Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Family Dinner

The Chen family’s old house has a nice name - Huai Shao.

In history, the main house of Huaishao was the summer resort of a certain prince. On the basis of the main house, the Chen family renovated and expanded it until it reached its current size.

Old Chen parked the car in the garage. The Chen family's servants were already waiting there and took them to the Chen family's main residence in a shuttle car.

Surrounded by seasonal flowers and plants along the way, it feels like being in a fairyland.

When she first arrived at the Chen family's old house, Yan Jiu listened to Yan Hongsheng and Yu Xue whispering in her ears, telling her what to do and what not to do. She had no intention of looking at what was happening around her.

After returning home, Yan Hongsheng scolded her again for not living up to her expectations. He didn't know what was the point of him training her for so many years, and she just stood there blankly. Yan Hongsheng's scolding made her feel very depressed that day, and she even felt a little resentful towards the Chen family.

After Chen Yuchu went abroad, her grandmother asked her to return to the old house for dinner, and she took the opportunity to carefully appreciate the scenery of the old house.

At that time, the sunlight was slanting, golden leaves were falling all over the ground, and the magnificent scenery hit her heart directly, making everything seem unreal.

Before that, Yan Jiu had never thought that autumn was not only bleak, but also full of poetry and tranquility in the quaint buildings.

The shuttle bus drove for ten minutes and arrived at the main house.

The prepared gifts were loaded into another shuttle vehicle, which followed steadily behind.

The family sat on the sofa.

Grandfather Chen Hongfu sat calmly in the center, his favorite historical stories playing on TV. Yan Jiu glanced over and saw that the TV was currently showing the life of Zhu Yuanzhang. Chen Hongfu seemed to have a deep love for Zhu Yuanzhang, having watched it countless times and never tired of it.

Chen's grandmother, Yong Meiru, enjoys herbal tea. The medical team customizes a different herbal tea for her every week. In front of her is a cup of black plum, tangerine peel, and mulberry drink. Seeing Yan Jiu and Chen Yuchu, she smiles kindly, "Come on, why bring anything? Grandma wants to see you the most. Xiaojiu, it's been a while since you've had dinner with Grandma."

When you get closer, you can smell a faint scent of sandalwood, as beautiful as the scent of the Buddhist shrine at home where you spend most of your time worshipping Buddha all year round.

She was the only person in the Chen family who was kind to Yan Jiu. She was always gentle and spoke slowly, and Yan Jiu really enjoyed being with her. However, when Chen Yuchu was away, Yan Jiu didn't dare to come to the Chen family's old house to accompany Yong Meiru more often, for fear that others would think she had some ulterior motives.

As expected, Chen Baichuan held the cocktail glass and said with a half-smile, "I've never seen my sister-in-law dressed so formally before."

Chen Hongfu had two sons, one was Chen Jinghe, the father of Chen Yuchu, and the other was Chen Xiuyun.

Chen Baichuan is the son of Chen Xiuyun and the cousin of Chen Yuchu.

Chen Hongfu was a romantic man when he was young. After marrying Yong Meiru, he found a confidante in his career named Wen Yilan. Wen Yilan was the daughter of a banker and fell in love with Chen Hongfu at first sight.

The two fell in love instantly.

Chen Xiuyun was born the following year.

Chen Xiuyun is a strange man. He has no interest in the family business. After he married Qu Lingling and gave birth to Chen Baichuan, he became obsessed with Taoism. In the end, he traveled around the world and rarely even returned home.

Chen Baichuan is completely different from his father. He is very keen to participate in company affairs. Although he has no ability, Chen Hongfu has always been very tolerant of him and even handed over two branches to him to manage.

Yan Jiu didn't want to argue with him. In this family, Chen Baichuan obviously enjoyed privileges.

So she ignored Chen Baichuan's words and said to Yong Meiru, "I will definitely come to accompany you more often in the future."

Yong Meiru smiled graciously, "Girls should dress up beautifully. From now on, not only will you come to accompany me, you and Yu Chu will come to accompany me together."

She was obviously in high spirits today and joked, "I hope next year, it will be even better if there are three of you to accompany me."

Yan Jiu's heart shuddered. She could never imagine that she and Chen Yuchu would have a child.

At that time, will Chen Yuchu say that this cannot be done and that cannot be done?

Yan Jiu's lips were slightly open, and under the light, her pale pink lips looked even more innocent and attractive.

A little warmth wrapped around her fingertips, and then her entire palm was wrapped. She glanced sideways and saw Chen Yuchu standing beside her. He responded naturally for her: "Yes, grandma, we will come to see you together."

Chen Yuchu's gaze shifted to Qu Lingling, his thin lips curled into a subtle arc. "Aunt's Kashmir sapphire is very transparent and suits you very well."

Although it was a compliment, there was no emotion in his voice.

Yan Jiu's gaze fell on Qu Lingling as Chen Yuchu spoke. The sapphire on Qu Lingling's neck was cornflower blue with a velvety texture. The sapphire was surrounded by diamonds, which was very elegant.

She saw the necklace on the Internet and finally bought it at a sky-high price.

It turned out that it was bought by Qu Lingling.

