Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Gu Ning felt Yuan Yilin was overestimating herself if she genuinely intended on driving a wedge between Master Leng and her.
Yuan Yilin’s ploy would only work if Gu Ning and Master Leng were on average terms and she was close friends with Yuan Yilin.
Gu Ning got it spot on. Yuan Yilin hoped to drive Gu Ning and Master Leng apart. Even though she did not think they were awfully close, she could not stand seeing them on good terms.
“Senior Yuan,” replied Gu Ning nonchalantly.
“Who did you come with?” asked Yuan Yilin.
“I received an invitation,” replied Gu Ning before she said apologetically, “Senior Yuan, my apologies. I am in the middle of a conversation with Grandpa Leng, so I can’t chat. It is rude to interrupt a conversation to begin with.. Also, it is a huge disrespect towards Grandpa Leng.”
Gu Ning was slapping Yuan Yilin in the face by saying this. Gu Ning and Master Leng were in the middle of a conversation, so it was rude to interrupt them, and she was implying Yuan Yilin was disrespectful.
Everyone looked at Yuan Yilin disappointedly. They did not expect the granddaughter of the head of the Rong family would rudely interrupt Master Leng’s conversation. Had she no respect for Master Leng?
Although the four dominant families were not on friendly terms and kept fighting all the time, it was simply rude to interrupt someone’s conversation.
Even if the four dominant families did not get along with each other, Master Leng was an elder after all! Also, Grandpa Leng was head of the Leng family, so he had special status. Yuan Yilin was simply being too rude!
Even if Gu Ning was acquainted with Yuan Yilin, Master Leng did not mind. It was one thing to know someone, but a completely different matter to be close. He was not about to stop Gu Ning from talking to Yuan Yilin just because of the feuds between their families. He trusted Gu Ning would not do anything to hurt the Leng family.
Master Leng quickly caught on that Gu Ning and Yuan Yilin were not friends, so he started to look at Yuan Yilin sternly. It seemed as though he was genuinely unhappy that Yuan Yilin had interrupted him.
Master Yuan was also annoyed with Yuan Yilin and stared at her sternly. Initially, he did not notice his granddaughter’s rudeness, but now that this young woman pointed it out, he was disappointed by how insensible she was. She had just embarrassed him while Master Leng was here to witness it all.
Also, this young woman was deliberately saying it to make trouble for Yuan Yilin. Even though Master Yuan felt angry with Gu Ning, Yuan Yilin was genuinely at fault, so he could not do anything to defend her.
Yuan Yilin also realized the error of her ways and instantly looked embarrassed. She was startled when her grandfather looked at her sternly.
Darn it. Gu Ning had publicly shamed her. If Gu Ning did not point this out, no one would have caught on to her rudeness!
Despite being at fault, Yuan Yilin pointed the finger at Gu Ning. They were undoubtedly from the same family.
Gu Ning felt it had nothing to do with her. After all, Yuan Yilin was born into a rich and powerful family, so she quickly reacted and apologized, “I am so sorry. I was just surprised to see you here and inadvertently interrupted your conversation.”
She turned to look at Master Leng and apologized to him as well, “Grandpa Leng, my bad. I didn’t mean it and I hope you won’t take it to heart.”
Even though Yuan Yilin was infuriated, she displayed a particularly good attitude when she apologized because she did not want the other guests to keep harping on it.
The people around them started to feel Yuan Yilin did not mean it. Humans made mistakes. Moreover, it was a minor error on her part.
“Uh huh! Don’t worry about it. Just be careful from now on.” Master Leng magnanimously let her off. He had no intention of making things difficult for her to begin with.
“Yes, Grandpa Leng. I will be careful from now on,” acknowledged Yuan Yilin.
Yuan Yilin stopped talking to Gu Ning. Regardless of how angry she was with Gu Ning, she did not dare to show it on the surface. The people at the auction were no ordinary folks. The moment she acted out of place, people would notice it right away.
She cared about her reputation and so did Master Yuan, so her grandfather was bound to tell her off if she caused any humiliation. However, she would remember Gu Ning for doing this to her.
Yuan Yilin started to nurse a grudge for Gu Ning in her heart.
“Hey! What’s going on between you and her?” asked Xu Jinchen softly as he came over to Gu Ning.
“Yuan Yilin suddenly approached me one day and said I was too cocky. She warned me to keep a low profile before I offended someone. I realized why she threatened me after I found out who she was. She threatened me because I got into a conflict with her cousin, Yun Shuyan. It doesn’t make sense for her to suddenly approach me today and act so friendly, so she must be up to no good. She must be thinking I’m arrogant because I am close to Grandpa Leng. If I am not mistaken, she attempted to act friendly with me in the hope it would annoy Grandpa Leng and drive a wedge between us! After all, the four dominant families…” Although Gu Ning did not finish her sentence, it was evident what she meant to say.
“What? I think she overestimated herself,” said Xu Jinchen in disdain. Gu Ning was the future granddaughter-in-law of the Leng clan. Would Yuan Yilin succeed in driving a wedge between Master Leng and Gu Ning just by pulling this stunt?
It was because Yuan Yilin knew nothing of Gu Ning’s true identity. If she did, she would not have done something as idiotic as that.
Before long, the host stepped onto the stage and the guests quietened down.
The host introduced the event before the auction started.
No ordinary antiques could make it into an established auction house like theirs.
“Grandpa Leng, what are you here to see? Are you interested in the auction items?” asked Gu Ning. Since the event was marketed a week beforehand, all the auction items were made known to the public.
“I simply came for a look. Although the antiques are good, I don’t really want any of them. People always raise the prices at auctions and it isn’t worth spending that much money on antiques,” replied Master Leng. Even though he was wealthy, he had self-restraint.
“That’s true.” Gu Ning felt the same way. The price of antiques was sky-high purely due to hype.
She was an antique collector as well, but she was also interested in trading them. Since people could bring themselves to buy overpriced antiques, she was happy to profit off them. Her interests with the average antique enthusiasts were simply polar opposites.
“I came over to see the bronze chimes,” said Master Leng. Although they had done a lot of research about the bronze chimes, they wanted to see how much they would get auctioned off for eventually. Also, he was here to support Gu Ning’s event.
Gu Ning did not tell Master Leng that the bronze chimes had already gotten sold to the Palace Museum. She was just going through the motions to use the auction to create publicity for Xiangyun Antique-store.
