The family reunion banquet lasted until evening. The women of the Jiang family saw the guests off together. Xing Xiaoya, dressed in fine clothes, stood with them and was in no way inferior.
Hearing the compliments from the wealthy women, Xing Xiaoya went from being reluctant to feeling happy.
She couldn't help but straighten her back and adopt an air of composure, unperturbed by praise or criticism.
After all the guests had left, the women moved to the main hall, which was then decorated in a special way.
Xing Xiaoya's eyes flickered, and she felt uneasy again. The grand scenes before were just for show, but now that they were in private, she was filled with uncertainty about how they would treat her. Would they reveal their true nature?
"Come on, Xiaoya, sit down next to me. Are you tired today?" Cen Ying beckoned to her, her tone still gentle.
Xing Xiaoya was slightly taken aback, and subconsciously walked forward and sat down next to her.
Cen Ying immediately patted her on the shoulder: "This is your home now, don't be shy."
Upon hearing this, Xing Xiaoya subconsciously tugged at the corners of her mouth and revealed a smile, but in reality, she didn't believe it at all.
"Serve the dishes." Li Chunlan waved her hand, and a group of maids filed in, each carrying a tray with various kinds of dishes.
"Are you hungry? Pick up your chopsticks." Cen Ying asked with concern, then picked up her chopsticks.
"Are we the only ones?" Xing Xiaoya asked, looking at the group of women around her.
The Marquis of Zhongyi's mansion is known for its strong yang energy and numerous offspring, but at this moment, all the people sitting at the table are women, not a single man, which seems rather abnormal.
“They’ve all been busy with official business lately, so they’re eating in the front yard. We’ll let you meet them later,” Cen Ying explained softly, her expression unchanged.
Xing Xiaoya naturally didn't believe it. The Jiang family held such a grand family reunion banquet, assigning tasks to all the female relatives and inviting numerous noble ladies as guests, which was practically announcing it to the world.
However, none of the men from the Jiang family were present. It would be understandable if it were because the previous banquets were all women and it was inconvenient for the men to attend. But now that the guests had all left and it was a family banquet, the fact that not a single man could be seen clearly hinted at something unusual.
Although she had her doubts, she didn't voice them. Instead, she raised her head and casually glanced at them, focusing on Li Chunlan.
After all, this Crown Prince's wife was notoriously foolish; she wanted to guess what had happened to the men of the Jiang family by observing Li Chunlan's reaction.
However, Li Chunlan acted as usual, and when she met Xing Xiaoya's gaze, she even smiled at her without any flaws.
Xing Xiaoya frowned. Had she guessed wrong?
"Xiaoya, eat up! I heard you like light food, so I specially asked the chef to make some local dishes. If it's not to your liking, just tell your sister-in-law," Li Chunlan said kindly.
[Host, ahhh, look, it really is Xing Xiaoya! Do you want to befriend her? She's a true heartthrob, a darling of heaven! I can even feel the powerful energy emanating from her...]
From the moment Xing Xiaoya appeared in the Marquis's residence, the system became extremely agitated, pleading with Xu Wanying to stop them from recognizing their relatives.
Now she's scrambling to curry favor with him again; his attitude changes countless times a day.
"Why won't you let me stop them from recognizing their relatives now?" Xu Wanying had been ignoring it, but now she asked curiously.
[I've figured it out. Even if you try to stop me, I won't agree. So let nature take its course. The whole world revolves around Xiaoya. These men in the Jiang family are destined to be her devoted followers; none of them can escape! And because of their intimate relationship, it will be filled with taboos, making it even more exciting!]
The system snorted coldly; the reply sounded rather arrogant.
"Ha, just wait until your dream is shattered." Xu Wanying didn't believe it at all.
She witnessed Jiang Chengli kill Xing Xiaoya twice, and her hatred was boundless. How could she possibly become her devoted follower? However, the system completely failed to receive these messages, acting like an artificially disabled person.
[Tch, host, you're just being stubborn. You'll see how exciting it is when Xiaoya unleashes her charm at the Jiang family.] The system didn't take it seriously, instead thinking the host was just being too sour.
One person can't convince anyone else; everyone insists on their own ideas.
The other women of the Jiang family sat around the table, appearing to be in a harmonious and friendly manner, urging Xing Xiaoya to eat, but in reality, they were all on tenterhooks.
They had been preparing for today's family reunion banquet for a long time.
First, to prevent Xing Xiaoya from noticing anything, they trained Li Chunlan, who was most prone to showing her emotions, so that she could remain calm no matter what she heard or saw and not show all her expressions.
Fortunately, after listening to Xu Wanying and the system ramble on about all sorts of shocking news all day long, Li Chunlan had developed a strong heart and was no longer the easily alarmed person she used to be. So even though Xing Xiaoya stared at her several times today, she still couldn't see through her true feelings.
Secondly, they were also worried about something else: whether Xing Xiaoya would hear Xu Wanying's true feelings after the family reunion banquet was successfully held.
Fortunately, Xing Xiaoya did not show any abnormality and was obviously unable to hear.
Xing Xiaoya's accommodations had already been arranged, including servants to attend to her, everything was done perfectly.
Jin'er came in and looked around, but couldn't find anything wrong with it.
After everyone had left, leaving only the two of them in the main house, Jin'er said softly, "Miss Xing, I can tell that the Jiang family truly wants to recognize you as their daughter. This place is so well-organized, and the items in the Treasure Pavilion are all precious and valuable. It's clear that they've put a lot of thought into it and are taking it very seriously."
Xing Xiaoya didn't speak, but just frowned and shook her head, clearly disagreeing.
"Miss, do you think the Jiang family has ulterior motives?" Jin'er asked curiously.
Xing Xiaoya shook her head again. She had a lot to say, but she couldn't get the words out.
After all, those words sounded like she was judging others by her own petty standards, and were just her own selfish thoughts. She didn't believe that the Jiang family would accept her so easily. They must have seen the unusual atmosphere between her and Brother Dazhuang, so they tried to break them up.
"It's nothing. Anyway, we've already entered the Marquis's residence. Let's take it one step at a time and see what happens. We'll talk about everything after Zhaoyang leaves the palace."
After entering the Jiang family mansion, Xing Xiaoya was initially very wary, but the women of the Jiang family were always very warm towards her. For three days in a row, not even the servants dared to bully her. They all treated her as a proper mistress, leaving her no chance to vent her frustrations.
The system, however, panicked first: [Wait, are all the men in the Jiang family dead? It's been three days, and not a single one has returned home. Have they all become cowards?]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
