Xu Chong, the eldest son of the Xu family, is thirty-four or thirty-five years old this year. He manages the restaurants and inns under the Xu family name in place of the Xu family head.
Tian Shun Zhai was the Xu family's restaurant, which was said to mainly serve mutton and was doing very well.
In this town, the Xu family's Tian Shun Zhai restaurant was second only to the Lu family's Ying Xiang Lou restaurant.
Li Mai and Zhou Quan exchanged a glance. Ever since they got closer to Lu Qian and started seeing each other more often, the business people in town knew that their small business family was in cahoots with the Lu family.
The Xu family and the Lu family have always been at odds and rarely interact. They have been in town for almost a year, and the Xu family has never had any contact with them. Why would they suddenly invite the couple to dinner?
"Who sent the invitation?" Zhou Quan asked Zhou Tao.
"He was dressed as a servant. He claimed to be a personal attendant of the eldest son of the Xu family, and that his eldest son had asked him to deliver this."
Li Mai thought for a moment and asked Zhou Tao, "When your older brother and I were out and about, did you offend anyone from the Xu family?"
Zhou Tao bit her lip, thought for a moment, and said, "Perhaps, the Xu family's invitation to my sister-in-law is related to my second brother."
"Huh? Your second brother offended them?" Li Mai and Zhou Quan couldn't believe it. Zhou Lin's shop had only been open for less than a month, how could he have offended the Xu family? Could it be that the Xu family also had a furniture shop business?
As far as they knew, there shouldn't be any. There were three carpenters in the town, but only one of them owned a furniture shop, and his business was bigger. They had previously bought and ordered their furniture from him.
But those three families shouldn't be branches of the Xu family.
"You could say it's provoking them!" Zhou Tao coughed lightly and told them about the rumors circulating outside that Miss Xu had taken a liking to her second brother, Zhou Lin.
Li Mai and Zhou Quan couldn't believe it. Xiao Lin had only been in town for a little over a month, and already the Xu family's young lady had taken a liking to her?
"Have you met this Miss Xu before?" Li Mai leaned closer to Zhou Tao and asked in a low voice.
Zhou Tao shook her head. "I've never seen him, only my second brother has. That time when my second brother delivered furniture to the Xu family, it's said that Miss Xu even secretly watched him on his way out of the mansion."
Li Mai put away the invitation. "I know. Has Lu Qian arrived? I'll go ask the Xu family."
Seeing Zhou Tao nod, she pulled Zhou Quan out. Once inside Yingxiang Tower, they saw Lu Qian hiding behind the door, looking out.
Upon seeing the two of them enter, Lu Qian gave an awkward smile.
Li Mai gave him a speechless look. "Lu Qian, did you do something to betray us? Why are you spying on us like this?"
Lu Qian quickly waved his hands, "No, of course not, it's just, it's just..."
He stammered and glanced back at the counter.
Li Mai and Zhou Quan looked over and saw several gift boxes on the counter. They were mahogany boxes, quite exquisite, with carved patterns on them. More importantly, each box had a red silk ribbon tied into a ruyi knot on its handle.
"What do you mean?" Li Mai didn't understand what he meant.
Lu Qian glanced quickly at Zhou Quan, and before he could speak, his face, ears, and neck turned red. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the shopkeeper and the waiters quietly encouraging him. Lu Qian steeled himself and decided to speak up first. Only after getting past this couple could he advance further.
"Well, this is a Mid-Autumn Festival gift I prepared for your family. I wanted to give you a formal visit, but I was afraid you two wouldn't agree." Lu Qian said, looking at Zhou Quan nervously.
Zhou Quan pursed his lips and didn't speak. He understood what the kid meant. He wanted to take the opportunity of giving gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival to formally visit their family and let his parents know his feelings for Xiao Tao.
Seeing that Zhou Quan remained silent, Li Mai smiled and walked towards the stairs. "Manager, please brew us a pot of tea. We have something to discuss."
The shopkeeper quickly waved to the waiters to prepare.
Seeing Li Mai go upstairs, Zhou Quan quickly went over to protect her, taking her hand as they went upstairs.
The shopkeeper waved his hand frantically at Lu Qian, "Come on, young master, we need to talk about you and Miss Zhou."
Lu Qian touched his nose, pointed to the gift box, and asked the shopkeeper to keep an eye on it before following him.
Upon entering the private room upstairs, Li Mai and Zhou Quan sat down, and Lu Qian also came over and sat opposite them. Er Xiao quickly followed them in, bringing tea and teacups, and then left.
Li Mai looked at Lu Qian with a laugh, "You, the son of the richest family in town, what kind of girl can't you marry? Why are you always eyeing our Xiao Tao?"
Zhou Quan didn't speak, but looked at Lu Qian, meaning that what his wife said was also his opinion.
Lu Qian coughed lightly, "I like Xiao Tao. Maybe when I first approached you, I wanted to get along with you and get some jewelry designs. But now it's not like that anymore."
"As we interact more, I get to know you better, and naturally, I come to regard you as my friends. I don't know when, but my feelings for Xiaotao have become etched in my heart. Whenever my parents or relatives mention that I should get married, I think of what my future wife will look like, just like Xiaotao."
“I simply cannot accept people arranging marriages for me right now. The thought that the other person is not Xiaotao makes me uncomfortable, let alone the thought of becoming husband and wife with someone else in the future.”
“I’ve always seen how loving you two are. I think Quan-ge can understand how I feel, right? It’s already August. If I don’t work hard now, I’ll be twenty-three next year. Actually, I’m only a year younger than Quan-ge, but he’ll be a father next year.”
“My sister is only fifteen this year, and sixteen next year.” Zhou Quan glared at him speechlessly.
"You can get married at sixteen!" Lu Qian said with a light cough.
“You are seven years older than her!” Zhou Quan said again.
"I...I...I will cherish Xiao Tao, don't worry, Brother Quan. People always say that older people are more caring, right? Don't worry, I will definitely treat Xiao Tao like a treasure." Lu Qian hurriedly expressed his opinion upon hearing Zhou Quan's words.
He was so eager that he said things like "Don't worry, Brother Quan," "Don't worry, Big Brother," and "My darling."
"Pfft!" Seeing Lu Qian's anxious look, Li Mai couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Zhou Quan didn't laugh, but gave him a faint look. In fact, he really didn't want his sister to marry into such a family, fearing that she would be unhappy in the future.
However, he could also tell that his sister trusted him quite a bit, but as for romantic feelings between men and women, he figured his sister hadn't quite grasped that yet.
“I’m going home to deliver gifts tomorrow. If you want to come, come with me. As for whether you can get Xiao Tao’s approval and my parents’ consent, that depends on your performance!” Zhou Quan wasn’t being coy either. He wanted to give this matter a chance and see if his sister and he were truly destined for each other.
This guy is a decent person; he's seen how much he's cared for Xiao Tao over the past six months.
"Okay, thank you, Brother Quan, thank you, Sister-in-law. I will definitely try my best to win over my parents-in-law." Lu Qian quickly and happily agreed.
"You woke me up too early!" Zhou Quan reminded him speechlessly.
"Okay, I'll call you next time!" Lu Qian quickly stood up and personally poured tea for Zhou Quan and Li Mai.
"Lu Qian, do you know Xu Chong from the Xu family?" Li Mai picked up her teacup, took a sip, and asked him softly.
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