turn-based
Before the banquet had even officially started, following Su Gutang's defeat, Su Wanwan's "brothers and sisters" began to take turns to speak.
Round 1: The Bureau of Disdain for Educational Background
A woman dressed in a pink dress, looking delicate and charming, walked over carrying a glass of champagne, her tone tinged with envy:
"Oh dear, Wan-mei, I heard you've started working recently? I really admire your independence! I'd love to experience it too, but Daddy insists on sending me to the US for further studies..."
Su Wanwan didn't even bother to lift her eyelids, gently poking at the fruit on her plate with her fork, her tone calm yet incredibly hurtful:
"Yeah, I understand. After all, you're a good-for-nothing. When I was your age, I had already graduated from a prestigious overseas university and returned with a degree from one of the world's top ten universities, along with a few papers published in international journals."
Having just learned from the system that this illegitimate daughter only got into an ordinary foreign university because Su's father spent money on her, Qu Shiyao immediately replied with a sincere expression:
"Wanwan, don't say that. I've never even been abroad. But now that I think about it, unless you go to a top 100 university in the world, going abroad is just for fun, and the value of your education is so-so."
Su Wanwan immediately understood and cooperated by showing a puzzled expression:
"Oh right, speaking of which, even if you don't get into my school, you should still have no problem applying to a top 100 university in the world, right?"
The smile on the face of the second illegitimate daughter gradually froze, her face turned red and then white, she stammered, and finally could only awkwardly say "I'll go say hello over there" before practically fleeing.
Round 2: The Awkward Reunion
No sooner had the illegitimate daughter left than a illegitimate son, number one, dressed in a suit, approached, a smile he thought was friendly plastered on his face:
"Wanmei, you're finally back! Dad's been talking about you lately, saying you never come home to visit."
Su Wanwan looked up and sized him up with the eyes of someone looking at a stranger, her brows furrowing slightly: "Who are you?"
Jin Yuxi, who was standing next to her, immediately leaned closer, her voice rising several decibels instead of lowering:
"Wanwan, he must be one of your younger brothers, right? Isn't it a bit impolite to ask so directly?"
Su Wanwan rolled her eyes dramatically, her voice even louder than Jin Yuxi's:
"I haven't been back to this old house for more than half a year. How would I recognize which corner it came from? I don't want to have to call any random cat or dog that comes along the street 'brother' or 'sister'. I find that too uncomfortable."
The illegitimate son's face stiffened, but he tried to maintain a smile: "According to seniority and age, I am a little older than you. You should call me Second Brother."
"Pfft—!" Qu Shiyao, who was standing next to her, couldn't help but burst out laughing.
She wiped away the tears of laughter and said to the man opposite her, whose face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot:
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just... This is the first time I've ever seen a man who is older than the wife's daughter ask the wife's daughter to call him 'brother'."
Several guests nearby, who were listening to gossip, cast meaningful glances at him. The illegitimate child No. 1 blushed and could no longer stay. He lowered his head and hurriedly disappeared into the crowd.
Round 3: Domestic Warning Bureau
Before the commotion had even lasted two minutes, another illegitimate child, number two, who seemed to have an even more fiery temper, walked straight over, his purpose clear and his tone laced with warning:
"Su Wanwan, this is a family matter of the Su family. I advise your ignorant friends not to get involved."
These words struck a nerve with Lin Weiwei, and she almost reflexively put her hands on her hips to retort, her voice clear and loud:
"Oh my! You've all come looking for Wanwan one after another, lining up to cause trouble. So this is your Su family's business? This family business is certainly quite special!"
Wang Qian gently tugged at Lin Weiwei's dress at the opportune moment, whispering, "Weiwei, don't say that... Maybe, that's just how things are in the Su family..."
The second illegitimate child was furious at their coordinated attack and pointed at Qu Shiyao and her group, demanding, "Whose family are you? Who let you in?"
