The servants filed in and set out the dinner. Several elders of the Qi family sat down first, filling most of the table, while the remaining seats were for the younger generation.

Qi Huaihe asked Xin Jiuwei to sit down first, but Qi Huaiyu was about to sit next to her when someone else beat him to it.

The Qi family also has several girls and boys, who are Qi Huaiyu's younger sister and cousins. They are all here today, and with them sitting down, Qi Huaiyu has no place to sit.

Suppressing his embarrassment, Qi Huaiyu went to call Xin Jiuwei. "Jiuwei..."

Xin Jiuwei ignored him, while the girl who had taken his seat looked at him with some surprise.

"Cousin, do the servants who help you with chores also sit down to eat with you?"

She seemed to be deep in thought when she asked, "Should we get him a chair and some bowls and chopsticks?"

Her bluntness made Qi Huaiyu's expression turn somewhat unpleasant, as he felt slighted.

To everyone's surprise, Xin Jiuwei didn't take it to heart at all and said to the girl, "No, Wang Qing and the others usually eat at their own table, but they don't need to be so particular here. They can just eat with the others."

Wang Qing immediately said with a smile, "We servants will take care of it ourselves in a moment."

Miss Qi nodded, not taking it to heart. She just thought it was a coincidence that the young man who helped her had the same surname as them, and that he was also quite good-looking.

Meanwhile, on her other side, Qi Huayue, another young lady of the Qi family who was only two months younger than Xin Jiuwei, couldn't help but glance at Qi Huaiyu a few more times.

Qi Huaiyu stood there, unsure whether to go forward or backward, feeling incredibly awkward. But since no one at the table paid him any attention, he could only swallow his anger and leave first.

Xin Jiuwei denied their relationship several times in a short period of time, clearly indicating that she was planning something again!

Qi Huaiyu's heart sank, and when he looked back at Qi Huaihe sitting next to Xin Jiuwei, his mood became even more displeased.

Xin Jiuwei didn't care what Qi Huaiyu thought at all. He insisted on coming along, hoping to solidify his identity at his maternal grandparents' house. Did he really think she was so easy to manipulate?

She tacitly allowed him to come along, but only because—

In her past life, she didn't know how Qi Huaiyu persuaded the divine doctor to obtain the antidote. In this life, without the information she provided, she still wanted to see if Qi Huaiyu could know Jueming's secret and whether he could find the antidote.

Of course, she was also happy to be able to humiliate Qi Huaiyu here.

Thinking of this, Xin Jiuwei lowered her eyes, and at the same time, a piece of sashimi was placed into her bowl.

"Sister Awei, try this fish," Qi Huaihe said gently. "My maternal grandfather specially asked someone to buy it at the dock yesterday. He bought it alive and kept it until this afternoon, guessing that you would arrive soon, before killing it. It's very fresh."

Xin Jiuwei smiled, her eyes crinkling, "Grandpa is so good to Wei'er."

Grandfather chuckled, "It's not your place to claim credit for me."

Qi Huaihe smiled indulgently and stood up to serve each of the elders a piece of fish.

Qi Xin laughed and said, "Look, Huaihe wanted to put fish on Jiuwei's plate, that's fine, but he also put fish on our plates. Isn't that tiring?"

Shen Ping smiled faintly, her gaze towards Xin Jiuwei filled with affection.

"Why is Aunt so fond of joking today?" Qi Huaihe said. "My cousin has just arrived, so naturally I have to take care of her."

Sitting next to Xin Jiuwei, Qi Xinghui leaned over and said to her, "Don't be fooled by my brother's high-sounding words. He's not usually this cheerful. Sigh, he's my sister, why doesn't he treat me like this?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Huaihe gave him a stare.

Xin Jiuwei smiled but didn't say anything.

She knew that the elders wanted to play matchmaker, but she also knew that neither Qi Huaihe nor she had any feelings for each other.

Qi Huaihe was the eldest son of the Qi family and the eldest brother of the children. He was intelligent from a young age. His maternal grandfather taught him the way of business, which he learned very well. He also loved reading and was very diligent.

In his previous life, he did not necessarily want to become an official. He simply studied well and naturally took the imperial examination. He passed the examination before the age of 25 and had a bright future ahead of him.

However, just as he was about to take the imperial examination, his maternal grandfather passed away. Qi Huaihe rushed back to Yuncheng, but he did not get to see his grandfather one last time.

After that, Qi Huaihe took care of his frail mother, raised his younger siblings who were still growing up, and plunged into the business world, shouldering the burden of the Qi family on his own.

Because of Qi Huaiyu in her previous life, Xin Jiuwei's relationship with her maternal grandparents was not as harmonious and close as it is now. However, knowing that Xin Jiuwei was going to the capital with Qi Huaiyu, Qi Huaihe still made a special trip to Yingzhou to persuade Xin Jiuwei to stay.

“You are not married to him yet, what is the meaning of going with him like this? Besides, he is not a good man.”

At that time, Xin Jiuwei's older siblings had all passed away, and Xin Jiuwei felt even more that Qi Huaiyu was her only support, and she couldn't listen to her cousin's advice at all.

“Huaiyu said that once we arrive in the capital and his official position is approved, we will get married. Besides, we have already formally agreed to marry my father.”

At that time, Qi Huaihe was helpless with her stubbornness, but he knew that it would be useless to persuade her.

As he left, he sat on his horse and looked at Xin Jiuwei from afar, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say it.

That meeting was their last.

Later, the Qi family was destroyed by Qi Huaiyu, and Xin Jiuwei didn't even get to see her cousin one last time.

When she was little, she came to Yuncheng to play with her older siblings, and Qi Huaihe looked just like the eldest brother. Because of her father's background, and because her mother died in childbirth, some of the elders in the Qi family did not like her very much in the first few years.

With more people around, there's more gossip, and since her brother is a boy, Xin Jiuwei often feels neglected when she visits her maternal grandparents' house.

Fortunately, Xin Jiuwei wasn't that sensitive when she was young. Instead, it was her older sister Xin Xiyao who noticed and became somewhat reluctant to meet people from the Qi family, and consequently, she didn't like to talk to Qi Huaihe.

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