Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Freshmen girls are relatively innocent and naive, and they won't worry too much if their classmates come home late sometimes.
Jiang Mingyue's mother's interventional cancer treatment at the hospital made the newspaper, and the whole school even launched a fundraising campaign for her. Her roommates were all extremely friendly towards Jiang Mingyue.
Given her mother's illness, no matter what the reason for Jiang Mingyue's late return, her roommates wouldn't think much of it out of habit. In fact, there was no need for her to bring food back or make excuses.
but……
Spring rolls are a common and inexpensive food. Whether it's street food or a grand banquet, spring rolls with fixed ingredients can't be made into anything fancy. Moreover, this kind of deep-fried food is a real nightmare for girls majoring in performing arts.
Jiang Mingyue believed that if she took this thing back, it would probably return to nature without anyone touching it.
But she wasn't afraid; she could exercise in the "three-bedroom, one-living-room" space!
"Bringing spring rolls? That's great!" Jiang Mingyue smiled, her eyes crinkling, her long eyelashes casting shadows at the corners of her eyes, further highlighting her inherent gentleness.
Fu Xiachuan paused subtly for a moment, but as he moved on, he concealed his awkwardness.
Fu Xiachuan casually released Jiang Mingyue's wrist, bowed in front of the kitchen door and gestured "please" before politely stepping back: "It is the chef's honor to have Miss Jiang like it."
After picking up their food, Fu Xiachuan and Jiang Mingyue left via the elevator that led directly to the outside, disappearing from everyone's sight.
*
Fu Qian hurriedly followed, trailing behind Fu Xiachuan and Jiang Mingyue, and offered her his services: "Mingyue, I'll drive you. It's so dark, it's not safe for a girl like you to walk alone."
"Ah Qian, you can't leave!" Mrs. Fu urgently grabbed Fu Qian, warning her son with her eyes not to make any rash moves.
Fu Qian watched Jiang Mingyue's departing figure, gritted his teeth, frowned, turned around, and glared angrily at Mrs. Fu.
His face clearly showed his dissatisfaction, and his voice was several octaves lower: "Mom, what is it that is so important that I absolutely have to stay?"
Mrs. Fu gripped Fu Qian tightly, her voice low but firm as she emphasized, "You are the true heir of the Fu family, you must stay."
“I am already the heir of the Fu family, and I have always been the sole heir of the Fu family.” Fu Qian’s dissatisfaction only increased.
Both mother and son were speaking with hidden meanings.
“He won’t die tonight, it’s not an important day.” Fu Qian’s tone was filled with barely suppressed dissatisfaction, clearly unable to accept Mrs. Fu’s unwarranted obstruction.
"He's not dead, so you should be building your network even more. Otherwise, once he's dead, will you be forced to take over? Hold onto the Fu family business, and those assets will truly belong to you." Two flames burned in Mrs. Fu's eyes, her intense ambition seemingly threatening to consume her.
This money-obsessed attitude made Fu Qian even more uncomfortable.
He couldn't help but avert his gaze, but his desire to leave with Jiang Mingyue faded.
Noticing that her son had become more obedient, Mrs. Fu smiled again and gently pushed him into the crowd: "Go and socialize. Those are the connections your father left behind, and they should be your connections now."
After composing himself and regaining his smile, Fu Qian casually picked up a glass of wine and walked into the group of guests.
Mrs. Fu smiled contentedly as she returned to Wang Mei's side, teasing Han Jialan: "Everyone else has a female companion, but Aqian doesn't. When chatting, he has to take care of both of their husbands at the same time. It must be so tiring, isn't it? Jialan, keep Aqian company for me, so he won't have to work so hard."
Han Jialan blushed, lowered her head slightly, and then glanced at Wang Mei with pleading in her eyes.
Fu Qian has already shown his infatuation with Jiang Mingyue. Under these circumstances, having the daughter she raised accompany Fu Qian to social events is both Fu's wife's recognition of Han Jialan's status and also proves that Han Jialan is going to great lengths to please him and lowering her own worth.
The way Han Jialan looked at her adoptive mother clearly showed that she understood her situation.
Moreover, she did it willingly.
Wang Mei looked at her adopted daughter with heartache, stroking her arm a few times. Han Jialan quickly took Wang Mei's hand and gently shook it.
Wang Mei sighed and said helplessly, "Go ahead, just consider it getting acquainted with someone. You're a senior in high school this year, so it's not suitable for you to waste too much energy at a party. You have classes tomorrow, so you need to go back and rest early and not stay up too late."