Qu Lingling smiled and said nothing.

They could speak rudely to Yan Jiu because they felt that she had no background and was not liked by Chen Yuchu. Moreover, they would not humiliate her directly, as this would be unmannerly. They would only use a light tone or mention something that Yan Jiu could not touch, leaving her there.

But what Chen Yuchu said now was clearly a compliment to her, but in reality it was a counterattack to what Chen Baichuan had just said. What else could she say?

If I continue, I don’t know what Chen Yuchu will say.

It is said that she, a person without a husband, can wear such gorgeous clothes every day. With Chen Yuchu by her side, Yan Jiu is certainly worthy of this set of pink diamonds.

The farce ended in time.

Yan Jiu lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes casting shadows on her porcelain-white skin. She pursed her lips. This was the reason she disliked visiting the Chen family's residence, despite liking Grandma Chen. Qu Lingling and Chen Baichuan always looked at her with disdain, as if she were an ant in the dust, unworthy of even their gaze.

This is what a big family is like. There won’t even be quarrels. No matter how fierce the fights are in private, there will always be prosperity and harmony in public.

Chen Yuchu's mother, Meng Zhuxing, said at the right time: "Sister Bi, go to the kitchen and take a look."

Chen Hongfu had been watching TV the whole time, seemingly unaware of the smoke spreading around him. He only raised his eyes now and said calmly, "Let's get ready for dinner."

When Yong Meiru stood up, she glanced at Chen Yuchu and Yan Jiu holding hands and couldn't help but smile.

She has two dimples when she smiles, and one can imagine that she must have been a great beauty when she was young.

The tip of Yan Jiu's ears was stained with a red glow. She calmly pulled her hand away. Her palm was a little swollen and damp. She whispered softly, "Thank you."

Chen Yuchu stared at her incomparably beautiful face and the fiery color on the tip of her ear, and replied slowly, "You're welcome."

Compared to before, his voice had a bit more warmth.

This was the first time Chen Yuchu responded to her "thank you".

Although it was a family dinner, the dishes were rich.

Chen Hongfu and Yong Meiru, both older and fond of light dishes, each received a bowl of vegetarian coconut mushroom soup. Chen Baichuan, with his heartier taste, ordered sea cucumber, roast goose, and lamb chops. Despite his heavy appetite, his body remained remarkably fit thanks to years of exercise. The others, who hadn't requested their meals in advance, had dishes such as black truffle lemon chicken, morel mushroom soup, and braised white eel with scallions.

When the meal was almost over, the servants served everyone their preferred drinks and desserts. Yan Jiu had vanilla panna cotta, while Qu Lingling preferred pistachio basque. The others didn't like dessert at night. Chen Hongfu, Chen Jinghe, and Chen Yuchu had Longjing tea, Chen Baichuan had kale sparkling water, Meng Zhuxing had a mild aged Pu'er, and Yong Meiru and Yan Jiu didn't drink tea for fear of losing sleep.

Chen Hongfu held his teacup in his hand and asked calmly, "How's the progress on the land in the west of the city?"

"We are currently planning to cooperate with Junhao Group and the Yan family."

Chen Hongfu nodded slightly and took a sip of tea.

Seeing that Chen Hongfu didn't object, and not really seeing anything special on Chen Yuchu's face, Meng Zhuxing smiled and said, "No wonder I called the CEO's office at noon, wanting to have lunch with you, but the secretary said you were out. It turns out you were with Jingyao."

It seemed like she was talking to Chen Yuchu, but she was actually speaking to Yan Jiu. Meng Zhuxing didn't like this marriage, and Yan Jiu had known this for a long time, but for the past six months, things had been relatively peaceful between them.

It turned out to be because the protagonist was not there.

Now that the protagonist has returned to China, Meng Zhuxing naturally has to reconsider this marriage.

But Yan Jiu could not show any dissatisfaction.

She couldn't ask for a divorce in front of so many people at the Chen family, nor could she say that she didn't want her mother-in-law to mention other people and her husband in front of her.

Even if her father was present, he would only advise her to be patient.

Because the Chen family gave too much.

Yan Jiu clenched his fingers, lowered his eyes, and pretended not to hear anything.

Chen Baichuan's eyes flickered slightly, and his tone was ambiguous. "It turns out that Sheng Jingyao has been waiting for Big Brother for the past six months. I have a friend who pursued her, but no matter what gifts I gave her, she couldn't be moved. Now I know the reason."

He paused, thoughtfully, "Big brother's birthday was in Italy last year? My friend knew Sheng Jingyao liked Huang Jian, so he asked her to watch Huang Jian's concert that day and also arranged to have dinner together after Huang Jian's performance. But Sheng Jingyao said she went to Italy. Next time we meet, I must warn him. He even dares to pursue my big brother's woman."

Chen Baichuan continued to talk about Chen Yuchu's romantic affairs without restraint, not caring at all whether she was present or not.

Maybe no one cares about the Chen family.

She had long thought that Chen Yuchu must not like her, otherwise he wouldn't have ignored her for half a year.

So, on Chen Yuchu’s birthday, did Sheng Jingyao really go to Italy to accompany him?