Chapter 407: She Brought Her Son To Get A Free Meal Again (Update One)
Mu Huaisheng would not force her if she had no intention to do so.
Since Ruan Danchen was married now, Mu Huaisheng refrained from performing anything that could potentially lead to misunderstanding or disgust and caused troubles to her.
…
…
On the other end of the hall stood Chang Jingqiu’s best friends—Xia Zishan and Chen Libai. Chang Jingqiu invited them on purpose so that Xia Zishan could have a chance to start a relationship with Chen Libai and she would owe Chang Jingqiu a favour upon success. This way, both Chang Jingqiu and Xia Zishan could gain benefits from each others.
Beside Chang Jingqiu’s best friends stood Gao Xiaoyang.
Gao Xiaoyang was just a normal girl born in an ordinary family who studied hard and furthered her studies in the renowned University F. She returned to B City after graduation to seek for job, and finally accepted an offer of employment in a newspaper company.
The top management of her newspaper company found out regarding Grandmother Chang’s birthday banquet, so they instructed Chang Jingqiu to bring Gao Xiaoyang along to get in touch with the business mogul. It would be easier to appoint an interview with them once Gao Xiaoyang had familiarized herself with those business mogul.
Chang Jingqiu managed to agree on it despite the reluctance and sent an invitation to Gao Xiaoyang.
Xia Zhishan was trying her best to engage in a chit chat with Chen Libai in order to gain his favouritism while Gao Xiaoyang came tonight just for work. Even if she could not get to know every business mogul tonight, she could probably gained some shocking information, no matter if it was a sign or not, by watching and listening to them.
Thus, Gao Xiaoyang shifted her gaze across the hall repeatedly and suddenly, her gaze made an emergency U-turn and rested on Ruan Danchen. Then, she rubbed her eyes repeatedly thinking that she had recognized wrongly.
After staring at that person for a long while, that was Ruan Danchen, right?
She saw Ruan Danchen and a child in the buffet area, piling up the plate in her hands with food for her child.
Ruan Danchen brought the kid to search for food since he was hungry. Qi Chenglin wanted to follow initially but was stopped by Ruan Danchen, claiming that they were just going to get some food. His persistence in following them everywhere would end up being a laughing matter to Yan Beicheng and his gang so she thought that it was for the best for Qi Chenglin to continue chatting with them.
Moreover, this banquet hall was not considered big and Qi Chenglin could notice them straight away by simply turning around.
Guan Liya, on the other hand, was surrounded by a group of women who were busy expressing their compliments. She continued the conversation with them gracefully despite the annoyance, but she too had no time to attend to Qi Youxuan.
Thus, Ruan Danchen was the only one left who could accompany Qi Youxuan.
Gao Xiaoyang then poked Xia Zishan immediately. Xia Zishan was in the middle of a conversation with Chen Libai and felt unhappy instantly upon disturbance. Gao Xiaoyang asked when she turned around, “Look, is she Danchen?”
Xia Zishan shook her head and laughed before she even looked at the direction Gao Xiaoyang gestured. “Impossible, I think you’re mistaken, or maybe Jingqiu invited her too?”
Xia Zishan thought to herself while looking at the direction Gao Xiaoyang pointed, Ruan Danchen was really shameless if this was the case.
Ruan Danchen dared to attend the banquet despite the fact that all guests were of much higher status than her. Was it possible that she brought her son here to get a free meal again?
In the end, damn, Ruan Danchen was here!
Xia Zishan pouted disdainfully and her eyebrows were raised in contempt. “What a shameless lady, she really brought her son here to get a free meal. She dared to bring her son here to embarrass herself and even threw away her dignity just for a free dinner. Why would Jingqiu invite such a shameless person?”
Chang Jingqiu did not mention anything about Ruan Danchen and Qi Chenglin’s marriage to Xia Zishan especially when she needed Xia Zishan to introduce Shen Zhijing to her, thus she did not want Xia Zishan to notice her true intention from here.
Gao Xiaoyang was not present when they met Ruan Danchen at Shengyue last time.
