoying thing to the Feng family was that although Zhai Sheng seemed indifferent toward Qiu Chenxi, his attitude toward Shi Qing was not any better.
At the very least, when the Qiu family and the Zhai family tried to arrange the marriage, Zhai Sheng did not express much revulsion. Hence, he seemed to have acquiesced to the marriage.
With that attitude of Zhai Sheng, the Feng family could not help feeling hesitant.
If Qiu Chenxi was truly the one that Zhai Sheng liked and the Feng family acted rashly to help Shi Qing grab the man-even if they did not succeed—this might destroy the relationships between the Feng family, the Shi family, and the Qiu family. They would also provoke the Zhai family.
So to speak, when that happened, the Feng family would offend three families at the same time.
The Feng family was worried about the Qiu family and the Shi family. However, they could not help being concerned about the Zhai family.
As such, although they were clearly aware of how much their maternal granddaughter liked Zhai Sheng, the Feng family chose to do nothing and did not help Shi Qing at all. They also did not tell Shi Qing to take the initiative to fight for what she wanted. Instead, they had persuaded her to tolerate it.
Without the Feng family’s cajoling, it was not possible that under the constant stimulation by Qiu Chenxi, the strong-tempered Shi Qing would see Zhai Sheng as her own brother-in-law just because Qiu Chenxi was her cousin. She would not have felt that she could not compete for Zhai Sheng and could only stand aside to give them her blessings.
Each time Qiu Chenxi bullied Shi Qing, the relatives from the Feng family would console Shi Qing but they had never thought of teaching Qiu Chenxi a lesson. They also did not persuade Qiu Chenxi not to go overboard as everyone was relatives.
Old Master Shi favored Qiu Chenxi. The Feng family was aware but they did not utter a word.
The love that the Feng family had toward Shi Qing was always shown using their ‘mouth’.
This attitude of the Feng family could deceive Shi Qing, who had been influenced by Feng Cheng and had always felt that her relatives from the maternal grandfather’s family were good. However, they could not deceive Old Master Shi and Shi Peng.
As in-laws, everyone had a tacit understanding on this.
The only one who was unhappy with the Feng family regarding this matter was Shi Qing’s father, Shi Peng.
Many years ago, the Feng family had designs on Qiu Chenxi. Similarly, Old Master Feng now had designs on Qiao Nan. “Qiao Nan is clever and she knows what to do. She’s quite a good child. When Qing Qing is back next time, I will ask her to bring Qiao Nan along. For so many years, the Feng family doesn’t have any other ladies besides Qing Qing. It’s just nice. Don’t you and I lack a daughter and granddaughter respectively? Do you understand what I mean?”
Initially, Old Master Feng purely wanted to let Shi Qing bring Qiao Nan back for a meal in the Feng family so that they could get to know what kind of lady Qiao Nan was.
Although the Feng family’s feelings toward Shi Qing were complicated, it was not that they did not love her at all.
She was the only lady in the Feng family. Of course, they doted on her. It was just that in their hearts, the only granddaughter in the Feng family was not more important than the family’s future.
In the absence of a conflict between the two, the Feng family’s love for Shi Qing was pure.
When there was a conflict between the two, without a doubt, the Feng family would choose to sacrifice Shi Qing for the sake of the Feng family.
If the Feng family was successful, naturally, they could use other ways to make amends to Shi Qing and let her lead a better life. In that case, they would not be considered shortchanging Shi Qing.
Feng Liang knitted his brows. “Dad, is there a need to do so?”
“Yes!” Old Master Feng’s tone was firm. There was no room for negotiation. “I would rather acknowledge a thousand wrong ones than to let slip the right one. Furthermore, isn’t there a high possibility for this to happen? It’s not a big deal for the Feng family to acknowledge fictive kin. If we acknowledge the right one, it will be a big deal.”
Anyway, before this young lady called Qiao Nan came to the capital to study, Zhai Sheng seldom came here.
With the change in Zhai Sheng now, he had a reason to suspect and guess that this was due to Qiao Nan.
When this matter was confirmed, it would be too late.
Hence, they would have to acknowledge this fictive kin before it was confirmed.
It was easy to add brilliance to one’s present splendor but difficult to provide help in one’s hour of need.
If the Zhai family had confirmed Qiao Nan’s importance to them, not to mention the Feng family, many others would be willing to acknowledge her as their kin. When that time came, it would be too late if the Feng family wanted to make their move.
“When Feng Meng is back, ask him about today’s situation. Focus on the important point. Is there any animosity between him and Qiao Nan?” Old Master Feng was aware that there was no conflict now. As such, the love that the Feng family had toward Shi Qing was real.