Zhang Li elegantly swirled the wine in her glass, casually responding:
"Oh dear, Weiwei, please stop talking. What if they get angry and use the Su family's influence to make it impossible for us to stay here? We are just small families, we can't afford to offend them."
"No way?" Qu Shiyao's eyes widened immediately, her face filled with shock and disbelief.
"Would the Su family really go so far as to wipe us out just because we defended Miss Su? Good heavens! Has Wanwan really become someone everyone hates in this family? Wanwan, you're so pitiful!"
As she spoke, she patted Su Wanwan's arm sympathetically.
"Nonsense!"
A stern rebuke came from not far away.
A man in his forties, well-maintained physique, and whose handsome features still hinted at his youthful good looks, walked over. It was Su's father.
He frowned slightly, first glancing at Su Wanwan, then his gaze fell on Qu Shiyao and the others, and finally looked at the second illegitimate child.
"What's all this commotion about? Haven't you learned the rules of the house? Even if Wan'er doesn't come home often, she's still the eldest daughter of the Su family! Don't make these kinds of jokes anymore! You're just making a fool of yourself!"
After saying that, he turned to the guests around him, and his face instantly put on a polite smile: "Please excuse my rudeness. They are just joking around with their siblings. They are just very close."
The guests were all shrewd people, so they naturally wouldn't refuse Su's father's request. They all smiled and echoed his sentiments, taking the opportunity to go forward and exchange pleasantries with him.
Illegitimate child number 2 should be granted a pardon and make a quick getaway.
Qu Shiyao, watching from the sidelines, was quite clear-headed and secretly sighed: "Old ginger is spicier."
In just a few words, not only did the awkwardness dissipate and the provocation be turned into a joke, but it also implied that Su Wanwan was not often at home and was throwing tantrums, further confirming that this was a family matter and implicitly criticizing them, the outsiders, for meddling.
At this moment, a handsome young man following behind Su's father walked over and said to Su Wanwan:
"Little sister, why don't you go over there? Father has been waiting for you there for a long time. When he saw that you weren't going over, he came to check on you."
"Ha!" Su Wanwan showed no appreciation, giving him a disdainful look.
“He didn’t need to come over. With such a commotion, he should have heard it a long time ago. Why is he pretending to be a loving father now?”
Qu Shiyao roughly guessed that this person should be Su Gutang's older brother, Su Guyang, the son of Su's father's current wife.
In the original novel, he was a powerful wingman for the villainous female supporting character Su Wanwan, providing her with various resources to accelerate her self-destruction, though the plot didn't focus on him much.
[This person seems pretty normal.] The system looked at Su Guyang and, based on the limited information in the original work and the current big data, found no obvious scandals.
"Those who benefit from the status quo will naturally want to maintain a respectable image. When judging a person, you can't just look at what he does, but also at what the people around him do and what his attitude is towards their behavior."
Qu Shiyao maintained a polite smile on her face, slowly stirring a bowl of dessert in her hands, her heart completely unmoved.
[Oh, so Su Wanwan is the only one in this family who's really pitiful?] The system felt a little sorry for Su Wanwan.
“She’s not exactly pitiful,” Qu Shiyao retorted directly.
“They’re provided with fine clothes and delicacies, and they live much more comfortably than us. If we’re going to pity them, we should pity the female protagonist in the original story who was bullied by her.”
"Although there may have been some misunderstandings, and everyone's trajectory has changed now, it is a fact that she bullied the female lead in her past life."
[Since she's so vicious! Why are you still so close to her?] The system felt its logic modules were about to fall apart, and suspected that its host was a contrarian in his past life, who came here specifically to argue with it.
"Has that filthy thing affected your core program?" Qu Shiyao glanced at the system orb with the look of someone looking at an idiot.
"I'm only after profit! Why even ask such an obvious question?"
System: [...] was speechless at the host's overly straightforward honesty.
"Besides, that was a grudge between her and the original female lead from a past life. We don't even know what kind of person she is now. She doesn't need anyone's pity. Her living environment shaped her personality. As for being vicious..."
