The couple were taken away separately and won't be able to get out for a while, finally bringing some peace and quiet to the world.

Wu Jiao hesitated for a long time. He wanted to go up and greet Ming Zhuo, but before he could even get close, Ming Zhuo grabbed Gu Xu and Ruan Mingxuan and prepared to run away.

"Wait a minute!" Xu Zhongkai exclaimed in disbelief. She had called him over; wasn't she going to give him an explanation?

Mingzhuo: "Uncle Xu, thank you for today. I'll treat you to dinner another day. Bye-bye!"

If we don't leave now, it will be too late. Wu Jiao is accompanied by several people who are obviously powerful and not ordinary people.

She was incredibly guilty and had no idea how well Li Wenhe's presentation slides were done.

The Xuanmen Academic Exchange Conference is starting next week, and she finally feels a sense of urgency.

Wu Jiao watched helplessly as Ming Zhuo slipped away, feeling extremely disappointed.

He thought for a moment and then explained to the people around him, "The master is not concerned with trivial matters; I was the one who abruptly disturbed her."

Others: "..."

No, Master Wu, are you sure you haven't been brainwashed?

They just couldn't reconcile the excessively beautiful young girl with the master Wu Jiao had mentioned.

On the other side, Xu Zhongkai asked Qi Lian'an incredulously, "Old Qi, did I get stood up?"

Qi Lian'an carefully considered his words before replying, "It's not exactly standing her up. She said she'd treat you to dinner another day."

Xu Zhongkai felt a little better and snorted, "Who cares if she treats me to dinner?"

Qi Lian'an shut his mouth.

After the bodyguards cleared the way, the two got into the car. The driver asked, "Mr. Xu, are we going to the airport?"

Xu Zhongkai: "What are you going to the airport for?"

He realized what was happening. He had originally planned to return to Hong Kong tonight, so he quickly coughed lightly and said without changing his expression, "Although the person who spread the rumors has been taken away by the police, the matter of spreading rumors, slandering and insulting me still needs to be taken seriously. Have Attorney Wen and the others come over to handle it as soon as possible."

The secretary, who had flown in from Hong Kong, was somewhat bewildered: "But Chairman Xu, the group headquarters is all waiting for you to return..."

"If the company can't function without me, it might as well just go bankrupt," Xu Zhongkai said coldly.

The current directors are the other two branches of the Xu family. Does Xu Zhongkai mean that he thinks those two branches are too useless?

The people in the car immediately fell silent.

Only after Qi Lian'an pondered it for a moment did he slowly come to his senses.

Chairman Xu actually publicly acknowledged Ruan Mingying as the Xu family's daughter-in-law in front of everyone.

It seems the in-laws will be meeting soon, so as his personal assistant, he naturally needs to quickly prepare the meeting gifts and betrothal gifts.

The daughter-in-law whom Chairman Xu acknowledges must be presentable. Compared to the weddings of the other branches of the Xu family, a slightly higher standard should be enough to barely satisfy Chairman Xu.

Qi Lian'an made plans silently. Although time was tight and there were many things to do, he was full of energy.

Unbeknownst to him, Xu Zhongkai was also thinking about this matter silently.

As the old man watched the street scenes rushing past the car window, he thought to himself, "When the sisters go back tonight and talk about this, the Ruan family mother and daughter will probably be overjoyed."

After all, she went to great lengths to seduce his unfilial son in order to marry into a top-tier wealthy family like the Xu family.

By publicly stating his position, he essentially acknowledged her identity.

[Big brother, is there some good news in our family? When is Shanglou's wedding? Should we start making preparations now?] In the family group chat, those who had received the news had already started asking about the situation.

[The wedding in the commercial building definitely has to be a grand affair! It has to be impressive!] Some people chimed in.

Xu Zhongkai: "..."

He replied coldly, "There will be no wedding."

No one dared to speak in the group anymore.

Xu Zhongkai didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He had reluctantly agreed to the marriage, but to hold such a grand wedding? That meant the other party was overthinking it.

He will not agree.

——

After the two sisters returned home, they told Ruan Mingying and her mother what had happened.

Ruan Mingying didn't quite understand: "I only met the Cheng family once back when I gave Zhuozhuo up for adoption. Why are they so hostile towards me?"

She was only fourteen or fifteen years old at the time. The middleman said that the family did not want to meet with them. Since they had given her up for adoption, they should pretend that they did not have this younger sister and should not look for her again.

Ruan Mingying took a lot of agreement documents home and had her mother put her fingerprint on them. She then personally carried her younger sister to the designated location and left alone.

But the family that had originally said they wouldn't meet suddenly came running over from the coffee shop next door.

The man took out a wad of cash from his wallet and insisted on stuffing it into her hand, saying, "You're so pretty, and you're uneducated, you're likely to run into bad people."

The other party told her not to go astray and not to give in to depravity, as if she thought that her future was either to become a rich man's mistress or to sell her smiles on the street.

Ruan Mingying did not accept the money, nor did she accept the business card offered to her.

Although she was young, she had started supporting her family at a young age, so she wasn't completely clueless.

She said, "Thank you for your kindness, Uncle, but my mom said we don't sell children, whether they're young or old. How about I give you some money as a gift for my sister's nutrition?"

Then she started counting her money in her pockets on the street, one penny at a time. This was the money she had earned selling balloons on the street. She counted for a long time, but she still had less than a hundred.

She stuffed all the money into Cheng Jiangkai's hand, then turned and ran away.

She and her second sister went hungry when they got home that day, but she didn't regret it at all. At the time, she just thought, "I don't want anyone's money. I can earn it myself. I won't go astray."

I never expected that after all these years, Cheng Jiangkai would still have such a strong prejudice against her.

Mother Ruan sighed and gripped her eldest daughter's hand tightly.

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