To be honest, Chang Jingqiu and her gang despised Gao Xiaoyang who was just a lady from an ordinary family. They normally would not invite her unless it was for high school gathering.
Gao Xiaoyang knew that she would not get along well with Chang Jingqiu and her gang too so she never tried to show excessive passion towards them.
Gao Xiaoyang disagreed on Xia Zishan’s harsh statement, so with her eyebrows raised, she said directly without hiding any facts, “Do you think what you have said just now is appropriate in Libai’s presence?”
Xia Zishan’s expression changed immediately. Ruan Danchen disgusted her since Chen Libai had a crush on Ruan Danchen. Thus, Xia Zishan would forget everything whenever she saw Ruan Danchen and would insult her with all her might.
Xia Zishan immediately took a glance at Chen Libai anxiously after hearing Gao Xiaoyang’s statement.
To be honest, Xia Zishan was unsure what Gao Xiaoyang meant by her statement. Did Gao Xiaoyang meant that it was inappropriate for her to criticize Ruan Danchen since Chen Libai had a crush on Ruan Danchen, or Gao Xiaoyang was aware that she had a crush on Chen Libai and he would feel disgusted at her due to her harsh criticism on Ruan Danchen in his presence?
Gao Xiaoyang was indeed a reporter to be able to speak with such a high standard.
Gao Xiaoyang left them alone and went to find Ruan Danchen when Xia Zishan was getting anxious.
There would be standard proper meals for Grandmother Chang’s birthday banquet, thus the food in the buffet area consisted mainly of desserts for guests to have a bite when they were hungry.
The cakes were cut to miniature sizes until one would not get his mouth full when biting one full piece of cake, but they were delicate and tasted delicious too.
Ruan Danchen took two small pieces of cake and a small piece of fruit tart for the kid as she did not want him to consume too much desserts.
Then, she held the plate and was prepared to bring the kid back to the seat.
“Danchen,” Ruan Danchen turned her head and saw Gao Xiaoyang walking towards her with an astonished look. Gao Xiaoyang was purely surprised as to why Ruan Danchen was here without any harsh thoughts.
Sure enough, Gao Xiaoyang asked when she was near Ruan Danchen, “Why are you here?”
Then, Gao Xiaoyang noticed the kid beside Ruan Danchen who was eager to consume the desserts in his plate. There were glimmers in her eyes as she stared at the kid’s chubby but good looking face. Gao Xiaoyang asked again before Ruan Danchen could respond to her, “Is this your son? So cute!”
Ruan Danchen smiled and touched the kid’s neck instead of his hair.
The kid purposely fashioned his hair into a stylish design tonight, so Ruan Danchen took extreme care in avoiding any potential damage to his hair.
Qi Youxuan could feel that this auntie was different than those he met in Shengyue last time, so he greeted politely, “Hi, auntie.”
“By the way, why are you here too?” Ruan Danchen asked.
Gao Xiaoyang explained everything to Ruan Danchen and snorted. “I feel extremely stressed in this sort of place, and yet my boss instructed me to familiarize myself with them. How shameless should I get in order to make myself known in their social circles? My boss sent me here because he was worried about losing his dignity.”
Ruan Danchen smiled. Then, Gao Xiaoyang asked again, “By the way, why are you here? Did Chang Jingqiu invite you too?”
Gao Xiaoyang frowned in confusion and said, “She isn’t the friendly sort of person though.”
Xia Zishan and Chen Libai walked over just when Ruan Danchen was about to answer. Xia Zishan said harshly before Ruan Danchen could mutter a word, “Danchen, why are you here? Did Jingqiu invite you?”
Then, she laughed lightly after noticing the kid beside her. “No one at home to take care of your son again?”
Gao Xiaoyang frowned as Xia Zishan went a little too far in her criticism now..
Ruan Danchen answered before Gao Xiaoyang defended her, “Yes, my whole family is here now, so naturally there’s no one left at home.”