Qu Shiyao smiled slyly: "I'm here to influence her, so I definitely won't let her act recklessly like she did in her previous life."
The system remained silent, then angrily ran to a corner of its consciousness, secretly pulled out its recently neglected notebook, and began writing down Qu Shiyao's behavior of deliberately arguing with it.
On the other side, Su Wanwan and Su Guyang had already exchanged sharp words for several rounds, neither giving an inch.
Facing this future heir who might take power, Lin Weiwei and her group dared not confront him directly as they had before, especially with Su's father still nearby, so they temporarily restrained their sharpness.
The entire event was basically a one-sided affair, with Su Wanwan providing all the talking, while Su Guyang maintained the image of a tolerant and indulgent older brother to his willful younger sister, which made some unsuspecting guests nod in approval.
"Wanwan, you've said so much, have some warm water to soothe your throat." Qu Shiyao came over with a glass of warm water and handed it to Su Wanwan.
The moment Su Wanwan took it, she said in a tone that was both helpless and comforting:
"Look at you, you still have such a short temper. He is now your rightful older brother, so you need to be more tolerant and not be as willful as you were when you were a child."
Then, she turned to Su Guyang, bowed slightly, and apologized sincerely:
"I'm so sorry, Wanwan is just having trouble adjusting right now. It will take her a few more years to adjust to the fact that she has siblings. Please bear with us."
Su Guyang found these words particularly offensive, as they not only interrupted his conversation with Su Wanwan but also made him furious.
But he still had to maintain his persona, so he could only smile gently and say, "It's alright, I understand my little sister's personality, just take it slow."
Qu Shiyao affectionately put her arm around Su Wanwan's shoulder, her voice soft enough for those nearby to hear, her tone carrying a good-natured teasing and helplessness: "Sigh, there's nothing we can do about it..."
"After all, Wanwan has been raised as the sole heir since she was a child, and she's used to being the center of attention. Suddenly, she has some older brothers and sisters who may no longer be heirs, so it's understandable that she feels a big sense of loss."
Su Wanwan felt the pressure on her shoulder and obediently lowered her head, her eyes slightly red as she looked away, appearing to be suffering injustice but enduring it all.
These words were like a bomb thrown into a calm lake!
The guests who had been whispering nearby suddenly turned complicated as they all looked at Su Guyang and his father.
Su Guyang could no longer maintain his smile and almost broke down on the spot. His face was so gloomy that it could drip water.
He finally understood that this woman was the real ruthless one!
"This young lady may have some misunderstanding about our family situation. Our Su family..." Su Guyang suppressed his anger and tried to explain.
"Gu Yang!" Su's father's voice rang out promptly, carrying an unquestionable authority.
"The time is almost up, aren't you going to help your brother prepare for the engagement ceremony?"
Su Guyang immediately understood that his father was giving him a way out and preventing the situation from escalating further.
He took a deep breath, gave Su Wanwan an apologetic look, and turned to leave quickly.
Only then did Su's father turn his gaze to Qu Shiyao and her group, a smile on his face that seemed kind but was actually scrutinizing:
"You must be Wanwan's friends, right? This is the first time Wanwan has brought friends home, so I'm sure you're all good young people."
"Today is a joyous occasion for the Su family. Why don't you all sit in the front with Wanwan and properly celebrate with the newlyweds? How about that?" This was both a compliment and a warning, implying that they should know when to stop.
Qu Shiyao sneered inwardly: Sure enough, after beating the younger one, the older one came.
But she put on a sweet and obedient expression and nodded politely: "Okay, thank you, Uncle Su! We will definitely give our blessings to the newlyweds."
Throughout the entire process, Su's father did not say a single word to Su Wanwan, and Su Wanwan kept her head turned away the whole time, not even glancing at her father.
This silent confrontation between father and daughter seemed particularly cold against the backdrop of a lively banquet.
In the end, Qu Shiyao and her group were seated at table number four in the front row of the banquet hall.
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