"Thank you, Mom." Han Jialan immediately smiled and flew towards Fu Qian like a warm-hearted sparrow.
She walked quickly over, took Fu Qian's arm, looked up at his handsome face and slightly gloomy eyes, and felt an overwhelming surge of love in her heart.
Fu Qian struggled unhappily, shaking off Han Jialan's hand, and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be here to resolve your background issues?"
Han Jialan's eyes reddened instantly, but after sniffing, she forced a smile at Fu Qian and explained softly, "Aunt Tong asked me to come and keep you company."
Tong Xiaochun, Fu Qian's mother, is the only Mrs. Fu on the field.
"So long-winded," Fu Qian complained.
Even so, Fu Qian reached out again, took Han Jialan's arm, and let her link arms with him, leading Han Jialan through the event.
Immediately, the young man standing opposite Fu Qian, who was about the same age as him, laughed: "Fu Qian, you're quite something, having women on both sides."
With a lewd smile, the other person nudged Fu Qian with his elbow: "Hey, so it turns out they're both daughters of the Han family. How does it feel?"
"Shut up, don't talk nonsense. I only like Mingyue." Fu Qian was clearly pleased by these words, and the corners of his mouth turned up. He still had to emphasize the different positions of the two girls in his heart.
Han Jialan's face turned pale, and she lowered her gaze in embarrassment.
The young man who had initially teased her suddenly felt bad and changed his tune, saying, "Come on, you're getting cocky just because I said you're fat. Everyone knows you've always insisted on going to and from school with Jialan since kindergarten, and now you're denying it."
“Yeah, it’s okay to just play around with new people you meet outside. Don’t go looking for trouble. Once you settle down, you need to stay within a certain circle. Otherwise, you never know how much the other person is trying to squeeze out of you,” her female companion chimed in.
Fu Qian didn't care at all that Han Jialan was right next to him, and said very bluntly, "I have money and power. If Mingyue liked my money, wouldn't that be even better? But she doesn't like money, so I think she's even better."
The young man opposite him rolled his eyes in exasperation and quickly sent this big shot away: "Alright, alright, I know you love Jiang Mingyue. You've been saying it for a year now. Go and socialize with other people. I'll come over for a drink sometime."
After saying that, he quickly ran away with his female companion.
She breathed a sigh of relief when they were alone, and muttered a complaint: "I think Fu Qian is just being a jerk. No matter how shameless the Han family is, they can only offer one daughter to him for engagement. Do they really think they can put two of them out there for him to choose from?"
The woman nodded: "I think Fu Qian is stupid. If he keeps messing around like this, Han Jialan will change her mind and really accept a business marriage. Families like ours either don't get married or don't find someone who likes them. Do we really want to marry a playboy and live separate lives? Aren't we afraid of getting diseases?"
The two quickly reached a consensus and went off to mingle with the young people and kill time.
Han Jialan accompanied Fu Qian as he flew around wildly.
*
After a night of socializing, Han Jialan stood by the car, preparing to return to the Han family home with her adoptive parents.
"Jiajin, Jialan, you two will ride in the same car with me," Han Rong suddenly ordered.
Wang Mei glanced at her husband and softly advised, "Don't be too strict with the children; it's not their fault."
Han Rong held his wife's hand and promised, "Don't worry, I just wanted to give them a few words of advice privately."
Wang Mei took her youngest son's hand and pulled the curious boy into the second car.
Han Jialan nervously got into the first car with her brother, waiting for their father to begin his lecture.
Hopefully it was just a lecture; after being ridiculed all night, Han Jialan couldn't take any more setbacks.
She was really afraid that Han Rong would ask her to give up Fu Qian and make room for Jiang Mingyue.
Han Jialan sat in the car, her hands unconsciously twisting together, constantly picking at her fingernails, and she didn't even dare to look up, afraid of seeing the driver's spying gaze in the rearview mirror.
Han Jiajin, the eldest son of the Han family, grabbed Han Jialan's hand and forcefully pressed her down to sit still.
Han Jiajin shook his head at his sister, indicating that she didn't need to be nervous.
Han Rong and his wife have a very good relationship, which is why they raised a bunch of children together in an environment where having one heir is usually enough; however, having a good relationship with his wife does not mean that he has overly kind and virtuous ideas about his children.
Han Rong has always clearly defined the responsibilities among the children.
The eldest son is to inherit the family business and must be outstanding and talented; the youngest son is a backup plan, a substitute if the eldest son cannot be developed.