Xia Zishan did not give much thought to this matter as she assumed Chang Jingqiu had invited Ruan Danchen to this banquet which allowed Ruan Danchen to bring her son and husband here shamelessly.
“You’re quite smart,” Xia Zishan pouted. She was lazy to hide her disgust now.
However, Xia Zishan did not realize that Ruan Danchen was the actual one feeling surprised upon seeing them. The Chang family was well known for putting the rich within his reach and the poor beneath his contempt. Since the Chang family had a higher status than the Xia family, they would not invite the Xia family to the banquet.
Thus, Xia Zishan was the actual one attending the banquet using Chang Jingqiu’s fame and she felt too embarrassed to even bring her family members over to the banquet.
Chen Libai frowned slightly too. He did not understand why Ruan Danchen mated with a useless man and put her future to waste, and she even acted shamelessly by bringing her family over to this banquet.
He thought Ruan Danchen’s life must be difficult to attend the banquet for a free meal just to save money.
Qi Youxuan already gulped down all the cakes in his plate while the adults were talking.
Qi Chenglin, who was chatting with Yan Beicheng and his gang, would turn around from time to time to check on Ruan Danchen and wondered why she had not returned yet.
This time, he saw Chen Libai talking to Ruan Danchen when he turned around to look for her.
When Qi Chenglin was investigating Chen Libai on the internet, his photographs were attached too. Even so, he did not recognize Chen Libai at first glance due to a difference between the actual person and photographs. However, he had confirmed Chen Libai’s identity after taking a few more glances at him.
Qi Chenglin raised his eyebrows and walked towards Ruan Danchen without hesitation. His sudden act without any warnings gave Yan Beicheng and his gang quite a surprise.
Yan Beicheng and his gang were too embarrassed to yell at Qi Chenglin and asked what was going on in this sort of occasion.
Gui Zhiqian blinked and stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Why do I feel an intense aura radiated from Qi Chenglin?”
“Yo, something fishy is going on,” Han Zhuoli stood beside Gui Zhiqian and narrowed his eyes too.
The two of them appeared like fortune telling demigods which kind of destroyed their images.
“Why are we staring at him? Let’s follow him,” Yan Beicheng waved his hand and marched forward.
Han Zhuoli and Gui Zhiqian followed closely behind. Chu Zhaoyang was about to give his comment but since everyone was gone, he froze for a while and looked at his surroundings before following behind them too.
“Dad!” The kid saw Qi Chenglin walking towards him with his keen eyes and yelled at the top of his voice before Qi Chenglin even arrived. He did not care whether it was embarrassing or not since he was just a child. He deserved special privileges.
Everyone, especially the excited Xia Zishan, turned their heads after hearing Qi Youxuan as they were eager to know the true identity of Ruan Danchen’s husband. However, they only saw Qi Chenglin walking towards them followed by Yan Beicheng, Han Zhuoli, Gui Zhiqian and Chu Zhaoyang.
All of them were on the top of the food chain and way out of league for the Chang family, not to mention the Xia family too.
Xia Zishan did not notice anyone else other than them.
Who was Ruan Danchen’s husband then?
Qi Chenglin walked past Chen Libai without any attempt to make eye contact and stood beside Ruan Danchen, slipping his hand on her waist naturally. He raised his eyebrows and stared at Chen Libai and Xia Zishan with a hostile gaze. “Acquaintance of yours?”
“Yes, they are my high school classmates. I didn’t expect to meet them here,” Ruan Danchen answered lightly without any intention to introduce Xia Zishan and Chen Libai to them.
Ruan Danchen was not a doormat too so there was no way that Ruan Danchen would give Xia Zishan a chance to get acquainted with Qi Chenglin and his gang.
This might sound arrogant and shameless, but it would be an honour to let Qi Chengin and his gang acknowledged one’s name especially for the type of social class which Xia Zishan was categorized into.
Which was exactly why many wanted to introduce themselves to The Great Eight Families shamelessly.
Ruan Danchen did not have much antipathy for Chen Libai. He was merely a victim which was all thanks to Xia Zishan.
