"Don't say that. I heard from my aunt that my brother wants to be her guardian..."
As the girl's gentle voice faded, a chorus of disapproval arose around her: "Wow, a country bumpkin like her, does she even deserve to be adopted by Brother Ling Chen? Who does she think she is!"
"That's right, Qingwan, you can't agree to that! The young master will be the head of the family in the future, and he can only have you as his sister!"
The girl called Qingwan said softly, "After all, he's not my biological brother. How can I object if he wants to adopt me? Actually, I'm also looking forward to having a little sister. Can you help me pick out a gift for her?"
"Qingwan, you're too kind! She'll definitely bully you. You can't be such a pushover!"
"Yeah, so what if she's not my biological sister? If you ask me, it would be great if you could marry Brother Ling Chen, then we'd be family forever!"
"Oh dear, Sister Le, please don't say that. That's not what I meant by my brother. Besides, he already has a fiancée..."
"Hehehe, so what do you mean? Besides, what does an arranged marriage mean? Who talks about that nowadays? It's just that Brother Ling Chen is making excuses."
As they spoke, the group approached, laughing and joking. With nowhere to hide, Bai Shu stood calmly in the pavilion, looking towards the corner with a composed expression.
This is a group of girls in their early twenties. The one in the lead looks to be about nineteen or twenty years old. She is wearing a light-colored shirt dress, has a gentle appearance, long curly hair that falls lightly, fair skin and beautiful features, and looks like a refined young lady.
The group following behind her were of varying ages. Some were slightly older than her and dressed more maturely, while others were younger than her and similar in appearance to Bai Shu, looking like students, but all of them had righteous indignation written all over their faces.
Looking up, they were startled to see Bai Shu, but then they realized that this was the person they had been talking about, and their faces immediately turned ugly.
A girl in a sophisticated-looking sundress stepped forward angrily and shouted:
"Hey, who are you? What are you doing standing there! When did you get here?!"
Bai Shu happened to recognize the speaker; it was none other than Qiao Le, the arrogant and domineering cousin of the Xiao family who had assaulted a female celebrity, as rumored outside.
The one behind Qiao Le should be Xiao Qingwan, the niece of Xiao Lingchen's stepmother.
In the past, Bai Shu would never have dared to clash with these high-and-mighty young ladies.
But for some reason, she remembered what Xiao Lingchen had told her, "The others don't dare to mess with you. If you meet them, don't bother them if you don't want to." For some reason, her back straightened up even more.
She was brought by him.
How could we let him lose face?
“I don’t quite understand,” she said calmly, her expression unchanged, as she slowly walked past them. “A rope that’s too long will get tangled, but your tongue can’t?”
The group was stunned for a moment, then reacted. Qiao Le roared in fury, "You actually called me a gossip? Who brought you in? Do you know who I am?!"
Xiao Qingwan gently tugged at her: "Sister Le, she seems...she seems to be the girl that brother brought back..."
Upon hearing this, Qiao Le's smile immediately turned contemptuous. He looked her up and down and then chuckled.
"Who do we have here? It's just that country bumpkin from some small town—you think you've become a phoenix just because Brother Ling Chen brought you here? That's laughable! Brother Ling Chen was just being kind for a moment, don't even think about him protecting you, you don't deserve it!"
A fire ignited in Bai Shu's heart. He stopped in his tracks and turned around: "I'm not worthy, but are you?"
"—Anyway, the person he's paired with isn't you!" Qiao Le flew into a rage, rushing forward and raising her hand to slap her. "You probably don't know, do you? Actually, Brother Ling Chen has a fiancée he was betrothed to since childhood! Do you know you're being a mistress?!"
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