As for his daughter, Han Rong's only purpose was to arrange a marriage. Success lay in securing the marriage of the other party and maintaining a friendly atmosphere in the business cooperation between the two families.
Han Jialan failed to win Fu Qian's heart, which is undoubtedly a sign of a failed attempt to cultivate him.
Han Rong was very dissatisfied with Han Jialan's abilities, but he had already completed the act of publicly announcing tonight that Jiang Mingyue was his biological daughter.
As long as Fu Qian still prefers to remain a daughter of the Han family, the cooperation between the two families can continue without affecting Han's stock price.
"Keep your tolerance towards Fu Qian. Our family needs the support of the Fu family." Han Rong only gave this one piece of advice regarding relationships between men and women.
Then, he naturally began to plan for the future: "I will bring Mingyue home as soon as possible, along with her mother who has cancer. You all had better maintain proper courtesy and show sufficient enthusiasm to Ms. Liang. Jialan, especially you, you must fulfill the responsibilities that a daughter should have towards Ms. Liang."
The more Han Jiajin listened, the uglier his expression became. Before Han Jialan could speak, he couldn't help but say, "Dad, I don't like having outsiders in the house."
Han Rong looked at his son in the rearview mirror, his gaze stern: "Ms. Liang has a very high social standing and has many students. Don't let her express her dissatisfaction with the Han family in public. This is good for us, and you should understand what I mean."
Liang Shuanglan is a person at the moral high ground, but also an absolutely vulnerable group. If she were to say things like "the Han family stole all her daughters" or "they sold her daughters for personal gain," the consequences would be unimaginable.
Han Jiajin could only mutter in frustration, "Yes, I understand."
Han Rong then turned to his adopted daughter: "Jia Lan?"
“…I understand, Dad. I will take care of Liang, I mean my birth mother, myself.” Han Jialan’s expression was one of extreme forbearance.
*
That evening, not only all the guests left the Fu family mansion, but also Fu Xiachuan, who had changed out of his fine clothes.
He was wearing a tight-fitting tank top and loose-fitting straight-leg jeans, with ordinary sneakers on his feet. None of the clothes had price tags, so Jiang Mingyue couldn't guess their cost.
To her even greater shock, Fu Xiachuan drove a BYD out of the garage.
Domestically produced family cars priced around 100,000 yuan are only good for "getting around".
It's not that this car is bad, but fifteen years ago it was still dominated by German and Japanese cars. Domestic cars were never the choice of the wealthy, especially considering its price compared to Fu Xiachuan's net worth of hundreds of billions. It just seemed ridiculous.
"Don't worry, I haven't been drinking, and I've been driving for ten years." Fu Xiachuan shook his car keys and got into the driver's seat first.
Fu Xiachuan was driving himself!
A billionaire became my driver...
Jiang Mingyue quickly got into the car.
Fu Xiachuan skillfully started the car and drove it out of the garage. Jiang Mingyue quickly realized that Fu Xiachuan drove very smoothly. She could hardly feel any acceleration or deceleration in the car, and the speed was always kept at a slow speed.
She peeked over and saw that it wasn't her imagination.
The speed limit is kept below 30 kilometers per hour, which fully complies with the city's speed limit standards.
The heat from the fried spring rolls wafted through the packaging box and landed on her lap. The warm temperature reminded Jiang Mingyue that she should say something instead of casually treating a billionaire CEO as a driver.
Jiang Mingyue tried to find a topic to discuss: "Has Mr. Fu already figured out how to clean up the mess of 'The Tale in the Bottle'?"
As expected, Fu Xiachuan was very interested in this topic, and he immediately replied with a smile: "It's a problem unique to entertainment companies. They were not very obedient before, but now they have a perfect excuse for me to take action and get rid of the pests."
"Although it hasn't been made public yet, I've already dismissed all the people in charge of casting and production. The original script has also been sent back to the company for review, and the original author has been brought in to work with reputable screenwriters in the industry to revise the script."
"Although the new script is not yet fully completed, it has already made significant changes to the original, unbearable version—cutting out most of the old-fashioned and clichéd love scenes and returning the story to the direction of a young woman's adventures and chivalrous deeds during the Tianbao era."
Fu Xiachuan shook his head and gestured with his eyes: "There is a rough draft in the glove box. Miss Jiang can take it back and take a look."
He blinked, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his eyes: "Remember to keep the script a secret from everyone. This is your first lesson in entering the entertainment industry."
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