Since Ruan Danche did not want to introduce Xia Zishan, naturally she would not introduce Chen Libai alone too.
Ruan Danchen’s main worry was not Xia Zishan’s dignity issue but Qi Chenglin’s narrow-mindedness.
Xia Zishan’s expression changed immediately as she stared at Qi Chenglin full of surprises. Meanwhile, Yan Beicheng and his gang stood beside Qi Chenglin as if watching a show, with Chu Zhaoyang acted ever so slightly restrained than the rest.
Her expressions kept changing in disbelief. Then, her gaze shifted involuntarily to Qi Chenglin’s hand on Ruan Danchen’s waist.
Could it be that… Qi Chenglin was Ruan Danchen’s husband?
This was impossible!
This was not real!
Xia Zishan was unwilling to accept the truth even though everything was pointing towards it.
This matter was totally unreal for her anyway!
However, this was the truth. She had no choice but to accept it.
She did not understand how would Ruan Danchen get to know Qi Chenglin and even married to him. How fortunate would Ruan Danchen be to have found such a good opportunity?
Xia Zishan felt a great sense of discomfort at the thought of Ruan Danchen as a young madam in the Qi family now.
Ruan Danchen was the most ordinary person in high school whose existence was almost close to none. However, a person with a family background which was worse than normal initially had turned out to be one who Xia Zishan must look up to now.
Xia Zishan was left speechless now.
“Is Youxuan full now?” Qi Chenglin ignored Xia Zishan and Chen Libai who were frozen to the spot due to shock and asked Ruan Danchen with a soft tone.
“He ate some desserts but it wasn’t much since dinner will be served soon,” Ruan Danchen answered.
“Do you still need to catch up with your classmates? Are we disturbing you?” Qi Chenglin asked as if he had just realized that Xia Zishan and Chen Libai were standing in front of him.
“No, they were just here to say hi,” Ruan Danchen smiled.
Qi Chenglin nodded before giving a perfunctory statement to Xia Zishan and Chen Libai. “Excuse me, we’re leaving now.”
Then, he ignored the duo and walked away with Ruan Danchen and Qi Youxuan.
Ruan Danchen bid goodbye to Gao Xiaoyang only before she left.
Xia Zishan remained submerged in the sea of astonishment at the moment. Gao Xiaoyang remained on her spot too instead of following them since they were in a totally different social category than her.
She did not have the courage to acquaint herself with them even though the top management had instructed her to familiarize herself with the business mogul.
Then, she heard Xia Zishan’s dispirited mumbling. “How is this… How did Ruan Danchen start a relationship with Qi Chenglin, what is this…”
Xia Zishan lifted her head suddenly after regaining consciousness from mumbling for quite a while and said, “Ruan Danchen was so atrocious that she even schemed to embarrass us on purpose! She purposely kept his husband’s identity a secret just to show off at this very moment, right? What a calculative woman! Why would she treat us badly when we didn’t offend her at all?”
“She hid her husband’s identity during the high school reunion. She didn’t clarify the misunderstanding when she brought her son to Shengyue last time. She didn’t even make it clear when I was just standing right in front of her!” Xia Zishan turned to face Chen Libai suddenly. “Libai, you noticed her expression just now, right? She didn’t reveal that Qi Chenglin was actually her husband on purpose and attended this banquet with him just to set a trap for us. This is just great, I wonder what sort of complaint she’ll give to Qi Chenglin now. She acted malicious towards us when we didn’t even offend her! Look at her expression when she finally showed off to us! She even acted low profile at usual times. What a pretentious b*tch!”
Gao Xiaoyang was fed up with Xia Zishan now. No wonder Xia Zishan was able to get on intimate terms with Chang Jingqiu. Their personalities and attitudes were compatible after all!
“Xia Zishan, you were the one who treated Danchen harshly at first, and now you said Danchen was the one setting up traps for you? If you didn’t treat her with hatred and disgust, then you wouldn’t worry about her complaining to Qi Chenglin now, right? Even if she did complain to him, it would still be the truth, so how was it considered a complaint?”
